Kanthos

Just to help you out, you're talking about using Guitar Rig and Reaktor as effects, not filters. A filter is a specific type of effect, usually built into a synth to remove part of the harmonic spectrum (remove the high frequencies from a synth lead line, for example). Also, Kontakt has some built-in effects that may or may not suit your needs, so you might not have to go to a Guitar Rig instance depending on which effects you plan on using.

Sure, why not?

Anyone who has EWQLSO Gold: I just got my copy delivered today, and I notice they seem to have given me both Gold and Silver (the first two CDs say Gold/Silver on them). Do I actually need to install Silver as well as Gold, or is it just that those first two CDs contain the parts of Gold that are also included in Silver?

These are just standard MIDI terms. Keyswitching is when the sample player (PLAY in this case) responds to a particular note by switching the articulation of the samples it's using instead of playing the note. For example, your string sounds in PLAY might have C0 - legato, C#0 - staccato, D0 - tremolo, etc. By default, you might get a legato sound, but send a D0 into PLAY and subsequent notes will play in a tremolo sound. MIDI CCs are a numbered message sent to indicate the value of a particular control. For example, the sustain pedal is universally CC #64. The pedal itself can send a range from 0 to 127 (0 meaning fully up, 127 meaning fully down; some physical pedals ONLY send the 0 and 127 values), but for the receiving MIDI device to know what to do with that value, it needs the CC number. Other common ones are CC #1 for the mod wheel, CC #11 for the expression pedal, and CC #7 for volume. Typically, you won't need to know too much about MIDI CCs, other than that they're used. Your M3 will use all the CCs I mentioned in the standard way (I have a Korg TR that I've been using for a few years, so if you've got any MIDI-related questions about the M3, odds are I can answer them for you since the MIDI implementation is virtually the same). As long as you know the basics, what a CC is, then it won't be hard to figure out which CCs PLAY cares about.

Take a look at this I'm assuming you know how to change the MIDI channel of a MIDI track in Sonar and how to direct a MIDI track to a specific plugin. So, within Kontakt, when you drag instruments from the browser into the rack, you'll see dropdowns for each instrument to select the output audio channel and input MIDI channel. I've circled them in the dialog. Choose the channel from Port A that matches the MIDI track you want to use for that instrument (Kontakt allows for four separate MIDI input *devices*; there's no reason not to use Port A though, which'll be what Sonar is sending MIDI on). As an example, say you're trying to set up an orchestral template. You might have Violins on channel 1, Violas on channel 2, cellos on channel 3, etc. Drag out the violins, violas, and cellos in Kontakt, set their MIDI channels to 1, 2, and 3 respectively, and set up 3 MIDI tracks, one each on channel 1, 2, and 3, and all of them routed to Kontakt. As for outputs, the output selector is circled in the same place as the MIDI selector. You might also want to have the output section visible; I circled the button to do that as well. You'll want to set up the outputs to your liking first, then you'll probably have to save and reload your project so that Kontakt reloads, and then you can map your outputs as you like. Note that you can also send each Aux output to one of the outputs. Normally, I don't bother with effects in Kontakt at all, but in my live setup, I am using a few instances of the convolution reverb. I use an orchestra made up of 13 instruments - 4 strings, 4 brass, 4 winds, and tympani. I use four stereo outputs for those, one per section, and each has a corresponding Aux channel with a convolution reverb loaded, so that I can set the level of reverb separately for each individual instrument but instead of using a separate reverb for each string instrument, for example, I just use one, and route the Aux channel for the String Reverb back to the String Output, so that if I want to adjust the volume on my strings overall, I just have to adjust the volume of that one output and it affects both the dry and wet sounds.

Just fired up Sonar to try it. When you add the plugin to the project, you can have Sonar create the audio tracks you need, one for each output.

There's two parts to this. Firstly, you need to get data into Kontakt on a number of MIDI channels by using a number of MIDI tracks, all with your Kontakt instance as their output and all using a different MIDI channel. Within Kontakt, you can set the source MIDI channel for each instrument you've dragged out from the browser into your instrument panel; make sure they match the MIDI tracks and you're good to go. At this point, Kontakt's probably sending everything to the first stereo output. You'll want to make sure you're using an instance of Kontakt that has multiple outputs too (Kontakt comes with 2, 8, and 16-output versions). With a version of Kontakt with more outputs loaded, you can assign each instrument to the output of your choice. The only thing I don't know how to do for sure in Sonar is how to get the audio from all the Kontakt outputs into unique audio tracks (or, alternately, just to use instrument tracks that route to Kontakt on a specific MIDI channel and receive audio from a particular stereo output from Kontakt), but it could be something as simple as changing the input for an audio track.

I just ordered it myself and got it yesterday. The impression I have from skimming a bit is that it's probably not ideal as *the* only book you'd ever want, but if you use it mainly for the computer aspect and use something like Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration together, you'll be better off than relying on it to also cover everything you need to know about orchestration.

Perhaps heresy, but maybe just not having a guitarist might be a good option? Although, as a possibility, I might be able to talk my brother who's a second-year jazz major on guitar into playing, though whatever he'd do would have to be between terms or over the summer since he's swamped with schoolwork right now.

Stevo: I can handle keys

Maybe because his brother is a judge on the site and has a number of posted remixes

Because it can be used to jailbreak the PS3.

Yeah, sounds like the other mic positions, at very least the close mic (I can always add my own reverb so the hall mic isn't as necessary), are well worth it. The only catch with this sale is that upgrades aren't included, so it works out to within $20 to get the 24-bit-only Platinum vs. the Gold with both mics. I may just go Platinum with the 16-bit samples too; I like what Dannthr said about using the lower-quality samples. I mean, I can always work with the 16-bit samples while I'm working on a song and switch to 24-bit to render the tracks one at a time, right? At any rate, you guys have helped me narrow this down, so thanks

Only 5/8 with forays into 6/8, but there's Prophecy from Secret of Mana, remixed as Dragon Song. Also, not VGM, but one of my favourite jazz tunes is largely in 22/8: Pat Metheny's The First Circle

So basically, gold is good but platinum is better, and I might get better mileage out of gold plus the close mic upgrade? Is there a big difference in quality between 16 and 24-bit samples?

Did some research into past sales, and basically, I'm not going to get a significantly better deal on the exact three products I want unless they do a 3-for-1 sale or reduce the 'standard' prices of each further and then put them on sale from there (and even then, I'm not saving much over this sale if I go for platinum). So, it comes down to this: is Platinum worth the extra money, or should I go with Gold instead and save the extra money for something else?

I bet you could convince John Bain/Totalbiscuit of thecynicalbrit.com to do a video review of the game if you get him a PC copy. Be warned, he'll be open and honest about both the good and the bad, but he's got a huge following from his WoW podcasts, so this'd be some pretty big Internet publicity.

So, EastWest has a 'Rocktober' sale right now, which is Ministry of Rock, Golliath, and Fab 4 for $595, and unlike the standard Composer's Collection prices, they allow substitutions at the same discounted rate. I want to get Orchestra Gold or Platinum, Stormdrum, and Symphonic Choir, and I'm not in so much of a rush that I'm going to jump on the first thing that comes along and not wait for a good sale. If possible, I wouldn't mind getting Ra, Silk, and Minstry of Rock as well. Using the Rocktober deal for those three products comes to $747 (including the expansions for Stormdrum and Choir) with Orchestra Gold or $932 with Platinum (regular; I wouldn't want the 16-bit AND 24-bit samples if I'm going with Platinum). For people who have bought EWQL products before and might know their sales a bit better, is this a good deal? Am I likely to see a better deal anytime soon, in particular around Christmas? Also, do the alternate mic positions and 24-bit samples make it worth it for Platinum? Basically, I can do one of the following on a budget of about $1,000: 1) Buy the Rocktober deal and that's all I get. Maybe pick up RA on its own the next time it goes on sale with the remaining money if I just get Orchestra Gold, but I wouldn't have money for anything else. 2) Buy the Composer's Collection when it goes on sale and/or lets you customize things at the same discount rate and get Orchestra Platinum and the Stormdrum and Choir expansions which aren't in the bundle; I'd assume the sale price would be low enough that this would sit around $1,000. 3) Buy the Composer's Collection on sale and keep Gold but swap out Voices of Passion and either Goliath (I have NI Kontakt so there's a fair bit of overlap) or Pianos Gold to get Silk and Ministry of Rock, the other two EastWest products I'm interested in. Advice please?

I've got a fair bit of orchestral music too, though I've tended to prefer romantic and earlier periods. Definitely need to get some more of the stuff you recommended though. Thanks!

Sure, more ideas are always welcome. I've been doing a lot of research on my own too, looking up all the major film composers and picking a few soundtracks from each to add to my wish list. Already got all three of the Pirates soundtracks, and Transformers 1 was on my list too. Besides that, I've got the Lord of the Rings trilogy and some of the Star Wars movies, and The Dark Knight. Never heard of E.S> Posthumus though; I'll check them out tomorrow. Thanks!

Seriously, look into NI Komplete. I don't know if it has absolutely *everything* Reason does, but then again, I doubt Reason has absolutely everything Komplete does. It'll be much easier to integrate VSTs than Reason, much more memory efficient, better on CPU usage, etc. If money's not an object, get a Korg M3 over the M50, or try to pick up a second-hand Triton Extreme or TR (I wouldn't go back any farther than that, except *maybe* the Triton LE, since it'll be harder to back up your presets - a classic Triton, and, I think, Triton Studio, do that on a 3.5" floppy disk - not technology you want to be using). Here's a brief overview of Korg's workstation keyboard models, and I'd agree that if you're getting only one keyboard and will use a computer for more acoustic instruments anyway, that Korg's the manufacturer to go with. The Triton Extreme is the last keyboard in the Triton line. It's a full-blown workstation with touch screen, aftertouch (lets you make changes to pitch or other properties of a sound based on the pressure you put on the keys after the initial keydown), sequencer, sampling, the works. Sometime before the Triton Extreme, Korg put out a scaled-down version of their Triton line, the Triton LE. It doesn't have the touchscreen or built-in sampler (you can get that as an expansion), has fewer on-board sounds than the Triton Extreme, only lets you use at most 3 effects at once, compared to the Triton Extreme's 8, and has half the polyphony (number of notes you can play at a time - each individual sound you use takes up one count of polyphony, so playing a C with four sounds at the same time means you're using 4, not 1). After the Triton Extreme, they released the TR, which I have - it's the Triton LE with the extra sounds of the Triton Extreme, but still no touch-screen or sampler and reduced polyphony. Then, they started with a new synthesis engine and released the M3, which is, effectively, the successor to the Triton Extreme. Most people find it to be a bit more sterile and clean, suited a bit more for recording than for live performance unless you do some heavy tweaking. It's got a bit higher polyphony than the Triton Extreme though; if I had the money for a different workstation, I'd be choosing between this and a Yamaha Motif XS or XF. The M50 is a scaled-down version of the M3. It is better than the Triton LE and TR in that it has the newer sound engine, a bit higher polyphony, and lets you use 8 effects at once, like the Extreme and M3. It is worse in that it doesn't have aftertouch, is really cheaply built (I wanted an M50 until I saw it in store; I'd never gig with something so cheap, hence my TR), and has no sampling (not that you'd probably care about sampling anyway). I would advise against the M50 and instead either look at the M3 or one of the Triton-generation Korgs.

Happy birthday!

Don't get an M50 unless you're wanting to use it for live performance as well. Get a cheaper MIDI controller and Native Instruments' Komplete; you'll get better sounds out of that, with some time spent learning to program a synth if you don't already know, than you'll get out of an M50, plus you won't have bought a keyboard that has decent sounds but is really cheaply made for what it costs. And unless you have a really good reason to want to record a keyboard, you'll probably have an easier time of it with everything done in software, using your keyboard only for controlling things.

I also vouch for the Audio Kontrol 1. Plus, NI's just put it on sale; I think it's going for $230 now, same price as buying one of their synths directly from them.