MOTU is now shipping Version 1.1 of the Symphonic Instrument universal orchestral plug-in for Mac and PC.

Version 1.1 adds stand-alone operation, 64 parts per plug-in, support for 64 MIDI channels, support for multiple independent outputs and disk streaming. It is shipping now as a free download for all registered Symphonic Instrument users.

Stand-alone operation

The MOTU Symphonic Instrument can now run as a stand-alone instrument application, independent of a plug-in host, turning a Mac or PC into a streamlined orchestra instrument powerhouse with 64 parts, disk streaming, 16 independent audio outputs and 8GB of orchestra sounds. Stand-alone operation also allows the Symphonic Instrument to be used with Make Music Finale 2006 and other music software applications that do not host 3rd-party instrument plug-ins.

Stand-alone operation is virtually identical to plug-in operation, except for a few additional settings for audio/MIDI input and output.

64 Parts & 64 MIDI channels

The Symphonic Instrument is multitimbral; this means that one instance of the plug-in can load different instruments (presets) simultaneously, and each instrument can play its own individual part via a separate MIDI channel. Version 1.0 provided 16 parts. Now, version 1.1 provides 64 parts, which can be accessed by clicking four part list tabs.

To support its 64 parts, the Symphonic Instrument also supports 64 separate MIDI channels, divided into four banks of 16 channels each (Bank A, B, C and D). Users see them presented in their host software (if it supports more than 16 MIDI channels for virtual instruments) with a bank letter plus MIDI channel number. This feature is supported by the stand-alone version of the Symphonic Instrument, Digital Performer (MAS) and Pro Tools (RTAS/HTDM). Other plug-in formats (VST, Audio Units and DXi) do not currently support multiple banks of MIDI channels. Users of these host programs can simply open multiple instances of the plug-in.

Multiple outputs

To further support the operation of 64 simultaneous parts, Version 1.1 allows each instrument to be independently assigned to one of 17 different stereo output pairs, which in turn can be routed to any available audio hardware outputs. With this greatly increased flexibility and convenience, users can create sub-mixes directly in the Symphonic Instrument by assigning two or more instruments to the same output pair. Or they can even send each instrument to its own independent output.

Disk streaming

Version 1.1 also adds disk streaming, which can be enabled or disabled independently for each of the 64 instrument parts. By streaming samples for disk, rather than loading them entirely into RAM, Symphonic Instrument conserves large amounts of RAM, allowing users to load more instruments simultaneously and free up their RAM resources for other plug-ins and applications. Streaming also significantly speeds up the time it takes for instruments to load, especially instruments with large sample sets.

Availability

The Symphonic Instrument version 1.1 update is now shipping as a free download for registered users from http://www.motu.com/download.

The MOTU Symphonic Instrument list price is $295.

More information and MP3 examples of the MOTU Symphonic instrument are available at the MOTU site.