can somebody please help me with my workflow
i got solo strings and it all sounded great working the same way, but with chamber strings, it just sounds bad
i set up a few articulations using each vienna instrument as a single instrument in my chamber "string quartet" , eg legato, portamento, exp, sus vib, dyn 3s. These are keyswitchable, vertically arranging cells (i really don't get how to add the horizontal thing, and the x fade thing doesn't seem to work, and the matrixes look great but don't seem to match what i'm playing unless i load lots, whereby i may as well build my own)
i play in melody
i losely quantize (not really, just get everything close to "on time" so it's workable)
i apply keyswitches in my recorded cubase track - lots, to nearly every note it seems, as leaving the one for a while always yeilds a nasty surprise like an odd attack or volume or something. Oh, and i know cubase keyswitches are an octave out too.
i hand edit any suddenly loud notes - these seem to happen a lot with chamber strings, but not with solo strings - why are they so touchy? They seem to have a huge change in timbre from velocity 88 to 90! Anything over 90 sounds hideous - synthy and extremely heavy on the top end. Turning down the filter or exp seems to cut out all other colour though
i set up the mod wheel for vel x fade (can't hear much difference between this and the exp so whats the point of having 2 volume controls?), press "w" on the vienna instrument and "record" cubase, and play back the track, moving mod wheel where appropriate to shape string sound.
i hand edit the bits that got out of control in cubase. This is the right place to edit yes? If i don't record it in cubase - where do i actually edit it? It seems some other posters here have said certain functions in cubase don't yeild nice results - but if i don't record it here, where does the vienna instrument actually hold it in the "written" form for editing?
i just turn the exp down a bit to cut out some of that god awful harshness. Should i be actually programming/automating exp as well as the mod wheel, or just set it to desired level. Should i be playing with attack, release etc If i should, seems to be a lot of programming....
at this stage, i now note that every time the volume rises i get that horrible synth sound
i try eq ing just a little in cubase, to seperate each instrument and cut the nasty synth monster
i pan each instrument in cubase, not understanding why other posters have said not to do this in cubase - it's actually about the only thing that sounds ok and adds a little more realism. i've downloaded the vsl thingy that's supposed to do the wonderful panning for me, but there it sits uninstalled as i'm already having nervous breakdowns taking forever to learn small steps such as the above - the last thing i need is another variable
i add reverb - more for instruments furthest away, less for closer ones. I just added it as a plug in from cubase - no edits, because although I've read how everyone seems to talk about the early and late reflections and delay times etc, i don't understand how to do this, and can't find any simple, easy to use reference on the subject. Anyway, I put it on a send and dial in just a little as desired for each instrument (i like a very dry sound anyway). I know it's only cubase reverb, but can it really make a bad synth sound so much worse? Apparently so! No matter how little I use, i now have a wash of sound that turns my chamber strings into a tsunami symphony!
I once again give up, wondering what on earth i've done wrong to the chamber strings, when the solo strings seemed to shine so effortlessly