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Playable Template ala Virtuosity

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks & Talk' started by Chris Morphitis, Feb 24, 2018.

  1. Hello all, I'm new to the forum so apologies if this has been already discussed.

    I am inspired by Mike's Virtuosity video. What I got from it was, if...

    All parts are recorded 'live' into the workstation and generally without a click.
    The VIs are expressive and playable with keyboard, mod wheel and key switches.
    The VIs have 'dry' patches so you can create the sound stage using the workstation mixer.
    The template is well balanced.

    ..the computer can be a good sketchpad and can keep us focused on composing well.

    I want to put together a orchestral template that is most suited to the above tasks.

    Any advice?

    Thanks!
     
  2. Consider picking up the Template Balancing class next.
     
  3. I thought it was Mike that is always 'closing'..
    Ok i will check it out!
    Cheers Jason.
     
  4. You only think this is a community of musically inclined people built around Mike's masterclasses. In fact, we're all just cleverly written bots whose primary function is to pimp out Mike's classes.
     
  5. Mike told me not to mention that publicly?
     
  6. Template Balancing changed the way I mix virtual instruments. Very good investment.
     
    Xavier Armiz and John Eldridge like this.
  7. Hi and welcome!

    This will take practice. And editing will be harder; you'll be doing it by ear only - no grid to rely on.

    This will take time as you have to do research. Libraries don't have demos available so even if you've watched walkthrough videos, you're still buying half-blind. I'm all for performance libraries and and am slowly dropping all libraries in favor for those that are more flexible and have zero keyswitching and I'll list what I'm using below (pretty similar to Mike's current loadout or rather the one he posted about in the other thread)

    Percussion: Whatever you want, really - whatever you like. I use Spitfire - they have a consistency across keyboard mappings and HZ01 has playable rolls. There's a number of great libraries here

    Woodwinds: Berlin Woodwinds (decent playability and playable runs, great options and controls in the interface, but keyswitch based nonetheless), slowly switching over to SWAM Woodwinds (no keyswitching, modeled)

    Brass: Sample Modeling (this will be a bit painful to mix with other libraries, and costly if you're going to go for Altiverb), Adventure Brass. There's also Caspian which I think sounds pretty good (and it's straight out of the box, unlike Adventure Brass), but I don't own it so I can't vouch for playability 100%, even though people keep saying that it plays well too.

    Strings: Spitfire Symphonic Strings (even though they have a hall sound, I find them pretty playable as the notes don't have built-in inflections) and CSS (when I want that sound; notes are recorded with inflections, meaning you can just play without too much modwheel action and it will sound good, but it will always sound that way. However, they have a 60ms delay on shorts and a delay on their legato due to how it's recorded and scripted so they're a bit of a pain in the ass to play and get right)

    That's what I use and I'm pretty happy with it. I would still suggest you do your own research. And try also posting on VI-C about performance libraries, you'll get much more attention and concrete responses over there which should help you with homework.

    Also depends on the libraries. This will take mixing skill as you'll be matching rooms and apparent sizes spectrally and acoustically.

    This a choice. Mike apparently goes over this in detail in his Template Balancing class (which I've not seen). His way is to have your virtual orchestra sound like a real one does in terms of articulation and instrument balance. (e.g. most libraries have their pizz as loud as arco - this is entirely a production thing because in reality the pizz is much quieter than arco). This will train you to turn to orchestration first instead of production when wanting something. You'll learn orchestration better which will always be your base that you can fall back on. It will also help in any other type of music you're doing. However, if you really want the pizz loud, nobody is stopping you from bringing them up. Nobody will stop you from having 12 horns blasting over your woodwind quartet then having the flute shit on them, as long as you make it sound good - but how you pull that off is a different skill, given all the factors. That's why this is a choice - it's a personal style.
     
    Runar Lundvall likes this.
  8. Cheers Aaron, thanks for taking the time to post your message, its great advice, I will do my homework.

    Jeff, I bought the template balancing video, half way through now. Its good..
     

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