I gotta say - you're all making me smile a bit!!! Thank you for taking the time to listen. And reply back! I love this forum!!

I think this sounds pretty cool. LASS, eh? Hmmm... I think I need to check it out.

My only advice is that you get familliar with the Velocity editing to add some more realism. At times you can kind of hear that it's programmed where things jump at you a little. If you just experiment with that and figure out how it works then you should make this already great piece even better

Well done! Thanks for sharing. 

Thanks, ProjectM. That's the main thing I hear, as well. I've spent a lot of time trying to tame those little things. The good thing is - this session taught me a lot (as a result of my early mistakes). I'll likely play with this one a bit more in that area, but I have a better understanding of some things NOT to do next time. Thanks, again! Advice always welcome!

Sounds pleasant here thanks for sharing.

This is quite lovely... excellent work...

I have no experince mixing this kind of music, although I use strings some times as backing tracks,  but it sounds really very nice to me.  I wish I could do that sort of thing, I'm more the bluesy, jazz, country, rock picker.

Daryl

Thanks for taking the time to listen, fellas. And Daryl - I hear ya, brother. I've always been a pretty basic rock guy, myself. Although I've always really enjoyed this kind of music. So - I thought ... why not give it a try?? I did play trumpet through college, so - not totally green to arrangements. Thanks!!

I think you did a great job, did you have the midi files or official Scores?

I am with Terry, I think use of expression (CC11) will go a long way.  If you are not playing things in real time with an expression pedal you can go back and add in some expression at the start and end of the notes, to swell in and out.  I would do each instrument individually for realism.

I think what we hear in the beginning woodwind is, it sounds like a woodwind being played on piano.  There is no sense of legato.  I dont know if LASS has any legato patches you could try instead.  If not, try layering a couple different patches and playing with the expression between the two patches so you dont get the strong attack on each note for your smooth legato phrase.

Nice undertaking for your first midi orchestrion, I really enjoy Goldmith's film scores

Hey, Mike. Thanks for the feedback. No - did not have the midi files or score. I just sort of winged it. In fact, I figured most parts out on my guitar first (my main instrument) then played each part one at a time on my M-Audio keyboard.

I did try to work the mod wheel, but it was much harder than I thought! For one thing, the mod wheel doesn't control the same thing in each patch. Who knew? So I spent a lot of time wrapping my head around that. Even then - my first few playbacks were really bad. I was really frustrated at how "unreal" it sounded! And I can tell based on the feedback I've gotten on this thread, that is still my area I have to improve on. And I figured that. But I will indeed keep working at it. It has really been a lot of fun, so I find it easy to keep working on. Hard to do that when music becomes work!

That flute solo is from Symphobia 2. It is indeed a lagato patch, but I'm sure I could do a better job playing it. Your idea of layer is a really interesting one. I'll play with that.

A friend had a really good idea. He suggested bringing in an actualy violin/ cello/ flute player and record them playing the same part. Then, using those as guides - try and match them! Brilliant!

Thank again!