One Synth Challenge #165: BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover by Spitfire Audio (Schiing Wins!)

[schiing]

Having trouble with it responding to keyboard velocity. I have the plugin set to full velocity range and linear but all notes play exactly the same at drastically different velocities. Expression and dynamics sliders are all the way up. Tried at 50% as well but no luck. I can't believe you'd need to automate those sliders for dynamics.

It's pretty much industry standard for pro orchestral libraries to have key velocity for short samples, and mod wheel and expression (that is, no key vel) for dynamics on long samples. It creates a more natural flow that's a bit more similar to the way a real player would play it

(Dynamics are still somewhat limited in their scope in this library, though, due to the exceptionally small sample pool...)

[abot81]

Having trouble with it responding to keyboard velocity. I have the plugin set to full velocity range and linear but all notes play exactly the same at drastically different velocities. Expression and dynamics sliders are all the way up. Tried at 50% as well but no luck. I can't believe you'd need to automate those sliders for dynamics.

I had the same problem and didn't find a work around. I did find that the "spicatto" articulations did respond though?

[abot81]

As an aside, I've just started looking into these types of competitions/challenges. I've had a read of the rules at https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/rules - how closely are these followed? I saw that other posts here listed plugin instances that weren't on the "allowed" list of plugins. Is the generally "FREE" requirement a mandatory requirement?

Typically what do people reward in their voting? E.g. will faithful orchestral arrangements be looked upon more favourably? How experimental can we go? If I post a draft track here can I get some feedback in advance?

[schiing]

As an aside, I've just started looking into these types of competitions/challenges. I've had a read of the rules at https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/rules - how closely are these followed? I saw that other posts here listed plugin instances that weren't on the "allowed" list of plugins. Is the generally "FREE" requirement a mandatory requirement?

Typically what do people reward in their voting? E.g. will faithful orchestral arrangements be looked upon more favourably? How experimental can we go? If I post a draft track here can I get some feedback in advance?

Well, the rules are certainly frequently discussed! So as a whole, I think the community definitely agree that the rules should be followed, and that they are important.

The absolutes and the relatives are laid out pretty nicely on the rules page - the difference between the no-no's and the don't-overdo-it's are pretty clear, I think.

This month is an exception in a couple of ways: For one, you're allowed to use commercial effects for this challenge, which is not normally the case. Other regular limitations, like no modulation, etc., still apply.

Secondly, I think this marks the first time the product is a sample library, and not a synth. So we have no idea how a faithful orchestral arrangement will rewarded. There are a lot of unanswered questions for all of us: Will composition be more important? How will people approach sound design? Will they go experimental? I mean, if you can make a deep house drum kit out of the percussion without breaking the rules, I'm 100% sure it will be widely applauded by all (although some inquiries will probably be made!). All is unknown - very exciting!

If you ask for feedback, people are often very responsive - here, or on your Soundcloud page.

Re: dynamics - see my post above.

[abot81]

As an aside, I've just started looking into these types of competitions/challenges. I've had a read of the rules at https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/rules - how closely are these followed? I saw that other posts here listed plugin instances that weren't on the "allowed" list of plugins. Is the generally "FREE" requirement a mandatory requirement?

Typically what do people reward in their voting? E.g. will faithful orchestral arrangements be looked upon more favourably? How experimental can we go? If I post a draft track here can I get some feedback in advance?

Well, the rules are certainly frequently discussed! So as a whole, I think the community definitely agree that the rules should be followed, and that they are important.

The absolutes and the relatives are laid out pretty nicely on the rules page - the difference between the no-no's and the don't-overdo-it's are pretty clear, I think.

This month is an exception in a couple of ways: For one, you're allowed to use commercial effects for this challenge, which is not normally the case. Other regular limitations, like no modulation, etc., still apply.

Secondly, I think this marks the first time the product is a sample library, and not a synth. So we have no idea how a faithful orchestral arrangement will rewarded. There are a lot of unanswered questions for all of us: Will composition be more important? How will people approach sound design? Will they go experimental? All is unknown - very exciting!

If you ask for feedback, people are often very responsive - here, or on your Soundcloud page.

Re: dynamics - see my post above.

Thanks for the quick response! Here is a link to my track that I put together last night: https://soundcloud.com/bottomleya/findi ... an-draft-1

In particular, do you think an additional middle-section, e.g. key change to relative minor, would be worthwhile, or is it a good length?

[schiing]

I bragged about our responsivity - so I should probably chime in before I call it a night. I think the length's fine - you've got an interesting structure to work with here, plenty of options. Personally, I like to keep it like this - fairly short and sweet (3-4m, but I've had a few 7m exceptions in my time) Honestly, they come in all sizes.

[abot81]

OK that makes sense. Thanks! Other question would be whether there is too many effects - I have used a few instances of Valhalla Supermassive and tried to push the saturation a bit in some areas. Has it altered the sound too much?

[schiing]

The strings sounded a bit weird at one point - almost like a slightly phased synth choir, if I remember correctly. I thought you might have doubled them with some low-volume flutes or something like that - could that be Supermassive, perhaps? But I didn't really dwell on it - it didn't sound like a deliberate attempt to distort/change the sound with effects, so I think you're good.

But just to be clear with all this advice popping out from my under my fingers tonight: I'm NOT the know-it-all-guru around these parts (although probably a bit of a know-it-all ), so don't take my words as gospel - I'm just your average participant with a few OSC rounds under the belt.

[abot81]

All good! Any advice is much appreciated - so thank you!

[doctorbob]

This round will be a challenge between "traditional" orchestra scoring and bending the library to do stuff it was not "intended" to do (in true OSSC tradition!!!!!!!!).

I have some ideas now - prob won't submit until the end of the month, as I now need to flesh out these bare bones of ideas

dB

[violator_alba]

Just to chuck in my tuppence worth with regard to scoring (points, not music...): from my observation (about 8 rounds so far) you tend to get higher scores for going against what one would expect for a given synth. For example a round or so back we had Cardinal (a modular synth). People tended to give slightly lower scores for the more usual generative/semi generative tracks when compared to ones that used Cardinal like a more 'normal' instrument. We've also had higher scoring for tracks that tend toward metal or jazz when using synths more normally associated with EDM for example. Single instance tracks tend to do quite well too when done well. A few months back we also had a pretty basic FM synth where most people went against the expected metallic/bell/electric piano sounds.

[doctorbob]

I have done over 100 tracks (consecutively) and often go against the grain! I go for various genres, jazz/pop/ambient/generative/classical etc ... usually end up halfway!!!

dB

[ChristopherWD]

Here's my submission. I may go back to it but I don't have much time this month unfortunately. I hope you enjoy it.

https://soundcloud.com/christopher_dorg ... ero-osc165

Made with 58 instances of BBC Symphony Orchestra in REAPER v6.69. That number would be a lot lower if I used keyswitches properly! I just brute forced with extra channels instead...

Mixing plugins used: ReaEQ, NEOLD BIG AL, T-RackS CSR Hall, T-Racks ONE, T-RackS Tape Machine 440.

[schiing]

Brute force works! I like to work with individual channels for articulations on orchestral tracks - I prefer it to key switches by far.

I recorded a screenshot of my own track for YouTube - it doesn't look as busy as one might imagine when it reads 48 or 58 instances.

[kylebenjamin]

This is obviously not my submission for this month, but I just couldn't help myself.

https://soundcloud.com/kylebenjamin/thu ... arathustra