Bowed Strings Editor — User Manual

This page explains how bowed string tracks work in Kiwisonic. The strings editor is designed for violin, viola, cello, and string ensemble parts. All terminology is explained as it appears.

How bowed strings work (the short version)

A string player draws a bow across the strings to make them vibrate. The way the bow moves — its speed, pressure, and position on the string — changes the sound dramatically. A smooth, connected stroke sounds warm and lyrical. A short, bouncing stroke sounds crisp and rhythmic. Plucking the string with a finger instead of bowing it produces a completely different character called pizzicato.

Kiwisonic simulates these techniques through bowing presets and tone colour controls.

Layout

The strings editor uses a piano-roll interface with bowing-specific controls layered below.

Header toggles

Button	What it does
FX	Enables humanization effects — adds subtle timing and velocity variations to make notes sound more natural
⇄ (Ripple resize)	When on, growing or shrinking a note shifts all later notes to keep them contiguous
👁 (Guides)	Shows note guides — scale focus, melody hints, and chord emphasis overlays on the grid

The note grid

The main editing area is a standard piano roll:

Horizontal axis — time, left to right
Vertical axis — pitch, low at the bottom, high at the top
Click to place a note, drag to move it, drag the right edge to resize
A key strip on the left shows note names

Bow tone colour

The row of buttons in the header controls the overall tone character of the pattern. Click a button to switch:

Tone	Sound
Arco	Normal bowing — smooth, sustained tone. The default for most string writing.
Sul Pont.	Bowing near the bridge — glassy, metallic, harmonics-rich. Used for eerie or intense passages.
Sul Tasto	Bowing over the fingerboard — warm, soft, flute-like. Used for gentle, intimate passages.
Tremolo	Rapid back-and-forth bow strokes — creates a shimmering, sustained effect. Common in orchestral drama.
Pizz.	Plucked with the finger instead of bowed — short, percussive attack. Common in jazz and light arrangements.
Harm.	Touch the string lightly to produce a pure, bell-like overtone. Creates an ethereal, glassy sound.
Col Legno	Strike the string with the wood of the bow — dry, percussive tap. Used for rhythmic, unpitched textures.

The tone colour applies to the entire pattern. Different sections can use different patterns with different tone colours.

Bowing presets

The bowing preset picker sits in the bottom strip area, below the note grid. It lets you load a preset from the catalog that defines the bow stroke type for each note:

Stroke	Effect
Detaché	Separate bow strokes, one per note — clear and distinct
Slur	Multiple notes played in one bow stroke — smooth and connected
Staccato	Short, stopped notes with space between — crisp and rhythmic
Marcato	Strongly accented — each note starts with a sharp, heavy attack
Spiccato	The bow bounces off the string — light, quick, and energetic

Presets are tagged by genre and section type so you can find patterns that match your song's style.

Bow articulation strip

Below the note grid, the articulation strip shows how consecutive notes connect within a bow stroke. Each marker sits between two notes and describes the transition:

Marker	Symbol	What it means
Legato	⌢	Notes flow smoothly into each other in one continuous bow motion
Détaché	●	Each note gets its own separate bow stroke — clear and distinct
Accent	>	The next note starts with a sharp, heavy attack
Staccato	·	Short, stopped note with a small gap before the next
Tenuto	—	Full duration with slight emphasis — no gap, no overlap
Sforzando	sfz	Sudden loud attack followed by a gap before the next note
Down-bow	∏	Bow direction: the player pulls the bow downward
Up-bow	V	Bow direction: the player pushes the bow upward

Bow direction symbols appear above each stroke group. Transition markers appear between consecutive notes within a stroke.

Click any transition marker to cycle through all six styles. This lets you fine-tune individual transitions after loading a preset — for example, slurring most of a phrase but adding an accent on the downbeat.

When to use each marker

Legato — Use for lyrical, singing melodies where notes should blend together. Works well in slow passages and ballads.
Détaché — The default for most playing. Use when you want each note to be heard clearly without gaps. Good for moderate tempos and accompaniment parts.
Accent — Place on downbeats or important notes to give them extra weight. A few accents add shape to a phrase — too many and they lose their impact.
Staccato — Use for light, bouncy rhythms or pizzicato-style patterns. Creates space between notes, which works well at faster tempos or in playful sections.
Tenuto — Use when you want notes to ring for their full duration with a gentle emphasis. Good for sustained, singing lines where you want presence without the smoothness of legato.
Sforzando — Use sparingly for dramatic emphasis. A sudden loud attack grabs attention — works well on climactic notes or unexpected harmonic shifts.

Per-note effects

The articulation strip also shows per-note effects above each note position. Right-click a note in the strip to cycle through:

Effect	Symbol	What it does
None	(blank)	Normal playback — no special effect
Vibrato	~	Periodic pitch oscillation — adds warmth and expression to sustained notes
Glissando	/	Pitch slides up into the note from below — creates a dramatic entrance

These effects are applied individually to each note, independent of the transition style between notes.

Dynamics strip

The dynamics strip controls how loud or soft each bow stroke sounds over its duration. Each stroke appears as a line with a handle at each end — one for the starting volume and one for the ending volume.

Reading the strip

Higher on the strip = louder, lower = softer
Each handle is labeled with a dynamic level: pp (very soft), p (soft), mp (medium soft), mf (medium loud), f (loud), ff (very loud)
A flat line means steady volume throughout the stroke
A line that rises left to right is a crescendo (getting louder)
A line that falls left to right is a diminuendo (getting softer)

Editing dynamics

Drag a handle up or down to change the dynamic level at that point — the handle snaps to the nearest level
The left handle sets the start level, the right handle sets the end level
Changes take effect on the next playback

Tips

Set a stroke from p → f to build intensity into a phrase climax
Set a stroke from mf → pp for a gentle fade-out at the end of a section
Keep most strokes at mf as a neutral default — save ff for moments that need real impact

Playback preview

At the bottom, a live visualization shows finger positions and string activity during playback. This helps you see the pattern in action and spot any awkward transitions.

VST strings: articulation mappings

When you assign a VST string library to a track, the bow strokes, transitions, and per-note effects you set in the editor need to be converted into whatever signal the plugin expects:

Keyswitch-based (most orchestral string libraries — Spitfire BBCSO, Cinematic Studio Strings, Kontakt-based libraries) — the plugin listens for dedicated MIDI notes (e.g. C0, D0) to switch from sustains to spiccato to pizzicato to col legno.
CC-based — the plugin listens for a specific CC number + value (some libraries use CC32 or CC58 for articulation switching).
Program-change (rare).

Kiwisonic fills the mapping from the shared catalog whenever one is available for your plugin, including per-instrument mappings inside packs that bundle multiple strings sections (violin, viola, cello, ensemble). You don't normally need to touch anything.

If the catalog doesn't have your plugin, drop a JSON file into %LocalAppData%/Kiwisonic/articulation-maps/. The string family vocabulary (sustain, pizzicato, sul ponticello, sul tasto, col legno, harmonics, tremolo, …) is documented in docs/catalog/articulation-maps.md — copy a similar entry as a template and edit it. Articulations Kiwisonic doesn't recognise on the plugin show up greyed out in the bow tone-colour and articulation menus, so you can see at a glance which playing techniques the plugin supports.

See shortcuts.md for keyboard and mouse shortcuts — all shared editor shortcuts apply here.