# Art Conductor for Cubase Opinions ?



## bcarwell (Feb 28, 2019)

How is Babylonwaves' Art Conductor for Cubase Expression Maps now ? Is it a good product worth purchasing ? Are there alternatives ? I know Steinberg has several individual product's expression maps available for download but looks like a P.I.T.A. to deal with individually.

Thanks for any advice/opinions.

Bob


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## 5Lives (Feb 28, 2019)

I have their version for Logic and it is a massive time saver and really well done. Basically plug-n-play. Worth the cost to me.


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## bcarwell (Mar 1, 2019)

5Lives said:


> I have their version for Logic and it is a massive time saver and really well done. Basically plug-n-play. Worth the cost to me.



Thanks. Gonna purchase especially now with VSL updates. Any sources for more expression maps other than this and Steinburg ?


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## Shubus (Mar 14, 2019)

I have Art Conductor and it saved a whole lot of time. As I mostly use Orchestral Tools libraries it was good to see most of the libraries having good expression map setups. They include expression maps for both Articulations as well as Direction (Cubase), but I only use the set for Direction. For Orchestral Tools, they are only missing some of the smaller Expansions.


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## Akarin (Mar 14, 2019)

I don't have any experience with it. Once you get to build your Expression Maps the way you want to, the process is really quick and you can set them up the way you want.


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## babylonwaves (Mar 15, 2019)

Akarin said:


> Once you get to build your Expression Maps the way you want to, the process is really quick and you can set them up the way you want.


to a degree, you're right. setting up an simple EM is easy - in many cases. it just takes time when you do a whole library. what we do is save people time and on top, we also include a couple of extras. for instance, we unify key switches for the most common articulations. or we unify names, so independent of the library things are called more or less the same. and that's the main issue when you look for free maps on the net, you'll find stuff that's setup very differently.


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## Akarin (Mar 15, 2019)

babylonwaves said:


> to a degree, you're right. setting up an simple EM is easy - in many cases. it just takes time when you do a whole library. what we do is save people time and on top, we also include a couple of extras. for instance, we unify key switches for the most common articulations. or we unify names, so independent of the library things are called more or less the same. and that's the main issue when you look for free maps on the net, you'll find stuff that's setup very differently.



I agree with you on that one. That's why I've built all my maps (over 100 of them) using common names and keyswitches. 

Out of interest, how did you deal with CSS and the short articulations on CC1, legatos on/off, etc?


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## babylonwaves (Mar 15, 2019)

Akarin said:


> Out of interest, how did you deal with CSS and the short articulations on CC1, legatos on/off, etc?


CC58. as for the legato I haven't found a good solution, if you send 2x CC58 in a row (one for the art, one for the legato state), kontakt will omit on of the two controllers


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## Akarin (Mar 15, 2019)

babylonwaves said:


> CC58. as for the legato I haven't found a good solution, if you send 2x CC58 in a row (one for the art, one for the legato state), kontakt will omit on of the two controllers



I see. This is why I usually don't use 3rd parties Expression Maps: they assume a certain workflow. For example, using CCs for switching is not a great solution as Cubase can't retrigger CCs mid-phrase. You'd have to restart your playhead at the beginning of the event for it to be triggered. The only way I found for dealing with this issue (and the legato) is the one I wrote here:


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## babylonwaves (Mar 15, 2019)

Sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too


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## Craig Allen (May 13, 2019)

Akarin said:


> I see. This is why I usually don't use 3rd parties Expression Maps: they assume a certain workflow. For example, using CCs for switching is not a great solution as Cubase can't retrigger CCs mid-phrase. You'd have to restart your playhead at the beginning of the event for it to be triggered. The only way I found for dealing with this issue (and the legato) is the one I wrote here:




This is a brilliant article. So clear and helpful; an extraordinary resource. Thank you for explaining the challenge of the CSS approach (seems frustrating they have gone rogue on their approach), and how you've solved it. Following you!


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## Akarin (May 13, 2019)

Craig Allen said:


> This is a brilliant article. So clear and helpful; an extraordinary resource. Thank you for explaining the challenge of the CSS approach (seems frustrating they have gone rogue on their approach), and how you've solved it. Following you!



Thanks. It may not suit everyone's workflow due to having to build multis but it does work for me quite well. And yes, the way CSS implements switching between shorts is not awesome. I much prefer the Spitfire way or the new 8Dio UI (Century Strings, Anthology, etc.)


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## Craig Allen (May 13, 2019)

babylonwaves said:


> Sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too



I love that BW has pursued this! Planning to get. However, related specifically to the CSS libraries: I see that the CSS libraries are included in BW. By your comments though, are you saying that the legato patches aren't responding correctly with your expression maps (due to the CC limitation)?

Bigger question: Are these approaches compatible? Specifically, if I were to buy Art Conductor for Cubase Expression Maps AND "fix" the CC issue for the CSS libraries by following Akarin's guidance with his Expression Maps for CSS -- can both be used seamlessly in a Cubase template? (I ask this as a newbie to both Cubase -- just ordered, and Expression Maps -- never having used).


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## fish_hoof (May 13, 2019)

bcarwell said:


> How is Babylonwaves' Art Conductor for Cubase Expression Maps now ? Is it a good product worth purchasing ? Are there alternatives ? I know Steinberg has several individual product's expression maps available for download but looks like a P.I.T.A. to deal with individually.
> 
> Thanks for any advice/opinions.
> 
> Bob



I have it and LOVE it. It's a huge time saver for me. Didn't have to put it together myself. For what you get, it's a huge bargain.


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## Craig Allen (May 13, 2019)

babylonwaves said:


> CC58. as for the legato I haven't found a good solution, if you send 2x CC58 in a row (one for the art, one for the legato state), kontakt will omit on of the two controllers



One more question: Does this problem for CSS libraries' legato patches exist similarly within Logic Articulations? Or is this specifically a Cubase/Expression Maps limitation with CSS?


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## Øivind (May 13, 2019)

Art Conductor for Cubase is excellent. Two thumbs up.


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## babylonwaves (May 15, 2019)

@Craig Allen We've just released an update with all new Cinematic Strings and Brass patches. You can control legato (and con sord if applicable) now without the need of any other extras. What I've stated above is still true (for both logic and cubase, it's a Kontakt related issue) but I've found a workaround now.


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## composingkeys (May 16, 2019)

I see 8dio Century Ostinato is supported but what about Century Strings or Century Brass? Also, are there going to be VSL Synchron or VSL Synchron-ized Expression Maps in the future? This may not be necessary as VSL makes their own which is nice but their mapping would be different.


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## Craig Allen (May 16, 2019)

babylonwaves said:


> @Craig Allen We've just released an update with all new Cinematic Strings and Brass patches. You can control legato (and con sord if applicable) now without the need of any other extras. What I've stated above is still true (for both logic and cubase, it's a Kontakt related issue) but I've found a workaround now.



Excellent news!
And to confirm: the workaround is implemented for both Cubase and Logic with Art Conductor?


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