I realize there may be some discussion about using the BBC libraries with NPPE , however I wanted to ask specifically about your own thoughts comparing these two libraries and functionality with the playback engine. I myself tend to stick with good ol’ Noteperformer, yet when I listen to the demos provided by both BBC-SOP and SSO (not studio strings btw) I am blown away by them. Will they truly sound this good with mapping or is there so much fudging with multiple layering of techniques that it’s not worth it?
It’s not that black and white, IMO. I think for example that we want the best performance of our score. That can be more challenging than working from the other direction- writing a score to showcase what a particular library does well. You can work with it or against it.
Wallander had a set of examples of libraries playing popular scores without any editing, mixing etc. That was in the NPPE era, but I wonder if that might help you decide?
While I haven’t tried SSO yet, my recommendation is if you’re looking for a classical music, concert-hall style sound, I’d go with BBC SO. From what I can tell, SSO is better for cinematic-style music.
I don’t necessarily agree as one who has no interest in cinematic style music. The BBCSO orchestra running under NPPE gives a warm and full smooth sound which works very nicely for romantic music. However the SSO has tremendous character in the individual instruments – especially woodwind –and gives more individuality to the textures. The shorter articulations are often crisper and more dynamic. BBC SO (or even better CSS) legato running under NPPE is probably unmatched in Dorico for expressive string legato but on balance, for most of my 18 symphonies, I’m preferring the SSO.
Thanks for these! The sound I’m looking for (and I score for both film and stage) is mostly full orchestra. At least, let’s talk about this for the moment .
A good example would be ranging from Prokofiev, neo classical style to contemporary modern orch. Yes, it’s nice to have full lush sounding strings! And yes, I would like to have dynamic brass and percussion that will (in most cases) dominate in modern orchestrations. Most of wallenders balances are pretty weak in my opinion. That might be just me though.
Woodwinds should sound less like an organ patch, which tends to be the sound I’m hearing from the noteperformer playbacks.
Again, I also realize everyone here is unique and based on their own experience working with live musicians (whether they are conducting or performing) may differ. I’ve been on both sides of the podium .
When I work with my daw (digital performer) I use lots of separate articulations and layer. I DO NOT want to do this here. Way too much time wasted on fussing with playback and not enough composing time. Orchestra Tools , Spitfire, Cinematic samples are my go to’s.
I’m not that familiar mapping in Dorico, but have had some minimal success with percussion in the past. I’m now excited to try and use the preset mapping offered for these libraries offered with the NPPE to help get things sounding more “realistic”. Lol
Onward… let’s see where this all goes, and then we can talk about other instrumentations.
I’m tempted at times to try and create a template which includes BBC strings with most of the rest being SSO. But the problem there is that the shorts are actually often crisper and more punchy with SSO so that wouldn’t really work either. Actually the colourful sort of orchestration Prokofiev uses at least in symphonic works could be quite nicely rendered with SSO, I think. Anyway, there are of course examples on the website and probably one or two here (including already nearly half of my own symphonies)
Indeed – you can run in demo mode where everything works for an hour but the audio export is disabled so no-one else can hear what you’ve done. Still, i can find it useful as a comparison point with the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra – having said that with this library, I feel there are advantages to working manually (whereas with the BBCSO for instance, most people find they cannot equal in Dorico what NPPE acheives)