NOTION Music Forum

I wanted to throw this out to the forum before I created a bug report. I just got the Notion expansion sounds and for the most part I think they're very well done. I have noticed that a few string instructions don't translate if they have an articulation attached. For example, notes with staccato dots sound like they're pulling from the normale/arco samples even when I have written sul ponticello (other unarticulated notes sound fine, though I haven't checked this phenomena against other articulations yet, just staccato dots). Has anyone else had this problem or know a solution?

Just want to bump this issue. Has anyone else noticed this? I sent this to tech support, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

I know my earlier explanation may be hard to follow, so take a look at a sample cello section, the notation, and the aural results. The problem is most obvious with the bartok pizz. I'd really appreciate some help with this.

Hi pcartwright,

Yes, you are correct in pointing out that some articulations, in this case the staccato and the accented staccato on the pizz and bartok pizz, trigger normale-style samples. Those are relatively rare, but when they happen they happen for one of two reasons:

1. It's a bug.
2. Some techniques may have not been recorded with all articulations and this is where we've made a decision to substitute with the closest sounding sample

In the case with the bartok pizz it is obviously a bug. We'll look into it and fix it.

Thanks

Lubo Astinov

astinov wrote:2. Some techniques may have not been recorded with all articulations and this is where we've made a decision to substitute with the closest sounding samplev

Thanks for the info, Lubo, and thanks for looking into the bug.

It’s perfectly understandable that instruments don’t necessarily have recorded articulations for each technique. With this in mind, I was wondering if it might be better to approach these articulations in a similar manner that Notion’s development team approached rules files for third party VSTs. By this I mean instead of defaulting to detache when an articulation isn’t available, a sound would use the written technique’s samples with a few “tweaks.”

For example, in the default rules files for GPO, the rule for accented staccatos simply cuts the duration of the note in half and increases the velocity a bit. Could you do the same for Notion’s native samples? For example, on a accented staccato quarter note with sul ponticello as a technique, instead of defaulting to a detache accented staccato, Notion would play the sul ponticello technique as an eighth note with a little more velocity.

Of course, I don’t know if this is technically possible, but (IMHO) I think keeping the same timbre of the assigned technique while adjusting the dynamic/duration controls is more realistic than defaulting to appropriate articulation samples using different techniques.

Also slightly off-topic:

Is there any definitive list of the Notion/N3 library? I cannot find anything that lists each sound and it's various available techniques/articulations/etc. That's one way you could tell between sounds which are bugged and those which simply do not have samples associated with them. I have always had this issue with Notion since 1.x . Not being able to know exactly what is available.

tim