Goldie, who was taken out of his comfort zone of drum ‘n’ bass to conduct a classical orchestra for television, is here put back into his own world by Addictive TV. This time it’s the orchestra playing d ‘n’ b.

Who else would like to see their local orchestra take this on?

via VJTV

Is the Turntable a musical instrument?

Can it work as a ‘classical’ instrument?

These were the first questions posed by idea of a Concerto for Turntables.

Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra (Heritage Orchestra Feat. DJ Yoda) attempts to answer those questions.

Should the turntable join the instruments of the classical orchestra?

Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

via apc

Seeburg Style H Orchestrion plays Barney Google

The largest and most ornate American built orchestrion, the J P Seeburg model H, performs in the shop of Reblitz Restorations as the staff readies the instrument for delivery.

Somebody needs to get ahold of one of these and “repurpose it” for modern music, don’t you think?

via ampicoab

This video captures excerpts from the world’s first live performance of a Beethoven symphony by a digital orchestra (The Fauxharmonic Orchestra).

This performance was part of an ongoing concert series presenting all nine Beethoven symphonies through 2011.

You can get details and more performance examples at The Fauxharmonic Orchestra site.

Do you think you could recognize The Fauxharmonic Orchestra on a recording?

via Fauxharmonic

Notion Music has announced that Notion3, a major new version of its notation software, will start shipping on September 24, 2009.

Notion3 features an entirely new design, an expanded and enhanced sample library, new live performance features, and compatibility with plug-ins, sample libraries and digital audio workstations (DAWs).

Notion3 has an MSRP of $249 (a street price of around $199). Notion Music is also offering free upgrades to registered users of Notion 2.0 or earlier. Registered users of Notion Music’s other products, Progression, and Protégé, as well as competitive notation products like Finale and Sibelius can upgrade to Notion3 for $99.

Details on Notion3 below.

Notion3 Features

Sleek, Intuitive Interface and Workflow: allowing you to use notation, guitar tab, or MIDI devices to craft music of any style, be it orchestral, jazz, or rock. The screen view is designed to remain uncluttered, and to provide easy access to the most frequently used tools. For musicians writing for guitar or bass, Notion3 features an interactive fretboard and chord library.

Over 10GB of Instrument Samples: exclusively featuring the sounds of The London Symphony Orchestra. The LSO sample library included in earlier versions of Notion has been expanded and enhanced with new close mic stereo samples that truly capture the essence of each instrument. Notion3 includes both the legacy and new sample libraries. In addition to the orchestral sounds, Notion3 features electric and acoustic guitar by Neil Zaza, electric bass by Victor Wooten, drums by Roy “FutureMan” Wooten — all recorded at world-famous studios.

Professional Audio Mixer: Notion3’s pro audio mixer is complete with buses, inserts, sends, multiple direct channel outs and VST effects. Resembling what you would see in a digital audio workstation, the Notion3 mixer, along with the dynamic markings in the score, provide detailed control of the mix and sound. You have the flexibility to control and mix your entire score or group the mixer into instrument sections to adjust volume, panning, reverb, and effects.

Unmatched Studio Compatibility: Built to be compatible, Notion3 offers full ReWire integration that supports both host and slave options. It also works effortlessly with VST effects and VSTi libraries with built-in presets to easily integrate with popular sample libraries such as: Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition and Special Edition Plus, Miroslav Philharmonik, East West Quantum Leap Platinum, and Garritan Personal Orchestra (ARIA). Notion3 comes bundled with IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube X-Gear and CSR Hall Reverb.

SequencerStaff: a feature unique to Notion3 that brings the world of notation and sequencers together. This feature enables you to record MIDI input directly onto a standard notation staff while retaining all the MIDI data such as modulations, bends and dynamics. The MIDI data displayed on the staff includes duration, range in pitch, and dynamic information, which can be easily edited.

Live Performance with NTempo: Notion3’s suite of live performance features make it possible to “play” a notated score like a musical instrument for accompaniment, rehearsal, or professional live performances. It is the only notation product with real-time tempo control that includes vamps, repeats, and other advanced score navigation features. With the NTempo feature, you can tap the speed of a score to the fraction of note level, providing the kind of rhythmic nuance you hear when playing a traditional musical instrument. Notion has been used in numerous touring productions worldwide ranging from hit musicals like Annie and The Wizard of Oz to Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell tour.

This is an in-depth look at East West Symphonic Choir – an app that lets you create convincing choral virtual vocals.

About East West Symphonic Choir

Imagine typing words into your computer, in any language, and hearing a world class Symphonic Choir sing those words in any key(s) you play “live” on your keyboard controller! Well imagine no more, that’s exactly what this revolutionary “award-winning” virtual instrument does. In addition, this is the first 24-bit Choir virtual instrument to include three simultaneous stereo mic setups (close, stage and hall), so users can mix any combination of mic positions to control ambience. The Choirs were recorded in the same concert hall, by the same team as the EastWest/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra and blend perfectly with EWQLSO.

To achieve the feel of a live concert hall performance, each instrument and section was recorded with three mic positions: close, stage (conductor‘s position) and hall. By selecting different mic positions, users can mix these sounds together to create any kind of natural ambience their project requires. This eliminates the need for artificial reverb.

The Symphonic Choirs Expansion (Voices of the Apocalypse content) was recorded separately, at 24-bit resolution with a single mic position.

WordBuilder is the word building software for both MAC and PC that enables Symphonic Choirs and Symphonic Choirs Expansion users to type in words for the Choirs to sing. This revolutionary software also includes a pop-down menu that includes popular pre-built phrases that you can load instantly. This is a real time saver for those on a tight deadline. The phrases have been optimized for each Choir. The phrases menu is customizable so you can add your own phrases to WordBuilder for quick and easy access. This is the most powerful vocals solution available.

videos via Stagehandspace

Garritan

Garritan Personal Orchestra 4 is now powered by the ARIA Instrument Engine and adds new features, new instrument sounds, updated programming and a lower price.

Details below.

Garritan Personal Orchestra 4 is available for Windows and Mac (VST/AU/RTAS) as a download for $149.95 USD.

Existing users of previous versions of Personal Orchestra can download the upgrade for $49.95 USD.

New In Garritan Personal Orchestra 4:

• New ARIA Advanced Instrument Engine – ARIA, a new and highly-optimized instrument engine, developed in collaboration with Plogue Art et Technologie Inc, goes beyond ordinary samplers. ARIA is intuitive, efficient and versatile, loads instruments quickly, and places very low demand on your computer’s processor.
• New Price – The entire GPO4 sample collection can be downloaded with a fast internet connection, dramatically reducing the product’s environmental impact and eliminating the waiting time associated with shipping.
• Additional Sounds, Project SAM Brass & Ensemble Presets – GPO4 includes select brass samples from Project SAM that strengthen the brass section of Personal Orchestra by adding punch and excitement to your musical compositions. GPO4 also includes choir sounds, extended ranges for select instruments and Ensemble Presets.
• Auto Legato – GPO4’s new Auto Legato intelligently detects when you are playing a smooth line with overlapping notes and automatically applies correct legato transitions between notes. Creating realistic phrasing has never been easier. Auto Legato also makes playable trills extremely easy.
• Integrated Ambience Reverb & Stereo Stage – GPO4 now integrates the high quality Ambience reverb with the ARIA Player with individual mixing sends for each instrument. Stereo Stage imparts spacious stereo imagery for GPO4 instruments.
• MIDI Playback and Recording Features -The Standalone ARIA Player allows you to load and playback MIDI files. You can also produce audio recordings of the MIDI file or record yourself playing live.
• Designed for Compatibility – GPO4 runs on both Macintosh and Windows and a variety of formats to fit your workstation and your workflow (VST, Pro Tools RTAS, and OSX Audio Units). It natively supports 64-bit platforms, works in Windows 7, and is programmed for Steinberg’s new VST Expression, which simplifies the use of musical articulations. GPO4 is further optimized for use with the AKAI EWI Wind Controllers and integrates with popular notation programs such as Finale 2010.
• Tunings and Scala File Support – Put GPO4 exactly in tune with your ideas. The ARIA Instrument Engine supports control over individual instrument tuning, the frequency serving as the overall pitch standard, and Scala definition files, a standardized format for scale degree tunings.
• Graceful & Easy Authorization – ARIA authorization employs a personalized digital keycard. Simply drag and drop the personalized graphic card onto the ARIA Instrument Engine to authorize it and get playing in seconds.

Sample Logic have introduced Morphestra the Cinematic Orchestra – a “powerful collection of creatively new and inventive organic ensembles derived from orchestral recordings.”

Morphestra is a collection of over 23 GB and 1100+ instruments and multis, powered by Kontakt Player. Sample Logic has tried to create a modern day virtual instrument that goes above and beyond any orchestral/effectual sample library geared for film, TV and game composers.

Sounds have been recorded from all over the world and include: Strings, Brass, Winds, Symphonic/World percussion, Vocals, Guitars, Waterphone, Animals, Warehouses, Tools, Machinery and an entire realm of World/Ethnic instruments.We then manipulated these sounds using various proprietary Sample Logic techniques and combined them with multiple electronic synthesis elements to create new, organic, never-before-heard instruments and ensembles.

Morphestra  comes pre-installed on a portable 80 GB Glyph hard drive. It’s expected to ship in October and retail fro $699.

This is a series of videos that look at the features of IK Multimedia’s Miroslav Philharmonik.

On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, Paul Henry Smith will conduct the first-ever live concert of a Beethoven Symphony using a digital orchestra, performed by Vienna Symphonic Library’s Vienna Instruments at Holy Name Church in Boston.

This will be the first concert in a series that will present all nine Beethoven symphonies.

The Fauxharmonic Orchestra, founded by conductor and composer Paul Henry Smith, sets out to convince audiences that a live performance of a digital orchestra can be as expressive and moving as a traditional acoustic orchestra. In an earlier experiment in 2008, The New York Times called the Fauxharmonic Orchestra “genuinely impressive.”

The live digital orchestral music is realized by incorporating real-time performance control into a preliminary version that Smith prepares during hundreds of hours prior to the performance. For programming the Symphony, Smith relies on the Vienna Symphonic Library’s software instruments.

Accompanying viola and mezzo-soprano soloists, the Fauxharmonic Orchestra will make the most of its technology using wireless Nintendo Wii video-game controllers to change tempo, loudness, balance, timbre, and brightness – the elements a musician typically controls during a live performance. At Holy Name Church, the Fauxharmonic Orchestra’s sound will emerge from an array of Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 5 speakers.

Will The Fauxharmonic Orchestra Replace Real Orchestras?

Traditional instrumentalists have worried for years that computers and synths could one day put them out of business. Is that time here?

Maybe so, according to Smith.

“With current financial pressures, orchestras are cutting the performance of new music,” notes Paul Henry Smith. “By contrast, it costs far less for the Fauxharmonic Orchestra to prepare a new work for full orchestra and to perform it many times and in many places.”

Here’s an video that features Smith conducting the Fauxharmonic Orchestra:

Click here to view the embedded video.

While the Fauxharmonic Orchestra still can’t replicate the sound of a traditional orchestra, it’s undeniably musical.

Beyond being a replacement for traditional orchestras, though, the technology could expand the realms of traditional orchestration.

“This technology is best understood as expanding the rainbow of expression,” adds Smith, “rather than undermining the art of orchestral music.”

What do you think of the idea of a Fauxharmonic Orchestra? If you can make it to the concert, let us know how it goes!

Available exclusively as a download product in Steinberg’s Online Store from Q2 2009, the new Chillout, Reggae and Orchestra Content Sets add hundreds of new first-class loops, and take the total number of Sequel Content Sets to ten.

These new content sets extend even further the range of additional content available for Sequel 2,” said Nadine Roos, Steinberg’s Product Marketing Manager for Sequel. “The Sequel Content Sets are an ideal way for both Sequel and Cubase customers to explore new genres and spark new musical ideas.”

Steinberg offers the following Sequel Content Sets: Rock, Electro, Hip Hop and Hip Hop 2, 80s Pop, Industrial, Funk, Chillout, Reggae and Orchestra. Each Sequel Content Set features between 200 and 350 loops by leading content producers.

Pricing and Availability:

Available from from Q2 2009

Some amazing work by Jordan Rudess – Demo Violines.

via vampiway

Debussy – Danse in an Isao Tomita Style

via paulshillitomusic:

Electronically created version of Debussy’s Dance or Danse as it is also known as, in a Isao Tomita style.

Another one of the pieces I created about 10 years ago, the video is a bit more abstract, again playing around with After Effects CS3, no meaning to the video just something show.

Synths used making this include Roland JV1080, Korg Prophecy, Waldorf wave, Yamaha AN1x , Waldorf Pulse and sequenced on Cubase.

Let me know what you think of this switched-on piece. Do you think it captures Tomita’s style?

This is a demo video, from the 2009 NAMM Show, for the Roland ARX-03 Expansion Board.

See this previous post for more details on the Roland ARX-03 Expansion Board.

via RolandChannel:

The Roland ARX-03 is packed with high-quality brass instruments under the control of a custom graphic-editing interface. The card is loaded with solo instruments and ensembles, including trumpets, flugelhorns, trombones, saxophones, and more.

pianopera posted this switched-on take on the Bach Goldberg Variations BWV 988, played by J.S. on a Kurzweil 250 Digital Keyboard, calling it Bach’s Nightmare: The Ultimate Rape, or The Art of Kitsch.

As an electronic music fan and a Kurzweil user – I actually like these takes on Bach’s classics.

What do you think? Would Bach be switched-on, or is this just the rape of everything holy in classical music?

This is a nicely done switched-on version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Winter, Largo.

If you’ve done any switched-on style classical covers, leave a link in the comments!

via Mike Sholz

laptop_orchestra is an interactive synaesthetic instrument, designed for performances of audio visual compositions in real time.

The space conformation of the fifteen laptops, arranged on regular rows, brings back to the formation of an orchestral group.

On each one of them is installed a Software consisting in algorithms which activate sounds and abstract visual shapes based on color spectrum. Each laptop has its own sound and its own instructions for the construction of a shape.

Interacting from the orchestra conductor podium, lightly touching metal stems, it is possible to activate or deactivate each single laptop , permitting the generation of an endless number of different compositions.

via limitazero

This installation has been commissioned by Toshiba.

Software made with Processing

Exhibitions:

WIRED NextFest 2007 – Los Angeles, USA
Nice – Treviso, Italy, 2007
Mediaruimte – Bruxelles, Belgium, 2006
Google Zeitgeist – Cantor Art Museum, Stanford-Palo Alto, USA 2006
WIRED NextFest 2006 – New York, USA
0006_limiteazero solo exhibition – Hublab Gallery, Milan, Italy, 2005
Futurshow, Toshiba area – Fiera of Milan, Italy, 2004

Descriptions:

• Symphonic Effects contains over 400 orchestral effects for film, tv, games and popular music styles. From scifi/suspence/horror hits, drones and intertwining melodies to emotional build-ups this collection offers a wide assortment of symphonic effects you can use in stereo or surround.
• Global Atmospheres contains over 350 samples of exotic sounds from all over the world – from tribal Native American drums to Ancient Aztec Ambience to rare sounds from the Mediterranean.
• Dimensional Effects features over 450 special effects and dimensional rhythms for music and multimedia production. Featuring special 3-D sound encoded wooshes, deep booms, big bangs and various electronica effects wiz by with a futuristic sound ideal for modern production.

Garritan Personal Orchestra 4th Edition includes all the major instruments of the orchestra – strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion and keyboards plus quality instruments such as a Steinway grand piano, Stradivari violin (with new controllable vibrato), select Project SAM solo and section brass samples (new for this version), concert harps, celesta, concert pipe organ, and many other fine instruments. Personal Orchestra allows you to make ensembles of any size from the individual instruments, ranging from groups of a few instruments to a full symphony orchestra.

The collection comes integrated with the ARIA Player, Garritan’s powerful new 64-bit Sampler/Synthesis Engine, developed in collaboration with Plogue Art et Technologie Inc. There is no need to purchase a separate sampler.

Garritan Personal Orchestra is Mac and PC compatible, either as a standalone program or as a plug-in (VSTi, Pro Tools RTAS, and OSX Audio Units). Registered users of previous editions of the Garritan Personal Orchestra will be able to download the new edition for only $49.

Garritan Personal Orchestra 4th Edition is programmed to work with Finale 2009, Sibelius 5, AKAI wind controllers and other popular music applications.

Suggested Retail price is $149.00. There is a $49 downloadable upgrade for existing users.

The library includes the complete string sections of the orchestra as well as an extended complement of solo strings. The stringed instruments recorded in this collection include Stradivarius, Guarneri, Gagliano, Montagnana, Testore, and many other rare instruments, and were recorded in 24-bit at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The library includes a rare solo Stradivari violin, a solo Pallotta viola, a solo Gofriller cello, a solo Amati double-Bass, 1st violin section, 2nd violin section, viola section, cello section, double-Bass section, and a full string orchestra.

Each string section and solo instrument allows performance of an array of articulations, bowings, playing techniques and special effects. Special morphing technology enables performance of dynamic morphing between layers and the ability to impart and control expressive vibrato on solo strings (the first full string library with this capability) and section strings.

Details:

The following articulations are included: various sustains, staccato, marcato, spiccato, martelle’, pizzicato, sautille, portamento, ricochet, col legno, tremolo, trills (at various interval), and harmonics. Additionally, many of these articulations may be played altra corda (on an adjoining string) or con sordino (muted).

There are avant-garde effects such as harmonic glissandi (Penderecki effects) and below-the-bridge effects included. Bow position control (sul tasto and sul ponticelli), up and down bowing, realistic legato and portamento, body/sympathetic resonance behavior modeling, adjustable noise (bow, pluck and snap noise) and controllable loose/tight articulations are also included. Extraordinary levels of realism, expressiveness and virtuoso performances are now possible.

The collection comes integrated with the ARIA Player, Garritan’s powerful new 64-bit Sampler/Synthesis Engine, developed in collaboration with Plogue Art et Technologie Inc, the widely acclaimed audio software developer. The ARIA engine and Garritan sounds have been rigorously industry tested and are widely used in products by Microsoft, SONY, AKAI, MakeMusic (Finale) and other industry leaders.

Garritan Orchestral Strings 2 is expected to be released 1st quarter of 2009. Pricing is to be announced.