# The O.L.C. (One Library Challenge)



## mybadmemory

Following a discussion with @Taron and @doctoremmet, here is the O.L.C. (One Library Challenge). It's not a competition by any means, but rather just a way to *challenge yourself* with a *limited palette* and encourage *deep exploration* of things you might already own.


*The rules are simple:*
* Use only one library per track.
* Clearly state what library you're using.
* Original compositions or mockups are welcome.
* The intention is to keep it primarily orchestral (or at least acoustic).
* Library collections (like Cinematic Studio Series etc) do *not* count as one library.


I'll kick it off with my latest two tracks here, both using *BBC Symphony Orchestra Pro*.


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## b_elliott

BIKE is a song I worked on today unaware of the OLC. I am considering my exploration of my IK freebies applies here.

B.I.K.E.:

B for Beethoven-inspired by his Symphony No. 7 mvt 3: a presto romp in 3
IK = IK Multimedia freebies* used to create this puppy
E for the enigmatic scales cycling through this song

2 Syntronic patches modded thru Dimebag Darrell's _Medicine Clea_n preset
MODO Bass
Neil Peart Drums
IK Philharmonic percussion, brass + winds
fx: SSSR, Stealth Limiter, Master Match, Tape Machine-80, Master EQ-432.

BTW at start of song is a gated bass with noise to simulate a snare.

May I present to you my short BIKE ride.


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## Taron

Fantastic Kick-Off track, @mybadmemory !

Now I have to figure out, which track I might post, but I'm thinking about making something fresh for it. Also, as a reminder, this goes also for any free library like BBCSO Discover, Project SAM Free Orchestra and whatever else fits the bill, so don't hold back, if you want to showcase those! Expect at least one or two Discover tracks from me! 

(EDIT: Softening the "blow" a little bit)
@b_elliott what a wicked little track this is! Funny, wild and original! 

But this is going sideways quickly, dear lordy... @b_elliott : What part of "One Library Challenge" would explain your contribution there? I think, we have to revise the thread disclaimer...

*Maybe you're looking for this challenge thread*:





January 2021 -- Monthly 'Freebies' Challenge!


IMPORTANT: For those who have no interest in this, and don't want to see it clogging up their 'Latest Posts' feed, please put the threads on 'Ignore' ---------------------------- Welcome to the first monthly freebies challenge! (See here...




vi-control.net




(That's something I definitely also want to participate in eventually, just have to find the time!)

Any entire composition/production has to be made by using one single sample library only. That's the idea at least. And somehow I felt like it should go "One Orchestral Library Challenge", because I'm not aware of any other genre that has one entire library devoted to it?! But that might be neat, too, I don't know.


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## MartinH.

mybadmemory said:


> * And no, library collections are not allowed.


Does Kontakt Factory Library count as one library or as a collection?




Taron said:


> And somehow I felt like it should go "One Orchestral Library Challenge", because I'm not aware of any other genre that has one entire library devoted to it?! But that might be neat, too, I don't know.


I could think of a couple non orchestral libraries where you could make a good track with just one library. Like those hybrid/cinematic libraries or the medieval ones. Or maybe I misunderstood.


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## Alchemedia

The main thing I love about the original OSC and it's raison d'être is the limitation aspect of it, most of the synths chosen were free open source or beta versions of future commercial products (which never really mattered in Taron's case since he can make a Kazoo sound like a orchestra). Not to say Jonas' track isn't wonderful, it is, however, I'm not sure _limiting yourself_ to an entire $1,000 symphony orchestra with infinite mic positions is quite the same concept.


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## Taron

MartinH. said:


> Does Kontakt Factory Library count as one library or as a collection?
> 
> 
> 
> I could think of a couple non orchestral libraries where you could make a good track with just one library. Like those hybrid/cinematic libraries or the medieval ones. Or maybe I misunderstood.


Kontakt Factory Library I would probably consider excluding for some reason, because it's not a bundle, you know. Should be something that is one contained set such as BBCSO or Audio Imperia's Nucleus or Jaeger, or Metropolis Ark (but only one of them per track, not all 4 in one, you know). But if there are any medieval libraries or even heavy metal, as long as it is one self-contained set and not individual instruments, if you know what I mean, then it should be perfect.

We are thinking about making a Collections thread, too, but this one is not for that. The point is to showcase the power of one single library in the hand of musicians, showing what's possible with something like a single purchase or even a free one of that kind. It's meant to encourage you also to explore them deeply as you make music with them. Too often we miss what we actually have at our fingertips, because of too many different options. Like we don't see the forest for the trees, so to say, or what's that saying.

Now I want to find a medieval library!!! 
There's a hilarious one for Western tracks from Fluffy Audio, which I may wish to feature at some point, too. But it's really a riot!


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## musicmaker9000

Taron said:


> Kontakt Factory Library I would probably consider excluding for some reason, because it's not a bundle, you know. Should be something that is one contained set such as BBCSO or Audio Imperia's Nucleus or Jaeger, or Metropolis Ark (but only one of them per track, not all 4 in one, you know). But if there are any medieval libraries or even heavy metal, as long as it is one self-contained set and not individual instruments, if you know what I mean, then it should be perfect.
> 
> We are thinking about making a Collections thread, too, but this one is not for that. The point is to showcase the power of one single library in the hand of musicians, showing what's possible with something like a single purchase or even a free one of that kind. It's meant to encourage you also to explore them deeply as you make music with them. Too often we miss what we actually have at our fingertips, because of too many different options. Like we don't see the forest for the trees, so to say, or what's that saying.
> 
> Now I want to find a medieval library!!!
> There's a hilarious one for Western tracks from Fluffy Audio, which I may wish to feature at some point, too. But it's really a riot!


The orchestral sections should probably count. But i'm guessing not many would choose it :D
But I have no full orchestral libraries, so most appealing option for me


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## musicmaker9000

Alchemedia said:


> I'd like to propose Enosifying this project by constraining it to free or beta releases, which would level the playing field (not everyone can afford full blown Spitfire libs) and might encourage devs to offer prizes ala the OSC. Otherwise it could quickly become overwhelming and totally out of hand. How can you compare something produced with BBCSO Pro with HALion Symphic Orchestra for example?


As one of those affected by that, I'm okay with it.
If anything, i'm guessing most people would consider their vote fairly on the selected tool the creator had available.
Not sure there's a vote though?

You should totally start that challenge though


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## dhmusic

b_elliott said:


> BIKE is a song I worked on today unaware of the OLC. I am considering my exploration of my IK freebies applies here.
> 
> B.I.K.E.:
> 
> B for Beethoven-inspired by his Symphony No. 7 mvt 3: a presto romp in 3
> IK = IK Multimedia freebies* used to create this puppy
> E for the enigmatic scales cycling through this song
> 
> 2 Syntronic patches modded thru Dimebag Darrell's _Medicine Clea_n preset
> MODO Bass
> Neil Peart Drums
> IK Philharmonic percussion, brass + winds
> fx: SSSR, Stealth Limiter, Master Match, Tape Machine-80, Master EQ-432.
> 
> BTW at start of song is a gated bass with noise to simulate a snare.
> 
> May I present to you my short BIKE ride.



Dear God, 
I Hate Myself...
...
...
Anyway! Really cool track @b_elliott. I like the frantic atonal/percussive stuff. Reminds me of long angsty walks blasting Xiu Xiu on my iPod back in the day- keep it up!


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## Alchemedia

musicmaker9000 said:


> You should totally start that challenge though


It's more enticing and fun if there's some sort of incentive. Otherwise, we're just posting tracks so why call it a One Library Challenge? Plus, if we're all using different libs what exactly is the challenge? What are we comparing?


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## Taron

Alrighty... brainstorming should've probably lasted a bit longer, if only to clarify properly what this is about, because it is GREAT! 

• This is NOT a freebie challenge, but it may include them!
• This is not about challenging each other for some title! That's called "Competition"
• This is to challenge yourself, making music with one single library of yours only!
• The result is meant to show your musical ingenuity, joy and the library you present
• Side effect may be that this could become a fantastic collection of library showcases in all tiers

While I will focus on showing free libraries, I occasional get my hands on a commercial library and this is a brilliant opportunity for me to having to explore it carefully and see what it does best and what I do best with it.

Let's make this one big GEM of a thread and a celebration of what's possible with one set!


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## d.healey

Well this was actually made for the Linux Musicians forum challenge a few weeks ago, but it fits the criteria I think. I didn't use any libraries, it's made entirely with Odin 2 wavetable synths.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dwntrrimymyr0ml/Nebula.ogg?dl=0


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## Alchemedia

d.healey said:


> Well this was actually made for the Linux Musicians forum challenge a few weeks ago, but it fits the criteria I think. I didn't use any libraries, it's made entirely with Odin 2 wavetable synths.
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/dwntrrimymyr0ml/Nebula.ogg?dl=0


Nice track David! Odin 2 is great.


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## Taron

Okay, just to have at least one more track in there that's along the lines of what this is about, I actually just now made this exploration of *ProjectSAM's Free Orchestra*. It's the first time I'm giving it a fair shake and it's pretty darn amazing. This is just a wild set of experiments as I went through the sounds:





Anyone, who doesn't know *ProjectSAM *and/or their *Free Orchestra* (like me a few weeks ago):









The Free Orchestra - ProjectSAM


A 100% free taste of what our extensive catalog has to offer! Packing sounds from our entire product line, this diverse collection of instruments is a unique and cinematic introduction to the world of ProjectSAM. Now fully updated.




projectsam.com





I'm so afraid, I'm one of the few people left, who hadn't heard of it until recently. But I'm super late to the game anyway.


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## Alchemedia

Roger that. So it's more like "show us your junk" as opposed to "Marie Kondo says".
I get it now. Thx for clarifying Taron. 
BTW, does a synth qualify as a library?


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## Marcus Millfield

This is a great challenge, both for creativity and your (my) own anxiety for publishing something you create online. I'm glad most here are very supportive and critique is fair and a learning experience. I have an idea for this challenge and hope I can join.


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## mybadmemory

I guess I could have been more clear from the beginning.  As Taron already said, this was not meant to be a competition, but rather just to *challenge yourself* with a *limited palette* and encourage *deep exploration* of things you might already own. We intended for it to be orchestral primarily, and probably mostly using self contained all-one-packages like BBCSO, Nucleus, Inspire, Albion, Metropolis Arc, etc. This would of course also include completely free packages like Discover and The Free Orchestra, but not collections based on separate products like Cinematic Studio Series or Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra (though if you wanted to do a strings only track using CSS that would be totally fine of course).

It would be somewhat similar to the old thread where we compared libraries using the same song, but to make it more musically interesting... NOT use the same song. Haha. But rather encourage people to actually focus on the music and compose (or mockup for that matter), rather than just on the library sound. Seeing that some people would rather prefer a more open scope (library collections) and others an even more limited one (free stuff only), I'm sure this place can handle two more threads, so go right ahead and create those if you want to! Now I’d love to hear some more Discover from @Taron, some Nucleus from @Trash Panda and some HOOPUS or AROOF from @José Herring! :D


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## ModalRealist

Brilliant idea @mybadmemory (and @Taron and @doctoremmet). Hopefully a productive and growth-mindset outlet for all of us (hobbyists or pros...!) suffering from a bad case of GAS...


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## CT

Ok here are three BBCSO things I don't hate. Chopped the beginning off the second because it was a boring non-BBCSO viola solo. Probably won't leave these here indefinitely.


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## b_elliott

Taron said:


> But this is going sideways quickly, dear lordy... @b_elliott : What part of "One Library Challenge" would explain your contribution there? I think, we have to revise the thread disclaimer...


Sorry pal, I don't dig your response. I'll move on.


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## mybadmemory

Michaelt said:


> Ok here are three BBCSO things I don't hate. Chopped the beginning off the second because it was a boring non-BBCSO viola solo. Probably won't leave these here indefinitely.
> 
> View attachment 59982
> 
> 
> View attachment 59980
> 
> 
> View attachment 59981


They’re lovely Mike!


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## CT

mybadmemory said:


> They’re lovely Mike!


Thanks, I actually kind of like the writing here, but virtual instruments really suck... oh I mean, one library is all you need!


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## ModalRealist

@Michaelt would you mind me asking if you are using Core or Pro on those tracks? The sound is absolutely wonderful and I'm just curious as to whether that's the benefit of the multi-mics, or just Pure Absolute Wizardry on your part (I mean, clearly a lot of Absolute Wizardry going on in either case!).

Edit: and for the avoidance of doubt, the compositions are beautiful!


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## CT

ModalRealist said:


> @Michaelt would you mind me asking if you are using Core or Pro on those tracks? The sound is absolutely wonderful and I'm just curious as to whether that's the benefit of the multi-mics, or just Pure Absolute Wizardry on your part (I mean, clearly a lot of Absolute Wizardry going on in either case!).


I bought it before the different versions happened (so it's "Pro"). These are all my own mixes. Oh wait actually the first was JJ's Mix 1.


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## Taron

Really nice stuff, @Michaelt ! That's exactly what this thread was meant to be about! 

Alright, here are some of my earlier BBCSO Discover only tracks:






I have already quite a collection of those, but there's a good chance more will follow. I might make a playlist exclusively dedicated to Discover rather than the one I have, including all Spitfire Audio Freebies.


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## Taron

Here are two of my recent- if only brief- encounters with some beautiful libraries...

*Orchestral Tools' Metropolis Ark 1*:



*Audio Imperia's Nucleus Core*:


My new habit is to really just make a little track with any library I come across. That's actually what inspired this thread. Now I'm basically making a track with any I get my hands on.


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## mybadmemory

Fantastic stuff @Taron! This is exactly what I’d love to do as well (time allowing). Go back though the catalog of every library I own (some of which was never used) and make at least one track with each, to give them all a proper chance, understand what they’re for, and hopefully generate some nice music in the process!


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## Trash Panda

mybadmemory said:


> Now I’d love to hear some more Discover from @Taron, some Nucleus from @Trash Panda and some HOOPUS or AROOF from @José Herring! :D


Well I wasn't planning on this being a one library track, but you twisted my arm. Here's a Nucleus only track.


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## Taron

@Trash Panda , between you, @mybadmemory and me, looks like we could make some massive Western epic!  ...totally awesome!


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## ryans

I don't know if this qualifies, 15 year old EWQLSO only track. Only one mic position and zero EQ, reverb if I recall.

Listening now the composition and orchestration are so amazingly bad, as are many of the articulations especially the brass multi-tongue. String shorts are trash. 

But the tone of the brass. The placement of the strings and woods and the way the percussion sits in the mix sounds very natural and live to me.. with zero effort. Many aspects of this I have still not been able to recreate using modern libraries.


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## Taron

@ryans Well, in the right hands this sounds really beautiful! Nobody knows what compromises you might've thought to have made, but the result sounds uncompromisingly awesome! 
I would not call any of it trash by the sound of it, but one can guess here and there you could've hoped for some things to be mildly different! Well, grab a shiny new library and show how it's done right!


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## Taron

A little bit of *CineSymphony LITE*:


Hopefully I will still like this one in the morning. ("that's what she said?")
Just wonderful to work with, though. I'm stunned how easy it was to realize any whim that just came over me. Guess the library got lucky with my whims?!


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## mybadmemory

ryans said:


> I don't know if this qualifies, 15 year old EWQLSO only track. Only one mic position and zero EQ, reverb if I recall.
> 
> Listening now the composition and orchestration are so amazingly bad, as are many of the articulations especially the brass multi-tongue. String shorts are trash.
> 
> But the tone of the brass. The placement of the strings and woods and the way the percussion sits in the mix sounds very natural and live to me.. with zero effort. Many aspects of this I have still not been able to recreate using modern libraries.


Beautiful! Love the Indiana Jones moments!


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## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> A little bit of *CineSymphony LITE*:
> 
> 
> Hopefully I will still like this one in the morning. ("that's what she said?")
> Just wonderful to work with, though. I'm stunned how easy it was to realize any whim that just came over me. Guess the library got lucky with my whims?!



I don’t get how you make every library you touch shine in just a couple of hours each. Magic.


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## José Herring

mybadmemory said:


> Following a discussion with @Taron and @doctoremmet, here is the O.L.C. (One Library Challenge). It's not a competition by any means, but rather just a way to *challenge yourself* with a *limited palette* and encourage *deep exploration* of things you might already own.
> 
> 
> *The rules are simple:*
> * Use only one library per track.
> * Clearly state what library you're using.
> * Original compositions or mockups are welcome.
> * The intention is to keep it primarily orchestral (or at least acoustic).
> * Library collections (like Cinematic Studio Series etc) do *not* count as one library.
> 
> 
> I'll kick it off with my latest two tracks here, both using *BBC Symphony Orchestra*.



It might take me a while but I'm into it. Kind of busy these days but it might be fun. I'd like to see if HOOPUS can hold it's own. 

BBCSO I might admit. The pro version sounds way better than the core version. I was on the fence but the next sale I'm going to have to upgrade. Thanks for that.


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## ScarletJerry

Michaelt said:


> Ok here are three BBCSO things I don't hate. Chopped the beginning off the second because it was a boring non-BBCSO viola solo. Probably won't leave these here indefinitely.
> 
> View attachment 59982
> 
> 
> View attachment 59980
> 
> 
> View attachment 59981


Simply awesome, Michael T! Just beautiful.

Scarlet Jerry


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## mybadmemory

José Herring said:


> It might take me a while but I'm into it. Kind of busy these days but it might be fun. I'd like to see if HOOPUS can hold it's own.
> 
> BBCSO I might admit. The pro version sounds way better than the core version. I was on the fence but the next sale I'm going to have to upgrade. Thanks for that.


The mics really make it much more versatile. I always found Mix1 very distant and roomy but loved the overall sound. Just adding the close mics makes a huge difference, and that’s just touching the surface. Looking forward to some HOOPUS from you when you get the time!


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## Alchemedia

José Herring said:


> BBCSO I might admit. The pro version sounds way better than the core version.


BBCSO Core is a gateway drug. I can't imagine anyone being satisfied with it once hearing Pro.


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## CT

ScarletJerry said:


> Simply awesome, Michael T! Just beautiful.
> 
> Scarlet Jerry


You're very kind, thank you. 

I should add, all three of those have at least a bit of additional reverb and tape, so it's not quite as pristine as the library can sound.


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## muk

Some fantastic contributions here. It shows that using one library only is not necessarily limiting if you know how to use it.

Not sure if this counts as it is strings only. But here is a track that I wrote and mocked up with Cinematic Studio Strings only:

https://app.box.com/s/vc529lsqsuuzemieurzs7we11mc74f6i


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## mybadmemory

muk said:


> Some fantastic contributions here. It shows that using one library only is not necessarily limiting if you know how to use it.
> 
> Not sure if this counts as it is strings only. But here is a track that I wrote and mocked up with Cinematic Studio Strings only:
> 
> https://app.box.com/s/vc529lsqsuuzemieurzs7we11mc74f6i


That’s exactly what this thread is about! Acknowledging that we don’t need a lot but can make great music using just one single library. Your beautiful contribution proves just that! ❤️


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## Taron

Yaha, that counts for sure, @muk !


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## RogiervG

Are bundles also valid in this thread? (e.g SSO, SStO, or VSL cube, BBO everything bundle)
They are sold as a one product (the bundle).


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## Taron

RogiervG said:


> Are bundles also valid in this thread? (e.g SSO, SStO, or VSL cube, BBO everything bundle)
> They are sold as a one product (the bundle).


@RogiervG thanks for asking! 

Not in this thread. But we are thinking about starting a thread regarding collections or bundles. Here it's all about single libraries. They are often underestimated even by those, who bought them. 

I'm really happy you've asked, though.


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## dcoscina

This was done only using BBC Core


This was done using Audio Imperia Solo


Used Redroom Audio Palette on this


this was done on Staffpad


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## muk

Thank you for your kind words @mybadmemory and @Taron, appreciate it.


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## Jdiggity1

I had done a couple of Composer Cloud-only mockups a few years ago, in the same spirit as this challenge. 
Hymn To The Fallen, Dragon Racing... Would they count? It's not technically one library, but it was just Hollywood orch + choirs (gold, one mic). Only used free/stock plugins, so for $29/m it's pretty dang accessible.
Also this: 
HO gold + stock plugins again.

I might do one for BBCSO next...


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## RogiervG

Jdiggity1 said:


> I had done a couple of Composer Cloud-only mockups a few years ago, in the same spirit as this challenge.
> Hymn To The Fallen, Dragon Racing... Would they count? It's not technically one library, but it was just Hollywood orch + choirs (gold, one mic). Only used free/stock plugins, so for $29/m it's pretty dang accessible.
> 
> 
> I might do one for BBCSO next...


I guess no, since my question (about bundles) the answer was no. (only single lib)


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## Taron

Jdiggity1 said:


> I had done a couple of Composer Cloud-only mockups a few years ago, in the same spirit as this challenge.
> Hymn To The Fallen, Dragon Racing... Would they count? It's not technically one library, but it was just Hollywood orch + choirs (gold, one mic). Only used free/stock plugins, so for $29/m it's pretty dang accessible.
> Also this:
> HO gold + stock plugins again.
> 
> I might do one for BBCSO next...



@RogiervG , see, that's why I was so thrilled you had asked first! 

@Jdiggity1 , that sounds amazing, but it's not in the spirit of this thread. However, please, do one with BBCSO, that would be EXCELLENT!!! You're amazing!


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## ryans

muk said:


> Some fantastic contributions here. It shows that using one library only is not necessarily limiting if you know how to use it.
> 
> Not sure if this counts as it is strings only. But here is a track that I wrote and mocked up with Cinematic Studio Strings only:
> 
> https://app.box.com/s/vc529lsqsuuzemieurzs7we11mc74f6i


Beautiful


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## ryans

Would another blast from the past entry be permitted?

Can't believe I am sharing these but.. here's some of my earliest mockups done with my first orchestral library: the original the legendary *Garritan Personal Orchestra* which was not a very well regarded library at the time but I had no idea what I was doing. 

These cause me physical and mental pain to listen to but hopefully good for some laughs.


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## Taron

ryans said:


> Would another blast from the past entry be permitted?
> 
> Can't believe I am sharing these but.. here's some of my earliest mockups done with my first orchestral library: the original the legendary *Garritan Personal Orchestra* which was not a very well regarded library at the time but I had no idea what I was doing.
> 
> These cause me physical and mental pain to listen to but hopefully good for some laughs.


AWWWWWWW, that was my first, too!  ...I actually dug it up a few years ago and made a little test with it, too. Hmmm, let's see...

OH, but first: Very sweet, why the heck not! There are actually a few very pretty moments in there, considering what this was, especially with the high strings. And I love the harp parts! Beautiful composition for sure. 

OK, now where's my garritan doodle:
(Oh, holy heck, it's 6 years ago)


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## muk

ryans said:


> Beautiful


Thank you Ryan!


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## thesteelydane

muk said:


> Some fantastic contributions here. It shows that using one library only is not necessarily limiting if you know how to use it.
> 
> Not sure if this counts as it is strings only. But here is a track that I wrote and mocked up with Cinematic Studio Strings only:
> 
> https://app.box.com/s/vc529lsqsuuzemieurzs7we11mc74f6i


I remember this from when you first posted it. Such a great piece - simple and elegant; the two hardest things to pull off!


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## timbit2006

ryans said:


> Would another blast from the past entry be permitted?
> 
> Can't believe I am sharing these but.. here's some of my earliest mockups done with my first orchestral library: the original the legendary *Garritan Personal Orchestra* which was not a very well regarded library at the time but I had no idea what I was doing.
> 
> These cause me physical and mental pain to listen to but hopefully good for some laughs.


I enjoyed them but I am also a fan of old game soundtracks so that's probably why


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## muk

thesteelydane said:


> I remember this from when you first posted it. Such a great piece - simple and elegant; the two hardest things to pull off!


Ha, very cool that you remember the piece. Thanks for your kind words.


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## Taron

I've started a little playlist with all my Single Orchestra Library Only Tracks, which I will keep updating.


I'll probably also update descriptions, but for now this is how it starts.


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## Living Fossil

That's a fun thread with some great contributions!
Last week i joined the BBC SO club and did a little piece with it.

However, unfortunately i don't want to take the risk to be punished by posting it, since it violates the rigid terms of this thread... 
I couldn't help myself and replaced the BBC horns with MSB (which matches it surprisingly well) in that piece, also, my impression with the V1 shorts is that they sound rather brutal (as if the transients were cut off) above soft levels, so i doubled them with CSS. 
Good thing is, you don't have to listen to that track – it will give you an extra 3 minutes of lifetime


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## Taron

Living Fossil said:


> That's a fun thread with some great contributions!
> Last week i joined the BBC SO club and did a little piece with it.
> 
> However, unfortunately i don't want to take the risk to be punished by posting it, since it violates the rigid terms of this thread...
> I couldn't help myself and replaced the BBC horns with MSB (which matches it surprisingly well) in that piece, also, my impression with the V1 shorts is that they sound rather brutal (as if the transients were cut off) above soft levels, so i doubled them with CSS.
> Good thing is, you don't have to listen to that track – it will give you an extra 3 minutes of lifetime


If anything, that already are some very interesting/helpful impressions! I somehow expected the only flaw in BBCSO to be the intense wetness in the standard mix and didn't expect the articulations to fall short in such fundamental ways? ...I'd almost want to hear a side-by-side. Now I'll have to track down your BBC SO club?


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## Living Fossil

Taron said:


> I somehow expected the only flaw in BBCSO to be the intense wetness in the standard mix and didn't expect the articulations to fall short in such fundamental ways? ...I'd almost want to hear a side-by-side. Now I'll have to track down your BBC SO club?


I was surprised in a positive way by the "wetness" that i expected previously. Maybe it's because of the (counterintuitive) fact that i've put a bit of Cinematic Rooms Pro on it (and some additional processing).
But the brutality of the V1 is something i want to have a closer look at (i.e. taking a closer look at the transients). That's kind of a pity because the strings are really beautiful _per se_.
There were/are lots of complaints about the horns so they were no surprise.


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## Taron

Alright, today I gave *Audio Imperia's JAEGER* a little shot. It seems very limited, compared to other all-rounder libs, but it's got plenty of "UMPF" and very nice legato. No slurs, though, as far as I can tell, let alone portamento, but hey...



Naturally, I hardly scratched its surface again, like with most of these tiny test tracks. It does give me a good first impression, though, making me want to explore more deeply, even if in case of JAEGER it may not go that far deeper. Possibly more brass legato tests and such. But, yeah, limited, yet, kinda precious.


----------



## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> Alright, today I gave *Audio Imperia's JAEGER* a little shot. It seems very limited, compared to other all-rounder libs, but it's got plenty of "UMPF" and very nice legato. No slurs, though, as far as I can tell, let alone portamento, but hey...
> 
> 
> 
> Naturally, I hardly scratched its surface again, like with most of these tiny test tracks. It does give me a good first impression, though, making me want to explore more deeply, even if in case of JAEGER it may not go that far deeper. Possibly more brass legato tests and such. But, yeah, limited, yet, kinda precious.



I’m beginning to sound like a broken record here but that sounds marvelous Taron! How do you make all those non portamento libraries do these super smooth almost portamento like slurs? You even did them with Discover earlier!


----------



## Taron

Oh, hoho, with *Discover *that was pure boldness, using automation on global tune, alternating between instruments and turning off release times to avoid overlaps, but use reverb to cover tails and any wicked trick I could think of, while still staying true to the library.

But here, it was simply playing decently with it. Using dynamics with deliberation, making instruments slightly off-sync to ensure they don't blend at the exact same time (violins, violas and celli in this case). But I really think the dynamics are most important and knowing when to offer some contrast, like not playing legato. I still felt like this was a bit...well... it was just a quickie, as almost always, really. But, yeah, reminded me that I need far more practice to apply the right care to the right things. 

One thing I absolutely noticed is that you cannot jump from library to library with legato patches, or making legato patches, rather. Every library has its own character, own behavior, flaws and strengths, but they just are not the same and will not sound or even act the same way. Sometimes it's even the note range. Jaeger, for example, sounds quite beautiful where I've played it. But using those same notes in The Orchestra complete or Inspire (Boooo) or whatever else, it just doesn't want to be nice. May it be the way I composed them, whatever it is, what Jaeger made me do, others wouldn't. 
I gotta dig up Albion again, really. I got terribly bored with it at some point, but it may be interesting to have a go again.

And, by all means, keep skipping to those grooves, haha, I really can use the encouragement!!!  
THANK YOU!


----------



## Trash Panda

Taron said:


> Alright, today I gave *Audio Imperia's JAEGER* a little shot. It seems very limited, compared to other all-rounder libs, but it's got plenty of "UMPF" and very nice legato. No slurs, though, as far as I can tell, let alone portamento, but hey...
> 
> 
> 
> Naturally, I hardly scratched its surface again, like with most of these tiny test tracks. It does give me a good first impression, though, making me want to explore more deeply, even if in case of JAEGER it may not go that far deeper. Possibly more brass legato tests and such. But, yeah, limited, yet, kinda precious.



Not sure I've heard "limited" used to describe Jaeger before, outside of it lacking a woodwinds section. What feels limiting with it?

I dig the track. A bit avant guard, but feeling like something big is about to go down.


----------



## Pier-V

_Ooooh_, so the challenge was directed towards us, the readers? I've misread the purpose of this thread for five days straight lol. Man, I'm really dumb sometimes.
Well, basically 90% of what I wrote so far is a O.L.C. Let me try, this seems fun:

This piece was written around three months ago, when I discovered a video where Adam Neely introduced me to the idea of tuplets. It's also heavily inspired by many tabla improvisations I had the pleasure to listen. I used only Stormdrum II, and only the conga patch.



This was written a pair of years ago when I was still a lost cause of a rebel student, and uses only EWQLSO, only strings, only the pizzicato articulation and quavers at most:



Thanks for listening!


----------



## Taron

Trash Panda said:


> Not sure I've heard "limited" used to describe Jaeger before, outside of it lacking a woodwinds section. What feels limiting with it?
> 
> I dig the track. A bit avant guard, but feeling like something big is about to go down.


Thanks, @Trash Panda ! 

What feels limiting with JAEGER?
Well, let's say we compare the Jaeger (hunter) and Jagd (the hunt) to this library and an orchestra:

This hunter is in his underwear with a gun and a deer (very healthy looking, motorized taxidermy). Yup, that's all it takes to have a hunt, right? 

Short list of fundamental things that are missing:
• tonal percussion (timpani, glockenspiel, xylophone, marimba)
• misc. instruments (harp, celesta)
• Oh, yes, and just 1/3rd of the orchestra, being woodwinds (piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon)
• String FX (including thrills)
• Brass FX

Soooo, that list is probably just as long as that of what it has. The most exotic things it has are 3 Taiko hits and tremolo on the strings, haha. 

Oh, but you have Meredith, of course, with the voice of a mature angel over almost two octaves. Definitely lovely, though! 

That being said, it's still pretty amazing sounding and decent fun, especially knowing that no living deer can be harmed by it.

I wonder what they will call the other half of this collection?  (Sammler?)


----------



## Taron

Good old Ablion I. I had another opportunity to play with it today and made this little ditty with it:




I think, I'm sort of drifting off into kind of classic styles... which is concerning, because I may stumble around like an imbecile in that. BUT I'm having fun!


----------



## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> Good old Ablion I. I had another opportunity to play with it today and made this little ditty with it:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I think, I'm sort of drifting off into kind of classic styles... which is concerning, because I may stumble around like an imbecile in that. BUT I'm having fun!



I’ve certainly never heard Albion sounding this classical! :D


----------



## Taron

I can only hope, that's a good thing!  ...but I just updated the ending a bit. "Morning listening" always a fresh ear shocker, but well... For the life of me, SC won't let me change the description text?! 

Anyway, summing things up, if there's anything else to be added to Spitfire's outstanding powers, their stuff is successfully tailored to just work. No weird pre-delays with sample starts on Albion, it just plays. I remember the last time I had stopped doing this, the polyphonic legato on Brass would fail during rendering the track in Mulab, but not during playback. Making me think that they have some sort of timing routines in their script, which are very clever in most situations, but rendering can let them stumble?! 
Whatever the case, if you want to be sure to have something that instantly works and sounds pretty fantastic, Spitfire Audio is probably the safest bet there is. I can't speak for its integration into different mixes or anything that requires owning their stuff, but for quick compositions: Wow!


----------



## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> I can only hope, that's a good thing!


Sounds fantastic as always! Was refreshing to hear Albion do something more classical since it's mostly used for other stuff, and the classical pieces tend to be done using VSL, BBCSO, Berlin, or others!


----------



## doctoremmet

Whoa. This thread has really taken off, hasn’t it. @Taron this last Albion piece indeed is quite amazing, outside of the typical realm it is used for. Nice!

I shall embark on retrofitting that little mobile app I mentioned in the earlier ‘challenge design discussion thread’ so we can enjoy all demo’s (with maybe a little bit of background intel) “on-the-go” in one searchable environment. (Also looking forward to the ‘bundle’ edition of this same concept - I seem to mostly use bundles). And @el-bo is reviving his “free library” challenge as well. Awesome! Anyway, I’ll report back here. Quick question: is there (or will there be any time soon) one overall SoundCloud playlist that I can use? Or am I best advised to just link to people’s individual links (to various players and file formats) as available in their individual posts in this thread? Cheers.


----------



## mybadmemory

doctoremmet said:


> Whoa. This thread has really taken off, hasn’t it. @Taron this last Albion piece indeed is quite amazing, outside of the typical realm it is used for. Nice!
> 
> I shall embark on retrofitting that little mobile app I mentioned in the earlier ‘challenge design discussion thread’ so we can enjoy all demo’s (with maybe a little bit of background intel) “on-the-go” in one searchable environment. (Also looking forward to the ‘bundle’ edition of this same concept - I seem to mostly use bundles). And @el-bo is reviving his “free library” challenge as well. Awesome! Anyway, I’ll report back here. Quick question: is there (or will there be any time soon) one overall SoundCloud playlist that I can use? Or am I best advised to just link to people’s individual links (to various players and file formats) as available in their individual posts in this thread? Cheers.


I think those three threads, Freebies Challenge, One Library Challenge, and Full Bundle Challenge are all super interesting, and would love if all of them could be browsed from the app as separate sections! What an awesome way to spend the evenings by listening to new additions there!


----------



## Taron

Can't agree more! I really hope this will continue to fill up more and more. I also hope that my little tracks inspire the whole idea of just making a quick little track to warm up and not worry too much about posting some symphony over here. 

Just grab a library you may have and do a little composition, really. It's amazing fun, very relaxing and also refreshing for your mind and heart! And we already start becoming a crowd that will enjoy listening to whatever you create (I think, hahaha)).

Do it!  (...like: come'on in, the water's fine!)


----------



## doctoremmet

mybadmemory said:


> I think those three threads, Freebies Challenge, One Library Challenge, and Full Bundle Challenge are all super interesting, and would love if all of them could be browsed from the app as separate sections! What an awesome way to spend the evenings by listening to new additions there!


Hell yes. I’ll make a filter and integrate all three challenges in the one little app.


----------



## Trash Panda

Taron said:


> Thanks, @Trash Panda !
> 
> What feels limiting with JAEGER?
> Well, let's say we compare the Jaeger (hunter) and Jagd (the hunt) to this library and an orchestra:
> 
> This hunter is in his underwear with a gun and a deer (very healthy looking, motorized taxidermy). Yup, that's all it takes to have a hunt, right?
> 
> Short list of fundamental things that are missing:
> • tonal percussion (timpani, glockenspiel, xylophone, marimba)
> • misc. instruments (harp, celesta)
> • Oh, yes, and just 1/3rd of the orchestra, being woodwinds (piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon)
> • String FX (including thrills)
> • Brass FX
> 
> Soooo, that list is probably just as long as that of what it has. The most exotic things it has are 3 Taiko hits and tremolo on the strings, haha.
> 
> Oh, but you have Meredith, of course, with the voice of a mature angel over almost two octaves. Definitely lovely, though!
> 
> That being said, it's still pretty amazing sounding and decent fun, especially knowing that no living deer can be harmed by it.
> 
> I wonder what they will call the other half of this collection?  (Sammler?)


Thanks for clarifying. What you’re listing aren’t limitations. Jaeger was simply built for a different use case than classical composition (it is billed as a modern orchestra after all).

A similar fallacy would be saying BBCSO is limited because it lacks choir/vocals, Braams, and other sound effects that are staples in trailer music these days (which is what Jaeger was built for).


----------



## Taron

Trash Panda said:


> Thanks for clarifying. What you’re listing aren’t limitations. Jaeger was simply built for a different use case than classical composition (it is billed as a modern orchestra after all).
> 
> A similar fallacy would be saying BBCSO is limited because it lacks choir/vocals, Braams, and other sound effects that are staples in trailer music these days (which is what Jaeger was built for).


Great points, @Trash Panda , but since I've been trying to use it for making an orchestral composition, these are the limitations it has for that. I'm sure there are trailers that don't need timpani, glockenspiel or woodwinds at all.

While in any decent orchestral library it doesn't take much to make any sort of BRAAAMS or whatever, if you have some understanding of filters, automation and effects, which totally eliminates that aspect and may even provide you with some originality for your trailer.

...could make another fun challenge, actually! Abuse Your Orchestral Library! 

Anyway, I do really enjoy the sound of Jaeger and it has amazing qualities. I wouldn't want to downplay that at all!


----------



## doctoremmet

Oh no! Many splinter faction challenges! ‘Make baroque music with Metropolis ARKs’. ‘Make chamber music with Majestica’. ‘Make epic music with Tundra’. ‘Make trailer music without ANY Braams’. ‘Mockup Beethoven with nothing BUT Braams’. The possibilities are endless!


----------



## Taron

HAHAHAHA! I LIKE THE LAST!  ...just make Brahms with BRAAMS!


----------



## doctoremmet

Taron said:


> just make Brahms with BRAAMS


Damn! Way better hahahaha


----------



## cedricm

Taron said:


> Really nice stuff, @Michaelt ! That's exactly what this thread was meant to be about!
> 
> Alright, here are some of my earlier BBCSO Discover only tracks:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have already quite a collection of those, but there's a good chance more will follow. I might make a playlist exclusively dedicated to Discover rather than the one I have, including all Spitfire Audio Freebies.



Would you consider sharing the midi or the daw projects for studying purpose? Would apply to any OLC participant open to the idea btw.


----------



## Taron

100%, no problem at all!

DAW project is easiest, but I can try to export Midi, too. Thanks for asking! I think, that's a fantastic idea, but it should always be up to the artist, if they wish to share them or not, of course!


----------



## el-bo

This looks interesting! Just can't work out why the Kontakt Factory Library is not acceptable.
I get that it's really diverse, but it's still conceived and pitched/sold as one library.

It's not so much that I don't have other libraries to use, but if part of the spirit of this is to maximise the potential of a limited palette (In this case, limited in terms of current-day quality), then it seems like one of the most obvious choices. The fact that nearly all of us own it makes it perhaps even more so


----------



## Taron

Alright, here are those three projects:
• HalloweenSlurs
• WildWestSlurs
• Energies Set 04

Each project has its MuProject (MuLab: https://www.mutools.com/) and the Midi (which is almost useless, because it doesn't export the automation and it is very, very important, especially on all slurs!!!) and a text file with the required 3rd party VSTs with their online URL.

The MIDI, as I mentioned, is almost useless, but on HalloweenSlurs it's beyond useless, because I'm automating Global Tune on BBCSO's Discover. As a result that notes will be off, because the automation brings them to their destination pitch. 

Well, if you like this sort of thing, I will probably just take requests and then pack those up the same way.


----------



## Taron

el-bo said:


> This looks interesting! Just can't work out why the Kontakt Factory Library is not acceptable.
> I get that it's really diverse, but it's still conceived and pitched/sold as one library.
> 
> It's not so much that I don't have other libraries to use, but if part of the spirit of this is to maximise the potential of a limited palette (In this case, limited in terms of current-day quality), then it seems like one of the most obvious choices. The fact that nearly all of us own it makes it perhaps even more so


Just consider the actual, *original agendas* of this thread. The main thought was to activate artists to their *Orchestral Libraries*, which they may not have properly played with, giving them a reason to do so again. The secondary agenda is to make this *individual showcases* of such libraries, giving a more genuine look at what those libraries can sound like in various hands.

These are the two original agendas, but there's one agenda to rule them all: *Have fun with something you may have forgotten to have fun with before!*

It's also not a "collection" challenge, and really, the Kontakt Factory Library is a collection and not a library of that kind, if I'm not mistaken. Please, correct me, if I'm wrong! But it just invites an idea here that could just muddy everything up a little too much, if you know what I mean. (need shrugging emoji!)

To me, the most obvious choices to participate here are actually the free orchestral libraries like BBCSO Discover, ProjectSAM and the likes. Because if you do not have those, you should definitely go get those! And then join in!


----------



## el-bo

Taron said:


> Just consider the actual, *original agendas* of this thread. The main thought was to activate artists to their *Orchestral Libraries*, which they may not have properly played with, giving them a reason to do so again. The secondary agenda is to make this *individual showcases* of such libraries, giving a more genuine look at what those libraries can sound like in various hands.
> 
> These are the two original agendas, but there's one agenda to rule them all: *Have fun with something you may have forgotten to have fun with before!*
> 
> It's also not a "collection" challenge, and really, the Kontakt Factory Library is a collection and not a library of that kind, if I'm not mistaken. Please, correct me, if I'm wrong! But it just invites an idea here that could just muddy everything up a little too much, if you know what I mean. (need shrugging emoji!)
> 
> To me, the most obvious choices to participate here are actually the free orchestral libraries like BBCSO Discover, ProjectSAM and the likes. Because if you do not have those, you should definitely go get those! And then join in!


Well, if it has to be orchestral libraries, then it could be ruled out just on those grounds. But I'd give it a pass on the second agenda and the OATRTA. But then, I'm not making the rules.

As for whether the KFL constitutes a library or a collection: Guess it would be too obvious of me to suggest it's a library simply by virtue of it actually having "library" in the title  But I actually see it as a collection of grouped instruments, that form a whole...library.

When I think of a collection I think of the Metropolis Ark series or the Albions. These are collections of libraries. But at least with the Albion libraries, they offer far more diversity (a huge selling factor, imo), to include synths/sound-design elements etc. that would rue them out as being strictly orchestral. Not sure where the line would be drawn, in this regard.

And I do have orchestral libraries (Tundra ASO, Discover etc.), but I'm not really good enough with orchestration to make that much of these, yet, never mind making them 'shine' 

At the end of the day, you define the rules. Just curious, is all


----------



## doctoremmet

Just checking… Albion, Majestica, 8W, BHCT would all qualify as collections now? I figured those were libraries.


----------



## Taron

If you pick just one library of those collections, then it qualifies. Such as I did with Metropolis Ark 1 and Albion 1.

But one shouldn't get too carried away with "rules" and just ponder the agenda behind it. It is to not jump between different libraries as one usually does, but to challenge yourself to use just one library, one "purchase", so to say. This way you force yourself to explore everything it has to offer as opposed to cherry-picking sounds.

Understand the spirit, see if it inspires you and if it does: Enjoy and join in! 

Oh, I also want to add: It's not about "making them shine" as much as it is about you, having fun with it the best way you wish to. Since this is not a competition and it's all about tickling your creativity, it matters not how accomplished an orchestrator you'd be or not. I mean... any decent orchestrator probably cringes at virtually all my stuff.


----------



## mybadmemory

doctoremmet said:


> Just checking… Albion, Majestica, 8W, BHCT would all qualify as collections now? I figured those were libraries.


In my eyes those are definitely libraries. Anything that is one product as opposed to a bundle or collection of different products really.


----------



## Ingo Wegener

I wrote this one using only BBCSO Core


----------



## Ingo Wegener

And this one’s using only “The Orchestra Complete” by Sonuscore


----------



## mybadmemory

Ingo Wegener said:


> I wrote this one using only BBCSO Core



Beautiful! I love how the last part of it shows of bbc in a context it is often critiqued for as well. Tight fast notes and loud brass. This to me is exactly the point of the thread. Showing that we don’t need to obsess as much about filling in with other products to cover their shortcomings, but that any one of them can indeed just be used as is to make beautiful music!


----------



## doctoremmet

mybadmemory said:


> can indeed just be used as is to make beautiful music!


Just people actually making music with their libraries is refreshing


----------



## mybadmemory

doctoremmet said:


> Just people actually making music with their libraries is refreshing


Haha I know. I certainly have a tendency to get stuck in library research, template building, and patch auditioning myself. I’ve found that the best way for me to remedy that is to just pick any one library I own, limit myself to that, and get on with the music. So this is as much about forcing me to do it, as it is to inspire anyone else to do the same.

The only problem is that Tarons incredible tempo and output makes the rest of us look like we still don’t do anything. Just kidding. Keep em coming Taron! :D


----------



## doctoremmet

Very cool strategy, works for me as well. Somehow now I need one to actually finish stuff. Ah well, as long as we’re having fun right?


----------



## Taron

Ingo Wegener said:


> I wrote this one using only BBCSO Core



Magical! 
I'm listening to this as I'm writing my reply here. It's wonderful to listen to its variety! AWWWW, what, it's over? I want more!!!  (that makes me apologize for my submissions, too, hahaha, I mean, in case somebody felt the same like I do with yours right now?!) 

But wait, there is more!!! HA, that Orchestra! NICE!
Ooooooohhh, much, much more powerful than my little ditty with it, hehehe. GREAT! 

This time the length was perfect, hehehe! Unless you'd extend it with additional chapters. But, wow, what a blast! Exactly what I was hoping for to find here! Just wonderful!


----------



## river angler

I commend the OP for putting up this thread! It's about time some bright soul attempted to tame the seemingly fathomless pockets of our hobbyist contributors on this forum and more poignantly underline the importance of really getting to explore and work with the libraries they already own! bravo!

Frankly, buying more and more libraries is totally counterproductive to potential creative genius.


----------



## Ingo Wegener

mybadmemory said:


> Beautiful! I love how the last part of it shows of bbc in a context it is often critiqued for as well. Tight fast notes and loud brass. This to me is exactly the point of the thread. Showing that we don’t need to obsess as much about filling in with other products to cover their shortcomings, but that any one of them can indeed just be used as is to make beautiful music!


Thank you !!! The brass section is ok in BBC , not the best but it works. No complaints about the other sections , especially the string section works for me the best


----------



## Ingo Wegener

Taron said:


> Magical!
> I'm listening to this as I'm writing my reply here. It's wonderful to listen to its variety! AWWWW, what, it's over? I want more!!!  (that makes me apologize for my submissions, too, hahaha, I mean, in case somebody felt the same like I do with yours right now?!)
> 
> But wait, there is more!!! HA, that Orchestra! NICE!
> Ooooooohhh, much, much more powerful than my little ditty with it, hehehe. GREAT!
> 
> This time the length was perfect, hehehe! Unless you'd extend it with additional chapters. But, wow, what a blast! Exactly what I was hoping for to find here! Just wonderful!


So glad you enjoyed it , thanks for your kind words 🙏


----------



## cedricm

Taron said:


> Alright, here are those three projects:
> • HalloweenSlurs
> • WildWestSlurs
> • Energies Set 04
> 
> Each project has its MuProject (MuLab: https://www.mutools.com/) and the Midi (which is almost useless, because it doesn't export the automation and it is very, very important, especially on all slurs!!!) and a text file with the required 3rd party VSTs with their online URL.
> 
> The MIDI, as I mentioned, is almost useless, but on HalloweenSlurs it's beyond useless, because I'm automating Global Tune on BBCSO's Discover. As a result that notes will be off, because the automation brings them to their destination pitch.
> 
> Well, if you like this sort of thing, I will probably just take requests and then pack those up the same way.


Thanks Taron!

Regarding midi automation export, I found this but not knowing MuLab it's like reading Chinese to me. But there are two leads: "Midi CC Generator" and "Midi Controllers".








KVR Forum: How to export a midi from mulab? - MUTOOLS Forum


KVR Audio Forum - How to export a midi from mulab? - MUTOOLS Forum




www.kvraudio.com


----------



## Taron

Oh, cool... I'll have to look into that! Thanks, @cedricm !

I'm not sure, if I should spam this thread with any new BBCSO Discover experiment I'm making, but here's today's result:



I'm still trying to figure out the easiest way to get decent portamento and slurs to work, but it tends to get a wee bit squeaky. Still... good fun!


----------



## Ingo Wegener

Here’s another one made only with BBCSO Core


----------



## Manontroppo

Here is another piece with BBCSO Discover only. You can clearly hear what it is capable of, and what it is not. The trills make me almost pass out everytime I hear them - machine gun at it's best. Apart from that: no postpro, no external reverb, just level adjusting.


----------



## Taron

Manontroppo said:


> Here is another piece with BBCSO Discover only. You can clearly hear what it is capable of, and what it is not. The trills make me almost pass out everytime I hear them - machine gun at it's best. Apart from that: no postpro, no external reverb, just level adjusting.



I didn't know, if it was going to be misunderstood, had I given your post the  Like, because it's so hilarious to me, that's awesome! 
It does show the general sound quality of Discover quite well, which is pretty awesome for sure. But it also shows that you can't just enter notes in hopes they do the right thing. It takes really some careful crafting to get any nuance into it, let alone effects like trills and the likes. Depending on what nature you want those trills to have, you may have to resort to unlikely articulations and then carefully adjust their intensity, be that by velocity on shorts or modulation/expression with automation curves. Also you may not want to strictly stick to "the grid", quantizing those trills.

But, yeah, it certainly isn't laid out for everything, that's for sure.

Still: GREAT EFFORT!!! 
And you actually did get some rather sweetly crafted moments in there for sure. Even if the sort of "tutti" trills really went south hard, somewhere in the middle you did some beautifully gentle stuff.
The brass seems to be forced quiet with expression, am I correct? But that really makes the rather feel distant than playing quietly. I know, I know, it's virtually impossible with Discover...without any dynamic layers, it's painful. You could cheat a tiny bit, working them with filters for the pp parts. But may feel like betrayal of purity, haha, I understand.


----------



## Manontroppo

Many thanks for your feedback, Taron. The most annoying trill in this piece is a combination of piccolo, flute, clarinet and bassoon trilling plus violins and viola playing 32th notes tremolo underneath. The score says: start with pp and end with ff. Every note of the "trilling section" has a different velocity, as the strings have while playing the tremolo. But I wanted to process the original score through BBCSO D. without any sophisticated tricks or editing the score itself, curious to see what the library could do out of the box. Classical mockups are possible if the score is cooperative ...  Someday I'll use it for some original music considering its strenghts and shortcomings. 
The guys at SA have their own special take on orchestral sound, and it scared me away from considering Core or even Pro. "Up to 3 dynamic layers" is adventurous in my opinion. Apart from the common fact that sample libraries are never perfect nor flawless, I do feel the need of a real classically trained expert with experience in the orchestra pit to help Paul and Christian to steer their orchestral libs in a more true-to life direction soundwise. I also understand that this is expensive and might not be top priority for them because they concentrate on their cinematic stuff. Maybe they don't like the idea at all, and I'm fine with that too.


----------



## Taron

Yeah, certainly a conversation for a dedicated thread, because this could go on for a while, hahaha! 
But there's certainly a bit of a conflict of interest at this point with SA, because they have their target customer pecked and it may take a while to loosen up and consider "serious" expansion into anything a bit more timeless.

In the meantime, however, with a little dedication and careful suspension it is possible to do amazing things with Discover, let alone any more sophisticated library.


----------



## justabeginner

A bit late to the party but here's a track I composed using only EastWest Symphonic Orchestra! It definitely still needs a bit of polishing but I thought I'd share  Any feedback much appreciated!


----------



## Taron

No, no, no, you can't ever be "late" to this party! It's a permanent one that should always stay open and is only just beginning! 

I love how positive and energizing your composition is. Very uplifting and super sweet!


----------



## José Herring

Oh I rarely post a piece and apologize ahead of time. But, I had like about 3 or 4 ideas all crowded in my head and not a lot of time to sort this out. I think OPUS did a fine job, maybe the operator needed a little more time than I have to fully flush out the 3 or 4 distinct ideas and fully use all the right patches.

But, I loved this OLC. Gave me an opportunity to really know this excellent library again. I realized that I had my "go to" libraries and patches. Forced to use one library just made me use patches and mic positions, ect that I don't use . Amazing library.

edit: Oh, I should mention that everything is OPUS but the Percussion is still the Play version because I just haven't switched it over fully yet to OPUS, but it's the same sample pool. Even the sound design is OPUS. I just took the sound of a patch, recorded it and use the Cubase sampler and grain FX to processes them. Neat little trick really.


----------



## Taron

What an intense energy! Fantastic stuff, @José Herring !


----------



## José Herring

Taron said:


> What an intense energy! Fantastic stuff, @José Herring !


Thank you. 

The library kind of lends itself to high tempo high emotion music. Functions best when loud . It's kind of the reason why I went with other libraries as well as this though HO was my main library for about 10 years. 

OPUS fixes a lot of the problems with the older version. The RR are a lot smoother allowing you to do fast repeated notes without too many timing issues. I battled with that as fast repeated notes prior to getting involved with samples was kind of my jam when working with real people. To my utter dismay turned out to be almost impossible to do this with libraries 15 years ago. Today a few libraries are good at it but it still amazes me that some libraries still haven't figured this out. 

All in all I find that OPUS allows me to get more of me in my mockups without having to sacrifice. 

I would like to though get some more samples that are a bit better on the softer side of life. Looking into light and sound and maybe even finally getting LASS. BBCSO is good for the softer big stuff but I'm also looking for softer intimate. 

OOO!!!! Just had a an idea. I should do another OLC with Syncrhon STrings Pro. See if I can get the softer orchestral dynamics convincingly.


----------



## Taron

Great idea! Go for it! The more the merrier!


----------



## José Herring

Taron said:


> Okay, just to have at least one more track in there that's along the lines of what this is about, I actually just now made this exploration of *ProjectSAM's Free Orchestra*. It's the first time I'm giving it a fair shake and it's pretty darn amazing. This is just a wild set of experiments as I went through the sounds:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anyone, who doesn't know *ProjectSAM *and/or their *Free Orchestra* (like me a few weeks ago):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Free Orchestra - ProjectSAM
> 
> 
> A 100% free taste of what our extensive catalog has to offer! Packing sounds from our entire product line, this diverse collection of instruments is a unique and cinematic introduction to the world of ProjectSAM. Now fully updated.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> projectsam.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm so afraid, I'm one of the few people left, who hadn't heard of it until recently. But I'm super late to the game anyway.



Dude you are doing so much interersting stuff with free orchestras making feel like I shouldn't have spent 2020/21 buying every library I could afford.


----------



## José Herring

@mybadmemory 

I'm really interested in doing one with AROOF but wanted to know if the expansions count as seperate libraries. Should I just do the core library or can I include the bass+cello expansion I have?


----------



## Taron

Well, we did say single libraries only and not collections. For collections we are still thinking about making a dedicated thread, too. So, for the sake of consistency, stick with the core. The whole idea is to find out what can be done with it by itself. And I'm sure you will rock it! 

AND THANK YOU!  ...it's all about allowing the library to take part of the charge. If it was only remotely well designed, it will have some fitting sets of instruments and it's then about finding their groove.


----------



## mybadmemory

José Herring said:


> @mybadmemory
> 
> I'm really interested in doing one with AROOF but wanted to know if the expansions count as seperate libraries. Should I just do the core library or can I include the bass+cello expansion I have?


I second Tarons thoughts that including the expansions would get into collections-territory, so preferably just the main one! Looking forward to hearing you rock it José!


----------



## José Herring

Part of the challenge for me is to limit the time I spend on each cue. So I'm writing kind of stream of consciousness. 

Felt with AROOF that I was less myself. Library of course is incomplete and of course had to write with combined sections which I hate doing. But......AROOF is a fantastic library. What you do get actually works remarkably well. Wide dynamic range and even the sustain patches you can move and they connect up well enough without legato.

For me AROOF was a purchase to support Spitfire to complete this library. I don't care how many millions the company may have, one thing is certain they are taking a risk with a project as ambition as Abbey Road. They are off to a great start. 

What is surprising is that the library didn't really lead me to write high energy but rather kind of more mysterioso. Which makes me wonder if a library itself kind of leads you down a certain path. AROOF said to me, take advantage of the room it sparkles, it shines, it has low end. Don't get too complicated because it clutters the room. Let the music be in that space.

No EQ. Slight hall verb and only a touch of mastering and the library just has a great sound that you just don't want to mess with too much.


----------



## mybadmemory

José Herring said:


> Part of the challenge for me is to limit the time I spend on each cue. So I'm writing kind of stream of consciousness.
> 
> Felt with AROOF that I was less myself. Library of course is incomplete and of course had to write with combined sections which I hate doing. But......AROOF is a fantastic library. What you do get actually works remarkably well. Wide dynamic range and even the sustain patches you can move and they connect up well enough without legato.
> 
> For me AROOF was a purchase to support Spitfire to complete this library. I don't care how many millions the company may have, one thing is certain they are taking a risk with a project as ambition as Abbey Road. They are off to a great start.
> 
> What is surprising is that the library didn't really lead me to write high energy but rather kind of more mysterioso. Which makes me wonder if a library itself kind of leads you down a certain path. AROOF said to me, take advantage of the room it sparkles, it shines, it has low end. Don't get too complicated because it clutters the room. Let the music be in that space.
> 
> No EQ. Slight hall verb and only a touch of mastering and the library just has a great sound that you just don't want to mess with too much.


That is MAGICAL José! Teleports me deirectly into a Burton'esque / Elfman'esque reality. What a beatuful sound, room, library, and track! True testament to how much can be done with just one library! <3


----------



## José Herring

mybadmemory said:


> That is MAGICAL José! Teleports me deirectly into a Burton'esque / Elfman'esque reality. What a beatuful sound, room, library, and track! True testament to how much can be done with just one library! <3


Ha funny. I use to get compared to Elfman a lot back in my early days. I guess somewhere it's still in me. Use to love that sound.

Thanks for listening. 

I'm having fun learning each library I have. Next week sometime I'll do a string piece with Synchron Strings Pro and see where that leads me.


----------



## Taron

Yeah, that's gorgeous, @José Herring !!! ...oddly enough, long time ago I did get the Elfman compare, too, but it's just because he stands for whimsical mystery, octatonics and rhythm. Check, check and check again, hahaha! 

Really wonderful little piece, though! Makes me wish I had AROOF myself...alas...

Anyway, can't wait for your next piece!!!


----------



## FlyingAndi

Taron said:


> oddly enough, long time ago I did get the Elfman compare, too, but it's just because he stands for whimsical mystery, octatonics and rhythm. Check, check and check again, hahaha!


I felt quite a Danny Elfman vibe from your Metropolis Ark I track.
Lost of great stuff in this thread! Keep it coming!


----------



## Trash Panda

Some John Williams using only AROOF.


----------



## cedricm

Trash Panda said:


> Some John Williams using only AROOF.



You guys are all so talented it's intimidating!


----------



## Taron

@Trash Panda , I'm assuming this is by ear and not by score, right? Great job for that, really. It does feel like it's a bit tumbling around in the timing, giving me this extra layer of unsettling, hahaha, like Vader was totally loaded, hehe.... almost would want to make an animation of that! 

Still, very fascinating!


----------



## Trash Panda

Taron said:


> @Trash Panda , I'm assuming this is by ear and not by score, right? Great job for that, really. It does feel like it's a bit tumbling around in the timing, giving me this extra layer of unsettling, hahaha, like Vader was totally loaded, hehe.... almost would want to make an animation of that!
> 
> Still, very fascinating!


The timing issues should be fixed now. Rookie mistake of setting the Tightness value to 0 right before render and assuming it will all come out with the same amount of pre-transient time.


----------



## Taron

AAAhhhh, sweet! Yeah, that can happen, I guess. Spitfire is fantastic in many ways, but it can get wobbly at times. 

Oddly enough, that's one of the things that fascinated me with Audio Imperia's stuff. They've managed to make this surprisingly reliable. You can totally compose away at 0 pre-delay and then later give it the full monty, sticking properly to the timing. At least my few experiments have shown that, while it felt awkward at first. 

Reminds me, I hope I get my hands on that Nucleus update. Would love to make a track with it!


----------



## BassClef

Using only Metropolis Ark 2!

View attachment Last Autumn - MetArk2 .mp3


----------



## dhmusic

BassClef said:


> Only Metropolis Ark 2
> 
> View attachment Last Autumn - MetArk2 .mp3


(Finally my people show up...)

Sounds really nice BassClef! Love how you push and pull the tempo throughout the track.


----------



## dhmusic

So... what libraries are missing eh?


----------



## Taron

dhmusic said:


> So... what libraries are missing eh?


That's the thing, no need to look for missing libraries. Whatever you have flying around, use it!
Could be entertaining in a statistical way, too, at the end.

@BassClef , what a gentle, pretty piece and even a proper track, not just little snippets like mine. Great job!


----------



## Remnant

This song is only SF Albion Solstice. A lot in that library so hopefully this qualifies under the rules. Not nearly as expertly orchestral as most of the stuff you guys are posting, but since it is about the only time I have only used one library on a song I thought I would go ahead and post it.



Happy to accept criticism/suggestions. I'm a big boy. I can take it.


----------



## Taron

@Remnant what a sweet atmosphere this creates. It can be a little disjointed in moments, loaded with a bit too many elements in the opening, competing harmonies all clashing a wee bit. But later it gathers beautifully for the body of the track. And the end is a very pretty reflection of it all. Yeah, I think, it's just in the second part of the opening after the guitars, great until like 0:25. Then the pulsing synth introduces the first confusing layer, leading to a climax of disorientation around 1:00. Then at 1:20 it begins to gather itself and get nicely euphoric.


----------



## Remnant

Thanks so much for listening Taron and the spot on comments. I really appreciate it from a guy who I have been listening to do some excellent orchestration. When I first bought Solstice, this song was me just going through the library and literally throwing every section I came across in the song - there's vocals? Sure. Electric guitar? Why not? Accordian? Yes, please! I love a beautiful mess sometimes, but restraint is an art. Thanks again.


----------



## mybadmemory

Remnant said:


> This song is only SF Albion Solstice. A lot in that library so hopefully this qualifies under the rules. Not nearly as expertly orchestral as most of the stuff you guys are posting, but since it is about the only time I have only used one library on a song I thought I would go ahead and post it.
> 
> 
> 
> Happy to accept criticism/suggestions. I'm a big boy. I can take it.



That’s absolutely beautiful, Remnant! I used to do a lot of music that was instrumental like this, rather than orchestral, and this really makes me want to get back into that. Thanks for reminding me, and for the great track!


----------



## Saxer

Albion One (some years ago)


----------



## Saxer

Another older one... only Samplemodeling Trombones


----------



## Saxer

One more... Logic Pro X stock library and efx (non-orchestral)


----------



## Saxer

VSL Special Edition (not synchronized)


----------



## Remnant

Saxer said:


> Albion One (some years ago)



Stunning.


----------



## Remnant

Saxer said:


> One more... Logic Pro X stock library and efx (non-orchestral)



Great


mybadmemory said:


> That’s absolutely beautiful, Remnant! I used to do a lot of music that was instrumental like this, rather than orchestral, and this really makes me want to get back into that. Thanks for reminding me, and for the great track!


thanks so much!


----------



## Taron

@Saxer ...tssssss... unloading a ton of gems! Wowsers!


----------



## dhmusic

Saxer said:


> One more... Logic Pro X stock library and efx (non-orchestral)



now we're talkin' baaaay baaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy

UGH!


----------



## dhmusic

Seems kinda silly not to post this here. Not sure if any of these are going to be in the final version but it at least gives a basic sense of the library with pretty rudimentary programming. Hopefully someone finds it helpful.

Some important notes:
- This was made as a reference sketch for programming the choir parts for my "Liberi Fatali" mockup
- Sustain, Staccato, Short Marcato/Portato, Long Marcato/Portato are generally the only articulations being used
- Runs and Trills have not been programmed
- Tracks are dry, center panned, without EQ. Multiband Compression/Limiting is used on the master bus

I should be wrapping up the final version in the next day or two


----------



## José Herring

@Saxer Now we're really taking this thread it up a notch! Good job.


----------



## Trash Panda

dhmusic said:


> Seems kinda silly not to post this here. Not sure if any of these are going to be in the final version but it at least gives a basic sense of the library with pretty rudimentary programming. Hopefully someone finds it helpful.
> 
> Some important notes:
> - This was made as a reference sketch for programming the choir parts for my "Liberis Fatali" mockup
> - Sustain, Staccato, Short Marcato/Portato, Long Marcato/Portato are generally the only articulations being used
> - Runs and Trills have not been programmed
> - Tracks are dry, center panned, without EQ. Compression/Limiting is used on the master bus
> 
> I should be wrapping up the final version in the next day or two



Sounding really good! Cannot wait to hear this with the choir after your Cleric Beast cover.

Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec


----------



## Taron

@dhmusic very intense! What is somehow really cool and interesting about it is that it does feel like mockups in a good way, like you are capturing ideas, writing them down. Especially the first track sounds perfect for a sort of "montage" video of how you write your scores in some sort of creative frenzy! 

Berlin Orchestral Tools, really doing its intended job.


----------



## Living Fossil

Ok, here's a track from last week which uses BBCSO core only.
(There's a tiny bit of MSSin the "regular" version, but it's muted in this version. The viole in the first 4 bars aren't too convincing...)

I was sceptical towards BBCSO for a long time, however, i have to say that it offers a fantastic workflow.
While it's not deep sampled, the coherence it comes with makes it really easy to use instrumentations as one would for a regular orchestra, without worrying too much that some instruments don't behave as they should. [e.g. that the oboes are so piercing that they will mess up every chord they are a part of, unless they are carefully tamed by a dynamic EQ]

This piece uses a regular 3/3/3/3-4/3/3/1- Timp, 1 Perc & strings setup, for the even numbered solo instruments i used the transposition trick (and for lines à 3 the respective à 3 patch).

My biggest worry with this library (beyond the missing flexibility with short nots) is the fact that the pitch bend control isn't assignable. It would make it much easier to fine tune the intonation where it's wanted.


----------



## Scamper

Great thread and I enjoy making some one-library-tracks as well. Here are a few of my older pieces in that vein...

*Spitfire Sable/SCS*



*Spitfire Albion ONE*



*ProjectSAM Orchestral Essentials*



*EWQL Symphonic Orchestra*






Living Fossil said:


>



Lovely piece! It's quite a journey and I love the gloomy mood created by the harmonies, textures and moving bass lines. The part at 1:04 is my favorite here.


----------



## Taron

Living Fossil said:


> Ok, here's a track from last week which uses BBCSO core only.
> (There's a tiny bit of MSSin the "regular" version, but it's muted in this version. The viole in the first 4 bars aren't too convincing...)
> 
> I was sceptical towards BBCSO for a long time, however, i have to say that it offers a fantastic workflow.
> While it's not deep sampled, the coherence it comes with makes it really easy to use instrumentations as one would for a regular orchestra, without worrying too much that some instruments don't behave as they should. [e.g. that the oboes are so piercing that they will mess up every chord they are a part of, unless they are carefully tamed by a dynamic EQ]
> 
> This piece uses a regular 3/3/3/3-4/3/3/1- Timp, 1 Perc & strings setup, for the even numbered solo instruments i used the transposition trick (and for lines à 3 the respective à 3 patch).
> 
> My biggest worry with this library (beyond the missing flexibility with short nots) is the fact that the pitch bend control isn't assignable. It would make it much easier to fine tune the intonation where it's wanted.



Fantastic! ...this is so schooling, really. I'm absolutely amazed, listening carefully and full of respect. Just wonderfully crafted and utterly inspiring. Thanks for sharing this here, @Living Fossil !

@Scamper ...well, you're all making this thread really a treasure-trove. Wonderful stuff!


----------



## BassClef

Remnant said:


> This song is only SF Albion Solstice. A lot in that library so hopefully this qualifies under the rules. Not nearly as expertly orchestral as most of the stuff you guys are posting, but since it is about the only time I have only used one library on a song I thought I would go ahead and post it.
> 
> 
> 
> Happy to accept criticism/suggestions. I'm a big boy. I can take it.



I really loved this very creative piece. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Remnant

Thanks BassClef. I really appreciate it. And what a great user name you have.


----------



## ip20

Saxer said:


> Albion One (some years ago)





Saxer said:


> VSL Special Edition (not synchronized)





Saxer said:


> One more... Logic Pro X stock library and efx (non-orchestral)



Wow!


----------



## sundrowned

A one day OLC noodle here. Did this today with staffpad cinebrass. Needs a lot more work and ran out of time so just stuck an ending on. But I like the challenge of trying to get stuff done in a few hours.
Not sure about putting my little noodle among the amazing talent on this thread but here we go 

View attachment Cinebrass OLC.mp3


----------



## Saxer

Living Fossil said:


>



Wow! This sounds beautiful! Composition, orchestration and the balance is very natural! Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Living Fossil

Saxer said:


> Wow! This sounds beautiful! Composition, orchestration and the balance is very natural! Thanks for sharing!


Thanks a lot for your kind words! 
I've kept the default balance of BBCSO (i.e. all instruments are at the same volume) and there's no further processing of the instruments. Just a bit of Cinematic Rooms Pro, Zynaptic's intensity @10% wet and some mild compression/limiting on the master.


----------



## mybadmemory

Living Fossil said:


> My biggest worry with this library (beyond the missing flexibility with short nots) is the fact that the pitch bend control isn't assignable. It would make it much easier to fine tune the intonation where it's wanted.


You can assign a CC to the master tuning by right clicking on the tube knob at the top though! And amazingly beautiful piece!


----------



## Living Fossil

mybadmemory said:


> You can assign a CC to the master tuning by right clicking on the tube knob at the top though!


I know, but the main problem is:
The master tuning goes from -36 semitones to +36 semitones; and midi controllers have 128 values.
What i typically need are relatively exact adjustments in the range of 3-33 cents; and sometimes 50 cents if a quartertone is needed.
With the pitch bend control set to 1 semitone this is all achievable in a satisfying way, and in Kontakt it's possible to add the pitch bend control also to libraries which haven't provided this control.
(I already wrote this request to the SA support, but i don't think they see a need in implementing it...but i guess i'll write again 

p.s. and thanks for the kind comment!


----------



## Taron

sundrowned said:


> A one day OLC noodle here. Did this today with staffpad cinebrass. Needs a lot more work and ran out of time so just stuck an ending on. But I like the challenge of trying to get stuff done in a few hours.
> Not sure about putting my little noodle among the amazing talent on this thread but here we go
> 
> View attachment Cinebrass OLC.mp3


Hehehehe, this is what I call a little "Ditty" and it's perfect! Why not! 
...I like that it feels lively, like you've just enjoyed to improvise a bit, simply to make music and enjoy the brass. It's good stuff, too, nothing to hide away. Sure, there are a few blue moments in there, hehe, but it almost makes it even more endearing. Sometimes I think these overly polished pieces can discourage musicians a little- I'm very happy I've got 33 confidence boosting years behind me - and something like this is beautiful encouragement in the best of ways. You make me want to make a quick little doodle, too. But I'm currently interested in doing this Heavyocity challenge, which sort of stalls me altogether for some reason. Maybe I should follow your example and just have a happy ditty time for a moment!?


----------



## Taron

Living Fossil said:


> I know, but the main problem is:
> The master tuning goes from -36 semitones to +36 semitones; and midi controllers have 128 values.
> What i typically need are relatively exact adjustments in the range of 3-33 cents; and sometimes 50 cents if a quartertone is needed.
> With the pitch bend control set to 1 semitone this is all achievable in a satisfying way, and in Kontakt it's possible to add the pitch bend control also to libraries which haven't provided this control.
> (I already wrote this request to the SA support, but i don't think they see a need in implementing it...but i guess i'll write again
> 
> p.s. and thanks for the kind comment!


Ah, I've used Global Tune for my BBCSO Discover experiments and what I did there was to set the Global Tune visually to the semi tone I wanted, copy the actual dial value and even made a little set of them, which I could then just paste to where I wanted the bending.
In MuLab that's very easy to do, but I can't speak for any other DAW in that regard.

Another thing I haven't done, but could've done is to remap pitchbend to global tune with the desired values. Hmmm...but my pitch wheel along with my mod wheel are broken on my rotten masterkeyboard. I can use the sliders as CC, but not for pitchbending... all so painful. Urgently have to get rich again, hahaha!


----------



## dhmusic

Living Fossil said:


> I know, but the main problem is:
> The master tuning goes from -36 semitones to +36 semitones; and midi controllers have 128 values.
> What i typically need are relatively exact adjustments in the range of 3-33 cents; and sometimes 50 cents if a quartertone is needed.
> With the pitch bend control set to 1 semitone this is all achievable in a satisfying way, and in Kontakt it's possible to add the pitch bend control also to libraries which haven't provided this control.
> (I already wrote this request to the SA support, but i don't think they see a need in implementing it...but i guess i'll write again
> 
> p.s. and thanks for the kind comment!


As much as I like SINE, this is the sort of thing that I keep my kontakt versions for too. If you're pretty demanding it's basically like having two libraries with different purposes.


----------



## Trash Panda

This thread has certainly sparked some productivity in me.

Cover of Final Fantasy 6 - Figaro Castle (aka Edgar and Sabin's theme) using AROOF.

Alternate title: Look ma! No legatos!


----------



## mybadmemory

Trash Panda said:


> This thread has certainly sparked some productivity in me.
> 
> Cover of Final Fantasy 6 - Figaro Castle (aka Edgar and Sabin's theme) using AROOF.
> 
> Alternate title: Look ma! No legatos!



You’re on fire!! First the Star Wars cover and now this one. They sound wonderful. As do AROOF. I do miss legatos for the string sections in this one (or perhaps just some overlayed staccato accents on the note starts) but the brass sections sound wonderful! Way to go!


----------



## Trash Panda

mybadmemory said:


> You’re on fire!! First the Star Wars cover and now this one. They sound wonderful. As do AROOF. I do miss legatos for the string sections in this one (or perhaps just some overlayed staccato accents on the note starts) but the brass sections sound wonderful! Way to go!


I did a little experiment and there's definitely some magic to be had by overlaying different articulations. Not just Long + Stacatissimo/Spiccato, but the Tenuto/Marcato could also benefit from a sharper attack overlay sometimes.

I'm trying to figure out a way to set all this up from a single MIDI track that feeds to other channels. Maybe using a combination of sends that only include specific channels.

Also want to get a microphone out template set up to make the post-arrangement setup faster. Might be a different template or set of disabled tracks for that.

Definitely a LOT more flexibility in AROOF by itself than most would have you believe.

I am eyeing the Film Selections bundle now though...


----------



## dhmusic

Trash Panda said:


> I did a little experiment and there's definitely some magic to be had by overlaying different articulations. Not just Long + Stacatissimo/Spiccato, but the Tenuto/Marcato could also benefit from a sharper attack overlay sometimes.
> 
> I'm trying to figure out a way to set all this up from a single MIDI track that feeds to other channels. Maybe using a combination of sends that only include specific channels.
> 
> Also want to get a microphone out template set up to make the post-arrangement setup faster. Might be a different template or set of disabled tracks for that.
> 
> Definitely a LOT more flexibility in AROOF by itself than most would have you believe.
> 
> I am eyeing the Film Selections bundle now though...


Does Reaper have an articulation manager/Expression map system? That'd be the way to go.


----------



## cedricm

sundrowned said:


> A one day OLC noodle here. Did this today with staffpad cinebrass. Needs a lot more work and ran out of time so just stuck an ending on. But I like the challenge of trying to get stuff done in a few hours.
> Not sure about putting my little noodle among the amazing talent on this thread but here we go
> 
> View attachment Cinebrass OLC.mp3


This is straight from music notation?


----------



## Pier-V

Hi @Living Fossil , thanks for sharing this very well crafted composition! Now:


Living Fossil said:


> It would make it much easier to fine tune the intonation where it's wanted.


Are you telling me you are one of those who keeps in mind the difference between equal temperament and the actual intonation used by an orchestra when writing a chord!? That would be an INSANE amount of work! 
Or maybe I misinterpreted the purpose of what you wrote and you simply wanted to say that you adjust the intonation whenevr you hear a random "defective" sample? Just to be clear: that would still be some serious extra work, especially considering some people _don't even think_ about pitch automation in an orchestral context...


----------



## Trash Panda

dhmusic said:


> Does Reaper have an articulation manager/Expression map system? That'd be the way to go.


I'm more of a fan of using MIDI channels for articulations. I have 1 through 0 on my keyboard set up to assign MIDI channels to notes. I find it much faster for quick articulation switching than any of the expression map solutions.



mybadmemory said:


> I do miss legatos for the string sections in this one (or perhaps just some overlayed staccato accents on the note starts) but the brass sections sound wonderful! Way to go!


After spending an ungodly amount of hours creating an AROOF-specific template with stackable articulations and a faster mic routing workflow, I was able to quickly update the song. Can you see if it's any better now?


----------



## dhmusic

Trash Panda said:


> I'm more of a fan of using MIDI channels for articulations. I have 1 through 0 on my keyboard set up to assign MIDI channels to notes. I find it much faster for quick articulation switching than any of the expression map solutions.
> 
> 
> After spending an ungodly amount of hours creating an AROOF-specific template with stackable articulations and a faster mic routing workflow, I was able to quickly update the song. Can you see if it's any better now?


I just meant any way to assign specific artics to notes. That's cool


----------



## mybadmemory

@Trash Panda I was mostly referring to the shorter notes between 1:05 and 1:15 that could use some more staccato overlay since the melody there disappears a bit. But the rest of my it sounds awesome!


----------



## Living Fossil

Pier-V said:


> Are you telling me you are one of those who keeps in mind the difference between equal temperament and the actual intonation used by an orchestra when writing a chord!? That would be an INSANE amount of work!
> Or maybe I misinterpreted the purpose of what you wrote and you simply wanted to say that you adjust the intonation whenevr you hear a random "defective" sample?


Hi Pier, first of all thanks for your kind comment!

With regards to intonation, i usually try to avoid samples with a defective intonation. They are a serious PITA, specially when (stochastic) round robins differ in their tuning. If i have to use them, i usually print the things immediately and import the audio into Melodyne.

For the fine-tuning of samples there are many scenarios where it can be useful.
The most important use it when it comes to octaves between different instruments/groups.
Sometimes a too perfect octave between different melodic lines can completely destroy a good mockup.
It suddenly gets that taste of a synth/organ, regardless, how good the samples are. 
Also, sometimes chords sound better when unisonos/octaves aren't perfectly perfect.
If this occurs, detuning will be necessary.

The second thing is intonation inside of chords. Sometimes it helps the music to make some intervals a bit sharper or lower. 

The third category are real micro intervals which i sometimes use.

And yes, these adjustments can be a lot of extra work, but once you've done it over a couple of time, it gets a natural part of the workflow....


----------



## José Herring

I had one more in me. OLC using just SynStrPro. Whoa that was hard. Hmmmm.....not 100% sold on this library just yet. 

Thoughts?


----------



## Taron

José Herring said:


> I had one more in me. OLC using just SynStrPro. Whoa that was hard. Hmmmm.....not 100% sold on this library just yet.
> 
> Thoughts?


Well, you're making it work for what it is, there's no doubt! Strings are curious, because somehow they can only really be judged in context with other groups, especially when it goes across different libraries. On top of that, the more perfectly they were played during sampling, the more likely they feel synthetic, haha, I believe. 

In your render, it isn't too clear how great or not great they may be. The music is too enjoyable to listen to while simultaneously checking the sound qualities, hahahaha... but, no, there's something with the mix and effects that gives it a little bit of a synthetic/virtual feel in a sort of squashed hall and with kind of a bit much body (lower mids) for my perception.
Toward the end, when the high violins come in, they fade up like by a mixer, which also is a bit "synthesizing" (haha) the experience.

Alright then, can you tell a bit about why it was "hard" or what's so hard to work with them? I'm seriously curious!

I found this older library from 8dio "Majestica", which I found impossible to work with for some reason. It just was like instant un-inspiration. Hard to describe. I can't imagine it was like that with the VSL stuff, was it?


----------



## José Herring

Taron said:


> Well, you're making it work for what it is, there's no doubt! Strings are curious, because somehow they can only really be judged in context with other groups, especially when it goes across different libraries. On top of that, the more perfectly they were played during sampling, the more likely they feel synthetic, haha, I believe.
> 
> In your render, it isn't too clear how great or not great they may be. The music is too enjoyable to listen to while simultaneously checking the sound qualities, hahahaha... but, no, there's something with the mix and effects that gives it a little bit of a synthetic/virtual feel in a sort of squashed hall and with kind of a bit much body (lower mids) for my perception.
> Toward the end, when the high violins come in, they fade up like by a mixer, which also is a bit "synthesizing" (haha) the experience.
> 
> Alright then, can you tell a bit about why it was "hard" or what's so hard to work with them? I'm seriously curious!
> 
> I found this older library from 8dio "Majestica", which I found impossible to work with for some reason. It just was like instant un-inspiration. Hard to describe. I can't imagine it was like that with the VSL stuff, was it?


Thanks for the comments. I'm still jugding this library and this helps.

It got a synthy feel when mixed down to mp3 which was curious indeed. The high violins started to get phasy.

I did cut some mids in both the string body and the reverb but I perhaps should do more. 

There's no mixer fading of any kind which means there aren't enough velocity layers to play with. The only "volume" automation was cc1. 

I think I'm going to swap out the patches and see if it gets any better.

It was hard to work with because firstly the keyswitch scheme was too hard to manage. I still can't get use to different submenus popping up. Second, it was really hard to find the pocket for these strings. Dynamically they barely work. Some things just didn't work and I had to change the music. 

There's a lot to like but the dislikes are just for now too glaring. 

I'm still learning the library so I will give it some more time but not sure I trust them just yet.


----------



## Trash Panda

Taron said:


> I found this older library from 8dio "Majestica", which I found impossible to work with for some reason. It just was like instant un-inspiration. Hard to describe.


Majestica, like many older 8dio libraries, has a very specific thing it does well. If you try to push it outside of its comfort zone, it pushes back or falls over completely. Supposedly it's easier to work with the V8P version of it (8W) since it has close mics on individual sections.

I've found turning off the built-in reverb and not using the mix mic helps a lot.


----------



## doctoremmet

Trash Panda said:


> Supposedly it's easier to work with the V8P version of it (8W) since it has close mics on individual sections.


8W is the library I am going to use for my first OLC submission. At the moment I’m building the little “OLC entries browse app”, previews soon!


----------



## dhmusic

doctoremmet said:


> 8W is the library I am going to use for my first OLC submission. At the moment I’m building the little “OLC entries browse app”, previews soon!


lol it has decent anvils, at least. Can't wait to hear it.


----------



## doctoremmet

dhmusic said:


> lol it has decent anvils, at least. Can't wait to hear it.


It has a lot of decent things haha. You just have to go all out epic with them. The woodwinds… boy haha.


----------



## dhmusic

Trash Panda said:


> Supposedly it's easier to work with the V8P version of it (8W) since it has close mics on individual sections.


8W def has spot mics


----------



## Taron

Trash Panda said:


> Majestica, like many older 8dio libraries, has a very specific thing it does well. If you try to push it outside of its comfort zone, it pushes back or falls over completely. Supposedly it's easier to work with the V8P version of it (8W) since it has close mics on individual sections.
> 
> I've found turning off the built-in reverb and not using the mix mic helps a lot.


Thanks, @Trash Panda ! I think, it's the massive amount of players, where you're ultimately stuck with the climax of a composition, rather than actually making anything with an arc or even convincingly playing any chords. That reminds me of how surprisingly amazing CineSymphony was/is, because it has that clever chord management thingy. That was something I didn't expect and it works brilliantly. 



José Herring said:


> Thanks for the comments. I'm still jugding this library and this helps.
> 
> It got a synthy feel when mixed down to mp3 which was curious indeed. The high violins started to get phasy.
> 
> I did cut some mids in both the string body and the reverb but I perhaps should do more.
> 
> There's no mixer fading of any kind which means there aren't enough velocity layers to play with. The only "volume" automation was cc1.
> 
> I think I'm going to swap out the patches and see if it gets any better.
> 
> It was hard to work with because firstly the keyswitch scheme was too hard to manage. I still can't get use to different submenus popping up. Second, it was really hard to find the pocket for these strings. Dynamically they barely work. Some things just didn't work and I had to change the music.
> 
> There's a lot to like but the dislikes are just for now too glaring.
> 
> I'm still learning the library so I will give it some more time but not sure I trust them just yet.


You know, the funny thing is, the libraries that don't quite provide instant gratification somehow have the potential to end up becoming your go-to libraries, too, hehehe. Those likely rely on you having to explore the options properly, meaning that they give you more nuances to work with and when you find them, you'll master the instruments. Considering how enormously respected VSL are and other stunning stuff I have heard from them, I'm pretty sure you will find more than you were looking for!?


----------



## dhmusic

doctoremmet said:


> It has a lot of decent things haha. You just have to go all out epic with them. The woodwinds… boy haha.


The woodwinds...

"Audience erupts in laughter"


----------



## doctoremmet

Some random guy in the audience erupts in laughter, that much is empirically correct. To be honest, most orchestral samples and the way they are revered around here have that effect on me


----------



## dhmusic

doctoremmet said:


> It has a lot of decent things haha. You just have to go all out epic with them. The woodwinds… boy haha.


I dig the brass and percussion for some stuff but I haven't used it since my Emperium demo years ago.

#Flex #Strike-a-pose


----------



## doctoremmet

dhmusic said:


> I dig the brass and percussion for some stuff but I haven't used it since my Emperium demo years ago.
> 
> #Flex #Strike-a-pose


That demo rocks by the way


----------



## José Herring

Taron said:


> You know, the funny thing is, the libraries that don't quite provide instant gratification somehow have the potential to end up becoming your go-to libraries, too, hehehe. Those likely rely on you having to explore the options properly, meaning that they give you more nuances to work with and when you find them, you'll master the instruments. Considering how enormously respected VSL are and other stunning stuff I have heard from them, I'm pretty sure you will find more than you were looking for!?


You may be right. There's something about them and I know they can be good. 

I've swapped out the patches. First file is with Maximizing. The second isn't. 

Have a listen and let me know what you hear.


----------



## José Herring

doctoremmet said:


> 8W is the library I am going to use for my first OLC submission. At the moment I’m building the little


Do it. I'm curious about this library.


----------



## doctoremmet

José Herring said:


> Do it. I'm curious about this library.


I will. Including some synths patches that are technically part of the bundle. Oh the joy hehe.


----------



## Taron

José Herring said:


> You may be right. There's something about them and I know they can be good.
> 
> I've swapped out the patches. First file is with Maximizing. The second isn't.
> 
> Have a listen and let me know what you hear.


The violins are really better now, more natural, that's for sure!
The maximized version has more urgency, which works well. With the violins being less fuzzy and more recognizable, the maximizing doesn't harm them. However, the Celli (legato) seems to suffer a little under the maximization, as it brings out some of the uglier frequencies of it, I think. I wonder, if a careful EQ can help reduce the digital/sample emphasis a little...(possibly around 2k, but must be experimented with).

Thing is, to really figure out what to do best, you should find some real recordings of a similar setting and at least listen for discrepancies or even go ahead an analyze it (spectrum). Possibly a subtle difference, maybe a noteworthy one. I honestly haven't even done that myself, but was listening to some symphonies for a few days and was fascinated by the differences. I forgot which one of my Discover experiments I made after that, but it might've been the Wild West Slurs...however, I tried to EQ things to bring it closer to my observations. After that I made it a bit of a habit on Discover stuff, but not on any "big" libraries. 

Well, if anything, all this makes for one beautiful tangent we could dedicate yet another thread to: "Pursuit of Realism".


----------



## José Herring

Taron said:


> The violins are really better now, more natural, that's for sure!
> The maximized version has more urgency, which works well. With the violins being less fuzzy and more recognizable, the maximizing doesn't harm them. However, the Celli (legato) seems to suffer a little under the maximization, as it brings out some of the uglier frequencies of it, I think. I wonder, if a careful EQ can help reduce the digital/sample emphasis a little...(possibly around 2k, but must be experimented with).
> 
> Thing is, to really figure out what to do best, you should find some real recordings of a similar setting and at least listen for discrepancies or even go ahead an analyze it (spectrum). Possibly a subtle difference, maybe a noteworthy one. I honestly haven't even done that myself, but was listening to some symphonies for a few days and was fascinated by the differences. I forgot which one of my Discover experiments I made after that, but it might've been the Wild West Slurs...however, I tried to EQ things to bring it closer to my observations. After that I made it a bit of a habit on Discover stuff, but not on any "big" libraries.
> 
> Well, if anything, all this makes for one beautiful tangent we could dedicate yet another thread to: "Pursuit of Realism".


Thanks for your feedback. 

Truth is I never pursue realism. I pursue musicality and then that fools people into thinking it's real. 

That's what I'm missing from these strings. Technically speaking they should be fine. Recorded well, in a good space. I like the tone but I'm not feeling it which makes it hard to use and also hard for me to judge. 

Believe it or not I'm new to VSL and this is my first actual VSL library beyond the included free Kontakt instruments. And, I can't feel my way through these samples. So I can't judge or get a lot of what I'm hearing out with them. 

To me that would be a more interesting topic. I've never really had many sample library choices to chose from until recently. Now that I do I'm realizing that my personal connection to the samples plays a bigger roll in my getting what I want out of them than I originally imagined. I banged out my other pieces in this thread in less than a few hours each. This one I've taken on and off days on. Complete wrote something, thought it was the worse thing I've even created, scrapped it, wrote this one and I still can't hear what I want. 

I'm actually willing to go back and work it. I know there's something good in these strings. And maybe it's just lack of familiarity that is holding me back. But for now, it's been the most unfun I've had working with any library. But...... I just have a feeling this library might just have a bit more of a learning curve than I'd like.


----------



## José Herring

Did one more with SynChron Strings pro. I think I'm starting to come around on this library. I'm starting to see some light.


----------



## Taron

José Herring said:


> Did one more with SynChron Strings pro. I think I'm starting to come around on this library. I'm starting to see some light.


So nicely delicate. This is becoming a really nice showcase for some beautifully qualities of those strings!


----------



## Taron

José Herring said:


> Thanks for your feedback.
> 
> Truth is I never pursue realism. I pursue musicality and then that fools people into thinking it's real.
> 
> That's what I'm missing from these strings. Technically speaking they should be fine. Recorded well, in a good space. I like the tone but I'm not feeling it which makes it hard to use and also hard for me to judge.
> 
> Believe it or not I'm new to VSL and this is my first actual VSL library beyond the included free Kontakt instruments. And, I can't feel my way through these samples. So I can't judge or get a lot of what I'm hearing out with them.
> 
> To me that would be a more interesting topic. I've never really had many sample library choices to chose from until recently. Now that I do I'm realizing that my personal connection to the samples plays a bigger roll in my getting what I want out of them than I originally imagined. I banged out my other pieces in this thread in less than a few hours each. This one I've taken on and off days on. Complete wrote something, thought it was the worse thing I've even created, scrapped it, wrote this one and I still can't hear what I want.
> 
> I'm actually willing to go back and work it. I know there's something good in these strings. And maybe it's just lack of familiarity that is holding me back. But for now, it's been the most unfun I've had working with any library. But...... I just have a feeling this library might just have a bit more of a learning curve than I'd like.


No doubt, we all find that same "explanation"  for how we deal with realism in even our virtual orchestral pursuits...  ...but how we rejoice when the stuff starts feeling real, too, don't we?! 

Funny thing, when I first stumbled upon VSL decades ago, that's exactly how I felt: Meh?! Probably sounds fantastic, but was dreadful to get creative with. But back then it wasn't snazzy with easy to use articulations and the likes. Any of their recent stuff I just never had to play with, but my dear friend (and genius) @Harding has created stunning pieces with it, so deeply musical, nuanced, rich and real. At least, I believe a lot of it was VSL libraries. (Correct me, please, if I'm wrong!)

Most of us, who work almost exclusively on computers, are just so much more than "just" composers, as we also wear every hat involved in order to produce a piece. As a result we have more dimensions in our responsibilities, which go as far as choosing stages/settings and where the audience is meant to find itself, even if we only went for "stationary" presentations. That's where folks like Spitfire offer their services to take away or reduce the need to setup the stage and so on, but well... again, we probably would want to start a whole thread about all this.


----------



## Al Soloviev

José Herring said:


> Did one more with SynChron Strings pro. I think I'm starting to come around on this library. I'm starting to see some light.


Sounds beautiful and "beltramish"... How did you get that sound?


----------



## José Herring

Al Soloviev said:


> Sounds beautiful and "beltramish"... How did you get that sound?


Thanks. By Beltramish do you mean Marco Beltrami? I've met him but nobody has ever compared anything I've done to him. Kind of cool. 

Anyway, the string sound is just two reverbs. One is an IR of a scoring stage. Another 7th heaven reverb the Bricasti one and some slight mastering EQ and Maximerize from Ozone9.

The only trick is to take advantage of the lower dynamics.


----------



## Al Soloviev

José Herring said:


> Thanks. By Beltramish do you mean Marco Beltrami? I've met him but nobody has ever compared anything I've done to him. Kind of cool.



Shame on me!) I messed up. I meant Badalamenti... Вased on this thread https://vi-control.net/community/threads/that-badalamenti-string-sound.116401/#post-4951461.


----------



## José Herring

Al Soloviev said:


> Shame on me!) I messed up. I meant Badalamenti... Вased on this thread https://vi-control.net/community/threads/that-badalamenti-string-sound.116401/#post-4951461.


Oh no problem. That makes more sense. He was getting to be a well known composer in the east coast when I was in New York studying music so as soon as somebody posted that thread I immediately kind of picked up that sound again because it was so popular at the time in the New York film scene with Elliot Goldenthal, Badalamenti and Howard Shore being the kings from mid 80's until HZ took over the entire world in the mid 90's. That dark heavy east coast string sound. Still love it. I was so happy when that thread got posted because I had lost my way here in Hollywood from my initial beginnings.


----------



## Soundbed

Trash Panda said:


> Rookie mistake of setting the Tightness value to 0 right before render and assuming it will all come out with the same amount of pre-transient time.


I made the same mistake with my AROOF only Star Wars mockup.

No EQ or Compression or any mixing outside the Spitfire plugin.

Spent far too long automating trumpet mics.

But I got a good handle on how to use the Spitfire player.

This little excerpt was done before any expansions came out.

Video is queued to skip the first minute of talking.


----------



## Christopher Rocky

I did this a few years ago, Its BBCSO, there is some ear candy synths at a few points but very minimal, the small piano part is NI grandeur, otherwise the whole thing is 100% BBCSO. (sorry if the ear candy isnt exactly allowed)


----------



## Taron

Christopher Rocky said:


> I did this a few years ago, Its BBCSO, there is some ear candy synths at a few points but very minimal, the small piano part is NI grandeur, otherwise the whole thing is 100% BBCSO. (sorry if the ear candy isnt exactly allowed)



Yeah, you're really mildly endangering the integrity of the thread, but it's a beautiful piece with the most part apparently BBCSO. You've managed to do almost trailer style music with it, hehehe, I never doubted that was possible.

But remember or try to imagine the purpose of this thread FOR YOU, let alone everyone else, but just for you. The idea is that you go forth and grab one of your libraries to make a little (or big) track with it, just to discover it again, maybe find things you haven't done with it, yet. And here you can share the experience. 

While there sure is a showcase aspect to it, this one is about underestimated gems, really. Not to mention what you can pull out of them.

Listening to the pride and glory inside your cue, I'm on the edge of my seat for more of anything you'd do in the pure spirit of this thread!


----------



## Taron

Soundbed said:


> I made the same mistake with my AROOF only Star Wars mockup.
> 
> No EQ or Compression or any mixing outside the Spitfire plugin.
> 
> Spent far too long automating trumpet mics.
> 
> But I got a good handle on how to use the Spitfire player.
> 
> This little excerpt was done before any expansions came out.
> 
> Video is queued to skip the first minute of talking.



I was on the fence regarding AROOF, but now I'm thrilled I never bought it!

Nah, really, poor little AROOF, by now I'm wondering what ever could work without legato, if you want to get "real" in any way. Played this way it almost sounds like a beefed up soundfont, hehe, it's so... but one can still recognize the film, so that's a big plus. Notes appear to be proper. It is, however, pretty harmful for the library for that exact reason. In terms of notes and arrangement you seem to know very well what you're doing, making one wonder, if the library itself is so crude, you know.
Well, my advice, definitely go legato where you can, especially when something demands attention!
Spitfire also had polyphonic legato in some of the libraries. Does it have that in AROOF, too? If so, that's another exciting thing to exploit where possible!

Still, it's really great to see how different artists handle the challenges that come with all that. There's nothing wrong with sharing earlier stages of exploration, in fact, that's probably extra awesome and encouraging! I mean, otherwise I would've never dared to share any of mine, hehe.


----------



## José Herring

Christopher Rocky said:


> I did this a few years ago, Its BBCSO, there is some ear candy synths at a few points but very minimal, the small piano part is NI grandeur, otherwise the whole thing is 100% BBCSO. (sorry if the ear candy isnt exactly allowed)



Your piece is fine but I'm conflicted a bit on what to say about it. 

The spirit of the thread was a one library challenge and really stretching the limits to the best of your ability working with one library.

I personally kind of took it in the direction of working with one library that I'm very familiar with and then working on another piece with a library that I never made any use of because I had trouble using it. It forced me to confront that library. 

Kind of seems like that's the intention of the thread and it's a noble intention for sure. 

It seems that you may open it up to just a thread where people start posting their music which wouldn't really make this one unique to its purpose.


----------



## Taron

Totally honestly, if I may, I would never want to scare away a beautiful musician such as @Christopher Rocky , even if this sort of asks for tiny slap on the wrist. Again, just consider what this thread can do for you (sort of making me reverse JFK's speech ), because that's really the most amazing part about it!


----------



## José Herring

I'm trying to tread lightly because I don't want to scare him away either. I just kind of liked the purity of the thread from the start because it meant that anybody with one library could get involved. And many people posted free libraries which pieces sounded very fine and I liked the original intention of this thread--OLC.


----------



## RogiervG

I think a more direct/harsher tone is fine though (in a respectful manner that is). Because the challenge criteria is clear enough. And if in doubt, ask before posting. It's not that hard 
Posts that ignore thread rules/criterias, going offtopic so to speak.. well.. they are kind of useless, and clutter up the thread, which makes it harder to read through.
Especially in challenge threads.

And if that scares away people from this thread, well.. that's their call. (there is an expression: if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen )


----------



## Taron

Alright, wow, I must say, you guys are AWESOME! I completely love to see how y'all embrace the idea so much. Totally love it!

Now, let's move on! I've got a few libraries still up that I haven't run with, yet. But what *I would love to hear from someone* is what they'd *do* with *8dio's Majestica*. Just because I can't seem to be able to handle it doesn't mean anything and I'd love to hear what you do with it!

By the way, recent experience with scoring freely gave me an amazing insight to libraries I've played with because of this thread! I knew almost immediately where I wanted to go with certain vibes. Had I not done entire (if tiny) tracks with them, I would've never known so clearly.

My current favorites for knowing exactly what I would get and for being able to mix it immediately to my liking: Metropolis Ark 1 & 2, Jaeger and even ProjectSAM's free orchestra, which has a number of perfect gems for specific needs. (though mildly unrelated, I was amazed at how useful little free libraries can be, if the need arises, such as Ferrum's free trailer percussion, which has excellent, delicate metal hits!!!)

I figure, it's not bad to do a little intermission message regarding the stunning benefits of the OLC!


----------



## doctoremmet

Taron, I have started work on an 8W noodle, Majestica’s sibling. But first I am going to present this group with a prototype of the OLC Demo Mobile app that I’ve been working on. With some luck I’ll have a preview done some time next week.

So Majestica (related) stuff underway. I hope there will be more people inspired to share some of their Majestica only pieces of music.


----------



## Taron

doctoremmet said:


> Taron, I have started work on an 8W noodle, Majestica’s sibling. But first I am going to present this group with a prototype of the OLC Demo Mobile app that I’ve been working on. With some luck I’ll have a preview done some time next week.
> 
> So Majestica (related) stuff underway. I hope there will be more people inspired to share some of their Majestica only pieces of music.


Hoooooo, I can't wait, Doc, that's awesome! Eh... ALL OF IT! 

Not like I can check the mobile app, unless there's also some way to check in on desktop. Believe it or not, I have managed to evade all mobile phones and devices for virtually all my life.


----------



## Christopher Rocky

@Taron @José Herring I do not mind if you wish to delete it, I was not sharing to showcase anything, I went through the entire thread and loved the examples shared. I took it more as examples for others to see what a library can do, Which is perfect because so many of them I dont own either. its a fantastic thread! 
I used the bbcso template that was made for cubase and there is not many other instruments. They are not the main focus apart from the piano part. I did not mean to offend but rather add something that bbcso was used as the base and is 99% of the piece, I can easily open the session and delete the handful of tracks that are not bbcso.
I did see others sharing old tracks they had made so I thought I would share also just to add, rather than a new challenge, But i will make up for this by doing the challenge with another library


----------



## Taron

Christopher Rocky said:


> @Taron @José Herring I do not mind if you wish to delete it, I was not sharing to showcase anything, I went through the entire thread and loved the examples shared. I took it more as examples for others to see what a library can do, Which is perfect because so many of them I dont own either. its a fantastic thread!
> I used the bbcso template that was made for cubase and there is not many other instruments. They are not the main focus apart from the piano part. I did not mean to offend but rather add something that bbcso was used as the base and is 99% of the piece, I can easily open the session and delete the handful of tracks that are not bbcso.
> I did see others sharing old tracks they had made so I thought I would share also just to add, rather than a new challenge, But i will make up for this by doing the challenge with another library


Thanks, Chris, your respect and appreciation make me deeply happy and I really hope you'll create and share more with your BBCSO gem. As long as your post won't be considered a precedence, all is well. If it does, well, then we'll revisit the matter, I'm sure, but in the meantime: Relax, know that we love your composition and the excellent BBCSO demonstration it is and Make More Music!!!


----------



## Trash Panda

Taron said:


> I was on the fence regarding AROOF, but now I'm thrilled I never bought it!
> 
> Nah, really, poor little AROOF, by now I'm wondering what ever could work without legato, if you want to get "real" in any way. Played this way it almost sounds like a beefed up soundfont, hehe, it's so... but one can still recognize the film, so that's a big plus. Notes appear to be proper. It is, however, pretty harmful for the library for that exact reason. In terms of notes and arrangement you seem to know very well what you're doing, making one wonder, if the library itself is so crude, you know.
> Well, my advice, definitely go legato where you can, especially when something demands attention!
> Spitfire also had polyphonic legato in some of the libraries. Does it have that in AROOF, too? If so, that's another exciting thing to exploit where possible!
> 
> Still, it's really great to see how different artists handle the challenges that come with all that. There's nothing wrong with sharing earlier stages of exploration, in fact, that's probably extra awesome and encouraging! I mean, otherwise I would've never dared to share any of mine, hehe.


Eh, you can manage just fine without legato. The issue with AROOF is the longs have their release tails set to zero by default, so you get this really odd sound if you’re not managing CC17 (release tail volume). 

For instance, with connected notes, CC17 at around 8-16 does the trick for most patches. 0 is good for connected notes of the same pitch. You just want to make sure to ratchet CC17 up to 127 for the final long note in a chain. 

Stacking a short articulation with the longs also helps in this regard to minimize the “sucking” effect.


----------



## Syneast

Taron said:


> Oh, cool... I'll have to look into that! Thanks, @cedricm !
> 
> I'm not sure, if I should spam this thread with any new BBCSO Discover experiment I'm making, but here's today's result:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out the easiest way to get decent portamento and slurs to work, but it tends to get a wee bit squeaky. Still... good fun!



That legato. How?!


----------



## Syneast

I'm surprised there is no Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra in this thread yet. It gets a lot of praise and I have it myself, so my intuition tells me it can sound amazing in the right hands. But I just don't see a lot of user demos of it.

Guess I better go make one myself.


----------



## Taron

@Syneast and you sure should make one. I may give it a go, too.
Hehehe, thanks for the encouraging "question", hehe. There are two ways to go about "faking" legato with Discover. Both ways have two things in common: 
• set Release to 0%. This will cut the sampled tail of sustained articulations. 
• use external reverb

Way 1 is the easier, which only involves automating Global Tune carefully and controlling notes. You will end up rather drawing the notes than playing them, but you can combine the techniques and then adjust the results. Because it will pitch the notes, you have to be aware of which note you will play and how you will bend the tuning to try and keep the notes inside their original range, which goes already way past of what's good for them (every 6th semitone gets a new sample in Discover's sustains). Also, you may not want to let a single instrument play by itself when it slurs, haha... (terrible).

Way 2 is hard, because you'd use several instances and try to start notes at the same time that are meant to blend smoothly. Then you cross-fade volumes. I only ever went up to 3, because I was too lazy to do more, haha. That was only with my first attempts. Later I went for way 1 instead.

Since you don't always want or need legato, it's actually not so rough and can be fun, too.

I'm right now more interested in trying a nice piece with OT's Berlin Inspire. After realizing its relationship with Nucleus and doing some accidental experiments, I'm starting to see its qualities and want to give that a go.

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you'll do with Amadeus!


----------



## Taron

Alright, so I dug up *Amadeus *and did a quick little chamber like ditty with it, hehehehe. It's FUN! I actually can't believe how much fun that is. It may not sound stunning, but it kinda works and is very pleasant to play with, really. 
I thought about going all nuts with it, checked out Timpani and immediately stopped, because they are completely horrible, so... I'll have a look at how symphonic I can go with it at some point, but for now, here's a bit of chamber with Solo Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass and a flute.


----------



## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> Alright, so I dug up *Amadeus *and did a quick little chamber like ditty with it, hehehehe. It's FUN! I actually can't believe how much fun that is. It may not sound stunning, but it kinda works and is very pleasant to play with, really.
> I thought about going all nuts with it, checked out Timpani and immediately stopped, because they are completely horrible, so... I'll have a look at how symphonic I can go with it at some point, but for now, here's a bit of chamber with Solo Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass and a flute.


Great to see some action in here again! I’d love to hear what you could do with Inspire, since I never really got along with it myself. Looking forward to it! :D


----------



## Taron

I had my revelation after we've had a passionate rant against it, hahaha, but when I went through some libs for comparing short string timing stability, triggered by some complaints against Metropolis Ark I, I realized that Inspire is not only also OT, but feels like a sober, tamed version of Metropolis Ark. Looking at it from a new perspective made me find and appreciate its qualities and it's actually quite nice! Very nice! Just don't listen to anything else while you're playing with it! 

Oh, more observations:
Inspire really allows you to mix it yourself, almost rather asking you to do so, too. 
If you are familiar with Metropolis Ark, you will be quite comfortable with Inspire, too, as it does behave very similar in terms of CC and velocities. They are very different from Spitfire or Audio Imperia stuff, which is why it would be awkward to go from there to Inspire or any OT stuff, actually, but once you've managed to shake it off, you're in quite a beautiful world then, too.


----------



## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> I had my revelation after we've had a passionate rant against it, hahaha, but when I went through some libs for comparing short string timing stability, triggered by some complaints against Metropolis Ark I, I realized that Inspire is not only also OT, but feels like a sober, tamed version of Metropolis Ark. Looking at it from a new perspective made me find and appreciate its qualities and it's actually quite nice! Very nice! Just don't listen to anything else while you're playing with it!
> 
> Oh, more observations:
> Inspire really allows you to mix it yourself, almost rather asking you to do so, too.
> If you are familiar with Metropolis Ark, you will be quite comfortable with Inspire, too, as it does behave very similar in terms of CC and velocities. They are very different from Spitfire or Audio Imperia stuff, which is why it would be awkward to go from there to Inspire or any OT stuff, actually, but once you've managed to shake it off, you're in quite a beautiful world then, too.


Haha yeah! I usually find as long as I stay within one library, I kind of learn to accept and appreciate the way it’s played and the way it sounds. As long as I don’t venture elsewhere, I can absolutely believe in the world any library paints. The illusion often falls apart the moment I compare it directly to another one. Hence my love for staying within one of them at a time I guess.


----------



## Taron

Just a little reminder, but this is obviously for all kinds of Libraries, including *UVI Falcon* stuff. I haven't paid any attention to it ever, really, but it seems to be on the rise and is actually quite interesting. There are plenty of exciting libraries for it by the looks of it. If you happen to have some, such as *Orchestral Suite* or any of those, feel free to make and post a piece with these here, too! 
...I will most certainly look into that as well!


----------



## doctoremmet

Soon TM


----------



## Taron

doctoremmet said:


> Soon TM


HOLY MOLY,@doctoremmet , that looks INCREDIBLE! You will have a desktop version, too? (I'm sure, I've asked that already, but just in case... )

Anyway, absolutely awesome!!!


----------



## doctoremmet

Taron said:


> HOLY MOLY,@doctoremmet , that looks INCREDIBLE! You will have a desktop version, too? (I'm sure, I've asked that already, but just in case... )
> 
> Anyway, absolutely awesome!!!


I am already engaged in a dialogue with that other inspiring fellow @mybadmemory aka Jonas. I'll see if I can add you to our little chat. Hold on.


----------



## Marcus Millfield

doctoremmet said:


> Soon TM


Sorry but I have no clue what I'm looking at here...


----------



## doctoremmet

Marcus Millfield said:


> Sorry but I have no clue what I'm looking at here...


The GIF is moving way too fast. It feels like one of those hip product teasers but the real reason is one can only upload small GIFs so I had to rush it, lol.


This will be a small mobile phone app that contains all OLC entries, with some info about libraries used. It allows you to filter entries by vendor, by library and by contributor - and listen to the demos. That way we don’t have to scroll back and forth in this (hopefully) ever growing thread to listen to -let’s say- all BBCSO demos.


----------



## doctoremmet

So basically, a list of all entries like this:






and each entry is clickable and will then show you the “original post”, like so:


----------



## doctoremmet

In reality it is a mobile friendly webpage, that can be saved to your phone’s app grid. It will also have the option to ‘favorite’ certain demos, and have them available as a separate “list”.


----------



## Scamper

Another one I just finished that fits in here...

*ERA II Medieval Legends*


----------



## doctoremmet

Scamper said:


> Another one I just finished that fits in here...
> 
> *ERA II Medieval Legends*



Marvellous!


----------



## daan1412

I like challenging myself to write with just one library or one series. It really does teach you to get the most out of your tools, even though that approach is usually not the best for the end result. Here's a little Christmas-type thing I've just finished making using ARO only:




And while I'm here, let me add an older piece that I made with BBCSO Core only. Some of you may have heard it, as I posted it in another thread earlier this year.


----------



## ip20

doctoremmet said:


> The GIF is moving way too fast. It feels like one of those hip product teasers but the real reason is one can only upload small GIFs so I had to rush it, lol.
> 
> 
> This will be a small mobile phone app that contains all OLC entries, with some info about libraries used. It allows you to filter entries by vendor, by library and by contributor - and listen to the demos. That way we don’t have to scroll back and forth in this (hopefully) ever growing thread to listen to -let’s say- all BBCSO demos.



Awesome!


----------



## Tatiana Gordeeva

As I have a little free time these days... Here's one example of a one-library piece I composed using exclusively *Arturia* *Pigments V3*, actually 18 tracks of it. 

The feel is mostly dystopian, think Blade Runner meets Inception meets Terminator and a touch of Orwell's 1984 and some multiverse in it too for good proportion. 




More details can be found here.


----------



## Taron

Scamper said:


> Another one I just finished that fits in here...
> 
> *ERA II Medieval Legends*



That's so fun! Great job! Bravo! 

Totally unrelated, but here's my first go with BBCSO Core and I'm so excited about this library. I thought, I was excited about it and now it's like...eh... yes, this is why I was excited and now I'm even more so!

Anyway, I'm still having to learn to swim in it, figuring out timings, techniques, what to do and what not to, well... the whole shabang. But here's the real day 1:


----------



## dcoscina

I did this in Audio Imperia's Solo last summer


----------



## hessproject

Scamper said:


> Another one I just finished that fits in here...
> 
> *ERA II Medieval Legends*



Man the Tarilonte libraries are so good


----------



## damirexus

BBC Core -



My 3rd ever orchestral track. A lot of room for improvement here but enjoyable anyway.

Let me know what you think and happy holidays!


----------



## damirexus

Taron said:


> That's so fun! Great job! Bravo!
> 
> Totally unrelated, but here's my first go with BBCSO Core and I'm so excited about this library. I thought, I was excited about it and now it's like...eh... yes, this is why I was excited and now I'm even more so!
> 
> Anyway, I'm still having to learn to swim in it, figuring out timings, techniques, what to do and what not to, well... the whole shabang. But here's the real day 1:



Nice groove!


----------



## QuiteAlright

daan1412 said:


> I like challenging myself to write with just one library or one series. It really does teach you to get the most out of your tools, even though that approach is usually not the best for the end result. Here's a little Christmas-type thing I've just finished making using ARO only:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And while I'm here, let me add an older piece that I made with BBCSO Core only. Some of you may have heard it, as I posted it in another thread earlier this year.



These are both really well written. Bravo!


----------



## Taron

dcoscina said:


> I did this in Audio Imperia's Solo last summer



The clarity and strength of AI's stuff is really something. Very contemplative composition!


----------



## Tatiana Gordeeva

When I think about it there were many occasions where I composed pieces based on a single library. One such example is *The Legend of Edward Bottlehands*, created using only *Soundiron's Steel Bottle *library! Fun but _very_ challenging! 




​

Some background info here on VI-C.


----------



## Taron

Tatiana Gordeeva said:


> When I think about it there were many occasions where I composed pieces based on a single library. One such example is *The Legend of Edward Bottlehands*, created using only *Soundiron's Steel Bottle *library! Fun but _very_ challenging!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ​
> 
> Some background info here on VI-C.



Funny stuff, I didn't know Soundiron would have more of these sorts of things going. I had a go at the Desk Bell library thing of theirs only recently. Come to think of it, I could probably post that here, too, haha. Hmmmm.... have I already? OH, I have NOT!

Alright, this is totally on-topic, because it is literally just done with one library, while that stuff is kind of weird, since it's almost sort of a hybrid thing, because you literally edit or program the kontakt library like a synth (bit of a poor one at that)... but hey, technically exactly right:


This track is entirely done, only using the Desk Bell from Soundiron, which includes the drums, too, of course. It was part of a challenge they had posted during December and I couldn't resist. Feels a bit odd here, but it's actually totally O.L.C. hahaha, with hints of OSC.


----------



## Tatiana Gordeeva

Taron said:


> Alright, this is totally on-topic, because it is literally just done with one library


Exactly! Here's another example called *Oceania*, this time made _exclusively_ using only Tom Wolfe's soundset for Arturia Pigments:




Details about the track also on VI-C.


----------



## damirexus

Henrik B. Jensen said:


> I am going to come right out and say this bluntly:
> 
> Those high pitched sounds at the beginning - glockenspiel or whatever: They woke up my cat!
> 
> It was sleeping peacefully in it’s blanket on the living room couch and now it’s sitting there, all dazed with sleep but with big eyes looking at my iPad, which is (was) playing this piece if yours
> 
> Haha, but seriously  I, at least, enjoyed listening. Sounds nice


Maybe I should consider changing the title to something more appropriate then. :D

And yes, I think I got a bit over my possibilities with this one and lost control a bit with sound balance. Need to work more on that. 

Thank you for the feedback and sorry for your cat.


----------



## tebling

I did this a while ago, but here's a slight twist on Benny Oschmann's amazing "Born To Protect" demo for Metropolis Ark 1. I only used... (wait for it)... Metropolis Ark 1


----------



## akhill jain

Here's a short piece I did as a test for Intimate strings by Spitifire's Original series for 30$
Listen to In The End- SA Originals Intimate Strings Test 01 by Akhill Jain on #SoundCloud








In The End- SA Originals Intimate Strings Test 01


Listen to In The End- SA Originals Intimate Strings Test 01 by Akhill Jain #np on #SoundCloud




soundcloud.app.goo.gl


----------



## Taron

Alright, I wasn't going to post this, but looking at our precious OLC thread fading into history is not tolerable, no, no, no! 

I've recently found CineSamples again and started playing with some of their libraries. Today I was making a tiny quickie with *CineWinds Core*. It's nothing special, but I'm so impressed with their sound. I urgently have to do something proper with it and the others. Just phenomenal stuff. Again, however, another library vendor that has their own ways and it takes some time to learn them.


----------



## JeeTee

This isn't a current OLC, but an oldie that I'm still quite fond of. Very much my sense of humour! It's all EWQLSO. Enjoy if you can.


----------



## Taron

Sounds perfectly adequate for some a little more sophisticated kids show! With slight Hitchcock moments in it!


----------



## ryans

Here's another old EWQLSO piece I just found on an old hard drive.

Pretty painful as my poor programming abilities and limitations of the library are quite apparent. But might be good for a laugh.


----------



## Loïc D

Order 66 (Time Micro - naked)


This short title was done 100% with Orchestral Tools' Time Micro new (fantastic) library. No other processing than mastering (Ozone 8). Disclaimer : this title is by no way endorsed or sponsored by O




soundcloud.app.goo.gl





I posted this track long ago, it’s entirely made with Orchestral Tools Time Micro


----------



## Taron

@ryans ...well, you sure make my modesty seem like relentless bragging. Wowsers... absolutely beautiful and beautifully sounding, too. 

@Loïc D ...female vocals are a bit silly synthetic, but the rest is totally gorgeous! Never heard of "Time Micro" before. Certainly excellent advertising!


----------



## Taron

Alright, unbelievably I've stumbled across VCSO 2 as SFZ and downloaded Sforzando, only to realize that this is the fastest, most lightweight sample player of them all and that VCSO 2 can be quite stunning. It's only been a quick test, but all it has is a bunch of VCSO 2 instruments and on the Master:

Dynamic Expander
Valhalla Supermassive (dialed up a friendly little reverb with it)
OTT (just pushing things up a tiny bit)

Library:
VCSO 2 - The Performance Orchestra

Sample Player:
Plogue's Sforzando

And the result sounds like this:


Again, this is 100% free tools, except for $80 Mulab and ~$100 computer, hahaha. I will have to stop riding around on that computer situation at some point  ...but then I am genuinely amazed at what's possible with that. For years I've been only on $5000+ machines (even if I let them get almost as old as my jogging pants ...now I must not disclose the number of years, dang it! Okay, maybe a bit older than my pants). Yes, and times have changed, in technology and fashion. Anyway: Hurray!


----------



## Taron

Alright, I'm still exploring VCSO 2 (The Performance Orchestra), paired with a few free FX vsts, like before: Valhalla Supermassive, Dynamic Expander, OTT and Loudmax.


----------



## mybadmemory

I don't think I ever posted this one in here but since it qualifies I might as well. All BBCSO Pro as usual.


----------



## Taron

Yeah, that's totally wild it only now shows up here! It's already an OLC classic to me! Fantastic creation, @mybadmemory !!!


----------



## Bluemount Score

Little BBCSO track for the O.L.C.


----------



## Taron

That's awesome, Valentin! What a delightful, big little minute! 

Plus, it really allows me to put in another totally free library clip I had made the other day, still on my ridiculously tiny miniPC, using Versilian's free VCSL:


----------



## Remnant

mybadmemory said:


> I don't think I ever posted this one in here but since it qualifies I might as well. All BBCSO Pro as usual.



Really great. Nice work. Reminds me a bit of the score to the anime Violet Evergarden by Evan Call, which I really love (the music-I really have no idea about the show).


----------



## Remnant

Bluemount Score said:


> Little BBCSO track for the O.L.C.



Great job. Now I want to know more about the Captain!


----------



## Bluemount Score

Remnant said:


> Great job. Now I want to know more about the Captain!


He fell of the boat a few moments later


----------



## confusedsheep

Taron said:


> That's awesome, Valentin! What a delightful, big little minute!
> 
> Plus, it really allows me to put in another totally free library clip I had made the other day, still on my ridiculously tiny miniPC, using Versilian's free VCSL:



Great! Versilian Studios has lots of nice stuff (their music maker library would fit right into this track aswell  )... and quite a bit free for people starting out or on a limited budget (the last offering was a free jazz drumkit).

in terms of using underpowered machines to compose... maybe you would be interested in matthias westlund, who did a whole soundtrack on a netbook 

anyhow great discussion and tracks from all participants in here... really enjoying this thread


----------



## SergeD

I have listened every track done mostly by very talented musicians, which as a bonus, showcase different orchestral libraries, cool  
Some years ago, I took the challenge to mockup a delicate piece using the bold EWQLSO. I could not succeed with the solo violin, but all in all, it's been a fantastic journey into the world of the great M.Holst.


----------



## Taron

Uh, yes, that's ambitious! The Planets...man. Only last year I found out about it, being the total imbecile I am, but I thought I'd listen into it a little and ended up listening to the whole 45+ minutes (or what it was). My machine then was too loud, though, so when Neptune came around, half asleep I would drag myself to the desk and grab my headphones.... what a delight that was!

Anyway, very well done!!! Here and there, especially in the beginning, it feels like legatos could've helped for the runs as the notes are a little too much releasing into each other. 
Ahhaha, yeah, the solo violin (had to identify it first for a second there), but- HEY- it does serve its purpose!

Overall, what a wonderful job you've done. THANK YOU for sharing it here! Keep 'em coming, should you allow yourself to get into some new adventures with one library!


----------



## TrojakEW

What about one library and one articulation challenge 
Library: V8P Custom Instrument Series - Super String
Patch/Articulation: Arcs - Long Modwheel

Only one articulation used for whole track, no keyswitching. Four instances with different reverb, delay, eq and panning settings. To simulate plucked string I adjusted sample offset to get rid of arc attack phase.


----------



## Taron

Very cool, @TrojakEW ! Hard to imagine, too many people would follow that call, though! 
Is that a current competition? Anyway...I'm so not in a competing mood. Again, very nice entry, though!


----------



## Taron

Since I'm on my new machine, I try to keep it clean, but I remembered ProjectSAM's Free Orchestra and decided to download it again. What a blast this is. This time I started playing with the parameters a little bit, which I somehow had ignored earlier. There's a lot more that can be done with this, actually...

Anyway, here's my little excursion from today:


Again, this is ProjectSAM's The Free Orchestra.


----------



## José Herring

TrojakEW said:


> What about one library and one articulation challenge
> Library: V8P Custom Instrument Series - Super String
> Patch/Articulation: Arcs - Long Modwheel
> 
> Only one articulation used for whole track, no keyswitching. Four instances with different reverb, delay, eq and panning settings. To simulate plucked string I adjusted sample offset to get rid of arc attack phase.



Really creative use of a sample library.


----------



## confusedsheep

Great entries! 

... to drag the standard level of competence on display here a bit down i decided to throw in something weird 

a rather atonal outing... using reason 3.0 and the old miroslav refill of yesteryear (i developed a rather absurd fascination with retro stuff lately. the whole template should probably (barely) run even on a netbook. on my modern laptop it uses around 0.1-1.2% cpu time according to windows task manager)

anyhow...

aptly named "weird sheep"
View attachment weird sheep.mp3


----------



## Taron

confusedsheep said:


> Great entries!
> 
> ... to drag the standard level of competence on display here a bit down i decided to throw in something weird
> 
> a rather atonal outing... using reason 3.0 and the old miroslav refill of yesteryear (i developed a rather absurd fascination with retro stuff lately. the whole template should probably (barely) run even on a netbook. on my modern laptop it uses around 0.1-1.2% cpu time according to windows task manager)
> 
> anyhow...
> 
> aptly named "weird sheep"
> View attachment weird sheep.mp3


I think, it's gorgeous! I was preparing myself for something "atonal", which this absolutely isn't. Certainly a very defined eerie mood, totally fitting for some film score sequences. But, again, this shows that a properly engaged composition can bring out the best in almost any library. 

Very enjoyable!


----------



## confusedsheep

Taron said:


> I think, it's gorgeous! I was preparing myself for something "atonal", which this absolutely isn't. Certainly a very defined eerie mood, totally fitting for some film score sequences. But, again, this shows that a properly engaged composition can bring out the best in almost any library.
> 
> Very enjoyable!


Thanks! 

The whole "one library challenge" idea is inspiring - and interesting to see what kind of "tonal personality" is ingrained into different libraries. i get the impression that we sometimes forget how much tools we already have at our disposal to venture into creativity (imho)


----------



## Taron

As should be stated in the disclaimer!


----------



## confusedsheep

to bump this thread a tad...

another weird retro attempt with the miroslav refill and reason 3.0 (because why not ... twas rather advanced for 2005)... would be really interested in hearing someone with siedlaczeks advanced orchestra posting a track in here 

View attachment walking confused.mp3


----------



## Taron

Hehe, this one is a little more revealing and does bring back memories again. I just like how you've had fun with it, exploring orchestral soundscapes. And the last part is glorious!


----------



## confusedsheep

thanks again 

in regards to old libraries... i guess with a lot of effort (smart filtering, adding more variations with careful eqing and tuning, since there are no round robins or elaborate velocity sampled thingies) and having a very "careful" approach towards dynamics one could probably create a rather convincing soundstage (and well... working with lines that work well with the library instead of forcing it into something it doesnt do that well)...

and well... the other stumbling block for me...is of course not the library... but my rather chaotic way of playing with these sounds 

i guess a rather normal creative approach is to picture an orchestra as a flock of sheep... and whilst i discuss with the sheep responsible for the woodwinds ideas and ways getting there... the group of sheep with the percussion instruments goes renegade and gallops off in another direction, forcing me to send a sheep dog after them in order to get them back on track... in the meantime the string section goes wild and wrecks the neighbourhood... and well... sometimes...they come together and all is well 

having said all that... i would be seriously thrilled if the miroslav library (even in its ancient incarnation) would be available for kontakt (i do not like custom players so the modern version is sadly not for me) because i (oddly enough) like the overall tone.

and now i am looking forward to the next tracks in the OLC


----------



## mybadmemory

confusedsheep said:


> having said all that... i would be seriously thrilled if the miroslav library (even in its ancient incarnation) would be available for kontakt (i do not like custom players so the modern version is sadly not for me) because i (oddly enough) like the overall tone


I also have fond memories of Miroslav, since that where I got started with sample libraries 20 years ago. Those samples will always have a very dear place in my heart.


----------



## Remnant

I recently went back to Albion Solstice and ended up mocking up this campy horror trailer with it exclusively, other than a couple whooshes and hits I took from Box Factory. Anyway, since 99% of it is from one library, I thought I would post to this enjoyable thread.


----------



## Taron

Very cool, @Remnant ! Always a good sign for the music, if it feels great many times more expensive than the footage its on. 

I may soon resume more OLC explorations, too. I'm already starting to miss it!


----------



## Remnant

Thanks for listening Taron. I find working with one library to be sort of freeing. I get to work on composition instead of spending all my time auditioning sounds from all my various libraries.


----------



## Taron

Remnant said:


> Thanks for listening Taron. I find working with one library to be sort of freeing. I get to work on composition instead of spending all my time auditioning sounds from all my various libraries.


That is what this is really all about. Plus you will find qualities in that library that you likely had not explored before and that can very well inspire you in the future. I've had that with all of them, really. 

Funniest thing was ProjectSAM's The Free Orchestra, which drew me back in to give it another go specifically. I then wished it had more, hehe  but I was really inspired by its sound. Above all, though, was CineSamples stuff though, to which I am constantly compelled to go back to for some reason. I really almost dismissed it at first glance and then fell hopelessly in love with.
Now I could start a list, because to some extend I have that experience with so very many of them all. Everyone has its own kinds of qualities and it's beautiful to get lost in them.

Well, I hope, you'll continue to explore more of your various libraries and keep sharing your findings!


----------



## Remnant

Agreed. Thinking all mallet track next. Maybe Sonuscore’s Mallet Flux. 😀


----------



## Taron

Oh dear lord... you have that? 
...all good, I'll be curious what this can do by itself outside of Christmas!


----------



## José Herring

Remnant said:


> I recently went back to Albion Solstice and ended up mocking up this campy horror trailer with it exclusively, other than a couple whooshes and hits I took from Box Factory. Anyway, since 99% of it is from one library, I thought I would post to this enjoyable thread.



Super cute. I'm suck a sucker for that campy horror style of music. Reminds me of the 80's with films like Reaminator, The Fly and Freddie Kruger films.


----------



## Remnant

Taron said:


> Oh dear lord... you have that?
> ...all good, I'll be curious what this can do by itself outside of Christmas!


I grabbed it on sale. I’ve barely used it which is why I thought of it. Maybe I’ll just wait for Christmas?


----------



## Remnant

José Herring said:


> Super cute. I'm suck a sucker for that campy horror style of music. Reminds me of the 80's with films like Reaminator, The Fly and Freddie Kruger films.


Thanks. I grew up with that stuff too. Loved it.


----------



## Taron

Remnant said:


> I grabbed it on sale. I’ve barely used it which is why I thought of it. Maybe I’ll just wait for Christmas?


Follow your heart! I'd imagine that one to be more of a "what else have I left" type of choice, but hey... why not start from the back!?


----------



## Remnant

Taron said:


> Follow your heart! I'd imagine that one to be more of a "what else have I left" type of choice, but hey... why not start from the back!?


Well now I’m committed. I’m going to surprise you.


----------



## Kel

Hi, Are synth banks(orchestral emulation) allowed? I can use one of the few there are available. The sound is not absolutely realistic, but not bad either.

I'm a hobby composer, but I'm practicing my skills. this thread is gold! very good compositions!


----------



## mybadmemory

Kel said:


> Hi, Are synth banks(orchestral emulation) allowed? I can use one of the few there are available. The sound is not absolutely realistic, but not bad either.
> 
> I'm a hobby composer, but I'm practicing my skills. this thread is gold! very good compositions!


As long as it's all coming from one hardware unit, one software plugin, or one library, I'd say absolutely! Just don't use more than one product at a time!


----------



## Taron

I'd agree. Not to mention that I'm now very curious about your track, @Kel !!! 
Surely we will have to watch out that it won't drift too far off the idea, as it is about using a single "sample" library, but in the orchestral spirit of it... heck... sure!

AH, just realized that you've got links to your Zebra creations on soundcloud right there...tssss...
Fun! If you were to manage to make those strings a little less muffled, it would be yet more amazing, but it's really nice stuff! You should keep an eye on KVR's OSC, should a Zebra round come along again! 
But by what this feels like, I think, you should always have a look at the OSC (One Synth Challenge) there!

Some fresh life in here is also very welcome! It's gotten a bit slow lately.
I've just stumbled across a weirder library from Strezov (Sambhala), which is not my usual jam, but I did a neat little track with it the other day. Since I've used other libraries for that one, I won't post it here, but I may try an OLC style track with it, too.


----------



## Kel

Taron said:


> I'd agree. Not to mention that I'm now very curious about your track, @Kel !!!
> Surely we will have to watch out that it won't drift too far off the idea, as it is about using a single "sample" library, but in the orchestral spirit of it... heck... sure!
> 
> Some fresh life in here is also very welcome! It's gotten a bit slow lately.
> I've just stumbled across a weirder library from Strezov (Sambhala), which is not my usual jam, but I did a neat little track with it the other day. Since I've used other libraries for that one, I won't post it here, but I may try an OLC style track with it, too.


Oh, thanks! I have free sample libs like VCSO 2 or ProjectSAM and the sound is very similar. I won't do any publicity to my own work, but is good occasion to show how a synth(zebra in this case) can sound in an emulation context.

I'll try something, let's see.


----------



## Taron

Oh, snap, you've replied before I realized my oversight regarding your soundcloud links, haha. Doh!
Yeah, I LOVE VCSO 2 (Sforzando sets) and The Free Orchestra from ProjectSAM. Gorgeous stuff! 

Well over 20 years ago I did some synth orchestra explorations with Reason's Subtractor and a few more with other Reason modules. You do remind me to give it a decent go again. I did a few symphonic type instruments over the years for my OSC tracks. Some of them were quite surprisingly interesting. But, yeah, it's loads of fun to try.

You should also have a look at Surge! I love this thing, but haven't gotten around to really try doing some orchestral emulations with it. There is a curse on me regarding Surge for some reason. I sincerely love this synth and NEVER get around to make a track with it. Odd beyond belief.


----------



## RogiervG

confusedsheep said:


> Great entries!
> 
> ... to drag the standard level of competence on display here a bit down i decided to throw in something weird
> 
> a rather atonal outing... using reason 3.0 and the old miroslav refill of yesteryear (i developed a rather absurd fascination with retro stuff lately. the whole template should probably (barely) run even on a netbook. on my modern laptop it uses around 0.1-1.2% cpu time according to windows task manager)
> 
> anyhow...
> 
> aptly named "weird sheep"
> View attachment weird sheep.mp3


Love the brass. Sounds quite good (tone wise, i could not hear it's old samples).
In that other example, you poster later, it was sounding old samples though.. 
So it depends what you do with them


----------



## doctoremmet

Speaking of Reason, I still hope @lychee will submit an O.L.C. track done solely with his carefully tweaked and programmed Friktion patches.


----------



## GMT

Fun idea for a thread, and also a good way of focusing the mind on the music rather than digging around for that perfect sample (that doesn't exist).
I've been critical of the BBCSO a little in the past, and I'm damned if I can make it sound epic, but I think its real niche is the gentler, flowing romantic types of pieces. The string longs (release issues aside) and legatos, plus the woodwinds sound very nice in this context.
Anywhere, here is my little offering using only BBCSO Core strings and woodwinds.


----------



## Taron

GMT said:


> Fun idea for a thread, and also a good way of focusing the mind on the music rather than digging around for that perfect sample (that doesn't exist).
> I've been critical of the BBCSO a little in the past, and I'm damned if I can make it sound epic, but I think its real niche is the gentler, flowing romantic types of pieces. The string longs (release issues aside) and legatos, plus the woodwinds sound very nice in this context.
> Anywhere, here is my little offering using only BBCSO Core strings and woodwinds.



What a beauty! Just wonderful! You manage to remind me how lush and natural BBCSO Core can be, if one just lets go and allow it to be in its space. Core just wants to be by itself and there it can sound like a blessing in the right hands. Just like in this piece! 
I'm enjoying it very much, @GMT ! Very beautifully done with a perfectly smooth evolution. I can see this have a far longer winded ending, if only to listen to it for a while more, haha. Thanks for leading Core back into the right light!


----------



## GMT

Taron said:


> What a beauty! Just wonderful! You manage to remind me how lush and natural BBCSO Core can be, if one just lets go and allow it to be in its space. Core just wants to be by itself and there it can sound like a blessing in the right hands. Just like in this piece!
> I'm enjoying it very much, @GMT ! Very beautifully done with a perfectly smooth evolution. I can see this have a far longer winded ending, if only to listen to it for a while more, haha. Thanks for leading Core back into the right light!


Thanks Taron. It is a limited library, but it seems to do one thing pretty well. Writing this also reminded me that major seven chords can sound sweeeet.


----------



## GMT

I tried another one library track, this time with Storm Drum 3 by East West. It's quite a different beast to Storm Drum 2, but seems to work well for anything with a slightly Asian flavour.


----------



## dhmusic

GMT said:


> I tried another one library track, this time with Storm Drum 3 by East West. It's quite a different beast to Storm Drum 2, but seems to work well for anything with a slightly Asian flavour.



Nice! Reminds me of Crash Bandicoot.


----------



## Taron

Alright, dang it, finally one more piece for here! 
Another Spitfire Audio's BBCSO Core track. It's a quintet with only solo instruments:
Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Horn and Harp...


...I honestly don't have a clue what I'm doing there and I'm afraid anyone, who understands classical composition is going to cringe probably through however long they manage to listen to it, but I had an absolute blast making it. Even on the 7th day I've noodled around virtually everywhere in there... not a sign of any certainty, I suppose. 

Anyway, hope you still get to enjoy some of it.


----------



## GMT

Taron said:


> Alright, dang it, finally one more piece for here!
> Another Spitfire Audio's BBCSO Core track. It's a quintet with only solo instruments:
> Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Horn and Harp...
> 
> 
> ...I honestly don't have a clue what I'm doing there and I'm afraid anyone, who understands classical composition is going to cringe probably through however long they manage to listen to it, but I had an absolute blast making it. Even on the 7th day I've noodled around virtually everywhere in there... not a sign of any certainty, I suppose.
> 
> Anyway, hope you still get to enjoy some of it.



Sounds great to me. I often find my best stuff happens when I have no idea what I'm doing. If it sounds this good, who cares?


----------



## Taron

🤗 ...very comforting, thank you!
I love the idea of learning some more traditional, classical styles. This is a bit like exploring what I think this may sound like before actually putting in the proper work of studying them carefully. Seems to me there is a language in it which has so much more to offer and could bring out different ideas.
Definitely loads and loads of fun! 
Thanks, again!


----------



## liquidlino

GMT said:


> I tried another one library track, this time with Storm Drum 3 by East West. It's quite a different beast to Storm Drum 2, but seems to work well for anything with a slightly Asian flavour.



I love StormDrum3. One of my favourite purchases.


----------



## mgaewsj

Here is my submission for the 10th International Film Music Competition.
As expected I have not been selected among the 3 finalists  

I used only one library for this piece (the only exception is when the unicorn is hit by the clown at 4:37, I needed brass effects so I used 8dio CAGE Brass for a couple of seconds, I hope the piece still qualifies for the challenge ).



I am sure many of you will identify which library I used.

Any feedback would be appreciated both about the music and about how it fits the video.

My self-critique:

- I would have liked to add more dynamic variations to the music, but on one side it could have made the music too prominent (perhaps that is already the case) and on the other side I have not been able to achieve that anyway, ouch

- perhaps I obsess too much about syncing the music with the video (but that’s fun and challenging!)

- perhaps there are too many ideas (themes) for a 5 minutes video?

Anyway I think I learned a lot doing this, it’s been a fun and challenging experience.


----------



## Taron

No, no, it's GREAT! 
Only "problem" is, I ended up watching the film more than listening to the score, haha. That's usually a very good sign, though!
In places it felt a bit dense, but that's also in the nature of such short featurettes, I suppose. Some places bounce in a little contrived, like they could've used a little anticipation. For example, when the music switched into circus-mode. It just felt a bit sudden, like it could've used some segue of sorts. Probably briefly prior to the switch, I'd guess. Maybe it's a matter of taste, too, but it felt a little "too tight and explosive".
At this point I might've thought about possibly a difference in the mix, too, to emphasize the mode-switch more intensely, possibly even modulate to a different key/scale altogether, but only maybe, maybe.
So, yeah, in places it may lack a little bit contrast, in others it explodes, but overall it feels quite official and very, very well written, fitting and enjoyable!
I'm a little scared to guess, but I'm assuming it's again BBCSO, is it?


----------



## Akarin

Here is one that I did with BBCSO Pro only (to demo my BBCSO template that you can download for free here: https://bbcso.nicoschuele.com)



I've also made one using Musio only by Cinesamples:


----------



## Remnant

Really enjoyed these. Great work!


----------



## Taron

The BBCSO track really is a beauty! Feels very authentic and natural to me.
But, although your composition for the CineSamples track is nice and solid, somehow you didn't do great favors to them with it, most probably due to the mix, but it also feels like you may have had some troubles switching gears in how you work the instruments there. I know how it is to switch libraries. They all have their own behavior in dynamics, timing, sweet spots and so on. I absolutely love CineSamples, but know it takes some time to really get into their groove. Once you're there, it becomes almost natural to wield their engine. At least, I feel like this will happen. I mean, CineStrings Solo for example is like pure gold, even if not right away, but I can totally feel it happening.
Here's a little test I did the other day, trying to come up with a String Quartet, just brainstorming with CineStrings Solo:
View attachment CineSoloQuartet002.mp3


And I really only started to have a look at this library. I may not be doing a great favor to them either, but I can feel where this is headed and what IT can do, as opposed to myself. 

Anyway, back to you, yeah, really a nice and cinematic composition, but I believe you can get a few steps deeper with it. Still great, though!


----------



## mgaewsj

@Taron 

Yes! It’s BBCSO Pro  👍

Thanks a lot for your feedback.
Very focused and spot-on 🙏

TBH I have tried to anticipate some of the changes (i.e. circus music) but I have not been able to achieve a satisfying result. Lots of room for improvement!


----------



## Taron

@mgaewsj ...thinking about anticipation in movies, I always think of how naughty they can be with their sound, shamelessly having an indoor scene when suddenly street noises come in before the next scene hits, which is, well, on the street. Or the other way around. SO....you have much more freedom with the timing, once you realize the devices they usually use. Not everything HAS to be ON the cut, you know. It's also an interesting observation in trailers, when the music hits exactly and when it just slurs over cuts, like it knows more.
As a musician you should take on the position of the one, who knows more! Like you can choose to be reactive, predictive, ignorant, anything... you are in the most powerful position and all-knowing master of time!


----------



## tritonely

As a big fan of this challenge/thread, here's my first result! The lovely Only Murders in the Building theme, but this time in a jazz arrangement played with the Strezov Sampling's Diamond Jazz Orchestra 

I didn't expect this library would be my first OLC as the thoughts about the DJO weren't the best. I can agree with some of those thoughts, but I tried to get around the weak parts. I would advise: avoid the ensemble patches as those can be phasy / sounds out of tune. Instead blend the individual instrument patches together: natural trumpets 1 and 2 and trumpet 3 with a harmon. Or blend an alto sax with the alto flute. 

I also like the sound of this big band more in a concert hall ambiance than the small studio sound out the box, also to hide some of the weak parts (phasing through dynamic layers, some more 'cheapish' sounds like the falls out of the box). I solo'd the DJO close mics and put those through the new VSL MIR Pro 3D (24) (roompack 4: The Sage Gateshead - Hall One 3D). In the attachment you can see the setup in MIR Pro.


----------



## mybadmemory

tritonely said:


> As a big fan of this challenge/thread, here's my first result! The lovely Only Murders in the Building theme, but this time in a jazz arrangement played with the Strezov Sampling's Diamond Jazz Orchestra
> 
> I didn't expect this library would be my first OLC as the thoughts about the DJO weren't the best. I can agree with some of those thoughts, but I tried to get around the weak parts. I would advise: avoid the ensemble patches as those can be phasy / sounds out of tune. Instead blend the individual instrument patches together: natural trumpets 1 and 2 and trumpet 3 with a harmon. Or blend an alto sax with the alto flute.
> 
> I also like the sound of this big band more in a concert hall ambiance than the small studio sound out the box, also to hide some of the weak parts (phasing through dynamic layers, some more 'cheapish' sounds like the falls out of the box). I solo'd the DJO close mics and put those through the new VSL MIR Pro 3D (24) (roompack 4: The Sage Gateshead - Hall One 3D). In the attachment you can see the setup in MIR Pro.



Thats quite charming! Makes me want to try the library out!


----------



## Taron

Alright, I've tried to iron out some kinks, add some more subtle silly stuff and hope this will be good enough to leave it be... still all BBCSO Core:

(updated 8/16)

I'm assuming quite a few of you are giving this one a go, too. All those, who couldn't care less about the competition, but don't mind giving me a piece of their mind on this one: Yes, Please, do so! 

At any rate, it's probably a pretty interesting entry into the O.L.C, because it's sort of an actual use of a single library rather than just an exploration. And I can only hope that's a "good thing", hehe...

I've updated it just now. Used "Frequency" in Cubase to do EQ ducking. I hope it helped...


----------



## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> Alright, I've tried to iron out some kinks, add some more subtle silly stuff and hope this will be good enough to leave it be... still all BBCSO Core:
> 
> 
> I'm assuming quite a few of you are giving this one a go, too. All those, who couldn't care less about the competition, but don't mind giving me a piece of their mind on this one: Yes, Please, do so!
> 
> At any rate, it's probably a pretty interesting entry into the O.L.C, because it's sort of an actual use of a single library rather than just an exploration. And I can only hope that's a "good thing", hehe...



Much better now with the music level a little higher!


----------



## Trash Panda

Taron said:


> Alright, I've tried to iron out some kinks, add some more subtle silly stuff and hope this will be good enough to leave it be... still all BBCSO Core:
> 
> 
> I'm assuming quite a few of you are giving this one a go, too. All those, who couldn't care less about the competition, but don't mind giving me a piece of their mind on this one: Yes, Please, do so!
> 
> At any rate, it's probably a pretty interesting entry into the O.L.C, because it's sort of an actual use of a single library rather than just an exploration. And I can only hope that's a "good thing", hehe...



It's not bad. Maybe a little generic sounding if I'm being honest.

I would recommend using a spectral ducker of some sort to push the music down in the frequencies that clash with the dialog in a few parts where intelligibility in the dialog is lost because the music is masking it.


----------



## Taron

GREAT advice, thanks, @Trash Panda ! I did do a mild side-chain on it, but a spectral ducker didn't even cross my mind. Let's see, if I have something for that around...
There's also a cringy bit in there, which I added on a whim, but it bothers the heck out of me now. It's so annoying with youtube that one can't update a video...understandably, but also really painful. 

Anyway, great feedback. I didn't mind going "generic" with it, because I've never done this, you know. If it somehow feels like an "ordinary" score, I'd be elated, HAHA!  ...but, yeah, I wished I'd know what I'm doing. One day possibly.


----------



## Trash Panda

SmartComp 1 or 2 are really good for spectral ducking. Very transparent unless you _really_ push the settings over the top.


----------



## Taron

I went with "Frequency" in Cubase. I hope it does the trick. It's updated up there!


----------



## GMT

I'm astonished at the quality of orchestral writing here. I have much to learn. Anyway, something rather simple here with the Cinesamples Handbells library.


And a percussion piece with the Andea library - just the shakers and wooden parts, which are my only percussion purchases so far. Orchestral tools have got me. Excuse the cheesy name.


----------



## liquidlino

GMT said:


> I'm astonished at the quality of orchestral writing here. I have much to learn. Anyway, something rather simple here with the Cinesamples Handbells library.
> 
> 
> And a percussion piece with the Andea library - just the shakers and wooden parts, which are my only percussion purchases so far. Orchestral tools have got me. Excuse the cheesy name.



Both are fantastic. Frankly I find small arrangements much more interesting than huge orchestral pieces. These are both excellent, just enough variation to keep listening all the way through. Really like your reverb on andea, is that just room sound or external verb? Andea is so unique, I bought the ronroco singles, love it. Think it will have to be purchased when on sale next.


----------



## GMT

liquidlino said:


> Both are fantastic. Frankly I find small arrangements much more interesting than huge orchestral pieces. These are both excellent, just enough variation to keep listening all the way through. Really like your reverb on andea, is that just room sound or external verb? Andea is so unique, I bought the ronroco singles, love it. Think it will have to be purchased when on sale next.


Thanks Liquidlino. Yes, Andea is wonderful. I picked up the Ronroco on the offer, plus the Paraguayan Harp and a couple of flutes/panpipes, plus the percussion you hear here. I'm really having fun with it.
The reverb on this is a little Spaces 2 by East West - think I used the longer Hamburg forest preset with just a little of the wet mixed in.


----------



## Loïc D

Due to popular request (@Taron 👍), here’s my entry for Bridgerton.

Wait wait : it’s really OLC !
Done entirely and only with Aaron Venture Infinite Woodwinds.
The more I use AV stuff, the more I love it because it never gets in the way of writing. 



Aside of AV IW, just a bit of Softube Tape, EQ on WW stems, Cinematic Rooms and Newfangled.


----------



## Adam Takacs

Unfinished orchestral track recorded with BBC SO


----------



## mybadmemory

Adam Takacs said:


> Unfinished orchestral track recorded with BBC SO



This is beatuiful! Please finish it! <3


----------



## mgaewsj

mybadmemory said:


> As long as it's all coming from one hardware unit, one software plugin, or one library, I'd say absolutely! Just don't use more than one product at a time!


ok so here is an alternate take on the Bridgerton competition
done using only @Pier's Nightmare soundset for Zebra 😱



I had already submitted an 'official' attempt (here)
otherwise I would not be sure which one to choose 🤔😆


----------



## Taron

Adam Takacs said:


> Unfinished orchestral track recorded with BBC SO



Definitely sounds like a proper filmscore. Very beautiful, very convincing and very much begging to be completed or rather prolonged, because it feels very complete and is fulfilling to listen to! Fantastic stuff!


----------



## Taron

mgaewsj said:


> ok so here is an alternate take on the Bridgerton competition
> done using only @Pier's Nightmare soundset for Zebra 😱
> 
> 
> 
> I had already submitted an 'official' attempt (here)
> otherwise I would not be sure which one to choose 🤔😆



Mildly stretching the OLC idea, but this is so fascinating!!! I think it's GREAT! I mean, no kidding, you're making this show appear interesting!!!


----------



## Marcin Maj

This is really interesting thread, I thought I could contribute. 

I hope this piece qualifies, it's 99% Halion Sonic by Steinberg, so probably not the best library out there(but I'm just amateur so I don't know). But as they say "quality is in the eye of the beholder" or something like that .

Other 1% is female vocal which shows up for like 5 seconds in total and doesn't come from playable sample library but some VST(or other program) that is just bunch of pre-recorded audio tracks that I had to shape with auto-tune.

Hope You will enjoy


----------



## Adam Takacs

Taron said:


> Definitely sounds like a proper filmscore. Very beautiful, very convincing and very much begging to be completed or rather prolonged, because it feels very complete and is fulfilling to listen to! Fantastic stuff!


Thank you very much for your kind comment, Taron! I'm still waiting for a few weeks of peace and quiet to get back to this one which is a very personal piece, so it needs a special atmosphere.


----------



## Coffee-Milk

Long time lurker here. 🙌 
Here's a track from my favorite game. It's done entirely with BBCSO. Got pro a few weeks ago and still got lots to know about the mics. 🙂


----------



## Taron

WELCOME ABOARD, @arcduelist ! 

Neat! Looks like you've worked quite intensely on this one, too!? Some sections work better than others, but it's all oh so very clean sounding. 
Did you do a bit of panning to some of the instruments? 

I'm asking, because somehow this feels not quite like a "real orchestra", but like some sort of space-age-midi synth with brilliant quality, if you know what I mean. It's almost ironic, because all "Core" users, like me, are begging for a closer, drier sound, and here you are bringing it pretty much as close as it gets, I think, and somehow this ends up working mildly against a natural feel.
Well, the thing with wanting close mics is that they allow one to take care of mixing and spatial arrangements rather than being stuck with given spaces. But that does mean you'd want to- or even have to- take care of that yourself. It also allows one to go wilder, more fantastical with the mix, detaching from any orchestral seating and push background layers further back while bringing solos or leads into the head of a listener, so to say...and anything in between, of course.

Anyway, clearly you're showing wonderful passion for detail and readiness to manifest entire scores! That's ingredient #1 and you've got it in spades! All the rest always keeps growing with everything it makes you do. And that's a fantastic debut here in the OLC! Hurray!


----------



## Trash Panda

arcduelist said:


> Long time lurker here. 🙌
> Here's a track from my favorite game. It's done entirely with BBCSO. Got pro a few weeks ago and still got lots to know about the mics. 🙂



Good job overall. I think you made this rendition sound about as good as it can with this particular library.


----------



## Coffee-Milk

Taron said:


> WELCOME ABOARD, @arcduelist !
> 
> Neat! Looks like you've worked quite intensely on this one, too!? Some sections work better than others, but it's all oh so very clean sounding.
> Did you do a bit of panning to some of the instruments?
> 
> I'm asking, because somehow this feels not quite like a "real orchestra", but like some sort of space-age-midi synth with brilliant quality, if you know what I mean. It's almost ironic, because all "Core" users, like me, are begging for a closer, drier sound, and here you are bringing it pretty much as close as it gets, I think, and somehow this ends up working mildly against a natural feel.
> Well, the thing with wanting close mics is that they allow one to take care of mixing and spatial arrangements rather than being stuck with given spaces. But that does mean you'd want to- or even have to- take care of that yourself. It also allows one to go wilder, more fantastical with the mix, detaching from any orchestral seating and push background layers further back while bringing solos or leads into the head of a listener, so to say...and anything in between, of course.
> 
> Anyway, clearly you're showing wonderful passion for detail and readiness to manifest entire scores! That's ingredient #1 and you've got it in spades! All the rest always keeps growing with everything it makes you do. And that's a fantastic debut here in the OLC! Hurray!


Thank you for the warm welcome and kind comments , Taron!

Yes , I swapped the L-R channels of the 2nd violins and violas because I feel the stereo field is more balanced that way.
To be honest , I haven't sat in front of an orchestra, and I don't listen to classical music. Just film scores and video game soundtracks. And they all sound different. So I just mix with how I feel it would sound best with a stereo system. 

As for the closeness, that maybe due to Japanese music influence. Hehe. For the strings, I have the tree mic full on, close and leader mics around half. But yeah, I think I can back the close and leader mics off a bit.


I appreciate the comments as they would definitely help for future works. 😊




Trash Panda said:


> Good job overall. I think you made this rendition sound about as good as it can with this particular library.


 Thank you very much, Trash Panda!


----------



## mybadmemory

arcduelist said:


> Long time lurker here. 🙌
> Here's a track from my favorite game. It's done entirely with BBCSO. Got pro a few weeks ago and still got lots to know about the mics. 🙂




Welcome to the thread and to the forum! Just as you I also got started with this through a love for Japanese soundtracks, so we probably share a lot of influences. 

But Yes, as @Toron pointed out, something sounds slightly off to me but I can’t really tell if it’s parts of the programming or parts of the mixing that’s bugging me slightly.

Would you perhaps be willing to post an out-of-the-box-version using just Mix1 or Mix2, with no addiontional mics, panning, EQs, compressors, or anything?


----------



## Coffee-Milk

mybadmemory said:


> Welcome to the thread and to the forum! Just as you I also got started with this through a love for Japanese soundtracks, so we probably share a lot of influences.
> 
> But Yes, as @Toron pointed out, something sounds slightly off to me but I can’t really tell if it’s parts of the programming or parts of the mixing that’s bugging me slightly.
> 
> Would you perhaps be willing to post an out-of-the-box-version using just Mix1 or Mix2, with no addiontional mics, panning, EQs, compressors, or anything?


 Hello @mybadmemory !
I'm really curious at what you guys find off, in a positive way of course.

Is it something that's present thru the whole track? Or just a part of it? Or just an instrument section?

And does it bug you because it doesnt serve the music or because it's not something you expect would come from BBCSO? 🙂

I listened to your tracks done with pro, and they seem to have more close mics compared to mine. So it might not be that. The leader mics perhaps? It did change the character of the strings, and made them sound like a smaller section.

As for the effects, I just used an eq for every track to cut out unnecessary lowend. And then a transparent limiter for mastering.

I'll try to post a version done with Mix 1 in a few days.
Thanks for the critique. ! 🙂


----------



## Taron

Oh, snap, I didn't even see your post (or get notified)...strange?! I'll be looking forward to your Mix 1 then. 

I have had some fun with last year's Score Relief clip "Spring". I saw it back then, but I wasn't ready then and didn't quite feel inspired to struggle through it. Now that I have *BBCSO Core* and some more experience, I totally had fun with this clip and it only took a few days of goofing around with it:


The great part of just grabbing this clip outside of its competition is not only to be without any pressure, but also not feeling compelled to listen to countless takes of it afterwards, hahaha... hmmm, which I might actually do. OH DANG I should just check for the winners, hahahaha, how easy is that? Why not.

But it doesn't matter. The things I've learned about Cubase during the Bridgerton competition, let alone Cubase itself, which I finally put to use because of it, the things about handling time, arranging, organizing the process, these things really make scoring so much fun and so pleasant. And whatever one wants to say about the sound of BBCSO Core, it matters not when it comes to the fantastic ease of working with it. Yes, yes, there are things missing and you notice those when you do a score for a clip probably more than when you just compose freely, but it also makes one a bit more inventive and find solutions either musically or with some creative use of alternative instruments.

Anyway, I wished I had all the instruments I could dream of inside this player with possibly a few more pleasant ways to organize it all, but it just feels so accessible, easy and liberating. The idea that you can just make 10 instances of it, route them to your heart's content and don't worry about extra memory for each instance, if you only want different articulations.... alone that is just so relaxing.

Well, that's all for today!


----------



## Marcus Millfield

Taron said:


> Oh, snap, I didn't even see your post (or get notified)...strange?! I'll be looking forward to your Mix 1 then.
> 
> I have had some fun with last year's Score Relief clip "Spring". I saw it back then, but I wasn't ready then and didn't quite feel inspired to struggle through it. Now that I have *BBCSO Core* and some more experience, I totally had fun with this clip and it only took a few days of goofing around with it:
> 
> 
> The great part of just grabbing this clip outside of its competition is not only to be without any pressure, but also not feeling compelled to listen to countless takes of it afterwards, hahaha... hmmm, which I might actually do. OH DANG I should just check for the winners, hahahaha, how easy is that? Why not.
> 
> But it doesn't matter. The things I've learned about Cubase during the Bridgerton competition, let alone Cubase itself, which I finally put to use because of it, the things about handling time, arranging, organizing the process, these things really make scoring so much fun and so pleasant. And whatever one wants to say about the sound of BBCSO Core, it matters not when it comes to the fantastic ease of working with it. Yes, yes, there are things missing and you notice those when you do a score for a clip probably more than when you just compose freely, but it also makes one a bit more inventive and find solutions either musically or with some creative use of alternative instruments.
> 
> Anyway, I wished I had all the instruments I could dream of inside this player with possibly a few more pleasant ways to organize it all, but it just feels so accessible, easy and liberating. The idea that you can just make 10 instances of it, route them to your heart's content and don't worry about extra memory for each instance, if you only want different articulations.... alone that is just so relaxing.
> 
> Well, that's all for today!




"Wow" sums it up. That was awesome!


----------



## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> Oh, snap, I didn't even see your post (or get notified)...strange?! I'll be looking forward to your Mix 1 then.
> 
> I have had some fun with last year's Score Relief clip "Spring". I saw it back then, but I wasn't ready then and didn't quite feel inspired to struggle through it. Now that I have *BBCSO Core* and some more experience, I totally had fun with this clip and it only took a few days of goofing around with it:
> 
> 
> The great part of just grabbing this clip outside of its competition is not only to be without any pressure, but also not feeling compelled to listen to countless takes of it afterwards, hahaha... hmmm, which I might actually do. OH DANG I should just check for the winners, hahahaha, how easy is that? Why not.
> 
> But it doesn't matter. The things I've learned about Cubase during the Bridgerton competition, let alone Cubase itself, which I finally put to use because of it, the things about handling time, arranging, organizing the process, these things really make scoring so much fun and so pleasant. And whatever one wants to say about the sound of BBCSO Core, it matters not when it comes to the fantastic ease of working with it. Yes, yes, there are things missing and you notice those when you do a score for a clip probably more than when you just compose freely, but it also makes one a bit more inventive and find solutions either musically or with some creative use of alternative instruments.
> 
> Anyway, I wished I had all the instruments I could dream of inside this player with possibly a few more pleasant ways to organize it all, but it just feels so accessible, easy and liberating. The idea that you can just make 10 instances of it, route them to your heart's content and don't worry about extra memory for each instance, if you only want different articulations.... alone that is just so relaxing.
> 
> Well, that's all for today!



Its funny. Hearing a library you know so well together with images like this completely makes you forget about the library itself. You don’t hear the library. You only hear the music. Which was fantastic.


----------



## MartinH.

arcduelist said:


> I'm really curious at what you guys find off, in a positive way of course.
> 
> Is it something that's present thru the whole track? Or just a part of it? Or just an instrument section?



If this is the original track that you referenced, I think it may just be the composition and orchestration that sounds "off". The track is very far from what I'm used to listening. But I think I prefer your rendition, good job! 

My very first impression was that your percussions are too loud, but after listening to the original I think I may be wrong on that.


----------



## Taron

mybadmemory said:


> Its funny. Hearing a library you know so well together with images like this completely makes you forget about the library itself. You don’t hear the library. You only hear the music. Which was fantastic.


THANK YOU! 
That's really just it, too, when you make a score with it. Besides realizing how well it works, you get to reach for things you normally might not. I started a little track a few weeks earlier where I first used the tuba and recognized its power and function. Now I was able to put it to use again and it really is raw power along with more of the rather wonderful brass of Core after all. I'm just a bit amazed at the "weakness" of its trumpet. It is rather quiet and even muted it hardly pierces through.
But, yeah, I'm assuming that BBCSO gets probably underestimated in "amateur" circles, which I am part of after all. But I would not be surprised if it was a go-to in pro circles. I know I would keep using it for composing and even arranging.


----------



## Coffee-Milk

MartinH. said:


> If this is the original track that you referenced, I think it may just be the composition and orchestration that sounds "off". The track is very far from what I'm used to listening. But I think I prefer your rendition, good job!
> 
> My very first impression was that your percussions are too loud, but after listening to the original I think I may be wrong on that.



Thanks for taking a listen and I appreciate the feedback. 
Yeah, the whole OST does sound unusual mainly because the composer did a lot of L-R channel swapping in order to spread out the frequencies in the stereo field, and I follow the same philosophy. But that may be blasphemous around here. lol


----------



## MartinH.

arcduelist said:


> Thanks for taking a listen and I appreciate the feedback.
> Yeah, the whole OST does sound unusual mainly because the composer did a lot of L-R channel swapping in order to spread out the frequencies in the stereo field, and I follow the same philosophy. But that may be blasphemous around here. lol


I don't think that's it. I've always thought it's kind of stupid how the traditional orchestra seating is laid out, so I say go for it! It's more the kinds of patterns and combinations the composer is using. But I don't know enough to lay my finger on what exactly about it seems foreign to me.


----------



## Taron

MartinH. said:


> I don't think that's it. I've always thought it's kind of stupid how the traditional orchestra seating is laid out, so I say go for it! It's more the kinds of patterns and combinations the composer is using. But I don't know enough to lay my finger on what exactly about it seems foreign to me.


Surely the orchestration has to feel right and match the desired effect. However, the problem with the seating is not so much a matter of taste than it is about the source material sounding authentic or not. If you had dry sounds, you could easily place them to your heart's content. But with things like BBCSO Core and below you run into some uncanny issues that harm the illusion quite a bit.
Also, there is something gorgeous about the classic seating, when it comes to the use of stereo. I used to be apprehensive about it, too, because it seems to having been strictly highs on the left and lows on the right. Then, however, I was listening to a real performance and noticed how the celli would join playing really high notes and a big light went off in my head. If you want to create lush string moments mid and upward in frequency, you can totally let the celli and viola go up. But that's just an example.

I wouldn't fight the seating, but just focus on orchestration/arrangement itself!


----------



## José Herring

MartinH. said:


> If this is the original track that you referenced, I think it may just be the composition and orchestration that sounds "off". The track is very far from what I'm used to listening. But I think I prefer your rendition, good job!
> 
> My very first impression was that your percussions are too loud, but after listening to the original I think I may be wrong on that.



It is funny but this is happening more and more. People doing mockups of game music that was a mockup to beginning with. There's no point of comparison because the original is a midi mock up to begin with. 

I find this kind of fascinating really. I remember a few years back a guy desperately trying to mockup a game cue from the 90's. Trying to find the right library. I listened to it the original track. Definitely don't need to look to far. It was the old Roland SoundCanvas in all its general midi mid 90's glory.

I actually didn't find anything particularly off about @arcduelist mockup. I never heard BBCSO without the full on "Boom" of the large room so it was kind of cool hearing it up close. 

@arcduelist if this is the kind of sound you dig there's nothing wrong with that. If you wanted to move it up in the more modern age, I'd look into getting Audio Imperia libraries. It would nail what you're looking for and sound even more convincing.


----------



## Coffee-Milk

José Herring said:


> It is funny but this is happening more and more. People doing mockups of game music that was a mockup to beginning with. There's no point of comparison because the original is a midi mock up to begin with.
> 
> I find this kind of fascinating really. I remember a few years back a guy desperately trying to mockup a game cue from the 90's. Trying to find the right library. I listened to it the original track. Definitely don't need to look to far. It was the old Roland SoundCanvas in all its general midi mid 90's glory.
> 
> I actually didn't find anything particularly off about @arcduelist mockup. I never heard BBCSO without the full on "Boom" of the large room so it was kind of cool hearing it up close.
> 
> @arcduelist if this is the kind of sound you dig there's nothing wrong with that. If you wanted to move it up in the more modern age, I'd look into getting Audio Imperia libraries. It would nail what you're looking for and sound even more convincing.


Thanks Jose! The point of my mockup really was to study the piece from a musical standpoint, so I'm not really fussing about using the "right" library for the job. But thanks for the suggestion
🙂


----------



## Jdiggity1

Excerpt from Aunt Marge's Waltz by John Williams (from Harry Potter 3)
Made with 100% HOOPUS (Hollywood Orchestra OPUS)

Fairly minimal processing or production tweaks. Was more interested in keeping true to the library's signature sound as opposed to forcing it to sound like the reference.


View attachment Aunt Marges Waltz_Excerpt_Jdiggity HOOPUS.mp3


----------



## alcorey

Jdiggity1 said:


> Excerpt from Aunt Marge's Waltz by John Williams (from Harry Potter 3)
> Made with 100% HOOPUS (Hollywood Orchestra OPUS)
> 
> Fairly minimal processing or production tweaks. Was more interested in keeping true to the library's signature sound as opposed to forcing it to sound like the reference.
> 
> View attachment 84807


I had to turn my volume up twice what it normally is at to hear this - other than that it is done very nicely


----------



## Marlon Brown

Jdiggity1 said:


> Excerpt from Aunt Marge's Waltz by John Williams (from Harry Potter 3)
> Made with 100% HOOPUS (Hollywood Orchestra OPUS)
> 
> Fairly minimal processing or production tweaks. Was more interested in keeping true to the library's signature sound as opposed to forcing it to sound like the reference.
> 
> View attachment 84807


This sounds great!


----------



## José Herring

alcorey said:


> I had to turn my volume up twice what it normally is at to hear this - other than that it is done very nicely


That's what I loved about it. HOOPUS down in the lower dynamics is a rare find. There's some good samples down there.


----------



## liquidlino

Taron said:


> Oh, snap, I didn't even see your post (or get notified)...strange?! I'll be looking forward to your Mix 1 then.
> 
> I have had some fun with last year's Score Relief clip "Spring". I saw it back then, but I wasn't ready then and didn't quite feel inspired to struggle through it. Now that I have *BBCSO Core* and some more experience, I totally had fun with this clip and it only took a few days of goofing around with it:
> 
> 
> The great part of just grabbing this clip outside of its competition is not only to be without any pressure, but also not feeling compelled to listen to countless takes of it afterwards, hahaha... hmmm, which I might actually do. OH DANG I should just check for the winners, hahahaha, how easy is that? Why not.
> 
> But it doesn't matter. The things I've learned about Cubase during the Bridgerton competition, let alone Cubase itself, which I finally put to use because of it, the things about handling time, arranging, organizing the process, these things really make scoring so much fun and so pleasant. And whatever one wants to say about the sound of BBCSO Core, it matters not when it comes to the fantastic ease of working with it. Yes, yes, there are things missing and you notice those when you do a score for a clip probably more than when you just compose freely, but it also makes one a bit more inventive and find solutions either musically or with some creative use of alternative instruments.
> 
> Anyway, I wished I had all the instruments I could dream of inside this player with possibly a few more pleasant ways to organize it all, but it just feels so accessible, easy and liberating. The idea that you can just make 10 instances of it, route them to your heart's content and don't worry about extra memory for each instance, if you only want different articulations.... alone that is just so relaxing.
> 
> Well, that's all for today!



Amazing!!!!!! That sounded completely realistic, and like a real score. The deep devices you used to represent the tree were just fantastic! Almost couldn't believe they were just orchestral, they had a wonderful synth like quality.


----------



## liquidlino

Taron said:


> Anyway, I wished I had all the instruments I could dream of inside this player with possibly a few more pleasant ways to organize it all, but it just feels so accessible, easy and liberating. The idea that you can just make 10 instances of it, route them to your heart's content and don't worry about extra memory for each instance, if you only want different articulations.... alone that is just so relaxing.


FYI - VSL Synchron does this too - very handy!


----------



## Taron

liquidlino said:


> FYI - VSL Synchron does this too - very handy!


Yeah, I here's something more to wish for!  Thanks, @liquidlino. 
The "deep devices" are a mixture of Tuba, Basses and Bass Trombone along with some Timpani in a few cases and the odd Piatti, hehe. Unfortunately the percussion articulations are really a bit sparse in Core...makes me wonder what Pro may have to offer?!




> Excerpt from Aunt Marge's Waltz by John Williams (from Harry Potter 3)
> Made with 100% HOOPUS (Hollywood Orchestra OPUS)
> 
> Fairly minimal processing or production tweaks. Was more interested in keeping true to the library's signature sound as opposed to forcing it to sound like the reference.


That is just gorgeous. No need to be shy about some limiting, but dang... gorgeous!


----------



## WhiteNoiz

José Herring said:


> It is funny but this is happening more and more. People doing mockups of game music that was a mockup to beginning with. There's no point of comparison because the original is a midi mock up to begin with.


It probably makes sense from the viewpoint of "enhancing" the original (or having a different non-live take) and/or studying it, as mentioned.

Here's a take of the first half "The Very Best Plan" by A. Desplat with BBCSO Core (except the piano, as it doesn't have one). Wanted to see how much I could push it.

Seems like a good place for it. 

View attachment plan3f-001.mp3


----------



## tmatula

I've been on a personal goal to increase my composition skills, and write at least one new "thing" every week. Here's my most recent attempt, only using BBCSO Discover with lots of spiccato :D 
Comments/feedback are appreciated!


----------



## Taron

@tmatula hey, valiant effort with Discover!  ...since there are no round robins or the likes, it's truly challenging to attempt something like this with it. But that also puts a lot more focus on the composition, which will have to make up a heck of a lot more than when a rich library plays such things.
You can try to make up for it with more dynamics and other means to avoid bringing out the sampled nature of it, such as arranging sections to alternate or unisono for dynamics as well. It's tricky. 
I'm assuming you know some of my Discover explorations?

Anyway, consider posting on Soundcloud, where it's easier to give more targeted feedback as comments can be placed on the timeline. 

Keep 'em coming, that's for sure! Will be nice to witness your evolution. And don't hold back to start your own dedicated thread for this, too. It's how I joined this forum and gave me plenty of joy, getting so much encouragement as well as inspiring and motivating feedback.


----------



## tmatula

Thanks @Taron for the advice!! 

And I've added it my soundcloud...


----------



## tiago

This track features Orchestral Tools' Habitat exclusively (though many patches were tweaked way beyond the "out of the box" sound). Let me know what you think!


----------



## Harry Koopman

Mmm, searching for a button 'new post' or something like that. I think that 'Post reply' is doing what I want. Sorry, I am new here.
Back to subject: The One Library Challenge.
The Soundcloud link below is a piece made with only the Abbey Road One Foundations, without the extentions that can be bought next to the Foundations. I do not own the add-ons, not yet,otherwise I would have been tempted to use them ...
What I like about the Abbey Road One Foundations is the overall sound quality, and the rich percussion. I made the piece without a sketch piano track, just writing it 'on the fly', or in other words 'in the flow'. It is a group orientated library, not instrument orientated like BBCSO. But the ultimate result does not reveal this limitation. I did no separate master, on the output track (LogicX) I only use a tweaked preset of Schepps Onmi Channel, which makes the sound somewhat richer.
Hope you like it.

https://soundcloud.com/harrypiano/spectrum


----------



## Taron

Fantastic, you came over with this beauty, I'm very, very happy! Welcome aboard, Harry! 
I'm particularly happy about your submission here, because I've always been wondering about Abbey Road One and yours gives a very complete impression and it's a really nice one, too!

Thank you very much and again, welcome!

Little tip on the post editor here:
• you can edit your post anytime
• in the icon row (*B*old *I*_talic_ *TT*(Font Size) and so on....) the icon before the camera is for *Media*. Click on it and it will open a popup where you just paste your Soundcloud link into. Then click *Continue *and you will get an *embedded player* in your post.
• *Make sure it is your soundcloud (share) link!*


----------



## mybadmemory

Harry Koopman said:


> But the ultimate result does not reveal this limitation.


I agree! The sound of AROOF is really convincing apart from the missing legato transitions. Those are really the only thing that stick out to me as unrealistic, depending on the piece and its needs.


----------



## Taron

Harry Koopman said:


>



...like this


----------



## Taron

mybadmemory said:


> I agree! The sound of AROOF is really convincing apart from the missing legato transitions. Those are really the only thing that stick out to me as unrealistic, depending on the piece and its needs.


Makes it all the more a valiant effort! It definitely shows its qualities, which is one of the most important missions of this thread!


----------



## Harry Koopman

One Library Challenge.
A shortie this time, one library: Tableaux Chamber Strings from Orchestal Tools. Violins 1 and 2, viola, celli, basses. The only addition is a little reverb on some tracks. (Logic Space Designer). No additions at all on the output, no mastering. The string sounds from this sample pack are beautiful.
It is a different sound compared to Spitfire-in general. But to describe the difference is difficult. Perhaps somewhat more brightness, but that disgraces the quality of Spitfire perhaps. More direct? Anyhow, every orchestra has its own character, every hall has its own character, and every recording technique has its own character. So be it.


----------



## Taron

Such a beautiful example, such a lovely composition, @Harry Koopman , fantastic work!
Spitfire has a tendency to aim at an almost traditional cinematic wash with their sound. It's almost like they're trying to tell the players to ignore that they are playing for a sampling library and loosen up or the likes. The result is a more organic, more diffuse sound, including the spaces they've chosen, of course, as well as the recording technique, I imagine.
Orchestral Tools along with a few others have this tendency to be almost clinical in their approach, which results in a different kind of stability, sometimes even mildly stale or sterile, but with such nuance, richness is detail and a phenomenal realism for the standard sets of articulations. Seems like I always end up rather impressed with OT.

Your showcase is a beautiful little gem, really. OT should be excited about it!


----------



## Harry Koopman

Taron said:


> Such a beautiful example, such a lovely composition, @Harry Koopman , fantastic work!
> Spitfire has a tendency to aim at an almost traditional cinematic wash with their sound. It's almost like they're trying to tell the players to ignore that they are playing for a sampling library and loosen up or the likes. The result is a more organic, more diffuse sound, including the spaces they've chosen, of course, as well as the recording technique, I imagine.
> Orchestral Tools along with a few others have this tendency to be almost clinical in their approach, which results in a different kind of stability, sometimes even mildly stale or sterile, but with such nuance, richness is detail and a phenomenal realism for the standard sets of articulations. Seems like I always end up rather impressed with OT.
> 
> Your showcase is a beautiful little gem, really. OT should be excited about it!


Thank you for your kind words. Browsing through my Soundcloud I at first did not realize that Taronium is you, and I spent some time on your account. And it is not for the sake of returning kindness for kindness that I make this comment. (You know, I am often bored with music and then I keep my mouth shut.) In your case I am really impressed by your creativity. I sense sometimes in your comments some modest understatements about what you produce but in this field you are really a, in dutch they say, 'een witte raaf', in english, a white raven. I like the 'organized whimsicality' in your music, the surprises, harmonically and melodically. It is very inspiring. And it is produced very well. So, enough for now as little violet flowers start to float in the background...


----------



## Harry Koopman

The One Library Challenge
I get the hang of it... this piece is written for one synthesizer, Synthmaster. A bit underrated synth I believe. A 'payed' soft synth by the way, one of the first synths I bought. It has a ton of presets with it. This piece, Friendly-alien-visit I made some years ago. The production/mastering could be better (we all learn in time) but it's a nice piece I believe.
EDIT LATER: oops, a synth is not a library... however, a One Synth Challenge would be a good idea, but perhaps that was launched before, I don't know because I am new in the forum.


----------



## Taron

Harry Koopman said:


> Thank you for your kind words. Browsing through my Soundcloud I at first did not realize that Taronium is you, and I spent some time on your account. And it is not for the sake of returning kindness for kindness that I make this comment. (You know, I am often bored with music and then I keep my mouth shut.) In your case I am really impressed by your creativity. I sense sometimes in your comments some modest understatements about what you produce but in this field you are really a, in dutch they say, 'een witte raaf', in english, a white raven. I like the 'organized whimsicality' in your music, the surprises, harmonically and melodically. It is very inspiring. And it is produced very well. So, enough for now as little violet flowers start to float in the background...


And now I have an excellent animal for my crest! 
Thank you very, very much, Harry! Witte raaf, what a wonderful Knuffel! 
I then hope that this thread represents a _kindness _of white ravens!  ...certainly starts me into one wonderful day.

As for Synthmaster, yeah, that was the first price I chose after getting into the top 5 of the OSC on KVR forums for the first time. I liked this thing, too. Curiously enough, I don't remember ever having made a whole track with it afterwards...tssss. But, yeah, we have to be careful here that this thread won't drift off into a OSC (One Synth Challenge), hehe, but that would also make a beautiful thread we probably would have to call by a different name to avoid confusion. I'd like one of those, too, though, where it's really like here and people can showcase any synth at any time. Seems like "ONE for ALL" could make an excellent subforum for various topics: Libraries, Collections, Synths, Sample Sets, Single Instruments. Certainly something to think about!


----------



## liquidlino

Short one from me. Just took delivery of VSL Synchronized Special Edition 1. Spent the day setting up my VSL template (I have SSP and a couple of BBO too now as well). But decided to just do a single library track. I discovered a couple of cool chords/voicings whilst jamming on my piano the other day, so used those... and was inspired by recently watching "My computer is a 50s orchestra" by Alex Ball. The track is called "it's always raining in Sydney", because it always seems to be at the moment, we have La Nina again for the second year running. This is literally SE1 straight out of hte box. No mixing, no EQ, no compression, no limiting, nothing, didn't even touch any volume faders. Just a tiny amount of R4 tail added.

View attachment 2022-10-01 Its Always Raining In Sydney.2022-10-01 19_50_35.mp3


----------



## Taron

liquidlino said:


> Short one from me. Just took delivery of VSL Synchronized Special Edition 1. Spent the day setting up my VSL template (I have SSP and a couple of BBO too now as well). But decided to just do a single library track. I discovered a couple of cool chords/voicings whilst jamming on my piano the other day, so used those... and was inspired by recently watching "My computer is a 50s orchestra" by Alex Ball. The track is called "it's always raining in Sydney", because it always seems to be at the moment, we have La Nina again for the second year running. This is literally SE1 straight out of hte box. No mixing, no EQ, no compression, no limiting, nothing, didn't even touch any volume faders. Just a tiny amount of R4 tail added.
> 
> View attachment 2022-10-01 Its Always Raining In Sydney.2022-10-01 19_50_35.mp3


Ah, the modulations are great fun! Very pleasing to my ears for sure. 
The octave strings can get a little pushy, I find. I can imagine that it would feel nice to have a few of the phrases without the octaves, only in the high registers and possibly a little wider dynamics for those.
Sounds like it could almost really get away without a whole lot more mixing/mastering. 

I absolutely love those quickies that do a great job in showcasing a library. It's almost even better, when they're not "too perfect", too. Problem with total perfection is that it gets hard to even listen past the music itself then. But perfectly pleasant music with a bit of room for imagination is totally ideal for here!


----------



## Asaad

I posted this composition on different thread, but I see it fits the challenge here. 
My Symphony no.1, only VSL cube 


Best


----------



## Taron

Asaad said:


> I posted this composition on different thread, but I see it fits the challenge here.
> My Symphony no.1, only VSL cube
> 
> 
> Best



Absolutely fascinating. Such an elaborate composition. In terms of sound, while a lot of it sounds quite stunningly beautiful and especially the woodwinds really feel wonderful, the strings are surprisingly awkward to me in terms of their sound. The high sustained strings almost sound a bit synthesized. Something about them, like a kind of filter of sorts. Wished I could pinpoint exactly what's funky with them.
However, doesn't take away the staggering complexity and beauty of your composition and the overall sound of it all, which is gorgeous and lively.


----------



## Asaad

Taron said:


> Absolutely fascinating. Such an elaborate composition. In terms of sound, while a lot of it sounds quite stunningly beautiful and especially the woodwinds really feel wonderful, the strings are surprisingly awkward to me in terms of their sound. The high sustained strings almost sound a bit synthesized. Something about them, like a kind of filter of sorts. Wished I could pinpoint exactly what's funky with them.
> However, doesn't take away the staggering complexity and beauty of your composition and the overall sound of it all, which is gorgeous and lively.


Thank you very much for your feedback, glad you enjoyed it. 
This is first mock up with samples I did, still learning the programming


----------



## Taron

Asaad said:


> Thank you very much for your feedback, glad you enjoyed it.
> This is first mock up with samples I did, still learning the programming


Oh jeeez... that's not making it less of a blow to my mind! Haha! Fantastic, Asaad, just fantastic! Strings are tricky. If they don't bring their own life with them, you have to try and help it with whatever tricks may come to mind. Dynamics you have plenty in there, so that can't quite be the issue, but I'll listen for it again. There may be more helpful articulations available, but I wouldn't know (UNFORTUNATELY)...but I will happily listen through it again. Whatever may be, even if it was your 100th mockup, it's fantastic and I can't even imagine what you'll do next. Unreal!


----------



## Asaad

Taron said:


> Oh jeeez... that's not making it less of a blow to my mind! Haha! Fantastic, Asaad, just fantastic! Strings are tricky. If they don't bring their own life with them, you have to try and help it with whatever tricks may come to mind. Dynamics you have plenty in there, so that can't quite be the issue, but I'll listen for it again. There may be more helpful articulations available, but I wouldn't know (UNFORTUNATELY)...but I will happily listen through it again. Whatever may be, even if it was your 100th mockup, it's fantastic and I can't even imagine what you'll do next. Unreal!


Thanks, appreciate your listening. 
I'm thinking of getting dimension strings for layering, I hope this could help


----------



## Taron

I'm really a bit puzzled about VSL there. They are so outstanding, I normally find, but I was listening through their demos on Cube and indeed the strings are odd. Somehow the sustains feel like an infinite bow loop of sorts with a weird kind of con sordino attached, haha, I can't even tell. As soon as there are tremolos or shorter articulation, all seems well again with just a touch of the strange tone. I wonder if it's their "silent hall" or how they call it (some sort of anechoic chamber?). Really somehow works against the violins it seems. 

So, yeah, might be interesting to hear what it sounds like when layered or even replaced.


----------



## ryans

Ouch. I just found the first piece I wrote right after buying EWQLSO Gold (The very original version no expansions, *no Qlegato*).

Guess I'll share it here then.


----------



## Taron

ryans said:


> Ouch. I just found the first piece I wrote right after buying EWQLSO Gold (The very original version no expansions, *no Qlegato*).
> 
> Guess I'll share it here then.


I think it's adorable for a number of reasons! I can really feel the passion, pride and joy that went into it at the time. Would be so amazing if you were to try and remake this thing with a proper library. It has wonderful old Hollywood vibes. The squeaking trumpets(?) are hilarious, hihihi...one more adorable aspect. 
But, no, really, it's really impressive over all, I find.


----------



## Taron

Here's a rather quick little test/experiment using Berlin Inspire 1. I don't even remember, if I ever had given it a real "go", but it's absolutely fun to play with and quite inspirational...eh...yah.


----------



## liquidlino

Taron said:


> Here's a rather quick little test/experiment using Berlin Inspire 1. I don't even remember, if I ever had given it a real "go", but it's absolutely fun to play with and quite inspirational...eh...yah.



Listening now... typing as I hear it. Love the spatiality of this. Great build up as the instruments come in, feels super natural. Switch to the B section is slick - feels like as the piece currently finishes, it could go back to maybe woods picking up the intro riff, and building back up for a finale (ABA structure).

I love your writing style Taron... would love insight into your workflow / thinking for your compositions... e.g. do you sketch first and then orchestrate, or just dive straight in? 

You've totally made this library shine! The subtle use of percussion and mallets, brass dynamics, just really wonderful.


----------



## Akarin

Here, Albion One and nothing else:


----------



## Taron

liquidlino said:


> Listening now... typing as I hear it. Love the spatiality of this. Great build up as the instruments come in, feels super natural. Switch to the B section is slick - feels like as the piece currently finishes, it could go back to maybe woods picking up the intro riff, and building back up for a finale (ABA structure).
> 
> I love your writing style Taron... would love insight into your workflow / thinking for your compositions... e.g. do you sketch first and then orchestrate, or just dive straight in?
> 
> You've totally made this library shine! The subtle use of percussion and mallets, brass dynamics, just really wonderful.


THANK YOU, @liquidlino ! Berlin has a fascinating realism that almost just comes right out. Because of how compact Inspire 1 is, it's even inviting to add a bit of their FX, which I find oddly refreshing. I normally don't quite do this.

Alright, let's slightly derail this thread for one post and have me give you my process on this:

• little side step first, though, because I feel like I know nothing, when I listen to well trained musicians like Asaad and so many here. I did the "mistake" to later listen through the demos of Inspire on OT's website and those mockups there, though known compositions, just blew me away again. I just know nothing. But I'm eager to getting there, though, believing I just might in terms of understanding. Long road...

In this and in most cases I dive right in. Here I was browsing through the instruments first and then picked what I was curious about, which was the whole orchestra ensemble patches, because- again- it's something I normally don't do. With staccato I would feel a possibility and just recorded it.

(EDIT: Dang it, I almost forgot the most important thing...I chose to go at it like I normally would with synth tracks! Something I generally don't have the bravery for with orchestral instruments.)

Then I chose the horns & trumpets patch, because that's again something I don't do enough and all of brass still somehow feels "foreign" to me, but I want to explore them more. A single recording run would set the tone as it almost just played itself. Then it was about figuring out Berlin's dynamics, which are unusual, if you come from Spitfire Audio's BBCSO, who have really smooth and wide usage of them in fairly linear fashion, while Berlin at first feels like having 2 layers that rather suddenly switch somewhere in the 70% region. But then I found a few more settings like (soft layers, which keep lower dynamic layers for a bit longer and ramping up their volume before switching to the higher layers) and the Volume Range slider, which is really kind of meaningful only between 5% and 15% or so, hahaha... strange, but one can get used to it.
Velocity, too, is just as fickle and you have to watch out that you don't accidentally toggle X-Fade to Velocity, which kept me puzzled for a few minutes.
Anyway, once you sort of "know", you can get used to it fairly quickly and fairly well. But these things do make Berlin Inspire feel a bit...hmm...raw, almost like a "demo". But, boy, does it sound beautiful!

Alright, with the horns & trumpets legato in, I started to really feel the character of this track and wanted to call it "The Liar", like there was something shady or devious about it. With that idea in mind I would reevaluate the lead and felt it was too heavy when it would go in the horns' range into the first climax, so I added Violins legato to take over for a moment in higher registers. As they felt a bit thin I was searching for help and found the trumpet legato.

The track now had "spoken language" with the orchestra staccato riff and "thought or attitude" with the lead instruments. But the lows and lower mids felt hollow and needed a bit of weight, I felt. I first added one of the most amazing patches in the library, the first chair staccatos. Wowsers, what a crisp, harsh stacc-frenzy, haha. Starting with adding bass, hoping it won't get hokey with the "full orchestra staccs", I helped pushing the rhythm. While doing so I suddenly had that urge to add a little run into it. It just sort of did what it wanted and I tried not to stand in the way. Like magic it would run straight into one of the little flourishes of the leads' phrases.
I tried adding some of those first chairs in the higher registers, but that just didn't sit right. Then I found the regular high string staccatos, which felt just right and added those.

With the bottom still feeling somewhat empty, I figured it's time to add some percussion, see what they will do. The slightly "mobilizing" feeling made me reach for snares right away and of course some bass drums. Having gone through the library once, I knew it had some real nice basics there. But here, too, the dynamics are really something to figure out. Somewhere between 60% and 80% are the most massive changes for most of them and they are very sudden. Takes a moment to figure this out. There are also some very decent tam tam, piatti and cymbals in there, but it's always difficult to find the right articulations there for some reason. Nothing else so clearly lives in the world of compromise than those, I find.

Anyway, bottom was still weak so I went for my new, favorite weapon: TUBA! Unfortunately the Tuba patch in Inspire is only by mixture with Trombones, and if you want any sort of weight for them, the trombones will add too much brightness, really stealing the most valuable power of the tubas, which is heavy bottoms. But well... still awesome! And they do get awesome indeed, if you want them to get noticed. Slight ramps would give such a subtle boost to the beginning of those phrase measures. So fun!

Now I had the first part of this and I smoked probably 6 cigarettes (roughly 6 hours) before I took a break from thinking about how the next section could go only to come back and just go for it. I really wanted something soaring, something cinematic that would take the spirit into a different phase. Rather than doing a highly dynamic break that would go way quiet, I wanted to maintain the energy and just lead it into another part of the experience, so to say.

Now starting with the high strings legato, I would play the "soaring" melody, so to say.
To fill in the body I then found the brass ensemble sustains which were so easy and wonderful to just put in the harmonic body chords, giving the vessel for the ideas the strings were projecting.
Back to the string staccatos to push rhythm and somehow air into it, which helped to add a lot more sense to the harmonies, which are rather simple, but hey...

Percussion again, but this time it got really interesting, because I've started to get a better feel for their dynamics and attributes and began taming them. Started to feel a lot better.

I went over the whole thing probably 6 or 7 times afterwards, nudging things, taming things, listening to what sticks out too much or somehow was still weak. I had a lot of struggles with the bottom, I found, whatever the reasons. I'd assume it's in the nature of this library, which is not for "EDM", HAHAHA, or the sort of "modern" sound you'd find in others. But also because certain instruments and sections really need to be available by themselves to let their purpose come through and use them properly. I'm taken aback by my wickedness to assume I'd know what I'm talking about, but well... let's just allow me the illusion for a bit, hehe.

Mastering was 4 elements: Auburn Sounds Panagement (free) just to widen stereo a tiny bit (~130%), mild EQing, OTT (free) with some additional mild EQing (highs up a little, mids down a little, lows up a bit) and eventually Loudmax (free) to limit it decently.

That's pretty much the whole story!


----------



## liquidlino

Taron said:


> THANK YOU, @liquidlino ! Berlin has a fascinating realism that almost just comes right out. Because of how compact Inspire 1 is, it's even inviting to add a bit of their FX, which I find oddly refreshing. I normally don't quite do this.
> 
> Alright, let's slightly derail this thread for one post and have me give you my process on this:
> 
> • little side step first, though, because I feel like I know nothing, when I listen to well trained musicians like Asaad and so many here. I did the "mistake" to later listen through the demos of Inspire on OT's website and those mockups there, though known compositions, just blew me away again. I just know nothing. But I'm eager to getting there, though, believing I just might in terms of understanding. Long road...
> 
> In this and in most cases I dive right in. Here I was browsing through the instruments first and then picked what I was curious about, which was the whole orchestra ensemble patches, because- again- it's something I normally don't do. With staccato I would feel a possibility and just recorded it.
> 
> (EDIT: Dang it, I almost forgot the most important thing...I chose to go at it like I normally would with synth tracks! Something I generally don't have the bravery for with orchestral instruments.)
> 
> Then I chose the horns & trumpets patch, because that's again something I don't do enough and all of brass still somehow feels "foreign" to me, but I want to explore them more. A single recording run would set the tone as it almost just played itself. Then it was about figuring out Berlin's dynamics, which are unusual, if you come from Spitfire Audio's BBCSO, who have really smooth and wide usage of them in fairly linear fashion, while Berlin at first feels like having 2 layers that rather suddenly switch somewhere in the 70% region. But then I found a few more settings like (soft layers, which keep lower dynamic layers for a bit longer and ramping up their volume before switching to the higher layers) and the Volume Range slider, which is really kind of meaningful only between 5% and 15% or so, hahaha... strange, but one can get used to it.
> Velocity, too, is just as fickle and you have to watch out that you don't accidentally toggle X-Fade to Velocity, which kept me puzzled for a few minutes.
> Anyway, once you sort of "know", you can get used to it fairly quickly and fairly well. But these things do make Berlin Inspire feel a bit...hmm...raw, almost like a "demo". But, boy, does it sound beautiful!
> 
> Alright, with the horns & trumpets legato in, I started to really feel the character of this track and wanted to call it "The Liar", like there was something shady or devious about it. With that idea in mind I would reevaluate the lead and felt it was too heavy when it would go in the horns' range into the first climax, so I added Violins legato to take over for a moment in higher registers. As they felt a bit thin I was searching for help and found the trumpet legato.
> 
> The track now had "spoken language" with the orchestra staccato riff and "thought or attitude" with the lead instruments. But the lows and lower mids felt hollow and needed a bit of weight, I felt. I first added one of the most amazing patches in the library, the first chair staccatos. Wowsers, what a crisp, harsh stacc-frenzy, haha. Starting with adding bass, hoping it won't get hokey with the "full orchestra staccs", I helped pushing the rhythm. While doing so I suddenly had that urge to add a little run into it. It just sort of did what it wanted and I tried not to stand in the way. Like magic it would run straight into one of the little flourishes of the leads' phrases.
> I tried adding some of those first chairs in the higher registers, but that just didn't sit right. Then I found the regular high string staccatos, which felt just right and added those.
> 
> With the bottom still feeling somewhat empty, I figured it's time to add some percussion, see what they will do. The slightly "mobilizing" feeling made me reach for snares right away and of course some bass drums. Having gone through the library once, I knew it had some real nice basics there. But here, too, the dynamics are really something to figure out. Somewhere between 60% and 80% are the most massive changes for most of them and they are very sudden. Takes a moment to figure this out. There are also some very decent tam tam, piatti and cymbals in there, but it's always difficult to find the right articulations there for some reason. Nothing else so clearly lives in the world of compromise than those, I find.
> 
> Anyway, bottom was still weak so I went for my new, favorite weapon: TUBA! Unfortunately the Tuba patch in Inspire is only by mixture with Trombones, and if you want any sort of weight for them, the trombones will add too much brightness, really stealing the most valuable power of the tubas, which is heavy bottoms. But well... still awesome! And they do get awesome indeed, if you want them to get noticed. Slight ramps would give such a subtle boost to the beginning of those phrase measures. So fun!
> 
> Now I had the first part of this and I smoked probably 6 cigarettes (roughly 6 hours) before I took a break from thinking about how the next section could go only to come back and just go for it. I really wanted something soaring, something cinematic that would take the spirit into a different phase. Rather than doing a highly dynamic break that would go way quiet, I wanted to maintain the energy and just lead it into another part of the experience, so to say.
> 
> Now starting with the high strings legato, I would play the "soaring" melody, so to say.
> To fill in the body I then found the brass ensemble sustains which were so easy and wonderful to just put in the harmonic body chords, giving the vessel for the ideas the strings were projecting.
> Back to the string staccatos to push rhythm and somehow air into it, which helped to add a lot more sense to the harmonies, which are rather simple, but hey...
> 
> Percussion again, but this time it got really interesting, because I've started to get a better feel for their dynamics and attributes and began taming them. Started to feel a lot better.
> 
> I went over the whole thing probably 6 or 7 times afterwards, nudging things, taming things, listening to what sticks out too much or somehow was still weak. I had a lot of struggles with the bottom, I found, whatever the reasons. I'd assume it's in the nature of this library, which is not for "EDM", HAHAHA, or the sort of "modern" sound you'd find in others. But also because certain instruments and sections really need to be available by themselves to let their purpose come through and use them properly. I'm taken aback by my wickedness to assume I'd know what I'm talking about, but well... let's just allow me the illusion for a bit, hehe.
> 
> Mastering was 4 elements: Auburn Sounds Panagement (free) just to widen stereo a tiny bit (~130%), mild EQing, OTT (free) with some additional mild EQing (highs up a little, mids down a little, lows up a bit) and eventually Loudmax (free) to limit it decently.
> 
> That's pretty much the whole story!


Thanks for the very detailed response! I will read it several ltimes I'm sure! I just can't believe you just dive right in like that and make such amazing music... I'm beggining to suspect you're an alt for a well known pro! 

Anyway, another very short one from me... I was sketching out some strings tonight, and thought maybe the sketch will suffice as an OLC... (I will extend and further orchestrate another day). I will let you guess as to the library, I suspect many haven't heard it like this...

View attachment 2022-10-04 Its always raining in Sydney Reprise.2022-10-05 00_35_51 SSP Only.mp3


----------



## Taron

Argh, I really don't want to guess, but it sounds beautiful! There are some moments which reminded me of Björk's "Hunter" from the sound of it and that is so beautiful. Hauntingly woody. Really a wonderful sound to my ears!

Ahahaha, yeah, nah, I'm literally nobody to the music world and never dared breaking into it professionally. To the 3D CGI world it would be a different story, hehe, but even that is now long behind me. Again, though, THANK YOU!


----------



## Taron

Hmmm...sort of double posting, but I just tried to make a little youtube video for my track. There are some excellently cheesy ways to make them online, haha. I had no idea. Lazy but it works:

...I've added quite a bit to this one since I first posted it the other day. Anyway... 
Let me know, if this sort of youtube thing is too cheesy?!


----------



## Harry Koopman

Taron said:


> Hmmm...sort of double posting, but I just tried to make a little youtube video for my track. There are some excellently cheesy ways to make them online, haha. I had no idea. Lazy but it works:
> 
> ...I've added quite a bit to this one since I first posted it the other day. Anyway...
> Let me know, if this sort of youtube thing is too cheesy?!



Ha, do I notice some orks passing by in some moments? A little three note quote from Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), or were you unaware of that? Images of the movie (I saw the DVD-set of Lord of the Rings certainly 3 times) come up immediately. Too cheesy? O man I love this exploration of boundaries, I love to do it myself. Structured whimsical writing... this little piece makes me awake. And I love cheese by the way.


----------



## Trash Panda

Taron said:


> Hmmm...sort of double posting, but I just tried to make a little youtube video for my track. There are some excellently cheesy ways to make them online, haha. I had no idea. Lazy but it works:
> 
> ...I've added quite a bit to this one since I first posted it the other day. Anyway...
> Let me know, if this sort of youtube thing is too cheesy?!



Not getting cheesy vibes, but it’s certainly giving me Hitori Sakimoto vibes.


----------



## Taron

Harry Koopman said:


> Ha, do I notice some orks passing by in some moments? A little three note quote from Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), or were you unaware of that? Images of the movie (I saw the DVD-set of Lord of the Rings certainly 3 times) come up immediately. Too cheesy? O man I love this exploration of boundaries, I love to do it myself. Structured whimsical writing... this little piece makes me awake. And I love cheese by the way.


AH, THANK YOU, Harry! Nah, I had no idea! But since I fell asleep every time I tried watching later parts of Lord of the Rings, things may have drilled themselves into my subconscious?! 

My wife said she'd get instant Rambo vibes, HAHAHAHA! 

But the upshot is, this library really leads (at least) me to feel serious film score vibes and follow them with total pleasure. It's so fun, honestly. I really love the range it opens up while maintaining this really nice and strong energy.

@Trash Panda ...a quick google reveals "Final Fantasy". Really? Well, with most Japanese composers come plenty of jazzy chords and the likes, which I figure I wouldn't have enough of in this one, hehe, but it's also a beautiful compliment, THANK YOU!


----------



## Akarin

As I did Albion One previously, here is a track that uses Metropolis Ark I only 





(thanks @Taron, I forgot about this thread!)


----------



## Asaad

Another composition with one library. 
Symphony no.2 for string orchestra, composed in 2018.
VSL cube , mir pro 


Hope you enjoy it


----------



## Taron

Wowsers, another massive work of yours! 

I believe, the opening could be more easily received, if wider dynamics would help to declutter it a bit. The dynamics could separate phrases even vertically in a way that also would allow one to follow certain fragments, possibly turning it into a weave beyond the notes themselves, if you know what I mean.
Right now it is honestly a little challenging to get through the opening. I do really appreciate your harmonic virtuosity and readiness to let your thoughts and emotions merge and mingle so freely. Music remains the primary medium to communicate them, but I do believe it's most important to "open the channels" to a listener first with some care and offer confident guidance in such a way that doubt won't set in for at least a 4 to 8 bars, haha... (giggling about myself here).

In many of my own tracks I notice that my openings often don't give enough of a clue as to how things will develop. In your tracks it almost gives too much of a clue, haha, like jumping straight into the stormy, cold ocean.
I shall take a slice of yours and happily offer you a slice of mine!


----------



## Asaad

Taron said:


> Wowsers, another massive work of yours!
> 
> I believe, the opening could be more easily received, if wider dynamics would help to declutter it a bit. The dynamics could separate phrases even vertically in a way that also would allow one to follow certain fragments, possibly turning it into a weave beyond the notes themselves, if you know what I mean.
> Right now it is honestly a little challenging to get through the opening. I do really appreciate your harmonic virtuosity and readiness to let your thoughts and emotions merge and mingle so freely. Music remains the primary medium to communicate them, but I do believe it's most important to "open the channels" to a listener first with some care and offer confident guidance in such a way that doubt won't set in for at least a 4 to 8 bars, haha... (giggling about myself here).
> 
> In many of my own tracks I notice that my openings often don't give enough of a clue as to how things will develop. In your tracks it almost gives too much of a clue, haha, like jumping straight into the stormy, cold ocean.
> I shall take a slice of yours and happily offer you a slice of mine!


Thanks for listening and your comment. 
I have to admit that the opening of this piece is one of the most openings I have rewrote and adjusted ever, during the composing period in 2018, and in the last few months while programming. 
I have to agree with the wider dynamics, this another challenge I faced during programming as I did it in Sibelius and not a DAW.
Yes, unlike the first symphony, I wanted this one to be more direct, in the emotion and in the stormy mood , (I know, not very common these days 🙃) .
Thanks for the slice of yours 🙂


----------



## erikradbo

In order to actually put in some time in the studio, despite full time work and small kids at home, I challenged myself with the 100/1 challenge: 100 minutes, 1 library. Only afterwards I realized the OLC was already a thing.

Well, I used that start and put in some more time, but kept it to one library in accordance with the rules for this thread. See above the result with Albion Loegria.

Some thoughts on this lovely, flawed and discontinued library:
- Tightness of the shorts was not the focus in tjis litrars. Esp in the low strings, note B0




.
- Legato scripts has developed slightly since 2012
- Those sackbuts are quite out of tune, even autotune is struggling
- Loegria has a lovely sound, but is REALLY noisy in the tails, but then again - only an issue if you want to compress a lot.

Feedback welcome as always!


----------



## Taron

Ahahaha, wowsers, the sackbuts, that's almost comical. But you've made it sound really beautiful altogether! Great entry!


----------



## erikradbo

Taron said:


> Ahahaha, wowsers, the sackbuts, that's almost comical. But you've made it sound really beautiful altogether! Great entry!


I’m proud to say I used all the orch instruments, yes including sackbuts and those recorders .


----------



## Coffee-Milk

Just sharing my composition made entirely with BBCSO. It draws inspiration from Ghibli and video games. Kind of like a town music in a JRPG. Feedback is welcome. 🙂


----------



## mybadmemory

Coffee-Milk said:


> Just sharing my composition made entirely with BBCSO. It draws inspiration from Ghibli and video games. Kind of like a town music in a JRPG. Feedback is welcome. 🙂



Love it!! Japanese-inspired music using BBCSO is kind of my thing. :D Was this made using Core?


----------



## Taron

Coffee-Milk said:


> Just sharing my composition made entirely with BBCSO. It draws inspiration from Ghibli and video games. Kind of like a town music in a JRPG. Feedback is welcome. 🙂



That's fun! It literally feels like a "real" orchestra plays a game score, hehe. Works very well indeed!
In the opening, did you use "Flutes" rather than a single "Flute"? That was the only thing that made me squint a little. I'd probably have used a single flute at first. Luckily even Core offers that. The moment it all builds up you could then switch to multiple flutes, of course.

Anyway, loads of fun! Great job altogether!


----------



## Remnant

Coffee-Milk said:


> Just sharing my composition made entirely with BBCSO. It draws inspiration from Ghibli and video games. Kind of like a town music in a JRPG. Feedback is welcome. 🙂



Really enjoyed this one. Totally felt that RPG town vibe.


----------



## Trash Panda

Coffee-Milk said:


> Just sharing my composition made entirely with BBCSO. It draws inspiration from Ghibli and video games. Kind of like a town music in a JRPG. Feedback is welcome. 🙂



That was great! Your work with JRPG music using BBCSO is starting to make me reluctantly like what this library can do.

Shhh! Don't tell @mybadmemory or @Mike T.


----------



## Coffee-Milk

mybadmemory said:


> Love it!! Japanese-inspired music using BBCSO is kind of my thing. :D Was this made using Core?


Thank you very much! This was with Pro. Not sure if I did better than mix 1 though. Lol. But playing around with the mics sure was fun.


Taron said:


> That's fun! It literally feels like a "real" orchestra plays a game score, hehe. Works very well indeed!
> In the opening, did you use "Flutes" rather than a single "Flute"? That was the only thing that made me squint a little. I'd probably have used a single flute at first. Luckily even Core offers that. The moment it all builds up you could then switch to multiple flutes, of course.
> 
> Anyway, loads of fun! Great job altogether!


Ah yes, maybe could have been better with the solo flute at first. Thanks for the suggestion and for checking it out!



Remnant said:


> Really enjoyed this one. Totally felt that RPG town vibe.


Glad you enjoyed it, Remnant!


----------



## Coffee-Milk

Trash Panda said:


> That was great! Your work with JRPG music using BBCSO is starting to make me reluctantly like what this library can do.
> 
> Shhh! Don't tell @mybadmemory or @Mike T.


Thanks man! As a lurker, I'm well aware of your disdain for this library. Glad to have made a dent!

In a few months of using it, I found a couple of things I don't like about it. But the good far outweighs the bad, imo.

I think the sound is gorgeous and it's just a very good composing tool. It's worth spending time to get to know it. 🙂


----------



## mybadmemory

Coffee-Milk said:


> Thank you very much! This was with Pro. Not sure if I did better than mix 1 though. Lol. But playing around with the mics sure was fun.


Got it! It sounds quite distant, that’s why I thought it was Core I guess. nothing working with that of course, but I’d love to hear a closer version too if you’re up for it!


----------



## Trash Panda

Stepping far outside the comfort zone today with Heavyocity's Mosaic Tape. We're getting weird with this one.


----------



## Coffee-Milk

mybadmemory said:


> Got it! It sounds quite distant, that’s why I thought it was Core I guess. nothing working with that of course, but I’d love to hear a closer version too if you’re up for it!



Yup, it's a bit ambient because I used the Tree mic as the base sound for every instrument then I automate the close and stereo mics just to bring out the main melody. 
Before, I liked using a fair amount of close mics on everything. But recently I'm falling in love with just the decca tree , then just use the other mics to augment certain parts.

^Sure, I'll see what I can do. 🙂


----------



## Coffee-Milk

Trash Panda said:


> Stepping far outside the comfort zone today with Heavyocity's Mosaic Tape.



Nice! For some reason it reminded me of the annoying jesters in ffix. 🤭

First time hearing this library. I can definitely find it useful!


----------



## RogiervG

Asaad said:


> Another composition with one library.
> Symphony no.2 for string orchestra, composed in 2018.
> VSL cube , mir pro
> 
> 
> Hope you enjoy it



vsl cube is not one library though, but a bundle of libraries..  (i have asked about submissions made with bundles in the past, and @Taron said it's not allowed.)


----------



## alcorey

Coffee-Milk said:


> Nice! For some reason it reminded me of the annoying jesters in ffix. 🤭
> 
> First time hearing this library. I can definitely find it useful!


O.T. Being from Rhode Island originally - I could't help but post this when I saw your user-name  except we pronounced it Cawfee Milk


----------



## Taron

RogiervG said:


> vsl cube is not one library though, but a bundle of libraries..  (i have asked about submissions made with bundles in the past, and @Taron said it's not allowed.)


It's true, @RogiervG , thanks for the reminder, but there had been at least one more slip-up with another sort of bundle and it didn't quite break the general understanding of this thread. As long as we don't have the O.C.D thread (Orchestral Collection Dare), I wouldn't want to have lost these gems posted here!

Anyway, very good reminder, thank you!


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## Taron

alcorey said:


> O.T. Being from Rhode Island originally - I could't help but post this when I saw your user-name  except we pronounced it Cawfee Milk


I want to try this so bad now!!!!!!!


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## Coffee-Milk

alcorey said:


> O.T. Being from Rhode Island originally - I could't help but post this when I saw your user-name  except we pronounced it Cawfee Milk


Oh wow, that looks a million times better than my starbucks! Hoping to try that someday! 😊


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## Asaad

RogiervG said:


> vsl cube is not one library though, but a bundle of libraries..  (i have asked about submissions made with bundles in the past, and @Taron said it's not allowed.)


Apologies if this is wrong place to post, I just see the cube as one library, as it is the only one thing you can buy from VSL contains full orchestra (apart from SE).


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## liquidlino

Asaad said:


> Apologies if this is wrong place to post, I just see the cube as one library, as it is the only one thing you can buy from VSL contains full orchestra (apart from SE).


Synchron Prime cries in the back...


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## Asaad

liquidlino said:


> Synchron Prime cries in the back...


Yes true.
I was talking about VI, I should have been clear.


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## Taron

Asaad said:


> Apologies if this is wrong place to post, I just see the cube as one library, as it is the only one thing you can buy from VSL contains full orchestra (apart from SE).


I guess it's best to consider the fundamental concept of this particular thread, which kind of goes: What can you do with one library. Whereby "one library" really initially was relating to Kontakt libraries. One could try to further refine the concept, saying that "One Library" must not be a collection of individually purchasable products. That's why there's so little of "CineSamples" here, except for their CineSymphony Lite library. 
If Cube is not a collection of individually available instruments, then it should fit that category, too.

I'm sure it's all making enough sense, right?!


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## Trash Panda

I think there has to be some flexibility or things like Synchron Prime and Berlin Orchestra with Berklee would be left out. Technically they’re a subset of a series, but they’re single libraries.


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## RogiervG

Trash Panda said:


> I think there has to be some flexibility or things like Synchron Prime and Berlin Orchestra with Berklee would be left out. Technically they’re a subset of a series, but they’re single libraries.


if the kontakt part is going away, there are more allowed libraries to have submissions for:
Berlin orchestra and synchron prime are then allowed (one libary) = Sine and Synchron player
BBC SO seems to be allowed which is also not kontakt, but SF player.


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## Taron

RogiervG said:


> if the kontakt part is going away, there are more allowed libraries to have submissions for:
> Berlin orchestra and synchron prime are then allowed (one libary) = Sine and Synchron player
> BBC SO seems to be allowed which is also not kontakt, but SF player.


I should clarify: "relating" to Kontakt is probably the wrong word: "Akin" to Kontakt libraries is what I've meant. Hence BBCSO is fine, which is one big library in one plugin where you cannot obtain individual components... 
Berlin has "Inspire", which is exactly perfect for what this thread is all about. (If you mean OT's Berlin?!)
This thread has us all showcase what can be done with one such library and should inspire us to explore them. As stated initially, it's challenging us to find out what we really can do with a single library with all it's powers and flaws.
Also, it helps find orientation regarding complete orchestras under or around $1000, so to say. This hopefully will encourage some to consider these possibilities. Complete collections have almost no upper end to how pricy they get, which can be a little frustrating to think about. 
However, my main point was to provide a reason for us to discover or re-discover the gems we have access to, but often don't even look at seriously. Once you have a reason to actually try and make music with what they offer, not being able to cherry-pick favorites out of some idea of convenience or habit, great finds can be made and good fun can be had.


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## erikradbo

Continuing on the 100/1-challenge (100 minutes/1 library), here’s the second attempt with Albion Solstice, the final track after some extra polishing. Solstice is truly a unique sounding library, nothing else like it. It will surely be used A LOT to get that goth-folk-gritty kind of feeling.

Feedback and criticism encouraged!


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## Taron

Uh, I wasn't aware of the spectrum of instruments and sounds Solstice covers. Some very neat stuff. Love the "accordion?"...you've made it feel exciting. There are a few very, very brave harmonic choices in there, which I'd probably consider fixing, but other than that: Very cool, indeed! 

Excellent, keep'em coming!


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## Asaad

Taron said:


> I should clarify: "relating" to Kontakt is probably the wrong word: "Akin" to Kontakt libraries is what I've meant. Hence BBCSO is fine, which is one big library in one plugin where you cannot obtain individual components...
> Berlin has "Inspire", which is exactly perfect for what this thread is all about. (If you mean OT's Berlin?!)
> This thread has us all showcase what can be done with one such library and should inspire us to explore them. As stated initially, it's challenging us to find out what we really can do with a single library with all it's powers and flaws.
> Also, it helps find orientation regarding complete orchestras under or around $1000, so to say. This hopefully will encourage some to consider these possibilities. Complete collections have almost no upper end to how pricy they get, which can be a little frustrating to think about.
> However, my main point was to provide a reason for us to discover or re-discover the gems we have access to, but often don't even look at seriously. Once you have a reason to actually try and make music with what they offer, not being able to cherry-pick favorites out of some idea of convenience or habit, great finds can be made and good fun can be had.


When you put it this way it makes sense, trying to push the limits and be creative with limited resources.
When I read the post first time, I felt that the point is avoiding layering and mixing different libraries . 

Apart from SE, cube is the only library I have. I needed one library that can cover all my needs, I looked at the options in the market and the cube was an obvious choice for me, so I got it in one purchase (it was very long period of saving before being able to get it!) that's way I think of it as one library (which can be purchased by sections). 
Anyway, will avoid posting with the full cube.


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## Taron

Don't you DARE stop posting your Cube works!!! 
Maybe we should at some point assemble a list of libraries that would be great candidates for here. Also accepting suggestions...

I'm really just about ready to start a thread for these things. I'd call it O.V.O (One Vendor Only), which is funny, because in Croatian "ovo" means "this", hehe... cute somehow. But this would allow not only collections, but simply any library from any single vendor and would open the door wide for the use of collections and more. It would be perfect for the so-called "fan boys" to really showcase what made them fans. How would you like this?


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## Asaad

Thanks for the encouragement! @Taron ,
here is one more, Symphony no.3. 🙂


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## Asaad

Taron said:


> I'm really just about ready to start a thread for these things. I'd call it O.V.O (One Vendor Only), which is funny, because in Croatian "ovo" means "this", hehe... cute somehow. But this would allow not only collections, but simply any library from any single vendor and would open the door wide for the use of collections and more. It would be perfect for the so-called "fan boys" to really showcase what made them fans. How would you like this?


Sounds good


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## erikradbo

Taron said:


> Uh, I wasn't aware of the spectrum of instruments and sounds Solstice covers. Some very neat stuff. Love the "accordion?"...you've made it feel exciting. There are a few very, very brave harmonic choices in there, which I'd probably consider fixing, but other than that: Very cool, indeed!
> 
> Excellent, keep'em coming!


Haha, brave harmonics, love that expression. I assume you mean the parts with chord substitutions, like the one starting at 1.05?


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## liquidlino

Is it allowed to post found members compositions? I stumbled on this gem today. All Albion One. I'm somewhat blown away. The idea (discussed later in the thread) of taking the ensemble patches and panning them into the correct positions for each part (V1, V2, Va, Vc, Vb) etc, just is magic. And the composition is beyond amazing...






Aroha, a piece for Spitfire's Albion One, and some thoughts.


I finally got around to testing Albion One a couple of weeks ago and created a new template in Cubase and took it for a test drive. I must say I love the sound stage captured in these samples !! The piece is made using two Spitfire Libraries and consists almost entirely of Albion One with a very...




vi-control.net


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## Harry Koopman

A piece with the library MODUS only, from Orchestral Tools. Perhaps MODUS is more suitable in conjunction with other orchestral libraries, at least I often use MODUS in combination with other libs. But it stands well on its own, and is a valuable addition (if you are willing to afford it..it's a bit pricy).


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## bosone

does this count?

Cybercrime

used sounds only from:









CyberCrime | *Being Discontinued Soon


*BEING DISCONTINUED SOON! SAVE NOW!CyberCrime is the ultimate cybercrime scoring tool! If you love crime music as much as we do, then you simply MUST have this virtual instrument! CyberCrime has everything you need in one box to write compelling cybercrime music in a zap! Various deeply and...




samplehero.com





with external comp/eq and the internal kontakt patch reverb and delay


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## Coffee-Milk

As per @José Herring and @mybadmemory 's request, posting it here.
This is a JRPG inspired composition done with BBCSO Pro. 🙂


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## mybadmemory

Coffee-Milk said:


> As per @José Herring and @mybadmemory 's request, posting it here.
> This is a JRPG inspired composition done with BBCSO Pro. 🙂



Again, it’s lovely! The only thing I wish for would be to bring out the string melody that kicks in at around 1:10 a little more! It sounds like the big heroic theme / resolution after a long buildup, but is kept slightly in background.


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## Coffee-Milk

mybadmemory said:


> Again, it’s lovely! The only thing I wish for would be to bring out the string melody that kicks in at around 1:10 a little more! It sounds like the big heroic theme / resolution after a long buildup, but is kept slightly in background.


thanks man!
Listening again, yes, I think you're right. I already had the close and leader mics up to 50% and thought maybe that's enough. But I think I should listen with my ears more rather than my eyes. Hehe


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## mybadmemory

Coffee-Milk said:


> thanks man!
> Listening again, yes, I think you're right. I already had the close and leader mics up to 50% and thought maybe that's enough. But I think I should listen with my ears more rather than my eyes. Hehe


Could try doubling the leaders as well!


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## Trash Panda

Coffee-Milk said:


> thanks man!
> Listening again, yes, I think you're right. I already had the close and leader mics up to 50% and thought maybe that's enough. But I think I should listen with my ears more rather than my eyes. Hehe


You could also automate them to go all the way up at that part. It’s pretty common to bring the close mics all the way up to highlight a specific instrument.


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## Coffee-Milk

Trash Panda said:


> You could also automate them to go all the way up at that part. It’s pretty common to bring the close mics all the way up to highlight a specific instrument.


Yup, I do automate my mics, but for some reason I get uncomfortable with putting the Close mics up high, as I feel it might get detached. But trying it now, it's actually not a problem.


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## mybadmemory

Coffee-Milk said:


> Yup, I do automate my mics, but for some reason I get uncomfortable with putting the Close mics up high, as I feel it might get detached. But trying it now, it's actually not a problem.


I usually max them out. :D


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## Harry Koopman

A second composition with the library MODUS (Orchestral Tools with Jeff Russo). No other libraries were used. Interesting here is the tweak on the Glock/Bells sound in Sine, by setting the pitch to 220 instead of the default 440.


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## Andreas Moisa

Not exactly orchestral but this track is completely made of sounds from my "Crime Fundamentals 2" soundset for Zebra 2 - nothing else has been used:


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## Coffee-Milk

Just dropping this two entries. 

*Spitfire Cinematic Frozen Strings*

Played in an unfrozen way. hehe. I was noodling around with the shorts and turned it into a short simple piece.
I figured I'd do something different since most of the demos feature it as an ambient, textural tool.




*Spitfire BBCSO*

And another Final Fantasy music transcription. Here's a nice adventure theme from FFXII. 

**


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## Taron

What in the world? I didn't get any notification for all these last, glorious posts?!? 
...but now I can have a nice morning of listening to your gems! 

All I wanted was to post my latest BBCSO Discover track I did for KVR's OSC on it:


For some reason I was particularly excited about the result this time around. It's been a while that I went down from "Core" and bent the heck out of Discover, hehehe.


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## mybadmemory

Taron said:


> What in the world? I didn't get any notification for all these last, glorious posts?!?
> ...but now I can have a nice morning of listening to your gems!
> 
> All I wanted was to post my latest BBCSO Discover track I did for KVR's OSC on it:
> 
> 
> For some reason I was particularly excited about the result this time around. It's been a while that I went down from "Core" and bent the heck out of Discover, hehehe.



It’s absolutely crazy that this is Discover. Sure, you can hear some limitations when you already know them, but if I had just heard this piece without context, I would have never guessed. Fantastic.


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## Taron

mybadmemory said:


> It’s absolutely crazy that this is Discover. Sure, you can hear some limitations when you already know them, but if I had just heard this piece without context, I would have never guessed. Fantastic.


Thanks, @mybadmemory !  ...only moments after I started with this track and did my first string bending and added the brass section, I felt two things:
1. I'm really getting comfortable with the arranging. Like I don't even have to think much about it, but can reach for what I want just be feeling it and "almost" knowing it (sections, instrument's character and range) well enough already. Felt nice and empowering to feel comfortable.
2. What the heck? This (Discover) can really, really sound quite rich and fulfilling! 

I can't wait to put it back into "Core" mode, hahaha, but there's really something so liberating about these "crude" patches of Discover, inspiring no shame whatsoever to use Global Tune for these totally deliberate portamento and slurs. I wonder if I can get myself to dare and try some of it with Core, too.


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## Taron

Harry Koopman said:


> A second composition with the library MODUS (Orchestral Tools with Jeff Russo). No other libraries were used. Interesting here is the tweak on the Glock/Bells sound in Sine, by setting the pitch to 220 instead of the default 440.



@Harry Koopman , wow, I love the sound of the library and you've made it properly exciting to learn more about it. Good choice with the pitched down bells, too, hehe, sounds awesome and still high quality, too! 
I've left you some comments on soundcloud, but just once again: You've made these (both of them) very much like showcases with independent snippets of which each of them could evolve into a wonderful track by themselves. I'd be excited to hear one of these tracks fully worked out!  (of course, the same could be said about many of my own postings on there......but that's what makes your submissions so inspiring to me, too, hehe!)


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## Harry Koopman

Taron said:


> @Harry Koopman , wow, I love the sound of the library and you've made it properly exciting to learn more about it. Good choice with the pitched down bells, too, hehe, sounds awesome and still high quality, too!
> I've left you some comments on soundcloud, but just once again: You've made these (both of them) very much like showcases with independent snippets of which each of them could evolve into a wonderful track by themselves. I'd be excited to hear one of these tracks fully worked out!  (of course, the same could be said about many of my own postings on there......but that's what makes your submissions so inspiring to me, too, hehe!)


Ha, fully worked out... I expect from you of course a full symphony in three parts, eh, about 15 minutes long  In BBCSO Pro, or in Core, or Discover, or with an orange (the orange will not be understood but you know what I said earlier somewhere in Soundcloud).
I wonder by the way if there are more users here using MODUS (from OT). I often use, when working with other libs, some Modus sounds. To mention one thing: the transitions (normal>tremolo and vice versa) are beautiful.


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## Harry Koopman

Taron said:


> Thanks, @mybadmemory !  ...only moments after I started with this track and did my first string bending and added the brass section, I felt two things:
> 1. I'm really getting comfortable with the arranging. Like I don't even have to think much about it, but can reach for what I want just be feeling it and "almost" knowing it (sections, instrument's character and range) well enough already. Felt nice and empowering to feel comfortable.
> 2. What the heck? This (Discover) can really, really sound quite rich and fulfilling!
> 
> I can't wait to put it back into "Core" mode, hahaha, but there's really something so liberating about these "crude" patches of Discover, inspiring no shame whatsoever to use Global Tune for these totally deliberate portamento and slurs. I wonder if I can get myself to dare and try some of it with Core, too.


Wonderful piece, and the weirdo things starting at 1:10 with the high strings are amazing; it is crazy, but it all fits, makes me wanting to analyse what exactly you do. I noticed the portamento and bending indeed, but it's a riddle how you used Global Tune to do it. Can it be automated? Is it in Discover itself, or a separate plugin? Enlighten me, enlighten us... (wrong order of course, meaning that I did not explore this thing in Discover myself, not yet.)


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## Taron

Harry Koopman said:


> Wonderful piece, and the weirdo things starting at 1:10 with the high strings are amazing; it is crazy, but it all fits, makes me wanting to analyse what exactly you do. I noticed the portamento and bending indeed, but it's a riddle how you used Global Tune to do it. Can it be automated? Is it in Discover itself, or a separate plugin? Enlighten me, enlighten us... (wrong order of course, meaning that I did not explore this thing in Discover myself, not yet.)


It is automated indeed! In MuLab it is particularly simple, because you can set the tune to your desired change and copy the value, then paste it into the automation. You certainly don't want to go outside of +-3cnt, but you also would want to watch out for the samples range and try to stay within their used notes. In Discover this is easy, because strings for example are only at every 6th semi, giving you plenty of room to bend without changing the quality of the sound. I haven't tried it with Core, yet.
I'm happy with Core, but I wish to one day be able to afford Pro, of course. Alone having solo strings would really get me excited, but the biggest deal to me would be the close mics. And a few more goodies, of course.
You certainly make me want to have Modus, too, hahahaha...it does sound fantastic! But that's eh...quite a while away for me, hehe...  ...I'm just happy and glad I have some basics.

But, yeah, Harry, thank you so much for your wonderful and uplifting comment on Soundcloud. Really made me deeply happy.


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## Telecrash

Hello to everyone from a newbie!
I arranged this one with the trial of VSL Synchron Prime Edition, but I adressed the channels to the Synchron libraries whitch I bought a few minutes later.

If it still counts as one library, get ready for two minutes of snowy xmas glory

If not - sorry - feel free to delete my post.


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## Taron

Telecrash said:


> Hello to everyone from a newbie!
> I arranged this one with the trial of VSL Synchron Prime Edition, but I adressed the channels to the Synchron libraries whitch I bought a few minutes later.
> 
> If it still counts as one library, get ready for two minutes of snowy xmas glory
> 
> If not - sorry - feel free to delete my post.



That is pretty incredible! But what's also fascinating is that I have a problem with the Celli, I think. May just be the mix, but they sound a little synthetic to me, while the rest is just out of this world IN this world! 
Crazy good! Well done!


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## Telecrash

Taron said:


> That is pretty incredible! But what's also fascinating is that I have a problem with the Celli, I think. May just be the mix, but they sound a little synthetic to me, while the rest is just out of this world IN this world!
> Crazy good! Well done!


Thx! And you’re right. It IS the Celli. And it IS the mix. I pushed the close mics too far, I think.


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## Mikro93

I've been reminded that this thread exists!

Here's an original composition made of 18 tracks of True Strike by ProjectSam. Lots of fun 

View attachment True Strike V3.mp3


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## QuiteAlright

Mikro93 said:


> I've been reminded that this thread exists!
> 
> Here's an original composition made of 18 tracks of True Strike by ProjectSam. Lots of fun
> 
> View attachment True Strike V3.mp3


Wow, this is really good for a library that I never would have expected to see in this thread. Percussion-only is a very interesting challenge.


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## José Herring

Mikro93 said:


> I've been reminded that this thread exists!
> 
> Here's an original composition made of 18 tracks of True Strike by ProjectSam. Lots of fun
> 
> View attachment True Strike V3.mp3


This old library still sounds great. Good job on the composition.


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## mybadmemory

Mikro93 said:


> I've been reminded that this thread exists!
> 
> Here's an original composition made of 18 tracks of True Strike by ProjectSam. Lots of fun
> 
> View attachment True Strike V3.mp3


Wasn’t expecting that! Wonderful!


----------

