Can anybody tell me anything about the Waldorf Blofeld?? seems nice....and versatile?
Blofeld is opposite of the virus sound wise. The sounds are much 'cleaner' while the virus is dirty, gritty, and powerful.
I will always stand by the Virus though. The Blofeld is awesome and I want one soon, however, it is not as versitile as a virus but still a great addition to anyone's synth collection.
If i had to pick between a Waldorf microwave I and a Roland jd990 which one is more " cinematic" ? (I have a oberheim m6 - mayb too similar to a microwave anyways??)
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If i had to pick between a Waldorf microwave I and a Roland jd990 which one is more " cinematic" ? (I have a oberheim m6 - mayb too similar to a microwave anyways??)
"Cinematic?" whatever that means...... Um, probably the 990, but the Microwave is FREAKING awesome!
Not hearing that. Are you saying the demo's suck and it sounds significantly better than the demo's?
I know what you mean. It always sounds like something that sounds too good and polished to be real. Omnisphere covers all grounds and I can get "dirty" much easier.
Zebra and Alchemy for sure if creating your own synth sounds. I don't know any hardware synths that can come close to them for sonic manipulation. A sound designers dream those two synths.
I would say that really, narrowing down to something like granular or VA or analogue/samplers etc would not necessarily be a good way of choosing something for scoring.
Something versatile sonically, yes. Easy to pull new sounds out of would be a bonus too or with a great range of inspiring presets when you're on a deadline.
I haven't 'scored' anything as such (except a student film in the 90's), but would like to look at doing so in the future and am starting to work on a workflow and creation process, working to deadlines (as a result, I've finished more tunes in 3 months than I had in the previous decade!!). I've a wide range of synths in the studio- analogue, VA, ROMplers and Acoustic Modelling.
I am very influenced by sounds for my initial ideas and my output is starting to be very cinematically inspired anyway. The track linked below started with a Blofeld patch (the main one on the melody and bass notes throughout), called Blocked- hence the track title. Everything else is standard Kontakt library- piano, drums and strings, plus my WSA-1R for a plucked bell sound, filling the bass. I just found sounds that worked with what I had already and in my head.
I had the main melody/chords about six months ago and finished the writing/recording over 3 days last week- literally scanning through a library to find something that worked.
I'd say a good quality, versatile synth will all the bread and butter sounds- pianos, drums, orchestral and the usual synth leads/bass/pads etc would be an ideal core for the studio, with some analogue/VA or other synthesis on top to add the interest.
So- something like Kontakt or Hypersonic 2/Halion Sonic, or a hardware workstation like the Yamaha Motifs, Korg Kronos/Krome for starters, depending on budget.
Then, something like a Virus, Evolver, Prophet '08 or U-He, Alchemy etc to fill in more esoteric stuff.
It also depends on how versatile you want to be with musical styles as to what sounds you want access to.
If you're working to deadlines, you need to really be able to get around a sound library quickly and find an inspiration. I can't imagine I'd be doing that with, say, just my Prophet or Blofeld.
Question is- how do you define cinematic? From my example, I think Blocked is halfway between an early 80's synth-pop anthem and a montage scene from an 80's movie (a colleague in the office said 'Top Gun'!!). The bit that makes it for me like that is the build up just before the main melody kicks in for the last time and the way it all expands.
But that's just my opinion... To be honest, I've still got a sneaking suspicion several people have done that melody before.. :D
question: what are main differences kontakt vs halion sonic??
As sample player, is kontakt also s " sample synth" meaning I could load own samples and pass/modify them through a synth engine?
Does kontakt allow the same kind of "variphase" pitch/time control like the old Roland vp9000 or V Synth series?!
Kontakt is a sampler- so you can take any audio file and assign it to a key etc, like the E-Mu's and Akais etc of old.
You can also get sample libraries that come with the Kontakt Player.
Halion Sonic (as far as I can see) is a software equivalent of a ROMpler synth- a large library of sample based sounds. It looked like it was the replacement for Hypersonic 2 and took on thay instrument's library.
For good orchestral stuff, you really need to look at the VSL, EWQL libraries etc...
I'd say Kontakt is a strong contender for that (I messed with an old version of Halion and didn't find it very user friendly- that was years ago, mind). MOTU's Machfive tends to get good ratings for sampling too- though I've not used this.
I think it works out better for price if you get Komplete- you get a bunch of extra sample instruments there and synths and effects.
Using VST effects on an audio is also a great way of mangling sounds- things like Camel Phat and Camel Space, for example, or the Effectrix stuff. Ohmicide is a great distortion tool (mulitband and loads of options- it's bloody powerful).
You can also use any DAW as a powerful sampler- process a section of audio with VSTs and render it out to a folder, then you can bring it into your track as is, or keymap it to a Sampler VST or Hardware).
According to Camel Audio's site, Paul Haslinger (ex-Tangerine Dream and various movie scores) still uses CamelPhat extensively.
The only downside to Omnisphere is it's ubiquity - Be carefull to take the time to edit the presets (even a little) - because everyone else seems to like 'that' patch as much as you do
Zebra is really great, and the happy accidents you can can get from it and/or a hardware synth make them immensely useful.
I spent 6 months with only omnisphere as my sound pallette, and any shortcomings are purely my own. If I had one observation (it's not a complaint) it's that a lot of the presets (patches) are full range and take a up a lot of space in a mix - don't be afraid to carve out some space if you find your mixes congested. An easy thing to do, but you have to sort of think about it as you go so you don't wind up with an unintentional 'wall of sound' every time. My bad.
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The only downside to Omnisphere is it's ubiquity - Be carefull to take the time to edit the presets (even a little) - because everyone else seems to like 'that' patch as much as you do
While it's true that a little customizing of the sounds, bending them in "your direction" so to speak helps, I actually see nothing wrong with using straight up presets. It's more about the arrangements and stuff.
For example, I am using Addictive Keys for my piano sound. Do I need to be worried about other people also using Addictive Keys? I don't really care honestly... because I am just using it as a tool to generate piano sounds.
I dont know, you could go crazy thinking about stuff like that. I say use what works.
You both have valid points, it's all about the arrangement, how many instances, and the patch itself.
There are certain patches that scream Omnisphere, which could be said about a few other synths, and while there's nothing wrong with using 'that one patch' because it simply works with the project at hand, it can be a caveat in terms of originality.
That being said, for the few hundred typical Omnisphere sounds you might hear on any given film score or tv drama underscore, there are thousands more that would go unnoticed, the sounds are good, use them and move on with the work.
In any case, I've never found a more intuitive synth to tweak (well, within the realm of complex synth engines such as Omni), so a few minutes altering the filters, messing about the timbres and lfos in the edit page, or tweaking the effects (I've often found simply disabling the glutinous amounts of reverb or delays on a patch to sound so much more pleasant), could yield great results, especially in a case where many instances of Omni are used in a project. It certainly can sound huge, that immediate wall-of-sound put a smile on your face sorta thing, only to be deceived by a wall-of-mess next morning on a fresh listen.
If you have those, you don't need any other synths in my opinion, and Zebra would be the extra on top. That said I use Zebra all the time, as well as Sylenth for my sub basses, and Trilian for real bass/aggro synths from time to time, and a few others for fun (impOSCar anyone?)
Also worth noting through all this... most of what I use for film scoring are Kontakt libraries. These synths are only a fraction.
There's no doubt, Ominsphere is one powerful muthaf***ing scoring machine.
Doesn't matter that a lot of peeps are using it, as there's a reason for it, it's that good.
We're talking about a good synth/VI for film scoring here, but what type, specifically?
Big Hollywood-like trailers and lush orchestral film scores?
If that's the case, sure, Omni won't be enough, you'll need Kontakt and some killer libraries (Spitfire Audio, Symphobia, Project Sam, etc.)
If mostly for underscore of a film, or tv drama series, etc, then Omni paired with say, Alchemy and also a few Kontakt goodies will give you great mileage and versatility.
No doubt there are others, haven't tried them all so can't comment much, and yes a Virus or older Roland module can add some interesting textures.
But if you had to just pick one to get up up and running, Omnisphere is a hand-down winner, that' just my personal opinion.
Ensoniq Fizmo is awesome for describing eerie visuals, and it also can make some lovely harmonies. IS a synth wich allows very detailed programmation for a single sound, with complex results:
Classical, harmonies:
Kurzweil K2500
Korg Wavestation
Yamaha Motif
Emu Proteus Series
Multiple purposes: Alesis Andromeda, DSI Prophet 08, etc.
this is a lot of money.... and finding some of them could take sometime.
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Not hearing that. Are you saying the demo's suck and it sounds significantly better than the demo's?
To be honest, I've still got a sneaking suspicion several people have done that melody before.. :D
My bad.
and finding some of them could take sometime.
