(06-26-2021, 12:48 PM)Chris Spyratos Wrote: [ -> ] (06-24-2021, 03:40 PM)Nayrb Wrote: [ -> ]I was doing some 80s synthwave stuff, too. It got to be kind of analytical, though, like most things I do. I think I'm just looking to push my technical knowledge further, and that sometimes makes it hard to just relax and be creative. I should find some way to rectify that, honestly. Sometimes you just have to look at the thing and say "this is what it is" and just make tunes with it and see where it goes.
Well for me, writing something in a style I had never tried before was refreshing. And the fact that synths usually do not require much tweaking to sound "real" made the process even more relaxed. Since I used drum machine sounds, I didn't bother with percussion realism either. I focused only on musical matters. The same thing I do when writing on musescore, not bothering with how it sounds.
It was also a fun way to explore these 80s harmonies that I always found too elusive to understand and I had fun setting up a synthwave template in Reaper.
Speaking of templates, I have yet to construct me an orchestral template... Everything I end up with, seems quite messy and honestly I tend to appreciate more good writing than "realism" so I return to Musescore. I have even considered setting up a template to utilize my Roland Sound Canvas hardware but I figured out that I like the portabillity of having everything in VST inside my Reaper. Then again, modern libraries are heavy on the CPU and I don't really love using Kontakt. You mentioned some old libraries Nayrb, which ones do you use and how good they integrate with Reaper?
I haven't used Reaper for anything extensive, yet. I'm getting there, though. I hope to really take it for a spin soon, but I've just been getting used to all the basics to begin with. I really like it, though! I think VO templates are necessarily messy and idiosyncratic
Everything I have is Kontakt-based. I rather like it, though I understand it's not for everyone. The template I've built is based on my "old template" (quotes, because I never really did anything with it) from FL Studio. I just got sick of FL's strict handling of time sigs and such. It's necessarily huge, even with my preference for keyswitch patches. It's probably 100+ individual tracks. But that actually works for me because I know what goes where and how to process it; many tracks are just placeholders for things I
might use.
All the "new" old libraries I'm using are also Kontakt based. I own all of the Westgate woodwinds now, except the section libraries. Initially, I went hunting for a solution for what was my main woodwinds section (stock Kontakt), and ended up with all of the solo winds, the rare winds, and even the french horn section libraries (also the concert harp). I got some good use out of the free VSCO Community edition, but I decided to go with the old Westgate libraries because they are pretty easy to integrate with what I already have, and they're sort of "a la carte." I'm pretty happy with them, but they are definitely dated. Then again, most of my stuff is dated anyway, so it works out just fine. These days, I like a good selection of articulations and some pre-fab dynamics and effects, in addition to the usual articulations. There are pros and cons, of course, but that's how it always is and always will be.
I also got a couple of the Xsamples libraries. These are kind of unknown, and definitely cater to the notation software crowd. They aren't very advanced, but they can answer a need. I got the concert harp and the pan flute last summer (I'm especially happy to have a pan flute library!). They also have their pros and cons, and the downloading and installing is a bit weird, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with them.
I usually get stuff on sale, or seek out free or cheap stuff these days. I tend to buy the Westgate stuff when Big Fish has a sale, and the Xsample stuff isn't all that expensive, comparatively. I should add that I grabbed a Bolder Sound dulcimer (I now have that and the cymbalom) and Project SAM True Strike 2 (part 1 being my main orchestral library) last year as well. I think I got TS2 for about 35-40 USD at the time. It's got some great stuff in it, but it's not quite as awesome as TS1.
As for how all this integrates with Reaper: it goes just fine. One thing that bugs me about Reaper is that I can't rename CC lanes. So my vibrato on/off, for instance, is just going to be called whatever CC 74 is called by default. I don't really mind, though, because I write things down in the project notes and just generally remember what's what. Reaper has been really accommodating, and, with a few little hiccups here and there, transferring and expanding my template hasn't really been difficult. I quite like Reaper!