# Vir2 Instruments MOJO: Horn Section is Now Shipping!!!



## vir2 (Aug 14, 2009)

Vir2 Instruments is proud to announce the long awaited release of MOJO: Horn Section


Now at the tips of your fingers is the most versatile horn section in the world, MOJO: Horn Section, which offers the most flexible and innovative approach to pop, funk, jazz, and big band horns ever created in a virtual instrument. Inspired by legendary groups like Tower of Power and the big bands of decades past, MOJO is capable of emulating everything from a sultry sax solo to a screaming full big band playing at the top of their lungs.

Pushing the boundaries of sampling and scripting technology far beyond traditional sample libraries, MOJO offers a simple but feature-packed interface. No need to decide in advance which articulation you want to play. Simply load the instrument, turn the Ensemble knob to specify how many players you want playing that instrument (from a soloist to a dectet) and begin controlling the instrument from the keyboard. More than a dozen articulations are instantly loaded and intelligently handled via performance features and keyswitches. Behind the scenes, a humanizing function, smart release layers, and custom legato and vibrato tools assist the player in reproducing the ultimate dimensions in realism. Crescendos and swells sync instantly to host tempos and can be triggered in real time.

Included in the instrument collection are: soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet (open, muted, and piccolo), flugelhorn, trombone (open and muted), bass trombone, and clarinet. The articulation list varies for each instrument, but generally includes sustains, stabs, staccatos, trills, slurs, shakes, octave runs, rise to hits, falls (including four different lengths), doits, bends, stylistic riffs, special effects, and tempo-synced swells and crescendos. All samples are recorded in 24-bit stereo using the finest preamps in the world, including a vintage Neve 1073 and a LaChapell Audio 992EG, and mics by AKG, Neumann, and Coles.

MOJO is powered by the popular Kontakt 3.5 engine, offering total integration into all major sequencers via its AudioUnit, VST, and RTAS [Pro Tools 7/8] plug-ins, as well as standalone operation.

$499.95

http://www.vir2.com/4DCGI/vir2/products/mojo/index.html?1205 (www.vir2.com/4DCGI/vir2/products/mojo/index.html?1205)


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## Pedro Camacho (Aug 14, 2009)

????Woahh!!


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## Pedro Camacho (Aug 14, 2009)

Just to say that I bought it already.

One side note, I think your demos are not good enough. I think I heard beyond the samples and really expect to get more out of it that what shows on the demos (EQ, Reverb, midi programming, Big Band orchestration).

12 Instruments, that is less than 40 USD per instrument... adding that to the release special price, then you just have to buy it.


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## Dynamitec (Aug 15, 2009)

Hi Pedro,

I think Vir2 might chime in here again but since I was strongly involved in the development of Mojo I'm just going to reply to your post:

One thing you should know about the demos is, that they were done using an very early beta version of Mojo (since back then it wasn't clear that the release date would be that far in the future). Very much has been improved since then. Vir2 has constantly fine tuned and tweaked the instruments and even on the scripting side a lot has changed. The legato engine - for example - was completely rewritten, since the K3.5 release took longer than expected and with it the release date of Mojo. Also the modelled vibratos weren't finished at the time the demos were posted.

Vir2 really used all this extra time to constantly tweak and further improve Mojo. Unfortunately with all the work, new demos were missed out.

I know this might not be an excuse, but I just wanted to let you know the reasons why the demos haven't been updated in the meantime. 

Anyway, I think improved and news demos will come!

Best,
Benjamin


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## Pedro Camacho (Aug 15, 2009)

I know all that, that is why I just bought it. (Like paid for the library  ) I do love it a lot!

I am not criticizing, but many buyers can't hear beyond demos and that can lower the sales.


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## Mark LaPierre (Aug 15, 2009)

Pedro,

I am doing exactly what you were anticipating. I really could use a product like this, but the demos are not confirming what I need to hear. Would you please post a demo at your earliest convenience? I would so love it if this library was something I could use, but I need to hear a demo that satisfies.

Thanks,

Mark


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## NYC Composer (Aug 15, 2009)

I must be missing something- I don't see a link to buy it.


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## poseur (Aug 15, 2009)

NYC Composer @ Sat Aug 15 said:


> I must be missing something- I don't see a link to buy it.


for some reason, that link didn't show up on my mobile browser.....
but it's clearly there, at the url listed above.
d


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## NYC Composer (Aug 15, 2009)

poseur @ Sat Aug 15 said:


> NYC Composer @ Sat Aug 15 said:
> 
> 
> > I must be missing something- I don't see a link to buy it.
> ...



I swear it WASN'T there...and then, it was. Strange.

Anyway, I'm in. I'm hoping for a Junior BBB (crossing fingers here) , which I desperately need, and the price is certainly reasonable. I'm with Pedro, I think I hear beyond the demos. Aural instinct is a funny thang.


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## 3rdeyeKnight (Aug 15, 2009)

Pedro Camacho @ Sat Aug 15 said:


> I know all that, that is why I just bought it. (Like paid for the library  ) I do love it a lot!




Pedro,

In addition to the demo-request, can you share your thoughts on how it compares/contrasts to Broadway Big Band? Judging from some of your earlier posts(regarding BBB)I can only imagine that the Kontakt format puts MOJO in a favorable position right out of the gate. Thanks in advance.

Julian


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## Pedro Camacho (Aug 16, 2009)

Sure, I will help you guys out!

I might not have time to make an unpaid demo but I will describe in words what I think of each instrument. And an eventual realtime short thing of each instrument in solo.

Being a Kontakt 3.5 Library will make it super stable, easy and usable for sure. So lets just hear how it sounds with proper settings.


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## Chris Hein (Aug 17, 2009)

Congratulations David!
Must have been a hard time during that extra long wait.

Chris Hein


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## sarobin (Aug 17, 2009)

Just a quick post to say I've now received and installed Mojo. The sounds are quite good, but at the moment I'll have to wait until I upgrade my DAW to utilise this library as it's RAM hungry - even the "Lite" instruments use around 200MB+ each.

So, as mentioned the sounds are generally pretty good - although some of the panning is a bit odd from note to note in places, and there are a couple of strange artefacts when using keyswitches sometimes. The cup trombones / trumpets are particularly good - it would be even better to have the rest of the Mutes used in a future update 

A little niggle is that the trill keyswitch seems to only trigger minor 2nd trills (but occasionally major 2nd trills - a bit random!) - perhaps would have been better to have a separate keyswitch for major trills. 

The mod wheel introduces vibrato - personally I would have preferred it to control velocity to do manual crescendos (rather than using the tempo-synched versions).

A good start, and hopefully the anomalies will be rectified


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## Dynamitec (Aug 17, 2009)

Hi Sarobin,

thanks for the quick report. 

Your issue with the panning can be solved easily with a workaround (till the update is coming) and is also described in the FAQ section of the manual (which also can be found on the Vir2 site for download, if anybody might be interested). The samples contain their natural panning (stereo field) by default, however if you are looking for exact panning and full control, just use the stereo FX in the Mojo FX Section and narrow the stereo field till you are satisfied. After that you'll be able to pan the instruments the way you want.

Best,
Benjamin


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## vir2 (Aug 17, 2009)

Hello folks,

Just a heads-up to say a few things in response to the comments already:

•Yes, we are definitely going to get more demos online. Now that it's started shipping, we have a bunch of people working their tails off to get us some demos. And for those of you who already ordered it, feel free to send in your work, and if we choose to use it, we'll compensate you accordingly. 

•We're already working on MOJO 1.1 (which will be a free downloadable update). Top of the list of things to be improved are occasionally strange panning within sections, timestretching artifacts for swells/crescendos (we already identified the problem and know how to fix it), and better tuning of certain articulations. As soon as we've reached a good stopping point on each of these, we'll release 1.1, and are open to future updates after that too.

•Yes, even the lite versions consume quite a bit of RAM. If there is enough demand, we can produce super-lite versions, but we're concerned that they just won't sound very good...there is always that tradeoff between size and quality.

•We just posted the full manual for MOJO online (vir2.com), so anyone who wants all the nitty-gritty details on how it works can download it.

•Mod wheel to crescendo instead of vibrato: we have a plan to implement this in a better way in a future update, though probably not 1.1. 

We appreciate your excitement over it, and value your constructive criticism too, so we can make MOJO, as well as our other products, better and more useful and inspiring to you. We have some really exciting things in the pipeline coming up very shortly, so stay tuned!


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## Pedro Camacho (Aug 18, 2009)

vir2 @ Mon Aug 17 said:


> •We're already working on MOJO 1.1 (which will be a free downloadable update).
> •Yes, even the lite versions consume quite a bit of RAM.



That is really great news. I hope you keep supporting the product and improving it. There is nothing worse that a dev that simply ships the product, gets money and forgets about it, when it still has flaws.


About the RAM, I have 4 servers, each with 8Gbs Quad or Dual Core2 and the main machine which is an i7 with 12 Gbs, so my main concern is just one: GREAT sound and playability. All the rest comes second.


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## germancomponist (Aug 18, 2009)

Pedro Camacho @ Tue Aug 18 said:


> vir2 @ Mon Aug 17 said:
> 
> 
> > •We're already working on MOJO 1.1 (which will be a free downloadable update).
> ...



Wow! So it would be very easy and need not too much unpaid time for you to post a short snippet?! Come on! o-[][]-o


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## Synesthesia (Aug 18, 2009)

Hi guys,

Can anyone who has this give any more info regarding playability and sound vs the other great Horns libs out there?

Its very tricky to 'hear' through the demos at the moment. 

Cheers!

Paul


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## vir2 (Aug 18, 2009)

Pedro Camacho @ Tue Aug 18 said:


> That is really great news. I hope you keep supporting the product and improving it. There is nothing worse that a dev that simply ships the product, gets money and forgets about it, when it still has flaws.



We actually have quite extensive plans to improve it. The first update, probably due this week, will address some core improvements (timestretching accuracy and artifacts) that we want to push out quickly, then we have some microtuning things that take longer to fix that will come out after that, then we have a lot of ideas for a more major update beyond that.

Also, basic wind controller support is already built into the shipping version (1.0) but we think we'll be able to significantly improve on this, so that's coming too.


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## Dynamitec (Aug 20, 2009)

Hi everyone,

I just saw that Vir2 has posted the Mojo 1.1 update. 

Get it here:
http://support.vir2.com/viewtopic.php?t=142

Changelog
The 1.1 update includes the following improvements and features:
- Improved tempo-syncing of all crescendos and swells across all instruments
- Improved quality of timestretching of all crescendos and swells across all instruments
- Miscellaneous tuning improvements across the library.

Best,
Benjamin


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## Dynamitec (Aug 25, 2009)

Just FYI: the 1.1.1 update is online. It's fixes some issues with the EZRoom and other smaller issues.


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## shakuman (Aug 26, 2009)

Hi.
I am really disappointed cause there isn't a microtuner script such Chris Hein horn 2..Maybe in the far future!o=< .

Shakuman.


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## Dynamitec (Aug 26, 2009)

Ok, I didn't thought that a micro tuner is that important (a lot of midi plugins can also do this). But it's a valid feature request to consider in future updates. Anyone else who could need something like this?

Anyway, back to your post: actually I don't fully understand your post. Are you disappointed because you bought Mojo and it isn't there or are you simply disappointed because the specs don't list a micro tuner?

Best,
Benjamin


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## shakuman (Aug 26, 2009)

Hi.
No, but 100% I will go for it if there is a microtuner option maybe you do not need it but for most turkish and middle east even eurpean composers looking for this future o=< ,For info. most of those composers are disappointed from vienna libraries cause their plugin doesn't support microtuner even though we ask for it every time but still know one hear us :!: .in other word it is the future =o .

Shakuman.


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## Chris Hein (Aug 26, 2009)

Isn't it better to use a micro tuner in the sequencer?
This way you can have the same scales for all instruments.

Chris Hein


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## Dynamitec (Aug 26, 2009)

Hi Chris,
thanks for chiming in. Yes, your point is, what I was thinking. There a lot of sequencers capable of microtuning and there are also a lot of midi plugins which can do this (for all instruments in a song).

Best,
Benjamin


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## shakuman (Aug 26, 2009)

Hi Chris.
I am using Cubase 5 and generally Cubase microtuner just support steinberg plugins! not others >8o .

Shakuman.


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## Chris Hein (Aug 26, 2009)

shakuman @ Wed Aug 26 said:


> Hi Chris.
> I am using Cubase 5 and generally Cubase microtuner just support steinberg plugins! not others >8o .
> 
> Shakuman.


Ah, ok, I didn't know that.
But the VST-Expressions are cool.

Chris Hein


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## germancomponist (Aug 26, 2009)

BTW, it is very easy to implement this in the next update, Benjamin.


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## shakuman (Aug 26, 2009)

germancomponist @ Wed Aug 26 said:


> BTW, it is very easy to implement this in the next update, Benjamin.


I hope that o/~,then mojo will be my next purchase =o .

Shakuman.


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## noiseboyuk (Oct 1, 2009)

Looks good - any more word on new demos or videos?


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## NYC Composer (Oct 2, 2009)

I downloaded 1.2 ( which is instruments only, yes?).

I haven't had enough time to fully explore it, but so far, it seems some of the staccato trombone samples are blatantly out of tune, and in my dl at least, the trombone release articulations had simply gone away. Also, the downwards doits on the alto seem to be the interval of a seventh, which sounds odd to my ears, and if they are time stretched to follow tempo as I seem to remember in the original, they no longer seem to be.

There were a few other tuning issues which hadn't been there before. I'll try to pin those down, but overall, I think quality control on this product has been pretty questionable from inception. I wanted to wait for a few more iterations to comment, but since you're advertising this rev as a major fix, I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done to make this a quality product, overall balance being one as well as the general sound of the solo instruments. So far, the only instrument I see as viable in a solo capacity is the clarinet, which is pretty good. The other instruments have one or two articulations that shine, the rest sound uneven across the keyboard and not very expressive or hard to keyswitch into the others smoothly.

You mentioned load times to be snappier. I didn't put a watch on them, but they didn't feel much different.

I hope others who own Mojo will chime in here and agree or challenge my assertions. Maybe I'm missing something.

It seems to me that right now, you have a product that seems to be all possibility and limited fruition. I'm hoping it reaches its full potential sometime soon.


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## vir2 (Oct 2, 2009)

Hi Larry,

Sorry to hear you're disappointed with Mojo. While we do think it's a premier library and would disagree with some of your general assertions (otherwise we wouldn't have released it), we are always wanting to improve our products and make them as good as can be and as useful to the majority of musicians as possible.

A couple of specific issues I'd like to focus on:

•We just checked, and all trombone releases are functioning perfectly in Mojo 1.2. Can you please provide us with a specific patch you are loading, the specific keyswitch you are trying, and a MIDI file which shows this? 

•You mentioned release doits having an interval of a 7th in the alto sax, but we do not have any release doits.

•You mentioned tuning issues. Tuning issues should certainly not have gotten worse between 1.0/1.1 and 1.2. We have been doing ongoing tuning work (particularly in stabs and staccatos, which are notoriously difficult to play accurately in a solo sampling context) since 1.0, and plan more. Please submit a report to us at [email protected] if you discover particularly troubling tuning issues. Often we will fix them on the spot for the user who brings them to our attention, then roll the fixes into the next downloadable update for other users. Many of these fixes are already in 1.2, but we know there are more to come.

•Load times are indeed snappier, as we've consolidated some things behind the scenes resulting in fewer samples needing to be loaded in order to achieve the same or better results.

Please feel free to follow up with us via e-mail ([email protected]) on the trombone release articulations so we can help you get those working.

We stand by the quality of Mojo, and while no library can be perfect, we're working very hard to make it as good as it can be. We have other improvements and enhancements planned for the future too.


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## NYC Composer (Oct 2, 2009)

vir2 @ Fri Oct 02 said:


> Hi Larry,
> 
> Sorry to hear you're disappointed with Mojo. While we do think it's a premier library and would disagree with some of your general assertions (otherwise we wouldn't have released it), we are always wanting to improve our products and make them as good as can be and as useful to the majority of musicians as possible.
> 
> ...





Hmmm. Okay.

1. I will provide you with audio examples of the tuning problems. as requested. If the tuning issues I heard haven't gotten worse, they certainly sounded egregious. Some of the staccatos were off by almost a half step when played at full velocity.

2. I will re-load the bones and tell you what articulations are missing in my download.

3. I didn't put a watch on 1.2, then remove the 1.2 instruments, go back to 1.1, and sit with a stopwatch. I stated what it felt like. I'll assume I'm off base here, so, can you tell me approximately how much faster you judge the load times to be, percentage wise? Like everyone, I prefer quicker load times, but I know these are large instruments.

4. Sorry-not 'release doits' ( duh, there are no such things)- 'falls' is what I had meant to say. The long falls resolve to a 7th. True, not true? Also, the shorter falls seem to resolve to an odd sounding interval, though this could be subjective. I have more to say about the release articulations, but I'll mail you about all of that.

5.I appreciate your wish to support your product. I realize you've already done two updates. I know what you're shooting for. As an early adopter, I would be delighted if I felt you'd hit the mark. As it stands, there's a lot of work to do, imo....and after wrestling with it for a bit, I decided to discuss is publicly for that reason. I hold out hope for the further development and improvement of Mojo.

Again, I'm very interested in hearing from other early adopters giving public testimonials regarding how delighted they are with Mojo and how far off base I am.


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## vir2 (Oct 2, 2009)

One of the issues with the stabs and staccatos is that, when you have a session player playing in a booth, by himself, with no ensemble or chords around him, playing hundreds of repetitive stabs and staccatos, there is little pitch frame of reference, and therefore it can be hard for the player to tune them musically (as a good player would do naturally if playing in an ensemble or with an accompaniment).

We realize this, and are working to improve this on an ongoing basis. We know about stabs and staccatos and occasionally a couple of other articulations which aren't as tight as we would like. It takes a tremendous amount of time to tune the sheer number of samples in Mojo (one instrument's staccato groups might have 30 chromatic notes * 6 velocity layers * 2 takes, for example), so it's not a quick job, but we are releasing incremental updates that continue to improve Mojo's quality.


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## NYC Composer (Oct 5, 2009)

Hello, Vir2. Did you receive my email?

I want to correct one thing I said. The trombone release articulations are placed differently, but they seem to be all there. My error.


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## vir2 (Oct 5, 2009)

Yes, got your e-mail and will be addressing it shortly, as soon as we can get in there to work on it. We'll also look at the trombone releases.


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## Dynamitec (Oct 31, 2009)

Btw. just for everyone interested...a new demo is online "Vaudeville"


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