# I'm very shy but, hi! How are you doing?



## Klealie (Dec 24, 2021)

Hello everyone! I just joined this afternoon and I just finished my Christmas party.
Are you doing well?
Was your Christmas party good if you celebrate it?

I want to thank you very very much because it's you who helped me choose my first sample libraries but I was too shy to sign up.
I am a 22-year-old girl and I am trying to compose music since September in my bedroom, even if "compose" is really too big of a word in my case, my music isn't very good anyway, I still have a lot to learn.

For many years, I was very curious about MIDI music, I didn't know how people were doing this.
I think that one of my favorite instruments is the music box (yeah, I know, I am strange), and I love listening to music box covers on YouTube. I wanted to do the same thing, but I didn't know how, and I was unable to find anything, I was maybe googling the wrong words.
Then I came across this forum and I started to read some topics.

I found the whole concept of creating music with a computer very nice, and I started to dream of being able to compose music for movies one day, maybe it's not realistic at all but hope doesn't kill anyone.
Soon after, I bought my first instruments, but I saw that Kontakt was required and that I couldn't do anything with the compressed samples without it.
So I purchased Kontakt then I began to buy some other instruments.

I didn't really know what I was doing, spending soooo much money on something new like this was scary but, finally, it's obvious that I really enjoy it enormously, so I think I won't regret anything.
I got myself a laptop for Christmas to be able to use large libraries.
However, I still don't know what kind of music boxes is used on YouTube, the libraries I have found don't have the same sound, but they are very beautiful too and I love playing these instruments too.
I have a MIDI piano, I didn't know what the MIDI function was for exactly but it's truly wonderful.
I can't really tell for now what style I am most into because I don't know it myself haha.
I like trying a lot of different things.
Merry Christmas to you all, bless you and your family, your children! I love children!


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## nolotrippen (Dec 24, 2021)

Klealie said:


> Hello everyone! I just joined this afternoon and I just finished my Christmas party.
> Are you doing well?
> Was your Christmas party good if you celebrate it?
> 
> ...


Merry Christmas to you, too. What helped me with shyness was becoming a greeter at church. Also Krav Maga (can't be shy when you're being attacked). What sample libraries have you started with?


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## Refugee (Dec 24, 2021)

Welcome. I’m new here too. From what I can see here most are on different levels of the musical journey. All the best!


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## Rowy van Hest (Dec 24, 2021)

Welcome, Klealie. You write a lot about stuff, but what I wonder is, what about your musical training? Did you play a musical instrument before?


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## thorwald (Dec 25, 2021)

Welcome on-board Klealie, and merry Christmas to you as well.

There are lots of helpful people here, and since we all make music for different reasons with various degrees of experience, all questions are perfectly valid.

There are lots of music boxes, just to mention a few:

Pianobook has lots of inspiring ones here for free: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=music+box

Soniccouture has one for free: https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p43-music-boxes/

FrozenPlain has an improved version of their Victorian Music Box for free here: https://frozenplain.com/product/music-box-suite-free/

This one is commercial, but quite beautiful: https://soundiron.com/products/the-musique-box

By the way, pianos and harps work really well with most music boxes.

Also, if you like music boxes, and wouldn't mind learning a new physical instrument to play, kalimbas with longer sustain can have music box-like qualities and they can be super inspiring, not to mention they are great Christmas gifts too. I recently picked up a 21 key Lingting, but they have smaller key versions too: 

Happy composing! ☺️


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## muk (Dec 25, 2021)

Hi @Klealie. Welcome to the forum, and merry Christmas to you as well!

There are a few music box sample libraries, some of the being free. Maybe one of these has the sound you are looking for:

Free ones:









LABS LABS Music Box


<p>Discover the bewitching sounds of two music boxes: one made and performed by award-winning composer and artist Hannah Peel, featuring on her score for HBO’s Game of Thrones: The Last Watch — made by hand printing notations on paper with a hole puncher, the sound of the paper rolling through...



labs.spitfireaudio.com










Music Boxes : Free Sample Library for Kontakt, Ableton Live & Logic EXS24 | Soniccouture







www.soniccouture.com









__





Music Box | Free Kontakt library | Wavesfactory







www.wavesfactory.com





Not so expensive ones:









Musique Box


Musique Box is a complete collection of 11 deeply sampled music boxes with a huge range of extended content, powerful custom interface and performance features. It offers an intuitive GUI with an adaptable LFO system, customizable arpeggiator, a modular FX rack with 18 DSP effect, and 20...




soundiron.com













Speeldoos - Sonokinetic - Sample libraries and Virtual Instruments


Original Swiss Musical Box Sample Library




www.sonokinetic.net





If you like you can share the youtube video(s) that you mentioned. Maybe we can give some advise on how a similar sound could be achieved.


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## Paulogic (Dec 25, 2021)

Merry Christmas Klealie !

Just go for it ! You like making music as all of us here and we're all different in taste,
knowledge, experience, skills and so on. So no better place to ask questions, learn and
even teach us some stuff. I've been here for a while now and I enjoy this forum very
much. Being helped and hoping to help others.
And don't be shy, be curious !


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## Marcus Millfield (Dec 25, 2021)

Welcome and merry Christmas!


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## Klealie (Dec 25, 2021)

Oh you will make me cry, thank you for your kindness and your warm welcome.
I'm very moved right now.
And thank you for your Christmas wishes!
I got a kind of handmade "enclosure" with a curtain around my desk to protect my laptop from my kitties, preventing them from running, walking and jumping on it when I'm away, and a lot of chocolates, I'm very happy.

I don't know how to reply specifically to each individual person, when I want to respond I can quote one message but it would make multiple posts.
But you are all very kind.

@nolotrippen > Oh I'm not sure, but I think my first sample libraries were the free Roots Balafon by Studio Palaces, Singing Metal by Observant Sound and Detunized's Glass Harp, then Michaela's Harp by Libre Waves, then maybe Fluffy Audio's free flute, then 8dio's Wrenchenspiel, Cinematic Studio Piano...
And now I have so many amazing sample libraries that I'm a bit ashamed to list them all when I look at what I spent in 3 months already while some people can't even eat properly, I don't know I have like maybe 15 sample libraries, so 15 x 4 = 60 libraries in a year if I continue following that road haha, 600 sample libraries in 10 years, and 3000 in 50 years, noooooo I can't do this.
Well, I said 15, but I think it's more... Yes, definitely... I'm already at 18, I should stop counting them if I want to sleep this night.

@Refugee > I'm amazed at people's mockups, everyone seems so skilled on here, and at the same time respectful of each person's work!

@Rowy van Hest > I play a bit of piano. But, shame on me, I can only play the piece that I compose, but not anyone else's pieces.

@thorwald and @muk > This is awesome, thank you so much for your links, these music boxes all sound gorgeous, I'm downloading some right now and I may pick up Soundiron's.
thorwald I love the kalimba, it's a very beautiful instrument! I have one but I should try again to play it, it has a very beautiful sound but since I'm lazy, I didn't have the patience to try and learn yet.
Also something strange is that I've looked at some kalimba libraries, they all sound very good, I have Cinesample's. But I didn't find a library sounding like the kalimba I own.
Maybe I should sample it, host it on a random website and share it on here, but I have absolutely no idea if it's allowed to sample an instrument you own and I don't want to do anything wrong.
I didn't know the existence of Pianobook, it's such an amazing place, and they have a glass harp!!!
muk, thank you, here are some video examples:
The first song in this one:


This one is said to be a music box but it sounds different, I don't know:


@Paulogic > Yeah this forum is really cool, everyone is nice!
It gives me even more motivation to make music.

@Marcus Millfield > Thank you for your kind words and merry Christmas too!


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## Jeremy Morgan (Dec 25, 2021)

Klealie said:


> Oh you will make me cry, thank you for your kindness and your warm welcome.
> I'm very moved right now.
> And thank you for your Christmas wishes!
> I got a kind of handmade "enclosure" with a curtain around my desk to protect my laptop from my kitties, preventing them from running, walking and jumping on it when I'm away, and a lot of chocolates, I'm very happy.
> ...



Don't forget to pick up soundpaint @ soundpaint.com. you get a free piano and a secondary library free angels that has a lot of varied content in there for you to play without a dime spent....because you will spending dimes down the road anyways. This is the way.


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## thorwald (Dec 25, 2021)

Klealie said:


> I got a kind of handmade "enclosure" with a curtain around my desk to protect my laptop from my kitties, preventing them from running, walking and jumping on it when I'm away, and a lot of chocolates, I'm very happy.


Chocolate makes everything a lot better, doesn't it? 😀



Klealie said:


> I don't know how to reply specifically to each individual person, when I want to respond I can quote one message but it would make multiple posts.


You can do it in one post too, just hit reply on multiple posts and it'll quote what they said. In a lot of cases though, just mentioning the user works out a lot better.



Klealie said:


> Well, I said 15, but I think it's more... Yes, definitely... I'm already at 18, I should stop counting them if I want to sleep this night.


I think a lot of users would not be able to sleep at night if they counted how many sample libraries they have, me included. More so, because some of them are hardly used anymore thanks to newer libraries that just work better for a specific person.
This is a problem with sample libraries, there is rarely one that works everywhere, quite often the kind of music you make determines which one you will end up using.

The good news is that even if you have hundreds of libraries, there is always something that will inspire you.



Klealie said:


> Also something strange is that I've looked at some kalimba libraries, they all sound very good, I have Cinesample's. But I didn't find a library sounding like the kalimba I own.
> Maybe I should sample it, host it on a random website and share it on here, but I have absolutely no idea if it's allowed to sample an instrument you own and I don't want to do anything wrong.


That's my problem as well, nothing sounds like the kalimba I have, so I'm in the process of sampling it. Speaking of, you can absolutely sample your own instrument, people even do it with rented or borrowed ones, and of course musicians are paid to have theirs sampled, either within an orchestra or as a solo instrument.



Klealie said:


> This one is said to be a music box but it sounds different, I don't know:



I believe this is a celeste.


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## muk (Dec 26, 2021)

The tracks you posted have a really pure and love music box sound. None of the libraries I posted have that. Most of them go for a quirkier, characterful sound. For the time being, the second music box in the free Soniccouture library is not too far off though, I would say.

As thorwald wrote, in the third video, that's a celeste. Might be another instrument you could be interested in.


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## manw (Dec 26, 2021)

Hey Klealie! Welcome! It's a really wondruous thing to witness someone's first forray into this domain. Who knows, maybe in 20 years we'll hear your music in some movie credits and we'll be able to say "hey, i was there when she was starting out". It's a beautiful journey that lies ahead of you and i admit i am rather envious of you getting to discover most things (sort of like when someone reads a book you've read a while ago and you see the excitement in their eyes and you're happy for them, while at the same time can't help but feel sad for not being able to discover that thing for the first time ever again).


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## Double Helix (Dec 26, 2021)

Hello and a warm welcome to VI-Control, @Klealie--I hope you will enjoy your stay.
What part of the planet do you call home?
(I am in Florida, US)
Have fun!


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## MusiquedeReve (Dec 26, 2021)

Welcome aboard from NY

Re: shyness - I am very shy myself - but, for me, I guess it has turned into lifestyle as I work from home (non music career) and my hobby is writing music (which I also do from home) - that being said, if you want to break out of your shyness, try smiling at and saying hello to one random stranger per day as you are out in the world (of course, those who can't do, in this situation, pontificate on what others should)


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## Klealie (Dec 26, 2021)

Thank you so much everyone!

Thank you @Jeremy Morgan I didn't know Soundpaint, it looks amazing.
It seems to be a new 8dio project, I like 8dio a lot.

@thorwald you made me discover an instrument, the celeste or celesta, and yeah I love this sound a lot!
Sonokinetik's one sounds marvellous to my ears, and also the ones from Chocolate Audio and Beautiful Void Audio.
Thank you so much for this!
So maybe the first notes in Harry Potter's main movie soundtrack is played by a celesta?
I always thought it was a kind of music box.
Chocolate is the love of my life, but I should stop eating. But I can't. I guess it's lthe same as sample purchasing.
The LingTing kalimbas have a so beautiful sound!
Mine is a Moozica. The sound is really lovely, different from Ling Ting's.
The high notes aren't so great though, contrary to Ling Ting's, they kind of sound a bit muted.
But I guess it can be worked out for samples.
Thank you for the info about sampling rights, I'll put this idea into a corner of my head.
Oh okay, thank you for the tip for replying!

@manw thank you!
It's indeed so amazing to discover it all and to see what wonderful music you can produce with a computer.
Also the community is adorable and it plays a big part on what's motivating me to continue.

@Double Helix I'm a French girl.
My childhood nanny is American, I love her deeply.

@MorphineNoir thank you for your advice about shyness 
Working from home would be ideal for me too.

Please may I ask you all if I really need an audio interface?
I only work with samples and an audio interface would also mean buying new headphones, I'm super happy with my beloved wireless Bose headphones, they will be 3 years old in March and they are still working perfectly despite being used about 10 to 12 hours per day.
I have heard that Microsoft Sound Mapper could lead to clicks, but are they actually recorded by the DAW or is it simply a problem for live performance?
I have not encountered clicks yet, but I'm not handling heavy stuff.
I'm not reluctant to buy a 100 $ audio interface if it's really necessary, but I also tell myself that with 100 $ you can buy a library, or part of a dream library, that's why I'm hesitant.
I already have an Olympus Ws 853 recoder to record myself or an instrument if ever I need it.


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## companyofquail (Dec 26, 2021)

did you get the spitfire audio labs? there is a music box in there and tons of other free stuff that sounds great.

my suggestion is to just download the app, create an account and start a folder for the labs stuff.









LABS


An infinite series of free software instruments, made by musicians and sampling experts in London, for anyone, anywhere. Presented in our own plug-in, they are easy to use, and compatible with any DAW. And in case you missed it — they're all free.



labs.spitfireaudio.com


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## manw (Dec 27, 2021)

Klealie said:


> Please may I ask you all if I really need an audio interface?
> I only work with samples and an audio interface would also mean buying new headphones, I'm super happy with my beloved wireless Bose headphones, they will be 3 years old in March and they are still working perfectly despite being used about 10 to 12 hours per day.
> I have heard that Microsoft Sound Mapper could lead to clicks, but are they actually recorded by the DAW or is it simply a problem for live performance?
> I have not encountered clicks yet, but I'm not handling heavy stuff.
> ...


You should at least try Asio4All as a driver, for lower latency - it works with most onboard sound chips at the expense of it not being multi-client (aka you won't be able to hear both your DAW and Youtube at the same time).
Before getting an audio interface, i would actually get some wired headphones, as wireless stuff adds latency; i know BT has come a long way and it's near 0, but even 5-10 ms added to the latency of your system may lead to 10-20 ms of overall latency - if you don't play anything live and write stuff using the mouse, that's no issue, but if you ever want to play your instruments, it will be very hard to stay in sync.
If you get headphones, make sure you get something with 32Ohms of impedance at most, as anything higher will be harder to drive from the integrated sound chip and you will need a headphone amp (at which point, you might go the extra mile and get an audio interface anyway, as those also have headphone amps - there are a few 100 euro options for that, Audient Evo4 being one of them - solid drivers at ultra low latency).


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## puremusic (Dec 27, 2021)

Congratulations and Merry Christmas! Making music with all sorts of instruments with sample libraries is wonderful! It is a dream come true for many folks, myself too.

Yes the ASIO4ALL is the first thing to try if you have too much latency with your sample libraries, that is, if they take too long to play a note after you press a key, or if you have clicks and pops even middle range latency settings for your samples. I know I spent a ton of money my first few years both on libraries collecting all sorts of beautiful sounds and on hardware to lower and lower the latency so I could play more complex sample libraries in real time.


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## guerrax (Dec 27, 2021)

Probably the cuetest post I've seen from day 1. I'm also new. I also encourage you to make your first step with Soundpaint. Because it is affordable and you don't dive in this discounted spiral every event of the year. You don't have this frustration to miss the potential instrument you need but actually still don't know it. 
The Graphic interface is very user friendly for beginners and you can also try to tweak without falling into an "Omnisphere" scenario (powerfull and super deep plug in).
It is also a new software so you can see it growing. I found this particularly exciting personally.
I don't work for Soundpaint or 8dio. I just like the way they do their stuff and marketing. And I must admit I fell in love the way Troels Folmann talks about music and sound. You'll also notice how this person is lovely and shy.

Welcome on this forum and have a great Christmas holidays.


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## Klealie (Dec 27, 2021)

Thank you again!

@muk > don't worry, all the music boxes you shared with me are very beautiful.
I have also found Tiny Box that sounds a lot like a "pure" music box.

@companyofquail > Quails are cute animals, aren't they?
Thank you very much for the advice. Yeah the music box by Spitfire sounds gorgeous, I'm trying to install it now, I downloaded LABS the other day.

@manw > thanks very much for your advice about the audio interface.
I didn't know for bluetooth and latency.
I'm looking at Audient's, it seems good, also the Scarlet Solo but someone on Amazon says the basses are moody.
The DAW says I don't have any ASIO driver.

@puremusic > thanks very much!
That's true that when I press a key, the sound comes later, I thought this was just normal but it's a bit annoying I find.

@guerrax > thank youa lot fior you very kind words, and welcome to you too if you are new!
Sounpaint sounds very promising.. But it's so hard to resist the GAS when you read the different topics on here.


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## puremusic (Dec 27, 2021)

Yes you can get used to it, but it's easier to play well with lower latency. The main reason I first purchased an audio interface is the latency. After not being satisfied with regular interfaces, I got a cheap used PCI card from RME, a most reliable brand. That set things up well, but most new computers don't even accept plain old PCI cards anymore though some people try adapters. Rather than this route most people go with USB interfaces.

There's a 'Buffer Size' setting that determines your latency, I believe most people have it set to 256 or 512 to work well without clicks and pops. I aim for somewhere under 10ms latency for a good feel. 

What DAW are you using?

You get used to this stuff with time, once it's setup it's wonderful to have it all work without issues.


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## Loïc D (Dec 27, 2021)

Klealie said:


> I got a kind of handmade "enclosure" with a curtain around my desk to protect my laptop from my kitties, preventing them from running, walking and jumping on it


Hahaha, I can totally understand this. My little demons already made their share of mess on my work or music projects.

Welcome here, plenty of very good advices already.


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## Klealie (Dec 27, 2021)

@puremusic > thank you again for your helpful advice!
I didn't even know what was the buffer size...
I use Reaper for now and I really enjoy it.
What about you?
I'm thinking of bying the Audient.

@Loïc D > thank you!
Haha, we both have mischievous little friends.
They are 3 and they really are very, very, very active, as much active as I love them.


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## ChrisSiuMusic (Dec 27, 2021)

Hey, welcome Klealie! Awesome to have you  I know you'll find lots of useful info around here, and lots of great people to chat with as well!


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## Laurin Lenschow (Dec 27, 2021)

Welcome to the forum Klealie! 



Klealie said:


> @thorwald you made me discover an instrument, the celeste or celesta, and yeah I love this sound a lot!
> So maybe the first notes in Harry Potter's main movie soundtrack is played by a celesta?
> I always thought it was a kind of music box.


Yes, the notes you are referring to are indeed played by a Celeste, but by a specially treated one. (I don't remember exactly what went into it but it had something to do with adding a sine wave to the sound.) You can read more about it and actually buy samples of that exact instrument from Cinesamples, the library is called "Randy's Celeste".

Oh and btw, because it's obligatory to tell this newbies and it wasn't mentioned in this thread so far: Never buy anything expensive that is not on sale. When it comes to samples, you can get discounts of 30-80%, which makes quite the difference when we are talking about libraries that normally cost hundreds of Dollars. The best discounts tend to be around Black Friday and Christmas, but there are also companies like 8dio and Cinesamples that have more or less permanent sales.


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## Tralen (Dec 27, 2021)

Welcome to Klealie, our future Celesta player, and Merry Christmas to all!


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## puremusic (Dec 27, 2021)

Klealie said:


> @puremusic > thank you again for your helpful advice!
> I didn't even know what was the buffer size...
> I use Reaper for now and I really enjoy it.
> What about you?
> ...


I started off with Reaper as well. Later on I went with Studio One, very easy drag and drop your instruments and multi-fx presets workflow, which can matter when you have a lot of different instruments and effects. Tried the demo and that was that. 

It sounds like you're on the right track with working out your setup! You never know for sure how well a setup will work till you try it, computers are all setup different. Just keep your receipts so you can do a return if a new interface doesn't work out.

And yes too never buy anything that isn't on sale. There's only a very few publishers that don't have sales. It makes a big difference in the number of libraries you can purchase in the long run. I love Spitfire Audio for its beautiful sound, but the prices are top tier too.

There are so many beautiful instruments out there that I know fit right in to my style of music. So i keep a list, and wait for the sales.


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## Klealie (Dec 29, 2021)

Thank you again and sorry for the late reply.

@ChrisSiuMusic > Thank you very much!
I actually follow your YouTube channel and it's really :elpful to me, thank you for your work, I'm shy to see you here. 

@LaurenLenschow > Thank you very much! Oh yeah the Randy's Celeste is really the same, another library that is telling me "buy me! buy me! buy me now!".
Thanks for the advice about sales. I learned yesterday that Berlin had one not long ago and I missed it. *cries*

@Tralen > Thanks very much, merry end of year to you!

@puremusic > It's great to learn about other people's musical history.
I'm happy with Reaper for now, and its price is low, but Studio One sounds good as well.
Spitfire is having a sale right now if you want.


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## ChrisSiuMusic (Dec 29, 2021)

Klealie said:


> Thank you again and sorry for the late reply.
> 
> @ChrisSiuMusic > Thank you very much!
> I actually follow your YouTube channel and it's really :elpful to me, thank you for your work, I'm shy to see you here.
> ...


Thank you, so glad you find it helpful!


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