# Finally made a crossfade articulation tutorial for C.A.P.S.U.L.E.(and more)



## ProfoundSilence (Jan 18, 2020)

##DISCLAIMER : I DONT WORK FOR ORCHESTRAL TOOLS, NOR HAVE I RECEIVED SO MUCH AS A CRISP HIGH FIVE FROM THEM##[I'm doing this as it's both educational, and hopefully will ensure I get the features I need to continue this kind of setup implemented in future versions of the SINE player]

I'll post a few examples of how I've used this to make custom articulations, the first example will be how I set up my strings - by using 2-3 multi's if needed on 1 channel for a single articulation, setting up the "blank" spots for crossfading - because this allows me to use articulations from entirely different "libraries" or instruments. Practically you could crossfade between bassoon and flute, but that'd be silly. 

I'll be adding a few examples - from the more obvious to the trickery. These tricks SHOULD work with the SINE player whenever they add in blank articulations(and libraries that using this would make sense for). Likewise, any similar articulation crossfading interface with blank spots should function this way.



Example 1 : crossfading between special bows A and berlin strings main - in this case, I use Sul Tasto > Sustains (romantic vibrato) > Sul Pont. This essentially allows me to approximate that natural phrasing of bow position. This is exceptionally useful for "blending" like a real ensemble would. I'm sure some string players are probably angry because my crossfade doesn't make sense to them, but damnit - it's musical - and it feels more like an instrument that's a vessel of expression. 



Example 2 : crossfading between short notes - 3 libraries this time. I show not only using 3 different libraries, but also different ways you can layer and combine these articulations. You can set them up goin 1 >2 >3 >4, 1-3 and 4 crossfades itself in at 50%, or like my final example - where I crossfade from pizzicato to percussive pizzicato - then crossfade colegno for the last 1/3 of the CC, then Bartok for the last 1/4 of the CC. This causes it to get rapidly more percussive while keeping it's body. I also show how layering these articulations it's useful to use the individual attack settings and volume ranges. 



Example 3 : crossfading between the same articulation in octaves, to approximate divisi - in a much more organic sounding way. Doesn't need to be octaves, but they need the same CC information if you want to set something up fancy for divisi. You can also crossfade between an ensemble sustain and a first chair to get the right "thinning out" of the sound for 2/3 note divisi as well.




Example 4 : crossfading between 4 horns from berlin brass and 9 horns from MA1.This is useful for instance for bridging the dynamic gap between berlin brass and ark 1 - or crossfading between ark 2 strings and ark 1 strings. 



Example 5 : setting up 2 way crossfade on simpler kontakt instruments. (Example using LA scoring strings) This doesn't work on all libraries(or even many these days) but it does work on some. Useful when you want to crossfade articulations but that isn't built into the instrument's functionality. This only works if the mod section of kontakt isn't overridden by scripts. Useful if you're trying to recreate similar effects on other libraries. 



BONUS TIP this is how I set up my berlin strings multi for kontakt. I create these crossfade articulations and then lock them - then I access them by channel using mainly Flexrouter(but KS router is a good alternative). This allows me to set up a very expressive(but you can see when I load all 4mics into ram how quickly I can tear through 128gb of ram! lol) and very musical palette. This also makes use of all bagillion of berlin strings articulations reduced to blending them together in a way that makes sense musically using a 2nd CC(my CC of choice is CC2)

UPDATED with a quick(ish) run down of how I setup my multi's to still use keyswitches. I like doing it this way, because I can layer + modify them in multiple ways. For instance - I can have 2 keyswitches go to the same channel, one is legato - sends CC30(berlin strings default legato controller) messages of 126, and a 2nd keyswitch goes to the same channel but sends a CC30 message of 1(turning off legato). Also useful for using a single multi for berlin woodwinds but adjusting the volume per articulation within a single "Multi" instrument even if you don't use single articulations per channel.


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 18, 2020)

I'm probably going to add more examples if anyone has any questions. @OT_Tobias @OT Henning @Maxime Luft @OrchestralTools @Alex Niedt @Nils Neumann @Real JXL 

Maybe you guys can come up with fancier demonstrations at some point, but behold - the power of frankensteining your own articulations. Hopefully you can see exactly why I was so adamant about having "empty" articulations in SINE.


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## axb312 (Jan 18, 2020)

Good stuff. Thanks!


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 18, 2020)

@muk I added the last tutorial for you - a quick rundown of the two KSP you can use to still use keyswitches, and set these up and "lock them"

Also why I'm so fond of berlin strings in general... probably because I use them differently.


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## jbuhler (Jan 18, 2020)

So in the second video, how are you moving among the articulations? I saw you select a bunch of CCs in setting it up but since I've never been sure about how to set up these multis (and haven't generally been able to get them to work for me) I wasn't sure which CC is doing what. And the video doesn't show what CC or combination of CCs you are moving to change the articulations.


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 18, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> So in the second video, how are you moving among the articulations? I saw you select a bunch of CCs in setting it up but since I've never been sure about how to set up these multis (and haven't generally been able to get them to work for me) I wasn't sure which CC is doing what. And the video doesn't show what CC or combination of CCs you are moving to change the articulations.


ah the default is cc22, I change it to cc2. 

just cc1 and cc22(or whatever you want it to be)


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## ProfoundSilence (Jan 27, 2020)

One thing worth mentioning is that part of my reason for using cc2 is because of the flex router chase common ccs option


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## djrustycans (Dec 11, 2020)

ProfoundSilence said:


> ##DISCLAIMER : I DONT WORK FOR ORCHESTRAL TOOLS, NOR HAVE I RECEIVED SO MUCH AS A CRISP HIGH FIVE FROM THEM##[I'm doing this as it's both educational, and hopefully will ensure I get the features I need to continue this kind of setup implemented in future versions of the SINE player]
> 
> I'll post a few examples of how I've used this to make custom articulations, the first example will be how I set up my strings - by using 2-3 multi's if needed on 1 channel for a single articulation, setting up the "blank" spots for crossfading - because this allows me to use articulations from entirely different "libraries" or instruments. Practically you could crossfade between bassoon and flute, but that'd be silly.
> 
> ...




Pure Genius.. I love the BB Horns a4 crossfading to MA Horns a9 - just set this up. Amazing stuff - thanks so much!

Also used this concept for the 'Bells Up' patch to fade in at higher CC values using the mod wheel.

Somebody must know a way to copy the bells up patches into the Horns multi? My Kontakt knowledge isn't deep enough to get my head around exporting groups etc... 

Anyone???


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## TonalDynamics (Apr 15, 2022)

ProfoundSilence said:


> One thing worth mentioning is that part of my reason for using cc2 is because of the flex router chase common ccs option


Forgive me, but I'm stuck @ 1:12 on the 1st video - how are you adding the slots themselves? I have xfade/switch and am using it, but I can't get more than one slot to appear after I select PolyKS - CC Xfade.

EDIT: I believe I have figured it out - you are pressing multiple KS at the same time, yes?

I have remapped the slot notes to MIDI 0-24 in order to use them with my controller (NanoKontrol 2), so that they correspond with the CC values used by Babylon Waves Articulation Maps - so this little nuance is proving to be a technical challenge for me, since the BabylonWaves mappings are all over the place (in order to provide continuity of articulations across instruments).

I believe I can work around it, though by deciphering which slots are mapped to which of my NK2.

Also, I see you're using CC1, do you find it less effective to use a dedicated crossfade CC, as opposed to combining dynamics+crossfade onto CC1?

Cheers!


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## TonalDynamics (Apr 16, 2022)

So I've got it working, very useful technique...

But I am using them with articulation sets in S1 from Babylon Waves.

I am wondering how you turn the extra instrument 'off' when you switch articulations - is this something you use FlexRouter for as well?

As it stands it works well, pairing the ARK 1 horns to augment the upper dynamic range with Berlin Brass legato, but when I change articulations mid song I am going to need a way to stop the crossfaded dynamics in Rotdorn Horns from ARK1 to stop playing...

Am thinking sending something like a custom 'Mute All' CC into each articulation map might work, but that is both tedious and something I can't find a mapping for in the settings.

Another idea I will probably end up using for the short term, is simply to use a dedicated Xfade CC, so that I can turn it on or off at will, but I can already tell that will be more tedious than tying Xfade into CC1.

Thoughts?


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