Software

Posted by Art
VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

When threads meander to software I will move here.

Please share with:

Category Categories: Gear Talk, Music Miscellania | Tag Tags: | Comments 119 Comments »

119 comments

  1. Art says:
    January 10, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    Yes Matt, I do agree about the samples and the early days of synths. I had one of the first Emulators back in the early 80s and remember those samples well! Still have some of those around.

    BTW ran across some of your stuff today. Really great stuff! East/West, VSL, and/or? Maybe I should start a page on gear and software folks are using.

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 11th, 2010 at 12:57 am Reply:

    Thanks Art, actually what you heard was mostly a lot of older samples like early VSL, Sonic Implants and SAM Brass… A few months ago I finally got around to updating my libraries with goodies like Symphobia and Omnisphere.

    [Reply]

    Art, January 11th, 2010 at 8:43 am Reply:

    I’ve been torn between Omnisphere and Morphstra. I really like Spectrasonics as a company. Great support so I lean towards them. Symphobia is also on my list. So much software, so little time!

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 11th, 2010 at 10:41 pm Reply:

    Omnisphere is great value for money – it’s huge! Symphobia is also good value for money, although it’s more expensive. There are a lot of usable orchestral patches in it that could replace most older sample libraries, and are especially useful for the big epic trailer type stuff.

    [Reply]

  2. s r dhain says:
    January 12, 2010 at 7:15 am

    My ONLY gripe with omnisphere , even though it sounds amazing, is that everyone i know who uses it , uses just the presets alone, so everyone has a similar, recognisable sound. Maybe its just me, but perhaps cause of all the analog synths i own and learnt programming on, i like to tweak things to get away from the “aural concrete” syndrome.

    Incidentally Art, have you emailed spectrasonics or had any contact with them? Im sure I can remember theres an odd clause in their t&c’s regarding the use of their sounds in projects, which is other than the standard “reverse engineering” clause.

    [Reply]

    Art, January 12th, 2010 at 10:08 am Reply:

    Yes, I like to tweek also but sometimes do get sucked in by some pre-sets.

    I read over the the T & C for RMX a few years ago when I first purchased it and didn’t see anything that concerned me. Of course I’m not a lawyer. There are some things I stay away from that specifically say they cannot be used in library or production music. Big Fish Audio as an example. They state:

    “This license does not allow you to include the samples, whether unmodified or as part of a derivative work, in any music library or sample library product. However, a “special use” license may be requested from Big Fish Audio, free of charge, if you wish to use this product as part of a musical work intended for use with music libraries (some conditions apply, and Big Fish Audio retains the right to refuse any request that does not meet those conditions).”

    The “special use” language wasn’t there a few years ago. That’s new and I wonder what that is.

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 12th, 2010 at 12:56 pm Reply:

    Hey S R, same can be said for just about any softsynth that has mass appeal – like older ones: RMX, storm drum, RA, Voices of Passion, Bizarre Guitar etc. It’s pretty poor form IMO to use the sounds straight out of the box, without any tweaking or customization. I’m always tinkering and experimenting with effects and EQ to create an original sound. I like it when composer friends can’t figure out what I’m using, hate when they do! That said, you’ll still hear patches straight out of the box, pretty much entirely exposed, on major TV shows. I guess time = money, and that equation trumps artistic originality LOL!

    [Reply]

    s r dhain, January 12th, 2010 at 1:30 pm Reply:

    Very true! :-D

    Like i said below, sometimes the presets are so damn good, that theyre ripe for getting stuck in with. However, using them “neat” as it were, is only for the brave…or the lazy ( perhaps the rich and endorsed?) . The irony being, of course, that many of the top flighters have teams of programmers; i wonder then, as to what they must be doing..

    [Reply]

  3. Brian says:
    January 12, 2010 at 7:22 am

    That’s not a knock on omnisphere though. That’s actually a compliment attributable to the wide and deep library of presets it contains. It’s about as programmable as anything around.

    I don’t disagree with the observation, just the emphasis.

    [Reply]

    s r dhain, January 12th, 2010 at 10:58 am Reply:

    it IS programmable, but like a lot of synths – soft or hardware – when the presets are sometimes soooo good… ;-)

    Ive spoken to a number of techs over the years , including dave smith himself and one or two guys at moog, when things wernt quite working as they should. Do you know what a lot of them agree on, if they’re asked? …

    It’s that 80% (and more) of synthesizers/sound modules that come back for servicing/repairs, dont have ANY new sounds programmed into them. That’s shocking. Even ignoring the 80’s period stuff with membrane buttons etc, what about everything with knobs and sliders?

    Ive used a few of the arturia virtual synths too, and the irony is theyre EVEN easier to program, simply because everything is easier to do , due to the use of on screen real estate. But how many new user patches or banks do you see for these beauties?…

    Presets are good…too damn good sometimes for doing anything other than getting on with making music with them.

    Until of course you realise that “your sound” sounds a lot like “his” or “her” sound, sometimes. Which can be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on where youre sitting :-)

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, January 13th, 2010 at 12:31 pm Reply:

    Are you really any worse of a musician for just using the presets? Technically the entire orchestra is just a load of presets waiting to be used :)

    [Reply]

    s r dhain, January 13th, 2010 at 2:39 pm Reply:

    Emmet its not about being better or worse a musician, its about trying to stand out a litle and trying to create an identity of your own too.

    Maybe im in a minority on that one, but thats cool. :-)

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, January 13th, 2010 at 3:00 pm Reply:

    I do agree with you s r, I just don’t spend much time, or any at all, making my own presets as I personally think its a bit of a waste. I think you can definitively still create your own identity and stand out a little aswell even by just using presets. I mean, what did composers do back in the day, when all they had was the orchestra? They all still managed to sound different even though they were limited to the “preset” sounds of an orchestra. Its what you do with what you have that counts, but yes I do agree with you – making new sounds other than the presets is a great way to sound different and unique.

    Maybe I’m just being lazy, but I suppose I just rather spending time on composing than fiddling around with sounds to make something sound just a tiny bit different. I have an Access Virus Ti keyboard, and theres about 3300 presets alone on it – I don’t think I’d ever run out of sounds on it, so I’d find making some custom sounds a labourious and boring job lol.

    Don’t get me wrong – I’m not disagreeing with you, or saying you’re wrong, I suppose we all just have different ways of going about composing :) I know a lot of people who prefer to make their own custom sounds, rather than use presets, its just not something thats appealed to me…yet :)

    [Reply]

    s r dhain, January 14th, 2010 at 3:08 am Reply:

    If you lived down the road emmett, Id happily lend you the moog voyager or roland system 100 from my studio. Although the moog has 896 presets, all those knobs and switches are BEGGING to be tweaked. As for the roland system 100…if you dont tweak anything, then you dont get anywhere..it has no memories, but then most synths from 1976 dont either :-D

    My point is that i started on synths with memories but tactile surfaces that made it MUCH EASIER to tweak and modify. You dont need a degree in maths and physics ( ironically i did major in both for my degree) to modify a sound…just grab something and go for it. You can always hit the preset button if things get too out of hand.

    I agree that back in the day, it was ALL orchestra, but believe it or not, there wasnt and arent too many hal blaine’s ( he was the cream of session drummers in LA) , etc, and it was THE PLAYERS who sometimes helped add extra zing to an arrangement. Again, at the risk of thwacking all of us who come here, none of us are OLIVER NELSON or MIKE POST or DON PEAKE..are we? I mention these guys, cause they had some of the creame of score jobs for some of the best known shows of the 70’s and 80’s .

    Yes, the arrangement and idea is ALWAYS king, but in these technology driven, tough, competitive times, everyone wants to make their mark . Back in the day, there wasnt anywhere near as many people trying to do what we’re all doing now, so sonics wernt perhaps as important. Also synth technology was still very new. Now?…look at the numbers. In fact, there may well be some future kings and queens just on this site alone, but making your mark has become intertwined with at the very least ,HANDSHAKING with innovative technologies. :-)

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, January 14th, 2010 at 3:23 am Reply:

    Yup I see where you’re coming from actually :)

    I suppose I don’t write enough electronic based music yet, so I haven’t exactly been thrown into the thick of it enough yet to warrant playing around with presets – hell I don’t think I’ve even got the entire way through all my presets on my keyboard yet. But yea, now that I think of it, I do see where you’re coming from – I was just thinking about the whole situation regarding orchestral samples more so than keyboard presets.

    [Reply]

    Gianmarco Leone, January 14th, 2010 at 3:28 am Reply:

    What you say is right, but what I see at the moment is a different situation. I’m doing a videogame who requests ambient music, and looking for libraries of sounds I found hundreds of them on the internet. So it seems to me that there are so many presets nowadays (Omnisphere alone is REALLY huge) and the synths sounds are so different that there is the same probability for two composers to use today the same preset than, in the past, to come with a very similar sound even if making it from scratch.

    [Reply]

  4. John says:
    January 13, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    I agree with Emmett. I don’t want to spend hours tweaking samples. My time is better spent composing – hopefully original music.

    I will continue purchasing the best samples I can afford. I’m using Logic Pro, East West Quantum Leap “Gold” samples, and several other sample packages. I’m going to be adding the Vienna Strings soon.

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 15th, 2010 at 12:02 am Reply:

    Hi John. I don’t think there’s any need to tweak orchestral samples, which is what it sounds like you’re focusing on (judging by the list of libraries you gave). The lameness enters when multiple TV shows start using music with exactly the same loops. Can be embarrassing for the composer when called out on it.
    The kind of tweaking that I usually do is adding effects like distortion and / or EQ. Nothing too heavy there, usually I have the setting ready to go on those effects too. Just a few minor changes can render the loops / arpeggiators completely unrecognizable.

    [Reply]

  5. Art says:
    January 14, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    Anyone using Morphestra yet? What do you think?

    [Reply]

  6. John says:
    January 15, 2010 at 8:09 am

    Art, Morphestra sounds impressive. I listened to the trailer teasers on their website. Pretty cool.

    Hey Matt! I don’t use loops at all. I compose all the parts and play all the parts in real time using samples.

    Something about the “loop” business really disagrees with me. Using loops sucks originality out of music IMO. I know; the loopers will have my head for that remark.

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 17th, 2010 at 11:31 pm Reply:

    Hi John,

    I guess there’s a wide range of what could be considered a ‘loop’. I often like to combine my traditional note by note orchestral music with synth arpeggiators, and every now and then will use a guitar or percussion loop. Those just sound bad when programmed with MIDI. You could always record and then program your own unique loops, which is what a lot of the big composers do.
    Sounds like you’re a very traditional kid of writer, which is great… but what happens if you’re asked to create a score for a film temped with Hans Zimmer or John Powell?

    [Reply]

  7. Dan P says:
    January 15, 2010 at 9:02 am

    I’d be interested to know what guitarists think of software amp emulations. I use the guitar a lot in my music (although I don’t consider myself a guitarist) using guitar rig 3, and I really like the results.

    [Reply]

    Brian, January 15th, 2010 at 9:16 am Reply:

    I’m a bad guitar player. But I think the book answer to your question is that they’re more effective for clean sounds than distorted ones.

    [Reply]

    Art, January 15th, 2010 at 9:56 am Reply:

    I’ve been a guitar player all of my life. Many years in clubs, on the road and as a studio player here in L.A. I’ve never been much of a purist so I’m pretty satisfied with the software amps I use. Nigel (UAD1 card), Guitar Rig 3 (Lite, came with Sonar). Some free ones I like Voxengo Boogex, Juicy77, Wagner Sharp. I can usually come up with something I like though I must admit at times I can’t quite get what I’m looking for.

    [Reply]

    Ian Gallacher, January 16th, 2010 at 10:49 am Reply:

    I’ve got Guitar Rig 3 and 4 and I’m happy with the results so far. I have downloaded lots of user presets from the NI website to add to the ones available and I usually find them more useful that the default settings.

    I also tend to turn off the reverbs in GR3 and use my own reverbs in Logic. For my own tastes I like the distorted/over-driven sounds available.

    I’d add I haven’t had the luxury of trying other systems, but plumped on GR3/4 after some research.

    BTW thanks for the site Art, it’s been very useful.

    [Reply]

    Art, January 16th, 2010 at 5:53 pm Reply:

    Thanks Ian, I’ve learned so much here also.

    [Reply]

    Mark, January 18th, 2010 at 4:55 am Reply:

    I was using Guitar Rig with my Pro Tools setup but had to switch due to an upgrade incompatibility. I went with Eleven from Digidesign and couldn’t be happier.
    It doesn’t have the effects that Guitar Rig does but the amp emulation is far superior in my opinion.
    Now I’m using old fashioned foot pedals for wah, phase shifter, etc.

    You can check some of the tracks I’ve recorded with it so far here:
    http://bit.ly/6jpO5y

    -Mark
    Partners In Rhyme

    [Reply]

    Bobby Cole, July 6th, 2010 at 12:47 pm Reply:

    Have guitar Rig 4 which is great, along with Amplitude.

    I personally like using both. Have amp aims, a POD XT Pro, and my pride and joy, a 1965 Vox AC30 with original Jennings Top boost. This baby screams. Load up my stomp boxes and I’m away.

    I play a Gretsch (humbucker pickups) and you can hear the difference using a real amp miked up. I do like the emulations as well, and will sometimes mix a few guitars in, some emulation amp, some really amp.

    Another good tip I found when recording acoustic guitar is doing an additional track using a Nashville strung acoustic, sounds amazing. Its basically an acoustic guitar but the E and A strings are from an acoustic, and the rest is from an electric. Sounds incredible mixed with a normal acoustic!!!

    Take it easy

    [Reply]

    Art, July 6th, 2010 at 1:03 pm Reply:

    @ Bobby Cole “additional track using a Nashville strung acoustic, sounds amazing. Its basically an acoustic guitar but the E and A strings are from an acoustic”

    Actually “Nashville tuning” (at least from what I was told many years ago) is the high side of a 12 string guitar. In other words, starting from the bottom your first 4 strings will be two octaves higher than a normally strung guitar while B and E will be the same as a regular strung guitar. I bought an acoustic many years ago and keep it permanently strung that way and yes it does sound awesome!

    [Reply]

  8. Mojo Bone says:
    January 15, 2010 at 9:56 am

    Well, the early ones were better at high-gain sounds-Johnson Millenium, early Line6 Axis; the current generation of Line6 stuff (I have the X3Live) is better at clean to medium gain, but damn good at high-gain, too. I used to use mine as a preamp with a tube (6V6s) back end and a real cab, miked up with an SM57, but I don’t bother anymore, since I realized I can’t hear a difference. Peavey’s software is the best of the current crop, imo, though I haven’t used the software-only modelers, much.

    [Reply]

  9. John says:
    January 18, 2010 at 10:08 am

    Anyone hear the East West Hollywood String video yet. Just finished watching it. Pretty impressive. I reckon I’ll be adding them to my arsenal soon.

    [Reply]

    brian, January 18th, 2010 at 10:46 am Reply:

    Very very impressive. It’s not the sound I expected, but it’s undeniable great. And it should be a tremendous time saver — by which I mean, one-stop strings… less time spent layering and editing/tweaking. If you’re an epic trailer music sort of composer, there’s no getting around this one, even if you have and love LASS.

    [Reply]

  10. John says:
    January 18, 2010 at 10:45 am

    Wow! The 24bit samples take up 500GB. I may have to go cheap with the 16 bit and one mic position. I have about 750 GB’s left on my Mac. Maybe time for an external hard drive.

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 18th, 2010 at 4:18 pm Reply:

    You really want an external (esata or firewire 800) drive dedicated to just this library too. Not to mention a brand new computer, an OS running at 64bit…

    [Reply]

    Frank, January 18th, 2010 at 4:25 pm Reply:

    Why not add additional internal drives? 1 TB drives are inexpensive these days. In a Mac Pro you can have up to 4.

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 18th, 2010 at 9:27 pm Reply:

    And might I add, if you can afford the Hollywood Strings, $80 – $100 for an internal drive isn’t going to be big problem ; )

    [Reply]

  11. s r dhain says:
    January 18, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    Hi guys..and gals :-)

    Im not sure if this is the right place for this question, but i’ll ask it nonetheless.

    Ive been approached by a library, and they dont use ftp, and sending a hard drive in the post is NEVER a good idea ( im not a fan of some of the other methods, but then i spent years as an I.T. guy, so i KNOW the perils of filesharing style scenarios on the ‘net). My only alternative is to submit cd’s , which would mean A LOT OF BULK, or DVD. For all my studio experience, im at a loss as to which software – IM PC BASED- would be useful for this. Ive looked around on the net, and i cant find a clear answer.

    Can anyone help me on this? Ill owe you a keg of beer or a bottle of vodka (not the cheap stuff) if we meet :-D

    kind regards

    S R DHAIN

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, January 18th, 2010 at 3:24 pm Reply:

    Do you mean which software to use for burning the CDs/DVDs?

    [Reply]

    Matt, January 18th, 2010 at 3:28 pm Reply:

    Some options to consider:

    flash drive – you can get ones with quite a lot of space now, they’re tiny and pretty resilient. Major drawback is that the transfer speed is slow

    Portable / bus powered drive – more expensive and heavier, but you can fit 500 GB on them now. Other good thing is that they don’t need to be plugged in to the wall, bypassing any need to get adapters. I’ve never had a problem shipping these kinds of drives to different countries, just make sure you pack it well (using original box if possible in addition to packing peanuts), or get UPS / fedex to do it for you.

    [Reply]

    s r dhain, January 18th, 2010 at 3:50 pm Reply:

    Thanks guys…that was fast! :-D

    Matt, i wouldnt ship an iomega ( rock solid as they are) or any other make of external drive, cause im well aware of what happens at some of the depots in the uk . Im fortunate that i have a good relationship with a synth tech, otherwise some of the stuff ive had to have fixed due to transit depot “football”, would have been an eye watering experience. A flash drive of the 8gb or 16gb variety sounds like the best idea ( im not giving them everything) …christ, i must be quite drained mentally to not have thought of that myself, so thank you for reminding me matt…a keg or a bottle for you :-)

    Emmet…yeah man, thats also what i was trying to figure out, cause the alternative is flash drive ( nice one, matt) or burning approx 20 at a time wavs to cd-r…thats gonna be a bulky job in the post. Ive looked on the net, and the only software i could find looked really dated from a one page site (probably dodgy) and no mention of vista, so its also OLD. Any ideas on that front?

    S R Dhain

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, January 18th, 2010 at 3:58 pm Reply:

    Hiya,
    Why not use DVDs? You can use Dual Layer DVDs nowadays that can hold up to 8 gigs of data – its a far easier alternative to burning loads of CDs. If you’re using a drive, then they won’t be able to listen to the tracks straight off like a CD, so DVDs are a good alternative.

    In terms of software, some good (and free) CD burning software is:

    http://www.cdburnerxp.se/features.php

    Nero is generally the best software I find for burning CDs and DVDs, but theres plenty of free alternatives out there

    Emmett

    [Reply]

    s r dhain, January 18th, 2010 at 4:01 pm Reply:

    Ive been using roxio for years, and did wonder about its reliability, cause ive had issues on other machines the studio, with buffer overrun maladies and so on. Nevertheless ill check nero out – i havent used it in years- and i now owe you a keg or a bottle too :-D

    Shekhar Raj Dhain

    [Reply]

  12. Emmett Cooke says:
    January 18, 2010 at 3:45 pm

    Eh…are you sure that its going to get returned? You’d want to get an assurance first as most companies nowadays say “We will not return CDs sent to us”

    [Reply]

    s r dhain, January 18th, 2010 at 3:57 pm Reply:

    Thats never been too much of a concern for me. Ive always assumed they keep em, or use them as beer mats or coffee coasters or whatever, simply cause cds are dirt cheap. All my stuff is registered with PRS way before i send anything out, and I own my own masters, so im not mithered (bothered).

    Its been a long time since , which is why i was thinking about dvd and now even a flash pen drive, cause theyre not too pricey and are ultra quick to drag and drop files from. Any joy on the dvd software front?

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, January 18th, 2010 at 4:00 pm Reply:

    Oh I just meant sending a hard drive to companies, you’d want to make sure it gets sent back :)

    In terms of DVD burning software, try infra recorder:

    http://infrarecorder.org/

    [Reply]

  13. Sergei Stern says:
    February 9, 2010 at 1:35 am

    I use my Kontakt6 bundle and live instruments.
    Won’t buy any new synth till I know perfectly Fm8, Absynth, Massive and “maybe” Reaktor :)
    I want to buy East-West cause Kontakt’s Vienna samples which are a part of Kontakt’s factory lbirary are pretty thin and have basic articulations only.. Komplete6 is good for sound design/synthesis and as a sampler (Kontakt) only, in my opinion.

    [Reply]

    Gianmarco Leone, February 9th, 2010 at 7:59 am Reply:

    “Kontakt’s Vienna samples which are a part of Kontakt’s factory lbirary are pretty thin and have basic articulations only.. ”

    There aren’t, obviously, the same articulations you get with the Vienna product.

    [Reply]

  14. John says:
    February 9, 2010 at 8:23 am

    I have the EWQL samples. I prefer the Kirk Hunter strings – especially the romantic solo string samples. The EWQL Trombones, French Horns, Bassoons, English Horn, Tuba, etc. are good. It’s a mix and match situation when it comes to samples.

    [Reply]

  15. Emmett Cooke says:
    February 9, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    Hi guys,
    Quick question – anyone have any ideas about this. I’m about to upload to Scorekeepers, but your tracks have to be in .aiff format. Does anyone have any ideas on what free software you can use to batch edit all your tracks from .wav to .aiff by any chance?

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, February 9th, 2010 at 4:19 pm Reply:

    Or any way to use Audacity or Cubase to do it on a batch basis, without having to go through all of them?

    [Reply]

    Art, February 9th, 2010 at 4:42 pm Reply:

    I don’t think Audacity can batch files like that. Just be careful when converting as I had purchased a low cost program and discovered later that it was truncating the endings with no rhyme or reason. I now use Chicken Systems Translator and it works great. Check their site for the free version. http://www.chickensys.com/downloads/translator_free.php. I use the paid version though.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, February 9th, 2010 at 4:48 pm Reply:

    Thanks for the recommendation Art – had a look at it, and you can only convert one file every 6hrs which is a little annoying. Unfortunately I can’t really afford the $150 cost of the pro version at the moment, so might have to hold off on it – don’t suppose you have any other ideas by any chance?

    [Reply]

    Art, February 9th, 2010 at 5:42 pm Reply:

    Yea, that is annoying. I find that if I search Google long enough I can usually find something. Sometimes the obvious keywords do not get the desired results.

    [Reply]

    Art, February 9th, 2010 at 5:48 pm Reply:

    Also, ask Ryan. Maybe he’ll do it for you.

    [Reply]

    Colin, February 9th, 2010 at 5:48 pm Reply:

    You know, if you have itunes, you can just change your preferences to aiff and then convert. I had to do that for scorekeepers. It takes minutes.

    [Reply]

  16. John says:
    February 9, 2010 at 10:53 pm

    I think “dBpowerAmp Music Converter” has a free version yet. I remember I used it in the past without any problems. In fact it’s still on my computer. Simple to use.

    [Reply]

  17. Emmett Cooke says:
    February 10, 2010 at 2:12 am

    Thanks guys, I used Riverpast Audio Converter in the end – did the job fine. Don’t have iTunes, and don’t want to install it to be honest, but its handy to know it can do it aswell :)

    Thanks for all the help guys :)

    [Reply]

    Art, February 10th, 2010 at 8:31 am Reply:

    Hi Emmett,

    Riverpast Audio, that name jogged my memory as that was the software that was cutting off the ends of the music after converting to aiff. Make sure to listen all the way through, after the conversion, or at least to the ending.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, February 10th, 2010 at 8:56 am Reply:

    Yup you’re right Art – its cutting off the beginning for some reason! Oh well, better try another one :)

    [Reply]

  18. Steve says:
    February 10, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    I use WavePad. The free version will convert an audio file to any file type, and it’s great for simple editing too.

    http://download.cnet.com/WavePad-Sound-Editor/3000-2170_4-10276212.html

    [Reply]

  19. Steve says:
    February 10, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    Meant to say it batch edits also.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, February 10th, 2010 at 12:39 pm Reply:

    Ah cool, thanks Steve, will check that out when I get home! :)

    Cheers

    [Reply]

  20. Steve says:
    February 10, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    I think I linked the paid version on a trial basis. The actual freeware version is here.

    http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Multimedia_and_Graphics/Misc__Sound_Tools/Wavepad.html

    [Reply]

  21. Emmett Cooke says:
    March 18, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    Hi guys,
    Quick question – when you are sending off a CD to a library, do you burn it as an Audio CD, or as a data CD?

    I’ve done it both ways, but wondering is there an industry standard?

    Emmett

    [Reply]

    Anonymous, March 18th, 2010 at 3:55 pm Reply:

    Emmett,

    I’ve done it only burning it as a Data CD. If you do it as a Audio CD most burn programs will will write it as a PCM file. Several Libraries want in .wav file. I don’t know if there is a industry “standard”. Just the way I do it. If they ask for .wav that’s what I send.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, March 18th, 2010 at 4:07 pm Reply:

    Cool thanks for that, wanted to know what others do. Just tried to open up an Audio CD there on my laptop know and it doesnt work properly, so yea – well def be using data cds from now on so :)

    [Reply]

  22. Steve P. says:
    March 19, 2010 at 9:58 am

    Emmet,

    Download the free version of `Switch’. It converts between all sort of file types…FAST!

    http://www.nch.com.au/switch

    [Reply]

    darkstar, March 19th, 2010 at 10:16 am Reply:

    LIFESAVER !!!!!
    Just downloaded it :)

    [Reply]

    the other Steve, March 19th, 2010 at 11:06 am Reply:

    I noticed my old version of Wavepad would convert any file type. Now the new version says something about copyrights when you try to convert to MP3s, yet NCH (same manufacturer) also makes Switch now, which will convert anything with no questions asked. Odd that they dropped the ability from one software and just made a new one that does the same thing instead.

    [Reply]

  23. John says:
    March 22, 2010 at 11:13 am

    What are some awesome string/synth pad samples? I use Logic Pro and I’m planning on adding a new sample bundle to my set-up. It would be interesting to know what you’re all using.

    [Reply]

    Matt, March 22nd, 2010 at 4:05 pm Reply:

    As mentioned above, I’m using Symphobia, some of the VSL and some old Sonic Implants samples. I want to get the new Hollywood Strings – but you need a really fast (new) computer to use it.
    I highly recommend Omnisphere for synth stuff. I still use Blue and Albino as well.

    [Reply]

    Art, March 22nd, 2010 at 4:13 pm Reply:

    Just picked up Symphobia, pretty amazing. Omnisphere is next on my list. I have Studio Strings (nice for $99) by Kirk Hunter and have been looking at East West Platinum. I think RMX is a must have. Had it for a few years and it gets a lot of use.

    [Reply]

    John (The Other John), March 22nd, 2010 at 4:37 pm Reply:

    Thanks guys! Someone also mentioned NI’s Absynth5 on another thread. I’ll be checking them all out.

    My Logic Pro has some good pads as well. Especially if used in combinations.

    [Reply]

    Denis W, March 22nd, 2010 at 4:51 pm Reply:

    Omnisphere is great, but you need a lot of horsepower to run it. It is terrible in Protools.Works great in Logic.

    [Reply]

    Art, March 22nd, 2010 at 5:34 pm Reply:

    That’s what I hear. I have a quad core so I’m hoping that will be enough.

    [Reply]

    Steve B., March 22nd, 2010 at 8:11 pm Reply:

    The quad core and a few gigs of ram will work fine.

    [Reply]

    Denis W, March 23rd, 2010 at 6:01 pm Reply:

    If you use Logic you will have no problems. PT8/RTAS is a nightmare now.

    [Reply]

  24. Emmett Cooke says:
    March 29, 2010 at 3:40 am

    East West Composer Bundle arrived today via Fedex woo! Can’t wait to get home and play with it all. Got VOP, MOR, Silk, Gypsy, SD2 and Fab Four. Should be fun :)

    [Reply]

    Art, March 29th, 2010 at 7:44 am Reply:

    Just got East West Composers Collection a few days ago. A lot of disks to install so I’m just doing a few a day.Also picked up Omnisphere. Amazing program! Have fun Emmett!

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, March 29th, 2010 at 8:08 am Reply:

    Deadly, heard a lot about Omnisphere, but have no use for it yet, so will wait a while before looking into it. Next purchase will be LASS…

    The real question for everyone here is – LA Scoring Strings, or Hollywood Strings? Thoughts?

    [Reply]

    Art, March 29th, 2010 at 8:31 am Reply:

    Check out http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/index.php?&Itemid=28. Lots of good info on these and other VIs.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, March 30th, 2010 at 1:48 am Reply:

    Thanks for that Art!

    [Reply]

    darkstar, March 30th, 2010 at 1:42 am Reply:

    Hi – hows that working out ? Been looking at investing in this package as well, but have seen so many on-line complaints about EW stuff performance and (lack of ) support in regards MAC’s.
    Just curious how you’ve found it ?

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, March 30th, 2010 at 1:52 am Reply:

    Yea I was a little suprised to be honest. Theres no documentation for the software with it in the packaging. If you’re a beginner you really are screwed. Luckily I found it easy to figure out how to use the iLok key with the software, but I know a lot of other people who wouldn’t have a clue where to start. I had to download the drivers (didn’t come with a setup cd) and then figure it out from there.

    Performance is good to be honest, and I have a PC so its fine for me. Lack of documentation would be a biggy for me though – I like to at least have some sort of document to be able to read through if I get stuck…

    [Reply]

  25. Emmett Cooke says:
    March 30, 2010 at 1:53 am

    Oh yea, didn’t realise how big East West Pianos was either – it has 35 dual layer dvds – that 7 gigs a piece. Thats about 250 gigs of software to install….takes about 20 mins per dvd…going to take AGES to install it…

    [Reply]

    darkstar, March 30th, 2010 at 4:26 am Reply:

    35 dual layer DVD’s !!!!!!!

    Jinkies !!!!!!

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, March 30th, 2010 at 4:48 am Reply:

    Its a bit ridiculous alright. Lucky I have a spare 500 internal hard drive for all these programs. The east west composer collection and the gold pianos are going to fill it up completely though I think…

    [Reply]

    John (The Other John), March 30th, 2010 at 7:16 am Reply:

    I use the EWQL Gold and East West Choir. Works well with my Mac and Logic Pro. Been using it for nine months without a problem.

    [Reply]

    Art, March 30th, 2010 at 9:17 am Reply:

    I’m now looking at terabyte drives. Make sure to have backups. I’m so paranoid I have 3. One in the computer and 2 that I rotate between home and a safe deposit box. I use hot swap bays.

    [Reply]

    ErikMusic, March 30th, 2010 at 7:38 am Reply:

    It took me over 20 hours to install EWQLSO Platinum (16 DVDs)…..it was brutal. Once you start, you have to keep going…you can’t install a few disks here and there…..so it’s a big ordeal!

    [Reply]

    John (The Other John), March 30th, 2010 at 7:43 am Reply:

    Yep, good to have a book handy to read while waiting. Or watch 6-7 movies on TV.

    [Reply]

  26. Emmett Cooke says:
    March 30, 2010 at 10:00 am

    Hi Art,
    Great deal at the moment:

    http://www.ebuyer.com/product/194843

    2tb external for £119.98 – good price for the big backups needed. Gonna get myself one one payday me thinks

    [Reply]

    Art, March 30th, 2010 at 10:14 am Reply:

    Nice, I’ll see if it’s available here in the states. Thanks!

    [Reply]

    Art, March 30th, 2010 at 10:20 am Reply:

    A few things to know about this drive from: http://www.storagereview.com/hitachi_simpledrive_rev_3_2_0tb_usb_external_hard_drive_review

    This drive is only designed to be used in an upright position; the stand is permanently attached. The drive can tip about 15 degrees left or right before it will fall on its side.

    The SimpleDrive 2.0TB’s sole means of connecting to a computer is through USB 2.0, which maxes out around ~30MB/s for sequential reads and writes. The SimpleDrive is easily capable of maxing out USB 2.0’s bandwidth as our benchmarks show:

    Spin-up Time

    The SimpleDrive 2.0TB drive takes a significant amount of time to spin up – 15 seconds. This can get annoying when the drive powers down after inactivity; any program that wants to access the drive will be held up while the drive is spinning up until it is ready.

    Noise Level

    The SimpleDrive 2.0TB unfortunately has a significant noise level; read/write clicks are easily noticeable while having a normal conversation with someone. In our localized sound test where we apply a stethoscope to the center of the external drive’s casing, we saw average rates of 47 decibels during read and 63 decibels during peak drive use. Comparatively, these rates make the Hitachi SimpleDrive one of the loudest external drives we’ve tested.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, March 30th, 2010 at 11:18 am Reply:

    Sorry forgot you’re in the states. Yea seem like a few bad points there alright. Must look at it again so :)

    [Reply]

    Matt, March 30th, 2010 at 12:43 pm Reply:

    After having several drives (different manufacturers – Lacie, G Drive, Seagate) go down over the past 6 months, and having to go through the painful experience of data recovery, I decided to go for a back up drive that is a little more expensive, but comes with a good warranty / guarantee. It’s a mirrored RAID set up, so if one drive goes down, the data is still fully recoverable on the other (essentially when you copy to the drive, you’re making 2 copies at the same time).

    Here it is: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/raid_1/Gmax

    [Reply]

    Art, March 30th, 2010 at 1:29 pm Reply:

    That’s a nice setup. I would still want a backup off site though. Fire, earthquake or theft wouldn’t protect you if your backup was all “in-house”.

    [Reply]

  27. El-roy says:
    June 9, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Can anyone reccomend one of these over the other?

    Vienna Symphonic Library Vienna Ensemble PRO $265 (not as much content and limited articulations)
    OR
    East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold Complete $247

    I just need some decent brass & strings at a low price. Oh and user friendly always helps! Thanks in advance!

    [Reply]

    John (the other John), June 9th, 2010 at 3:56 pm Reply:

    I use the EWQL Gold with good results. EWQL strings are okay, but I mix them with Kirk Hunter strings and some Logic Pro samples. The brass: trombones, French horns, Tuba, and Wagner Tuben are great. Trumpet, not so great.

    That’s a good price for the Gold. I think I paid $450 a year ago.

    [Reply]

    Denis W, June 9th, 2010 at 4:45 pm Reply:

    It does seem like a good price. I use EWQL Gold. Its a good workman like library, certainly superseded these days by LASS etc.The EWQL library must be at least 5 years old by now if not more. Vienna stuff is very good but there are so many variations in their products I get confused.

    [Reply]

    Brian, June 10th, 2010 at 5:18 pm Reply:

    Those two products aren’t comparable. The VSL product contains a tiny tiny orchestral set as a freebie add on. The product is an audio and midi over LAN solution. That’s what the 250 is for. They give you a little orchestra just to try it out.
    Can’t compare it to EWQLSO Gold. The comparable product to Gold would be the VSL Special Edition Libs.

    [Reply]

    Matt, June 10th, 2010 at 7:50 pm Reply:

    I agree with Brian.

    I should add that the VSL you’ll be getting for $265 is basically some of their old samples – most of which are over ten years old. You can hear the difference when compared to the newest sample libraries. I got a couple of the limited edition / extended packages last year, which ran me about $1400, and to be honest the only samples I use are the legato epic horns and legato woodwinds.

    The EWQLSO brass is ok, except for trumpets. The stacc strings are pretty good. If that’s your budget limitation, then I suggest going with it.

    If you can wait and save up a little more money, I highly recommend Symphobia. It costs around $1300, but if you do big epic orch stuff, then you’ll probably end up using it more than any other library. The sustained notes and staccato notes for brass and strings are both great, and there are some cool effects, including horror rises and John Williams style woodwind flourishes. It also runs pretty efficiently – on a G5 quad I was able to use about eight Symphobias in one big trailer session, combined with a lot of other sample libraries.

    People have been raving about the new Hollywood Strings, but it is a major processor hog, as well as very pricey.

    [Reply]

    Brian, June 10th, 2010 at 9:20 pm Reply:

    I might agree with Matt and I might not :)
    What kind of music will you write? If you really write for orchestra, gold. If you want orchestral elements in your music. — and this might include pretty bombastic orchestra but maybe don’t care about having every articulation on the violas, symphobia.

    [Reply]

  28. El-roy says:
    June 11, 2010 at 6:22 am

    I’m not doing full blown orchestral pieces. I ordered the gold b/c I’m looking for something on a low budget for now. Really I’d just be incorporating the brass and strings into contemporary rock/electonic/hip hop, etc. so I think this will be fine for now. If I had the $1300 budget I’d look into symphobia but I’ve already spent more than I wanted to this year , next big job maybe. Anyway, thanks for your input, it’s much appreciated!

    [Reply]

    John (the other John), June 11th, 2010 at 6:52 am Reply:

    Don’t sell the “Gold” short. Proper orchestrating and layering can bring awesome results.

    [Reply]

    El-roy, June 11th, 2010 at 8:23 am Reply:

    Thanks, I wasn’t selling it short (I have no right to judge it, haven’t received it in the mail yet) I was stating that I won’t be doing full blown orchestral pieces in the near feature. That’s fantastic if it’s good enough to do so.

    [Reply]

    John (the other John), June 11th, 2010 at 8:36 am Reply:

    I hate tooting my horn – really I do, but this relates to the Gold samples. I received a five star rating from Recording Magazine on an orchestral track I created using the Gold samples.

    I guess it’s not quite tooting when I remain anonymous.

    [Reply]

    Alex, June 11th, 2010 at 8:47 am Reply:

    I would advise against Gold if that’s what you are planning on using it for. The samples are great, but they are all wet (recorded with stage mics), so when you layer on the brass on strings it will sound like they were recorded on the EW sound stage rather than in your recording studio. VSL special edition comes dry (recorded with close mics) so you have flexibility with how you want to use reverb with it.

    [Reply]

    John (the other John), June 11th, 2010 at 9:10 am Reply:

    Good point Alex!

    The EW sound stage works well for my orchestral tracks. I use other samples for different purposes like piano solos. The EW piano sample can work as a background instrument, but not so well as a stand-alone solo sample.

    [Reply]

  29. Emmett Cooke says:
    June 11, 2010 at 9:16 am

    If you want an idea, here is a track I wrote with EWSO Gold, and Choirs (plus Big Fish Audio Guitars)

    http://sonicoctave.com/CDs/Orchestral/Heavens%20Above.mp3

    You get an idea of the strings and brass

    [Reply]

    John (the other John), June 11th, 2010 at 10:23 am Reply:

    Sounds good Emmett! What DAW are you using? I use Logic Pro.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, June 11th, 2010 at 10:30 am Reply:

    Thanks John :)

    I’m using Cubase myself

    [Reply]

    John (the other John), June 11th, 2010 at 10:35 am Reply:

    Learning how to use the Gold samples is very important. For example; I don’t care for the trumpets in the Gold, but when mix in with the orchestra properly they can get good results. So much is in the orchestration and articulation. You’ve got it down Emmett.

    [Reply]

    Emmett Cooke, June 11th, 2010 at 12:25 pm Reply:

    Thanks John – yea good orchestration can make up for crappy samples depending on how they’re used. I’m trying to get a lot more into orchestration now myself – its really important

    [Reply]

  30. brian says:
    June 11, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    yeah, as Alex said, the main knock on Gold was also its biggest selling point. Compared to Platinum, it had only one mic perspective — the Stage mics. (and is 16bit vs 24bit, but that’s probably a plus actually.) So it always sounds like Gold. For better and for worse, the players are panned already and the hall is the hall. And if you just let it sound like Gold, it sounds pretty good. The platinum version additionally has close mics on everything, so you had greater flexibility, but even Platinum was always meant to sound like that hall.

    I don’t know what you’re used to for orch samples. But I suspect you’re gonna be very pleased. And if you really paid 250 bucks for it… even years after the initial release (which was over a grand) it’s a lot of orchestra for that money. I LOVE Symphobia, but it isn’t even close to being worth 4 or 5x Gold.

    And while there are several better options, the trumpets aren’t that bad. The 4tpt sect ain’t great. But the EW 2tpt patches are always in my template.

    [Reply]

    John (the other John), June 11th, 2010 at 2:07 pm Reply:

    Exactly Brian! I don’t want to spend my time tweaking the samples. The Gold sound good right out of the box.

    [Reply]

    Alex, June 11th, 2010 at 9:48 pm Reply:

    If you are really interested in learning everything about sample libraries and virtual instruments check out the forum at http://www.vi-control.net/forum/index.php

    [Reply]


Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  1. uberVU - social comments
  2. Tweets that mention Software | MusicLibraryReport.com -- Topsy.com

Leave a Reply