A dear friend and contributor of this forum has passed away.

His wife left this message on her FB wall:

I have sad news about my husband Paul McGraw. Paul passed away at home on Saturday night. As you may know, he has been very ill for the past year, especially since October, due to congestive heart failure, multiple myeloma, COPD, diabetes, and degenerative spine and discs conditions. The last few months of his life he was in ever-increasing pain.
He was ready to go home to Heaven, so we family members who survive here on Earth must remember that he is there in peace with no pain and no failing body.
Paul had many talents. He especially enjoyed composing orchestral music via computer programs. It would be a wonderful tribute to his memory if you would listen to some of his compositions on his YouTube channel. (Just search for Paul McGraw.)
I've added a few pictures from happier times. ❤️

Excellent!

I never tried the time stretch for this, interesting. Another option, and the most common I use in these cases, is simply to to play a gliss on your keyboard from the starting to end note, practice a few times timing it, and then add the appropriate accidentals in the piano roll. I also repeat some notes to make it more realistic.

I wrote this piece yesteday, see if you could guess what are the instruments. No prize. :) 

The Quandary

Sounds really good.

Paul did you work on the mix since the 1st time it was posted? 

Very nice MMKA! I really enjoyed listening to this, nice musicality and I appreciate the simplicity, I mean this in a positive way of course. Also excellent programming on the violin.

Cheers Paul, and best wishes for the holidays and the coming year to all!   

Guy

I just have to say, I really enjoy playing on this Steinway, the crisp attacks, roundness of the sound, clarity and balance is stunning.

How to quickly sketch an orchestral arrangement with the Vienna Smart Orchestra. 

Chapter 4 added.

Thanks Paul! :) 

Originally Posted by: mobileavatar

Originally Posted by: Guy Bacos

 

The Synchron Player, and especially the latest version, is very cool, I was able to do this Synchron Percussion demo in just a few hours last night, really make things simpler. 

The Eye of the Storm

Hi Guy,

Excellent demos! I noticed you had used "surround-to-stereo downmix" for "Eye of the Storm", did you use the full library for "The Big Bang" as well?

Regards,

mobileavatar

Hi mobileavatar,

I believe so. 

The Synchron Player, and especially the latest version, is very cool, I was able to do this Synchron Percussion demo in just a few hours last night, really make things simpler. 

The Eye of the Storm

Great work Paul.  If you could tweak the brass a bit, EQ?, it will raise it a few notches. 

After trying out the Smart Orchestra, I must admit I found it to be a handy tool for sketching out a piece, especially if you want to see what the tutti section could sound like, even though it's only a draft. Aside from the percussion, this is bassically on a single track, but to make it cleaner I prefered to put the melody on a seperate track just for more Vel. XF control, but they could of stayed on the same track. 

Crayons de Musique

ps There will also be a video of this piece showing what's going on.

Originally Posted by: agitato

Just heard the full piece. And  .... Wow! This sounds like Rachmaninoff just woke up from the dead and wrote it! (I mean that as a compliment...not implying that you arent original.).

Guy, why don't you please write a full piano concerto with this as a central movement ?

What is astounding is that this is not only a first-rate composition in the style of early to mid 20th century romantic (hope I am correct...not very thorough with music history!) , but also performed beautifully by the composer himself on the piano. On top of that the composer did all the sequencing and production with software. That is like six professions rolled into one. Hats off to you!

I often find that sampled music sounds much better in headphones than in speakers...(not sure why), so I listened to this piece in my good speakers as as stronger test of fidelty, and it sounded very realistic. You hide any shortcomings of samples so well.

Around 5:28, I hear something sounding like a foot pedal release or some other acoustic, hall noise. So Id make a wild guess that you recorded it live in your studio ;) Or did you deliberately put that in??! Anyways that ambient noise adds a nice touch of realism

So glad to be in the company of some outstanding composers on this forum (Guy, William, Errikos, Mike Hewer and more). Hope I learn something from here, someday.

Cheers

Anand

Thanks Anand!

For sure, Rach was a big inspiration, no hiding in that. 

About writing a complete concerto, well it might not be seen as something original enough to attrack concert pianists, I don't know, or would it?  I'd have to add a ton of dissonances... :) 

Glad it sounded good on headphones, I didn't try it with headphones, but your headphones must very sensitive cause I can'thear anything at 5:28 from my speakers. So no, it's not some hall noise effect, besides I don't believe that chair sounds and all the other noises do anything to make a piece sound more natural. 

Originally Posted by: Simon Ravn

Really nice, Guy! Haven't used those strings for a loooong time but they still hold up pretty well, and that semi-dark, very expressive tone fits this piece perfectly. Love the piano too btw - is this VSL's Imperial or....?

Thanks Simon!

Yes, the semi dark tone, mainly with cellos worked well.

Piano is CFX Yamaha. 

Originally Posted by: mw design

sounds great Guy, do you use lot of EQ here ? How You would compare the Sample Clarity between the Orginal Series and the Synchronized Series ?

Thanks mw design!

No EQ. Not sure if there was some very low frequency cuts in the final output. 

Originally Posted by: synergy543

Such a beautiful creation from mere samples of audio snippets. 

It really shows what is possible with the brush in the hands of a true artist.  Lovely work Guy!

Thanks Greg! Once you get carried away by the emotion of the music you seem to start forgetting you are using samples, which is the magic this artform. 

Originally Posted by: William

Guy that is great.  It has a huge range of expression, and mastery of performance.  The composition is really imaginative, in a wonderful Romantic idiom, and shows your expertise in characteristic pianistic writing as well as orchestration.  It ia another example of how you have gone so far beyond mere "demos" and made these miniature works into an art form.  There is a true genius to what you have done here, and in so many of your performances and composiitons.  

That is quite a compliment William, thanks a lot! Always nice coming from a great artist as yourself. 

Here is a demo using synchron-ized appassionata strings. The inspiration for the main theme is from late romantic period. Hope you enjoy!

Forest Fairytale

(more demos on the VSL demos section)

From 39s to 56s: very nice. 

Nice.

One thing I don't like is the choir attacks, they're too aggresive. 

I sent you a PM

Originally Posted by: muziksculp

Hi,

What is a good method, strategy, or logical organization for using Synchron Strings I, with the Synchron Player to achieve a fluid, and fast workflow in terms of articulation selection/switching  ? 

i.e. How to best take advantage of the Tree-Structure of the Synchron Player for selecting/changing/organizing the various articulations ? .... Tips on how best to use it ? ...etc. 

Thanks,

Muziksculp 

I imagine you mean synchron strings alone, like not paired with synchron chamber strings?

fahl5, you already have enough material to write a book (non related to this thread or music).