Having listened to them all several times, I preferred the Iconica Sketch rendition but that’s largely because I’m really not keen on Mozart with a big sound (BBCSO). There’s a lot to like but equally, a lot in each rendition where things could be improved and that’s only to be expected. I did wonder how could they all handle the opening bar of the p section relatively convincingly (and the f at bar 16 even better) and yet all mishandle the first bar of the p section at bar 44 (0.48) rather unconvincingly.
Given that this whole area is a work in development, I also found myself wondering where the big gains with NP and Dorico are going to be found. Is it the library? An evolving mix? Performance? Lifelike Tempo? More and more, I find myself looking at the last three.
There are people like yourself here with far better musical awareness (and ears) than me. I think it would be helpful to hear views on where they think things are working and where that isn’t the case. Taking a piece of music and hearing it played across different libraries is an excellent way of getting to the detail of those views. None of it should be seen as criticism, just part of the process of building understanding and helping things move on.
My 3rd guess would have been the JV1080 with orchestral card (so many years of fun with that box) … but the Proteus should have been up the guess list for sure!
Thank you for this very informative sharing.
As it is a question of comparison here, I would be very interested in being able to compare the same song played by Dorico vs by a DAW with the same library.
I tried to find a c version of this symphony made with vsl with DAW software to get your opinion, but nothing was found except the finale of this symphony but not posted on the vsl.co.at site.
It might be interesting for a next time to take songs from library demo lists but recorded by DAWs to compare. for example with solo strings:
Here is the Mozart finale found by vsl with a DAW on YouTube:
If the file played in the DAW was simply using the same MIDI data as in Dorico (i.e. if you exported a MIDI file from Dorico to Cubase or vice versa), it would sound virtually identical in Cubase. If on the other hand, you would want a comparison between NotePerformer playback engines in Dorico and Cubase then you’re out of luck as NPPE only works with notation software.
By the way, the VSL library referred to is the original Vienna Instruments one from nearly 20 years ago and not the more recent Synchron-ized remake. VSL only keep the old libraries on the books as some still prefer them.
I had a teacher that had one of those! No idea what sounds it contains, but I’m pretty sure I remember him saying he used the string sounds for saxophones, LOL!
@dko22
Google traduction:
No, unfortunately that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Listening to the demos of large libraries like vsl for example that I own, all are produced by DAWs, which require skill, art, programming to achieve the realism of what we hear on their site and makes you want to buy.
I was therefore curious to hear and be able to compare the same piece programmed in Dorico by a user using only conventional writing elements, and to have a little of their comments: weariness of the sound bank so I put here and there there, some controllers, shift or change of keyswitch, velocity editing etc… Thanks to these people!
The people who put their mp3s in this post, we are doing precisely to compare the execution, the “realism and a certain credibility” and that’s what interested me…see if I’m going to change my habits, etc…
Just curiosity, like the other day I asked an AI engine to generate a drum solo for me and place me as a listener receiving emotions. I especially don’t want to cause controversy like there has already been.
OK, most people who want to achieve the best rendering will indeed use DAWS for various reasons – one of the most pressing is the ability to easily mix articulations from different instruments together as it’s far more practicable to lay out multiple tracks for each artic. in a DAW than in notation software. Of course this can involve a huge amount of work.
I would also find it interesting in fact to hear a DAW mock-up by an experienced user using one of the better libraries on its own or in combination with another one which has NPPE support v this combination in Dorico using NPPE with only modest corrections and editing of dynamic levels but I’m not aware of many like this. It’s not impossible the results might be surprising!
At least two of the patches became classics: Whistl’n Joe, which Mark Snow used on the X-Files theme, and Infinite One, which Eric Serra used in a few scores, and also I think was used frequently in the music for Myst.
The /2 doesn’t have any saxes, from what I remember, the /1 did and they were beyond awful. The /3 had some fun things in it. I kind of wish I had a Morpheus, which had these amazing morphing filters.
I started composing with a JV1080. Then it was briefly progress of a kind to Garritan and then to VSL which finally was starting to produce something resembling music.
I am actually amazed, how unmusical all these renditions sound in my ears.
It is mostly the timing, that doesn’t make sense. Some things seem to come late, some things early, some bits seem too slow, others too fast. Somehow they don’t understand or “speak” the language the composer had in mind. Of course this might also be in a combination with the accents or the attack, certain chords are being reproduced. The whole thing seems to be a very complex field and I feel it needs a lot of tweaking to make the renditions sound convincing.
With the performance-based libraries (sample modeling, vHorns, Aaron venture, Audio Modeling…), the timing is exactly as notated (which hasn’t to be musical). I know, that samples sometimes are recorded with a slight offset for some articulations. In the expression map, you can compensate for that.
Just to mention, I started out with the Roland LAPC-1, then Turtle Beach Monterey+Yamaha card of the time, Sound Canvas, JV2080, then 5080, one of the E-Mu range, don’t remember which. Then came Garritan + NI and it all went software.
