I have an Akai breath controller (EWI) that is supposed to work with the Aria player but I can not get the modulation to work with it.

Lorney - I use a breath controller often too (though mine is a Yamaha).  What I think MAY be the problem for you is the the BC uses CC#2 (by default) and many plugins don't seem to recognize that.  

SO what I did was create a MIDI FX (actually it's from Tencrazy.com) that converts CC2 to CC7 (volume).   It works just as well and mitigates the controller problem.

Maybe that info will be of some help to you.   I never tried CC2 in the Aria Player since I have this working method at my disposal I just use it that way.

birdg735


Well said!
- B

All's fine and well, but you're tying me in with alexisreal.  Go back and read the entire thread.  I made no comment on the Dimension Pro.  I also was not the one who questioned your knowledge of dealing with programs like JABB.

JB

...I would certainly not blame Stradivary for selling so bad violins through Cakewalk Web sites. 

I would certainly not say Paganini violin arias are so awful that I would neither buy nor recommend others to buy the instrument at a deal price Cakewalk managed to have with a Dimension ProTime machine ))) 
 
I even won't blame myself that during my childhood I spent 7 years in music violin school and succeeded to master just 5 Grades. Yes, for two years I remained in the same Grade. I mastered not to make my mom dissapointed by covering with the whatman paper my diary, however)))

I will either sample Paganini playing Stradivary, or learn myself to approximate his PRO experience. I will do both! I know I won't be a Stradivary, but I know everything is possible and depends just on me, not others. I won't complain to other crying boys around, and won't ask them to express belief in me. Just because I believe in myself by myself. This is the only thing Communism teached me about.

Here is my Surround sound virtually made in Abbey Road Studio 1 while at my house at the Holy Land. This was my Music recording Grade 1 lab work, necessary for graduation. 

Well, I wish I hear some authentic Abbey Road 1 recording. Materials and Methods are free tools from Cakewalk plus latest upgrade to Producer (actually not needed much for this type surround project). I also employed some science math and physics class calculations of Abbey Road acoustic measures, and... love. This is first item to mention! 

Now I am in Grade 2, yes, I just started Grade 2 of my music recording, Having Preschool and Grade One accomplished in just a year.

No comments please, I don't need them. I love my music, and know I am improving with every song. My music is also private and is for those few of planet Earth who I love. 

Smiling and wishing you be happy!

Here is the link to 4 formats surround sound, stereo mix (not a surround downmix) is also provided, I recommend 6 channel WAVE, item #4 in the list of subfolders. My song in Russian "We will die on one day, no, we won't die, we'll live and love each other forever" is on melody of John Lennon "Grown old together", a kind of my gift on John's 70th Birthday:

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0ByGGk5USZEmVMjVkMmUzZTQtZmMyNi00OTk3LThlOTAtNTU0M2E3ZWM3NTM0&hl=en


P.S. I think it would be great JABB3 has several provided MIDI and associated WAV/mp3 files, so, every customer can open MIDI file in ARIA player and use provided jazz ensembles to make a comparison of his/her system sound with the sound by JABB developers

The other possibility is that I did most of my experimenting with the Aria player which I really don't have any fondness for. I assumed that because that is what came with the Akai that it should be well matched for it. Maybe that is where I have gone wrong.

 
I'm not really a fan or the ARIA player or the EastWest PLAY.   They look fancy but aren't as function as I would like.
 
BTW, maybe there's a setting on the EW for which CC messages get sent?   Like a configuration perhaps?
 

That's my whole point.  I'm not saying that Billy's wrong for saying that JABB doesn't sound real.  He is correct, but for $80.00 how much "realistic" do you want?  

I don't know my way around these emodicons so;
SMILIEY!!

jungfriend


Hi Glyn,
The Indigenous samples sounded great! Unfortunately they didn't demo any of the Silvertone Nylon String guitar, but it appears they understand the way a guitar sounds and the mute layer really works. I wasn't as impressed with the Lyrical distortion demos, but I think it's because they sounded like a keyboard player trying to play guitar on his keyboard. Now I know that is exactly what was going on, and they would probably sound totally different with a guitar as the midi controller. 

Paul, you can get the Nylon guitar from the Chris Hein Guitars (kontakt) collection by itself as a download at soundsondemand for 75EUR:
 
http://www.soundsondemand.com/sort1.asp/best_service_chris_hein/en/3
 
Check out the demos... sounds like... er... a nylon acoustic guitar. The individual instrument downloads come with a serial and are registered/loaded in the free Kontakt player. Each additional instrument from that library is an "add-on", so a bit cheaper.

keith


Paul, you can get the Nylon guitar from the Chris Hein Guitars (kontakt) collection by itself as a download at soundsondemand for 75EUR: .

There is more on the Indiginus acoustic guitarsand the latest update here http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2114536
 

keith


Indiginus sounds really good. Gonna have to grab that this morning. Great price for us kontakt kroniks. Can't have too many quality guitar libs, that's what I always say... and bass libs... and pianos... and drums... and...

OrangeTree has an acoustic coming out soon as well. I think it'll be one steel string, not a collection, though.

Keith and Glyn,
 
    Those CH Guitars do sound pretty good. And are quite reasonably priced.   Thanks for the info about them.
 
    BTW, I have the OrangeTree electric guitars and really like them.  Have used them a lot and they are very playable - so it'll be interesting to see what they come out with for acoustics.
 
    Greg (OrangeTree) does great support as well.
 
 

keith

ba_midi

    Those CH Guitars do sound pretty good. And are quite reasonably priced.   Thanks for the info about them. 

You can get the full CHG library as well, of course -- should be quite a bit cheaper than the individual instruments. At least with soundsondemand if you only want/need one or two instruments it's an option with the CH libs and some others. Plus the option to download an entire mega library is nice, if you have the pipe for it. I was enamored with the CH nylon, banjo, and mandolin myself, but not totally sold on the others from that library. His horn collection is another matter. His bass library is pretty good too, on the whole. Hard to beat EEG/Strawberry for electric though... hopefully a monster LP at some point with all that advanced jiggerypokery that Greg likes to put in his products...

The nylon sounded decent but the steel string sounded too much like the nylon lol.  Dim Pro has some decent 'samples'in that area, but there's no keyswitching or other tricks to use them other than in straight playing mode.
 
 

noiseboy


Just thought I'd chime in to say that in my experience, with the exception of the human voice singing actual words, big band brass is the hardest thing to pull off with samples currently.  IMHO orchestras are a piece of cake in comparison.  I don't really know quite why it is so hard... I've heard some theories about complex interplay with phase and all sorts, but I'm not convinced.  I just don't know.

I've heard the samplemodelling demos, the VIR2 demos, and the only one that to me has ever sounded like a real section, depressingly, is Broadway Big Band - which I eventually went for in a sale but still cost the earth.  Even BBB isn't perfect, but it's by a long way the closest you can get for now.  I do know it took them a year to record it.  I should add that samplemodelling's solo instruments sound terrific, but something goes wrong when you ramp up to sections.

In the meantime, I think that some of the yellow tools stuff sounds pretty damn good (I think there's a really good deal on there at the moment), and bits of the Kontakt lib sound ok... the Kontkat Sax and Brass soundpack is another budget offering that has a bit of useful stuff.  I'd look at those two ahead of Garritan for a good starter product.

I think one thing that makes it harder to create a realistic brass section is that players literally play differently in an ensemble.   So if the individual samples aren't approach in that manner, it can't possibly sound too real imho.
 
String sections, for example never play "exactly" in tune with each other since they are not "fretted" instruments.   That gives a 'section' a wider quality harmonically.   In most string sample sets the user is generally offered combinations of solo samples and sectional samples -- ie, a group of players; and they are recorded that way.
 
I think it's harder to record solo brass because single note samples may not reflect the nature of the instrument.  Just like some saxes have a very different tonal quality in their low registers - and dependent on the dynamics (how hard or soft they blow), I think it's difficult to capture that unless it's approach like string samples where the user is given many choices via keyswitches or just samplesets.
 
This is another reason JABB isn't working for me.  The samples are too plain, generally.  Many sound as if they only sample either the initial 'attack' OR just the sustain portions.   That isn't going to work out well in a real arrangement.
And it's also why I felt the samples were a bit cheesy sounding.  
 
I'm not familiar with BBB, but I've heard it mentioned many times.
 
 

Randy,
 
My comments about your piece are the exception.  Your work definitely has a quality to it, and you do get the most out of your tools in that regard.
 
I've been a long time GPO user as well, btw - and have used their strings on many tracks over a long period of time, so I'm used to their performance techniques.   Using JABB is not hard in that regard.  My sole concern is simply the quality of the samples - irrespective of the technique employed.
 
It's just an opinion, and my opinion, of course.  I'll reiterate that for 80 bucks it's probably a good deal as an add-on to one's musical arsenal.   I just can't seeing my go-to brass, but possibly using it as a layer.
 
I think it's normal that when one person expresses a negative opinon about something another person finds useful, it's going to create some tension (perhaps a lot).   But I also think it's important to share our feelings and experience with and about products being marketed to us.   Marketing has taken on such a misleading attitude over the last few years that we need to offer balance.    It's easy to say something is great in ads or other marketing outlets; but actual user reviews (ie., ones without an interest in the profits of the company/product) are just as valuable, if not more so.
 
 
Anyway - welcome back - I hope the performance went well for your music!
 

Naturally I don't know why you don't like the library, but I doubt if I could offer you any handling tips you're not already aware of. Thanks for the kind words about my efforts, but I've heard stellar tracks from advanced jazz arrangers using JABB which are amazing, and would satisfy anyone's ear. To me, those are the proof of what a great library set JABB is. Its sound just doesn't leap out of the box - that's really all I can say. Randy B.

 
I think when we hear really great arrangements/music done with, at minimum, a good performance -- we may not 'hear' the samples in the same way.  Just like hearing old records, as an example.   If the music is great, the recording quality is not as important to the ears.
 
But to some extent, the basic elements in a sample library should have some distinct and identifiable realism.  Every instrument has some characteristics that must be produced in order to be even close a real sound.   This is where I found the JABB library lacking, for my needs that is.
 
Getting back to your work -- I think it's wonderful that it's taken on a life of its own now -- I know you've worked very very hard on it, and I expect you'll be continuing to give us all lots more good news regarding it as time goes on.   It speaks well of your talent and of your persistence!
 
 
 

Randy, I found your post (#82) very helpful, thanks a lot.

Congratulations on Dorian, I wish you and your show a continuos success! 

Could you please point me to your instrumental of Honeypie, I have 80+ original Russian songs on Beatles melodies (that I just start recording, with first album of 26 assembled, listed here http://music.israelscholar.org/1 ), and will be happy to hear other people processing of melodies by the Beatles.

Alexis - Your reply is perfect timing.  Just yesterday I saw another post from you and have planned to write to you today.  I understand that you live in Russia? - I'll send you a PM after answering your post on this thread.

Here's the recording of mine mentioned on this thread:

HONEY PIE

During the intro section, I added scratchy vinyl effects as well as a thinned out tinny sounding EQ, as if we're hearing an old 78 RPM record.  Then the sound returns to normal.  The intention was to sound like a band on a small stage, playing with old-fashioned restraint. 

Besides the JABB instruments, I also used JABB effect samples like breaths (most audible during the clarinet intro) and guitar scrapes.  Improvisational bits are used throughout for the lead sax line.  And the sound at the end is another vinyl effect - a needle being taken off the record clumsily so it scrapes the surface--OUCH!

Voclizr - Thanks for letting me know my PM box was full - I tend to let messages pile up.  I've now seen your message, and I'm looking forward to using the link you included - I'll write to you via PM also.

Randy B.