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Audiobro Modern Scoring Brass (MSB)

Reaching The Summit - 'Modern Scoring Brass' Demo

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Great track by a very talented composer, what's not to like about his writing? Sadly, as a demo, it falls short IMO. My first impression still stands: too polished, thin and uncomfortably metallic. At 00:39 you can clearly hear all these issues, it almost sounds like a synth patch.

Listen to this:



Now that you have a clear picture of how brass should sound (if you are going for a realistic approach that's it) listen to the MSB demos again and tell me something isn't weirdly off about it.

I wonder if that's the reason there are no naked demos yet? In this particular case, if the composer uploaded a naked version or soloed the instruments, it would be much harder to hide any sonic shortcomings.
 
What worries me the most at the moment is the dynamic range. For example in the introduction video at 7:42, you can see how the modwheel goes from above 64 all the way down to 1, and there doesn't seem to be any change whatsoever to the sound of the trumpets, not even in the volume?! I hope that's just a weird setting that can be changed.
 
What worries me the most at the moment is the dynamic range. For example in the introduction video at 7:42, you can see how the modwheel goes from above 64 all the way down to 1, and there doesn't seem to be any change whatsoever to the sound of the trumpets, not even in the volume?! I hope that's just a weird setting that can be changed.

The dynamics do change to my ear. You cant play a trumpet silently :P
 
Reaching The Summit - 'Modern Scoring Brass' Demo

See...


I hope we get a brass only version of this song as well. What I can hear from this dressed demo is that with a little use of EQ, I could get the brass sound a lot different if needed.
 
My first impression still stands: too polished, thin and uncomfortably metallic. At 00:39 you can clearly hear all these issues, it almost sounds like a synth patch.

That seems like hyperbole to me at the point you reference. I hear something similar far more pronounced in the other demo actually (The White Whale) at around the 40s mark - I agree there's something strange somewhere on occasions and I'd love to get a handle on what it is. The best I've been able to come up with thus far is that it affects the trumpets in divisi mode, possibly too on-the-nose perfect intonation which is tripping our uncanny valley sensors.

But at other times - the majority of times actually - it sounds mighty impressive to me. Looking forward to more in depth walkthroughs to get a better handle on this sort of thing.
 
That seems like hyperbole to me at the point you reference. I hear something similar far more pronounced in the other demo actually (The White Whale) at around the 40s mark - I agree there's something strange somewhere on occasions and I'd love to get a handle on what it is. The best I've been able to come up with thus far is that it affects the trumpets in divisi mode, possibly too on-the-nose perfect intonation which is tripping our uncanny valley sensors.

But at other times - the majority of times actually - it sounds mighty impressive to me. Looking forward to more in depth walkthroughs to get a better handle on this sort of thing.

Indeed.

If im honest, i have always considered myself very critical if a library doesn't sound authentic, and that demo is probably one of the most authentic and brilliant sounding demos i have heard in a while.
 
Once this is released into the wild, I'd LOVE to hear some A/B comparisons taking a 3 part line and seeing/hearing the differences between letting the built in Auto Divisi handle the individual instruments vs. splitting it out to 3 tracks and tweaking CC's as needed. I wonder if some the issues people are having has to do with the Auto-Divisi mode not giving enough difference to the individual instruments regarding dynamics, vibrato, etc.
 
Firstly, great job to the people that made this library! I can’t fathom the amount of work it must take to pull this kind of thing off.

I find this thread fascinating as the comments generally reflect my first impressions before reading anyone else's. When I first heard the beginning of the demo, my hair was on end. But, as it went on, I did find the brass a shade thin with an overly compressed or squashed sound. I was really hoping this had something to do with a final mix or something? Looking forward to some early adopters clearing the air!

However, I think I’m spoiled. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Sibelius play back something I’d notated on the old Acorn computer. Let’s not forget Garritan Personal Orchestra! Then I was blown away again when someone recommended EastWest (I didn’t know about sampling at the time) and couldn’t BELIEVE I could get a blasting horn section to sound like that from my laptop! I was hooked from there and now own a ton of Spitfire.

99.67598% of the public can’t tell the difference between a sampled library and a live session. Seems we’re ‘connoisseurs’ of not just realism but taste anymore.

It’s a great time to be a composer!
 
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What worries me the most at the moment is the dynamic range. For example in the introduction video at 7:42, you can see how the modwheel goes from above 64 all the way down to 1, and there doesn't seem to be any change whatsoever to the sound of the trumpets, not even in the volume?! I hope that's just a weird setting that can be changed.
You have many options for controlling the timbre. By default, you control timbre with CC1 AND velocities.
So changing CC1 values alone may not have as much of an impact if velocity values stay the same.
You can also control timbre with CC1 alone, in which case moving the mod wheel has an immediate affect on your timbre...
 
You can see that the dynamics CC curve is topping out quite a bit in that piece, for beats at a time. That's the most obvious explanation for the "thinness" that people are hearing, and it sounds compressed because the dynamic motion is suddenly stopping repeatedly as that ceiling gets hit.

I've become way more conscious of this in my own work recently. I barely want to even approach 100, let alone 127. It's the same principle as in real performances. Everything sounds better when less strained, and it means the big moments can really be bigger.
 
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The "reaching the summit" demo does not show off the brass library at all. It may as well have been any one of them. Yeah, it was brass...but what was so special? I'm sure my Century brass could have accomplished the same thing, or CSB or the new SF Studio Brass. Too much smoke and mirrors...give us an actual Brass heavy demo, with what this thing can actually do that others can't...because if it's just about the sound, it's not worth the asking price...for me anyway. Now if it's something that my Century brass can't do, then it's always a consideration.
 
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