orchestration

The Vienna Symphonic Library has announced that it is offering the world’s first legato-sampled choir, free to Symphonic Cube owners through November 30th, 2006.

Registered users and those who purchase and register a complete Symphonic Cube (Standard Libraries of all 10 Collections) before November 30th, 2006, are eligible to receive exclusive Legato Performance Patches of the Soprano Choir for Vienna Instruments. The performances of 16 sopranos, recorded at Vienna’s Silent Stage, are available for download at the User Area of the company’s website. The complete Vienna Choir Collections are due for release in 2008.

Articulations of this special offer include “oos” and “ahs” as legato sustains, crescendos and diminuendos, fortepiano, sforzato and staccato articulations as well as some consonants. A demo by Vienna’s team member Christian Kardeis includes the first official appearance of the Vienna Instruments Collection Vienna Konzerthaus Organ, scheduled for release later this year.

More information is available at the Vienna Instruments site.

NAMM 2006 Update: Audio Impressions’ showed its Concert Series DVZ Strings library, consisting of 60 string players which can be selected on or off at any time, even within the body of a piece. Every possible articulation and playing style necessary to achieve the full array of sounds that each instrument is capable of producing is available without loading or unloading.

AI’s DVZ (digital voice zones) process makes it possible to orchestrate sampled instruments by automatically dividing and assigning the notes played on the keyboard into their proper instrument sections in real-time.

DVZ can divide strings, brass, woodwinds or any other sections of like or non-like instruments and voices. For instance, chords could be divided so that the top note could be a trumpet, the middle a sax and the bottom a trombone. DVZ processing is unlimited and the number of divisions increases proportionately with the number of instruments being played.

This allows entire-section slurs and runs to sound realistic, creating true orchestral balances like those found in the “real” world. The precise number of instruments to be chosen or changed and can automatically generate MIDI parts for accurate score printing.

Other AI technologies include keyboard hysteresis, which measures the key velocity speed and volume over time and adjusts envelopes and time delays accordingly and DVZ processing for guitars determines the correct notes and voicing that would be capable of being played on a guitar for that range and tempo. Read more…

VirtuosoWorks, makers of NOTION music composition and performance software, has released the Saxophone Sound Expansion Kit. This new sound kit expands the company’s library to six titles, adding new sounds and techniques to the standard orchestra that ships with NOTION software.

The Saxophone sound kit features new sounds and techniques recorded for seamless playback by Notion’s internal playback engine. Instruments include sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and contrabass saxophones, each recorded with a full range of dynamics and articulations such as legato, legato vibrato, accent, staccato and trills.

Developed by VirtuosoWorks, Inc., NOTION is designed for professional composers, music students, and live productions for composition, learning, practice, and performance. It combines a full-featured music notation system with interpretive algorithms linked to a proprietary playback engine that offers samples of thou¬sands of individual notes and articulations played by the London Symphony Orchestra and recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

The Saxophone Expanded Sound Kit is available at the Notion site for $69.00.

2006 NAMM Winter Expo: Synful introduced a beta of Synful Orchestra, which now features string sections.

Synful Orchestra automatically generates natural phrasing and articulation. It is not a sampler or a sample library, but a new way to create realistic and expressive orchestral music.

The virtual instrument provides an expressive alternative to sampled instruments. A demo, featuring Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 132 is available below.
Read more…

 

 Synful-Orchestra [0:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Vienna Symphonic Library welcomes the New Year with a special concert recording. They’re not playing Johann Strauss at the Wiener Musikverein, but they’re presenting Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition on the virtual stage of the Great Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus, orchestrated by Maurice Ravel and realized with various sample libraries of the Vienna Symphonic Library.

The free “concert” is an excellent example of what the current state-of-the-art is in virtual orchestration. The Great Gate of Kiev gives a taste of the range and quality of sounds possible. Read more…