Expression Maps have done a huge amount for getting down the size of Orchestral templates by allowing the key switch lanes to appear.
Why then are Orchestral Template projects so HUGE, really HUGE!
One reason is that almost every orchestrator has different sample libraries.
Artistically, this is important, each libraries have different characterstics, in a specific setting, you might like the staccato in EW, but the legato from SAM.
So, where is Hocketing in all this?
First a definition of this 13th century term. “a technique used in both vocal and instrumental music where a single line may be divided up between two or more voices or instruments”
Suppose you have a Cello part, You load up EW, it starts with a gorgeous legato C, then there is a sudden staccato line, but the staccato samples don’t cut it. Can you really use samples from other libraries???
Well, actually you can. Even more surprisingly it is frequently the case that if you were to go to the trouble of selecting each note of a legato line from various legato, patches, the sound would gain artistic expressiveness
I think I am right in stating that you can’t use expression maps to change libraries. Even if you could, and knew how, and were not daunted, and had the time, the list of articulations would get very large, you would need some way of categorizing your 23 legato sounds, your fourteen round robin staccato sounds. But let’s dream…maybe you could?
Presently you will probably return to using two or more tracks to play parts of a line. You then get consequences of course - more to select, different mixer tracks, settings etc.
But what if you could have more than one instrument/VST loaded per track and Switch between the two on a note by note basis. Imagine…
Your composing one 8 bar line for a violin. You like the first three notes using a VSL patch, so they are internally tagged VSL, you prefer the marcato samples from CineSymphony, they get called from CIneSymphony VSL you right click and select those in your MIDI Editor.
You can ‘view by colour’ the sample playback in your editor, blue is VSL, Cine stuff is burgundy. You want an East West sample so you load in the yellow East West samples. At any point a right click can bring up the VST.
In the VST rack are the different instrument set up. These are purged until the notes are required. Instruments are auto disabled until a part calls for them.
In such a system Orchestral templates can be drastically reduced. In fact it would be possible (with the exception of section samples) to almost return to the idea of one staff per orchestral member/seat.
MIDI Hocketing (or mosiacing) between different orchestral packages must surely be the future, for it will always be the case that a single sample library will NOT have a sample for every occassion.
Providing simple MIDI hocketing tools within Cubase interface will vastly improve note selection and make it less required to go into differing VST interfaces on different tracks then blend those tracks together in a work flow killing jump around
Z
Aside:
Thank you to Peter Shwartz of “The MIDI Orchestra - Enhancing Realism” for the heads up on this concept.
Try it out the hard way and see that it IS possible to mix and match flute samples in a single flute solo -it DOES better for it.
We Hocket percussion all the time, its also a very effective tool with brass and winds. Why not hocket sample lines?
Z