Four Visions of the Future

[peastman]

Here's the second movement: "Everything Changes".  This one depicts a technological, post-singularity future.  I'd especially like feedback on the synthesized voices (created with Alter/Ego), since I've never tried to do anything like that before.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l6371vgl8x0zz0...s.mp3?dl=0

The words consist of three passages from Ovid's "Metamorphoses".  It begins with the invocation to the gods at the start of the book.  Next is a prophecy given to the infant Asclepius, who is destined to become the god of medicine.  I interpret it more broadly as referring to medicine in general, and by extension, technology.  The final section is a prophecy given to Aeneas about the founding of Rome.  Again I interpret it more broadly as referring to the glorious coming world "quanta nec est nec erit nec visa prioribus annis" (greater than which none is, or will be, or has been in past ages).

[Nayrb]

I'm all for the use of the synth voice. And I'm into literature as well as sci-fi myself so I may be biased, but I like your quotes and thematic idea quite a bit.

I've never used Alter/Ego so I don't know what level of control you have but I could stand for the voice to be a bit more lively, not life-like, mind you, but lively (in a robot sort of way!). I've got no experience doing something like this, but I wonder if some effect like a chorus might add to it. Maybe an effect that is random might help enhance the character? Maybe someone else can make a more coherent suggestion than mine? Obviously the voice is occupying a space in the arrangement, so you don't want to over-treat it with anything that will cause it to get too much in the way of anything else. I'm rather impressed with how the voice sounds, though: artificial, but not too stilted.

And I could still stand to hear a bit more reverb overall. It sounds to me like you have a grasp of the technical side of writing orchestral music, but you are making a fantasy score; I think a wetter sound would bring out a bit more of the "Space Opera." Then again, you may not need to worry about that just yet.

[peastman]

The third movement: "The Empty World".  This one is an apocalyptic future where civilization has collapsed and most of humanity has been destroyed.  A solitary person, alone in a hostile wilderness, struggles to survive.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/str2t5i8eldc20...d.mp3?dl=0

[peastman]

Here is the final movement: "In Paradise".

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tp827wjzgnntei...e.mp3?dl=0

Now I just need to do a whole lot of polishing on all four tracks to get it into shape for release.

[Otto Halmén]

Your reverb sounds like it's in parallel stereo, i.e. left-panned content reverberates only from the left, and right-panned from the right respectively. This isn't how sound behaves in rooms.

Are you still using Space Designer? It doesn't have a whole lot of true stereo IRs to choose from (they're the ones with a + after the IR name), so if the ones you like aren't available in true stereo, try setting the input width to mono in Space Designer. A mono-to-stereo reverb isn't as good as a true stereo, but it's closer to reality than a parallel stereo reverb.

Try Hansa Studio+ (under Medium Rooms) or Ancient Church+ (under Large Halls).

[peastman]

Thanks!  That's the sort of thing I totally can't hear when it comes to reverb. 

I've been searching the documentation, but can't find anything about this.  There are hundreds of reverb presets, but none of them have + signs after them.  If I select one of the presets then bring up the Space Designer editor, I find that they're based on a smaller list of IR presets there, and a few of them do have + signs.  But Hansa Studio isn't one of them.

The Space Designer window also contains a slider that goes from stereo to mono to Xstereo.  Perhaps that's related to what you're talking about?  The documentation helpfully doesn't mention that slider...

[Otto Halmén]

Hmmm... It should look like this. You can see Ancient Church + there, too. Which version of Logic are you on?

Otherwise, the slider you mentioned is exactly what I meant. For a non-+ impulse, you'll want it set to mono. For a + one, stereo.

EDIT: Ah, yes. You probably need to download the missing IRs separately. From the top menu, select Logic Pro X -> Download Additional Content. You'll find them there.

[peastman]

I'm using 10.3.  I've got everything shown in that image.  And I also found Medium Spaces -> Rooms -> 2.6s Hansa Studio, but it doesn't have a + after it.

Quote:From the top menu, select Logic Pro X -> Download Additional Content.

No such menu item.   There's Logic Pro X -> Sound Library -> Download All Available Sounds, but that probably isn't what you mean?

[Otto Halmén]

I don't have 10.3, and don't want to risk updating until I'm done with my WIP. But it might be that.

[peastman]

That could be.  For what it's worth, I've had no (new) problems since I upgraded to 10.3, and they even fixed some of the most irritating bugs.  Don't worry though, there's still plenty of bugs to go around.