Modern Scoring BRASS Manual1 [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

Version 1.2

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The Modern Scoring Brass sample library described herein is supplied under a formal license agreement that you enter into when using Modern Scoring Brass. Please refer to the Audiobro License Agreement PDF inside the documentation folder of the Modern Scoring Brass Library folder. The data contained in this user guide is for informational purposes only and may be changed without prior announcement. The contents, images and information in the user guide does not constitute a legal obligation by Audiobro. Audiobro is not responsible for any eventual faulty or inaccurate information contained in this user guide. The user guide and all parts thereof may not be reproduced or hosted on a website for commercial or any other use without the prior and explicit written permission of Audiobro. All trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners. The entire Modern Scoring Brass sample library is based on the performances of “real musicians” and the utmost care was taken in preserving the human feel of these performances. It is these human “elements” (natural variances and imperfections in performance and sound) that create the realistic sound you hear when using Modern Scoring Brass. Any imperfections in sound and performance are to be considered “by design” and are subject to change only at Audiobro’s discretion.

© 2019 Audiobro

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Table of Contents Welcome to Modern Scoring Brass .....5

Sustain Settings ............................24

Volume (divisi section) ........................43

Quick Start Guide ..................................6

Volume, Pitch Arc and Vibrato ............24

Width ...................................................43

Loading Instrument Patches ...............6

Attack Control ....................................24

Position ............................................... 43

Patch Articulation Modes .................... 7

Attack Curve, Attack Length, Release Envelopes ...........................................25

Ensemble Section .........................44

Snapshot and Patch Conventions .......8

Ensemble Menu .................................. 44

Shorts ............................................26

Ensemble Builder ................................44

Batch Re-save .......................................9

Auto Rhythm Tool (ART) ................27

Ensemble Builder Editor ..................... 44

Speed Up Loading .........................9

Basic A.R.T. Controls ..........................28

Vibrato ................................................ 45

Crescendos ...................................31

Auto Divisi ........................................... 46

Sync Mode ..........................................31

Auto Divisi Editor.................................47

Speed..................................................31

Humanization ...................................... 48

Trills ...............................................32

Humanization Editor............................49

Trill Controls ........................................32

Mixer .......................................................50

Rips ...............................................33

Mixer Channel .....................................51

Flutter Tongue ................................33

Insert’s List ..........................................52

Crescendo & Trill Sync Mode..............8

Patch List ............................................... 10

Instruments ....................................10 Performance Page.................................15

Real-Time Controls ........................16 Dynamics ............................................16 Dynamics Editor ..................................17 Volume ................................................17 Filter (main filter) .................................17

Switcher .................................................34

Filter Editor (main filter).......................18

Preset and Tile Modes ...................34

Sizzle ..................................................18

Switcher (basic) .............................35

Detune ................................................18

Switcher Editor (advanced) ...........36

Detune Editor ...................................... 19

Look Ahead ............................................37

Articulation Section ........................20

Ensemble Page ......................................38

Articulation Area ..................................20

Stage .............................................39

Sidebar ................................................21 Articulation Settings in General........... 21

Legato Settings .............................22 Legato Playing Style and Auto Divisi .. 22 Volume - Pitch Arc - Vibrato ................23

The Mover Tool ..............................39 Depth Control ......................................40 Stage Type and Stage Preset .............41 Stage Editor ........................................41 Divisi Section ......................................42

Sends ..................................................53 Automation ..........................................54 Modulation ..........................................55

Signal Path ....................................56 Default CC Assignments ......................57 Intuition Series Instruments .................58

What is the Intuition Series?.......... 58 How To Play...................................59 Monophonic vs Polyphonic............59 Staccato Mode ..............................59 Performance Controls ...................60 Microphone Panel ......................... 62

Variable Attack Control .......................23

Continued…

Placement Panel ........................... 62 Intuition Engine Options Panel ......63 Advanced Template Setup.................... 64

Defaults .........................................64 Storing/Loading Defaults ...............64 Loading Defaults Automatically .....66 Articulation Sets (Logic) .......................67

What are Articulation Sets? ...........67 Installation .....................................67 Variations .......................................67 Basic vs. Advanced .......................68 Loading Articulation Sets ...............68 Key Switching ................................69 Expression Maps (Cubase) ..................70

What are Expression Maps? .........70 Variations .......................................70 Basic vs. Advanced .......................70 Loading Expression Maps .............71 Key Switching ................................72 Pairing Down The Articulation List .73 CPU and RAM Considerations .............74

CPU Considerations ......................74 RAM Considerations .....................75 Specifications ........................................76

System Requirements ...................76 Supported Interfaces .....................76 Special Thanks ...................................... 77

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Welcome to Modern Scoring Brass Modern Scoring Brass sets a new benchmark in orchestral and scoring brass and is built on our new orchestral engine. This 30 piece multiinstrument divisi library was painstakingly developed by recording different players (one player at a time)* on a trusted scoring stage giving you unprecedented individual control of each instrument and section. The breadth of instrumentation was chosen to offer an enormous range of colors and emotions for your productions. Here are some of Modern Scoring Brass’s features: • Polyphonic Real Legato (Multi dynamic and continuously adaptive). • Real Variable Attack Control: real variable attack samples on all sustains – recorded on each note and at each dynamic. Finally, real sampled embouchure control. • A full compliment of articulation key switches come pre-set, but you can also build your own. Set up your articulation settings and layers just the way you want, then make it a simple key switch away. • Look Ahead: easily sync slow attacking brass articulations saving you production time and MIDI micro editing. • Easily build your own player ensemble or use our pre-made ensembles. • New Audiobro engine supports Kontakt 5.8 and NKS-enabled hardware. • New Auto Divisi engine with all-in-1 patches. • Multiple sustains with different attacks: smooth, accented, marcato. • Multiple types of short articulations with up to 9 x round robin: tenuto quarters, 8th note staccatos, 16th note staccatissimos, double tongue. • Crescendos that sync how you want, trills (half, whole, and diatonic). Play metered or unmetered. • Independent control of players tuning, humanization and vibrato. • Advanced Key Switching by Key, CC, velocity, and combinations thereof. • Control Dynamics the way you prefer: CC, velocity, or a combination. • Performed Dynamics MIDI can be automatically smoothed out. • Assignable Repeat Key makes playing double and triple tongue chords (and same-note-legato) simple and fun. • Vibrato control for each instrument, and sectional vibrato (where just the first chair uses vibrato). • The next generation of A.R.T. (the Auto Rhythm Tool) with MIDI export, synced modes, arpeggiator, and ostinato too. • “Sizzle” control dials in bell-shaking, window-rattling power. Or pull out the edge and get sonorous, dark, and mellow. From the dulcet tones of a lone trumpet in the back of a great concert hall to 4 Cimbassos (divisi of course) blasting your face off – and everything in between — Modern Scoring Brass is a library that finally captures the broad expressive range and diversity of the brass family. Pristine recording and meticulous editing ensure every note of your music will shine.

* All players were recorded one-at-a-time except for Horns 5 & 6 and 7 & 8 who were recorded two-at-a-time for added variety and flexibility.

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Quick Start Guide Modern Scoring Brass is really easy to use. You can simply load a patch and play. There are a few types of patches and we’ll discuss where you can find them, their naming convention, and how to load them.

Loading Instrument Patches Lo Yo start by loading one the Instrument patches - located in the You Instruments folder in the Browser: Ins

Click on the Instruments button to reveal the Brass instruments.

The main Instrument patches are in the root of the folder, folde but there are additional patches organized into 4 folders. They are: 1. Low RAM Starters - This folder contains patches where just the sustain articulations are loaded. They can be built out to larger patches but load up with the lowest RAM footprint possible. 2. Full Mix Only - This folder contains patches where only the Full Mix is available. They are otherwise identical to the master patches, but because the other zones are not present the instruments will load faster and keep your projects and template sizes smaller. Sonically and in performance these patches are identical to the master patches. 3. Intuition Series - This folder contains 21 Intuition Series instruments, a collection of hybrid sample and modeled-transition instruments based on the same sample pool from the main library. These patches are described fully starting on page 58. 4. Split Chairs - This folder contains each divas section from the master patches split into separate instruments. Make sure you have the MIDI channels set the way you want. If you don’t see the MIDI channel information, make sure to click on the “i” icon as seen here to show the MIDI information.

Output and MIDI channel fields.

“i” information icon to show the MIDI and output fields.

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Patch Articulation Modes No matter what patch or snapshot you load, you can always change its articulation by clicking on the available articulation tiles (Legato, Sustains, Shorts, etc.):

• • • • • • •

Legato — Real Legato on all intervals including same-note legato. Also Smooth, Accented and Marcato sustains. Sustain — Smooth, Accented and Marcato sustains with controllable attack and release. Shorts — Tenuto quarters, stacc. 8th, 16th and double tongue shorts with 4x, 4x, 9x, 9x, round robins respectively. Crescendos — Crescendos and Sfz Crescendos with speed controls and auto speed matching your tempo. Trills –– Diatonic major/minor, chromatic, and whole-tone trills. Speed controlled with 4 record lengths (including looped). Rips –– Perfect 4th, perfect 5th, and octave rips on certain instruments. Flutter Tongue –– A sort of growl sound by fluttering the tongue behind the teeth when playing.

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Snapshot and Patch Conventions There are various types of patches in Modern Scoring Brass as well as “Snapshots” of those patches as described above. One thing to keep in mind is that the Snapshots are derived from the parent patch that you loaded. For example, if you load in a default Modern Scoring Brass patch, then all the snapshots located under the snapshots menu will be based on that patch.

Crescendo & Trill Sync Mode Our Crescendo and Trill articulations use a better sounding time stretch algorithm but are also more taxing on your computer’s CPU. There may be about a 16 voice polyphony per instance of Kontakt which should be more than enough for Crescendos. However we bring this up in the event you see CPU overages, you may want to make sure you are not being overzealous with your simultaneous use of crescendos and trills.

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Batch Re-save Speed Up Loading If you find that patches are loading slower than you would like, it’s a good idea to Batch Re-save your library. To do this: 1. Open Kontakt in Stand-Alone mode (not hosted in a sequencer) and navigate to the File icon (floppy icon) and click on it:

2. Navigate to the Batch re-save option:

3. You will be prompted with this message… but don’t be too afraid: … just click “Yes”.

4. Navigate to your Library folder (in this case Modern Scoring Brass Library folder) and select the folder. Then click Open.

5. Wait patiently as Kontakt re-saves your instruments. After it’s done, your instruments should load faster.

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Patch List Instruments Instruments are the master patches from which all Snapshots are derived. If you (for example) load a “Trumpets Muted” patch, then all the Snapshots related to that patch will have muted trumpet samples loaded into it. Click here for more information about loading patches. Here is a list of the included Modern Scoring Brass patches alphabetical order: Alto Trombone

Bass Trombones and Muted

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Cimbassos

Euphoniums

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Flugelhorn

Horns –– Muted and Stopped

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Piccolo Trumpets

Trombones and Muted

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Trumpets and Muted

Tubas

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Performance Page

The Performance Page is like your “home” This is where you might spend most of your time. We have made a concerted effort to bring the most commonly used features and controls to this page — the most basic and often-used real-time controls are located here and many users may not venture much further than this page. That said, the tweakers will have plenty to dig into in our deeper editors and other pages.

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Real-Time Controls All the real-time controls can be assigned to user’s choice of Continuous Controllers, however Audiobro has already programmed them in a logical manner and to conventional industry standards where applicable.

Dynamics The Dynamics control is probably the most prominent real-time controller on Modern Scoring Brass. This control affects both the recorded performance dynamic and volume, and is the most critical control to achieve an expressive performance. Notice the cog icon that you can click on to open the Dynamics Editor (to the right of the word “Dynamics”). In this library, you will see this type of “cog” icon in various places and in every case it will open an editor to the associated control. By default, the Dynamics knob is assigned to CC1. You can Right-Click (Ctrl-Click on Mac) to assign another CC to this control. You can watch a video on how to assign CCs to Modern Scoring Brass’ control here:

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Dynamics Editor The Dynamics editor allows you to decide how you want to control the dynamics of the library. The horizontal Dynamics slider at the top mirrors the position of the Dynamics knob on the front page so you can see its level when the editor is open. By default, Dynamics are assigned to CC mode, which means that the knob position (controlled by CC1 by default) is the sole source of the dynamic and the dynamic can change fluidly during held notes. In Velocity mode the strength of your notes down (velocity) is the determining factor for your dynamic, and the dynamic is not fluid or controllable after the value has been set. Scaled velocity offers a powerful balance between the other two modes and lets you play with velocity based dynamics and also a CC scaler. So if you have your CC all the way up, then you will get the full range of the velocity. If you have your CC at 50% then you will get a maximum velocity of 50%… and so on. This is especially useful for those who wish to use continuous fluid dynamics for sustains, but prefer velocity based control over shorts (while still respecting the CC dynamic). When drawing your Dynamics curve, you can use the Shape slider to help you as well as the smoothing button to smooth out the table. Hint: holding cmd/ctl and dragging the mouse on the velocity table will create perfectly linear lines.

Volume The Volume Knob controls the volume of the sound but does not alter the dynamic performance (p, mf, ff, etc.) of the playback. It does not allow for the expressiveness of Dynamics, but can be very useful as a second level of volume control. The Volume control is assigned to CC11 by default.

Filter (main filter) The Filter control applies a user definable filter to the whole instrument and affects the sound before the sound reaches the Mixer. The Filter is assigned to CC5 by default. Note, you can also add other filters to the sound and modulate them using Modulation tables (see the Mixer section for this).

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Filter Editor (main filter) By clicking on the cog, you will open the Filter Editor. Here, you can choose the filter type you’d like with the drop down menu. The Frequency and Resonance of the loaded filter are both MIDI-assignable by right clicking on the knobs and assigning a Continuous Controller (CC) to them. The Frequency knob in the editor is the same control that exists when the editor is closed (the Main Filter knob) and any MIDI assignment made is present in both views.

Sizzle The Sizzle knob gives you easy access to boosting or cutting the brassy “sizzle” component of the sound. At 12 O’Clock, or when the Sizzle power button is OFF, the Sizzle knob will yield no change to the sound. Turning the knob clockwise adds brightness, and turning it counter clockwise makes the sound darker. This knob is MIDIassignable by right-clicking on the knob and assigning a Continuous Controller (CC) to it.

Detune This Detune knob detunes each divisi section of the ensemble discretely, giving you a wonderfully controllable Aleatoric Brass sound. In practice, this is like telling the 4 sections of the brass each to do a different pitch bend. Great for horror scores, tense moments, and more. The Detune knob is assigned to CC4 by default.

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Detune Editor This slider mirrors the value (position) of the rotary knob on the front of the interface. These allow you to select which ensemble’s tuning table you would like to edit. Here, you draw how each note of the octave (C to B) is to be detuned. Going above their center line means tuning up, and below means tuning down.

Table Range – The maximum range that each table step allows tuning up or down. Randomize – This button will automatically randomize the table for you.

This Pitch Motion section can be turned On/Off using the radio button. It assigns an LFO (low frequency oscillator) to the tables and adds a lot of motion. It can range from very subtle to radical. The Range knob dictates how much frequency modulation there will be and the Speed knob dictates the speed at which the modulation will oscillate.

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Articulation Section

This Articulation section is comprised of the Articulation Tiles, the Sidebar section, and the articulation settings. All of the settings you see above as well as the articulation settings for all tiles (articulations) are saved within each Articulation Menu (seen above as named “Preset 1”)

Articulation Area What instrument is loaded.

This is the Articulation Menu. It stores up to 20 presets with all the settings from all tiles above saved.

Articulation Tiles— This is where you can choose the articulation you want to play.

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Sidebar Layer — When you press this button, you can layer articulations (tiles). Clicking on multiple tiles will layer the respective articulations. To access the controls of a layered articulation, click on the cog within the desired tile.

Release Triggers (RTs) — When ON, this will automatically play the release tails of the legatos, sustains and trills. This will not affect shorts, rips or crescendos.

Repeat Key — This lets you assign a key (it will become red on the Kontakt keyboard) that will repeat the last note or chord played. This is very useful for playing back rapid same-note rhythms and samenote legato.

Articulation Settings in General

In each patch, the articulation settings depend on which articulation (tile) you have selected. Here you can see the “Shorts” articulation settings below the tiles.

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Legato Settings Legato — An articulation with smooth connections between notes/chords. Audiobro uses its own proprietary legato algorithms to give you realistic and compelling legato transitions. It is important to know the relationship between the Legato setting and Auto Divisi (please also refer to the Auto Divisi section discussed later). When Auto Divisi is ON: • There will be polyphonic legato. You will be able to play chords and have a predicable legato sound between the notes of your chords. When Auto Divisi is OFF: • There will be monophonic legato. You will only be able to play one note at a time.

Legato Playing Style and Auto Divisi In order for the legato feature to work, you must play in a certain way. Watching the video (link at right) may be the best way to understand how to play legato. When Auto Divisi is ON: • Without using sustain pedal — play chords naturally and sequentially. In order to help create transitions between your notes, Auto Divisi adds a small amount of extension on to your notes (definable in the Auto Divisi Release Window setting and set to 50ms by default). New notes played within this release window will be transitioned to.

• While using the sustain pedal — You must release a note before playing the next note to trigger a transition. Because the sustain pedal holds your notes you can almost think of this playing style as a staccato-plucked style. For instance, hold the pedal, play a chord and quickly release. Then play another chord. You should hear all the notes transition. When Auto Divisi is OFF: • Play monophonically, slightly overlapping your notes to create legato transitions.

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Volume - Pitch Arc - Vibrato Volume –– This lets you set a volume per articulation. By default, the volumes of each articulation are set to match the other articulations. The knob value is saved in the articulation preset (user savable). Pitch Arc –– The more air a brass player pushes through their instrument, the more there can be a very subtle but integral pitch bend (or arc) their sound. Here you can control the amount of that you want. Somewhere around noon is a good default setting. Vibrato — This lets you control the amount of Vibrato you want a player to exhibit. You can get access to more control of this feature by clicking on the the cog next to Ensemble Page > Ensemble Builder > Legato Speed –– This lets you alter the legato transition placement giving you after or slower legato response. Transition Volume –– This give you +/- 6dB of volume control of the actual legato transitions.

Variable Attack Control Great brass players have an enormous range of attacks possible when playing in any range AND at any dynamic… your brass library should too. Modern Scoring Brass introduces the concept of Variable Attack Control and makes it available on every instrument in the library (mutes and stops included). Most importantly, these aren’t Frankenstein sample edits or synthetic envelopes. These are real variable attack samples – recorded on each note and at each dynamic. This Attack Control dropdown menu lets you choose how you want to control its associated slider (to its right). There are 3 ways you can switch between the Smooth, Accent, and Marcato performances of the legatos and sustains: • Slider –– You ride the slider with your mouse to change the sound, or you can assign a CC to the slider and ride it with your hardware. • Velocity –– The velocity at which you play (how hard you play notes) will dictate whether you trigger Smooth, Accent, or Marcato. Use the sliders to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack. • Inverted Velocity –– This is the same as velocity, but inverted. In other words, the lighter you play the more the slider will move to the right. Use the sliders to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack. Note: When you select Velocity or Inverse Velocity, you will slider “heads” that you can move to define the velocity range of each articulation. To the left, you’ll notice the attacks are from: Smooth(1-23), Accent (24-96), Marcato from (97-127).

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Sustain Settings

Volume, Pitch Arc and Vibrato Volume –– This lets you set a volume per articulation. By default, the volumes of each articulation are set to match the other articulations. The knob position is saved in the preset menu (user savable). Pitch Arc –– The more air a brass player pushes through their instrument, the more there is a very subtle but integral pitch bend (or arc) their sound. Here you can control the amount of that you want. Somewhere around noon is a good default setting. Vibrato — This lets you control the amount of Vibrato you want a player to exhibit. You can get access to more control of this feature by clicking on the the cog next to Ensemble Page > Ensemble Builder >

Attack Control This Attack Control dropdown menu lets you choose how you want to control its associated slider (to its right). There are 3 ways you can switch between the Smooth, Accent, and Marcato performances of the legatos and sustains: • Slider –– You ride the slider with your mouse to change the sound, or you can assign a CC to the slider and ride it with your hardware. • Velocity –– The velocity at which you play (how hard you play notes) will dictate whether you trigger Smooth, Accent, or Marcato. Use the sliders to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack. • Inverted Velocity –– This is the same as velocity, but inverted. In other words, the lighter you play the more the slider will move to the right. Use the sliders to change the velocity ranges assigned to each attack.

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Attack Curve, Attack Length, Release Envelopes These are a great way to alter the attack and release lengths of the sustains. You must turn on the power button for each of the settings you want to alter. When turned off the attack and release use the default Audiobro-programmed settings. These settings are saved in the Articulation Presets.

• Curve –– Choose between a convex, linear and concave attack shapes. • Attack Length –– Change the attack length (or duration if you prefer) to suit your own needs. • Release Length –– Change the release length to suit your own needs. You will probably want to turn off RTs when using this.

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