Chopin Prelude Orchestration (audio)

Thank you Bianca for your input, but probably before speaking it is useful

to know who you are facing.

Aside from being a programmer, I have been using Cubase and related MIDI since 1988, basically since it came out or around then,

think about it, it ran on ATARI computers; clearly it was only MIDI, it didn't have audio :-)

The problem with these libraries is that they have poor samples, low quality in my opinion; based on how they are advertised, they seem like the top in terms of digital recording, but for me the quality is quite poor.

I use the parameters and so on, but it is the timbral quality that leaves me dissatisfied: bad sound, and bad articulations.

The sustained notes are loops; the attacks, releases, and other related envelopes are made via software, therefore artificial; add a bad microphone recording to that, and there you have it—for me, they aren't worth all the money these software houses ask for.

I didn't start playing with sound libraries yesterday; I have been producing music for more than 25 years; add to that that I studied electronic engineering, acoustics, and programming :-)

But it is probably just my experience; if you find them irresistible, keep using them, I am not here to change your mind,

in fact, I use them too because I don't have an orchestra at my disposal, but as I said, I try to mask them, and most of the time I pretend nothing is wrong, meaning I don't give them chronic attention.

The problem remains mine; perhaps I demand too much from simple digital samples, and to think they charge you an arm and a leg for them :-)

Micrologus wrote:

Thank you Bianca for your intervention, but probably before speaking it is useful

to know who one is facing.
........

It's not at all clear to me what you mean (in relation to what I wrote, obviously....)

Well, you suggested I make the libraries more alive by tinkering with the MIDI parameters, you took it for granted

that I hadn't already tried doing that....

Anyway, without me repeating myself, the previous post describes in detail the problem I have with these libraries,

mainly the timbre and the articulations being too artificial; I reiterate that perhaps it is I who am demanding too much from a library

of digital samples, and I must accept them for what they are :-)

Sorry Bianca, in effect it wasn't you but it was Croma di brera who had replied to me, I got confused with the username,

i only just noticed my mistake

It is better if I take a break from the computer every now and then

Attention, increasing RAM only makes sense if the system is 64-bit and all software used is 64-bit; otherwise, even with 16 GB of RAM, a maximum of 4 can be used. Finale is 32-bit software, whereas I believe Cubase is also available in a 64-bit version. Surely Sonar is 64-bit and is a DAW very similar to Cubase; furthermore, all plugins used must be 64-bit—Kontakt, various effects, and so on—otherwise having lots of RAM is not useful.

Alternatively, there is the jBridge solution, a small program you download that makes VSTs work in both 32-bit and 64-bit hosts, but it isn't perfectly functional because a single instance of jBridge consumes a huge amount of RAM and slows down loading times or can make the entire system unstable.

Regarding the Kontakt buffer (responding to Bianca), you need to launch Kontakt in standalone mode and go to options: the default buffer is set to 60kb, lower it to 30, and you will see that the samples weigh half as much. This can be done because part of the sample weight is read not from the RAM but directly from the hard disk, and since the HD is slower than the RAM, it is recommended to have an SSD (solid-state drive) to speed up sample reading times. I myself, having a 120GB SSD, often experience interruptions in playback during the first reading of such a loaded file because the solid-state drive is still loading the sample weight, but after a few seconds it works perfectly. However, consider that my PC, thanks to the solid-state drive, turns on and off in less than 10 seconds, so a drive of this type is absolutely recommended if you want to adjust the Kontakt buffer.

The discussion regarding whether or not the PC can handle it is valid, but there are some details (which I do not know in depth) that allow for loading a lot of sounds without the PC freezing:

Years ago I used Reason simultaneously with Cubase Sx3; the PC had an AMD processor at 475 MHz and 500 MB of RAM, truly very little, not to mention the 120 GB hard drive; for some tracks it took 45 minutes to load them, I would listen to them in fragments, so you can imagine how I managed, but in the end, I managed to do something.

Then I moved to a ("single") processor of almost 3 GHz, 2 GB of RAM and a 200 GB hard disk, and paradoxically those same tracks were loaded in less time compared to my current configuration: an AMD dual-core processor at 2.8 GHz (which ultimately turns out to be lower, around 2.2 GHz I think), 4 GB of RAM, 500 GB hard disk.

It certainly depends on the paging file settings, on the cleaning I constantly perform regardless, on other parameters, etc..

But the fact remains that I loaded Reason with 70/80 (which is not a few) sample players (each instrument had its own articulation, which occupied from 20 MB to 80 MB), and the PC held up; I could even listen to the result in real time.

I have never used VSTs by loading them into Cubase or other dedicated sequencers, but always by using samples converted into files for Reason.

Now I have given it up and when I can, I record parts "live," then I assemble them with audio editing software.

Micrologus wrote:

Sorry Bianca, in effect it wasn't you but it was Croma di brera who had replied to me, I got confused with the username,

solo now have I noticed my mistake

It is better if every now and then I take a break from the computer

ok, in fact I couldn't make sense of it

geppino12575 wrote:

Attention, increasing RAM only makes sense if the system is 64-bit and all software used is 64-bit; otherwise, even with 16 GB of RAM, a maximum of 4 can be used. Finale is 32-bit software, whereas I believe Cubase is also available in a 64-bit version. Surely Sonar is 64-bit and it is a DAW very similar to Cubase; furthermore, all plugins used must be 64-bit—Kontakt, various effects, and so on—otherwise having lots of RAM is not useful.

Alternatively, there is the jBridge solution, a small program that you download which makes VSTs work in both 32-bit and 64-bit hosts, but it isn't exactly fully functional, since a single instance of jBridge consumes a huge amount of RAM and slows down loading times or can make the entire system unstable.

Regarding the Kontakt buffer (responding to Bianca), you need to launch Kontakt in standalone mode and go to options: the default buffer is set to 60kb, lower it to 30, and you will see that the samples weigh half as much. This can be done because part of the sample weight is read not from the RAM but directly from the hard disk, and since the HD is slower than the RAM, it is recommended to have an SSD (solid-state drive) in order to speed up sample reading times. I myself, having a 120GB SSD, often experience interruptions in playback during the first reading of such a loaded file because the solid-state drive is still loading the sample weight, but after a few seconds it works perfectly. However, consider that my PC, thanks to the solid-state drive, turns on and off in less than 10 seconds, so a drive of this type is absolutely recommended if you want to adjust the Kontakt buffer.

thanks for the clarification on the RAM. Unfortunately, as I was saying, I have to upgrade my entire PC; even though it's an i7, unfortunately the hard disk isn't one of the fastest and anyway, by now, it has given everything it had ever...