Kirk Hunter Diamond confusions

[bcarwell]

Can somebody give me a quick high level explanation of Kirk Hunter Diamond Symphony.

I am embarassed to say I bought it in 2016 and am just now loading it and it is very intimidating but seems to have potential if I can just get my head around it.

Documentation and support appears to be spotty and confusing. No support/forum at website, "Official Support" at KVR I finally found, confused what the hell the TVE's are, etc.

Specifically it appears to be a Kontakt library you have to load as third party Files. The sample names are not all that helpful. How do you best learn this library ?

And on the website there is a demo video that shows a beautiful full interface like its a standalone player like Miroslav Philharmonic, with Settings, Divisions, Articulations, Features all laid out and button selectable with a picture of a violin. Yet in Kontakt you just get the bare standard instrument when you select an instrument. Is there a VSTi player you are supposed to use with it in a DAW to see this whole big interface ? And is it also available in some standalone player ?

Many thanks for any assistance. Not a complete newb and I have several other big libraries but this one seems confusing as hell...

Bob

Click to read more...

 

[bcarwell]

Aha ! And I now see from a demo video the user interface with the violin picture is when you invoke an expanded view in Kontakt of an instrument that appears to be a multi (specifically: a 1st violins 18,9,4,1 Players All Articulations.nki) But when I try to load it in Kontakt it can't be found. Yet I see the .nki in the hard drive. Why won't it load ?

 

[bcarwell]

So... where are these TVEC 4 patches and how do I get them to play ? In my download there was a TVEC 4 Instruments folder of 28 MB with a bunch of instrument folders in them, but all .nki files.

Bob

 

[Sid Francis]

Kirk Hunter and his comrades were masters in hiding their easter eggs behind every possible stone 1st Violins with full GUI:

Kirk Hunter Diamond Orchestra ->
Instruments ->
Strings ->
Violins ->
1_Combines_Whole_Half_Quarter_Solo_Divisions ->
1st_Violins_TVEC4_Instruments ->
a 1st Violins 18,9,4,1 Players All Articulations

And yes, these nkis are just loadable in Kontakt and have no standalone player.. Why it won´t load in your DAW is another problem. I just loaded and played them as normal.

 

[sostenuto]

So... where are these TVEC 4 patches and how do I get them to play ? In my download there was a TVEC 4 Instruments folder of 28 MB with a bunch of instrument folders in them, but all .nki files.

Bob

I run Win10 Pro /Reaper, but your content should be similar. In my KH Diamond Symphony Library, there is a long list of Folders starting with 00_Concert_Str_Combinations. After 97_Celesta, there are Documentation, Solo Strings_1, Solo Strings_2, ….. then TVEC_3.1_Instruments, _TVEC_4_Diamond Instruments …. YES ??

Within _TVEC_4_Diamond_Instruments are (9) Folders: 00_t4-violin_instruments thru 08_t4_tuba_solo_instruments …. YES?

If not, maybe a Batch re-save ? I'll be happy to try to help further if needed.

(edit) oops _ @ Sid Francis _ was writing as you posted.

 

[robgb]

If you look in the directory, you'll find one clearly marked TVEC 4 Instruments. These are clearly the most advanced of the instruments that, using keyswitches, can not only switch articulations, but also give you full, half, quarter or solo divisions (among other things). The TVEC4 instruments are not the only instruments available, of course, because Diamond is a massive library, much of it hit or miss. The woodwinds are largely a miss to my mind. But the strings are really great. If you want to use portamento with your string ensembles, I'd advise using only the TVEC4 instruments because the scripting seems most refined here and works flawlessly (using the pitch wheel or editing pitch wheel data after the fact).

I've had the library since 2016 as well, and have spent the last couple years picking a choosing the best instruments to build an orchestra. I also truly hate the graphic design of the library, so I created my own new design and added it to the instruments. Seems silly, but bad graphic design can quickly kill my mood to make music.

 

[Ifness]

I purchased the Diamond orchestra in 2016 also. And like @bcarwell I never found the TVEC4 interface. Last fall I came across a newer YouTube video demonstrating the library and noticed that the version of the library in the video had a substantially smaller install footprint than mine. I wrote to Kirk Hunter and requested download codes for the updated version. After promptly receiving the codes and reinstalling the library I finally could use the TVEC4 interface and had freed up 30 to 40 gigabytes of space on my hard drive. The TVEC4 interface has made all the difference. I very much enjoy using the library now.

 

[cqd]

There's no modwheel dynamics though with the tvec4 is there..that would be my main gripe with the library.. and yeah, the winds are poor..

 

[robgb]

There's no modwheel dynamics though with the tvec4 is there.

There's mod wheel volume control and "mod wheel brite" in the EQ section. Click on the Settings tab in the upper left of the main TVEC 4 screen and look for the mod wheel and velocity controls. Click on that and set velocity low and mod wheel high and the mod wheel will control your volume. Close settings ("Done"), then go the the EQLive tab and click on the "Modwheel_Brite" button. This will essentially give you what you're looking for

 

[cqd]

There's mod wheel volume control and "mod wheel brite" in the EQ section. Click on the Settings tab in the upper left of the main TVEC 4 screen and look for the mod wheel and velocity controls. Click on that and set velocity low and mod wheel high and the mod wheel will control your volume. Close settings ("Done"), then go the the EQLive tab and click on the "Modwheel_Brite" tab. This will essentially give you what you're looking for.

Thank you...

 

[robgb]

Thank you...

My pleasure. This is actually a real gem of a library (except for the woodwinds), but it takes a lot of time to wrap your head around how it works. I'm sure Kirk Hunter has instructions for all of this somewhere, but I'm thinking he might be better off making video instructions so that it's a little easier for people get it.

 

[sostenuto]

My pleasure. This is actually a real gem of a library (except for the woodwinds), but it takes a lot of time to wrap your head around how it works. I'm sure Kirk Hunter has instructions for all of this somewhere, but I'm thinking he might be better off making video instructions so that it's a little easier for people get it.

Many thanks as well !! You consistently delve much deeper 'under the hood' and your tips are appreciated greatly.

Apologies for 'diversion', but considering seriously KH Front Row on current APD promo.
Already have Diamond SO, Virtuoso Ensembles, Spotlight Solo Strings.
Do you haves advices on incremental value of Front Row addition ?

Regards

 

[rrichard63]

Already have Diamond SO, Virtuoso Ensembles, Spotlight Solo Strings.
Do you haves advices on incremental value of Front Row addition ?

I've been asking the same question. Also, do these samples also appear in other Kirk Hunter libraries?

 

[kitekrazy]

I purchased the Diamond orchestra in 2016 also. And like @bcarwell I never found the TVEC4 interface. Last fall I came across a newer YouTube video demonstrating the library and noticed that the version of the library in the video had a substantially smaller install footprint than mine. I wrote to Kirk Hunter and requested download codes for the updated version. After promptly receiving the codes and reinstalling the library I finally could use the TVEC4 interface and had freed up 30 to 40 gigabytes of space on my hard drive. The TVEC4 interface has made all the difference. I very much enjoy using the library now.

So he finally used the Kontakt compression?

 

[cqd]

My pleasure. This is actually a real gem of a library (except for the woodwinds), but it takes a lot of time to wrap your head around how it works. I'm sure Kirk Hunter has instructions for all of this somewhere, but I'm thinking he might be better off making video instructions so that it's a little easier for people get it.

Yeah, always loved the tone of the strings, but the lack of modwheel just meant I kind of left them..

 

[rrichard63]

So he finally used the Kontakt compression?

For details on this, see

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=225&t=472273

Short answer (from this KVR thread): "I have also received information from Kirk that the size of Diamond should be 42GB and the reason it is smaller compared to some older versions is because he cleaned house and eliminated many duplicate samples." Getting this information was like pulling hens' teeth.

 

[sostenuto]

For details on this, see

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=225&t=472273

Short answer (from this KVR thread): "I have also received information from Kirk that the size of Diamond should be 42GB and the reason it is smaller compared to some older versions is because he cleaned house and eliminated many duplicate samples." Getting this information was like pulling hens' teeth.

Shame for owners of earlier downloads. Tedious to 'clean house' as KH did, but he may be open to new download ??
My Diamond SO 'Zips Folder' from August 2016 is 59.1 GB (100 files).

 

[kitekrazy]

The original was over 70GB. I compressed them. The reason why he probably removed stuff is the original was for Kontakt 2.

 

[sostenuto]

The original was over 70GB. I compressed them. The reason why he probably removed stuff is the original was for Kontakt 2.

Maybe I confused things by posting 'Zips' folder size. My current Dimd Sym Orch Folder is: 71 GB; 80.197 Files; 922 Folders.
Have no complaints, given promo cost back then. Was heckuva way to get started with Orchestra learning.

 

[kitekrazy]

Maybe I confused things by posting 'Zips' folder size. My current Dimd Sym Orch Folder is: 71 GB; 80.197 Files; 922 Folders.
Have no complaints, given promo cost back then. Was heckuva way to get started with Orchestra learning.

I think I still have the original Giga files somewhere. My crossgrade was $150. He had a smaller 8gb library at one time.