Tallinn: Voices and strings. Single instruments available!

[VVEremita]

TLDR: Can Tallinn be effective combined with Ark 2 to create the type of dark/industrial orchestral music that Ark 2 is meant for?

I know a user recently asked here about making Ark 2 sound like Tallinn. I'm kind of wondering the converse question. Tallinn sounds beautiful but I'm more interested in composing the type of "dark/industrial orchestral" music typical of the Arks (and especially Ark 2) than the types of tracks in the official list of Tallinn demos. Do you guys feel that Tallinn can be used effectively with libs like Ark 2 for that dark, brooding orchestral type of music? My sense is probably yes but my only concern is that perhaps aspects of the way Tallinn was recorded (the room, etc) may make it not blend well with other libs like Ark 2. Thanks for any input.

I have both Ark2 and Tallinn. I have not yet tried to blend them yet. My guess is that it can be done soundwise and that the aspects you mention (room etc) don't stand against it. Even though Tallinn was recorded in a church it still has that OT sound, as others have pointed out.

But the sound in terms of musical performances rather than room/mic positions etc is a very different story. The strings and the choir sound very gentle in the way they articulate. There are different articulations, but as far as I have explored them, they all share the same inner alignement towards tranquil and humble emotions. Other words could be: "Nordic", peaceful, contemplative, sacred, solace. This aspect is contained in the samples and very present in every note you play. That doesn't mean that it can't sound moving or even dark, but that it is more in the way sacred music does. After all it is close to the sound of Arvo Pärt, whose music stands in a strong religious context. It is emotionally captivating, yet delicate and tranquil.

I don't fully know how orchestral music can be industrial. The players and singers probably don't deliver the dark grit and texture you might be after. That is my opinion. Maybe there is no actual need to value the musical background of the library so highly and there are ways to overcome the underlying intention and performances. But if you succeed you run in danger of defeating the whole purpose of the library and what makes it great.

 

[IvanP]

Hi @OrchestralTools Sorry if this has been addressed before (can't find it).

I was about to buy Tallin at the 249 pre order offer but after setting up an account at the website it says that the intro offer is 299 €.

AFAIK, the intro price is until May 19th, isn't it?

Can you let me know how to buy it at the VI-Control Pre order one? (both captures from today).

Thank you!

 

[Kony]

Hi @OrchestralTools Sorry if this has been addressed before (can't find it).

I was about to buy Tallin at the 249 pre order offer but after setting up an account at the website it says that the intro offer is 299 €.

AFAIK, the intro price is until May 19th, isn't it?

Can you let me know how to buy it at the VI-Control Pre order one? (both captures from today).

Thank you!

Hi @IvanP - the info is in the very first post in this thread:

Pre-order offer
Only €249 (+VAT)
Pre-order ends May 4

 

[IvanP]

Hi @IvanP - the info is in the very first post in this thread:

Oops, bad timing then.

In any case, it's still announced as of today in VI with the Pre-order price but no indication of the pre-order ending date whatsoever unless you read the 1st page on the related post, as you kindly mentioned.

@OrchestralTools : any chance of a coupon for this a bit late customer?

Thanks!

 

[ProfoundSilence]

Oops, bad timing then.

In any case, it's still announced as of today in VI with the Pre-order price but no indication of the pre-order ending date whatsoever unless you read the 1st page on the related post, as you kindly mentioned.

@OrchestralTools : any chance of a coupon for this a bit late customer?

Thanks!

There's no mentioned pre order ended because the pre order ended. It was all over the website and the emails(and even the thread title)

Why would they keep the pre order date almost a week after it's over? And it's obvious that the library has been released, so pre-order obviously wouldn't be around

 

[IvanP]

There's no mentioned pre order ended because the pre order ended. It was all over the website and the emails(and even the thread title)

Why would they keep the pre order date almost a week after it's over? And it's obvious that the library has been released, so pre-order obviously wouldn't be around

No problemo, too fast surfing and reading the forums these days

 

[Baronvonheadless]

Trying to use the choirs in a less churchy, more fantasy ensemble type way...I think they're perfect for that. Used them in the intro to this new piece and really loving the result!

 

[David Kudell]

Turns out there’s a good reason why Estonian choirs are so good!

 

[Scamper]

I caved and got Tallinn.
At first I thought the lovely choir would be a nice addition to my arsenal and the strings to go with it, but damn, that organ really slams. It's fun to play and all the patches sound pretty stellar.

Took a deep dive in the library and made a track with it. Except for some low cut EQ and a narrow cut for an annoying frequency in the women choir, it's without any effects. Pure Tallinn.



Some thoughts after playing with it...
- the sound of it all is great
- the dynamics are generally pretty low and the dynamic range is especially narrow for some patches, but luckily the Niente-feature helps to fade instruments out without fiddling with CC11 too much
- there can be a lot of noise buildup

Choir:
- despite lack ot SATB, 4- and 8-part harmony worked well
- long syllables aren't pronounced that strongly and between some, I didn't notice much of a difference
- short syllables are pronounced a bit stronger, so I thought they worked a bit better for pseudo words
- different "sample starts" between syllables until they hit the vowel can make timing harder
- a keyswitch to reset to a certain syllable would be really helpful as well as the possibility to reorder the syllables

Strings:
- love all the soft textures, the portato and the single bow arcs
- volume is a bit inconsistent between different ranges
- the evolving nature of the playing can make it hard to play passages evenly (also with legato)

Organ:
- sounds great on its own and goes well with the choir as a natural subbass

SINE:
- putting 8-10 tracks in one instance seemed to cause some crackles, that even made their way into the exported file. there weren't any CPU/ASIO dropouts and after splitting the SINE instance, it worked. so this might be a SINE issue?


In the end, it's quite lovely as a more specialized great sounding library.

 

[Michaelt]

but luckily the Niente-feature helps to fade instruments out without fiddling with CC11 too much

Usually a useful trick I agree, but here it requires extreme caution since you are also dialing down a significant room presence along with the sound of the players, which can end up being a little odd. Still trying to fine tune a method for getting more naturally faded releases without obviously ducking the actual reverb of the church.

 

[jneebz]

Trying to use the choirs in a less churchy, more fantasy ensemble type way...I think they're perfect for that. Used them in the intro to this new piece and really loving the result!

Nice work! Is there a reason why you have so much left channel content in your mix? I'd love to hear your music with more balance across the stereo spectrum!

 

[jneebz]

I caved and got Tallinn.
At first I thought the lovely choir would be a nice addition to my arsenal and the strings to go with it, but damn, that organ really slams. It's fun to play and all the patches sound pretty stellar.

Took a deep dive in the library and made a track with it. Except for some low cut EQ and a narrow cut for an annoying frequency in the women choir, it's without any effects. Pure Tallinn.



Some thoughts after playing with it...
- the sound of it all is great
- the dynamics are generally pretty low and the dynamic range is especially narrow for some patches, but luckily the Niente-feature helps to fade instruments out without fiddling with CC11 too much

Choir:
- despite lack ot SATB, 4- and 8-part harmony worked well enough
- long syllables aren't pronounced that strongly and between some, I didn't notice much of a difference
- short syllables are pronounced a bit stronger, so I thought they worked a bit better for pseudo words
- a keyswitch to reset to a certain syllable would be really helpful as well as the possibility to reorder the syllables

Strings:
- love all the soft textures, the portato and the single bow arcs
- volume is a bit inconsistent between different ranges
- the evolving nature of the playing can make it hard to play passages evenly (also with legato)

Organ:
- sounds great on its own and goes well with the choir as a natural subbass

SINE:
- putting 8-10 tracks in one instance seemed to cause some crackles, that even made their way into the exported file. there weren't any CPU/ASIO dropouts and after splitting the SINE instance, it worked. so this might be a SINE issue?


In the end, it's quite lovely as a more specialized great sounding library.

This should be an official demo. Wow.

 

[ProfoundSilence]

Usually a useful trick I agree, but here it requires extreme caution since you are also dialing down a significant room presence along with the sound of the players, which can end up being a little odd. Still trying to fine tune a method for getting more naturally faded releases without obviously ducking the actual reverb of the church.

put CC11 on CC1 - make the curve 100% for the entire thing except the end, find where you want the mod wheel to tail it off - maybe don't go *all* the way down.

Or using the soft low layer could maybe solve your issue(it's not niente)

 

[Baronvonheadless]

Nice work! Is there a reason why you have so much left channel content in your mix? I'd love to hear your music with more balance across the stereo spectrum!

You know what, I didn’t even listen to this in headphones. Just on my studio monitors and I didn’t notice there. I bet it’s because I was experimenting with reverb sends. Since I just got nimbus/R4 and seventh heaven I’ve been experimenting running things thru a reverb send and just using the one reverb on everything, vs on each individual track. I sent the reverb send to the left and then had the instruments either in stereo or some to the right and tried to balance. I bet my reverb sends are too loud. On my monitors I didn’t notice anything they sounded even. I bet in headphones it exposes it!

EDIT: omg yeah it’s way to the left hahaha! Wow thanks for being the first to bring this to my attention. It’s so bad hahahahaha

 

[Scamper]

Usually a useful trick I agree, but here it requires extreme caution since you are also dialing down a significant room presence along with the sound of the players, which can end up being a little odd. Still trying to fine tune a method for getting more naturally faded releases without obviously ducking the actual reverb of the church.

Right, it will be especially bad with steep CC1 ramps, but I would think with slow CC-movements, it's good enough, even if not perfect.
As you mention it, CC11 is probably the worst way to do it, because not only is it more work, but it will also fade out the release tails, while the Niente-feature will preserve already triggered releases.

Or using the soft low layer could maybe solve your issue(it's not niente)

The Soft Low Layer should work well and it's already activated with many patches in Tallinn, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. When the lowest dynamic is reached, it should lower volume when CC1 is decreased, but here, volume doesn't change much at all. It just adds this lower zone of CC1, which is less reactive. In that way, I prefer Soft Low Layer off to have more control.

Looking at the SINE player again, the volume range slider might be a good option as well. You only have to adjust it for every single articulation separately and I don't see an assigned CC, that controls it.

 

[IvanP]

Finally bought it. The library is stellar. Amazing work at capturing and programming the sounds.

 

[pfmusic]

Really enjoying working with this library. Beautiful sound! Really happy with my first OT purchase and the Sine Player has been very stable on my system.

Great work @OrchestralTools

 

[AlainTH]

i think i go to buy it. Hope OT will correct the legato strange artefacts reported here and propose natively the possibility to choose what syllabe to trigger.

 

[stanthemanNL]

What are your experiences with blending the Tallinn choir and Spitfire Chamber Strings? I was thinking about buying SCS and just the Tallinn male & female choir. Can you blend them easily or is it recommended to buy the whole Tallinn library because of the room? I’m not very interested in the organ. Thanks for your help

 

[fiction]

What are your experiences with blending the Tallinn choir and Spitfire Chamber Strings? I was thinking about buying SCS and just the Tallinn male & female choir. Can you blend them easily or is it recommended to buy the whole Tallinn library because of the room? I’m not very interested in the organ. Thanks for your help

I was meaning to ask the exact same thing. I'm really interested in some articulations of the strings in Tallinn and if they could complement SCS.

Did anyone try yet?

I'm also patiently waiting for some news regarding the legato transitions before the end of the intro offer.