I can't stop looking at your content over and over again... It's a goldmine of information, perfectly presented and explained, with spot on exemples and demonstrations. I cannot say how grateful we all are to access such content. Thanks a lot to you and all the team behind this channel. ❤
I'm becoming a huge fan of this series. It's not the usual repeated YT midi programming info. This truly educational for the more experienced composer.
OMG! Clara.... sounds so good, we just can't get close to the real thing with samples... I was using samples in my music and stopped making tracks with them, decided to start leaning the Cello and made a choice to not upload another piece to RUclips until I could play and record my own parts, that was 14 months ago, it's not and easy instrument to play and make it sound like Clara does, total respect, amazing sound! 😀
What a great, informative series! Clara's performance at the end absolutely proving that there's no substitute for a real player - thanks to all concerned.
Absolutely fascinating. When Clara was taken aback by the different ways sample libraries have to describe legatos it made me think that a sampled instrument is its own thing, and we're learning to play a computer. Which is fine of course, and endless fun. Above all, like all instruments, virtual or real, knowing how they works in your hands is the key to success. Have to say though, I was blown away at Clara's cello melody at the end. Masterful.
In many institutions it is discussed to start treating the computer as its own instrument in terms of education. I think it makes sense in some way. But it's also an extremely diverse and ever changing instrument. But really, you have to write for the sample libraries, you can't just swap between them and expect them to handle it the same.
What a fantastic video/lesson. Samples do sound great, but when you hear a cellist, especially at the level that Clara is at, what a difference. She plays SO sweetly, wow. I now want to hire a cellist to sit with me and walkthrough the pieces I’ve written!
Very informative! Thank you so much. My violinist friend said you don't have to be too careful about bows and strings unless you're making mock-ups for musicians. Sample libraries sound weird and they can never be as real as musicians. When you need realism, hire musicians. In production without musicians, why don't you take advantage of samples such as infinite bow and impossible legatos? (He says he wishes he could lol) Making them close to real instruments is crucial. However, please remember that you don't have to let your creativity die by taking so much time to make them perfect😉 Cool. I gotta fix the legato I wrote yesterday😂
THIS!!! Can't stress this enough. Samples are like whole new instruments. They are not the real thing. When writing with samples, espescially when you know your score won;t be played by a live orchestra, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is the SOUND. By disconnecting notes, the Cello sounds weird. It may be realistic, but the end-user doesn't care. And Samples are not designed to be used just like real instruments. Samples are designed to sound good, so go with what sounds good, before you worry about realism. A great example of that is writing triads on a Trombones a3 patch. Yes, that kinda means there are 9 Trombones playing...BUT IT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE IT. Stacking samples doesn't necessarily make it sound liek there are more players. It is completely okay to write triads using a Trombones a3 patch. In fact, if you try to use 3 different trombone samples to write a patch up, it won't sound as good as the Trombones a3. Case in point, writing for 4 separate horns vs using the horn ensemble patch in Berlin Orchestra. Use your ears.
I love the comment about not letting your creativity die by over perfecting things. It’s so right that with samples if it sounds good then it is good, it doesn’t have to be “real”. And also totally agree about sampled instruments becoming whole new instruments. There is a point when they are there for their own sound. That said… I don’t fully agree about the solo’s vs. a3/ensemble patches. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with playing triads on an ensemble patch, but it doesn’t sound better than three solo patches, it sounds bigger, broader, and different. If you want that beautiful trombone or horn choir sound then using the individual patches works much better. Also with the horns from Berlin Brass at least, all four individuals on a line sound great and have the same ensemble feeling as the a4 patch, but there’s nothing stopping you from combining them all, or even more horn samples! Using your ears is the way, though! 🫡 👍🏻
@@alexlamymusic yeah I agree using Horns 1-4 for a choral harmony section is perfect. But I often find when I want to write in unison, having separate Horns doesn't sound as great as having an ensemble. Also, with horns, it can work, but for some reason, writing with Trombones 1-2 and a Bass Trombone never gives me a great sound. Especially in Berlin Brass. Any tips on how to get it to sound better? I use spread triads and assign the lowest note to the Bass Trombone and the other two are the Tenor. The result is never satisfying though. I just end up using Century Brass Trombones 3 or something else to get that desired sound. What do you do for Trombones? I also write a lot of epic music, so my needs can be on the fortossimo side. I guess Berlin does soft very well but not the fortossimo that well?
@@5ammy13 I think your issue is probably related to needing the loud dynamic. The choir sound comes from piano to mezzo forte, once the sound is Cuivré (brassy) then there’s much more going on with the overtones and the spectrum you’re dealing with, and close harmony, especially lower down, doesn’t work as well. In most cases you’re going to want larger intervals like 5ths and octaves, or unison writing. If the sound is meant to be big and epic, then 3 trombones won’t cut it, and your a3 patch sounds better because each note already has some diffusion to the sound, reducing some of the harshness. In most orchestral music the Bass Trombones are going to be with the Tuba for louder parts. Berlin Brass is good for louder dynamics, but what it excels at is that more realistic, slightly classical orchestration, where you’re really making decisions about which player is on a part, how many horns to a part, and so on. If you want big and epic, the sound you have in your head is already larger than a real orchestra, so use the bigger sounding samples! Just don’t fill in every note with harmony, bold statements and simpler writing can be more effective - a less is more approach to the parts, a more is more approach to the sound. That, and take the spot mics out for the solo instrument patches, push them back a bit and they’ll instantly be more useful in this context.
Clara's performance was amazing - so passionate. It's a nice work flow to replace solo lines in your midi mockup with real human recorded performances if you can. The legato bowing info was very useful and more organic than any rigid rules.
Hey Casey. Thank you so much for your nice and appreciative comment. Yeah, we love what Clara did with that melody line that Alex composed., especially when she played the entire piece at the end. Kudos to her Cello too 🎻
This was fantastic, as was Clara. Please do more of these with musicians talking about what they can realistically play (such as when they need to rebow). Another great idea would be to see how fast a string player can play staccato!! And for how long.
Hey Benowa. Thank you for your appreciation and telling us you like it. We are grateful it is for use for you and the rest of the community and that you like it.
Luckily your wish will eventually come true! We don’t plan on stopping for a while, so there will be loads of videos to come and topics to explore. And… for free!
Hey Cyril, that's the kind of comment you rarely find ... (even if you pay for it). Thank you so much for your comment and your appreciation too 💛 and we hope you will like our future videos as well.
soooooo goood Alex! You and Clara are a dream team and the final section where clara played the cello live OMG your indeed right that samples dont have completley the magic of a real player :) *goosebums* but your arangment was also amazing! love the chanel :) take care janosch
This is commitment to the craft. It's a bit demoralizing for start ups as we're literally working on the melodies, harmonies, and integration of other instruments, let alone perfecting the parts to match their natural instrumentation.
One thing in advance: I liked the music right away - already the melody in the intro grabbed me immediately. Of course, Clara's playing surpassed the whole thing many times over. In any case, this video is extremely helpful. Many thanks for it!
Excellent! Just yesterday I bought a cello bow to try to record my electric bass as a cello :), I think that always the best way to program a virtual instrument line is to try to sing it, where you breathe that's where you need to separate the programmed notes.
Hey Gaby, it is definitely helpful to think about phrasing - and also singing a melody line helps! However, you might hold your breath longer than the length of your bow 😉
This is a great video. There’s nothing like the real instrument. I will say this is also why I am leaning in to modeled instruments more and more. I can control just about every parameter including vibrato speed and amount, legato transitions, timbral shifts with bow placement, etc. The more I dive into digital orchestration, I find myself turning to my old fashion sampled instruments less and less. I still need to blend samples sections in with modeled solo instruments to achieve better realism. But modeling has to be the future! I have even successfully created sections out of multiple modeled solo instruments.
Such a very informative video! It happens to be something that I've noticed in some mockups I've listened to. Even though I didn't associate the sound with legato. Legato is fun and luckily, I've not used that articulation for everything. From the beginning I figured it'd be better to have variety in articulation by using the different options to better convey emotion. Having the Cellist there with you to discuss and present the way an experienced player would play a celli line was superb. I learned a lot. thanks.
There is currently no substitute for the experience of a live orchestra performing in a great concert hall before a live audience. However, as working composers, we do not always have to choose between fully programmed samples vs live musicians. When A) budget & time-constraints do not allow for hiring & recording a full orchestra, and B) the music is serving a supporting role for other media (for example, writing for sync, or programming game music), then adding even a single live instrument (particularly string or woodwind) to an otherwise virtual arrangement can "trick" the human brain to perceive more humanity and warmth in the music. This holds true not just for a lead part. Even adding one live-recorded musician (or stacking two recordings of the same musician hired in a single session) to a sampled section or divisi can make the entire arrangement feel more alive. It can even be more cost-effective, especially when facing tight deadlines on a project. Certainly more satisfying and flexible - as seen in this video, a professional musician can provide real-world perspective and creative ideas to even the most skilled programmer. Add the fact that it helps a working musician earn some money while not breaking a virtual composer's budget, and it's a win-win all around.
Very informative video - as a brass player I am quick to hear inaccurate brass articulations but to be honest, my string writing sounds bloody amazing to me.........well it did until I heard Clara play. Then I realised just how bad it is. I never knew that velocity directly influenced the amount of notes that could be played in one bow stoke. Back to the DAW and more practise.
@@virtual.orchestration His Trumpet playing does bring a smile to my face every time I hear the majestic tones :) . Ill trade my brass secrets for your composing skills without hesitation!!
This is a sweet video! lol Seriously, tho. Thanks for putting this together. I have been trying to write more realistically and this was great information.
I am currently building my template and because of one of the limitations of Metropolis Ark 1; I have to build a unison like legato in the strings. Unless I am mistaken there isn't one built in. In order to give the line a little more definition I have layered it with the marcato short articulation and pulled the volume on that sample way, way down just to give a little bit of bite to the note. I realize (As an upright bassist with a masters) This isn't "True" Legato, but it gives the line just a little more definition. It's a shame the library doesn't have a Legato unison string line in it already. I am also going to experiment in doubling it with other libraries like Berlin Orchestra w/Berklee. I am worried the aggressive nature of Ark 1 will overpower it. I've also thought of using ARK 4's legato as a layer.
I would take this care with any work, music still has to sound like music. Composers with teams don’t rely on other people to improve their programming, it’s just too slow working that way. The programming has to be good from the start, otherwise you don’t have the sound you need further down the line, and you’re not communicating properly to the listener, whether that’s a client, director, producer, or somebody that found your music at random. Too much of the same thing (e.g. in this case, fake legato) and it all becomes mush.
From time to time I get un-natural sounding volume spikes in my audio where legato notes connect. Does anyone here have a remedy or know what causes this? I do mess with modulation, expression, etc.
Could just be a bad transition. If it’s the odd note then you can ramp CC11 down for the transition and back up to smooth it out. If there are lots, reduce the volume of the legato samples in the sampler and see how that feels 👍🏻
Hi Glyn. This one has the Alto Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet from the Berlin Woodwinds Solists library, and measured trills from Berlin Woodwinds. The Horns are Berlin Brass, and I’ve also used Time Macro and Time Micro, Berlin Strings, Berlin Con Sordino Strings, Metropolis Ark 2 and 5, and Tallinn also for the Basses. Berlin Percussion and MA2 for the Perc..
Why didn’t they let her have her cello there, while they went through the midi, to compare?? If our goal is realism, to have someone playing it and trying to match the midi to the natural playing would be most helpful.
Hey Joshua, that'a a great idea! I think we have to bring Clara back to the studio and do exacly that. Have her play something and then try to programm it up... As we already have finished the video on legato... What do you think about short string articulations?
![Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q86_nlRoIGw/mqdefault.jpg)
Awesome illustration and proof of the difference between the most expensive sound library and a real educated musician.
When Clara started recording the melody on her cello😌... Nothing beats the realism and expression, it's like night and day!
I can't stop looking at your content over and over again... It's a goldmine of information, perfectly presented and explained, with spot on exemples and demonstrations. I cannot say how grateful we all are to access such content. Thanks a lot to you and all the team behind this channel. ❤
I'm becoming a huge fan of this series. It's not the usual repeated YT midi programming info. This truly educational for the more experienced composer.
Thank you! Appreciate the comment 🙏
Thank you !
OMG! Clara.... sounds so good, we just can't get close to the real thing with samples... I was using samples in my music and stopped making tracks with them, decided to start leaning the Cello and made a choice to not upload another piece to RUclips until I could play and record my own parts, that was 14 months ago, it's not and easy instrument to play and make it sound like Clara does, total respect, amazing sound! 😀
Thank you so much 🥰
I love Clara's cello sound! The instant I heard her play I fell in love with her sound. Superb!
Yeah, she’s excellent! 🥳
What a great, informative series! Clara's performance at the end absolutely proving that there's no substitute for a real player - thanks to all concerned.
I liked Claras (analog) cello-simulation by singing the lines and pretending playing. Thank you both!
Hey Yeok. Yes, Clara and Alex make an amazing team. Thanks for the nice supportive comment.💛
Absolutely fascinating. When Clara was taken aback by the different ways sample libraries have to describe legatos it made me think that a sampled instrument is its own thing, and we're learning to play a computer. Which is fine of course, and endless fun. Above all, like all instruments, virtual or real, knowing how they works in your hands is the key to success.
Have to say though, I was blown away at Clara's cello melody at the end. Masterful.
That’s so true, Giles - the computer is an instrument. Practice makes perfect just like anything else!
In many institutions it is discussed to start treating the computer as its own instrument in terms of education. I think it makes sense in some way. But it's also an extremely diverse and ever changing instrument.
But really, you have to write for the sample libraries, you can't just swap between them and expect them to handle it the same.
What a fantastic video/lesson. Samples do sound great, but when you hear a cellist, especially at the level that Clara is at, what a difference. She plays SO sweetly, wow. I now want to hire a cellist to sit with me and walkthrough the pieces I’ve written!
Definitely, Paulie! I thought I was alright at articulating bowings, but going through with a string player always catches me out! 😂
This series is just so much fun and incredibly informative!
Thank you all!
Gianni❤
Very informative! Thank you so much.
My violinist friend said you don't have to be too careful about bows and strings unless you're making mock-ups for musicians. Sample libraries sound weird and they can never be as real as musicians. When you need realism, hire musicians. In production without musicians, why don't you take advantage of samples such as infinite bow and impossible legatos? (He says he wishes he could lol)
Making them close to real instruments is crucial. However, please remember that you don't have to let your creativity die by taking so much time to make them perfect😉
Cool. I gotta fix the legato I wrote yesterday😂
THIS!!! Can't stress this enough. Samples are like whole new instruments. They are not the real thing. When writing with samples, espescially when you know your score won;t be played by a live orchestra, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is the SOUND. By disconnecting notes, the Cello sounds weird. It may be realistic, but the end-user doesn't care. And Samples are not designed to be used just like real instruments. Samples are designed to sound good, so go with what sounds good, before you worry about realism. A great example of that is writing triads on a Trombones a3 patch. Yes, that kinda means there are 9 Trombones playing...BUT IT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE IT. Stacking samples doesn't necessarily make it sound liek there are more players. It is completely okay to write triads using a Trombones a3 patch. In fact, if you try to use 3 different trombone samples to write a patch up, it won't sound as good as the Trombones a3. Case in point, writing for 4 separate horns vs using the horn ensemble patch in Berlin Orchestra. Use your ears.
I love the comment about not letting your creativity die by over perfecting things. It’s so right that with samples if it sounds good then it is good, it doesn’t have to be “real”. And also totally agree about sampled instruments becoming whole new instruments. There is a point when they are there for their own sound.
That said… I don’t fully agree about the solo’s vs. a3/ensemble patches. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with playing triads on an ensemble patch, but it doesn’t sound better than three solo patches, it sounds bigger, broader, and different. If you want that beautiful trombone or horn choir sound then using the individual patches works much better. Also with the horns from Berlin Brass at least, all four individuals on a line sound great and have the same ensemble feeling as the a4 patch, but there’s nothing stopping you from combining them all, or even more horn samples!
Using your ears is the way, though! 🫡 👍🏻
@@alexlamymusic yeah I agree using Horns 1-4 for a choral harmony section is perfect. But I often find when I want to write in unison, having separate Horns doesn't sound as great as having an ensemble. Also, with horns, it can work, but for some reason, writing with Trombones 1-2 and a Bass Trombone never gives me a great sound. Especially in Berlin Brass. Any tips on how to get it to sound better? I use spread triads and assign the lowest note to the Bass Trombone and the other two are the Tenor. The result is never satisfying though. I just end up using Century Brass Trombones 3 or something else to get that desired sound. What do you do for Trombones? I also write a lot of epic music, so my needs can be on the fortossimo side. I guess Berlin does soft very well but not the fortossimo that well?
@@5ammy13 Great insights, particularly wrt to layering/stacking samples.
@@5ammy13 I think your issue is probably related to needing the loud dynamic. The choir sound comes from piano to mezzo forte, once the sound is Cuivré (brassy) then there’s much more going on with the overtones and the spectrum you’re dealing with, and close harmony, especially lower down, doesn’t work as well. In most cases you’re going to want larger intervals like 5ths and octaves, or unison writing. If the sound is meant to be big and epic, then 3 trombones won’t cut it, and your a3 patch sounds better because each note already has some diffusion to the sound, reducing some of the harshness. In most orchestral music the Bass Trombones are going to be with the Tuba for louder parts.
Berlin Brass is good for louder dynamics, but what it excels at is that more realistic, slightly classical orchestration, where you’re really making decisions about which player is on a part, how many horns to a part, and so on. If you want big and epic, the sound you have in your head is already larger than a real orchestra, so use the bigger sounding samples! Just don’t fill in every note with harmony, bold statements and simpler writing can be more effective - a less is more approach to the parts, a more is more approach to the sound.
That, and take the spot mics out for the solo instrument patches, push them back a bit and they’ll instantly be more useful in this context.
Wow. Even without a proper mix of the live cello into the track, it's the magic spell that turns the track into something moving.
Clara's performance was amazing - so passionate. It's a nice work flow to replace solo lines in your midi mockup with real human recorded performances if you can. The legato bowing info was very useful and more organic than any rigid rules.
Hey Casey. Thank you so much for your nice and appreciative comment. Yeah, we love what Clara did with that melody line that Alex composed., especially when she played the entire piece at the end. Kudos to her Cello too 🎻
This was fantastic, as was Clara. Please do more of these with musicians talking about what they can realistically play (such as when they need to rebow). Another great idea would be to see how fast a string player can play staccato!! And for how long.
You will like our upcoming videos! 😉
@alexlamymusic Spoiler Alert! 😉
Thank You Very Much!
🙂🙏
clara is wonderful. j.
I'm amazed by the quality of your videos! Thank you for all this valuable information and congrats to everyone involved in the production!
Hey Benowa. Thank you for your appreciation and telling us you like it. We are grateful it is for use for you and the rest of the community and that you like it.
These new tutorial videos are put together very well and really informative. I wish it was a full-blown course. I'd pay to learn learn more!
Luckily your wish will eventually come true! We don’t plan on stopping for a while, so there will be loads of videos to come and topics to explore. And… for free!
Very very useful, that's not the kind of information we can find easily (even in paid courses). Thank you so much 🙂
Hey Cyril, that's the kind of comment you rarely find ... (even if you pay for it). Thank you so much for your comment and your appreciation too 💛 and we hope you will like our future videos as well.
bonkers, I subscribed, it's just too good
Thank you, Marco. Cool that you like the videos and keep posting your feedback and criticism.
soooooo goood Alex! You and Clara are a dream team and the final section where clara played the cello live OMG your indeed right that samples dont have completley the magic of a real player :) *goosebums* but your arangment was also amazing! love the chanel :) take care janosch
This is commitment to the craft. It's a bit demoralizing for start ups as we're literally working on the melodies, harmonies, and integration of other instruments, let alone perfecting the parts to match their natural instrumentation.
What a fantastic series. Thank you all so much
Hey Anthony. Thank you so so much for letting us know here in the comments that you like it 💛
Deader ringer for a video game...Definitely journeying to this.
One thing in advance: I liked the music right away - already the melody in the intro grabbed me immediately. Of course, Clara's playing surpassed the whole thing many times over. In any case, this video is extremely helpful. Many thanks for it!
Hey Frank. Thank you so much for your comment and yes, Clara is just wonderful. 🎻🎻🎻
Sehr schön! Auch die Melodie!
Cheers, Michael! 👍🏻
Great ,Keep doing this with the rest of the orchestral insruments.
Excellent! Just yesterday I bought a cello bow to try to record my electric bass as a cello :),
I think that always the best way to program a virtual instrument line is to try to sing it, where you breathe that's where you need to separate the programmed notes.
Hey Gaby, it is definitely helpful to think about phrasing - and also singing a melody line helps! However, you might hold your breath longer than the length of your bow 😉
This is a great video. There’s nothing like the real instrument. I will say this is also why I am leaning in to modeled instruments more and more. I can control just about every parameter including vibrato speed and amount, legato transitions, timbral shifts with bow placement, etc. The more I dive into digital orchestration, I find myself turning to my old fashion sampled instruments less and less. I still need to blend samples sections in with modeled solo instruments to achieve better realism. But modeling has to be the future! I have even successfully created sections out of multiple modeled solo instruments.
these videos are pure gold. also, how amazing is clara?
Well, if our videos are gold, maybe she is platinum then ? 😉
Oh dont go too crazy ;) But thank you so much anyway!
Again, a really good video. Thank you Orchestral Tools!
Thank you, Nico!
Very insightful! Thx!
Thank you, Lars.
This is great! One thing I hope you do more in is getting everyone to make more use of articulations as so often we obsess over legato samples
Well, Jake, we couldn't agree more with you. However, it is up to you to use other articulations instead of endless legato 😉
Wow, that was really enlightening!
Hey Brett. cool that we could lead you out of the darkness 😉
Hello guys!
I thank you again for this invaluable experience! Please keep doing it !
Your example music is very beautiful!
Regards, Yaroslav Kniazev.
Those videos are so helpful, thanks so much!!
Excellent, very useful !
Hey Alon, thank you!
This is really great info, the attention to detail in these videos is stunning. Big fan of your channel.
Hey Bal-Thur. It is comments like yours that support us and keep us going. Thank you so much.
Amazing work. Keep it up! Thanks for sharing all that knowledge with us.
We won't keep any secrets from you, no worries ;) Thank you for your nice comment, Alex 💛
Such a very informative video! It happens to be something that I've noticed in some mockups I've listened to. Even though I didn't associate the sound with legato. Legato is fun and luckily, I've not used that articulation for everything. From the beginning I figured it'd be better to have variety in articulation by using the different options to better convey emotion. Having the Cellist there with you to discuss and present the way an experienced player would play a celli line was superb. I learned a lot. thanks.
There is currently no substitute for the experience of a live orchestra performing in a great concert hall before a live audience.
However, as working composers, we do not always have to choose between fully programmed samples vs live musicians.
When A) budget & time-constraints do not allow for hiring & recording a full orchestra, and B) the music is serving a supporting role for other media (for example, writing for sync, or programming game music), then adding even a single live instrument (particularly string or woodwind) to an otherwise virtual arrangement can "trick" the human brain to perceive more humanity and warmth in the music.
This holds true not just for a lead part. Even adding one live-recorded musician (or stacking two recordings of the same musician hired in a single session) to a sampled section or divisi can make the entire arrangement feel more alive.
It can even be more cost-effective, especially when facing tight deadlines on a project. Certainly more satisfying and flexible - as seen in this video, a professional musician can provide real-world perspective and creative ideas to even the most skilled programmer. Add the fact that it helps a working musician earn some money while not breaking a virtual composer's budget, and it's a win-win all around.
Very informative video - as a brass player I am quick to hear inaccurate brass articulations but to be honest, my string writing sounds bloody amazing to me.........well it did until I heard Clara play. Then I realised just how bad it is. I never knew that velocity directly influenced the amount of notes that could be played in one bow stoke. Back to the DAW and more practise.
Hey Mark. If you are a brass player, maybe you could teach @alexlamymusic how to play the trumpet ? He always tries so hard, but.....🎺🎺🎺
@@virtual.orchestration His Trumpet playing does bring a smile to my face every time I hear the majestic tones :) . Ill trade my brass secrets for your composing skills without hesitation!!
This is a sweet video! lol Seriously, tho. Thanks for putting this together. I have been trying to write more realistically and this was great information.
She is great
I am currently building my template and because of one of the limitations of Metropolis Ark 1; I have to build a unison like legato in the strings. Unless I am mistaken there isn't one built in. In order to give the line a little more definition I have layered it with the marcato short articulation and pulled the volume on that sample way, way down just to give a little bit of bite to the note. I realize (As an upright bassist with a masters) This isn't "True" Legato, but it gives the line just a little more definition. It's a shame the library doesn't have a Legato unison string line in it already. I am also going to experiment in doubling it with other libraries like Berlin Orchestra w/Berklee. I am worried the aggressive nature of Ark 1 will overpower it. I've also thought of using ARK 4's legato as a layer.
Would you only take this care with commissioned work? I know that the big players have full on teams.
I would take this care with any work, music still has to sound like music. Composers with teams don’t rely on other people to improve their programming, it’s just too slow working that way. The programming has to be good from the start, otherwise you don’t have the sound you need further down the line, and you’re not communicating properly to the listener, whether that’s a client, director, producer, or somebody that found your music at random.
Too much of the same thing (e.g. in this case, fake legato) and it all becomes mush.
excellent! Thanks for the insight. @@alexlamymusic
2:22 boy did that writing make me laugh!!! Could have done with a phrase mark over top :)
From time to time I get un-natural sounding volume spikes in my audio where legato notes connect. Does anyone here have a remedy or know what causes this? I do mess with modulation, expression, etc.
Could just be a bad transition. If it’s the odd note then you can ramp CC11 down for the transition and back up to smooth it out. If there are lots, reduce the volume of the legato samples in the sampler and see how that feels 👍🏻
@@alexlamymusic Thank you so much for your reply. I'll look for "Legato Volume" in the sampler.
Be great to know what libraries you used in this piece. I noticed Metropolis Ark, but what others was used ? 😁
Hi Glyn. This one has the Alto Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet from the Berlin Woodwinds Solists library, and measured trills from Berlin Woodwinds. The Horns are Berlin Brass, and I’ve also used Time Macro and Time Micro, Berlin Strings, Berlin Con Sordino Strings, Metropolis Ark 2 and 5, and Tallinn also for the Basses. Berlin Percussion and MA2 for the Perc..
@@alexlamymusic Thank you for the reply Alex 👍😁
@@alexlamymusic solo cello is from Berlin series?
@@AshrafElziftawiMusic yes, from the Berlin Strings First Chairs library
Is the solo cello library from Berlin Orchestra? Or is it another OT library?
It's from Berlin Strings First Chairs.
@@alexlamymusic thank you! I will try to make it sound like Clara's performance!
We are keen to listen to your result !
Why didn’t they let her have her cello there, while they went through the midi, to compare?? If our goal is realism, to have someone playing it and trying to match the midi to the natural playing would be most helpful.
Hey Joshua, that'a a great idea! I think we have to bring Clara back to the studio and do exacly that. Have her play something and then try to programm it up... As we already have finished the video on legato... What do you think about short string articulations?
💀 this title though 💀 😂omg😂lol😊🤪
Will I become a better composer if I had a basket of assorted chocolates at hand?
Better? Not sure… Bigger? Definitely! 😂
Anything worth doing, is worth doing less.