Hey, all! As part of the Video Game Music Academy, I was tasked to write seven tracks in seven days. The theme was Time Travel. You can listen to my stuff here. I used lots of orchestral stuff, especially Paul's Virtual Playing Orchestra! Please, let me know what you think!
As you know, I've spent a lot of time coming up with fantasy names the past few years, making sure that names from a certain nation or region sound somewhat similar, which you kind of expect. But it's easy to forget that parents rarely stick to the same local pool of names for their children, so maybe one doesn't have to be so particular about fictional names "making sense". Came across a fun example of this today.
My daughter's maternal aunt posted a pic on Facebook, listing some old-timey (I'm guessing 19th/early 20th century?) names from the northern parts of Sweden from a book she was reading. And damn, some of these sound completely made-up. For example:
I wouldn't even have guessed those were real Swedish names, because they sound like something out of a fantasy novel. And not a very good one at that. Agorka? Really? Elleny's a cool name though, I might steal that. Then we have stuff like...
Gerdhild Hildedrott Malgunda Vildegard
...which sound like they're straight out of Beowulf. Really ancient-sounding stuff. And finally:
Vetzerah
Surely this must be a biblical name? It certainly sounds more Middle Eastern than Nordic. Anyway, I found this very interesting and something I need to delve deeper into.
I finally got around to releasing the music from a game I've been working on since 2012! We went Early Access last year, but the (sole) programmer/lead developer of the game decided to leave the project only a few months after. The artist and I decided to just release all the work we've done and move on to new things.
In here are a number of my favorite compositions over the years, like Overworld II, Home I, and Cave II. Some really old pieces like Desert I managed to hang on, while the Alpha Main Menu and Alpha Death (tracks 14 and 15) were replaced.
Hello! I have designed a Maize VST3 drum kit plugin that's free/donationware! Its latest update contains over 6+GB of drum kits with five microphones! Please, check it out!
We've talked a great deal all over the forum about stereo imaging, panning, and placement. One thing that seems to have escaped me somehow is that there are actually different kinds of panning at a basic level. (I'm sure we talked about it, but it probably just flew over my head, or I forgot). I just assumed we were all starting from the same basic place, but apparently not...
In switching my template over from FL Studio to Reaper, I've learned a number of important things. It turns out that FL's pan knobs (on the mixer and instrument channels) are stereo pan controls; that is, they shift the stereo image around the field. So, if you pan hard left, you get both stereo channels in the left speaker only, for example. Reaper, on the other hand, defaults to a stereo balance (what Sam was talking about in the link above), which just affects the volume of the side you're panning away from. FL also uses a circular panning law, which compensates for apparent gain boost and reduction when a panned signal passes from one side to center; Reaper, by default, does not.
I discovered this while trying to figure out why copying settings from my FL template to my new Reaper one resulted in such a wonky sounding mix.
Unlike in FL, however, Reaper allows you to change--even on a track by track basis--the kind of panning you want to you apply. Since it's what I'm used to, I went through and changed each track to stereo pan and used the included stereo balance plugin as an insert effect when desired. This is exactly what I had been doing in FL Studio, though I didn't quite know the particulars. I left the pan law unchanged (levels are relative anyway).
I've had issues in the past getting very roomy, very wide samples to sit well in a mix. Orchestral Brass Classic seems to always be present on the opposite side no matter how extreme I pan a patch. I pan the trombones 50% right and they are still all over the left channel. I've found that slapping a stereo balance (and even some side EQ) on these patches after initial panning really helps impart a sense of placement in a space. I generally don't touch the stereo width knob anymore for any reason.
I'm sure there will be some objections to this way of doing things, but here are my thoughts:
If a stereo balance pan pot just reduces the volume in one side, you are effectively cutting the patch in half the farther you get to the left or right extremes. You're losing stereo information that you might find necessary in, say, a violin ensemble. Affecting the volume of one of the channels after the stereo information has been shifted gives you better control when things are supposed to sound specifically closer to the right or left side of the space, but you don't want mono trombones.
I don't think there is a one-size-fits all approach here. It's nice to have options when working with a template comprised of libraries that have all been recorded in different ways and in different spaces. I've found this works for me, but I'd like to hear some other thoughts. I am fully aware that retaining stereo information in one side is kind of anti-stereo. I just figure that all I'm doing is trying to trick my ears anyway; whatever works is what works. It reacts with the reverb and moves to the opposite side anyway. (And I know we've gone on about this ad nauseam, I just feel like I've had a revelation!)
I've tried the Haas Effect approach. I've used the included plugin in Reaper to delay channels by a few milliseconds, but it's a bit over my head at the moment. And it sounds (quite literally) like it will have major effects on how I use reverb. It also seems to be more effective on mono signals than on stereo samples.
I have temporarily disabled new registrations due to the onslaught of spammers right now, as I won't have time to police the forums or figure out some more robust registration solution over the holidays. Sorry to anyone who'd like to join who is not a spammer, but that's the way it is right now. Please check back in a few days.
Sorry, I've been rather quiet. I'm supposed to be working on some big end-of-semester projects right now, but I made the mistake of taking a break to mess with a little music. I made some useful discoveries with my DAW, but naturally, because I use FL Studio, it's one step forward, two steps back. Frankly, for all that I like about FL, I'm getting tired of the idiosyncrasies that stop up my workflow and never seem to get fixed.
I'm far away from my main rig right now, otherwise I would just test this out with the free Reaper demo... But, while it's all fresh in my my mind, what I'd like to know from Reaper users is this:
If you set up a multitimbral plugin (like Kontakt) and set up multiple instruments inside it, you probably have some kind of utility plugin that allows you to route and control each instrument individually (in FL, this is called MIDI Out). When you use this, do the parameters you've linked to your hardware controller stay? That is, when you switch between the instruments routed out of Kontakt, does your modwheel (or any other hardware fader or knob you've linked to the software) do what you want it to do for that specific instrument? Because in FL, it doesn't; you have to manually link them to the desired instrument over and over again each time you switch. Otherwise, you can accidentally end up with modwheel automation for your violins on your flute track. There's an option called "omni" that makes your selections global, which seems to mostly resolve this issue, but only if all you're using is Kontakt+MIDI Out in your project. If you want to throw in a single instance of a synth or something else, it totally breaks how the modwheel or any other knob you've assigned works, effectively breaking the instrument itself.
Is it just me, or does this seem stupid? Or is this how it really is in DAW-land? I'm not quite ready to jump ship yet, but I'm willing to start making a little time to learn a new DAW if it means improved workflow.
70% off site wide and they have quite a few nifty plugins. Special Mentions - VU meter(has the ability to make gainstaging easier) and ThirtyOne (My personal favorite. Its like a poor man's Gulfoss Eq). Most plugins are below 10 bucks.
50% off site wide. Their Toned-Max Eq is kind of like an affordable FabFilter Pro Q3 alternative. Apart from that, Clipped-Max is an excellent clipper. Contemplating on getting Limited-Max *fingers crossed*
On sale for 10 bucks. Its like a loop designer for cinematic percussions but you can still use the one-shot samples like a cinematic/trailer/industrial percussion sample library. Requires full version of Kontakt though.
So, I have started setting up a template using my new orchestral libraries. As expected it's both a fun and a frustrating experience. Here's what I have so far:
Feels odd to say in this context, but never mind the music. This is the same old stuff I always end up writing when I have no specific idea in mind or anything to go on. My main concern here was putting something together that has enough dynamics and enough different instruments to allow me to set levels and panning and generally hear how everything sounds together as a whole.
My own thoughts so far? Well, Hollywood Brass is awesome. Pretty much set and forget aside from learning what all the different articulations are best used for. Soundwise, it's all I could ask for. Hyperion Strings Elements on the other hand seems to require a bit more massaging. They can sound anemic if you arrange them wrong, and there appears to be no easy way of making a quicker series of notes sound convincing (case in point, 1:45). Still, the library has a lot of options and I need to dig in and experiment more. I also definitely need some good section woodwinds. I'm using VSCO 2 here, which I love for winds, but the solo instruments don't have enough body for bigger arrangements, even with some tweaks to stereo width and even a subtle doubling effect.
Anyway, I'm kind of limited in terms of what else I can add right now since it appears 16GB RAM is actually on the meager side for modern libraries But I'm going to upgrade ASAP to at least 24GB or maybe 32GB if I can find a good deal.
![[Image: a3302009153_10.jpg]](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3302009153_10.jpg)
But I'm going to upgrade ASAP to at least 24GB or maybe 32GB if I can find a good deal.