Changing Articulations in EastWest PLAY

[Souliarc]

I just recently got the PLAY edition of Symphonic Orchestra. Before PLAY, I would make an instrument bank in Kontakt and create bank/patch changes on the MIDI track to switch between different articulations. With PLAY though, the instruments are no longer Kontakt compatible (they are now an exclusive .ewi format instead of .nki.). I've been trying to figure out (through reading the manual and experimenting) how to change articulations and the best way I've come up with is to load the Master Keyswitch and, of course, switch with the keys, but the Master doesn't include ALL the articulations, crossfades or effects. So, I load whatever other articulations I want and assign them to a different MIDI channel and MIDI track. It is awkward working between different MIDI tracks for technically the same instrument, but it works as I can still have all the information I need in one piano roll view through Sonar. I would choose the Element Keyswitch over the Master, but I don't understand why it's considered a keyswitch, as from what I've seen there are no assigned keyswitches and no way to assign them yourself.

So BASICALLY, I'm wondering if there is a more efficient way of doing this or am I on par?

[Souliarc]

K, well, if nobodies got suggestions then what is the individual methods YOU use to change articulations?

[zircon]

I don't use PLAY but keyswitches are generally the best way to switch between articulations. Also, if there are modwheel-based patches for dynamics, you'll want to use those too (far better than velocity -> dynamics.)

[Souliarc]

I don't use PLAY but keyswitches are generally the best way to switch between articulations. Also, if there are modwheel-based patches for dynamics, you'll want to use those too (far better than velocity -> dynamics.)

When the keyswitch doesn't have the articulation you need, what do you do then? I love the dynamic crossfade patches =D

[zircon]

Then the only solution is, as you said, to load multiple patches.

[dannthr]

I don't remember if PLAY has any sort of bank system, I will say, however, that for probably a whole year I set-up all of my templates with giant banks and had each instrument assigned to its own MIDI channel until I realized that scripting patch changes took a LOT longer than swapping to a new midi channel.

[Souliarc]

Thanks for the confirmation Andrew. That's really all I was needing - peace of mind

I don't remember if PLAY has any sort of bank system, I will say, however, that for probably a whole year I set-up all of my templates with giant banks and had each instrument assigned to its own MIDI channel until I realized that scripting patch changes took a LOT longer than swapping to a new midi channel.

I'm starting to realize this now! I did the same thing. It's fairly awesome with Sonar as I've found you can put all the MIDI tracks with different articulations from one instrument into a track folder. When you want to open up the Piano Roll with all of the articulations, just select the folder and hit ALT-5 and there you go. Then you can use the pane to the right to single click an articulation. REVELATION!

[dannthr]

I will also say that my original purpose for having each instrument have its own midi channel was because I wanted to emulate the look and design of a live score--what I came to also realize in this respect, was that most samples really don't stand very well on their own and it became necessary to layer libraries together--libraries that don't respond identically or layers which you don't necessarily want to be initiated identically.

So, creating patch changes, for example, for 3 layers of french horn samples became a little absurd and it just became easier to group by folder, as you said, and separate by MIDI channel.

My orch projects tend to have more than 40 channels each now and some can get pretty up there (more than a hundred, etc).