Choir sounds?

[mrarnesen]

What is best? Liberis/Requiem by Tonehammer or EWQL's Symphonic Choirs.

I understand that if you're gonna use the Tonehammer products you'll need NI Kontakt 5 which costs € 379

But with EWQL all you need is the EW/PACE iLok 2 Security Key which costs $49.95 from soundsonline. The price of EQWL is $346.50 and the Requiem $569. So the Tonehammer/Kontakt products are more expensive than EWQL/iLok 2 Security Key.

By listening to the demos I think Liberis and Requiem is better than EWQL. But in EWQL's list of compatible hosts Notion is not on the list. It says "host must support 64-bit VST plugins". So do Notion3 support that?

[wcreed51]

They're very different products, and each has it's strengths. Tonehammer is now split into 2 different companies. What you'll want to look at is Requim Light, from Soundiron, also about $350.

EWQLSC has full SATB, where as Requim is just split into women and men's sections.

You can use products like jBridge and Vienna Ensemble to host the samples in 64bit.

[jhale1966]

I have to say that I took advantage of the IK Multimedia deal - I was able to get it all for $149 since I have SampleTank for iPad.

WELL worth the price of admission.

[Surfwhammy]

You can use products like jBridge and Vienna Ensemble to host the samples in 64bit.

True, but the type of computer and operating system are very important . . .

jBridge is for Windows machines only . . .

Vienna Ensemble will work as a server for Windows and Apple computers . . .

Lots of FUN!

[Surfwhammy]

I have to say that I took advantage of the IK Multimedia deal - I was able to get it all for $149 since I have SampleTank for iPad.

WELL worth the price of admission.

The Total Workstation 2 Instrument Bundle is excellent, and I use the various VSTi virtual instruments a lot . . .

It is possible to load all the sampled sounds into SampleTank, and I tried doing everything with SampleTank, but it takes too long to load and uses more resources, so I switched back to keeping the VSTi virtual instruments separate,where each one loads only its specific sampled sounds, and this works better . . .

You can set the PREFS so that all the sampled sounds are not relisted everytime the VSTi virtual instrument is loaded, and this makes loading the VSTi virtual instrument significantly faster when you use it in NOTION 3 . . .

So, the current strategy here in the sound isolation studio is that I use the standalone user interface for each VSTi virtual instrument (SampleTank, SampleMoog, SampleTron, Sonik Synth 2, Miroslav Philharmonik), and each one only has its specific sampled sounds . . .

This is the strategy that works best for using the IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instruments with NOTION 3, but it also is important to remember that there is a limit to the number of staves you can have, where the practical range is 20 to 25 staves, where each staff is an IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instrument . . .

If I need more than 25 IK Multimedia VSTi virtual instruments, which always is the case, then I clone the original NOTION 3 score and use the clone for more VSTi virtual instruments, where I keep perhaps five of the staves constant so that I know the basic melody, rhythm pattern, and where the different sections of the song start and end, which works nicely and makes it possible to have as many as 500 to 1,000 VSTi virtual instruments, but only 25 per cloned NOTION 3 score . . .

Lots of FUN!

[pcartwright]

jBridge is for Windows machines only .

I believe there's a beta version for mac these days.

[Surfwhammy]

What is best? Liberis/Requiem by Tonehammer or EWQL's Symphonic Choirs.

I understand that if you're gonna use the Tonehammer products you'll need NI Kontakt 5 which costs € 379

But with EWQL all you need is the EW/PACE iLok 2 Security Key which costs $49.95 from soundsonline. The price of EQWL is $346.50 and the Requiem $569. So the Tonehammer/Kontakt products are more expensive than EWQL/iLok 2 Security Key.

By listening to the demos I think Liberis and Requiem is better than EWQL. But in EWQL's list of compatible hosts Notion is not on the list. It says "host must support 64-bit VST plugins". So do Notion3 support that?

QUESTION: What type of computer and which operating system are you using?

[NOTE: The answer does not need to be highly detailed. Something like "a 2007 iMac and Mac OS X 10.6" or "a 2011 DELL XPS 8500 and Windows 7" will be enough information for folks to be able to be more specific in the help they provide . . . ]

THE PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

One of the most important aspects of doing digital music production is to have a plan for the computer hardware and software, including VST effects plug-ins, VSTi virtual instruments, MIDI, and so forth and so on, because no matter how it is done, sooner or later it involves spending what for most folks is a good bit of money . . .

Since nearly everything is done on the computer, the type or model of computer is important to know, as is the operating system platform, since there are system requirements for running some of the digital music production software in a practical way, where "practical way" maps to everything being "peppy" or at least not intolerably slow to the point of not being able to do anything . . .

As you have observed, there are some very smart and knowledgeable folks who participate in this FORUM, and the expertise spans both operating system platforms (Mac OS X, Windows) . . .

Generally, most of the software works pretty much the same in Mac OS X and Windows, but there are differences due (a) to hardware like sound or audio processors, (b) the ways files and folders are organized, (c) the ways different technologies like MIDI are implemented with respect to ports and stuff, and so forth and so on . . .

From a different perspective, one might suggest that the only truly significant difference is that due to its larger customer base there are a few intriguing digital music production software tools that only are available for use on Windows machines, but there also are intriguing digital music production software tools that currently are available only for the Mac, where specifically "the Mac" refers to Apple computers running Mac OS X . . .

However, the general availability of digital music production software for both operating system platforms is improving, and as an example MOTU is on the verge of releasing a new version of Digital Performer for the Mac and Windows, where currently Digital Performer is a Mac-only Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application . . .

Yet another key bit of information is that nearly every company has competitive upgrade offers and discount sales every so often, where for example I started with NOTION SLE for Miroslav Philharmonik but upgraded to NOTION 3 after receiving a nice email from Notion Music about an upgrade opportunity, with the difference being that the full version works with lots of stuff, while NOTION SLE for Miroslav Philharmonik only works with Miroslav Philharmonik . . .

Similarly, as you know, the IK Multimedia marketing folks essentially lose their minds several times a year and have discount promotions which reduce the MSRP by as much as 75 percent, and some of the other VST effects plug-ins and VSTi virtual instrument companies have occasional discount sales, although nobody really beats IK Multimedia when it comes to nearly absurd discount promotions, since last year they had a discount promotion to celebrate being in business for 15 years, and with a bit of reading and calculating to understand the somewhat convoluted and complex rules for the discount promotion--which included receiving three free products of equal or lesser value--it was possible to get all their products (hardware and software) for a total of approximately $750 (US), where the key was to get the two most expensive hardware products as the qualifying products, since the free products were limited to products that only could be downloaded, hence did not require physical shipping and delivery. It took me a week to discover the optimal purchasing strategy, but it was there, and I posted it in the IK Multimedia FORUM to help folks, as well as to determine the best strategy for getting the few remaining IK Multimedia products that I did not already have . . .

THOUGHTS

In some instances, you can judge sampled sound libraries by the audio examples provided by the vendor, but this is not always the case, since sometimes the audio examples are not so good but the actual sampled sounds are stellar, so it depends . . .

Native Instruments provides a FREE Kontakt 5 player, which works nicely, but it makes sense to get the full version of Kontakt 5 . . .

However, Native Instruments also has discount sales--although not so frequently as IK Multimedia--and Native Instruments had a 50 percent discount sale last Thanksgiving 2011 for about a week, which was the way I got Kontakt 5 for $200 (US) rather than $400 (US) . . .

I like FabFilter Software Instruments VST effect plug-ins, and I love Timeless 2, which is the best VST effect plugo-in echo unit currently available on this planet, but I waited until it was on sale as part of a bundle, which saved me approximately $100 (US). They just released another VST effect plug-in ("Saturn") that I really want, but I am waiting until they have their summer discount sale, even though I really want it a lot . . .

Timeless 2 (FabFilter Software Instruments)

Saturn (FabFilter Software Instruments)

Nevertheless, before embarking on a vast digital music production software acquisition strategy, I think it makes sense to determine whether your current computer can handle everything, because based on the difficulty you had getting good quality PDF scores printed on your printer, you might have an older computer or at least a not so stellar printer, where the key bit of information is that if your computer is older, then it probably is smarter to skip the high-end choir sampled sounds for a while and instead to use the money to get a new computer, because there is a virtual festival of choir sampled sounds in the Total Workstation 2 Instrument Bundle and one of the FREE bonus Xpansion Tank 2 Multisampled Instrument Collection that you are entitled to receive . . .

With just NOTION 3, Total Workstation 2 Instrument Collection (IK Multimedia), and the one or two FREE Xpansion Tank 2 bunus collections, you can be productively busy learning lots of new and important stuff for several months, which is one of the practical realities that I use to put everything into perspective when considering what I call "The Plan for the Future", since for example if you want to be able to create music at the same quality level of the scores for major motion pictures, then you can expect to spend somewhere in the range of $15,000 (US) to $25,000 (US) for the computer, hardware, software, sample sound libraries, audio interfaces, MIDI instruments and interfaces, microphones, headphones, calibrated full-range studio monitor system, and so forth and so on, and in some respect the difference in the low-end of the range and the high-end of the range is a combination of (a) vast expertise in the basic principles of acoustic physics and sound reinforcement, (b) stellar common sense, and (c) smart shopping, where as an example I refer you to The Fabulous Affordable Studio Monitor Project™ in the IK Multimedia FORUM, which is my topic in that FORUM on a truly amazing, affordable, calibrated full-range studio monitor system, which with the Kustom® deep bass subwoofers and the various calibrating hardware and software costs approximately $1,500 (US) and is better than commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) studio monitor systems costing at least five times as much, since for the most part every COTS studio monitor system currently available on this planet is (a) a piece of junk and (b) specifically is a piece of junk because none of them are full-range (20-Hz to 20,000-Hz at equal loudness), which is fabulous . . .

[NOTE: The key to The Fabulous Affordable Studio Monitor System™ is using Kustom® powered PA/DJ sound reinforcement loudspeaker systems, which (a) are vastly overpowered but you run them a very low volume level, which maps to more dynamic headroom for the Class AB amplifiers and (b) are inexpensive, because stuff intended primarily for use in sound reinforcement is priced reasonably based on the fact that folks who do sound reinforcement for example could care less if "Flea" or "Slash" uses it or thinks it is "awesome". In other words, sound reinforcement folks understand acoustic physics, so it is difficult to charge them a lot for stuff based on artist endorsements, which maps to sound reinforcement stuff being higher quality and reasonably priced . . . ]

The Fabulous Affordable Studio Monitor System (IK Multimedia FORUM)

Fabulous!