2018/10/17 01:48:27
Syphus
It would seem it would be to their advantage to have a template . . .  But who knows the reason (as to why not).
 
I'm going to start looking into it this weekend when I have some extra time. . .  .
 
 
Syphus
2018/10/17 12:52:57
JClosed
Well - I do not use the standard template for Cubase.
 
For Orb Composer Artist the setup is fairly easy. Most starting points you get in Artist consist of about 4 to 5 instruments. Setting those up in Cubase is simple. Just create a rack instrument (I use HALion 6), and create the amount of MIDI tracks that is needed. In Orb Composer you can look at the instruments you are using, and you can get the MIDI output and channel that instrument is using. You then only have to set up the MIDI input and use the transformer (in a very easy way) to select the channel you are using. It only takes a few seconds.
 
As an example - Use the Pop/Rock template in Orb Composer, and you get four instruments. They are Piano 1, Guitar 1, Synth 1 and Bass 1. If you generate some random stuff you can see that these instruments have the outputs Orb1 - Ch1, Orb 1 - Ch11, Orb 2 - Ch 4 and Orb 1 - Ch 13 respectively. Now set up the MIDI input for Piano 1 in Cubase by selecting the MIDI input (in case of Piano1 it's Orb1) in the Inspector. Then click in the input transformer (orange icon in the Inspector), select Channel Filtering -> Channel 1, activate the rule and close the transformer. Repeat that for the other MIDI tracks and you are done. As said - it only takes about a minute to set this up. It's easy to add more instruments if needed.
 
You can save the above setup as a Cubase template to start a project. I personally have made some basic templates, so I can start projecs very fast without too much hassle.
 
And about Orb Composer itself. It's a fun program that can help you to create starting points. Do not expect the software will create a complete song or something. That's not the purpose of this program. In my humble opinion this program is great when you have a "starting block" or "writers block" of some kind (it would surprise me if nobody here had those bad moments here). Do not forget you can configure almost everything to your needs, and you can also inport MIDI, so you can do some keyboard dabbling and import the generated MIDI to see if what happens. All in all it's a fun program to play around with, as long as you do not demand the impossible.
2018/11/23 14:48:28
jerrypettit
I note that it is half-price for a few days, thanks to Black Friday. (So $199 for Pro)
 
Still...I'm concerned about the lack of reviews around the Interwebitubes and am still sitting on this side of the fence...
2018/11/23 20:59:16
msorrels
Just before the sale they released a free update Orb Composer S.  Now it's a VST host.  This makes things a lot better and it becomes much more usable.  Though I'm not really impressed with their VST scanning/manager functionality. 
 
They still have a huge gap in software quality though.  The release notes talk about fixing all the memory leaks and crashes, but the new version crashes almost as often as the old one did.  It also has some wonky UI behaviors.  When it first came out I submitted a couple of bug reports to their ticket system.  They took the website down to start the sale.  When it came up they "lost" my tickets.
 
When a software developer can't even keep a bug report (yes I created a new ticket reporting the loss of the first two tickets) I'm not sure they are ready for the real world.
 
I really like the base idea and how that part of it works though.  Mixed on if upgrading would be worth it.  Try the demo is all I can say.
2018/11/24 00:00:30
jerrypettit
I appreciate all of your input, msorrels.  I think I'll wait until a next version, if it even lasts that long.  Again, just the mere fact that there is virtually nothing out there on the Internet discussing the product is enough to make me question buying it.  Sounds like it's not quite ready for prime time yet.
2018/11/24 15:11:16
msorrels
You might want to also check out the Captain Plugins from Mixed In Key, they work a lot like Orb Composer in terms of music theory (call and response/structure/etc).  They also have a stand alone app Odesi you can get with a bundle.  The only bad part is they have yet to release the melody plugin for Windows (it's Mac only).  Their development seems to be going kind of slowly, but the software hasn't been as unstable as Orb Composer for me. 
 
https://mixedinkey.com/captain-plugins/
 
It's a bit less orchestra oriented (think pop/rock/EDM) and can help you make interesting parts/phrases/bits.
 
And no, none of these guys (and I have them all) will do more than help guide you a direction, keep you on target and help manage song structure.  Truthfully I've used most of them as tools for learning about music/music theory more than actually making finished pieces.  I see them kind of like interactive learning tools.  Musical laboratories.
 
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