Thanks for bringing up this topic.
Personally, I kinda don't bother too much if I know it is purely for virtual use, and vice versa, I don't put too much effort into realism of the mockup if I know it's going to be for real life only.
Certainly there are ground levels of "this should sound at least mildly enjoyable" and "don't write something so impractical it's obvious that it's fake", but for the most part, I think virtual instruments, when used to create "purely virtual" music, should be treated as unique instruments, separated from their "real" counterparts, with their own unique rules and usages. I don't think it's wrong in any way to be able to enjoy virtual instruments outside of the rules of the "known universe" of real life, as long as the intent is not to force some poor sod to have to attempt playing the same thing in real life.
An example I use sometimes is Octo-Nova from the Airscape score. The actual notation is borderline undecipherable and the parts would be basically impossible to play with any but a world-class orchestra and a few hours of rehearsal. The trumpets spend most of the piece screaming, while some woodwinds are stuck playing ostinatos for ages. It is in my opinion a very fun piece to listen to, but would be an incredibly lousy piece to have to play:
https://samulis.bandcamp.com/track/octo-nova
(that said, I did do an arrangement/medley of themes from Airscape (intentionally not including that one) and it worked borderline acceptably on live instruments, so, sometimes even if you don't intend it to work with live instruments, it may still work okay)
Usually with something intended for live performance, I don't bother with decent sounding VI's, or, at best, stick some VSCO 2 CE or similar on there, directly played back via the notation software. My goal is basically just to hear the harmonies so I can tell if they make sense:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7xaxv0grzg6ce1...3.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qpnlpuiell01x6...t.mp3?dl=0 (realized by a friend with 'Note Performer')
For a natural sound with virtual instruments, in most cases I just play the lines in 100% live, sometimes even without a click. As a wind player, I like to think I have a decent natural feeling for how to phrase something with space for breaths. Here's a decent example of that:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vphj45w4uxs98k...s.mp3?dl=0
As an isolated example of that, here are some simple velocity-only patches I've been working on adapting for VCSL, played live. With care in phrasing, even the absence of true legato is not that bad:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hy07v9vwn4d392...s.mp3?dl=0
Absolutely! I always feel like I'm not giving enough interesting stuff to percussion, especially snare and bass drums. Adding those little grace note things or even just some interesting accents, I at least feel like I'm doing something. However, at the same time, sometimes I feel the opposite way: like I'm leaving too many instructions for the musician, and losing the music for the sake of giving instructions.
Personally, I kinda don't bother too much if I know it is purely for virtual use, and vice versa, I don't put too much effort into realism of the mockup if I know it's going to be for real life only.
Certainly there are ground levels of "this should sound at least mildly enjoyable" and "don't write something so impractical it's obvious that it's fake", but for the most part, I think virtual instruments, when used to create "purely virtual" music, should be treated as unique instruments, separated from their "real" counterparts, with their own unique rules and usages. I don't think it's wrong in any way to be able to enjoy virtual instruments outside of the rules of the "known universe" of real life, as long as the intent is not to force some poor sod to have to attempt playing the same thing in real life.
An example I use sometimes is Octo-Nova from the Airscape score. The actual notation is borderline undecipherable and the parts would be basically impossible to play with any but a world-class orchestra and a few hours of rehearsal. The trumpets spend most of the piece screaming, while some woodwinds are stuck playing ostinatos for ages. It is in my opinion a very fun piece to listen to, but would be an incredibly lousy piece to have to play:
https://samulis.bandcamp.com/track/octo-nova
(that said, I did do an arrangement/medley of themes from Airscape (intentionally not including that one) and it worked borderline acceptably on live instruments, so, sometimes even if you don't intend it to work with live instruments, it may still work okay)
Usually with something intended for live performance, I don't bother with decent sounding VI's, or, at best, stick some VSCO 2 CE or similar on there, directly played back via the notation software. My goal is basically just to hear the harmonies so I can tell if they make sense:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7xaxv0grzg6ce1...3.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qpnlpuiell01x6...t.mp3?dl=0 (realized by a friend with 'Note Performer')
For a natural sound with virtual instruments, in most cases I just play the lines in 100% live, sometimes even without a click. As a wind player, I like to think I have a decent natural feeling for how to phrase something with space for breaths. Here's a decent example of that:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vphj45w4uxs98k...s.mp3?dl=0
As an isolated example of that, here are some simple velocity-only patches I've been working on adapting for VCSL, played live. With care in phrasing, even the absence of true legato is not that bad:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hy07v9vwn4d392...s.mp3?dl=0
(02-15-2022, 04:37 PM)Terry93D Wrote:(02-15-2022, 04:04 PM)Paul Battersby Wrote: As a percussionist, (I'm probably exaggerating a little here) I've played pieces where I count 40 bars rest, hit a bass drum, count another 20 bars and then tap the snare drum a few times. Boring! I felt under appreciated by the composer. I don't want to do that to my virtual players if I can avoid it.A lot of the music I write is influenced by game music, and game music uses the snare a lot. I've lately put effort into making those snare parts more realistic - a lot of it is really just a one- or two-bar line, repeated over and over, so I've tried to make them more interesting by adding grace notes, changing an eighth note on this bar into sixteenth notes, putting rolls where I'd used to put sixteenth notes, etc., so that each bar is a little bit different, even though in terms of practical effect it's the same couple bars, repeated.
Absolutely! I always feel like I'm not giving enough interesting stuff to percussion, especially snare and bass drums. Adding those little grace note things or even just some interesting accents, I at least feel like I'm doing something. However, at the same time, sometimes I feel the opposite way: like I'm leaving too many instructions for the musician, and losing the music for the sake of giving instructions.
Sample library developer, composer, and amateur organologist at Versilian Studios.