KVR Audio

optofonik · Post by **optofonik** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 9:44 pm

Perhaps a distinction should be made between writing/composing and performing. When I write methodically as would be the case for anything utilizing orchestral instruments I don't approach the session as the performer. I'm not going to be "jamming" in any improvisational way.

Writing like this, as opposed to performing, I'm going to be trying out different voicings in a methodical way. I see the library as a sort of personal multi-instrumentalist assistant, "Play these notes, this phrase, on this or that instrument." As such I don't concern myself with my "assistant's" performance or lack thereof till the piece is fully composed.

There are, however, times during this early stage when I may ask my assistant to go ahead and begin to add some aspect of what may become part of the final performance so a quick key switch may be inserted accordingly. For this I have already set up a separate track at the beginning of the session.

I expect my assistant to arrive to the session with quality, excellent sounding, instruments and have the discipline to refrain from embellishing my music until an appropriate time in the process. At the appropriate time my assistant and I begin working on the actual performance. This is when I start key switching in earnest. As the actual performance is developed I expect my "assistant" to be up to task, able to follow direction, a pleasure to work with, and...

she is.

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 9:56 pm

That's a very beautiful analogy. Wow!

Still, I wish someone could explain why Concert Brass II stands out from the other orchestral brass libraries on the market, for promotional purposes.

Unfortunately I won't be able to get it at the oh so good price of $87, so when I do end up searching for a brass library, CBII will be about the same price as others such as Cinebrass. I really like to have something playable, which is why I may not go for something like Symphobia since it requires more fiddling with key switches and multis. Of course they all sound good. Can anyone help please?

optofonik · Post by **optofonik** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 2:17 am

Thanks man.

EdC · Post by **EdC** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:53 am

Hi Synchronizer,
keep in mind that acoustic instruments and orchestral ones, in particular, are very complex to simulate digitally because of the enourmous variation of expression leading to different sound, attack, release, volume, dynamic and alike for every note of every instrument. Thus you can't avoid keyswitching, program change, channel change or any other method you find useful plus various continuos controllers to simulate arch or breath variation if you want something decent as a result. Kirk instruments , with the help of scripting, try to interpretate your way of playing but this is just a starting point.
Keep also in mind that to obtain a good performance from a digital instrument you have to master it as it was a real one; you must practice a lot and know the instrument you are emulating very well. Than the way you lay down parts is also important.
A good library in the hands of a good arranger and a good musician and maybe a good sound engineer could lead to a very good result but the library itself doesn't do nothing for you if you don't know what to do with it.
The meaning of this is that Kirk Hunter's libraries are good enough (as others are) to obtain a very good result. Than is up to you to choose the sound imprinting you prefer and the kind of controls you prefer to perform your work but the final result depends only to your experience and your way of work.

Now an answer to your questions: what helped me in my experience with concert strings, for istance, was to find the right balance between my keyboard dinamyc curve (midi velocity curve) the volume change assigned to modulation wheel and the attack sensibility knob. This, once set the right combination, permits me to sound almost everything in realtime and then I use keyswitching and editing to finetune the performance. When I compose I use to do it on piano so it's more straightforward to me. As soon as I'm happy I move to orchestral instruments

Happy new year to everyone

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 2:32 pm

You're probably trying to avoid advertising non Kirk products here, which is fully understandable. Even if that's not the case, your explanation and helpful advice are more than enough to compensate.

Again, as I'm not likely able to afford CBII, I was hoping that as soon as possible, the Diamond Brass could be fixed a little. (Is the intralive supposed to make the instruments more "windy"?)

Thanks, and happy New Year to all as well!

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:00 pm

I've seen 2 GUIs for Concert Brass 2: I've seen the one posted in these threads and on my system, the "lower right of a large circle" type and "Concert Brass II" in the lower right hand corner accompanied with a graphic of the relevant instrument. But on at least one of the videos on the KH website, the GUI is silver/brown with "Concert Brass 2" printed printed across the GUI 3/4 of the way up. Is this one a future or retired version of the CB2 GUI?

windowman · Post by **windowman** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:37 pm

I'm having some CBII problems...
Everything seems to load fine except for the trombones. I'm getting a 'Samples Missing' message. When I hit 'Search Filesystem', it seems to resolve. This happens for all-

Players
Players Mutes
Players Victrola

I downloaded the files on on Dec. 13 & 14. Purchased on Dec. 13th. Here's an example of what I'm seeing-

missing sample-
tbs_8_int_maj_2rd_dn.04_f.NCW

Assumed at-
D;\KHCB2\cb2_tbs_solo\

Found-
cb2_tbs_half folder

Does it seem like I should be placing some folders in another folder? Like I said all the other instruments work fine, it's just the trombones.

I have some screen shots below.

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:49 pm

It might be of value to write a small utility that verifies the content of the KH library folder for each library. All it would need to do is crosscheck file locations and sizes vs a database and report exceptions. It could also crosscheck checksums vs known checksums to check file integrity as well.

Just a thought...

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:51 pm

Upload the screen-shots to a site such as imageshack. Also, if you can't figure out how to rearrange the folders, one solution is to batch re-save, that is, if all missing files can be found manually.

jbraner · Post by **jbraner** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:02 pm

windowman,
No matter how you set up your folders - just save the trombone instrument file after you've searched for the missing samples. Then it will load up fine...

hth

windowman · Post by **windowman** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:26 pm

jbraner wrote:windowman,
No matter how you set up your folders - just save the trombone instrument file after you've searched for the missing samples. Then it will load up fine...

hth

Thanks, I will try that. But, is there any reason why this is happening?

Cheers...

DarkStar · Post by **DarkStar** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:03 pm

synchronizer wrote:Some of the brass in Diamond actually has backgrounds with the label "Concert Brass II". Why is this?

synchronizer wrote:Hold on, I'm taking a screen or two.

EDIT:

(Trombone) http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/7201/cbiiwhat2.png

(Trumpet) http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/552/cbiiwhatv.png

On investigation, those instruments are referencing a CB2 wallpaper image. They can be fixed as follows:
-- open Instrument Editing (click the wrench), select Instrument Options
-- browse to TVEC3SkinDiaTrombones.tga (or Trumpets) in _TVEC_3.1_Instruments\Wallpaper
-- click [Open]
-- then [Close] in the Options window and close Instrument Editing
-- save the Instrument

Big pic: http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/4950 ... sbgd03.png

Big pic: http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4073/d ... sbgd04.png

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

synchronizer wrote:Also, notice the folder under the trombones labeled "New Samples"? The instrument contained in the folder does not produce sound, but the flutter and rip buttons are active. The Trumpet does not have flutter or rip active at all.

I think that that is a rogue patch from CB2 that should not be there (the Date Modified is back in September 2011 and it references samples whose names start with cb2). I have deleted it.

Big pic: http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1892 ... snew01.png

HTH

synchronizer · Post by **synchronizer** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:09 pm

Thanks for the information! Unfortunately, I don't seem to have those wallpapers. They're missing it seems...some of the file names are different too.

DarkStar · Post by **DarkStar** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:12 pm

And now a couple of Diamond issues from me:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

(a) In the TVEC3.1 Trombones instruments, the top (D#1) Division is labelled 6 players - that should be 8 surely?

(b) Detaché is being displayed DetachŽ (this is on an English (UK) PC.

DarkStar · Post by **DarkStar** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:13 pm

synchronizer wrote:Thanks for the information! Unfortunately, I don't seem to have those wallpapers. They're missing it seems...some of the file names are different too.

Are you sure - double-check that you are looking in the right folder and do a Search for all the .tga files in the Diamond folders. If you are not seeing the same files names that suggests that it's not the right folder.

I have not kept the download .zip files so cannot tell you which one they are in.

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