Celebrating the Art of Whistling

Marcus Schmidinger is the Vienna Whistler! VSL users might be already familiar with his name, as he performed on all of the horn instruments included in our Brass I and Brass II Collections – both as a soloist (of the Viennese horn and the triple horn) as well as a member of the Horn ensemble on the popular Epic Horns.

During the recordings at our Silent Stage we discovered that Marcus is not only a true horn virtuoso, but also an excellent whistler with an incredibly homogenous timbre over a wide key range of approximately two octaves. As an aside, so-called “art whistlers” echo an Austrian tradition of the 19th century when they would perform in Viennese community theatres, vaudeville shows and cabarets.

We’ve recorded a wide range of articulations, including single notes in various lengths (staccato, portato, looped sustains), with and without vibrato, legato performances, portamentos, repetitions and trills and even bends and falls. Anyone who has tried to whistle once might have noticed that an accurate performance and recording is not an easy task at all. Now simply select one of our performance patches within the Vienna Instruments (PRO) player and you’ll be impressed with the stunning proficiency and realism of Marcus’ great live performance!

ARTICULATION GROUP	STANDARD LIBRARY
01 SHORT + LONG NOTES	Staccato Portato short and medium Portato long, with medium and strong vibrato Sustained, with and without vibrato Sustained marcato, with and without vibrato Trills, half and whole tone Falls Bends up, with and without vibrato Bends up-down
02 DYNAMICS	Crescendo-diminuendo, 2, 4, 6 sec.
10 PERF INTERVAL	Legato, with and without vibrato Fast portamento, with and without vibrato Slow portamento, with and without vibrato Trill performances
12 PERF REPETITION	Legato repetitions, with and without vibrato Portato repetitions Staccato repetitions

Voices