@bbesse78_20408 said:

tempo changes, which I've yet to master, as I use Cubase.  Is there an easy way to change tempos that are continually changing rather than the stupid grid?

Hi. In Cubase, tempo track [activated], you can indicate with the pencil tool in this editor a tempo change of any degree (down to 1/1000th of a BPM) within the range of 1-300 BPM, at *any* point in the timeline down to your displayed resolution (preferences>MIDI; I set it to max of 4000 PPQN), so long as 'snap' is not enabled. Not only this, but the tempo change can occur as a 'jump' or a 'ramp'. In Cubase 5, you can copy or cut and paste any or all of this data to a new point of embarkation in the timeline (I think this will be true of Cubase 4, but I am not certain). You can save the tempo map in the file menu for later projects. I do a lot in free time, and in very subtle time that cannot be quantized, realistic musical [human] timings in every case, so this is a fundamental issue for me.

If you are someone to know what tempo and time sig you want in advance of working out the idea, you can set up the whole tempo map in advance here. I am not that person usually and I work entering bits of the performance via keyboard or drum controllers onto a smpte timeline, ignoring the whole idea of tempo and beats/bars until I require it. I tell you this only to indicate the 'warp' function in Cubase. You can drag the bar line to pretty much whereever in the music it has to be (as long as there are not tempo markings in the way that will cause a problem which I can't describe too well, in which case you just delete those). This is designed primarily so that one can bring in audio and determine where the beats and bars are from the actual audio. You have to ensure [in the inspector] that all of your tracks are 'bars and beats' and not 'time' oriented (or vice versal actually), or the ones that do not conform will not move with the rest when you alter the timeline.

If once you get going with this you have an issue that stymies you, feel free to PM me, I have a pretty thorough handle on this. I learned a lot by error...

@bbesse78_20408 said:

(2)  I write all my orchestrations in full in Finale and then save all the instruments into separate midi files, then I import them into Cubase, and record over the midi file adjusting tempos, and using key switches on the instruments when there is a trill, tremolo, pizz, or other variation.  The strings, harp, and other instruments move quickly, and I've found that trying to play the instruments in from my keyboard has never really been effective in getting all the runs, and scales playing together.  So my problem ... It sounds so mechanical, the strings are anything but legato, and there are no dynamics unless I assign the intensity to a controller knob and move it around whilst I am recording volume control.  I just don't understand how people like Thomas Bergersen is able to have these massive, huge lush sounding tracks ... does he use midi or does he actually play them in?  And if people sequence by playing the instruments by hand, how is it possible to get all of the runs, scales and passages together?  What is the best way to make it all realistic?

I can tell you what I do. I work straight to Cubase key editor. For me, using a notation application at the front of the process would be a giant waste of time as I demand something real-ish to even set to serious work. This may not be true for you and you may need to work traditionally from a score. If I need parts to hand someone to play, I do this after the fact of composition. [You have surely found that notated music needs a musician to bring it to life, the machine has no clue beyond a very rudimentary indication of where things lie in time. So, a score is quantized in order to be readable. Music, not so much. So, quantize later, to make it available to other players is how I roll.] If it is true that you need to import a .mid from Finale, the next move for you will be to get comfy with the tempo track/map as I outlined above.

I am not any keyboard player, but (except where I am using a drum kit, where I use a drum controller) I enter initially with a keyboard controller and edit, largely by dragging notes, or copy/cut and paste once I am working polyphonically. Sometimes I can rely on things such as drum rolls and fills, upbeats etc in the actual VSL instrument, and there are available scales passages, trills, etc as well. In VI Pro, these *patches* can be time stretched or shrunk so we can fit them to our timings. As I am not good with the keyboard and it requires all my attention to enter the pitches, I do controller entry in another pass. I paint controller data in the lanes a lot, which is good for me after I got good at it... The controllers are key to your realism. If you like winds, a breath controller may be an investment. The instruments need to have the capacity for the amount of realism you desire, of course. I recommend VI Pro as a very powerful and intuitive interface to coordinate control here. Especially if they are still throwing in "flugelhorn" for free, which is worth nearly as much as the VI Pro software and is fantastic.

What caliber conductor? What caliber musicians? How is the room? How is the engineer? Did you orchestrate for samples ? I honestly cannot think of any instance where samples would be preferred over the real thing unless it is a peculiar layer you are adding to give the sound a different texture.