This piece transcribed and recorded using Notion 5 and VSL instruments.  Full Dimension Strings ensembles (8 VI, 8VII, 6Vla, 6 Vc, 4 Cb) along with SE Solo Cello and other SE solo instruments.

It's a long piece (11 1/2 minutes) but very interesting and beautiful.

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/respighi-adagio-and-variations-mirx-take-3

Michael

Is there a way to adjust the depth or intensity of the vibrato on SE Solo Strings?

TFIS thanks for the tip, after a little tweaking, it works like a charm!

Michael

Great!  Keep it there!

Michael

Paul, thanks, but I use VE 5 (not Pro).  Anything similar in VE 5?

Michael

Is there a way to globally adjust MIRx Dry/Wet setting for multiple instruments?

Michael

Is there a way to set all instruments in an ensemble gobally to learn or enable optimization?  With up to 8 or 9 ensemble instances for some projects and up to 18 instruments in some of those instances, it's a real pain to flip all those switches.

Michael

Thanks, Fahl5.  All the work here was done in Notion.  The recordings are made directly from the notation, with Notion driving VE ensembles containing VSL instruments.  No other DAW or sequencer was used.

I use VE Ensembles (up to 8 for some pieces) which contain VIPro instruments (up to 18 intstruments each for the dimension strings including duplicate instruments for divisi).

Here's a link to an online press kit for my upcoming album E | G | VW: Music of Elgar, Grainger, and Vaughan Williams.  This album will be released November 1 on iTunes, Google Play and other digital outlets, and will contain 13 tracks of music created with Notion and Vienna Symphonic Libraries.

http://www.musicsubmit.com/Tensivity1

For my friends here on the VSL board, here's a link to all the album tracks:

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity...vaughan-williams/s-wZs0Q

Of course, feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks for listening as always and enjoy!

Michael

Thanks for the reply Dietz.  My vote is 1000 points for new presets!  I'd like to see some really warm, lush settings for strings.  As much as I love VSL and DS, I struggle to get a really warm, thick, yet detailed string sound, like, dare I say it, Spitfire Sable...

I found a workaround for the room tone.  Since I own MIR Pro 24 I can add a channel for Room Tone in VE.

Best,

Michael

I've posted this here before.  This recording completely remastered using Notion 5 with Dimension and Apassionata strings in MIRx GrosserSaal.

Dimension strings are the full complement of individual players:  8 VI, 8 VII, 6Vla, 6Vc, and 4Cb.

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/andante-festivo-sage-one

Feedback greatly appreciated!

Michael

I've just purchased MIRx Mozartsaal and it sounds great!

Anyone have any advice on the best way to introduce Room Tone into the mix?

Recently re-recorded and remastered.

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/brook-green-suite-complete

Feedback always appreciated!

Michael

Here's my recording of an arrangement of the First Suite for Military Band by Gustav Holst. This piece is bomb in its original form for band. I found this Quartet arrangement by Steve Jones on IMSLP and thought I'd give it a spin. It was very nice of Mr. Jones to share his work there under Creative Commons license.

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/holst-suite-in-eb-mvt-i-chaconne-for-string-quartet

Beat, thanks very much!

I actually changed the orchestral eighth notes in the second take from sustain to semi-staccato.  I felt that they lost some presence when they were all sustain, and that they needed a little bit of air.  That may not be quite correct strictly speaking, but it sounded right to me.  I also changed some of them to staccato just for variety at the beginning, middle and end of the piece.

But I'll try your technique with sustained notes and a pedal control and see what happens.  Thanks for the suggestions and the links.  They sound great!

Michael

Max, thanks for the insights and the link.  It's very much appreciated.  I certainly can hear the relative flatness of the performance I've recorded in comparison.  I understand what you mean about interpretation of the piece.

One thing that I noticed is that the oboe lead in the recording you linked to is very interpretive.  It is quite decorative and reflects the line in the printed music I used only in a very schematic way.  Is this normal for baroque music?  Was the actual published music only to be considered an outline or guide for interpretation?  I have no formal music training, and so this is new territory for me.

Thanks again for listening!

Michael

Notion with VSL Oboe and dimension strings.

Feedback always appreciated!

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/marcello-oboe-concerto-in-dm-ii-adagio-1

Michael

Philippe, sounds great, as all your work.  I am curious about your reverb workflow, since I'm struggling with it in my own work at present.  What do you use to develop the strength of reverb tail balanced against the delicacy of the intitial playing?  I can't seem to get that right...

What reverb do you use?  What are the settings?  I'd love to know more about how you acheive the strength in your sound.

Michael

Beat, thanks!  I am pretty happy with the result, although I've never met an artist yet who said "I'm done with that work."  

I do have room tone recorded in the piece generated from MIR Pro.  I like a bit of room tone to set a floor for recordings, which I think adds a certain realism.  I'll re-examine it in this case.  You have very good ears or very good monitors!  And I guess both...

Thanks for all your feedback and your time.

Michael

Tom, thanks!  I replaced the last post on Soundcloud.  I realized it had a couple of dropouts.

The artifacts you were hearing in the first take had to do with some volume problems on each individual instrument that I corrected.

M.

Max, thanks for the compliments, and the beer!  

I am not a Notion wonk by any means, although I think the program gets too little credit compared to it's older cousins.  It's a terrific program that allows me to get performances from a piece of notation, not just playback.  I've done a fair amount of tweaking of the presets, but I haven't written custom rules.  I'd like to dig into that but I am curently having too much fun hearing the program perform.

For my strings, I've taken the original Notion presets and replaced the patches with corresponding DImension Strings patches in the VI Pro editor.  It's tedious but after a couple of hours work you can replace all the patches.  It doesn't really require any coding of the preset rules, just replacement of patch for patch in the VI Pro editor.  I then created groups for each of the divisi groups in the string sections.

Reverb is the toughest issue for me.  I can't capture that perfect heavenly balance of initial delicacy and detail along with a beautiful rich deep tail that I hear in so many reference recordings.  I'm beginning to feel like I'm searching for some sort of unattanable Holy Grail...

Most of the reference recordings that I listen to seem to be set in very deep rich halls.  Even small ensembles or quartets that I listen to have the initial delicacy of a close mic but seem to have a very deep rich bloom of reverb tail behind them.

Michael

Max, Beat, thanks for your helpful replies.  I've taken another cut at it.  I've adjusted the decay of the string samples in VI Pro to address the issue with legato, Max.  I found that I liked the samples and the presets, and that what was happening was that the tempo is so slow that I needed to stretch the decay of the strings, (also the attack somewhat) to alow the presets to do what they needed to in the legato passages.  I've also swapped out the solo strings for the appassionata, Beat, as you suggested.  I may, however, go back and introduce solo strings as well; most of the reference recordings I've listened to seem to have one or two players that stand out from the balance of the sections and add individual interest against the sections.  I might also play with the volume settings of one or two of the dimension players in each section.  Additionally, I addressed some volume issues which were creating some wierd artifacts in the strong passages, and adjusted the reverb.

Here's a link; feedback on this second take is of course very welcome.

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/adagio-for-strings-op-11-8-22-14-take-2

Thanks!

Michael

Max, thanks for your thoughtful reply and encouragement.  It's always great to meet other Notion users out there.  This level of feedback is very, very helpful.

I used the basic Notion presets for SE to develop my own presets for DS.  I've checked the presets that I'm using for legato (slurs); they use perf-legato_vib patches, crossfading to sus_vib.  Would you recommend different patches?

Michael

First take, recorded in Notion 5 Mac with VSL Dimension Strings and added solo strings.  MIR Pro Sage Gateshead Hall One with Valhallaroom reverb tail.

Comments and suggestions always appreciated!

https://soundcloud.com/tensivity/adagio-for-strings-op-11-8-14-14-take-1

Odd, that. If I'm in the middle of a composition that switches between mute and non muted strings, I will have to change libraries?