Virtual Instruments V02#01 Feb-March 2006

REVIEWS:
Bela D Media Giovani Voices of the Young

Sonic Implants Symphonic Collection Native
Instruments B4 II Arturio Minimoog 5
Guide to MIDI Orchestration rev. 3
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006 - VOL. 2 NO. 1
www.VirtualInstrumentsMag.com
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THE WORLD OF SOFTSYNTHS AND SAMPLERS
Invaluable tips - get the absolute most out of MOTU Digital Performer.
WIN a Sonic Implants Symphonic Harp in our latest MUNGO GIVEAWAY!
Digidesign Pro Tools 7 gets serious about MIDI
IK Multimedia
Philharmonik Miroslav
a classic is reborn
King Idiots back!
MIDI Mockup
Microscope

2 V I R T U A L I NS T R U ME NT S
From the
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Editor
Editor/publisher: Nick Batzdorf
Art director: Lachlan Westfall/Quiet Earth Design
Ad/marketing manager: Carl Marinoff
Web designer: Denise Young/DMY Studios
Contributors: Jim Aikin, Peter Buick, David Das, Doyle Donehoo, David
Govett, Chris Meyer, Ashif King Idiot Hakik, Dave Moulton, Frederick
Russ, Bruce Richardson, Craig Sharmat, Lee Sherman.
Publishing consultant: Ross Garnick
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T
his is our fourth issue, believe it or not, but I want to
go back to this column in our first issue last July. In it I
acknowledged a lot of people who made it possible to
launch this magazineour talented core staff, our team of
the very best and most experienced writers aroundand I
managed to leave out a very important person in the histo-
ry of this magazine: Paul Gilreath.
Paul called one day while doing research for the third
edition of his incredibly comprehensive book The Guide
to MIDI Orchestration (which Doyle Donehoo reviews in
this issue). We were talking about the new sampling and
howalong with virtual instrumentsit had become a
whole new musical medium.
At the time, a lot of people who were augmenting or
even replacing their hardware-based rigs with computer-
based set-ups had been contacting me with questions.
How many computers would they need? What software
did it involve? And so on. I mentioned to Paul that Id
actually considered writing a book about all this, but the
technology moves so fast that it would be hopelessly out
of date before I finished writing it.
That naturally led to the idea of a newsletter (it was
probably Pauls idea, I dont remember). The seed had
been planted, and the project took on a life of its own.
Since we were (and still are) in the midst of a serious
revolution, it was obvious that this was much too big for a
newsletter; the way to do it properly was to launch a real
magazine. The timing was just righteven a year before
would have been too earlyand there was an obvious
need for it. Given my enthusiasm for the medium and my
decade of experience editing another magazine
(Recording) I felt like the right person to spearhead it.
Between a busy career and his family, Paul was way too
busy to continue with this project as it had ballooned. A
newsletter was one thing; this was a full-time undertaking.
But the rest is history. I then spent the next months put-
ting together a company to launch the magazine you have
in your hands. You wouldnt be reading it if Paul
hadnt called that day.
On a more mundane note, Id like to apologize for the
extremely disheartening non-delivery problems that
plagued our first two issues. Hopefully the new postal
delivery service were using for this and the previous issue
will have solved the problem once and for all. Please let us
know if any of you subscribers arent receiving your issues
on time, and well do some shouting on your behalf.
And please write to let us know what you think, what
youd like to see, what the problems with your rig are or
arent, or anything else thats on your mind. -NB
Distributor: Rider Circulation Services, 3700 Eagle
Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90065. 323/344-1200.
Bipad: 05792, UPC: 0 744 70 05792 5 01
Standard disclaimer: Virtual Instruments Magazine
and its staff cant be held legally responsible for the
magazines contents or guarantee the return of
articles and graphics submitted. Reasonable care is
taken to ensure accuracy. All trademarks belong to
their owners. Everything in here is subject to interna-
tional copyright protection, and you may not copy or
imitate anything without permission.
2006 Virtual Instruments, Inc.
First DAW
by Nick Batzdorf
A beginners guide to putting together a DAW (digital audio
workstation) for softsynths and samplers. Part 3: software
Letters
Launch
Introductions, updates, news
6
20
10
February/March 2006
V2.N1
MIDI Mockup
Microscope
by Frederick Russ
The first in a time-to-time series analyzing composers MIDI
programming techniques. Part 1: Craig Sharmats End of the
Road (hear it on www.VirtualInstrumentsMag.com)
52
VERY DEEP CLINIC:
Pointers for
Performer
by David Das
Penetrating suggestions for the discriminating MOTU Digital
Performer user
34
VERY DEEP CLINIC:
Pro Tools 7 and V.I.s
by Jim Aikin
Taking advantage of the new composition features.
Sampling with
King Idiot
by Ashif King Idiot Hakik
Part 3: Saving memory while youre workingBigFoots,
MiniFoots, and lite versions
16
24
VI
V I R T U A L I NS T R U ME NT S 5
VI
VI
contents
reviews
30, 42
Digidesign Pro
Tools 7
by Nick Batzdorf
The famous production program has
become a lot more composition-
friendly.
Sonic Implants
Symphonic
Collection
by Nick Batzdorf
SI rounds out their gorgeous
GigaStudio string library with the
rest of the orchestra. A major league
library thats right up there with the
best of them.
Bela D Media
The Giovani
EditionVoices
of the Young
by Nick Batzdorf
Uniquely lovely sampled boys and
girls choirs with a quick and easy
utility to construct the phrases they
sing.
IK Multimedia
Miroslav
Philharmonik
by Nick Batzdorf
New material from the original
recordings plus an advanced play-
back engine bring new life to a clas-
sic library.
Native
Instruments B4-II
By Bruce Richardson
The update to this popular
Hammond organ V.I. paints a silly
grin on the face of a confirmed cur-
mudgeon.
The Guide to
MIDI Orche-
stration by Paul
Gilreath
Review by Doyle Donehoo
This behemoth book takes on the
huge subject from top to bottom
Arturia
Minimoog V
by Zack Price
Arturia presents another outstanding
emulation of a classic synthesizer.
February/March 2006
V2.N1
Random Tips:
Release samples and the Native Instruments Kontakt 1
family; throwing audio regions to place them precisely
Trends:
Modes of Creation
by Chris Meyer
Turning on a loop doesnt mean turning off your brain.
64
12
28
40
44
46
48
50
random
tip
Networks, notation, and no
copying
Great magazine. I immediately subscribed. I
wanted especially to compliment you on the
article on networking for studios, a topic which
has never been so clearly reported, at least as
far as I know. It was perfectly timed, as Ive just
been grappling with a lot of these issues (BTW,
figure 5 on p. 38 erroneously repeated fig 4.).
I especially like the fact that the magazine
assumes that its readers know enough about
what they are doing so as not to bog us down
in pointless disquisitions on the basics of MIDI. I
think there is a market for a magazine for inter-
mediate/advanced DAW-based composers and
producers and you should continue to reach it.
If I may also suggest a direction that you
may be hesitant to take, I hope that you will
discuss the problems of modern music notation.
Traditional notation is a very sophisticated way
to represent music on paper. However, in the
worlds of MIDI and VI and computer displays,
there are many parameters that are not dis-
played, or displayed poorly by notation. On the
other hand, while piano rolls and event lists are
easy for non-readers to grasp quickly, they really
are very primitive visual aids compared to music
notation. After all, very few people can sightread
from a piano roll in DP4 [MOTU Digital
Performer 4], but many people do that every
day with standard western music notation. It
seems to me quite obvious that extensions to
notation that incorporate color and layered
information would be an excellent start in solv-
ing the problem of representing music on com-
puters, but it will require recognizing this as a
genuine growing need, something VI is in a
position to do.
Finally, a word on copy protection. Dietz
Tinhof [Trends, 9-10/05] is quite right, but he
only goes halfway. The problem is that cus-
tomers must always have access to the software
that they license or buy. They cannot be com-
posing in, say, Finlands Turku Archipelago (as
Ive been lucky to) and suddenly not be able to
boot an essential program because they forgot a
dongle or cant get to the internet within 24
hours. I dont know what the solution is, but it
is only a matter of time before serious users
insist that any copy protection scheme seek not
only to protect the authors rights but also the
ability of purchasers to work without interrup-
tion.
I hasten to add that I fully support copy pro-
tection. I dont have, and never have had any
cracked software; as a composer who makes
much of my income from royalties and record-
ings, I am opposed to any and all thievery of
intellectual property. I have to say, however,
that when you forget to pack the dongle that
activates MachFive and you were looking for-
ward to a nice long session on that cross-coun-
try plane trip, it does give you considerable
insight into exactly how primitive, and potential-
ly disastrous, the present copy protection
schemes are.
Good luck with your mag.
Richard Einhorn
via email
VI
l e t t e r s
Letters
write to:
nb@virtualinstrumentsmag.com
Will the real Fig. 5 please stand up? This is the correct figure for page 38 of our 9-10/05
issue, and this is the caption: Mac OS X Network control panel settings for an add-on 100MB
card for the generic network 192.168.128.0. Note that this network has a router, so the addi-
tional entries for the gateway and DNS server are put here.
However, notation is very much a part of
what we cover. Right now were planning an
article about the sample library-notation con-
nection, as found in such products as
GenieSoft Overture 4, Notion, and also the
Sibelius and Finale versions of Garritan
Personal Orchestra (Garritan has been work-
ing on this for a couple of years). Thats going
the opposite direction from what youre talk-
ing about: the dynamics, accents, etc. you
include in a score determine the performance
details.
This is an important advance. A lot of musi-
cians think in notation to a large degreeits
how we learned.
Finally, I agree with you that temporary
authorization and reauthorization schemes are
very important.
Oh, and the correct Fig. 5 is shown here.
Sorry about that!
44+
Ive never written to a magazine before
which is saying alot for 44 years and counting.
I love the magazine and the focus and am really
looking forward to when you go monthly!!
Can the mag someday talk about various
DAWs as VI platforms? Which are easiest as
far as hosting AU, VSTis, DXi, etc.? Which are
the most robust? The most stable? The fewest
compatibility issues?
Also, will you cover some of the smaller play-
ers in the market? I just bought
Cronox3...amazing piece of kit that. Same for
VirSyns Cube, u-Hes Zebra, and
AugustusLoop. I mean, I like reading about
Kontakt and Absynth and Mach5 and all, but
those get so much coverage already. Hitting
some of the second tier VI houses hard (in
addition to, not instead of, the big players)
would be welcome and may be a differentiator
for the mag.
Anyway, Im about to sit down with a glass o
brew and enjoy the first issues some more.
Thanks again and the best of luck!!
George Napler
via email
44 years, eh? Thats quite an honor! We
cant wait to go monthly either, but were
well on the way. Itll happen.
The answer to all your questions is Yes. I
dont know that any DAW makes it difficult to
use V.I.s., but for example if you check out
the review of Pro Tools 7 in this issue youll
see that we look very hard at how DAWs
work with V.I.s. Funnily enough, pre-version 7
Pro Tools is the exception to the above: it
wasnt easy to host V.I.s in it! But thats
changed.
And of course smaller companies are fair
game. Enjoy your beer, and thanks for the
good words.
Mattias Henningson
I would like to see a story on Mattias
Henningson, the guy who who keeps developing
tweaks that make DAWs and major programs
more efficient.
My guess is he hasnt made a nickle even
though some big players, not to mention DAW
custom builders, use his work without recogni-
tion.
I think he needs recognition. Isnt he what
forums are all about? Just a thought.
Tony
via email
Yes! Mattias wins the Nobel Giga Prize.
What he did is figure out a way to tweak the
Windows registry to increase the amount of
memory you can access in TASCAM
GigaStudio by a good 20% in most cases.
Before his tweaks there was no reason to
install 2GB of RAM in a Giga machine,
because it went unused.
TASCAM actually incorporated a routine to
apply his tweaks automatically in GigaStudio
3, but sometimes you have to go in and try
different settings until you find the one that
works best. Nobody seems to know why dif-
ferent machines are able to load different
amounts and different settings work better,
but it seems quite safe to experiment.
Note that this is only for GigaStudio,
which uses the kernel memory rather than
the upper memory. Heres Mattias site:
http://henningson.triona.se/musikbanken/
gigastudio/index.htm.
Wiseguy
In the Random Tip on page 51 of our last
issue (How much memory does it make
sense to install in a Mac G5 so you can load
the maximum number of sample programs?)
we thanked mob boss Andrea Gotti for his
help.
Actually it was Andrea Gozzi of Redmatica
software who deserves the credit. Hes in a
different business. VI
VI
l e t t e r s
Thanks for a great letter, Richard.
The first thing you saidthanking us for
not going into the basics of MIDI, etc.is a
great compliment. Were trying very hard to
put out an informative magazine that inter-
mediate and advanced musicians will find
compelling, while at the same time not shut-
ting out beginners.
So the strategy is to let articles go into the
kind of depth more advanced users need, but
to include enough background information so
anyone can follow along. Monte McGuires
networking article (Lay of the LAN) you men-
tioned is a perfect example.
On the other hand, our First DAW series is
geared to beginners, because a lot of people
really do need to be brought up to speed.
Were even going to cover the basics of MIDI
at some point! But this isnt a magazine of
endless beginners articles, and we dont
make the mistake of thinking that novices are
idiots.
Your comments about notation needing
extensions to represent some of the details
we deal with are interesting. We hadnt
planned to go into that aspect of notation
specifically, but were certainly open to sug-
gestions and comments if anyone has any-
thing to say about it.
1 0 V I R T U A L I NS T R U ME NT S
Launch
Introductions, updates, news
VI
l a u n c h
Submersible Music
Drumcore 2
DrumCore 2 (see review of the original in the 9-10/05 issue)
has enhanced sync, drum module features, new content, and REX
file compatibility.
The new version syncs to the tempo of the ReWire host its
streaming into (with three decimal places of accuracy), and it can
catch up in the middle of a loop rather than having to start at the
beginning. As a module, it now has separate stereo outputs for
each drum.
DrumCore 2 content can be exported into REX format files,
which you can drag and drop into most DAWs. The new content
from drummers Lonnie Wilson, Alan White, and Terry Bozio
includes grooves in new styles and also odd meters.
DrumCore also announced a new $79.99 LonniePack Drummer
Pack for DrumCore, which includes a wide variety of groove sets
by the country drummer.
www.Drumcore.com
Kong Audio
ChineeErhu VSTi
The Ehru is a beautiful Chinese bowed
instrument with two strings. This sampled
instrument for Windows includes many artic-
ulations and dynamics, programmed to be
played in real time using the mod wheel and
keyswitches. ChineeErhu is only $60. Kong
Audio also offers ChineeWinds and
ChineeKong.
www.chineekong.com
FL Studio version 6
The latest upgrade to Image-Lines PC music production program FL Studio (formerly Fruity
Loops) has a long list of new features and plug-ins. Features include a larger and more flexible mixer;
support for more MIDI controllers as well as footpedals; and improvements to the Play List and piano
roll.
New plug-ins include the DirectWave, a sampler; EQUO, a morphing graphic EQ; Fruity Delay
Bank; Fruity Multiband Compressor; Fruity Reverb 2; Fruity Squeeze, a bit-reducing, distortion
puncher and filter; Chrome, which triggers graphical events; and the Envelope Controller, which
triggers envelopes that can be linked to parameters.
Various versions of FL studio can be downloaded from the companys website for $49 - $349
(more for boxed versions).
www.flstudio.com +32 9 281 15 01
Learn More
Logic video
The second of three instruc-
tional DVDs on Logic Pro 7 by
Tony Wallace is available for
$45. This DVD covers the Matrix
Edit Window, Hyper Edit
Window, Event List, Arrange
Editing, Extended Parameters,
Groove Templates, Hyper Draw,
Transform Window, Cycle/Drop
Recording, Multi-track
Recording, Apple Loops, Beat
Mapping, Strip Silence, the Sample Editor, the Factory, Track Mixer,
Channel Strips, using Plug-ins, Bus/Aux/Output Ch, Track
Automation, Track Freeze, Bounce, and Exporting Audio.
www.askvideo.com
V I R T U A L I NS T R U ME NT S 1 1
VI
l a u n c h
Uberschall Liquid
Guitar
Liquid Guitar is a large library of guitar licks in
a variety of styles (funk, RnB, pop, blues, fusion,
jazz, sound fx, etc.) played by top musicians. It
comes in a Celemony Melodyne player that
allows audio to be manipulated as easily as MIDI
in a piano-roll editor, so you can edit the licks
into anything. $199.
www.SoundsonLine.com 310/271-6969
Waves Z-Noise
Waves new Z-Noise plug-in ($800) is a new broadband proces-
sor that works on anything from high-frequency hiss to low-fre-
quency rumble and features a new proprietary algorithm, accurate
dynamic noise profiling, improved low frequency resolution (over
its previous X-series of noise reducers), and advanced transient
preservation.
www.Waves.com 865/909-9200
Zero-G Outer Limits
This new V.I. features 4GB of more than 500 soundscapes in a Native
Instruments Kompakt engine. Outer Limits follows Ian Boddys
Morphology V.I.
The set includes categories described as Ambient Loops, Analogue
Waves, Chamber of Horrors, Click & Glitch, Deep Space, Dense
Soundscapes, Digital Drones, Digital Manipulations, Distorted Views,
Heavy Drones, Machine Dreams, Minimalism, One Shot Synth FX,
Outer Limits, Surreal to Real, Transcendental, Twisted Pads, Vintage
Synth Atmos, Vocal Transformations and White Noise Atmospheres.
www.SoundsonLine.com 310/271-6969
Review by
Nick Batzdorf
VI
r e v i e w
Digidesign Pro Tools 7
M-Powered, $299.95; Pro Tools
and Pro Tools LE come bundled
with Digidesign hardware systems
at prices varying from about $500
for an MBox 2 on up. DV Toolkit,
$995.
Digidesign, 2001 Junipero Serra
Blvd., Daly City, CA 94014-3886.
650/731-6300.
www.Digidesign.com. Also see
M-Audio.com for the M-Powered
version.
Formats: Mac OS X and Windows
XP. System requirements are pub-
lished on Digidesigns website and
are very specific.
Copy protection: Pro Tools
M-Powered and DV Toolkit use a
PACE iLok dongle. Pro Tools/LE
require Digidesign hardware.
The famous production program has become a
lot more composition-friendly
T
heres no denying that Digidesign Pro
Tools is one of the most significant
products in the history of audio and
music technology. By coming along with the
right features at a time when the only alterna-
tives were a whole lot more expensive, it was
able to achieve industry standard status in
the early 90s.
But the fact that its managed to hold on
to that position all this time is remarkable.
There are many other excellent DAWs in
todays highly competitive high-tech world,
yet people now use pro tools as a verb.
Pro Tools TDM hardware, a bank of add-
on DSP chips still present (in more advanced
form) in Digidesigns high-end HD systems,
provided the platform that launched the
entire DSP plug-in industry. We might take it
for granted that computers are powerful
enough to run a lot of plug-ins and V.I.s on
their own, but it wasnt always so.
Pro Tools evolved from beginnings as a
humble audio editor, and while it always had
somewhat rudimentary MIDI features, most
musicians used it for production rather than
composition. Digidesign has been taking
strides to change that, starting with version 6.
Version 7 is getting pretty serious.
Bundles
You can run other software using Pro Tools
hardware as the audio interfacein fact v. 7
on the Mac with an MBox 2 interface seems
to have lower-latency CoreAudio driversbut
Digidesign Pro Tool 7
software
Fig. 1 Pro Tools Edit window with a small Mix window overlapped just for show. These stereo audio tracks
are actually locked pairs of mono tracks.
the Pro Tools software requires either
Digidesign or M-Audio hardware to run.
There are three versions of the software:
Pro Tools (for HD systems), Pro Tools LE (for
Digidesign MBox 1 and 2 or 002/002 Rack
hardware), and Pro Tools M-Powered (for
most M-Audio interfaces; M-Audio is now a
Digidesign company). Other than the differ-
ent hardware support, the main software dif-
ferences between the full version and the
lighter LE and M-Powered versions are that
the latter two are limited to 32 audio tracks
(16 stereo) and the former can do surround
sound as well as stereo and mono.
There are also differences between LE and
M-Powered. LE, which only comes with an
MBox 2 or 002/R, has more plug-ins, sup-
ports Digidesigns Command|8 and
Control|24 controllers, andthis is a big one
for some usessupports the DV Toolkit
option (see sidebar), which adds some post-
production features similar to what the full
Pro Tools HD software has.
Both M-Powered and LE come with
Digidesigns DigiRack and Bomb Factory plug-
in bundles, which include a big selection of all
the standard effects and processors you could
think of. They also come with Propellerhead
Reason Adapted, but LE includes the Ignition
Pack, which is where the action is for VI read-
ers: FXpansion BFD Lite drums; IK Multimedia
SampleTank 2 SE, Amplitube LE, and T-Racks
EQ; Celemony Melodyne Uno Essential pitch
shifting software; Bunker 8 REX file CD; and
some extras. These are light versions, but
theyre nothing to sneeze at.
Apart from those differences, the Pro Tools
software versions are all very similar, in fact
sessions are compatible across all three ver-
sions. Pro Tools LE or M-Powered will attempt
to open the RTAS versions of TDM plug-ins
and vice versa. The only caveats are that
some supported hardware is capable of run-
ning sessions at 96kHz or 192kHz sampling
rates, and LE/M-Powered only see the first 32
mono audio tracks. Also, you cant have M-
Powered and another Pro Tools version on the
same machine.
We reviewed Pro Tools 7 on a new MBox 2
USB interface on a dual 2.5GHz G5 Mac, but
the minimum requirements for this and all
the other supported interfaces are consider-
ably lower. Digidesign qualifies and disquali-
fies specific Macs and PC models theyve test-
ed, but in general the minimum PC is a
2.4GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent running
Windows XP, and the minimum Mac has a
1GHz processor. You can also run Pro Tools
on slower machines with reduced perform-
ance.
Overview
Its impossible to list every single feature in
any sophisticated DAW, so instead well try to
get across the general feel for what its like
working in Pro Tools.
Like all DAWs, Pro Tools is a complete pro-
duction environment, from recording to edit-
ing to automated processing and mixing. It
also supports integrated video playback with
output to FireWire, in fact a lot of composers
maintain a separate Pro Tools LE rig just for
video playback (this doesnt work with M-
Powered).
Most of the action takes place in two main
windows: Edit, which is similar to most DAWs
tracks overview display; and Mix, which is
an onscreen mixer that you dont even need
to use (because all its functions are incorpo-
rated in the Edit window).
You do open up other screens for various
functions, such as setting up the session, but
in general the 2-window structure is a unique
aspect of the Pro Tools interface. Rather than
going into a waveform editor window, for
example, you simply zoom in from the Edit
window.
There are a few different types of tracks in
Pro Tools: Audio tracks, Auxiliary Input tracks
(which accept audio interface and bus
inputs), MIDI tracks, and the new Instrument
tracks well discuss shortly. Pro Tools LE/M-
Powered can run 32 Audio, 256 MIDI, and
VI
f e a t u r e
O
ne of the knocks on Pro Tools LE has always been that it doesnt have a timecode display.
Contrary to popular opionion, Pro Tools LE was always able to sync to timecodeit was just
the ruler that was missing, which limited its usefulness as a post-production tool; you need to be
able to see timecode to spot things to picture.
Digidesign now offers a $1000 add-on option called DV Toolkit for Pro Tools LE (not M-
Powered), which adds the timecode and foot/frames displays, enables timecode and video rate
pull-up and down, and includes three other pieces of software. The first piece of software is
DigiTranslator, which endows Pro Tools LE with OMF and AAF format importing and exporting
for interchange with other DAWs and AVID video editing systems.
Second, Digidesigns venerable DINR LE noise reduction software is included. You feed DINR a
little bit of the noise to be removed, and it automatically constructs a sliding filter to get rid of it.
The idea is that you can use it for cleaning up noise off digital video tracks. Depending on the
noise to be removed, DINR is usually good for a few dB of reduction before it becomes audible,
and in my experience you get the best results by feeding things through it twice at less aggres-
sive settings.
Third, Synchro Arts VocAlign Project stretches and shrinks a source audio file to line up with a
target. The ostensible use for this is making replacement dialog line up with the original, but you
can use it for a lot of other things as wellthe algorithms are clean enough.
DV Toolkit
Fig. 2 A potpourri of MIDI features in the Edit window.
Really, the program is full of quick and easy
features. You can tab or option-tab to the
next or previous region boundary. Another
mode tabs to the next transient peak in the
waveform. Hitting the right and left arrow
jump to the end and beginning of a selection.
If youre doing something like sound
effects editing, for example, you can use file-
based AudioSuite plug-ins to spot-process files
without having to bother using automation.
You might want to EQ out a stray noise, raise
the gain, apply noise reductionor apply any
other of a billion processes to a single sound
effect.
If you set the Trim tool to time-stretch
audio region boundaries rather than just mov-
ing their boundaries, you can use the
AudioSuite time-stretching/pitching program
of your choice (I tend to gravitate to Sound
Toys Speed, but there are several other good
ones such as Serrato PitchnTime).
Again, these are mostly random details and
features to give you a feel for the program.
Using Pro Tools becomes a dance. Its hard to
articulate what makes great programs this
way, but you really appreciate the design
when theyre still enjoyable to work with after
a few hourseven though youre tired.
New audio features
The first improvement in version 7 is that
the native RTAS processing is more efficient;
apparently Digidesign updated a lot of the
legacy OS 9 code on the Mac version. We
didnt bother installing an older version of Pro
Tools to see how big the improvement is, but
the RTAS version of a stereo Waves
Renaissance Channel plug-in adds about a
10% processor load in Pro Tools, compared
to about 8% for the Audio Unit version in
Logic Audio 7which is essentially the same
(this is a statistical tie, because the percentage
moves around).
A single instance of Spectrasonics RMX
groove module used up about 8% CPU in Pro
Tools 7 and 2.5% in Logic, but interestingly
the same groove inside the plug-in used up
about 135MB of memory in Pro Tools and
190MB in Logic. What this means is that Pro
Tools 7 is in line with other host-based pro-
grams. These figures will vary depending on
now 32 Instrument tracks (HD systems have
128 audio and Instrument tracks). You could
actually load audio files into a soft sampler to
get around the 32-track limitation in LE and
M-Powered.
While you can export stereo files and
import stereo files, Pro Tools uses only mono
files; stereo tracks are actually dual-mono
bundles. Pro Tools does not have a faster-
than-real-time bounce function, although it
can bounce individual edited tracks into a
consolidated file very quickly.
There are multiple playlists for each track
(meaning that the settings stay the same but
you select the audio or MIDI in a track from a
drop-down list). Pro Tools has sophisticated
beat mapping features for marking bars and
beats to music that was recorded without a
metronome, and a Beat Detective feature lets
you extract grooves from audio or MIDI and
apply them elsewhere. A new v. 7 feature is
that you can now drag REX and ACID loop
files onto tracks.
Most DAWs have similar basic features, but
the reason those of us who use Pro Tools as
an editor like it so much is that its interface is
extremely quick and fluid. There are ten bil-
lion examples how easy it is to get around,
but one totally random example would be
that you just hit the - (minus) key to toggle
between a waveform display and an editable
volume graph (a line) superimposed over the
waveform.
Another example would be the multi-pur-
pose Smart tool, which changes the cursor
from the standard Selector to the Trimmer or
Time-stretcher to the region Grabber to the
Fade-generator depending on where you
hover the mouse. (Every user has his favorite
feature requests; mine is for a modifier key to
lock the Selector temporarily, because I find
myself inadvertently creating fade files when
editing close to region edges with the Smart
tool.)
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 56)
Fig. 3 Pro Tools Strip Silence window shows the audio below its threshold graphically. You can strip the
material beneath the threshold (A), and a new feature in version 7 lets you extract it (B).
VI
r e v i e w
Fig. 4 The Beat Detective figures out where the transients are, and from there you can generate a tempo
map, make groove templates for audio or MIDI, or automatically cut up a region so you can quantize it
using another groove if you want. Beat Detective works with audio or MIDI.
VI
v e r y d e e p c l i n i c
by David Das
Penetrating suggestions for the
discriminating MOTU Digital Performer user
Pointers for
Performer
Always serve the master
Any time youre working in a project that
contains audio tracks or instrument tracks, its
important to add a Master Fader track to your
project. The Master Fader can be useful if you
want to add plug-ins to your overall mix
(most frequently compression, eq, and/or lim-
iting).
Check out Fig. 1. The Master Fader also
serves another important function: letting you
know when youre clipping. DPs 32-bit mix
bus is virtually impossible to clip. But it
bounces and freezes at 24-bit resolution, so
you can get into a situation where what
youre listening to sounds perfect but what
gets bounced is distorted.
Staying in bounds
So what do you do when you discover the
Master Fader is clipping? Turn it down?
No. The conventional wisdom is that the
Master Fader (or Faders, if youre working with
multiple outs or surround) should generally be
kept at 0dB, at least when mixing; if the overall
level is too high or low, its better to make
adjustments at individual channels. Lowering
the fader would restrict the dynamic range.
(Of course there are obvious exceptions,
such as when youre doing fade-ins or -outs
You can count the number of major
DAWs on one hand. MOTUs Digital
Performer is one of that select group,
and it shows the result of having
been honed over the years.
Of course, sequencers in the mid-
80s only handled MIDI, so DP was
originally just known as Performer.
(You couldnt have run digital audio on
a Mac Plus!) But its digital audio fea-
tures are as sophisticated as youll
find on the market today, and DP con-
tinues to slug it out with the best.
Like all advanced DAWs, DP is a
highly complicated program, and with
time you develop shortcuts, habits,
and hidden tricks to help get your
work done faster. Here are a few of
mine.
You can count the number of major
DAWs on one hand. MOTUs Digital
Performer is one of that select group,
and it shows the result of having
been honed over the years.
Of course, sequencers in the mid-
80s only handled MIDI, so DP was
originally just known as Performer.
(You couldnt have run digital audio on
a Mac Plus!) But its digital audio fea-
tures are as sophisticated as youll
find on the market today, and DP con-
tinues to slug it out with the best.
Like all advanced DAWs, DP is a
highly complicated program, and with
time you develop shortcuts, habits,
and hidden tricks to help get your
work done faster. Here are a few of
mine.
Fig. 1: You wont distort
DPs 32-bit mix bus, but it
writes to 24-bit files, and
you wont hear the distor-
tion shown here until you
do a Freeze or bounce to
disk. Thats why its a good
idea always to use a master
fader.
and when youre using a
Master Fader as a func-
tional volume control for
a headphone mix or a
special mix sent to a sep-
arate output.)
You may therefore
assume that the best
way to remedy this is to
grab each fader individu-
ally to bring them all
down, eyeballing each
one to maintain the mix
proportion. But theres a
better way: the very
handy W trick.
Hold down the W key
as you grab any fader on
the mixing board. Youll
see all visible faders
move in the same direc-
tion and proportionally
to the one you grab.
Note that I said all visible
faders. This only applies
to the ones that are cur-
rently visible in the mix-
ing board. So if there are
any tracks you want to
exclude from your
adjustment, make sure to
hide them before using
the W trick.
If your Master Fader is
visible, its going to get
reduced too. But a sim-
ple double-click on its
fader will return it to 0dB.
One last caveat: if youve already recorded
volume automation on any tracks, then this
trick isnt going to work. DP will obligingly
reduce the faders as you use the W trick, but
as soon as you hit Play, any tracks with vol-
ume automation enabled are going to jump
back to their automated levels. And that leads
to the Trim plug-in (Fig. 2).
Trim
What do you do when youve painstakingly
recorded detailed volume automation into a
track, but then later decide that you need to
adjust the global level of the track while
maintaining all your detailed automation in
relative proportions? There are a few ways to
approach this, but one quick and easy way is
to use the oft-overlooked Trim plug-in.
Pop the Trim plug-in on an audio, aux, or
instrument track, adjust its level, then all the
volume automation adjustments will remain,
plus or minus the number of dB youve set in
the Trim plug-in.
New file template
Its very important to set up a New File
Template (NFT). To do this, open a brand
new DP document, check all the settings to
make sure theyre exactly the way you want
them and all the windows are positioned just
where you like them.
Then go to the File menu and choose
Save As Template. In the dialog box that
comes up, click Use as default New
Template.
Other things you may want to save in your
NFT are a specific arrangement of windows
(just the way you like them when starting a
new project), Audio Bundles, a default track
layout, frequently used virtual instrument
tracks, and anything else thats project-specific.
One other advantage to having a NFT: if
you run all your sessions at 24-bits (and
theres no reason to use anything else in these
days of inexpensive disk storage), then you
can avoid starting at 16 bits by mistake.
Save your MIDI and Instrument
tracks
As you get closer to the end of the project,
it makes sense to freeze instrument tracks as
audio to save voices, or maybe so you can
chop them up and post-process them with
effects. However, theres always that dark day
when a singer comes back in and is itching
for the entire song half a step up or down, or
3BPM faster or slower well after youve frozen
your tracks to audio.
Thats why its absolutely vital to keep all
your source MIDI tracks and virtual instru-
ment tracks, even if theyre no longer active.
You just never know when you may need
access to them again, even after a project is
completely over.
MIDI tracks consume a very tiny amount of
memory, so theres no reason not to keep
them. Keeping virtual instrument tracks does
cause a drain on your CPU, though, which
leads to the next point.
Keeping the CPU on the DL
Keeping no-longer-needed MIDI tracks is
no big deal; simply muting them is enough.
But instrument tracks pose a separate prob-
lem: if you leave them active, theyre going to
VI
Fig. 2: The Trim plug-in is the answer when you need to make relative level adjustments after having written
mix automation.
Sequencers in the mid-80s only handled MIDI, so
DP was originally just known as Performer. You
couldnt have run digital audio on a Mac Plus!
suck your computers CPU even if theyre not
actively being played/triggered. But theres an
easy way to keep them in your project but
dormant: de-assign their outputs.
Please look at Fig. 3. While instrument
tracks are in use, theyre normally assigned to
your regular output bundle (the one you
monitor through). But pull down the output
menu in the Tracks window, Mixing Board, or
Sequence Editor, and switch the output to
. This renders instrument, aux, audio,
and Master Fader tracks dormant; any plug-
ins that were on them are now inactive.
All their settings are remembered, but
theyre not using up any more CPU. If you
ever need to go back to them, though, youre
just one click away from reactivating them.
Wherefore V.I.?
Working with a lot of V.I.s usually requires
window, holding down the T key, then setting
the color of any of them. Result: all selected
tracks will inherit your new color selection.
Over the years Ive grown into a set pattern
of color-coding tracks that makes it easy to
understand and navigate around a session
that may not have been opened in a long
time. Youll want to develop your own sys-
tem, of course, but as an example I color-
code any unused tracks (e.g. MIDI and instru-
ment tracks that have been frozen so are no
longer in use) the palest color in the palette
(often white or yellow). I use all the vivid col-
ors to designate instrument groups (drums,
bass, keys, guitars, vocals, etc.). Finally, I use
the darkest color for my Master Fader.
Blank MIDI tracks to divide
DP doesnt feature any kind of track
dividers to help you organize your tracks, so if
you feel the need to group them (beyond
using track colors), you can use an unas-
signed MIDI track. Just use the Project menu
to Add MIDI Track and give that MIDI track
an appropriate name.
Check out Fig. 5. You might want to put it
in all caps and use some special characters to
make it stand out, e.g. *****DRUMS*****.
Then put your drum tracks right below that.
frequent trips to the instrument panel. If
your mixer is the foreground window, you
can just double-click on the instruments
insert slot. But if your mixer isnt visible,
theres a very handy keyboard shortcut
thatll get you to the virtual instruments
panel quickly.
Highlight the instrument tracks name in
the Tracks window or the Sequence Editor,
then hit shift-F. Shift-F is actually a shortcut to
bring up whatever plug-in in in the top slot of
any track you use it on, but since the instru-
ment plug-in is always in the first slot of an
instrument track, itll do the trick.
Color coordinate
As shown in Fig. 4, many people use track
colors to group their tracks visually. You can
quickly recolor a group of tracks all at once
by selecting several track names in the Tracks
VI
Fig. 3: De-assigned Instrument tracks take up no resources, but they can be recalled easily.
Fig. 4: Color-coordinated tracks are all the rage this season.
VI
f e a t u r e
by Nick Batzdorf
part 3: software
A beginners guide to putting together a DAW (digital
audio workstation) for softsynths and samplers
First DAW
DAWs
Digital Audio Workstations (a.k.a. digital
audio sequencers, or these days just
sequencers) form the backbone of most musi-
cians V.I.-oriented set-ups. These cradle to
grave programs cover the entire production
process from composition to the completed
piece of music.
They record audio and MIDI on side-by-
side tracks, they host V.I.s and plug-ins,
theyre good at editing audio, they have
automated mixing features, they host video
clips if youre scoring, most of them have
notation sectionsand the major ones have
been continually developed over at least a
decade, which shows in how sophisticated
they are. If you take a step back, every one of
the five major DAWs is an astonishing piece of
work.
On the Mac you have MOTU Digital
Performer (see the Very Deep Clinic in this
issue) and Apple Logic Audio. Then on both
Mac and Windows you have Digidesign Pro
Tools (reviewed and also Very Deep Clinic-ed
in this issue) and Steinberg Cubase and
Nuendo. Cakewalk Sonar is PC only. All but
Digital Performer have lighter and heavier ver-
sions in their families; all but Pro Tools have
notation sections.
These programs attempt to be the only
program you need, integrating features that
used to require a suite of third-party add-ons.
They also include a dizzying array of plug-ins
and often V.I.s.
Yet they all host third-party plug-ins and
instruments as well. Furthermore, theyre
capable of acting as ReWire hosts; ReWire is a
protocol for streaming other programs and
instruments into the DAWs mixer, with the
two programs completely synchronized. You
can also trigger a ReWire slave with MIDI
from the master program, in which case the
slave just behaves like a plug-in V.I.
Other DAWs
The List of Five doesnt encompass the
entire DAW universe. Mackie Designs offers a
The music software universe consists of several dif-
ferent, sometimes overlapping, loose categories of
programs. In this episode were going take a birds
eye look at them so you can decide what works best
for your applications.
One thing that bears reiterating from last time: if
youre in the market for an audio interface, take a look
at the software bundle that comes with it. Developers
license light versions for bundling in order to gain
more users, and of course to get you interested in
upgrading to the full versions.
They know that toy software isnt going accomplish
either goal; the light versions are usually very capable.
Apple Logic Pro
VI
f e a t u r e
relatively recent newcomer called Traktion, for
example. While Traktion is a lighter weight
program than the major DAWs (and priced
accordinglythats not intended to be a dis),
its single-screen interface is streamlined quite
nicely.
At the other end of the spectrum you get
Magix Samplitude and Sequoia, PC programs
that focus on mastering and precision audio
editing. Steinberg Nuendo listed earlier could
be mentioned in the same breath, although it
has a lot of composition-oriented features as
well.
2-track editors
BIAS Peak is an example of a 2-track editor
that offers all kinds of mastering features. You
can use it for sound design, polishing a mix
(running it through plug-ins, etc.), building
an album playlist, noise reduction (BIAS
SoundSoap Pro works really well), or burning
CDs. Peak is also very good for sample edit-
ing, in fact thats how it started; it has a lot of
tools built in. You can
even launch Peak as
your 2-track editor auto-
matically from within a
DAW.
Apple includes a pro-
gram called WaveBurner
Pro with Logic Pro that
has some of the same
functions as Peak, but
its a lighter program.
They also have a pro-
gram called SoundTrack
Pro designed for paint-
by-the-numbers DIY
scores for digital
videos, but you could
use it for other things.
There are many other
2-track editors around,
and they can be useful as
an add-on to your DAW
software.
New takes on the
DAW
While all the DAWs are
capable of dealing with
loops quite handily,
Ableton Live and Sony
ACID live and breathe
loops. Their essential fea-
ture is that you can drop
any audio snippet onto
their main window, and it
automatically gets adjusted
to play at the right tempo
without changing pitch
(unless you want to
change the pitch).
These programs are
great for throwing togeth-
er pieces of music really
quickly. More than that,
theyve become part and parcel of a whole
musical genre. We featured a very deep Very
Deep Clinic on Live in our 9-10/05 issue. Live
works on Mac and PC.
And dont forget about Apple GarageBand,
a program that costs $79 as part of the iLife
bundle or comes free with every new Mac.
GarageBand does the same thing as ACID
and Live with loops, it records 16-bit audio, it
does MIDI, and it comes with a whole lot of
very usable V.I.s. And it has guitar amp mod-
eling, and it has inexpensive Jam Packs avail-
able that have a lot of surprisingly good con-
tent. You can bring the Jam Pack content with
you if you upgrade to Apple Logic Express or
Pro.
We covered GarageBand in our inaugural
issue. Its a great program for getting started
in our world.
All-in-ones
Propellerhead Reason (another product
with a Very Deep Clinic in our 7-8/05 inaugu-
ral issue) and FL Studio are both self-con-
tained environments that feature a host of
without wanting to set artificial boundaries
mostly electronica-oriented instruments.
Reason has its own rudimentary MIDI
sequencer, along with an entire virtual rack of
instruments and processors. If you prefer not
to use the built-in sequencer, Reason can also
stream into a DAW via ReWire.
Hosts
Some V.I.s have stand-alone versions, oth-
ers require a host to run. If youre dedicating
slave computers to V.I. use for a program that
doesnt operate stand-alone, then there are
stand-alone programs whose main function is
to host V.I.s
Steinberg V-Stack, Plogue Bidule (which
does more than just hosting), XLUTOP
Chainer, Brainspawn Forte, plasq RAXthere
are a lot of them. If youre going this route,
be sure it hosts V.I.s, not just plug-ins.
Bias Peak Pro
Mackie Traktion
Steinberg Cubase
by Jim Aikin
VI
programs have RTAS versions, though, so
check for compatibility before you buy.
Some plug-ins require authorization the
first time theyre run. Were not going to
cover that process here, as it tends to be dif-
ferent for each plug-in. Instead, well focus on
how things work in Pro Tools LE.
Track setup
After creating a new session or loading an
existing one, youll need to create an
Instrument track for the plug-in using the
Create Tracks dialog (see Fig. 1). The
Instrument track type, which is new in 7.0,
combines the functions of MIDI and aux
tracks. If youre using an older version of Pro
Tools, you should create both audio and MIDI
tracks for the plug-in. This method still works
in 7.0, making it compatible with sessions
created in older versions.
If youre using separate MIDI and aux
tracks, give the tracks suitable names (such as
BassSynth A for the audio and BassSynth M
for the MIDI). After creating the track(s),
inswer your plug-in instrument (see Fig. 2). If
your plug-in can be addressed multitimbrally
on several MIDI channels at once, you may
V E R Y D E E P C L I N I C :
Pro Tools and V.I.s
Using Pro Tools LE 7.0
Like most modern DAWS, Pro Tools is
happy to host plug-in synths, to record
MIDI tracks that will play them, and to
automate the plug-ins parameters. Setting
up and using a virtual instrument in Pro
Tools is easy, but there are a few details
you need to be aware of.
Both Pro Tools M-Powered and LE host
plug-ins in the RTAS (Real-Time AudioSuite)
format, so when installing a new synth you
need to make sure to check the RTAS box in
the installer window. (Pro Tools TDM hosts
RTAS as well as TDM, and everything here
applies to that version too.) If youve installed
a plug-in earlier in a different format, such as
VST or AU, you may be able to add the RTAS
version by running the installer again. Not all
Fig. 1: The Create Tracks dialog box.
Taking advantage of the new
composition features.
want to create several MIDI tracks and assign
each of them to a different MIDI input in the
plug-in (see Fig. 3).
Some plug-in synths provide multiple audio
outputs. By default, Pro Tools LE will route all
of the outputs to the main audio output of
the instrument, aux, or audio track where the
synth is inserted. If you want to process the
outputs through separate effects or EQ, you
can create an aux track for each output and
assign the plug-in as the input to the aux
track. (For some reason this input is grayed
out in my copy of Pro Tools LE, but
Digidesign assures me the procedure works.)
Click on the Record (R) button for the MIDI
or instrument track and play a few notes on
your MIDI controller. You should hear the
plug-in, and the meters should respond. If
you dont hear
anything, its
possible that
you need to
choose a preset
for the plug-in.
Click on the
insert at the top
of the channel
strip. The plug-
ins edit window
will open.
Choose a preset
and make what-
ever settings you
may need.
Still dont
hear anything?
Create a MIDI
track and click
on its R button.
If the meter in
the channel strip
doesnt move
when you play
your controller, that means MIDI isnt reach-
ing Pro Tools. Go to the Setup menu, choose
MIDI > Input Devices..., and make sure your
controller is enabled in the MIDI device list
(see Fig. 4).
Setting up programs like Reason and FL
Studio as ReWire clients works much like set-
ting up other softsynths: just choose the pro-
gram as an insert from the Instrument sub-
menu. Ive had better luck with Reason when
I create separate MIDI tracks on which to play
it. Sending the MIDI keyboard performance
to the instrument track on which Reason is
inserted doesnt work, because Pro Tools
doesnt know which Reason module to send
the MIDI to. Each Reason module is available
as a separate destination for a Pro Tools MIDI
track.
Also, theres room for some MIDI routing
confusion, because Reason will respond to
MIDI input directly in addition to MIDI routed
through Pro Tools. When using Reason as a
ReWire client, create a dummy track in its
sequencer and make sure the MIDI input is
active for the dummy track.
Freezing
As of version 7.0, Pro Tools LE still lacks the
convenient Track Freeze function found on
many DAWs. Track
freezing disables the
plug-in instrument in
place and creates a
temporary audio file
containing its audio
output, which is used
for playback. Track
freezing is used to free up CPU resources for
other tracks.
Pro Tools will allow you to print the audio
output from a plug-in to a new track. To print
the signal, choose an unused bus as the out-
put of the instrument track and the same bus
as the input of an audio track. Put the audio
track in record and record the signal as a new
region. After printing the track, you can
bypass the plug-in (see Fig. 5) while keeping
the performance and automation data in the
track in case you need it later.
Automating parameters
Some plug-ins allow many parameters to be
automated; others are
more limited. To learn
exactly how your plug-
in handles automation,
consult its manual.
Basically, there are two
ways to do automation:
with MIDI controller
data or with host-based
automation. Lets look
at how Pro Tools han-
dles these.
First, go to the
Window menu and
bring up the
Automation Enable
box (see Fig. 6). Make
sure plug-in is high-
lighted. Then open the plug-in. At the top of
its window, click on the auto button. This
will open the Plug-In Automation window
(see Fig. 7), in which you can choose the
parameters that you want to automate. After
clicking on them in the list on the left, click
the Add button to move them into the active
list, which is on the right. Some plug-ins will
publish the names of their parameters to the
list; others will provide only numbers.
If you see only a list of numbers, you may
need to take the extra step of assigning num-
bers to the parameters you want to control.
In Native Instruments Battery 2, for instance,
this is done by right-clicking on a knob (see
Fig. 8) and then double-clicking on an avail-
able controller to add it to the list.
Once this assignment is made, youre ready
to record automation. Select the synths audio
VI
Fig. 2: Create the virtual instrument as an insert.
Fig. 3: Routing a MIDI track to one of the channels
of a multitimbral synth.
Fig. 4: The MIDI device list. Ive installed MIDI-Yoke
NT, which provides inter-application MIDI commu-
nication on my PC.
Fig. 5.
The bypass button.
Fig. 6: The Automation
Enable box.
track, click the Play button (not Record), and
move the knob or fader in the synths panel.
When you play the track again, the knob
should move. (For information on Pro Tools
various automation modes, see pp. 536-570
in the Reference Guide.)
When youve recorded some automation
using on-screen knobs or faders, the
Automation Mode selector in the track con-
trol column will change (by default) to
latch. Latch mode is a good choice, as it
lets you continue to write more automation
to the same track without erasing what has
already been recorded. For details on the vari-
ous modes, consult the Reference Guide.
To edit automation data, click on the Track
View selector and choose a type of data to
display from the pop-up menu (see Fig. 9).
Youll see the curve youve recorded as a
string of points. These points can be edited
using the Selector, Grabber, or Pencil tool.
Depending on your instruments features,
you may also be able to automate parameters
using MIDI Control Change data. This data
can be recorded into the instrument track
from an external controller or drawn with the
Pencil tool. At the bottom of the Track View
selector menu for a MIDI track youll find the
controllers submenu. When you choose
Add/Remove Controller in this submenu, a
box very similar to Fig. 4 will open up listing
the available MIDI Control Change messages.
Lots of tools for pros
In the past, Pro Tools was thought of main-
ly as an audio recorder, not as a MIDI
sequencer or a host for instrument plug-ins.
But version 7 gives V.I. users some welcome
features. Not all V.I.s are available in RTAS for-
mat, but fxpansion (www.fxpansion.com)
makes a VST-to-RTAS wrapper, which at this
writing is being updated for Pro Tools 7. This
wrapper will allow both VST synths and VST
effects to be used in Pro Tools, which increas-
es its value as a recording platform for those
of us who work in bedroom and garage stu-
dios. VI
Jim Aikin has been writing about music tech-
nology for more than 25 years. He also plays
electric cello and writes novels. For late-breaking
news on his varied activities, visit www.music-
words.net.
VI
Fig. 7: In the Plug-In Automation window, choose parameters to automate and click the Add button.
Fig. 8: Assigning automation to a parameter in
Native Instruments Battery 2. Fig. 9: Selecting a type of automation data to edit with the Track View selector.
Setting up and using a
virtual instrument in Pro
Tools is easy, but there
are a few details you
need to be aware of.
Review by Nick Batzdorf
VI
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S
ampled orchestras have really come
into their own over the past three years
or so. In addition to a number of more
compact libraries, there are now three major
ones on the market, each recorded quite dif-
ferently from the other two: Vienna
Symphony Orchestra, East West Quantum
Leap Symphony Orchestra, and the one were
reviewing here, Sonic Implants Symphonic
Collection.
SISCs approach falls smack in the middle
of the other two. VSL was recorded in a spe-
cially-constructed studio with very short
reverb so you can (and must) add your own
ambience. EWQLSO was recorded in a big
concert hall from close, stage, and hall mic
positions that you can combine; by design,
even the close mics have a lot of natural
reverb.
SISC has a somewhat intimate sound with a
nice amount of ambience. It has a lovely warm
sound that works well on its own, or it has no
problem taking on some additional ambience if
you want a more bombastic effect. The library
was recorded in Sonic Temple Studio in
Roslindale, MA; it sounds like it was recorded in
a nice live room the size of a small auditorium
rather than a concert hall.
The strings in SISC have been around for a
while, and a lot of composers swear by them
because of their wonderful sound. Now SI has
completed the orchestra, adding the three
other volumes: Woodwinds, Brass, and
Percussion. The entire collection is about
80GB, and each of the volumes comes on five
DVDs. You can buy individual sections or the
entire library (at about a 20% overall dis-
count, incidentally).
Footprints
This review was done in TASCAM
GigaStudio 3, and the library takes advantage
of its latest features. Its also available for Giga
2, EXS24, and Kontakt.
Like all modern streaming sample libraries,
SISC has way too much content to load in a
single machine all at once; three would be
more like it. However, its by no means over
the topthe programs tend to cover a lot of
mileage, and I found the whole library quite a
bit more playable than others; you dont have
to do as much articulation-swapping as one
might expect.
Thats due in part to the articulations SI
chose to record, to the programming, and also
to the fact that there isnt an unmanageable
number of articulations. Some of the programs
have four dynamic layers and release samples,
though, so its not like they skimped on any-
thing. And theres a lot in there.
Another way SI gets mileage out of the
Giga 3 version is by using the new Dynamic
Expression Filter (DEF) in some of the pro-
grams. If you read the interview with the
Giga people in our last issue, DEF is a very
steep morphing filter that can sound very nat-
ural. You can trigger a note at any velocity
you choose, but then you can open and close
the filter to vary the dynamics just like the
players breath or bow would. The trick is not
Sonic Implants
Symphonic Collection
SIs string library has achieved notoriety among
many pro composers, and now theyve
completed the orchestra
Sonic Implants Symphonic
Collection, $2995; Individual
sections: Strings, Woodwinds,
Brass, $995 each; Percussion,
$695. Available in GigaStudio 3,
GigaStudio 2, EXS24, and Kontakt
formats.
www.SonicImplants.com,
617/718-0202, 888/769-3788
License: single user, can run on
multiple machines
Aligning audio regions in Digital
Performer, Pro Tools, or most DAWs
A
udio editingwhether youre dealing
with samples or just editing a record-
ingoften involves aligning one audio
region to another. Many DAWs have simple
key commands to make this kind of thing
very easy, and its worth figuring them out.
For example, MOTU Digital Performer
lets you throw Soundbites (regions) to
the edge of the previous or next one.
First, click on the Soundbite to highlight
it.
Control-drag it either to the left or the
right and release the mouse. The
Soundbites edge now butts up against the
edge of the next one in the direction you
threw it.
Likewise in Digidesign Pro Tools, you can
move either side of a region to the cursor.
Its hard to see here, but the cursor is at the
right of the region called Tail.
Control-clicking on the region called
Slipknot with the Grabber tool (the one
shaped like a hand) moves its head to the
cursor,
and Shift-Control clicking on it moves its
tail to the cursor.
This works wherever the cursor is in Pro
Toolsit doesnt have to be at the edge of
another region.
Apple Logic Audio has a command called
Pickup Clock that moves a regions head to
the cursor, and many other DAWs have a
similar feature.
VI
r e v i e w
random
tip
to succumb to the temptation to use it over
an unrealistically wide range, in fact it might
be a good idea to narrow the range for easier
control.
But the DEF filter is really impressivenot
synthy like one might expectin fact I con-
sider it a highlight of the library. Or is it a
highlight of Giga 3?
Depth
SISC includes a very healthy selection of
playing techniques for each instrument, and
then within each .gig file theres a good selec-
tion of programmed variations. Here again
SISCs approach is in the middle of the other
two big librariescertainly not as systematic
as VSL, which has nearly identical articulations
for every instrument; and more consistent
than EWQLSO, which tends to tailor what it
includes to each instrument and feature more
special dynamics.
So without going through every instru-
ment, lets say you find yourself in the mood
for some bassoon. Youll find two bassoons,
solo bassoon, and contrabassoon; you select
solo bassoon and see that the available .gig
files are Effects, Legato (Trans Modeanother
Giga 3 feature well explain shortly), Legato,
Runs, Staccato, and Trills.
Figuring youll need legato (meaning long
notes), you open the .gig and are greeted
with a list of 42 programs. On closer exami-
nation you see that the middle group is the
same as the first group, only without release
samples (ostensibly to reduce memory but
also if youre using different reverb), and the
bottom group contains a few program varia-
tions with and without vibrato that use Giga
3s DEF filter.
That whittles the list down to the first 18
programs, which include dynamic layers, slow
and regular attacks, vibrato and no vibrato,
and programs that keyswitch or crossfade
between variations of the above. So what
may have looked intimidating at first is really
not very difficult to learn.
SISC includes alternate takes of some
notes, an important feature for variety. If you
look at the staccato solo bassoon .gig, there
are only five programs: one that round-robins
between three takes, one that keyswitches
between them, and then the three takes on
their own.
As to the remainder of the solo bassoon
content, the Runs .gig has up and down runs
that you can switch with the modwheel or
keyswitch; there are slow- and fast-starting
half and whole step trills, with and without
releases; and then the Effects .gig. These are
different for every instrument, but theyre
great. In the case of solo bassoon, you get
key clicks and various overblowing noises,
again with and without release samples.
Other woodwinds have similar effects, but
of course theyre different for every instru-
ment. String instruments have effects like
behind the bridge noises, scratches, clusters,
and all kinds of things like that.
Now, the bassoon is just a random exam-
ple. Trombones and French horns have con-
siderably more .gigs, for example there are
bone falls and slides, pedal tones, flutter
tongues, mutes for both instruments, muted
and unmuted rips, double-tongue programs,
glisses, sfz programs (including ones that end
in a sustained note that you can then control
with the DEF filtervery nice), bells-up pro-
gramsand on and on.
Likewise the strings have both first and sec-
ond violins, col legno programs, sordinos,
and both natural and artificial harmonics
each with a full complement of programsas
well as expressive programs with subtle
swells up and down. (As in any library, you
have to be careful to avoid the sucking into
Anyway, why would you want to miss the best writers in the industry, helping you get
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VI
f e a t u r e
RAM tough
There are only two ways RAM can be used
by samplers. One is to load all the sample
data completely into RAM. The other is to
load a fraction of each sample into RAM, then
stream the rest of it from the hard drive as
needed. This is called buffering.
Since RAM is faster than any hard drive,
you can get a higher voice count by loading
the entire program into memory. However,
that also means you cant load or use nearly
as many instruments.
On the other hand you can have far more
programs cued up for use when you stream
the bulk of them off the disk. You can still get
excellent voice counts when streaming. But
its all a tradeoff.
Buffer size
Some samplers allow you to choose the
amount of data thats buffered when theyre
streamingin other words to adjust the size
of the buffer. A smaller buffer will allow you
to load more instruments, since by definition
it takes less memory for each one.
Remember this will affect performance as
well, though, so I suggest only lowering the
buffers for instruments that will be playing
monophonic lines so youre not hitting the
hard disk very hard. Some software samplers,
notably Native Instruments Kontakt 2, even
allow you to change settings of individual
instruments within each instance.
Take advantage of features like this to get
the most out of your machines.
Nose spiting face
There is no buffer when working from
RAM, so there are really only three options for
shrinking programs. One is to edit each sam-
ple at the waveform level to be shorter, and
create loops or new loops. This is a tedious
option, but it yields the smallest instruments.
Part 3: Saving memory while
youre workingBigFoots, MiniFoots,
and lite versions
by Ahif King Idiot Hakik
T
he last thing we want to worry about when were working
on music is whether or not we have the computer
resources to use a particular instrument we need. But
unless you have 30 computers, maxed out with top specs,
loaded with RAM and fast hard drives, all linked togetheryoure
probably going to run into this problem at some point.
There are three distinct bottlenecks that can hinder the level of
performance you can get out of a sample playback or virtual
instrument rig. One is CPU (processing horsepower), the second
is hard drive seek speed (which affects the number of voices you
can play simultaneously), and the third is the amount of memory
you can access.
In this article Im going to focus on the thirdsample libraries
and their RAM usageas it has the most direct influence on the
number of instrument programs that can be loaded. Its also the
only one of the three bottlenecks we have much control over
(short of simply replacing hardware). Were going to look at
some tricks for minimizing the RAM overhead you need to use
sample libraries effectively.
Sampling
with King Idiot
The second option is to downsample, meaning to reduce the bit rate
of the samples. Reducing the samples from 24- to 16-bit resolution
may not be a terrible compromise, especially for live performance or for
while youre composing.
And the third option is to use one channel of stereo samples so
youre working in mono. All three of these options are good, since they
allow you to replace the shrunken instruments with the original patch
to regain fidelity when youre ready to mix.
These processes are easiest to do with a batch file converter. Just
make sure you copy the original files first so you dont overwrite them.
BigFoots
I like to refer to large, modern streaming sample libraries as
BigFoots. These libraries usually boast high sample counts and large
numbers of articulations to create the most realistic MIDI mock-ups.
Theyre usually sampled chromatically with release triggers and multiple
sampled dynamics, and sometimes multiple mic positions.
You know the type, the ones that eat up hundreds of megabytes.
Many of us love these guys. You see them reviewed in every issue of
this magazine. They sound beautiful and inspire us to write broader
pieces. When used properly, they allow us to reach levels of detail we
couldnt achieve any other way. So we start trying to loading them
upand run into a memory access brick wall.
Im going to give some tips for lowering the RAM footprint of these
libraries without sacrificing great detail in your mock-ups.
Diminishing return
The first trick is for BigFoot libraries that sample each instrument
chromaticallythat is, every note is sampled across the instruments
entire range, at each dynamic. Thats a ton of samples for an instru-
ment like a French horn, or a full choirespecially if you try to load
multiple articulations, or multiple vowels in a choir.
A simple way to lower the RAM usage by about 60% is to reduce the
chromatic sampling down to a diminished scale/chord and stretch each
sample so it covers up one note and down one note. This effectively
reduces the sample count from 12 samples per octave to four.
(You might find the same idea in some commercial libraries, for
example the Vienna Symphonic Library has Basic All programs that
are light versions of the full programs.)
Using TASCAM GigaStudio 2.5s editor as an example, Ill walk
though this process with a patch from Quantum Leaps Voices of the
Apocalypse, a sample library distributed by East/West (www.sound-
sonline.com). Dont worry if youre not a Giga userthe concept is
universal.
Step 1: Open the instrument to be edited, in this case the Womens
Choir Instrument and the patch WC ah MOD C1-C#1.
Step 2: As always, make a copy of the patch youre editing.
Step 3: Starting at the lowest note sampled, select one region, skip
the next, select the one after it, then repeat until you run out of
regions. Or more musically, imagine a diminished scale starting from
the second lowest note up and select all regions not in the scale.
Step 4: Delete all the selected regions. You will notice that there are
considerably fewer left over.
VI
f e a t u r e
The sound of the patch with be
slightly differentnot as good. But
usually the difference in sound isnt
enough to be a distraction while
youre composing/sequencing, and
you can go back to the original
BigFoot patch when youre done.
Step 3: In the when reducing keep box, select Lower Cases.
In Kontakt 2:
Step 1: Select all the Release Trigger groups
Step 2: Delete the selected groups
Step 5: Select all the remaining regions and stretch them all down
one note so they each cover a 2-note spread.
Step 6: Select all the regions again, and stretch all of them up one
note so they now each cover a 3-note spread and the original range of
the patch is restored.
Step 7: Save, and load the patch.
The sound of the patch with be slightly differentnot as good. But
usually the difference in sound isnt enough to be a distraction while
youre composing/sequencing, and you can go back to the original
BigFoot patch when youre done. In fact you may want to save the
patch with the word Lite or something similar for reference.
Released
Many BigFoot-type libraries use release samples. The release usually
adds a distinct sound to the patch, but it can also double the amount
of RAM needed to load the patch. By removing these samples and
using reverb to make up for the lack of ambience trails, you can save a
bit of RAM. Obviously some of the detail will be lost, but again you can
always go back to the original version when its time for the final ren-
dering.
The process of removing the release trails depends on the soft-sam-
pler you use.
With GigaStudio 2.5, its a simple process.
Step 1: First select the Release Trigger Dimension assignment.
Step 2: Set the resolution to 0.
VI
f e a t u r e
The release usually adds a distinct
sound to the patch, but it can also
double the amount of RAM needed
to load the patch.
Deleting only middle dynamics will make the transition between lay-
ers jarring.
If possible, use EQ and filter settings to mimic the dynamic response
of the original patch.
Layers
Many users combine multiple instruments on one MIDI channel to
create a layer of sound. This process can take a huge toll on polyphony
as well as RAM usage.
When you find youre using a particular layer frequently, you may
want to consider resampling the layer and creating a completely new
patch. This is done by recording every note at every dynamic you
want, then creating a brand new patch completely from the new sam-
ples.
You can automate the process using a stand-alone sampler and a
program like Redmatica AutoSampler, or Samplerobot on the PC.
Purge
One last option is to purge samples in samplers that will allow this
(Kontakt 2, Halion, the new VSL Vienna Instruments). You play the sam-
pler your MIDI sequence, and it simply unloads every sample that was-
nt triggered. (Purging is known as RAM Save in Halion.)
This is a great feature for patches that have actual recorded perform-
ance elements such as runs or clusters. Many of us want to use these
As always, make a copy of the original before editing. You may also
find that adjusting the release envelope to a larger value might help
mimic the original release trail performance when you add reverb. Try
to use reverb settings that match the decay length of the original
release trigger; this will make the transition back to the BigFoot patches
more predictable.
You can combine both the above tricks to get an even smaller patch.
I like to call that a MiniFoot patch, one that still plays much like the
original sample set.
Minumum velocity
Dynamic layers also play a part in sample buffering. The more sam-
ples used for each note, the more RAM used to buffer them all.
Generally, removing velocities will really disrupt the way an instrument
performs, so it should only be done when you know you wont be
working on a truly dynamic piece. For example, if you know that every
note in a part is going to be really loud, you dont need the other lay-
ers. And most libraries include programs with fewer dynamic layers.
Removing dynamic layers is a simple process, and I dont think step-
by-step instructions are needed; all you do is delete the unwanted
regions and then stretch the ranges of the leftover regions.
However some general tips when doing this are:
Try to remove alternate dynamic layers if possible (every other one).
Obviously, keep the lower dynamics for a gentler/softer sounding
patch, higher dynamics for a more forceful/louder sounding patch.
VI
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VI
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This review was done
on a 2.8GHz Pentium 4
with 2GB of RAM (a
custom machine made
by BYC Vision), in
Kontakt 1 hosted inside
Steinberg V-Stack.
The approach
Gone are the days
when we only had non-
descript vowel samples
to work with in sampled
choirs. Bela D recorded
the kids singing a few
Latin phrasesAgnus
Dei, Benidictus, etc. (the
phrases are different for
the different ensem-
bles)that you can
scramble to create
movement using an included Mac and PC
utility program called Vocal Control. These
phrases are sampled chromatically up their
range, which of course is rather narrow: the
girls span an octave and a fourth, the boys an
octave and a sixth.
The most basic programs in the library are
those performances at their original tempos,
mapped to the appropriate notes on the
piano keyboard. Just these programs work
surprisingly well if your tempo is close to a
multiple of the original. And since every note
plays the Latin phrase from the beginning,
you can use them for an automatic imitative
counterpoint effect.
All the programs have modwheel filter con-
trol, and using that makes a big difference to
the expression. This goes between a nice dark
sound and a cleaner sound with more air.
There are also programs with the attack rate
assigned to a MIDI controller.
I
ts hard to imagine a more gorgeous, soulful
sound than childrens choir. Well, make that
good childrens choir; the prize-winning
boys and (a first) girls choirs in Bela D Medias
The Giovani EditionVoices of the Young are
in the latter category.
Giovani contains ensemble and smaller
chamber versions of both choirs. Bela D
Media recorded the boys and girls separately,
from close and more distant mic positions in
a church.
This charming 2-DVD library is in Native
Instruments Kontakt format (it requires the
actual sampler, not an OEM player version),
although you can also use it in TASCAM
GigaStudio. Despite its 24-bit resolution,
Giovani isnt especially demanding of memo-
ry or voices. Any Mac or PC capable of run-
ning Kontakt should run the library no prob-
lem, in fact the largest programs are only
about 40MB.
The Giovani EditionVoices
of the Young, $399
Bela D Media, 216 Pavin Ct.,
Newark, DE 19702. 302/233-
5642. www.beladmedia.com
Format: Native Instruments
Kontakt 1.53 or v. 2 (Mac or PC);
TASCAM GigaStudio 3
License: Must have written per-
mission to use in music libraries.
Uniquely lovely sampled boys and girls choirs
with a quick and easy utility to construct the
phrases they sing
Bela D Media
The Giovani Edition
Voices of the Young
Review by Nick Batzdorf
Mincing words
But its the Vocal Control programs that
take the library farthest. The Vocal Control
utility sits between your sequencer and
Kontakt, where its accessed by an internal
MIDI bus (either a freeware loopback utility
on Windows, or on Mac you use the built-in
IAC [inter-application MIDI] driver).
The phrases have been cut up into indi-
vidual syllables that you drag into Vocal
Control slots in the order in which you want
them to sound. So for example the boys
ensemble has between two and four Latin
phrases worth of syllables: ahg-nus-day-yee,
ben-neh-dek-tus, de-yas-ee-ray, and ver-ree-
tas-doh-mee-nee.
Maybe youd want to start an opening
phrase with a stronger consonant syllable,
use some softer vowel syllables for weaker
beats and slurred notes, throw in some soft-
er consonants on accented beats, and so
on. It takes no time at all to construct
phrases, it works absolutely reliably, and
really the only damage you can do is to
have an ss sound sizzling in your reverb in
the wrong place.
Vocal Control provides four up-to-16-slot
patterns, and you either string one pattern
to the previous one or call it up individually
with a keyswitch. The resulting words arent
really discerniblethe effect is just to add
movement and life to your lines.
Each successive syllable is triggered by an
incoming note (using behind-the-scenes
keyswitches), so you can play at any tempo.
The only restriction is that these syllables
arent looped, and most of them are a cou-
ple of seconds long. Theres a workaround if
you need longer sustains: load up the
appropriate sustained vowel programs,
which are looped.
Giovani has a good selection of minced
programs that are Vocal Control-compatible,
including the Custom Vowels. These are
also compatible with the Legato mode well
discuss next. Plus there Moving Vowels pro-
grams (ah nah fee day, etc.), as well as the
Scoring Choirs, which blend vowels and Voice
Control syllables with the mod wheel.
The most dramatic use of Vocal Control syl-
lables is when you play multiple independent
voices. Instead of the imitative counterpoint
you get with the basic programs we men-
tioned earlier, you get the effect of a sea of
singers all singing different words.
If the suspension of disbelief bothers you,
you can use the chamber rather than the
ensemble programs to avoid having so many
voices on each line. My personal favorite pro-
grams are the Ensemble ones, which have just
enough church ambience to sound right but
not so much that you cant add a little more
reverb tail.
VI
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random
tip
R
elease samples are triggered when a note stops sounding, and because
they can add a lot of realism to an instrument, a lot of sample libraries
used them. The improvement can be relatively subtlefor example the
noise of piano dampers dropping on the stringsor they may be a major part
of the sound, for example the hall reverb trails in East West Quantum Leaps
Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Choirs libraries.
Native Instruments Kontakt 1-series instruments, which means the Kontakt
and Kompakt samplers and all the licensed players based on them, only trig-
ger release samples from the keyboard; releasing the sustain pedal doesnt
trigger them. This has been fixed in Kontakt 2, and chances are good that
well see the player versions get updated as well.
In the meantime, theres a workaround: your sequencers Sustain Pedal to
Note Length feature. If your sequencer lacks this feature, you can just perform
the same edits manually, which is
very easy if you display the pedal
Ons and Offs below the notes in a
graphic editor.
As you can see in the before and
after screen dumps, what this does is
search for all note-ons that fall
between a pair of sustain pedal On
and Off commands, stretch the note
lengths to the pedal-off point, and
then delete the sustain pedallings.
This is also a useful feature if
youre printing out notation, since all
the notes will be the right lengths.
Release samples and the Native
Instruments Kontakt 1 family
approached the library from scratch. They
included a whole lot more material, looped
the samples (unlooped versions are available
too), and put it into a sophisticated, 16-part
multitimbral virtual instrument player that
increases its range of expression by a mile.
Systems
Even though its playback engine (which
well detail shortly) can do a fair amount of
processing, Miroslav is not at all computer-
hungry by todays standards. We ran it on a
Mac G5, but any 3- or 4-year old Mac or
Windows machine will easily exceed the mini-
mum and probably also the suggested
requirements. All the programs load in a sec-
ond or two, and you can run an entire
orchestra while barely phasing even a modest
laptop.
Part of the reason for the low requirements
is that the basic programs dont have multiple
velocity layers. Instead, the V.I. lets you assign
velocity to the envelope attack and sample
start position, so soft playing results in a soft-
er attack and vice versa.
VI
r e v i e w
IK Multimedia Miroslav
Philharmonik
IK Multimedia Miroslav
Philharmonik, $599
IK Multimedia US, LLC 1153
Sawgrass Corporate Pkwy.,
Sunrise, FL 33323. 954/846-9101.
http://www.philharmonik.com
Formats: RTAS, VST, DX, Audio
Units.
License: requires included
Syncrosoft dongle.
T
he first time I reviewed the Miroslav
Vitous librarythe original versionwas
about 12 years ago. It was available in
all the major formats (Akai, etc.) but I worked
with the now-defunct Sample Cell II format. If
you were serious, you needed to dig deep
into your wallet and fill the Sample Cell II
card with a full 32MB of RAM. Because of
that unheard of amount of memory, the sam-
ples were actually unlooped.
That was a first, but this library brought
along another new concept thats now the
norm: instead of just playing the parts in real
time using one-size-fits-all articulations, you
were meant to split phrases up and assign
notes to the best onenot that there were all
that many to choose from by todays stan-
dards. All this came at a cost of almost
$4000, which was astonishingly high back
then.
Despite all the advances in sampling tech-
nology that have happened since then, the
Miroslav recordings are still very good. So IK
Multimedia and Sonik Reality bought out the
original 20- and 24-bit archives and
New life for a classic Review by Nick Batzdorf
You can also load (or set up) Combis with
programs in adjacent slots in the V.I. A Range
menu lets you control the velocity range
which each program is triggered. The ranges
can overlap a little for a smooth transition,
and you can sustain a soft note while trigger-
ing harder notes.
Sounds
Miroslavs orchestral instruments are
recorded in placebasses to the right, violins
to the left, etc. You can also pan them in the
player if you need a different arrangement.
The violins come in 24-, 11-, and 4-player
sections, as well as solo. There are also a cou-
ple of variations of all the strings, as well as
programs with different envelope and control
settings. I personally like the sound of the 4-
player section the best, and of course you can
use combinations of sections for different
effects. Naturally, the other string sections are
smaller than the violins, but theyre capable
of producing relatively intimate and large
sounds.
As an example of the range of articulations,
the 11-violin section includes long and short
dtache; slow (two variations) and fast
expressive; muted; non vib.; two pizz varia-
tions; soft; short and standard staccato; fast,
slow, and tremolo sul ponticello; and stan-
dard tremolo. The list is different for the 24-
player section, but it goes into comparable
detail.
Both ensemble and solo versions of the
brass and woodwinds are included, and most
of them have looped programs. Due to the
nature of the instruments, it makes some
sense that there would be fewer woodwind
and brass articulations than there are for
strings. However, the library does have things
like vibrato and non-vibrato clarinets, as well
as special perf programs, which in the case
of clarinets means trill programs.
Youll find the standard complement of
orchestral percussion instruments, including a
nice variety of snares, bass drums, tymps,
cymbals, and other assorted percussion. There
are no pedal-up vibes or chimes, but the
damped effect is simulated in the program-
ming. For me the celeste is one of the high-
lights of the library.
Philharmonik also includes a very healthy
collection of Combis, set up for different
effects. Some of these are layered orchestras,
others are ensemble programs (e.g. brass
ensembles), and still others are dynamic lay-
ers that either go between playing techniques
or actual dynamics.
While the main part of this collection is the
orchestra, Philharmonik Miroslav also includes
male and female choirs, some nice pipe organ
samples with a few different stop settings,
two classical guitars (the first one is subjec-
tively the better of the two), a rather unexcit-
ing piano Steinway grand, a harpsichord, and
some fun background sounds: orchestra tun-
ing, coughing, orchestra warming up, breath-
ing in, and so on.
The choirs are available in various sylla-
blesah, oh, mmm, la, re, si, so, etc.and in
both mixed and individual gender variations.
These programs sound very nice from the
start, but you can get a little more expression
out of the single dynamic layer by assigning
the High Gain to, say, the modwheel so you
Despite all the advances in sampling technology
that have happened since then, the Miroslav
recordings are still very good.
VI
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P
iano aside, no keyboard spans the
gamut of popular music like the
Hammond Electric Organ. Designed by
an engineer as a cheap pipe organ substitute
for churches, its unique sound soon found
righteous abuse in black gospel music. From
there it jumped ship to R & B, and changed
venue from church to club.
Musicians gladly carried the 400-pound
behemoth onto stages and into studios, com-
plete with its sidekick 100- and 60-pound
rotating Leslie speaker. Nothing could com-
pare. The unique percussive attack of the B3
model Hammond, combined with the
Doppler-chorused shimmer and gentle distor-
tion of the Leslie, delivers a sonic glue that
binds pop music of every genre.
Fast forward to the 21st Century, and soft-
ware technology brings us many emulations
of the Hammond/Leslie combo. Perhaps the
most widely known is Native Instruments B4.
A clever name, a lovely interface, and a faith-
ful emulation of the overall acoustic experi-
ence has won the B4 many musicians,
although some players felt that the original
B4 software synth lacked the full richness of
the genuine article.
Im pleased to say that NIs new B4-II has
more than met expectations. Not only has
the sound become warmer and more inti-
mate, but the range of adjustments, model-
ing of cabinets, and overall robustness of the
B4-II paint a silly grin on even a curmudgeon
like me.
Whats new
A number of new adjustments have crowd-
ed the original screen layout. The original
Console View, the main screen, remains. This
is a birds-eye view of the organ, complete
Native Instruments B4-II,
$229; update from original B4,
$99.
Native Instruments USA,
5631A Hollywood Blvd., Los
Angeles, CA 90028. 323/467-
5260. www.NativeInstruments.de
Formats: Windows XP, Mac OS
10.2.6 or higher. VST, Audio Units,
RTAS, DXi, Core Audio, ASIO,
DirectSound.
License: Online challenge/
response installation. Two
machines, one user.
The update to this popular Hammond
organ V.I. paints a silly grin on the face
of a confirmed curmudgeon
Native Instruments
B4-II
By Bruce Richardson
with all the control sliders as well as dual
manuals and a footpedal keyboard that ani-
mate in response to incoming MIDI notes.
The top half of the former Control view is
now divided into an Organ View and an
Expert View. A new Leakage control emu-
lates the harmonic fuzz of an aging
Hammond. This aspect of tone was deter-
mined only by which core tonewheel set the
user loaded in the original B4. The new con-
trol is a nice improvement, allowing a far
greater degree of control over any of the
core organ toneseven those with some
leakage already represented. Crank the
Leakage control to the right, and those
leaky partials will put some hair on your
Hammond.
A new string note-shape envelope pro-
duces those groovy basslines of the later
Hammond models. The sustain mode helps
smooth out lines played with footpedals.
A set of 13 cabinet models replaces the sin-
gle Leslie model offered in the original. In
addition to two models of open and closed
Leslie cabinets, you get an impressive range
of various guitar and bass cabinet types that
greatly expand the tonal range of the overall
instrument. An air adjustment models room
reflections and gives the impression of some
distance.
The new reverb section is a welcome addi-
tion for gigging musicians. Two models are
offered: a studio setting, essentially a room
modeler, and a spring setting, which as the
name implies emulates the spring-reverbs
found in guitar amps.
In addition to the standard control set, a
pre/post fader determines where the reverb
signal is fed into the signal chain in relation-
ship to the cabinet emulation. I particularly
liked the spring reverb emulation, and can
see it becoming a favorite on gigs (although
no matter how hard I beat on my computer
screen, I never got the darn thing to thun-
der for me).
Overall, youll find more detail in almost all
of the features of the original B4, essentially
widening the scope of the package from a B3
emulator to encompass about every feature
that appeared on any model of Hammond
organ (and, of course, some that never did).
The Leslie controllers now include the later
model brake, which decelerates the rotor to
a full stop, and conversely releases it with a
nice acceleration.
Another fantastic addition is a dual
mode, that emulates two independent Leslie
cabinets. The sound is as lovely and huge as
youd expect.
Native Instruments has also included a new
analog-modeled Leslie tube amp section,
based on the algorithms in their Guitar Rig
product. On organ, my preference is to use
this at the bottom of its range to add just a
little bit of hair.
The only minor nit Id pick with the layout
is that I would have sacrificed the large
bitmaps and life-sized knobs for a combina-
tion of the two control screens. I find
myself flipping between them often when
customizing a sound...but this is a minor
complaint. Once youve set the sound up and
saved the preset, everything else can easily
fall to real-time controllers.
This brings us to the new and vastly
improved Setup View. Here one can deter-
mine keyboard splits, controller assignments,
and overall B4-II behaviors in far greater detail
than the original version. MIDI learn is fea-
tured heavily, and is a great time saver. B4-II
is a delightful improvement over its predeces-
sor in this department.
The final new view is the Preset View. This
is a full-bore preset manager, similar in scope
to NIs FM-7. The ability to drag-and-drop
presets into different locations nondestructive-
ly is fantastic. It allows quick reassignments to
the consoles standard Hammondesque
reverse keys, so that favorite presets can be
quickly called up on the gig.
A key feature of the B4-II is its ability to
serve as both an instrument and a collection
of VST effects. The original B4 also did this,
but the reverb models, cabinet models,
VI
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Review by
Doyle W. Donehoo
T
he first thing you notice about this 779-
page book is that it is very large and
weighs five pounds. This tome demands
attention.
The Guide to MIDI Orchestration was
written by Paul Gilreath, and I am sure writ-
ing this third edition book was an over-
whelming task, especially in the light of the
rapid and major recent advances in MIDI
Orchestration in regards to computers, sam-
plers, plug-ins, music hardware, software,
and sample based instruments. Lets break
this book down into basic sections and take
a look at what each offers.
This behemoth book takes on the huge
subject from top to bottom
VI
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The Guide to MIDI
Orchestration
by Paul Gilreath
Orchestral sections
This subject is covered in seven chapters.
Gilreath begins by reviewing the evolution of
orchestral music and composers, past and
present. Then he reviews each section of the
orchestra and explains each ones use and
function. Gilreath includes many substantial
details about instrument technique and how
particular instruments are soloed or blended
with other instruments. Finally, he ends this
particular group of chapters with a rather
technical Orchestration Basics chapter.
Sequencing and sequencing techniques
The sequencing section begins with a how-
to for getting started, but the real fun of this
part of the book is when Gilreath begins
exploring sequencing technique for orchestra
sections. These chapters address the orchestra
in its natural sections: strings, woodwinds,
brass, and percussion, along with harp and
piano.
First comes the string section, which also
has the greatest number of issues and prob-
lems to solve. The novice MIDI Orchestrator
will hear a lot about Legato, and the author
again does a good job of explaining the con-
cepts involved and the techniques to master
this playing style.
He goes into alternate bowing directions
and overcoming the machine-gun effect, as
well as using first and second violins, dynam-
ics, and other techniques. For woodwinds,
brass, and percussion, the book covers many
of the same concerns that were brought up in
the strings section, while addressing subjects
particular to each group of instruments.
Harp and piano have their own bag of
tricks and concerns. The text provides a lot of
thoughtful, informative discussion thats espe-
cially useful for anyone who may not have
given enough thought to these instruments.
Hardware and software
Its not enough to be musically trained any
more. Todays composer must be well versed
as a producer, audio engineer, and also be a
computer super-user whos familiar with com-
puter and music software and hardware. Thus
the book goes through the basic essentials of
the computer-based studio, and it does a
good job. MIDI orchestration is very CPU-,
storage-, and memory-intensive, and the
book points out why.
Next Gilreath the all-important concerns of
the MIDI and audio interfaces, along with
software audio drivers, hardware, digital
clocking, and the concept of the Digital
Audio Workstation (DAW). The book kicks
things into the next gear with fairly extensive
discussions of sequencers, samplers, V.I. hosts,
latency, mixers, audio monitors, MIDI control
surfaces, and a fairly detailed discussion of
how to put all this stuff togetherwhich is no
small task.
Room emulation fx and plug-ins
Room (or more likely hall) emulation is an
important aspect of MIDI orchestration, so
the book goes into reverbs, impulse-based
convolution reverbs, and orchestral libraries
that were recorded in natural hall settings.
The book explains the philosophy and appli-
cation of various approaches of recreating a
hall environment for a MIDI orchestra, and
then reviews the most popular plug-ins avail-
able.
Softsamplers
This subject is given its due with a thor-
ough discussion of the various samplers avail-
able. Also covered are file formats, file conver-
sion, and interfacing.
Mixing
Some developers have produced sample
libraries with natural hall sound, while other
developers subscribe to the philosophy that
for maxim flexibility, instruments should not
be recorded fixed in their stereo position. The
book discusses these points and explains the
philosophy behind the various approaches,
while suggesting a fairly typical and tradition-
al approach to instrument panning in the
stereo field with a nice chart.
Then we get into the techniques of using
the mixer and plug-ins to get a reasonable
representation of an orchestra.
Orchestra and voice libraries
Before getting into the actual libraries, the
book spends a short chapter discussing their
development, their technology base, and the
choices a MIDI orchestrator has to make
when purchasing a library.
The voice, percussion, and orchestral library
discussions happily go into great detail about
the majority of the most popular libraries cur-
rently available, with a comprehensive review.
These discussions are important, because
some libraries come with their own sample
players and unique interfaces, and the sam-
ple-based instruments themselves are quite
varied.
Appendix
The remainder of the book has some useful
appendices: instrument ranges, descriptive
frequency range chart, music company
resources organized by category, and finally
the index.
Conclusions
Even for experienced orchestrators and
composers, this book is a useful reference; for
anybody just starting out as a MIDI orchestra-
tor, this book is a must-have. No other book
is so comprehensiveit includes just about
everything a MIDI orchestrator should know.
Pound for pound at a list price of $69.95,
this book is a good investment.
Doyle W. Donehoo (www.sierra-trails.com) is
a game music composer and was also a soft-
ware engineer for many years. He is a serious
practitioner of sample-based instrument orches-
tration and sound engineering, a sample instru-
ment developer, and feature writer. Doyle has
lectured at the Game Developer Conference
(GDC) on the subject of virtual orchestration,
and is a beta tester for numerous music-related
products. VI
Doyle first reviewed Gilreaths book on
www.music4games.com, and this article was
adapted from that article with their kind per-
mission.
VI
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Arturia Minimoog V
Since Arturia has already recreated the
famous Moog sound in their Modular V so
successfully, why did they come out with the
Minimoog V, a soft synth version of the
renowned Minimoog? It turns out that
although there are some distinct feature dif-
ferences between the two instruments, the
major one is the Minimoogs ease of pro-
gramming.
When you program either a physical or vir-
tual modular instrument, it takes time to
patch cables between each module. Even
though the Modular V simplifies this process
for you, connecting the modules and adjust-
ing each of the parameters can still be a
lengthy procedure. By contrast the Minimoog
Vs modules are already pre-wired so that
Review By Zack Price
you dont have to do any cord patching,
which makes it a more accessible instrument.
Horsepower
The Minimoog V sounds amazingly like a
real Minimoog, thanks to Arturias True
Analog Emulation technology. Its fantastic
sound can come at the expense of computer
power, though, so you may need to do some
freezing if your machine chokes because of
Arturia Minimoog V: $199
www.arturia.com
Formats: stand-alone, VST, DXi,
MAS, RTAS, HTDM, AU
License: serial number copy pro-
tection limited to [need # of installs]
Fig. 1: Open Mode displays the front panel of the
Minimoog plus a set of features that the original
Minimoog didnt have, such as the Modulation
Matrix, an additional LFO, Arpeggiator section, and
Chorus/Delay effects.
Arturia presents another
outstanding emulation of a
classic synthesizer
that. (Freezing=an automatic process in most
DAWs that records an instrument to an audio
file in order to free up the computer to do
other things.)
Arturio specifies the Minimoog Vs mini-
mum requirements as a Pentium II 500 MHz
with 128MB RAM (supporting all the
Windows versions from 95 on), or Mac OS 9
or OS X 10.2 or higher on a G4 500 MHz
with 128MB of RAM. I tested the program on
two systems of moderate power but well
beyond the softwares minimum system
requirements (a Mac PowerBook 1.25 GHz
G4 with 1 GB RAM, OS X 10.3.9, and an M-
Audio FireWire 410 audio interface; and a
Toshiba Satellite 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 without
hyperthreading, but with 512 MB RAM,
Windows XP Home SP 2, and an Echo Layla
24/96 PC Card audio interface).
At the extreme ends, computer processing
power usage was as little as 5% for some
patches and as high as 65% for others,
depending on the structural complexity of the
patch. On average, though, sound patches
required 15-25% of the computers CPU
power, which could double if certain real-time
parameters (such as filter cut-off) were modi-
fied.
Close minded
The Minimoog V operates in two modes:
Close and Open. When set to Close mode,
the Minimoog Vs onscreen appearance looks
like the original Minimoogs layout.
The various front panel sections should be
familiar to anyone whos had the opportunity
to play a real Minimoog, and if you havent
its not a difficult instrument. For instance, the
Filter section in the Minimoog V is just like its
hardware counterpart, which features a reso-
nant filter with a cut-off slope of 24 dB per
octave. It also has the same controls for the
cut-off frequency, filter emphasis, and con-
tour, as well as an ADS (Attack, Decay, and
Sustain) envelope generator for the filter
itself.
Likewise, the Oscillators section controls
the parameters for the Minimoog Vs three
oscillators. You can adjust the pulse widths of
the appropriate waveforms by right-clicking
(shift-clicking on Mac) on the appropriate
oscillator knob and moving the mouse
accordingly to change their numeric values.
The knobs for Oscillators Two and Three
also let you fine-tune their center frequencies.
This is a good place to mention that the ver-
sions on the two platforms dont work 100%
identically, and the manual only lists the
Windows commands. Youre supposed to be
able to double-click the onscreen Tuning
knobs to reset their center frequencies to
zero, for example, but other mouse com-
mands would sometimes appear instead on
the Mac.
Everything thats on the front panel of a
physical Minimoog is included in the front
panel of the virtual version, but it both lacks
and adds some features. In the former cate-
gory, the manual mentions that the third
position of the External Inputs switch allows
you to route an external audio source
through the instruments mixer to use its filter
section, but this setting doesnt seem to do
anything.
On the other hand, the Minimoog V nor-
mally plays monophonically, just like the real
deal. However, it also has a polyphonic mode,
which is something the original Minimoog
couldnt do.
Whats more, you can set the amount of
polyphony for each sound patch, up to 32
notes if desired. Setting the amount of
polyphony determines how the Unison
modewhich plays only monophonically
will sound. For example, if you set polyphony
to four notes in Unison mode, each note you
play on the Minimoog V will sound as if
youre playing four Minimoog Vs simultane-
ously.
Thats one of the advantages to virtual
instruments.
Open sesame
There are still other features in the Arturia
version, which you access in Open mode. As
shown in Fig. 1, this is where youll find
another set of features that the original
Minimoog didnt have.
The first is the Modulation Matrix, which
lets you choose among the Minimoog Vs 12
MIDI modulation sources and 32 different
parameters, to route six different modulation
sources to six different instrument parameters.
For example you can use Velocity to modulate
a notes cut-off frequency, and/or use the
Mod wheel to alter filter resonance or the
pulse width of a particular oscillator.
The second Open mode feature is an addi-
tional LFO. Besides being an additional modu-
lation source, this LFO lets the third oscillator
be used as a basis for sound creation, instead
of being used as the primary LFO as it nor-
mally is in Close mode.
The third feature is the Chorus and Stereo
Delay section. There are three types of Chorus
effects to choose from, which range from a
simple chorus to progressively more complex
choruses designed for sharper detuning
effects. As expected, you can adjust the Rate
(speed), Depth, and Wet/Dry Mix for each
type.
Likewise, the Stereo Delay has separate
controls for left and right channel delay times,
separate controls for left and right feedback
rates, and a Wet/Dry mix control. In addition,
the Stereo Delay includes a MIDI Sync switch
that lets you synchronize delay times to the
tempo of the host application, such as a digi-
tal audio sequencer or an external MIDI clock.
The fourth Open mode feature is the
Arpeggiator, which has a speed control knob
and also a 3-position Off/Hold/Memory
switch that determines how the arpeggiator
plays. In Hold mode, a note or group of notes
are arpeggiated until you play another note
or group of notes on the keyboard. In
Memory mode, the Arpeggiator plays notes
in the order they were played.
To stop either of these playing modes, you
must switch to the Off position. Contrast this
with the Play switch, which simply activates
the Arpeggiator. In standard Play mode, a
note or group of notes is arpeggiated only
while notes are held down on the keyboard.
Then there are three sliders that control
other aspects of the Arpeggiator. The first
chooses the arpeggiator mode: ascending,
descending, return (ascending and descend-
ing), and random, which plays the keys that
are held down in a random order. You det-
mine the number of octaves (up to four) that
the arpeggiator will play in each arpeggio
cycle using the second slider. The third slider
controls the number of times an octave cycle
will be repeated in an arpeggio cycle (the
maximum number is four times).
Finally, the Arpeggiator has a MIDI Sync
switch for synchronizing the Arpeggiator time
(Speed) with a host application or external
MIDI clock.
Fast learner
While you can use the Modulation Matrix
to assign modulation sources that control
instrument parameters in real time, you can
also assign MIDI Control Change numbers
directly to the Minimoog Vs various parame-
ters. This feature is extremely helpful if you
have a MIDI controller with assignable knobs
and sliders.
The easiest way to assign MIDI control
change numbers to specific knobs or switches
on the Minimoog V is to enter is to use its
Learn mode, in which you just wiggle the
MIDI controller you want to use. You do have
to set this up for every patch and save it indi-
vidually; a global setting (that could be over-
ridden on individual patches) would be very
useful.
The plays the thing
The Minimoog V is a worthy addition to
anyones software synthesizer collection, and
its sounds are worth the occasional need for a
lot of computer power. Its a pleasure to play
live when mated with a MIDI keyboard con-
troller that has a sufficient number of control
change knobs and sliders. Coincidentally the
right marriage of software to MIDI keyboard
also makes the Minimoog V fun to program;
all you need to do is twist the right knobs and
save the new patch.
Finally, lets not forget the Minimoog Vs
most important feature: it sounds like a real
Minimoog! VI
Experienced musician/engineer/producer Zack
Price has a 15-year history writing for music
industry magazines. His latest book The
Beginners Guide to Computer-based Music is
published by Cherry Lane Music and distributed
by Hal Leonard.
VI
r e v i e w
by Frederick Russ
Astute readers will remember Craig
Sharmat as the man who reviewed the
Prominy Les Paul guitars library in the previ-
ous issue of VI. Visitors to
www.Northernsounds.com or the forum I
host, www.VI-Control.net, know Craig
Sharmat as a busy composer who happens to
be one of the best MIDI programmers
around.
Craig works with most of the popular
orchestra sample libraries aroundand with
most of the other non-orchestral libraries
aroundand knows how to get the best from
each of them. So between his MIDI and com-
position skills and his knowledge of the
libraries, we cant think of a better person to
kick off this new series.
The first in a time-to-time series analyzing
composers MIDI programming techniques
Part 1: Craig Sharmats End of the Road
(hear it on www.VirtualInstrumentsMag.com)
A
long with software synths, modern sample libraries
created the new musical medium this magazine is all
about. And as with anything else, making these libraries
sound their best is a real skill.
So in this series were going to look at different pieces of
music by people who have that skill and find out how they
did it. Youll find the compositions were analyzing on the VI
website so you can download them and hear whats going
on.
Please feel free to email us with any additional questions
you may have. Well pass them on to the composers and
print all suitable answers.
MIDI Mockup Microscope
VI
i n t e r v i e w
more
online
www.virtualinstrumentsmag.com
Please download Craigs piece End of the
Road from the VI website and follow along.
Your mix on End of the Road is
excellent. Lets start with monitors
which ones do you use?
Event 20 20s. They are very old. I also use
Sennheiser HD 600 headphones to check
imaging.
Are you using a convolution reverb?
I am using Audio Ease Altiverb 4, which
was the current version at the time I did this
particular piece. I now have Altiverb 5, and I
believe I was using Sydney Hall.
In what sequencer?
I use Logic as my main sequencer, but
being an old DP [MOTU Digital Performer]
guy find myself reverting back to it for editing
some digital audio. All edits are non-destruc-
tive and easily traceable in Logic too, but
thats an important feature.
Do you prefer one particular sampler
format over another?
I am most familiar with TASCAM
GigaStudio, having programmed two custom
libraries in it. The new features in Native
Instruments Kontakt 2 look tremendous, so I
will be spending some time getting up to
speed with it. I can do basic programming in
EXS but am no whiz.
However, I do use both Sonic Implants
Symphonic Collection and VSL in EXS format.
Please tell me about the strings
youre using and how youre achieving
your sound. Specifically, the violin stac-
cato line in the first :45 seconds or so:
are you alternating samples?
Those particular ones are custom strings.
There are a few repetitions in thereI use the
Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) Performance
Tool to create the round robins so the same
sample doesnt repeat itself. If there was just
one staccato patch, I believe the effect would
not be as good.
The samples are in GigaStudio, and there
are about four reps. Lets say I have a staccato
patch hitting C4. Ill have four separate takes
of that happening, and the VSL Repetition
Tool triggers them in different orders. The
Repetition Tool is one of the tools in the VSL
Performance Set, but you can also use it for
other things. Its very simple to use once its
set up.
How did you do those wild string
falls at 0:57? Those sound real.
Well, in a way they are real: they are pre-
recorded runs!
The VSL runs are great and versatile, but
sometimes not fast enough for a gliss. There
is a way to fix this though: you can stick all
the samples in an editor and time-compress
them.
Then you make a similar patch to the
original at the new faster speed. With
the track sound youll get if you play the
next note during a rising swell.)
While learning any library is all about getting
the sound of the articulations in your head, and
there are no shortcuts for doing that, I found
SISC the easiest of the big three to learn. Thats
partly due to the way its organized, partly due
to the types of articulations it includes, but
mainly due to the fact that relatively few pro-
grams take you a long way.
All together
In addition to the individual instruments,
SISC includes ensemble wind, brass, and
string programs. These are good for live per-
formance, or you could use, say, a string
ensemble program while playing in parts
before splitting the lines to individual instru-
ments and articulations.
Usually Im not a fan of layered orchestral
patchesthey have a tendency to be rather
crass for my tastebut for instance the sordi-
no (muted) string ensemble is spectacularly
rich.
More Giga
SISC uses the Portmento Reshaping Filter in
Giga 3 foras the name implies, portmento
and legato effects. This very sophisticated fil-
ter chases the resonant peaks while you glide
between two notes to avoid the munchkin
effect. In all honesty, my reaction to these
programs is only lukewarm; the filter does its
job very well, but the portmento effect adver-
tises itself a little too much for my personal
taste.
However, the overall programming in SISC
is very well done. Transitions between dynam-
ic layers in brass instruments are pretty rough
in other libraries, but theyre really smooth
between as many as four layers in this one.
In some of the legato woodwind programs,
SISC has a transitional legato mode that
inserts a short, sort of hollow noise that
sounds like a low-level version of a walrus
clearing its nose when you cross over. The
actual sound simulates what happens to the
air column in a wind instrument, and it
sounds quite realistic. You can control the
shape and level of the walrus nose with two
MIDI controllers. This makes use of the new
iMIDI (i=intelligent) processor in Giga 3.
Impressions
The woodwinds and brass in SISC are very
playable, nicely recorded, and they work
extremely well in ensembles. Sometimes pairs
of winds sound synthy in sample libraries, but
SI got it just right.
Solo wind and brassany solo instruments
for that matterare very difficult with sam-
ples. What makes SISCs articulations so
playable can go in two directions: they can
be highly versatile, or especially the short
notes may not always have the perfect atti-
tude for a given phrase.
Thats a subjective comment, not a dis, and
its a fairly subtle point; SISCs solo winds and
brass are all much more than merely usable.
An articulation that works brilliantly 5% and
only 5% of the time is probably less useful in
a sample library than the 95% short notes
included here. What you have is the
equivalent of an accurate mic rather
than a character mic; both are valid
choices.
In general, Id characterize the winds
and brass as having a sound thats under
controldespite the fact that theres no
shortage of bite, buzz, and (with the
transitional legato) characteristic noises.
It can play aggressive music, but the
playing is clean. Yet still alive.
SISCs percussion sits in the orchestra
very nicely. The toms can really dig in
for the movie trailer soundor notand
you can just see the snares and field
drums playing one the stage. Theres a
nice selection of toys: pop gun, ratchets,
and what have you. Its great to see
bowed vibes, the xylophone and marim-
ba (with modwheel switching between
hard and soft mallets) are good, crotales
and bells are realistic, the chimes sound
good but lack pedal-up samples (which
on the vibraphone sound like they were
programmed out of shorter pedal-down
samples?), and its great being able to
play cymbal swells and timp roll crescen-
dos with the mod wheel.
But my favorite volume in this library
has to be the strings, which just sound
fabulously warm and rich across the
board. Having both natural and artificial
harmonics is great, along with col legno
and mutes, plus the sharper techniques
(spiccato, etc.)theres not much more
to say than that these are really great
strings.
Bottom line, SISC is simply a top-
notch, very accessible orchestral library
with a really great sound and a lot of life
to it. VI
VI
r e v i e w
SYMPHONIC COLLECTION
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30)
the programs and plug-ins or instruments.
Pro Tools 7 can now quantize audio
regions to a grid or groove template. You
could always accomplish the same thing man-
ually or by putting the program in Grid
mode, which constrains region movements to
the nearest specified note value, but this is
now much easier.
The program now has 10 sends per track
instead of five, and you can drag, drop, and
copy send assignments. This is a great fea-
ture, because sending several tracks to the
same reverb at the same level used to mean
setting each send up individually.
Another new feature is reverse strip
silence, which lets you keep everything
below the threshold instead of above it. Pro
Tools Strip Silence feature is graphic, as you
can see in Fig. 3.)
MIDI
Pro Tools MIDI takes place in the Edit win-
dow just like audio doesyou zoom in and
enlarge a MIDI track to get at the piano roll
note editing. You could always store several
track zoom settings, but Pro Tools 7 has a
new button that lets you bounce back and
forth between two zoom settings. Thats
extremely helpful for both MIDI and audio
tracks.
Controller data editing works the same way
with MIDI as it does with audioyou select
the controller you want to view from a drop-
down. While the breakpoint-style editing
works very well, it would be great if you
could store controller views just like you can
store zoom settings (or toggle to them with a
key command, the way you toggle to the
Volume Graph display).
Track Number is the name of another great
new feature. If you know your second violins
start at track number 40, you can go straight
to number 40. If this seems trivial, consider
that MIDI sequencing goes really fast; you
really dont want to stop to scroll down 40
tracks when youre in the throes of writing. As
a matter of fact, automatic successive track
numbering is another new feature.
Using V.I.s in Pro Tools used to mean set-
ting up an Aux Input track for the instrument,
then a MIDI track so you could play it. And
then because you cant record on Aux Inputs,
youd have to bus the instrument if you want-
ed to record it to an audio file. The new
Instrument tracks consolidate all that into one
track: the V.I. plug-in, the MIDI data that trig-
ger it, and recording.
Previous versions of Pro Tools lacked some
standard MIDI sequencing features, such as
loop cycle recording. While there were
workarounds, it also didnt really have groove
quantizing. Thats in now, and a number of
grooves are included.
There are many optionsquantizing the
attacks or releases; randomizing as well as
quantizing; and taking on a specified percent-
age of the timing, duration and/or velocity.
Then you can save the whole set-up and
recall it with a template, which could be very
useful. You can also create your own grooves
from audio or MIDI tracks by using Beat
Detective.
Several MIDI editing features have been
enhanced or added: Split Notes (select or cut
notes within a certain range), Remove
Duplicates (gets rid of accidental double
notes), and Change Duration. The latter bears
more discussion.
In addition to being able to shorten dura-
tions to remove all overlapped notes and the
new transform sustain pedal to duration
feature we detail in one of the Random Tips
in this issue, you can scale the duration
change according to a curve, limit the range
of the duration change, randomize it. While
the other MIDI features are ones weve grown
to expect, duration scaling and randomizing
are interesting innovations.
Pro Tools 7 now has a real-time MIDI pro-
cessing area on every track, which allows you
to quantize, add/subtract a constant amount
to all the durations, offset the velocity, and
delay/advance everything. You can now lock
MIDI events to time locations (useful if you
change the tempos), and theres a new
Mirrored MIDI Editing mode that treats
copies of a main MIDI region as aliasesall
edits to the original region are reflected in the
copies.
Pro Tools first MIDI overhaul was serious,
but still not up to the level of the major pro-
grams we use. The Version 7 features take
care of those objections.
Thus
At this stage there really isnt anything to
prevent Pro Tools from being used for com-
position as well as production. Okay, it
doesnt have a notation editor. But everything
else is in place.
Between the new MIDI features, Instrument
tracks, and improved navigation features, Pro
Tools has quietly added MIDI sequencer to
its repertoire. VI
PRO TOOLS 7
VI
r e v i e w
You really appreciate the design when a program
is still enjoyable to work with after a few hours
even though youre tired.
Fig. 5 MIDI and audio tracks side-by-side. The MIDI track is being viewed as regions rather than a series of
notes in a piano roll display. The diagonal lines that appear to be superimposed over the audio regions are
fades; Pro Tools creates actual fade files rather than using real-time DSP.
VI
f e a t u r e
FIRST DAW
Notation
In addition to being good for entering,
transcribing, and printing music, all the major
notation programs are starting to gain sophis-
ticated playback features. For most people,
that makes writing in the notation program a
whole lot more enjoyable.
Sibelius (the name of the company and the
program) and Make Musics Finale both have
bundled versions of Garritan Personal
Orchestra. Garritan is making the same thing
happen with his new Jazz Big Band library too.
Virtuosoworks Notion is an integrated
orchestra library (recorded at Abbey Road stu-
dios) and notation package. GenieSofts
Overture 4 understands all the major orches-
tral libraries and has integrated MIDI editing.
Overture has been around in various incarna-
tions for years, and it was always a very quick
and easy program to use.
The concept is that the markings you put
on the score select the appropriate articula-
tion. Stick a dot on top of a note and youll
get staccato, slur it and youll get legato, put
FF before it and itll shout, mark it with an
accent andnuff said.
Other notation programs include Sion
Softwares Quickscore, MIDI Notates very
inexpensive Composer, theres a program
called Mozart, another one by Capella soft-
ware Notation programs dont get all the
attention DAWs get, and not all of them
have sophisticated MIDI playback features or
integrated pathways to sample libraries. But
its good to see the connection between
notes and music working well in both direc-
tions.
MIDI transcription has worked quite well
for a number of years, by the way. Its always
going to take some tweaking, but good tran-
scription engines get surprisingly close to
what you played (unless its too avante garde
for a machine to guess at).
Convolution processors
Were going to save the subject of actual
V.I. software and plug-ins for another install-
ment, but convolution processors are worth
mentioning in this overview. Depending on
how sampled instruments were recorded,
they dont always need extra ambience, but
synthesizers usually sound totally dead with-
out reverb to put them in a space.
So ambience is a very important for V.I.
rigs. But for a long time, plug-in reverbs just
didnt measure up to their hardware counter-
parts; there simply wasnt enough computer
horsepower available for good reverbs and
everything else that needs to happen in a
DAW.
As a result the plug-in reverbs we did have
sounded pretty nasty for the most part. They
could have been made to sound good, but
few people would have been interested in
dedicating a $2500 desktop computer to a
function that could be done just as well in a
$300 piece of hardware.
But then the Dutch company Audio Ease
came along a few years ago and took advan-
tage of the AltiVec coprocessor in Mac G4s to
do in software what had previously only been
possible in very high-end hardware: a convo-
lution reverb called Altiverb (reviewed in the
9-10/05 issue). Convolution works by actually
sampling a space, and then applying its char-
acteristics to whatever you run through it.
The result is quite stunning, and for space
simulation it makes a mockery of all but the
highest-end conventional reverb units on the
market.
Its no coincidence that Altiverb came
along around the same time that V.I.s were
starting to give hardware instruments a run
for the money. The computers were starting
to be up to the task. Today most of them are
up to the task, and there are other convolu-
tion processors on the market.
In addition to Altiverb, which is still the
industry standard, theres now Waves IR1,
Logic Audio has Space Designer included,
convolution is in the Native Instruments
Kontakt 2 and TASCAM GigaStudio
(GigaPulse) samplers, Garritan Personal
Orchestra will have one shortly, the MOTU
Symphonic Instrument has it, MAGIX
Samplitude has it built in, you can find it in
Cycling 74 Max (a DIY plug-in-creating envi-
ronment)and there are many others. Vienna
Symphonic Library has announced but not
yet shown MIR, a major-league convolu-
tion/mixing processor that threatens to take
this all to another level.
Convolution is an important part of V.I. rigs
today, and its worth planning for when you
make hardware and software decisions.
Cliffhanger
Next well take a look at V.I.s and
plug-ins. VI
Waves IR1 Convolution Reverb
Garitan Ambience inside Make Music Finale.
can add a little intensity at about 4kHz while
youre playing.
In general, this library leans heavily to the
expressive and smooth sideits not especial-
ly aggressive. The sound is very nice, and the
samples tend to have a lot of life. For me the
woodwinds are the best section overall, but
there are many nice programs in the other
sections as well. This is also a very playable
library due to the programming, which is not
something I would have said of the original
version.
In fact, the first time I reviewed the original
version of this library 12 years ago, it felt like
a work in progress; this time around it feels
very much finished. Its keyboard mapping is
solid with no sudden level jumps when youre
playing. All the instruments seem to have
been tuned, which most people will like,
although some people prefer more imperfec-
tion. Sonik Reality has programmed a lot of
useful variations of every set of samples. This
must have been a labor of love.
The engine
Modern sample libraries use brute force
i.e. lots of samplesto be expressive.
Miroslav relies upon its V.I. engine to make it
sing.
That V.I. is based on IK Multimedias
SampleTank engine, but its more advanced.
For one, it includes insert and send effects.
The developer is especially proud of the
reverb, which is taken from their soon-to-be-
released CSR Classic Studio Reverb product.
There are also mastering effects.
While the use of chorus programs in
orchestral libraries is going to be a little eso-
teric, some of the synthesis features are very
useful here. The 5-stage amplitude envelope
is an obvious example, but there are also filter
and pitch envelopes that can work quite well,
especially for French horn.
Whats nice is that any of the synthesis
engines knobs can be assigned to a MIDI
controller and played in real time. The most
MIROSLAV
obvious application for this feature is to assign
the amplitude envelopes attack time to a
MIDI slider. You could also assign the enve-
lope release to, say, a footpedal. The trick is
to restrict the range of adjustment to a realis-
tic limit so you get subtle variations. Its very
easy to make the MIDI assignmentsjust click
click and select the controller from a list.
Philharmoniks virtual instruments Stretch
feature, which is a real-time formant-preserv-
ing pitch shifter/time compressor-expander, is
unique. Its applications include creating
longer and shorter articulations on the fly,
varying the speed of recorded vibrato as you
play, creating much more natural bends and
portmentos than the pitch wheel would nor-
mally result in, and many other effects. As
long as you dont stretch over too far a range,
the effect is quite transparent.
BC (breath control) versions of the wind
and brass sounds are included. Like all sam-
ples, these sounds arent especially satisfying
to play with a wind controller (Akai EWI 3020
in this case), but rather theyre programmed
for a breath controller to add some expression
to the sound. (Wind controller=a MIDI con-
troller you play like a woodwind instrument;
breath controller=a pressure-sensitive trans-
ducer that you blow into and that sends
breath control as an alternative to using a
slider.)
Conclusions
Philharmonik Miroslav fits into the world in
several ways. First, its a very playable, com-
plete orchestra that you can run on an
extremely modest computer. It would make
the heart of a great laptop composition rig
for that reason as well, and because it sounds
good and loads quickly.
Second, anyone who has worked with pre-
vious versions of the Miroslav orchestra and
has sequences in that format could treat the
new version simply as a very worthwhile soft-
ware update. And finally, this would make a
useful supplement to other libraries that
might not be complete.
IK Multimedia has done an excellent job of
breathing new life into an old classic. VI
VI
Legato and other samples
In addition to mincing words, Vocal
Control has a Legato function that slows the
attack of the target note also inserts a quick
upward or downward pitch slide when its
invoked. It does this by remote-controlling
pitch and amplitude envelopes in Kontakt.
You can trigger Legato by holding one
note while you play the next, have it auto-
matically kick in when the target note is
played within a specified amount of time after
the end of the first note, or call it up on the
fly with a keyswitch. The Giovani legato isnt
a hit you over the head effectits subtle
and quite natural. You just have to be careful
to turn it off when youre playing repeated
notes, or get extra pitch slides.
Giovani includes individual programs that
are legato versions of some of the individual
syllables. You could use those to insert melis-
mas (e.g. ben-e-e-e-e-e-dictus) if you didnt
want to program them in Vocal Control. Or
you can use those programs as vocal effects.
In addition to including both 16- and 24-
bit impulse responses of the church Giovani
was recorded invery useful for placing other
samples in the same spacethis library comes
with quite a few special effects. These include
the Lords Prayer, which is very dramatic
when spoken by a choir in unison; horror
effects you cant describe in writing; girls
laughing; whispering noises; boys quasi-
shouting oh, fa, and other noises; and
more. The effects are very dramatic, and
there are many ways you could use them cre-
atively.
Acquire the choir
You have to play to any sampled choir
librarys strengths. In general, Giovani is a
slow and ethereal library, and its capable of
sounding really lovely in that context. You
can also use some of the syllables for a syn-
thy-vocal effect, and of course you can layer
different programs (for example the Lords
Prayer and a soft choir) for some sounds
unavailable anywhere else.
But youre not going to get realistic-sound-
ing results if you try and make it sing fast pas-
sages; thats not the way it was recorded. Its
also worth mentioning that the occasional
note sounds a little phasey when its isolated,
most likely a result of noise reduction or pitch
correction (the low G and Ab of the boys
ensemble Vocal Control program, for exam-
ple). I dont want to over-emphasize that,
though, because it really doesnt have an
impact on the grand scheme of things.
Above all, Giovani brings a unique sound
to the world of sample libraries. Its easy to
make it sound light and airy, scary, warm,
spiritual, soulful, rich and lushand no mat-
ter what you do, full of life. If youre ever in
the market for any of that, this is a great
library to check out. VI
GIOVANI EDITION
todays tools it is an easy fix and well worth
doing.
Are you using mod-wheel crescendos
at :30 on the trombones and trumpets?
The crescendos are not mod wheel. They
are recorded and time-compressed to differ-
ent tempos.
The percussion sounds very realistic.
Percussion is mostly SAMs True Strike. I like
their libs a lot.
You have great flute glisses at the
head of the piece at :03 in. Are those
standard libraries, perhaps using the
time-stretch as well?
Custom, but the new Sonic Implants winds
can do this as well as sped up VSL can. Old
Advanced Orchestra can do it also, and I
believe Orchestral Colors has a cool overused
wind rip. East West Quantum Leap Symphony
Orchestra came out with flute glisses in their
Pro update; I would think those would be
good.
Youre using it as a transitional fig-
ure and it really works.
I often like to stick flute glisses with harp
glisses. It is a pretty traditional orchestral
effect. I have a VSL flute gliss example posted
on the VI magazine website. (See
MoreOnline.)
The original is the original tempo of VSL
flute. The others are three compressed tem-
pos. Notice there is a string line underneath
it. This is so the samples cant be lifted!
Heres how it was done (although there
are other ways to do it as well). In the Logic
screen dump I gave you for the article, at
the upper left is the original VSL flute run in
its original tempo, converted to an Apple
Loop. The one at the upper right looks iden-
tical, but notice that its at a different
tempo. I can now convert this to audio and
create separate samples to use in different
pieces.
You can do the same thing with any instru-
ment, you can change crescendos, grace
notes, phrases It generally works better
speeding up than slowing down because of
the sound quality.
What method did you use to con-
struct the harmony, or are you just
hearing all of this and writing it out? It
sounds complex, but it works.
Actually, most of the piece is built on a
diminished scale. The opening lines are
diminished, but what helps the realistic effect
of the violin line is a counter viola line (Sonic
Implants viola, by the way) playing against
the higher violin line.
So I have these two elements, but I also
have a rising horn line and a rhythmic figure
with percussion, low strings, and brass. A
small trick that helps the realism is that in
almost all sections I keep at least three ele-
ments going at the same time. On this
piece Im actually using four elements.
Often on poor mockups there are just
two elements in sections like these, and the
ear has a chance to really focus in on an
element. Unless that element sounds per-
fect, then some fakeness is perceived.
Listening to it now, I probably did this
fast as to finish the piece for the show
Americas Most Wanted. I probably didnt
write this out, but on certain runs had to
make sure they were consistent with a
method of composing I often rely on, called
EIS.
EIS stands for Equal Interval System, and
it was developed by the late Spud Lyle
Murphy. You can find examples of this
method at equalintervalsystem.com, and I
host an EIS forum online at www.vi-con-
trol.net/forum.
You have a unique way of building
your harmonies so they dont get in the
way. At :52 it sounds like youre start-
ing to really go crazy.
You can hear voice leading in the upper
brass and a chromatic line moving down. The
upper structures are minor and use voice
leading; theyre all contained in a diminished
scale.
So youre counting to make sure this
is consistent with the EIS method?
Most of the time I am. The melody is most
important so I have to go with that. You can
hear in the results if you are offor on. The
violin line on top is built upon the upper
brass structure and it has grace notes.
Would you recommend any standard
arranging books or are you leaning
upon EIS to help make decisions?
EIS has orchestral techniques in it, but it
shines as a compositional course more than
an orchestral one. I use other methods or
influences for orchestration along with EIS. It
really depends on the type of piece
The brass sounds like the real deal.
Thanks. A lot of that has to do with the
spacing of the writing. How to make the
brass not muddy, again using EIS concepts.
So youre widening chords (struc-
tures) for clarity?
Also I may have incorporated some of Scott
Smalleys spacing of the brass here. Try to
keep the horns up pretty high in their natural
range. Trumps above them, of course.; Keep
bones at middle C or below.
The point here is the more you know about
writing for real players, the better it helps
with your mock-ups.
There are plenty of people who write great
pieces but their mockups sound poor because
they do not deal with MIDI correctly. I have
also heard people who understand MIDI pro-
duction and sonics well but are composition-
ally weak.
Still, in a professional situation the guy with
good sonic chops will generally beat out the
great composer with poor MIDI skills. It is the
composer who gets both things who is spe-
cial, and should be able to forge a consistent
career as a composer. VI
Frederick Russ is an accomplished orchestral
composer. He runs the www.vi-control.net
<http://www.vi-control.net> discussion forum
and invites you to take part.
MIDI MOCKUP
improved sound, and greater routing flexibili-
ty have turned the new effects engine into a
real powerhouse for more than just organ. Try
it on a Rhodes or your trusty Git-fiddle, and
get ready for some fat, lush sounds!
The B4-II is also nicely efficient. With all
bells and whistles running and two arms
worth of polyphony, it clocked a mere 11%
CPU usage on my Athlon XP 3000+, which is
far from the most blazing computer around
these days.
Gone is the utterly crapulent disc beggar
copy protection scheme, which managed to
ask the user to insert the B4 CD at precisely
the worst possible momentsas in when you
and the computer were on the gig and the
disc was sitting in the studio. Much bile has
been spilled over the issue of
challenge/response copy protection, but hav-
ing been bitten by the disc beggar scheme a
few times, I applaud this change.
Conclusions
Im thrilled with the quality of this update.
Native Instruments has really poured on the
new features in B4-II, making an already no-
brainer purchase even more compelling.
With the improvements in setup and con-
trol, the addition of reverb and extensive
playback-system modeling, and the nicely
retuned distortion algorithms, this is a must-
have package for anyone who wants that
great Hammond sound at a price (and
weight) that will make even the crustiest
naysayer happy. VI
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS
VI
KING IDIOT
VI
Clippings
If you find yourself using blank MIDI tracks
as spacers frequently, consider moving a
blank MIDI track to the Clippings window
and then keeping your Clippings window per-
manently available in a corner of your screen.
You can then drag your blank track divider
into any project, any time.
Auditioning soundbites
If you need to listen to a Soundbite quickly
when youre in the Sequence Editor or Graphic
Editor, just hold down the S key (S stands for
scrub) and drag over a soundbite. Voil.
If you have a multichannel audio interface,
you may want to customize the output you
want auditioned soundbites to be sent to. To
do this, go to your Audio Bundles window
(shift-U is the shortcut), make sure youre on
the Outputs tab, and move your desired out-
put bundle to the top. Whatever bundle is on
top is the one to which auditioned soundbites
are sent.
Lets Reason
Are you a Propellerhead Reason junky? If
so, create a Startup Clippings window in your
project and drag your Reason (.rsn) file into
PERFORMER
types of patches, but they tend to include a
lot of samples you dont end up using. Lets
face it, throughout one songunless youre
an avante garde virtuosic Yngwie Sebastian
Holst-type composer, you most likely wont be
playing modal runs up and down chromatic
key changes.
An easy way to use these samples is to load
them up, play the runs that are in key with
the song/cue (or only the runs you think
youll use), and then unload all the other
samples. This is a great feature. Its extremely
simple and very effective.
Geek out
The options described above should give
all you fellow geeks out there some ideas
about how you can get more out of your
sampling workstations. It may seem like work
when you take it all in, but it doesnt have to
be done to every sample library you have, just
the ones you wish werent big honking hogs.
And who knowswith all the extra pro-
grams you get loaded, some composing
doors that you otherwise wouldnt have of
may open. VI
it. From now on, anytime you open this DP
project, Reason will automatically launch and
open that document. Using this trick you can
easily link your Reason synth/sampler/loop/FX
rack with its corresponding DP file.
But this trick isnt limited to Reason. If
youre writing a song, you can drag in a text
or Word document with the lyrics into a pro-
jects Startup Clippings window. You can also
drag CueMix setups into this window if a
project requires a particular hardware routing
setup.
Command the option
Option-click and command-click are some
of the most powerful shortcuts available in
DP. If you option-click a mute button in the
Mixer, that track will mute and all muted
tracks will immediately unmute. Command-
click a mute button and all tracks will be
muted except the one you clicked. This also
works with soloing and several other func-
tions.
If you want to A/B two tracks, just option-
click on the solo button of the one you want
to audition. You can even do this while play-
back is engaged, resulting in an instant transi-
tion between tracks.
The Mixer and some of the Editor win-
dows have sidebars allowing you to show or
hide tracks. Option- and command-clicking
works here too: option-click a track to show
only that track and hide all others; com-
mand-click to show all tracks except the one
you clicked on.
In the Sequence Editor, option-click on the
layer menu (the one that lets you switch
between Soundbites, Volume, Pan, Pitch, and
other automation layers) and make a selec-
tion, and all visible tracks will jump to the
same layer. Likewise, option-drag on the track
magnification (the little magnification icon)
What do you do when
you've painstakingly
recorded detailed
volume automation into
a track, but then later
decide that you need to
adjust the global level
of the track while
maintaining all your
detailed automation in
relative proportions?
TRENDS
vide only loop one per style, or create too-
short (and therefore, predictable) segments
with a fill every two or four bars.
Vertically, you want to have additional lay-
ers that you can blend in with these main
rhythmic cores. Some refer to these as top
loops, simple examples being hi-hat or conga
patterns.
Consider looking farther afield in building
these vertical variations. For example, interest-
ing polyrhythms can result from layering a
pair of drum kits. I personally enjoy exploring
juxtapositions such as layering a sparse lo-fi or
trip-hop loop with a busier tribal or circular
jazz rhythm. It is in these combinations that
you start to create unique music out of stan-
dard parts.
Finally, look at creating longer, evolving
structures that work in parallel with your
loops. Even modal jazz often has a simplified
song form where you shift to different modes.
Creating rhythmic evolution can be as simple
altering the mix over time or performing dub-
style effects processing, with echoes, reverbs,
and other effects brought in and out.
Its easy to create boring, repetitive music
with loops; its much harder to create interest-
ing, evolving musicespecially if you choose
the linear form. But for me the result can be
more rewarding than just writing another
chord progression or song. VI
Hit the . (period) key on the numeric key-
board. If you look at the transport, youll see
that the first field (usually measures) has been
highlighted. Type in the measure you want to
jump to, hit Enter to confirm, and Enter one
more time to begin playback.
To listen to measure 53, just hit dot-5-3-
Enter-Enter and the sequence will begin play-
ing at measure 53 almost instantly.
Commands
You can completely custom program DP to
respond in any way you want in the
Commands window in the Setup menu.
There are also dozens and dozens of actions
that you can assign key commands to, includ-
ing some that arent accessible any other way.
An example is the command to move all
selected tracks to the top or bottom of the
sequence (do a search for move selected
tracks to find this).
In general, any time you find yourself
doing something repetitively in DP, try search-
ing through the Commands window to see if
theres anything in there that can help you.
Support
There are excellent DP resources on the
web, not only on MOTUs site but especially
at the user-run forum on
www.unicornation.com, and at the MOTU-
Mac Yahoo Group
(groups.yahoo.com/group/motu-mac). You
can ask your questions and frequently receive
same-day responses from helpful DP users.
VI
David Das is a composer and producer based
in Los Angeles. Visit him at www.daviddas.com,
and also check out his excellent new book
Kontakt 2 Power!, published by Thomson
Course Technology (www.courseptr.com).
and all visible tracks will magnify at the same
time.
In typical Mac style, you can also option-
drag many items to make copies of them.
Option-drag a soundbite or a selection of
MIDI notes in the Tracks window or any of
the Editor windows to make an instant copy
of them.
When in the mixer, option-click a plug-in
slot to bypass it instantly without having to
bring up the plug-in window. Command-drag
a plug-in to move a plug-in from one track to
another. Command-option-drag a plug-in to
make an exact duplicate of it (including all its
current settings) on another track.
Zoom...zoom...unzoom
Hold down the Z key in the Tracks or Editor
windows and your pointer will switch to a
magnifying glass with a plus sign in it, allow-
ing you to zoom in to whatever you click on.
Click as many times as you need to get as
close to the object youre clicking. When you
need to zoom out, hold the Z key with
Option, and your pointer will switch to a
magnifying glass with a minus sign in it.
The Editor windows (Sequence, Graphic,
and MIDI Editors) have an additional related
tip. If you zoom in or out too far and want
to return to your original zoom setting, just
hit command-[ (left bracket) to return to the
old zoom setting. If you find yourself fre-
quently jumping between a few specific
magnification settings, investigate Zoom
Settings (in your Editors mini-menu), which
will allow you to save specific zoom settings
and instantly jump between them with a
key command.
Theres also a global OS X trick if youd
rather just easily magnify or unmagnify the
entire screen: use Universal Access. Youll find
it in System Preferences -> Universal Access.
Once enabled, you can use command-option
= (equal) to zoom in and command-option-
hyphen to zoom out.
(There are some monitors that are incom-
patible with this setting.)
The dot trick
One favorite and infamous trick of DP vet-
erans is whats come to be known as the dot
trick. The 10-key pad (numeric keyboard) on
the right of a full-size keyboard can provide
the fastest way to navigate your DP sequence
without having to scroll with the mouse.
Fig. 5: A dummy track helps make it easy to see where (in this case) the drum tracks are.
However, theres always that dark day when a
singer comes back in and is itching for the entire
song half a step up or down, or 3BPM faster or
slower well after you've frozen your tracks to
audio.
R
hythm: repetition, with variation.
That definition is actually from the
visual art realm, not a Music 101
text, but its advice that many who use loops
should take to heart. There is an assumption
that using loops results in less flexible musical
structures, when in reality its often the struc-
tures or musicians themselves that could be
more flexible.
Many who use rhythm loops as their com-
positional foundation end up creating trance-
like structures where the same loop is repeat-
ed over and over, maybe with the occasional
rave-up, turnaround, or break. Harmonically,
the music often stays in the same key for
extended periods of time. If you doubt the
potential success of such a simple form, visit a
dance club!
But one shouldnt confuse being in a
trance with being comatose. With no varia-
tions or evolution, over time the result can be
as boring as running in place on a treadmill in
a hamster cage.
Loops can certainly be used to create nor-
mal song structures. You can then repeat
these structures to play cyclic chord progres-
sions against. This is the basis for a wide vari-
ety of popular music styles, and easy to struc-
ture jazz or blues jams against (improvisation
being a personal focus).
That said, the familiarity and predictability
of this grid can quickly become a prison.
A song can turn into an exercise in running
laps, where you keep ending up back at the
same placenot that great an evolution
beyond a treadmill.
In contrast, I prefer what I call linear
composition, and attempt to create the musi-
cal analogy of a train or river journey. You
may be on the same train or boat, with the
constant rhythmic chug of the tracks or pad-
dlewheel, staying in the same general mood
(musical key), but the scenery is constantly
evolving. Modern composer Karlheinz
Stockhausen refers to this as the dramatic
form of music, where you can follow the
development of a character over time as life
experiences happen to him or her.
Perhaps the most well-known and respect-
ed example of this approach is modal jazz.
Instead of playing and soloing inside the
framework of a chord progression, in the
1950s some started experimenting with using
a modal scale as the foundation, and then
exploring the notes and relationships inside
that scale. Many point to the Miles Davis
album Kind of Blue as a major signpost of
this form.
You would think the creative possibilities of
a single scale would quickly be exhausted,
but in reality, many found it liberating. For
example, rather than playing the same chord
or variation on a chord, a pianist could play
any notes in the scale, including the many
chords that could be formed from the notes
of that scale. Some also felt this put an
greater emphasis on crafting more interesting
melodies, rather than falling back on the
structure of a chord sequence.
To create interesting loop-based music
especially in the linear or trance form
emphasis must therefore be placed on evolv-
ing the basic rhythm. Its not enough to pick
or two good loops; you need to create a set
of variations that work in both horizontal and
vertical dimensions.
Horizontally, you would like to have varia-
tions on the basic rhythmand ideally, a sec-
ond set of rhythms that either complement
or contrast with your main set. I place a pre-
mium on loop libraries that provide these
variations, or at the very least longer loops,
such as 8 to 32 measures. All too many pro-
Turning on a loop doesnt mean turning off your brain.
VIt r e n d s
one shouldnt confuse being in a
trance with being comatose
Modes of Creation
by Chris Meyer

Virtual Instruments V02#01 Feb-March 2006

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