Woodwinds II adds everything you need for the realization of large orchestral instrumentations, such as a piccolo, a second concert flute, an alto flute, a bass clarinet and a contrabassoon. To complete your woodwinds collection you will also find the small clarinet in Eb and two English horns – all living up to the high standards professional composers have come to expect from our sampled instruments.

The piccolo (or octave flute) is the highest-pitched woodwind instrument in the orchestra and sounds one octave higher than the concert flute. It can be very intense and piercing, especially in the upper register. The tube of the alto flute is considerably thicker and longer than the concert flute, resulting in dark, mysterious and „breathy“ tone colors – useful for exotic musical settings and moody film scores.

The English horn (“cor anglais”) is a double-reed instrument about a third bigger than the oboe, representing the alto register within the oboe family. Its pear-shaped bell gives it a more plaintive timbre than the oboe, closer in tonal quality to the oboe d'amore (included in the Special Woodwinds Collection). Its melancholy sound makes it the first choice for lyrical cantilenas and pastoral scenes. As opposed to the „French“ construction, the Viennese Oboe and “Viennese” English Horn are mainly played in Vienna, for example by the Vienna Philharmonic. These instruments’ form and timbre are closer to the Baroque instruments with a softer tone in the low register and a fuller, richer tone in the upper register. The “Viennese school” is also characterized by a different playing style with a more precise but less „cantabile“ phrasing, as well as less vibrato.

The small clarinet in Eb (“E-flat clarinet”) is the sopranino instrument of the clarinet family with a bright, shrill sound very similar to the piccolo. It has been regularly used in college ensembles, concert bands and military bands since the late 19^th century and is also at home in the symphonic orchestra thanks to Berlioz, Ravel, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. Expanding the low end is the bass clarinet, which adds an intriguing, rich and earthy tone to the modern orchestra. Its sound is similar to the Bb clarinet in the upper range while the low register has a haunting and compelling presence. The contrabassoon (or double bassoon) is considerably larger than the bassoon and powers the sub-bass register of the orchestra. This instrument’s impressive low range even extends beyond that of the contrabass tuba!