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Howdy. I've noted that many of us here are moving towards getting better sound libraries / virtual instruments for production purposes & so I thought it would be useful to start a series of discussions about using virtual instruments. This week's topic: "Virtual Instruments & Controllers".Sometimes I use a midi keyboard. When I use the keyboard, the velocities I play are brought into my recording software, but there are no 'controllers' on it.Sometimes I work by writing my composition in music notation software, and import the midi into my recording software. In that case everything is going to have the same velocity and sound very mechanical.Sometimes I sequence directly into my recording software.In all these cases, controllers are necessary to work with developing expression and other humanizing elements.Since discussing this at the road rally I've discovered if I click on "Control" in my recording software I get access to a host of controllers, including expression & mod wheel, and I've learned how to set levels for each controller in my recording software (Tracktion).So my question is, what do you think the most important controllers are, and how do you know what levels to set them at? H'BirdLast week's topic was "VIs and Velocities"http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?b ... 1200118644

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/221 ... f.jpg?v=0I don't know how to embed an image in a post but the image above is a screenshot of the piano roll editor from my DAW (Digital Performer).The long red lines should be familiar to most as the actual MIDI notes, the first one is selected.The window below the notes is the controller window. This is a first violin track.The straight grey-blue line is CC7 (volume). This is set around 100 and is only moved if I need to control the overall volume of the track in the mix.The purple wavy line is CC11 (expression). This was added by overdubbing slider movements as the track played. I look at this screen or the notation window as the track plays and I try to imagine a string player adding movement to a note as they are holding it. (this track is a "football" track, the strings are playing whole note pads, whole notes look kind of like footballs)Also note the very slight overlap from note to note. This gives a legato feel (depending on the patch) and also gives a bit of the impression of a bowing direction change, which adds to the realism of the track.I could have recorded the expression slider movements as I played the track or I could have used a DXF patch and used the mod wheel or re-mapped a footpedal to expression or used a breath controller, etc. etc. Whatever works to give the track some "breath" or movement. Samples are static snapshots of a particular note and the controllers are there to give it life.Hope this helps.MazzPS: If anyone can clue me in on how to embed the image that would be great. I tried the img tags but didn't get it, obviously.

The image is great, because that's pretty much how it looks in Tracktion.To embed an image I upload it to my server and then put the address between { img } and { /img } (those would be square brackets without spaces...

Thanks for putting the image in Vikki. Still can't get it to work but it's probably because of the server it's on.One thing to note is that right at the Marker Line (yellow vertical line) the CC11 peaks up over the CC7 line. The thing is, the overall volume of the track will never go above the CC7 value even though the CC11 values are higher. The CC7 value sets the 0 - 100% range of the CC11 values. Hope that makes sense.Mazz

Hi Vikki!This book that I have entitled "Acoustic & MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer" has a great deal of information pertaining to all of the CC #'s and what they are and how to utilize them, and there's some fairly good illustrations and even a DVD with tons of audio examples on it. I've learned a great deal from that book, and have started utilizing more CC #'s than what I used to, now that I know better what they all do. A very informative book in terms of what we're trying to do orchestrally, or MIDI-wise period. Here's a link in case you hadn't checked it out already. I get the majority of my music books from here. They have good stuff. Hope this helps!http://musicbooksplus.com/bacoustic-mid ... htmlHere's another. I might get this one myself!http://musicbooksplus.com/the-art-of-se ... 3ibanez468

Quote:So my question is, what do you think the most important controllers are, and how do you know what levels to set them at? H'BirdThis question can't really be answered in a general way, it depends on how the individual sample libraries were programmed.E.g., for Gold, expression is most important for non-dxf long articulations, but the mod wheel for dxf long articulations. For short articulations it's really just velocity.You don't "set them" at a given level, you manipulate them dynamically to achieve the desired "expression". You can either do this live as you play the part or overdub after you played (and then tweak manually if needed) or draw them in manually after you record the notes.

Matto's absolutely right, every library is programmed differently and the composer has to know what controllers to use for each library.My illustration was based on EWQLSO which is, on non-DXF patches (which I was using), programmed to respond to CC11. The CC11 curves you see could just as easily have been CC1 (modulation wheel) or any other controller depending on how the library is programmed to respond.As far as settings go, there's no set rules, the music should dictate. I've been leaving an empty bar or two at the beginning of my pieces so I can have time to set the controllers (sliders, mod wheel, etc.) to the correct values for the first notes of the piece. I'll play a note and find the setting I want and then I'll start recording and "wiggle" the controller a bit so that the sequencer sees where it is set (hence the empty bar) and then when the tracks start playing, I'll move the controller as necessary to impart the expression.Of course, knowing your editing tools is necessary because you may want to edit the curves or even add them with the mouse afterwards.No matter what, orchestral emulation with samples is a ton of work, tweaking velocities, controller curves, keyswitches, switching articulation tracks, etc. etc. Even the best of libraries don't sound 100% "right" out of the box, the composer has to learn the ins and outs of each library to get the most out of it. Controllers are a huge component of adding the expressiveness that will fool the ear of the average listener.Hope this helps.MazzPS: This year I'm going to be doing a mockup of an orchestral piece composed by my music teacher. I've entered the score in to Sibelius from his handwritten score and will be using my libraries to make a recording of it to play for the conductor. I'll have a lot more to offer on this subject later after I dive in to it. The piece is 430 bars long and has a ton of detail in the dynamics and articulations. It's a daunting task but I'll hopefully know a ton more about all this stuff on the other end.

Thank You Vikki for bringing this up! I have no idea how to use these controllers, I have Sonar 6 and I record thru the keyboard. Im going bonkers trying to modulate and give color.TY Ibanez also, I thought that book dealt with Orchestration, but didnt know it talked about controllers and such.Im gonna get it!Now, If only I can find the controllers in Sonar!

brindabella,They are essentially in the same place- look at "Piano view", and drag the bottom border up. The Controllers can be selected or drawn there. Or, you can "Insert Controller Event" from the menu.

Hey thanks! No wonder! Im scared stiff of that piano roll!