I Just Ordered New Toys, Um I meant "Tools"

[Rodney Carlyle Money]

It's funny how a person who is used to using just pencil, paper, and Finale is now excited about new recording software for rendering. It came about because I had several people in the past few years ask me if I could write music for their projects such as TV shows, videos, art shows, dance productions, etc. I said sure, but are you going to hire the musicians because I'm not? So I decided to jump into this world to make renderings for clients.

Last year I thought Cinesamples was my complete answer, but then I soon discovered that no library was perfect and the best answer was to mix the libraries. I also learned that even if your samples were recorded in a great room like Sony, they still needed a plug-in like East West's Spaces Reverb to both sweeten the sound and make them come alive.

My budget was only $1100 and I needed so much to feel the holes in Cinesamples. I needed better woodwinds so I "got the best" which was Berlin Woodwind's Main Library. I needed better strings which would have ate my budget fully so I purchased East West Spaces Reverb Plug-in to beautify those strings and Cinesamples' Tina Guo Legato Cello for added expression. I needed a piano, so I also went from Cinesamples, Piano in Blue. These "epic" sample developers do not know what flugelhorns or euphoniums are so then I had to order both the flugelhorn and euphonium solo from Vienna Symphonic Library. But the one library I am most excited about is Spitfire's Bones Volume 1, because Cinesamples' trombone ensembles are almost worthless because they lack true legato and the timbre cannot go to the rich mellow sound of true low brass.

So those are my new toys that I am downloading this week. Let me know if you have any questions why I pick those libraries over others.

~Rodney       

[Chris Carman]

Let us know how you like them.  All the sample companies seem to have their strengths and weaknesses and i'd be curious to hear your opinions after playing with them a little bit.  

[Socrates Arvanitakis]

Hi Rodney,

I have heard Vienna's WW and it sounded very good to me. I want to know why you gave preference to Berlin's version. How better are they? Is user tweaking and know how a decisive factor for both of them?

Please give a sample once you've got something ready.

[Robert G. Nagel]

Are you using these new tools within Finale?

[Rodney Carlyle Money]

Man, I wish, but since Finale is only 32 bit it cannot handle a full orchestration of these libraries. I could load the brass but then the memory would be too full starting with the woodwinds.

Robert G. Nagel said:

Are you using these new tools within Finale?

[Robert G. Nagel]

So how/where are you using them? Finale does have its shortcomings. I'm looking for a better solution.

[Rodney Carlyle Money]

Cubase. As a composition tool, it seems to gear more in favor of the composer in comparison to other DAWS, and in terms of midi and use of libraries it is second to none. I use Finale for what it was made for, notation.

[Robert G. Nagel]

Thanks, Rodney. I have never used a DAW to compose, just Finale along with the Garriton Personal Orchestra. Not sure how I would convert my  thinking to just using a DAW to contain all the voicings of a full orchestra and experimenting with which notes to give which instruments in a particular chord. Is that sort of tweaking possible in Cubase? Could I have differing dynamics among instruments within a given chord? Thanks for the help.

Rodney Carlyle Money said:

Cubase. As a composition tool, it seems to gear more in favor of the composer in comparison to other DAWS, and in terms of midi and use of libraries it is second to none. I use Finale for what it was made for, notation.

[Rodney Carlyle Money]

Just a little over a year ago, Robert, I was in the exact same boat as you concerning technology. Everything is possible aurally concerning Cubase, and it does have a score view but you do get used to the piano roll very quickly. Sound wise, Finale has its limitations and with cubase you can sound like a professional if you put in the effort and time learning the software, but it's really not that bad of a learning curve. You can queak everything in Cubase including different dynamics among instruments within a given chord. For example, on a suspension I might make the 2nd trombone part crescendo only, because they have the 3-4 suspension that needs to resolve.

[Phillip Lovgren]

Hello Rodney,

I believe you may still be able to use your 64-bit libraries with Finale using Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 as the sample host which then connects to Finale. Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 does a lot of the work for your software. I'm using it for my  32-bit DAW software and am able to use libraries such as Cinesamples and LASS and also 64-bit only libraries.  There is a free demo available although it does require the eLicenser USB dongle and you must have purchased at least one product from VSL. The product is on sale this month from VSL or retailers such as Sweetwater. I

[Rodney Carlyle Money]

Help me out a little, when it comes to technology, I am a slow learner. This sounds very fascinating and maybe you can explain some more. Right now I can use any 64 bit library in Finale but since it is 32 bit it will "tap out" and say memory is full. I simply place the "dill" files into Finale's VST folder if I remember correctly. So how can Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 take the load off finale concerning other libraries that use another player such as Kontakt? Just for fun here is a link where I just used Finale with CineBrass Core: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oszEUEGFnI8

Phillip Lovgren said:

Hello Rodney,

I believe you may still be able to use your 64-bit libraries with Finale using Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 as the sample host which then connects to Finale. Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 does a lot of the work for your software. I'm using it for my  32-bit DAW software and am able to use libraries such as Cinesamples and LASS and also 64-bit only libraries.  There is a free demo available although it does require the eLicenser USB dongle and you must have purchased at least one product from VSL. The product is on sale this month from VSL or retailers such as Sweetwater. I