Mattias Westlund is a famous composer for games and media.
He made a famous orchestra named Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra in the format of multiple SF2 soundfonts where each instrument is a SF2 file.
This is the direct link :
http://mattiaswestlund.net/samples/sona ... ra-1.0.zip
Now, how to use it ?
You unzip it in a subdirectory of your common VST directory.
Then you simply install a soundfont player, also named a SF2 player.
Here are two which runs native 64-bit in addition to native 32-bit... and which are true multi-timbral :
I'm a user of the professional version of TX16Wx since 2013. This tool is extremely powerful, even in its freeware edition. But the learning curve can be a bit long and tedious if you want to get multi-timbral results quite quickly.
Sobanth is a brand new software, ended a few months ago. It also is multi-timbral, but the learning curve will be much faster, and the result is also excellent. I could say that this tool is absolutely ideal to make with only one instance a song using upto 16 soundfont instruments.
If you need to be convinced about the huge quality of this totally free Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra which can be used as well by Sobanth and by TX16Wx (and other tools but in my opinion these two are the best)... have a look at these wonderful demos:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +orchestra
How to use a multi-timbral VSTi in Mulab?
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- KVRAF
- 4534 posts since 17 Jun, 2013 from very close to Paris, France
Build your life everyday as if you would live for a thousand years. Marvel at the Life everyday as if you would die tomorrow.
I'm now severely diseased since September 2018.
I'm now severely diseased since September 2018.
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- KVRAF
- 12739 posts since 24 Jun, 2008 from Europe
Maybe it's not an issue with the multiple midi chans (do you see different midi chans inthe monitor?) but rather an issue with multiple outputs of that VST? Just a thought.Veronica1965 wrote:I was able to successfully set up an event monitor. Still can't get any sound out of this VSTi except for flute, though. Something tells me I'm in far over my head.
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- KVRAF
- 4534 posts since 17 Jun, 2013 from very close to Paris, France
Tonight I have monitored using a MIDIchannelSplitter, and I've seen that effectively there is neither audio outing from other channels than the first audio channel, neither MIDI event broadcasted on the 15 last MIDI channels.mutools wrote:Maybe it's not an issue with the multiple midi chans (do you see different midi chans inthe monitor?) but rather an issue with multiple outputs of that VST? Just a thought.Veronica1965 wrote:I was able to successfully set up an event monitor. Still can't get any sound out of this VSTi except for flute, though. Something tells me I'm in far over my head.
Then I have watched the analysis made by Christian Budde's VST Plug-in Analyser 2.0 and it ruined all the remaining doubts : only the first MIDI channel is active and only the first audio output either, so... mono-instrument.
Build your life everyday as if you would live for a thousand years. Marvel at the Life everyday as if you would die tomorrow.
I'm now severely diseased since September 2018.
I'm now severely diseased since September 2018.
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- KVRAF
- 12739 posts since 24 Jun, 2008 from Europe
To be honnest i don't understand what setup are you talking about? Did you try the example project i attached? Multi-channel tracks are clearly working fine.BlackWinny wrote:Tonight I have monitored using a MIDIchannelSplitter, and I've seen that effectively there is neither audio outing from other channels than the first audio channel, neither MIDI event broadcasted on the 15 last MIDI channels.
Then I have watched the analysis made by Christian Budde's VST Plug-in Analyser 2.0 and it ruined all the remaining doubts : only the first MIDI channel is active and only the first audio output either, so... mono-instrument.
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- KVRAF
- 4534 posts since 17 Jun, 2013 from very close to Paris, France
Yes Jo, yours works... because it doesn't use Versilian Chamber Orchestra (v1). So it doesn't monitor the MIDI output of this instrument. The problem is in this instrument, specifically, not at all in Mulab.mutools wrote:To be honnest i don't understand what setup are you talking about? Did you try the example project i attached? Multi-channel tracks are clearly working fine.BlackWinny wrote:Tonight I have monitored using a MIDIchannelSplitter, and I've seen that effectively there is neither audio outing from other channels than the first audio channel, neither MIDI event broadcasted on the 15 last MIDI channels.
Then I have watched the analysis made by Christian Budde's VST Plug-in Analyser 2.0 and it ruined all the remaining doubts : only the first MIDI channel is active and only the first audio output either, so... mono-instrument.
Build your life everyday as if you would live for a thousand years. Marvel at the Life everyday as if you would die tomorrow.
I'm now severely diseased since September 2018.
I'm now severely diseased since September 2018.
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- KVRist
- 44 posts since 7 Aug, 2013 from Connecticut, USA
Hi all, sorry to hear there's been some issues with VSCO 1.
Honestly VSCO 1 is vastly inferior to VSCO 2 by every measurement one can make (sound quality, realism, detail, number of instruments, number of articulations, velocity layers, round robins, etc.)- that is why I have taken such great effort to encourage people to not use it. It costs the exact same, we don't collect e-mails or make you get an account or any dirty thing like that. If your local coffee shop suddenly got much nicer tasting beans and much bigger cups with no price increase, then why ask for the old blend and smaller cup?
I did a little search- "Using multitimbral instruments in MuLab". Here is what I found from the documentation here-
"MIDI channels come into play when you want to address the different sub-sections in a module, for example a multi-timbral synth. A multi-timbral synth can generate different sounds at the same time, each controlled by its own MIDI channel. But there are more situations where the use of MIDI channels can be handy.
By default, tracks play on MIDI channel 1. You can change this via the track's context menu -> Choose MIDI Channel. By default, sub-tracks use the same MIDI channel as their parent track, but you can change this too.
You can also set a track's MIDI channel to "Per Part" so you can define the MIDI channel per part via the part's context menu -> Choose MIDI Channel. And if you set a part's MIDI channel to "Per Event", well then you can define the MIDI channel on event level. In this case new drawn notes get the focused MIDI channel which can be changed via Sequence Editor's context menu -> Editor -> Choose Focused Channel."
I'm do not use MuLab and I am not an expert on how it works, but I reckon with about 80% certainty that one sentence of bolded text will get the other instruments playing right if you are still having difficulties.
For anyone interested in a bit more background on why multi-timbral instruments exist, why VSCO 1 was multitimbral, why there are 16 audio outputs, etc., feel free to read below-
In "ye olden days" of samplers, you might have a physical rackmount sampler with 16 channels of MIDI input and a master stereo (2ch) output and maybe a 2nd stereo output. The sampler of yesteryear and today is for all intents and purposes a black box- both literally and figuratively: MIDI goes in, Audio comes out. This system and its execution has remained identical from then through today with software samplers.
In order to make multiple instruments sound at once (to avoid the horrific complications or expense of working on a monotimbral instrument, such as the classic Ensoniq Mirage, which cost $1700 in its day- to run 16 channels, one would have to multi-track 16 times (which means you can't change parts after you record them) or buy 16 units), each MIDI track would be assigned to send data to a different MIDI channel on the same MIDI device. We do the same, but our device is almost always virtual software now.
Why use a multi-timbral device? Why bother with all these "MIDI channels" and stuff? Because it saves resources- each instance of the sampler you have to open is wasted duplicate overhead. It is far more efficient to run one instance with 16 instruments than 16 instances with one instrument each- not to mention way less confusing visually.
But wait, I thought multi-timbral devices had multiple outputs and mono-timbral had one output? Doesn't that make VSCO 1 mono-timbral if it only uses the first output pair? Well, the industry is never very good at standardizing terms. In my mind, a multi-timbral device is one that can control multiple discrete instruments individually- thus capable of multiple timbres. I would call a device with multiple discrete outputs a multi-output device. It is easier to distinguish between the two.
Why isn't VSCO 1 simpler and easier to use then? Well, the problem with Maize, the sampler used to create VSCO 1 (and Bigcat's VSCO 2 VSTi... as well as hundreds of free and commercial VST instruments), is that it has very inadequate support for multi-timbral instruments- it's not even really designed for that to begin with. On top of that, Maize automatically has 16 audio outputs locked when there is virtually no reason for more than two, which is confusing. The audio in VSCO 1 will always be sent only on the first audio output pair. The others are created/used for no apparent reason and that cannot be changed by myself or any other developer using Maize.
If you use any multi-timbral sampler (Kontakt, ARIA, ENGINE, PLAY, HISE, etc.) or even traditional hardware samplers/keyboards then use the exact same procedure you use there to set up multiple instruments in the same instance. Even many popular soundfont players are multi-timbral! Honestly, this is a professional skill all DAW users should know if you don't know how to do it already- right up there after continuous controllers.
Honestly VSCO 1 is vastly inferior to VSCO 2 by every measurement one can make (sound quality, realism, detail, number of instruments, number of articulations, velocity layers, round robins, etc.)- that is why I have taken such great effort to encourage people to not use it. It costs the exact same, we don't collect e-mails or make you get an account or any dirty thing like that. If your local coffee shop suddenly got much nicer tasting beans and much bigger cups with no price increase, then why ask for the old blend and smaller cup?
I did a little search- "Using multitimbral instruments in MuLab". Here is what I found from the documentation here-
"MIDI channels come into play when you want to address the different sub-sections in a module, for example a multi-timbral synth. A multi-timbral synth can generate different sounds at the same time, each controlled by its own MIDI channel. But there are more situations where the use of MIDI channels can be handy.
By default, tracks play on MIDI channel 1. You can change this via the track's context menu -> Choose MIDI Channel. By default, sub-tracks use the same MIDI channel as their parent track, but you can change this too.
You can also set a track's MIDI channel to "Per Part" so you can define the MIDI channel per part via the part's context menu -> Choose MIDI Channel. And if you set a part's MIDI channel to "Per Event", well then you can define the MIDI channel on event level. In this case new drawn notes get the focused MIDI channel which can be changed via Sequence Editor's context menu -> Editor -> Choose Focused Channel."
I'm do not use MuLab and I am not an expert on how it works, but I reckon with about 80% certainty that one sentence of bolded text will get the other instruments playing right if you are still having difficulties.
For anyone interested in a bit more background on why multi-timbral instruments exist, why VSCO 1 was multitimbral, why there are 16 audio outputs, etc., feel free to read below-
In "ye olden days" of samplers, you might have a physical rackmount sampler with 16 channels of MIDI input and a master stereo (2ch) output and maybe a 2nd stereo output. The sampler of yesteryear and today is for all intents and purposes a black box- both literally and figuratively: MIDI goes in, Audio comes out. This system and its execution has remained identical from then through today with software samplers.
In order to make multiple instruments sound at once (to avoid the horrific complications or expense of working on a monotimbral instrument, such as the classic Ensoniq Mirage, which cost $1700 in its day- to run 16 channels, one would have to multi-track 16 times (which means you can't change parts after you record them) or buy 16 units), each MIDI track would be assigned to send data to a different MIDI channel on the same MIDI device. We do the same, but our device is almost always virtual software now.
Why use a multi-timbral device? Why bother with all these "MIDI channels" and stuff? Because it saves resources- each instance of the sampler you have to open is wasted duplicate overhead. It is far more efficient to run one instance with 16 instruments than 16 instances with one instrument each- not to mention way less confusing visually.
But wait, I thought multi-timbral devices had multiple outputs and mono-timbral had one output? Doesn't that make VSCO 1 mono-timbral if it only uses the first output pair? Well, the industry is never very good at standardizing terms. In my mind, a multi-timbral device is one that can control multiple discrete instruments individually- thus capable of multiple timbres. I would call a device with multiple discrete outputs a multi-output device. It is easier to distinguish between the two.
Why isn't VSCO 1 simpler and easier to use then? Well, the problem with Maize, the sampler used to create VSCO 1 (and Bigcat's VSCO 2 VSTi... as well as hundreds of free and commercial VST instruments), is that it has very inadequate support for multi-timbral instruments- it's not even really designed for that to begin with. On top of that, Maize automatically has 16 audio outputs locked when there is virtually no reason for more than two, which is confusing. The audio in VSCO 1 will always be sent only on the first audio output pair. The others are created/used for no apparent reason and that cannot be changed by myself or any other developer using Maize.
If you use any multi-timbral sampler (Kontakt, ARIA, ENGINE, PLAY, HISE, etc.) or even traditional hardware samplers/keyboards then use the exact same procedure you use there to set up multiple instruments in the same instance. Even many popular soundfont players are multi-timbral! Honestly, this is a professional skill all DAW users should know if you don't know how to do it already- right up there after continuous controllers.
Founder of Versilian Studios
