Where would you use Philharmonik?

[james0tucson]

If I was scoring LOTR I would use a real orchestra.

Even if you had the London Phil, you might do a fair bet of arranging and composing with a synth, if for no other reason than the ease of getting scores to give to the orchestra players...

Whether this means you need "as good a synth as possible", or means you just need the default patches in your Kurzweil, is a matter for debate.

It's the musicians who've done it to themselves, you know, what with their crazy ideas of living indoors, eating regular meals, and all...

[Mr. Tunes]

i answered A- mainly in film scoring. i was one of the 6!
a bit of hiphop, but when i think of philharmonik i think of film scoring.
i hear what squids is saying in that last post. when you are in charge of the session using plugins you can see your vision through to the end. when you work with live musicians you have to really trust them or else they will butcher your original intention in terms of playing style and sound.

i also think it is an absolute headache to bring a ton of musicians onto your project sometimes, especially if your pay is being deferred and all that crap with royalties. it's fine for a little band maybe, but try organizing that with an orchestra!

now here is my question: if you use a library like Philharmonik on a game soundtrack, and the music is embedded in the software, is that illegal? the game engine will trigger the music samples like a sampler does

has anyone seen Batman Begins yet? the score is done by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. I was simply blown away by it. I would recommend this film for the score alone, and the movie was great too!

[Squids]

now here is my question: if you use a library like Philharmonik on a game soundtrack, and the music is embedded in the software, is that illegal? the game engine will trigger the music samples like a sampler does

If the engine is triggering phrase loops you made then no. It's audio of your MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS which is of course totally allowed in the license agreement. However, if it is triggering the sampled notes and replaying them with midi then YES it is completely illegal and one that would very likely result in a lawsuit involving either the composer and/or the company releasing the product (and they can get out of their responsibilities in some ways if they make the composer sign an indemnification and warranty in the contract).

However, a lot of sound companies (including SR) are totally open to licensing playable sounds to game companies for their sound engines. It isn't cheap but they could even license sounds to use in multiple games. Most game companies have to get their sounds from somewhere (if they are using a midi and sound engine). Imagine how good a game would sound if it had some Miroslav symphonic sounds to use for its soundtrack with different midi scores playing interactively. We own the sounds so we could license them just like we can license any of our other sounds. I'd not only be open to something like that but anyone who brought a deal like that to us I would reward in an appropriate way.

So, yes it can be done but there is a proper way to deal with intellectual property such as this. Contacting the owner of the material to get permission or strike up a deal or put that company in touch with the game company (most likely).

[Mr. Tunes]

okay it all makes sense now. i think at the moment Gamecube is the only console that is triggering samples with midi because of very tight memory constraints. and the soundsets i've heard out of that thing are absolutely horrid! but, i am waiting to hear what the next generation of consoles are boasting "under the hood" - XBOX 360, Playstation 3... it is possible that having interactive scores generated by midi data will be done! they could have advanced sampling in them(i'm assuming they do).

currently when these consoles play their interactive scores with audio loops, i've noticed that the system chokes a little just when the enemy appears around the corner as they load a huge loop into RAM. a midi score would probably play more smoothly and could do more variations.

[Squids]

I midi score can also respond dynamically to the action.

[Mr. Tunes]

1 more question squids: what if you want to release a piece of music for Library purposes using Philharmonik or any of your products?

for example there are many sites out there where filmmakers/tv producers can go to find tracks to put in their productions, they pay royalties for it, sometimes they dont. these are not standard music releases. are producers allowed to compose with Philharmonik and sell tracks in this manner? or is it limited to standard music releases(like CDs or getting hired on one film score specifically)

all these questions i'm asking, but it is related to "how i would use Philharmonik"

i think it's good info for everyone. and what happened to my post count? 330 i feel like i was sucked into a time vaccuum

[Squids]

One thing you couldn't do is take VSL or Philharmonik or another orchestral library and make some loops and phrases and sell your own sample library out of it unless you otherwise have permission from the owner. But, making "library music" as in pieces of music licensed directly to films, tv, radio etc. is generally fine as long as the samples are used within a piece of music (and not just the samples on their own).

Sorry Tunes, but I don't like to talk about this stuff. Each case can be different and it is better to discuss directly regarding these things with anyone specifically having questions relating to them. For the most part, you can use sample libraries to make MUSIC. If there is a gray area where one has to question usage then it is best to just check with the owner of the samples directly to be sure.

[Mr. Tunes]

yep understandable. thanks squids for all the info.
i was just using Symphony Strings combined with the 1920's Upright Piano on a little film score last week, they did the trick as usual. I cant wait for Philharmonik. I bet a ton of the pro composers are itching for it as well.