Hi FRG,

In fact not all the notes fall exactly in time. Some are postponed quite a lot (e.g. the flute) to give the impression that it's breathing in longer lines (clarinet also). If you pay sharp attention, you can hear that the string chords are not always quite accurate and equal... Some sloppiness to evoke real human playing.

Jos

Hi Paul,

I wonder why some very short notes (staccato) in the Flute 1 have some kind of echo release. This can cause a light but ugly phasing in certain contexts. I noticed this in my latest mock-up (Beethoven's Serenata in D for flute, violin and viola). Today I did some testing within the VI Pro standalone and this occurs in other staccato-like patches (e.g. the perf upbeat repetitions) at medium velocity or higher velocity. This is not for all the notes. Mainly around A3-B3-C4 (might be A4 and so on in your set-up -> middle. of the keyboard).

Could you please check this out?

Thanks,

Jos

Thanks William for your kind comment (once more) and for listening.

Jos

Hi FRG,

Thanks for your comment.

In every DAW, there is a tempo lane in which you can draw (or record) a tempo line. Some use tempo tap, others just a curve to indicate tempo changes. This is extremely important to create a believable performance, together with the note velocities and humanization in note duration (a little bit rubato-like). I always use velocityXF next to note velocity, controlled by CC28 in VI Pro. I'm a lousy piano player, so I prefer to enter notes manually and tweak them precisely afterwards with the whole phrase in mind. No quantization.

Since it's an own composition, the interpretation was easy. The only issue was to keep it danceable.

Jos

Very fine work, FRG.

The flute could do with some improvement in the midi performance (there's a lot of legato?), with more varied articulations, but the rest is very well done.

Jos

Hi dear friends,

A couple of months ago I wrote this rather strange piece of (ballet) music, commissioned by de council of my village. It should refer clearly to the historic inhabitants of the village, called 'donkeys'. That is quite a history, but in short it's a reference to the donkeys and their carts loaded with flax to sell on the market of Courtrai (the nearby town). These animals made such a racket, so that the Courtrai people always said: "Aah, there come the donkeys...". So actually it was a reference to the animals rather than to the flax traders.

The ballet is like a classical piece, but with some modernistic hints and sounds. The local ballet school is willing to create a real ballet to it for the 900th anniversaries of my village in 2023.

Balletto dell'Asino

Have a pleasant listen!

Jos

Hi Beat,

Fantastic work on the Paganini, making a noticeable distinction between up and down bows, which of course makes good sense and causes a great natural feel!

Thanks again for your inspiring work,

Jos

Hi Dave,

Indeed an amazing screencast with very clear insight in your workflow and composing skills.

I recognize everything, since I work pretty much the same way, except that I'm a lousy pianist and I have to enter most of the score manually. (Which can be an advantage sometimes, since strings don't actually behave like a percussive piano, but you are certainly aware of that. I play the 'button' accordion and don't have te piano keyboard feel like you do...) And the composing/midi programming ratio is correct: relatively short composing time, eternal programming and tweaking time  - a most tedious job, but with a final rewarding result. A job we have to do, like you mentioned, if we ever want to be heard at all.

Congratulations with the video AND with the very fine, but demanding concerto!

Jos

Hi Wiliam,

This is stunning in many aspects: as an animation movie, musically, for the mysterious atmosphere, the noising, the alienating impression...

True craftsmanship in every aspect!

Jos

Hi Philippe,

As said earlier, this is a great performance (interpretation and virtual setting) with so much detail in a perfect balance. Fine baroque imitation as well!

Jos

Thanks, MMKA for your comforting words and your nice comment.

Jos

Hi Philippe,

Fantastic performance and such a sweet, polished sound of the VSL harpsichord. I love the basses and their rich sonority!

Jos

Thanks Paolo and William for the comforting words and advice.

A new version has been posted, including William's suggestion.

Jos

Dear friends,

It's been quite a while... My mother is slowly passing away (90 years) with cancer. So I've been busy with caring tasks and supporting her during these days. To distract a bit from this sad occupation, I reworked in detail an earlier mock-up with the simplest tools: 3 VSL instruments solos (Violin, Viola, Flute), the Vienna Suite convolution (Schubert Saal) and tail reverb. That's all.

This is a sonic pre-study for a new piece (for viola, cello and flute) that comes next.

Beethoven, Serenata Op25, Menuet

Have a good listen!

Jos

Great composition, Paul. You do really honour to the VSL brass instruments. And I agree with William, it should (must) be performed live. I guess many quintets are waiting for such good music.

I wish you lots of courage and a good and full recovery, so that you will be able again to commit yourself fully to composition, your great love.

All the best!

Jos

Hi Michael,

The most frustrating part was, that I couldn't possibly think of a logic cause. Since I never use Program Changes, I didn't think of that controller until I suddenly saw it in my piano roll. At the bottom of that window, the controller showed a 0 value. I remembered that the Matrix list can be commanded by Program Changes and by key switches (which I always use), so I decided to remove the redundant controller and at once the problem was gone...! As it happens so many times, the most impossible issues seem to be generated by the most stupid and trifling causes. The problem is to find them.  And again the solutions are always there when you don't expect them anymore.

In my setup, all instruments were affected (they all had (for some unknown reason) a Program Change controller).

Thanks for your reaction,

Jos

Hi Dietz,

Almost by accident I came across the culprit of this misery. After some reasoning I had some suspicion that some controller with a hidden value might be the cause and indeed. All the tracks had a "Program Change" controller (which is not being used) with a value "0" (almost invisible because at the bottom). That controller provoked the position 0 of the instrument list, which is always a staccato in my setup. What I don't understand is that my instrument list and matrix cells are selected with key switches, NOT with program changes and key switch button is selected under the matrix list. And yet...

I have no clue why or how the Progam Change controller was added. Maybe it is a standard insertion in the new Studio One 4 version. I'll have to check that out.

The good thing is, problem solved and issue closed.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Jos

Thanks a lot Dietz,

Unfortunately, what you suggest about the controller reset or an "All Notes Off" command is not the case. I've contacted Presonus for that matter and they advised me to delete all the settings in that piece, start it again and check. Nothing changed...

It has nothing to do with the position of the playhead either. It stays nicely where it was before the stop. Only the articulation keeps jumping to the first position in the matrix list. The odd thing is, that such behaviour never happened before and it doesn't reproduce itself when I set up a new piece for testing purposes. So it must have something to do with the actual piece and its settings. Strangely enough it comes back after deleting all the settings in Studio One. That's why I assume that it could be something that I accidentely fiddled with in VI Pro...

Kindly,

Jos

Hi,

Lately I have a strange behaviour in my VI Pro 6 instances.

Everytime when I stop or pause a playback in my DAW, all the VI Pro instances jump back to the first cell in my matrix, being staccato.

The playback is normal, with all the correct keyswitches, but after a stop, they all go back to the first oen, staccato. That happens always after a start or pause. It looks like that cell is considered as the default one to start with.

I Work with Presonus Studio One and the helpdesk doesn't know why this is happening. Could it be a VSL matter? Something that I've overlooked duriong my setup?

Thanks for your help!

Jos

The same here.

Sometimes it has to do with the Server 64-version. Always open the server first (before starting up S1). In my set-up it helped...

Jos

Post removed due to unwanted misunderstandings.

Jos

Fantastic performance, Leslie.

I'm quite fond of the close recording and detailed execution, especially while it is so difficult to 'tame' the vibrato with the solo strings. You did a terrific job here, coming as near as possible to the period playing technique.

Well done, congrtas!

Jos

William, this is very impressive and a surely working combination of brass ensemble with pipe organ. I can clearly remember so many wonderful and appealing recordings by Maurice André with all kinds of (baroque) organs. 

This is a composition that speaks so well for brass and cannot be made but by an expert (in brass). I'm sure it will work out nicely in any church with an organ that is powerful enough the counterplay the brass parts. 

The chimes are a bit unusually loud to my ears (did you have real church bells in mind?). But as a whole, again a fantastic composition. Hopefully Tom's ensemble can play it soon!

Thanks for sharing,

Jos

Hi Dave,

Most of the (sparely) expressed comments bear my consent, I share the same opinion, except for the flute. Being a flute player myself, I don't really like the sound of the instrument here for two reasons: the flute seems behind a curtain on the stage and sounds differently, missing all the clarity of the piano. Second: the normal (windy) attack and the breath flow (as William mentioned a bit) doesn't always sound very natural. It may have to do with the recorded samples and their player, but I'm sure the approach could improve things a bit. A modern flute should scintillate warmth and richness in it's tone, a nice swelling vibrato (technique most flute players have to learn) as you perform in some place, but not enough. Staccatos should be dry and short, very punchy and have a sharp starting sound. They're not just blowing the flute short and hard, but use auxiliary means like tongue, lips, even teeth (and that is different from a clarinet obviously).

But let's focus on the composition itself. You chose to write a fantasy and so you did in many wonderful ways. The piano dominates but the flute nicely fends and takes eloquently over in brilliant sentences. The rich and carefully chosen harmonies provide a small touch of exotism (in a rather classical context) and lift the charm of the entire piece.
Dave, you certainly know how to please a broad audience. This piece could absolutely be a chamber music hit!

Jos

Wrong post