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  • 3 Critical Questions!

    Setting up my initial mix state, it seems the solo instruments like violin and viola are way louder in context than the Ensemble patches are. At least from a perspective. I have my solo strings volume set about 6db or more below the ensemble patches. I use expression for dynamic control, but I'd like to know if I'm on the right track here.

    Am I crazy, or are the performance trill patches sometimes "better" (smoother at least between minor third intervals and less) than the fast legato patches are for performing fast legato lines?

    How can I make a patch that would allow me to use the mod wheel to crossfade between say the legato violin to - chamber violins to -ensemble violins?

    Thanks for any help!


  • last edited
    last edited

    @Livitican said:

    Setting up my initial mix state, it seems the solo instruments like violin and viola are way louder in context than the Ensemble patches are. At least from a perspective. I have my solo strings volume set about 6db or more below the ensemble patches. I use expression for dynamic control, but I'd like to know if I'm on the right track here.

    Am I crazy, or are the performance trill patches sometimes "better" (smoother at least between minor third intervals and less) than the fast legato patches are for performing fast legato lines?

    How can I make a patch that would allow me to use the mod wheel to crossfade between say the legato violin to - chamber violins to -ensemble violins?

    Thanks for any help!

    1. Yes. All instruments are recorded so that they can be featured solo instruments in both chamber and symphonic settings. The best thing to do is to reduced the volume of the solo instruments and reduce the dynamic range as well.
    2. Yes. I use them all the time.
    3. Strictly speaking you can't. You can only have a two patch xFade. There are complicated ways round this, but before I go into detail I would need to understand a bit more about your reasoning and your way of working, so that I don't take you down any blind alleys.  [;)]

    DG


  • Thank you so much for responding! I noticed the huge dynamic range as well. How do I reduce that in midi land patch wize, so I don't have to resort to an audio plugin? As far as my working style, I like to set up up a virtual orchestra that allows for as much realism as possable. On top of that, I like to have some additional patches that I use to improvise my way into a piece for inspiration and or for getting a scratch template that gets the overall feel of a scene. Seems like having the 3 way crossfade would be great for say, a quiet solo line that could smoothly build up into a fuller orchestral layer, without having to do multiple passes.


  • Realism-wise, I wouldn't suggest having a patch that crossfades from a small ensemble into a larger one because real orchestras don't work that way anyway. If the section is growing, it's because players are coming in, which means you'd want some attack as they enter. Unless of course I misunderstand your intention! As for dynamic range, fortunately there's a slider for that, I believe in the advanced tab of the VI Player. As you raise the slider the difference between the loudest and quietest samples increases, so as you lower the slider the difference shrinks. Sounds like exactly what you're looking for--keep in mind you'll still have the timbre change of a soft sample crossfading into a stronger sample, it will just all be at the same volume level.