Hi all,
I'm pretty new to Midi orchestration and I have some of the East/West Libraries.  This might be pretty basic..
 
I've made some healthy compositions using many instrument tracks with a separate instance of play loaded for each one.  After reading the documentation they recommend that I route multiple instruments in one instance to multiple tracks in order to save Computer usage.
 
Now I'm working on some pretty in depth projects and would like to learn best practice for setting synths up.  Is it possible to route the instruments to separate instrument tracks?  I can't seem to figure it out.
 
I've tried creating new tracks and setting the output options.  I've also tried just about every configuration I can think of in the Synth Properties page that pops up when I click to add a new Synth.
 
I would really appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction as there is a lot of new terms and things I have to learn.
 
Thanks!!!
 

If I can remember later tonight I'll see if I can help you out.
 
Not sure if there a lot of Play fans here. Some say it's glitchy. I've used it a couple of times but only one instrument, one stereo out.
 
It's probably got to be similar to Kontackt (I hope) which is difficult in its own right but doable.

I use separate instances of Play for each instrument, but each instance has different mic routings to different tracks. For instance if you want to add some violins, choose Insert-Soft Synth-VST2-Play. When the option box comes up I choose All Outputs and turn off Midi Out. Now Play will load and you will have a lot of audio tracks. I delete all but the top 3 of them( there are only 3 mic positions so I only need 3 audio tracks). Now go into the Play interface and use the browser to find and load the instrument. Once it's loaded go to the Player interface and at the bottom of the Mic section you'll see Mute buttons and 3 unlabeled buttons. Click on the buttons to call up the audio tracks you want to assign each mic to. I usually go in order, the first mic to the first output, the second to the second, etc. Now when you record each mic will go to a separate audio track. I've loaded up 20 instances of Play before without a problem so I find it easier to use each instance for the separate instruments. Let me know if you need more info, good luck!
 
Bill

Hello
 
I've learned from many heavy weight EWQL users that how well EWQL is being utilized really depending on your hardware setup.  I know you are asking for a Sonar software setup question, yes I do.  However, all the problems and answers pointing back to the hardware in the end.

I do not know which East West library you have, how many tracks you using, how many instruments and how much effect you applying.  Nor do I know your hardware at all.  Allow me to point out that the best way to utilize EWQL smoothly is using HDD streaming instead of loading the Sample into the RAM.  Because it is not enough even you have a 64GB RAM.  The most ideal setup would be streaming each big library such as Hollywood string with an Internal Solid State Drive and I guarantee you will have a smooth run completely. 

That is what I am doing and software setup is only personal preference at that point.  Hope that help?

Take care
 
Sam

mikebeam
Hi all,
I'm pretty new to Midi orchestration and I have some of the East/West Libraries.  This might be pretty basic..
 
I've made some healthy compositions using many instrument tracks with a separate instance of play loaded for each one.  After reading the documentation they recommend that I route multiple instruments in one instance to multiple tracks in order to save Computer usage.
 
Now I'm working on some pretty in depth projects and would like to learn best practice for setting synths up.  Is it possible to route the instruments to separate instrument tracks?  I can't seem to figure it out.
 
I've tried creating new tracks and setting the output options.  I've also tried just about every configuration I can think of in the Synth Properties page that pops up when I click to add a new Synth.
 
I would really appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction as there is a lot of new terms and things I have to learn.
 
Thanks!!!
 

Not sure if this is what you mean. What I do sometimes is after I load in the Play synth and want to have several instruments feed into it I will insert several midi tracks select the Play output then select separate midi channel outputs for the tracks.  Then load the instrument into Play and select the midi channel in Play that the instrument track will use.  Do that for each midi track/instrument selecting separate midi channel outputs and loading a corresponding instrument with the desired midi channel.  Potentially up to 16 instruments can be loaded into each instance of Play.

There isn't really a best practice, but there are several options. In this case, as I understand it, you will need to set them up as separate MIDI/Synth and Audio tracks - not as Instrument tracks.
 
The idea is that you will have 1 MIDI track and 1 audio track for each instrument in Play. Each MIDI track going through the same instance of Play needs a different Channel number. Those channels need to be set to correspond to the right instrument within Play itself.
 
Then, those instruments in Play each need to be set to the various outputs: usually the first one goes to "1/2", the second goes to "3/4", etc. These are stereo pairs.
 
Finally, your audio tracks 'pull' the audio from Play by assigning their input to the appropriate Play output. So set one to "Play 1/2", the next to "Play 3/4", etc.
 
It's probably best to start off simple to make sure you can get it right: add 1 instance of Play to the Synth rack, load up 2 instruments in there, make sure their channels and outputs are set differently. Now add 2 MIDI tracks, route them to Play and the appropriate channel. Add 2 audio tracks, make sure they're listening to the appropriate Play outputs. If that went well and each MIDI track is playing different instruments, add extra tracks and instruments to taste.
 
How many instruments you have in each instance of Play is up to you. I like to run 6 instances, each with 4 to 8 instruments loaded: strings, brass, wind, pitched percussion, unpitched percussion, and choirs.

@Bapu:  I'd be interested in hearing about how to do it in Kontakt too.
 
@Cookie:  I tried that but it's not doing what I want it to.  I was hoping to have two instrument tracks.  Function in the same way that multiple loads would.  Does that make sense?
 
@golophei:  I have an i5 processor with a WD Black mechanical hard drive.  8gb of RAM.  I bought Hollywood Strings/Brass/Woodwinds Silver.  I also have the Dark Side Library and Symphonic Choir.  I haven't noticed a problem up to about 10 instances, but the project I'm working on has multiple movements and I wanted to have a few different articulations ready to go...  
 
- Perhaps I should just load separate instances for each instrument track...  It just seemed like EWQL was suggesting that wasn't best practice and I wanted to get used to do things the "right" way...
 
Your thoughts?

Thanks for all the replies!!!
 

@Kylotan - I think that worked.  It would be cool if I could then combine the tracks into an instrument track - it seems that I could do it if there were only one midi and one audio going to the Synth, but I can't have multiple instrument tracks?
 
I was thinking about setting it up similarly - one instance for either all the different variations of envelopes/articulations I need for each instrument or one instance for a section.  Do you just have double the tracks on your screen? Two for each instrument - midi and audio?  Seems kind of cumbersome - no?  
 
I might just stick with having multiple instances, but it would be really cool to understand the ins and outs of this just in case I ever need it.
 
What do you think?
 

Are there any advantages to having them separated?