Pont Pizz – Cello

This sample library is a little experiment – a proof of concept – I’m just looking for sounds to get out of my cello.

Pont pizz is using the ponticello method common in bowed playing and trying it out with pizzicato – it’s simply plucking right up next to the bridge. This gives a note that dies away much faster and is much thinner in tone than a normal finger pizzicato. There is also a bit of a thump present in the note attack.

The articulation sampled is not one you will usually find as it isn’t usually played. In fact you may find cellists very reluctant to pluck right up at the bridge both for fear of unseating the strings from the grooves they occupy in the bridge and because they might end up with sticky fingers if there is any rosin hanging about on the string.

For this library I sampled 6 velocity layers in a whole tone scale over 4 octaves using an AKG C414 mic through a Focusrite ISA Preamp. The library uses a scripted fake round robin.

Hope you enjoy using it!