midi orchestra sounds... questions need answering..best one for under 800?

[freakkguitarist]

hey guys, im interested in getting some real good string sounds for my studio, i want strings, cellos id like horns, and other various orchestra sounds. i want to be able to do string sounds like dimmu borgir, and other black metal bands, as well as mostly random string parts in pop songs, not full only orchestra peices. what can you guys reccomend? i run logic pro on a dual 2.0 g5 with 2.5 gigs of ram. all i have are the samplers that come with logic. would i need to get a better sampler too?


also random question about writing the parts in midi, how would i tell a sequencer, such as the EXS24 or whatever one i buy to "play notes differently" like legato, or picking notes, or long bows, or short notes. do i have to write that all in the notation editor? or can i do it from piano roll? im not too experienced in all this midi stuff sorry for the dumb questions

ian

 

[TelePaul]

also random question about writing the parts in midi, how would i tell a sequencer, such as the EXS24 or whatever one i buy to "play notes differently" like legato, or picking notes, or long bows, or short notes. do i have to write that all in the notation editor? or can i do it from piano roll? im not too experienced in all this midi stuff sorry for the dumb questions

ian

This part of your question will depend on the quality of your program, i.e if it caters for things like legato crescendo etc. Certain things you may be able to control from the midi controller, like picking notes or sustained notes.

Certain programs, like Synful for example, will use a 1 second delay in playback to 'look into the future' and anticipate what's coming next to add realistic swells or crescendos etc. Synful itself has several drawbacks in that it doesn't feature variations on a samples dynamics (I didn't liek the abss sample for this reaosn, though you CAN download a sample).

I'm kinda in the same boat to be honest....I expect to be buying some more software applications soon and would like an orchestra VSTi. I was reading up on Steinbergs Halion Symphonic, but the guy to ask about this is DavidK.

 

[DavidK]

but the guy to ask about this is DavidK.

At your service

how would i tell a sequencer, such as the EXS24 or whatever one i buy to "play notes differently" like legato, or picking notes, or long bows, or short notes.

You play it differently. If you are doing it by notation or piano roll, you have come across a downfall with that method. There are certain things you can do ( like edit note duration), for example. The word you are looking for is "articulations", and usually sample libraries have many to choose from. You choose the correct one, you could do it on different tracks for example. You could also use knobs to change the attacks and releases of notes. My MM6 does that, a lot of new keyboards have knobs for that person. What you could do is notate the notes, then record midi info via knobs over that. Try it if you have knobs.

You could also do things like write a dotted eighth note instead of a quarter to make a short quarter. If you are creative you can come up with lots of ways. The BEST way is to play it, or play part of it as a punch-in to shake it up and add some articulations to a passage.

On some keyboards, you pick the sound based on your needs. On the MM6, "Symphony strings" are for long slow notes, Marcato strings for short, Velocity Strings for music like Bach where you need a fast articulation. Picking the right patch is half the battle. This is where expansion boards and sample libraries come in handy. My JV1010 has an orchestra expansion board which gives me a lot more choices for string articulation.

 

[TelePaul]

At your service



You play it differently. If you are doing it by notation or piano roll, you have come across a downfall with that method. There are certain things you can do ( like edit note duration), for example. The word you are looking for is "articulations", and usually sample libraries have many to choose from. You choose the correct one, you could do it on different tracks for example. You could also use knobs to change the attacks and releases of notes. My MM6 does that, a lot of new keyboards have knobs for that person. What you could do is notate the notes, then record midi info via knobs over that. Try it if you have knobs.

You could also do things like write a dotted eighth note instead of a quarter to make a short quarter. If you are creative you can come up with lots of ways. The BEST way is to play it, or play part of it as a punch-in to shake it up and add some articulations to a passage.

On some keyboards, you pick the sound based on your needs. On the MM6, "Symphony strings" are for long slow notes, Marcato strings for short, Velocity Strings for music like Bach where you need a fast articulation. Picking the right patch is half the battle. This is where expansion boards and sample libraries come in handy. My JV1010 has an orchestra expansion board which gives me a lot more choices for string articulation.

Thanks David! Could you remind me of what your VSTi prefernce would be?

 

[noisewreck]

You might want to look at Garritan's stuff.

Also, many of the orchestral libraries that are based on Kontact or are delivered in Kontact format, take advantage of Kontact's scripting abilities to switch among different sets of samples by using the lowest most octave of keys. Through this you can switch between legato, sforzando, p<f, pizz and other articulations and samples.

 

[DavidK]

Thanks David! Could you remind me of what your VSTi prefernce would be?

For Vsti's, I only use Synful for orchestra stuff, which I really like or really dislike depending on my mood that day. It's incredibly quirky and very limited but it has good sounds...at times. My vsti's are more analogish like minimoog stuff.

Noisewrecks Garritan sounds like a good idea, I would say the best solution is having many solutions. I have 3 romplers (Yamaha, Roland and Alesis) and about to buy a fourth that is more high-end (like a Motif or Fantom). Synful I use, I have a few samples etc. And, of course I have the unusual ability of overdubbing real violins.

A rompler (i.e a synth based on rom samples), a vsti like synful and a library like Garritan and you are set. It has to do as much with the knowledge of the orchestra as it does the gear. Fortunately I play in one.