Chamber Orchestra Piece

VERY NICE!!!!!

Sounds like a requiem to me, very gentle, somber and easy to listen to. Really love the strings sounds.

I'd ask where I could get one of those, but I'm sure I couldn't afford it

Nicely done!

Angus,
I was trying to place this, rather like, oh it's modelled like Pachabel, no more modern like Barber or Copland, no, were going all the way back to Palistrina, no, modern again, maybe Pärt. Oh, forget that, he's trying to sound like Angus.

Well done.

Sounds good. GPO really seems to be amazingly good at letting you get a quick version laid out. I think Ed nailed all your influences!

ORIGINAL: MannyNY

CTD,

Wow – really nice sounds! I agree - a bit of the Canon in there (one of the few pieces I know). Nice job. How do you actually incorporate the sounds – I went to their website and I am still not clear how you “use” this library (I’m pretty ignorant). Does GPO behave just like a regular softsynth and you just use midi to play your parts?

Hi Manny,

You can use GPO as a DXi or VSTi inside Sonar, so yes it's just like a softsynth. What you do is load in the individual instruments into seperate banks in the GPO plugin (I think it's a cut-down Kontakt), and have a seperate MIDI track for each bank.

Are the instruments spread across the stereo field as they would be in an orchestra – or do you control positioning yourself? Did you create individual audio tracks and then mix them down or does it play all parts simultaneously

You can control the panning for each instrument individually inside the player. I usually just stick some FXReverb onto the effects chain, then output to wav; pretty simple.

If you needed different effects for different instruments in GPO, you could always just create a seperate instance of it.

Cheers

FX3 is great to run GPO through. Very nice tune!

REM

Nice piece, and great sounds....but kind of a big 'chamber' that they're sitting in. A more intimate revereb setting would be more convincing...or telling.

ORIGINAL: clubbedtodeath

Nice piece, and great sounds....but kind of a big 'chamber' that they're sitting in. A more intimate revereb setting would be more convincing...or telling.

Ah -- sharp ears there, Sonic; that's FXReverb on the Bright Cathedral setting, with a 60% dry mix.

The thing is, every time I've heard a chamber orchestra, it's always been in large churches or halls with a long reverb time: never actually in a chamber as such.

And so, when I try using reverb for smaller-sized rooms/halls, it sounds wrong somehow. My ears of course, may be broken. Plus - as I think you're hinting here - I find a long reverb time with a largely dry signal blurs out some of the artificiality of GPO, without losing too much clarity.

You'll notice there are no particularly fast passages either; I'd have to drop the reverb right down for that, and plus my technique with GPO isn't half as good enough to start doing anything fancy...

PS. Den, I am indeed one and the same person. I was doing this style of music way before my electronic noodlings: it's relatively effortless compared to the grind of trying to get an ADSR envelope just right...

Well, what's a chamber anyway? A prison? I've never been in...much less recorded in... a "chamber".
If it sounds good to you, go for it! Again...great job!

ORIGINAL: clubbedtodeath

ORIGINAL: Sonic

Well, what's a chamber anyway? A prison? I've never been in...much less recorded in... a "chamber".
If it sounds good to you, go for it! Again...great job!

Ah well you see, the thing is Sonic - I thought about it, listened to it again, and you're right: the decay time is too long.

What about doing some bedchamber music? Makes me think of a Edwardian porn/funk groove with a string quartet. You know the kind of stuff - Jane Austen with shagging in it.

Imagine the scene:

"Milady, your clothes appear to be wet. T'was a most frightful downpour to be caught in: for fear of you catching a cold I must insist you take them off, as God is my witness."

"Why Mr D'Arcy, while I must concede that your amourous intentions do indeed concur with mine own inclinations on the matter, I feel that my social standing relates most poorly to your family's and so most reluctantly pass the opportunity to be impregnated by - will a quick blowjob do?"

(Etc etc..)

LOL! I like it!
Actually, there's good money in bedchamber(read: adult film) music.

And sideburns?

Right, and well pressed jeans with the crease. At least that's what somebody told me.

ps: bedchamber .. nice .. well .. maybe i'll finally use the
surround sound features of sonar 4 ;-)

With a five-poster bed?

ORIGINAL: rgfors

Sounds wonderful Angus, definitely leaves me wanting more..

I'll see what I can do...

mine too .. although i heard there's a jazz band version coming out
soon .. so i may wait for that one.....

Well, Jeff, I don't want to disappoint you, but I've heard it's an add-on to GPO. That is, you still need to get GPO, from what I've been told. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the jazz band also...

ORIGINAL: hornplayer

Hi Angus:

Not bad for noodling! Kind of interesting, actually. I tend to keep things wrapped up in nice boxes when I write. I mean, I don't mind getting wild, but if I started out Bach, I would keep it Bach; if I started out Schoenberg, I would keep it Schoenberg. BTW, I'm thinking out loud as I write this - this isn't really a criticism of your piece. I'm just noting differences in the way people think and create. Anyway, thanks for sharing this.

Not a problem, if I put up a piece of music, I expect honest criticism... [;]

I actually started learning to compose imitating Bach two (and three) part inventions, so I have (or used to have) a pretty good grasp of Bach and contrapuntal music. Over the years I learned to blend in various styles until I had something that became my own; I can put things in boxes too (I have some Chopin, Grieg, Vivaldi and rag-time pieces kicking around), but I prefer to let the things run around and collide with each other -- this approach doesn't always come off, of course!

How do you like GPO so far? I have it. I've heard some people on the Cakewalk forums dis it - not to mention any names, Dave Rich. But, when you blend some of the various solo and ensemble strings, you can get some pretty nice orchestral sounds. I think so anyway. For $250, I think it's a steal. Some of the winds are pretty nice too.

Gary Garritan has done a spectacular job in cramming all this into a small package. Granted, there a definite weakpoints, especially in some of the ensemble strings parts in the upper registers, but you can still through careful selection still get a perfectly satisfactory string quartet or orchestra.

The organs themselves are spectacular, and full-bodied -- I used to play a church pipe organ, and although I can tell the difference, if I heard them in a song I might be fooled.

You're not going to going to get ultra-realistic tones out of GPO, but it's certainly useable as backing material, and the combination of Sonar and GPO as an orchestral sketchpad gets the thumbs up from me.

Clubbed,

I like it. Nice and Somber. I'm working on learning how to compse Orchestral works myself...not getting very far...

As far as the reverb...I agree. Alot of reverb. Having watched a few chamber orchestras, quartets, sextets, etc...I can only offer this imaginery setting.

You're in a darkened room sitting in front of a stage that is about maybe the size of a bedroom floor. There is probably only enough room in the stands for around 100 people. The stage is made of oak and the walls are made of cherry. The floor is carpeted and the seats are a combination of cherry wood and cloth seats and cushioning.

If you can imagine that then you can imagine the intimate setting that a chamber orchestra would play for and then perhaps adjust your reverb accordingly.

All in all, though, wonderful piece. I am, indeed, envious.