Orchestral Tools Layers

[Mattias Westlund]

Another orchestral freebie has been launched, this time by Orchestral Tools. Layers is a library for quickly creating chordal parts using either individual strings, brass or woodwind ensembles, or full orchestra, complete with a selection of mic positions. Due to all this Layers weighs in at a massive 17GB, though it's well worth the download as it sounds magnificent.

I know a lot of people consider stuff like this cheating but I've found myself using Sonuscore's strings/orchestra chords freebies quite a lot (for saving time and adding a richer texture) and can I definitely see myself using this. As soon as I figure out the slightly unorthodox GUI of the SINE player that is

[Mattias Westlund]

Quick & dirty sound example using just the strings. You might want to turn that up a bit.

[Paul Battersby]

I watched their demo and listened to your example. Both sound good but using this library would put me in key switch hell since I only have a 61 key synth as my MIDI controller which means the lowest key on my keyboard is C2 (C4=middle C) so I'd have to manually enter all the C0 based key switches, but I can see how this library could be useful for certain types of compositions if using a full 88 key MIDI controller.

[Mattias Westlund]

You don't have to use keyswitches SINE has a very nice feature that lets you map articulations freely, so if you don't want keyswitches you can use separate midi channels or any CC of your choice.

[GreenlightScore]

It just received a nice little update. It's faster, it's lighter, it's more efficient AND... my biggest gripe is now gone. The interface is now resizable!!!

[Mattias Westlund]

Has anyone else had problems with stuck notes? Happens in both the new version and the old here.

Edit: Scratch that, I installed the new version VST to the wrong folder Working fine now!

[PPH]

(04-01-2020, 04:29 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: Has anyone else had problems with stuck notes? Happens in both the new version and the old here.

Edit: Scratch that, I installed the new version VST to the wrong folder Working fine now!

Sounds very nice, but there's a horrific time lag between when my DAW is supposed to be playing a note and when the note actually starts playing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

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Now I increased a config value called "latency buffers" from 1 to 10 and it vastly improved.

[Mattias Westlund]

(05-17-2020, 09:24 PM)PPH Wrote: Sounds very nice, but there's a horrific time lag between when my DAW is supposed to be playing a note and when the note actually starts playing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

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Now I increased a config value called "latency buffers" from 1 to 10 and it vastly improved.

Glad you got it sorted. Can't say I've noticed any lag issues, but it should be noted that the SINE player does have a fixed latency of 256 samples. I don't know what buffer settings you have on your machine, but if they're relatively high, another added 256 samples might make the latency more noticeable.