# Chillbot's template



## chillbot

Thought I'd post this here for no good reason. Just as an oddity or as a patch museum for perusal.

I have a very unique/odd template, I think, for a number of reasons:

1) I mix everything out of the box and use a lot of hardware gear.
2) I write purely "production" music, whatever that means (I'm never sure). It means I can't do mockups, I don't even try to sound like a real orch. So my orch section is severely truncated and limited as to what it can do.
3) But, I work very fast.
4) I am asked to write anything and everything from orch to metal to jazz to country or rock to ethnic/world and so I have a little bit of everything in my template.
5) I use Sonar. Still. And Sonar doesn't have nested folders. Still. So even though I own a thousand libraries, I try to keep myself to around 250 tracks max to make it somewhat manageable, with about 70 of those being audio tracks and plugins not listed here (Omni, Stylus, Engine, Zebra, etc). And hardware synths. I'm likely switching to Cubase in the near future.
6) I've had this same template layout for 15+ years now and obviously it's evolved a lot over those years but if there's a patch/library from 20 years ago that I haven't found anything I like better, then I'm still using that ancient and decrepit old patch. And a lot of my workflow is leftover from a slightly different era.
7) Some patches at this point I just can't live without.
8) I have three slaves on which these libraries/patches are permanently hosted. I don't use VEPro in server mode, I use my slaves as external hardware synths. They receive midi and the audio is routed out to my mixers. About once a year I go through my template and tweak and reshape and add new libraries.

EDIT: Need to update this with current spreadsheet (3/23/21)...


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## R. Soul

I really appreciate your post 

I love this forum, but as a production music composer, it's rather sparse in terms of discussions.
I mean, production music deals with styles/moods such as Dramedy, Motivational, Tension, Quirky, which are hardly ever discussed anywhere as far as I can tell.
And we have to do new genres all the time, as you won't get far being a one trick pony. As a matter of fact, I think of all the music I've done this year, only 1 album is something I've done before.
For example, when I did a Future bass album last year I wished there was forums I could go to for techniques and tips, that wasn't dominated by 14 year olds.

Anyway...
Regarding your points.

1. Any hardware you couldn't do without? Any 'mojo' boxes you find that achieves things software can't accomplish?

3. Apart from the template, what do you consider essential in order to write fast? Shortcut keys I guess.


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## jonathanparham

very generous


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## desert

But how do i get your reverb soundz? <3


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## Ashermusic

I went to Matt's studio and he has great gear, which he uses well. Like Charlie Clouser he is not interested in sounding like almost everybody else and forges his own path successfully. 

Kudos, Matt.


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## Karma

Nice wide shorts you have there


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## chillbot

desert said:


> But how do i get your reverb soundz? <3


Lexicon PCM92 & Yamaha SPX2000. Recently acquired a Bricasti M7 but still working on learning and incorporating it fully.


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## JohnG

chillbot said:


> At the same time, there are a bunch of areas where I am severely lacking (and hoping to upgrade at some point) so I would welcome any questions about why anything is a certain way



Still using Ethno World! Rock on!

Interesting setup. If you ever want to compare notes (har har) on orchestral preferences / libraries, that might be fun. I still have EWQLSO stuff in my template too, though not a lot of it anymore.

fun post


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## chillbot

R. Soul said:


> I mean, production music deals with styles/moods such as Dramedy, Motivational, Tension, Quirky, which are hardly ever discussed anywhere as far as I can tell.


This is very true. It's beneath most people here to acknowledge this stuff. And yet it seems like 50% of posts are from people wanting to get into libraries or trying to figure out how to sell their music. Well, a little secret... your perfectly balanced orchestral mockup is not going to sell a lot of copies. This sounds snobby and I don't mean it like that. I have a ton of respect for people that can breathe life into a sampled orchestra, I sure can't do it. And it's a skill you need to have if you want to get into trailers and/or hybrid music, something else that I can't do. Probably video games as well, yet another area that I know nothing about. This forum has a great balance of a lot of people doing a lot of different things, it's good to try to learn from everyone. And, do it without being condescending towards those of us that crank out a lot of music quickly because "it can't possibly be very good." Shit when did that turn into a rant, sorry.



R. Soul said:


> 1. Any hardware you couldn't do without? Any 'mojo' boxes you find that achieves things software can't accomplish?


My favorite piece of hardware is my TC Electronics Finalizer 96k which really doesn't do much, just a mutli-band compressor. But I put it on everything and it makes everything pop (read: louder, anyway). I never touch it, I hired an engineer to come to my studio about 15 years ago to set it up for me and teach me some tricks. I haven't touched it since. Highly recommended for anyone reading this that doesn't have a lot of faith in their mixing/engineering skills... hire a pro to come to your studio for 4 or 5 hours and work with your gear or plugins, it will be eye-opening. WAY more so than trying to learn from watching a video or whatever and then applying it to your own studio... why not just learn right on your own gear in your own acoustical space.

I also dig my hardware reverbs, as mentioned above. Honorable mention to the Apogee Big Ben, which makes all things possible.

Also worth noting: the coffee machine. And, we just got walkie talkies at the studio. So cool. 10-4.

Oh, and, I only use it on probably 1 out of 50 tracks, but the leslie/B3 has three mics permanently on it so all I have to do is turn on the B3 and turn on the mics and I'm recording. No one will ever convince me there is a plugin that sounds like the real thing.... it's a subtle difference but makes a huge difference (to me).



R. Soul said:


> 3. Apart from the template, what do you consider essential in order to write fast? Shortcut keys I guess.


Was trying to think about this and couldn't really come up with a great answer, aside from the standards like keeping everything uber-organized. Less sub-folders = less mouse clicks. I personally find working with audio much much faster than midi (visually seeing the waveforms, rather than trying to line up a hit from within kontakt). But I know most people aren't as accustomed to working like that. Probably 70-80% of my tracks in a project wind up being audio before the final mix. If you get good working with audio-- chopping it up, pitch-bending/time-stretching, etc-- I think you spend a lot less time tweaking overall. Print things as you go.

Also writing a LOT of tracks is key to getting faster. The more you do it the more tricks you learn. There was a period of 6-7 years I was averaging 1,200/year though now I only shoot for about half that. Also I didn't have kids back then. You sound like you're doing fine I'm not sure any of this is actually helpful.


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## JJP

chillbot said:


> It's beneath most people here to acknowledge this stuff.


Aw man, I have a lot of respect for what you do. It's definitely not my thing. I've never had to crank out that much fully-produced music. Don't know if I could.


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## InLight-Tone

Very inspiring Mr. Bot, thanks for sharing. I agree this type of info is pretty rare so kudos!


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## R. Soul

chillbot said:


> This is very true. It's beneath most people here to acknowledge this stuff. And yet it seems like 50% of posts are from people wanting to get into libraries or trying to figure out how to sell their music.


Indeed. Although, I do think those posts are mostly from VI-C newbies.
For me, I wish I had put the artist hat down much earlier, and started doing what sells, as opposed to what I personally like.
It's funny, cause while there's 'trailer music' groups around, I've yet to run into a group/forum where people discuss 'happy clappy Ukulele' music. I think too many people are caught up in writing what they like.



chillbot said:


> Also writing a LOT of tracks is key to getting faster. The more you do it the more tricks you learn. There was a period of 6-7 years I was averaging 1,200/year though now I only shoot for about half that. Also I didn't have kids back then. You sound like you're doing fine I'm not sure any of this is actually helpful.


See, I only write maybe 100 tracks a year.
I think my biggest issue is not 'too many mouse clicks', but it's simply a case of taking too long to get a good groove/riff etc. going. But I guess it's just a case of keep writing and speed will come?

I know this is hush hush, but where on earth do you place 1,200 or even 600 tracks a year?
Presumably, you don't just upload them all to AJ and Pond5? But I can't imagine you can place that many tracks with majors either. So if I was to guess, I'd say you are 'in' with a handful of mid-range libraries who provides you with a brief for x amount of tracks for a this and that TV show, and you get these regularly. Would that be a correct assumption?


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## PaulBrimstone

chillbot said:


> Hire a pro to come to your studio for 4 or 5 hours and work with your gear or plugins, it will be eye-opening.



Now this is truly golden advice @chillbot. Sadly, in the remote pasture where I now live, good engineers are rare as hens’ teeth. I will double up my search and look under more rocks than normal and maybe one will show up — a great idea worth pursuing for one who's never trusted his own engineering.



chillbot said:


> There was a period of 6-7 years I was averaging 1,200/year though now I only shoot for about half that.



Blimey, that’s three or four per day. Is that for a single 2m version of each track, or does it include 10s/30s versions? Surely not...


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## chillbot

R. Soul said:


> I can't imagine you can place that many tracks with majors either.


I've never written a track for a library. I've been hinting at this for years but it seems to always fall on deaf ears... people seem to think that TV shows are either scored or else use library music, nothing in between. Which is entirely untrue, there are still plenty of TV shows that will pay upfront for custom tracks. Not as many as there used to be, obviously.


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## R. Soul

chillbot said:


> I've never written a track for a library. I've been hinting at this for years but it seems to always fall on deaf ears... people seem to think that TV shows are either scored or else use library music, nothing in between. Which is entirely untrue, there are still plenty of TV shows that will pay upfront for custom tracks. Not as many as there used to be, obviously.


Ah....I see.

Yeah, I guess that's where being in LA comes in handy. I don't know any TV producers, editors or directors unfortunately. And I'm not great at cold calling either, so libraries are the best option for me.

On another note, I do think it's good idea having a pro coming to the studio. I've been thinking about getting some 1 to 1 mentoring lately, just need a few things sorted in the studio first.


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## chillbot

PaulBrimstone said:


> Blimey, that’s three or four per day. Is that for a single 2m version of each track, or does it include 10s/30s versions? Surely not...


Usually just 90 seconds with stems. But really to hit 1,200 a year I had to average about 5 tracks per day 7 days a week. 30-35 tracks per week was my goal. One year I hit 1,500 which certainly helped my average. Because you have to account for vacation days, golf days, sick days, holidays (rarely), and maintenance or malfunction days.


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## PaulBrimstone

chillbot said:


> Usually just 90 seconds with stems. But really to hit 1,200 a year I had to average about 5 tracks per day 7 days a week. 30-35 tracks per week was my goal. One year I hit 1,500 which certainly helped my average. Because you have to account for vacation days, golf days, sick days, holidays (rarely), and maintenance or malfunction days.


I'm exhausted just reading this.
Edit: actually, as a recovering journalist who in a previous life handled multiple deadlines and scores of headlines daily, I sort of empathise...


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## StevenMcDonald

Cool template. Feels like my "everything template" but with way more options per instrument/family. 

I hate dealing with opening/closing folders and having a bunch of empty tracks bothers me, so I like having several smaller templates geared toward different genres: Pop/Hip Hop, Hybrid, Rock, Quirky Comedy, Sicario Knockoff (I've gotten that request enough now ), etc. But then it can be annoying when I get a cool new plugin and need to go back and put it into multiple templates.

And yay for TV production music getting a shoutout! Ensemble patches for life.


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## sinkd

So much great information and professional perspective in this thread. Thanks, Chillbot. I will probably make it required reading for our first and second-years this semester.


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## Farkle

chillbot said:


> Usually just 90 seconds with stems. But really to hit 1,200 a year I had to average about 5 tracks per day 7 days a week. 30-35 tracks per week was my goal. One year I hit 1,500 which certainly helped my average. Because you have to account for vacation days, golf days, sick days, holidays (rarely), and maintenance or malfunction days.



Good lord, that's an awesome daily number. And, I've heard multiple tracks from you, they are always super high quality, both production, and emotional content.

My best run was 2 production tracks a day, 4 days a week; and I was pretty happy about that. The idea of 5 a day, at a high level of production; it's really inspiring, and scary. But, it makes sense. I look at my ASCAP numbers, and when you put that kind of content into the system, you create some real revenue. Thank you for sharing not only your workflow, but your content expectations. Very cool, and humbling!

Mike/Farkle


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## Geoff Grace

chillbot said:


> Probably 70-80% of my tracks in a project wind up being audio before the final mix..


Thanks so much for all you've shared. As another who does library music, I'm curious though as to why you don't track everything. How do you decide what doesn't make the cut?

Best,

Geoff


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## chillbot

R. Soul said:


> Yeah, I guess that's where being in LA comes in handy. I don't know any TV producers, editors or directors unfortunately. And I'm not great at cold calling either, so libraries are the best option for me.


Yes one of the many perks of living in LA. As I've mentioned in other threads about LA, half of my buddies on my softball team are in the TV industry. Not to mention the basketball gym, golf courses, and other parents at the elementary school.



R. Soul said:


> On another note, I do think it's good idea having a pro coming to the studio. I've been thinking about getting some 1 to 1 mentoring lately, just need a few things sorted in the studio first.


I need to do this again, come to think of it.

The key is to find one that will come into your studio without a holier-than-thou attitude and say "well whaddaya doing it like THIS for??" Not try to change everything you do. The guy that helped me out, I was set up to mix a track and instead of mixing it for me, he had me mix it just the way I usually do but offered tips and pointers along the way. Totally invaluable... and I ended up saving a lot of his presets we made and using them years after.

I'll probably start another thread at some point, but if any one knows any good mixers/engineers in LA that would be willing to help, please send me a PM...

EDIT: Oh, and... I found my guy through the Sonar (then Cakewalk) board. I should track down his name. It would be important to make sure the engineer and you speak the same language.



Farkle said:


> Good lord, that's an awesome daily number.


Yeah but we both have kids now, it's different. I still aim for 20 tracks/week but I travel a lot more and those 20-track weeks I'm probably working half as much as I used to. Also I have a cool assistant (ass.). I would never recommend anyone work as many hours as I did, it's not healthy and I'm still hurting in a lot of ways from it. But I was happy to do it, as I was broke and crushed with debt, being able to make money was my happy place. In the last 16 months (since I redid the studio) I've done 905 tracks so I guess that's 'down' to about the 675-per-year range but it doesn't feel like nearly that much.



Geoff Grace said:


> As another who does library music, I'm curious though as to why you don't track everything. How do you decide what doesn't make the cut?


Do you mean why 100% of my project tracks aren't audio? If so, it depends on the track... if it's rock/blues/country/hip-hop or similar probably 98% of it will be audio. There might just be a crash cymbal or two left as midi. But I don't generally render orchestra to audio UNLESS I want to really mess with it with a lot with delays or filters or whatnot. OR, isolate it on it's own stereo pair in the mixer. If you went through my template you see that all the short strings are summed into one stereo pair and processed as a group. But I also have 48 tracks of audio going out from Sonar into the board, so I can throw anything up as audio quickly and separate it out that way.


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## Geoff Grace

chillbot said:


> Do you mean why 100% of my project tracks aren't audio? If so, it depends on the track... if it's rock/blues/country/hip-hop or similar probably 98% of it will be audio. There might just be a crash cymbal or two left as midi. But I don't generally render orchestra to audio UNLESS I want to really mess with it with a lot with delays or filters or whatnot. OR, isolate it on it's own stereo pair in the mixer. If you went through my template you see that all the short strings are summed into one stereo pair and processed as a group. But I also have 48 tracks of audio going out from Sonar into the board, so I can throw anything up as audio quickly and separate it out that way.


Thanks, *Matt*. I wanted to understand your criteria for tracking, and your answer makes it clear to me. As someone whose biggest weakness is speed, I appreciate your insights as to how you work so fast.

Personally, I commit each of my MIDI files to audio every project if for no other reason than archiving purposes. (More on that in the Craig Anderton's Archiving Article in my sig.) But, like you, I often prefer to work with audio over MIDI for a variety of other reasons.

Best,

Geoff


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## InLight-Tone

Hey Chill, I was wondering do you play most of your parts in improvisationaly or write the parts in manually. How good are your keyboard skills would you say?


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## chillbot

InLight-Tone said:


> How good are your keyboard skills would you say?


Hm. Above average? Certainly not virtuoso. But I play everything in live.


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## stonzthro

Chill - awesome thread - thanks! When you are rendering through your HW, is that only for your master, or are you sending stems through multiple passes as well?

Gracias amigo!


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## dgburns

nice thread, good stuff @chillbot


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## chillbot

stonzthro said:


> When you are rendering through your HW, is that only for your master, or are you sending stems through multiple passes as well?



No just for the master.

But everything goes through the board.

Not sure if this is of any interest but I will try to diagram/explain it.

Three slaves each have 8 outputs (4 pairs) digitally into the board.

I also have 16 external synths (32 channels) into the board. (Actually 31... that silly SlimPhatty is so mono.)

I also have 48 channels of audio (24 pairs) going in to the board from Sonar via three MOTU 2408s.

Also all recording (two Avalon preamps, plus a guitar rack, plus a digital board that sums the B3, rhodes, and piano mics) goes into the board.

So anyway that's a lot going into the board. Plus the effect returns on separate channels. I do 95% of my verb on the boards and probably 40% of my compression/gates/EQ. Everything else happens via plugins.

Then I have just 8 channels (via ADAT) coming BACK into Sonar via the MOTUs. So every channel whether it be audio or midi is automatically set to come back in on channels 1/2. So I can quickly bounce any channel back in as audio just by record-enabling a track and soloing whatever I want to record. 3/4 is my live mics. 5/6 is my guitar rack. And 7/8 is my organ/rhodes/piano combo. So that's all I need. Anything and everything becomes audio very quickly and easily.

Lastly, the final mix goes out of the board into the Finalizer 96K via SPDIF and then back into Sonar where I can record the final stereo mix in real time. I can also monitor it and A/B between pre- and post-finalizer with the Dangerous Mind Monitor-ST.


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## wst3

That is a very impressive, and well thought out system! If I might, what is the mixer?


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## stonzthro

chillbot said:


> No just for the master.



Thanks Chill!


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## chillbot

wst3 said:


> If I might, what is the mixer?


Yamaha 02R96v2 x 2.


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## Geoff Grace

chillbot said:


> Yamaha 02R96v2 x 2.


Now _there's_ a blast from the past! The original 02R caused quite a stir when it was released back in the '90s. I'm guessing you bought the newer 02R96 around the same time as EWQLSO. Maybe 15 years ago?

Best,

Geoff


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## JJP

chillbot said:


> I also dig my hardware reverbs, as mentioned above.



I'm using hardware reverbs too. Those were one of my better investments. Had my TC4000 for over 15 years. Never needed to pay for an upgrade or worry about whether a system update made it obsolete. Still sounds great.


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## chillbot

Geoff Grace said:


> Maybe 15 years ago?


Yeah maybe, maybe not that long. I got them whenever they first came out. I've had the displays replaced twice each and all the faders replaced on each as well. Probably up to 15k each now with the maintenance, meter bridges, and i/o carts. And I had the original 02Rs before that. Hardware is fun but definitely not cheap. Though obviously these barely brush the surface...


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## benmrx

Rad thread! I work in a post house, and also do _way less_ 'cinematic, orchestral' tracks then other genres. This thread is quite inspiring. I should really make more use of hardware. I've gotten a bit lazy with that. 

I love this thread though. All about boards, outboard gear, etc. I miss my Otari MTR90mkII 2" 24 track machine.


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## wst3

This is a good thread! Thanks Matt for starting it, you've provided the kick in the seat I needed to return to my template, which I had abandoned entirely earlier this year.

There is something to be said with starting with a blank canvas every time. But the word would not be efficient.

So I'm taking one more stab at creating a template, but I'm taking a very different approach this time - due in large part to this thread.

My first pass was all about the real world. If I was working in the real world who would I want sitting in the room? How could I cover 80% of the projects I take on with the smallest group of people?

This is what I came up with (all individual players unless marked otherwise, many doubling):

Flute, Flute/Alto Flute, Flute/Piccolo, Oboe, Oboe/English Horn, Clarinet, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Clarinet/contrabass Clarinet, Bassoon, Bassoon/Contrabassoon, Alto Sax Section (X4), Solo Alto Sax, 
Tenor Sax Section (x2), Solo Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax

French Horn Ens (x4), French Horn/Descant Horn, Trumpet, Trumpet/Piccolo, Trumpet, Trumpet/Cornet, Trumpet/Flugel Horn, Trombone, Trombone/Bass Trombone, Baritone Horn/Euphonium, Cimbasso, Tuba

Timpani, Snare,Toms, Tams, Cymbals, Auxillary Percussion, Tuned Percussion, Kit

Harp, Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet, Prepared Piano, Pipe Organ, Electric Organ

Choir, Children's Choir

1st Violin Ens, 2nd Violin Ens, Solo Violin, Viola Ens, Solo Viola, Cello Ens, Solo Cello, Bass Ens, Solo Bass

Guitar 1, Guitar 2, Guitar 3 

Synth 1, Synth 2, Synth 3

Still a bunch of people (tracks) but it provides a pretty decent starting point, at least for me.

The next step was to "transpose" the people to tracks. Note that no attempt is made (yet) to account for articulations. I think this is about as far as I can go without choosing specific instruments and or libraries. But it has been an interesting exercise thus far.


Orchestral Ensemble

Winds Ensemble

Flute
Flute/Alto Flute
Flute/Piccolo
Oboe
Oboe/English Horn
Clarinet
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Clarinet/contrabass Clarinet
Bassoon
Bassoon/Contrabassoon


Alto Sax (X4)
Solo Alto Sax
Tenor Sax (x2)
Solo Tenor Sax
Baritone Sax


Brass Ensemble

French Horn (x4)
French Horn/Descant Horn
Trumpet Ens
Trumpet/Piccolo Trumpet
Trumpet/Cornet
Trumpet/Flugel Horn
Trombone Ens

Trombone/Bass Trombone
Baritone Horn/Euphonium
Baritone Horn/Euphonium
Cimbasso
Tuba

Percussion 1 - Timpani
Percussion 2 - Snare,Toms, Tams
Percussion 3 - Hand Percussion
Percussion 4 - Tuned Percussion
Percussion 5 - Kit

Harp
Acoustic Piano
Electric Piano
Clavinet
Prepared Piano
Pipe Organ
Electric Organ

Choir
Children's Choir

1st Violin Ens
2nd Violin Ens
Solo Violin
Viola Ens
Solo Viola
Cello Ens
Solo Cello
Bass Ens
Solo Bass

Orchestral Chords
Orchestral Effects
String Effects
Winds Effects
Brass Effects
Sax & Brass Ens

Electric Guitar
Acoustic Guitar
Hi-strung Guitar
Baritone Guitar
Nylon Guitar
Lap Steel
Pedal Steel
Fiddle
Mandolin
Banjo

Omnisphere
Zebra
Repro 1
Repro 5
Oddity
Minimonsta
impOscar
timewARP 2600
Jup-8 V3
Prophet V3
SEM V2
Matrix-12 V2
Synclavier V
Waveframe
Darklight
Alchemy
Absynth 5
B4 II
FM8 
Kore2
Massive
Pro-53
Reaktor Prism

Realtor Spark

MS-20
Polysix 
Mono/Poly 
Wavestation
That's a LOT of tracks, and I haven't even begun to figure out articulations, although I am hopeful that I can find a way to get away from the articulation per track approach.

Such fun!


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## jmauz

Nice post, thanks for sharing. Inspiring to say the least.



chillbot said:


> It's beneath most people here to acknowledge this stuff



Or in my case I'm just too busy pumping this stuff out to bother talking about it on an internet forum


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## Iskra

This is the kind of thread that makes this forum a great place. Many thanks for sharing your thoughts, workflow and template, chillbot - I am not in production music so have nothing to share and I'm just enjoying the read.
Plus, amazing you can make such an incredible amount of music, dude! Kudos!0


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## jononotbono

chillbot said:


> There was a period of 6-7 years I was averaging 1,200/year



That is outrageous. Can't even imagine writing that amount of music! Thanks for creating this thread. It's a great read!


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