BBCSO Core - Day 01

Taron

Alright, I'm literally out of breath for some reason. Maybe, no, definitely because Core leaves me breathless, it's so adorably awesome, delightfully brilliant and unbelievably playable.

Alas, I still have to learn how best to handle things, timing, velocities, what to do, what not to do, everything to let it do what it does best and that's a whole lot of bests, honestly. It also shows me how little I know and how much I've still got to learn in regards to orchestration and all. BUT I just want to share with you my first (literally first) attempt to compose with it.

It would have to be far more euphoric, happy and grateful for me to properly dedicate it to Jason, who enabled me to get Core with his tremendous generosity that will stay with me probably forever. It's already clear just how much joy this gift will bring to me for quite a long time.

But here's my first step on this journey:

https://soundcloud.com/taronium/core001?si=314ae357288d4ac7a71caf448f406543&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

🤗 Seasons Greetings to you all!

calebjtoth

Haha! You finally got it - I'm so excited for you!

Oh, and a gorgeous piece of work besides. Keep up the good work!

Taron

Thanks, Caleb! Yeah, it's still not done processing in my mind, haha.😄

I'm still a bit scared to handle too many instances, but it hasn't really betrayed me, yet. I just have to get over the "walking on egg shells" phase...

Thanks again! So much more to come... 😃

Retroblueman

Sounding great - lots of character and excitement to this - look forward to hearing what is to come!

I will never forget my upgrade to Core - I was in the middle of a track, changed over all the instances of the plugin from Discover and pressed play, and... silence - I had to wait for all the instances of the plugins to load so I sort of heard snatches of very beautiful sounding notes slowly coming in until eventually - as you say, I was left breathless - congratulations on the upgrade!

I wouldn't worry about running too many instances - I have an i7 quad core which gives up and starts popping around about the point I load more than 8 legato patches but if I just undo loading the patch that pushed it over the edge then it seems to recover (and sometimes that limitation can make me more creative). By far the best tip I have seen is to purge the patches you aren't using: see here:

https://spitfireaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009956297-How-to-Reduce-RAM-in-BBC-Symphony-Orchestra-Core-and-Pro-

I haven't had much luck with "freezing" patches, but my workaround so far has been to work on a particular section (strings, woodwind, brass, etc) until I have got it as good as I can then bounce it down to audio and run that in a new DAW file so I can work on the next section, then bounce down and repeat - then I combine the sections together in a master DAW file at the end for mixing/mastering.

Taron

THANK YOU! Yeah, I'm already making it a habit to uncheck all articulations I'm not using. Currently I have everything that has legato virtually only on legato, because it's so versatile with the short notes. If I need or want any specific articulation, I'll just go ahead and check it again. I'm amazed at how low one can get the memory usage, considering the amount of instruments.

Oh, I have updated my track about an hour ago, I think, trying to get more balance into it all. It's so wonderful to adjust things. It's like the technical aspects vanish and it ends up being all about the music, orchestration, arrangement and so on... purely creative. I honestly think there's hardly any higher praise a library can earn than that, besides sounding fantastic, of course.

Yep, I somehow have never managed to enjoy the idea of freezing or bouncing anything, let alone a whole stem. I can see myself in the future to develop a liking for it, but... I mean... in well over 20 years this never made it into my workflow. I tend to change things around everywhere until the end or at least enjoy the idea of being able to do so. But, well... one day. Maybe it's just the benefit of not doing it professionally? 🤔

This is really only day 2 of getting to work with it and I'm only falling more and more in love with it, if that was even possible. Sure, there are some things I can already see wanting, such as a little more potential aggression, tightness here and there. While many things are certainly still unknown to me and are yet to be discovered, some things appear to be what they are already, especially when it comes to spiccato, which is a little...hmm... lose and soft, like mildly toothless? But it is beautiful and I wouldn't want to miss what is there as it is, but that extra bit of sharpness and angst could really make it totally wholesome. Thing is, while one could argue that some additional library should then come in to help out, I'd hate having to break the amazing flow within BBCSO. Just one more velocity layer, maybe a dial up parameter like "variation" just for "aggression", hahahaha... wouldn't that be unbelievable?!

BUT, but, but, but... I must shut up until I know more, have more experience with it, because it is incredibly wonderful and I'm not.... yet. 🤣 Once there's a better balance from my side, I may continue sharing observations/suggestions.

Anyway, thanks again, especially for the tips and reassurances, hehe, that's just brilliant and brilliantly kind! 👍️

Taron

Kept nudging things around a little, modifying modulation, minor shifts here and there, but now I think it's okay for what it is, I hope!?

What do you think? 🙂 (Yes, soliciting feedback, I dare to!) 😁

calebjtoth

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/7500#Comment_7500

Don't worry too much about multiple instances. Once you've got a track how you want it, just freeze it until you need to make edits. EDIT: Just finished reading through as I was typing. Ha! I haven't come around to it myself, but I can't figure out why. Oh, well...

Retroblueman

Sorry for belated reply (I have a one-year-old who keeps a tight lid on my screen time) - your track is coming along nicely! - First time round 0.25-0.30 sounded a little bit "general midi" as I recall it but your further efforts have worked really well there.

I see what you mean about BBCSO lacking "oomph" (at least compared to an Albion, say). I try and work so that what (in my head) would be an mf/mp has the dynamics and expression around the 30-40% region, that then leaves plenty of headroom to whack them up for an ff and so, at least relatively within the track, the ear is hopefully conned into thinking things are bigger than they are. If all else fails one can always add a bit of EQ or even gain to things (I find the latter works very well for percussion and timpani). With the spiccato - have you tried making the midi notes super short - i.e. if you were writing a 16th note passage try shortening the midi notes to 32nd notes (or smaller).

I am stuck with bouncing for now - going to be a while before I can afford an i9 - particularly if Spitfire keeps having all these sales; ) I just tell myself that it is what I would have to do anyway if I had recorded live and that keeps me fairly sanguine about things. Another CPU-saving trick I use is to do all the string parts in one instance of LABS strings (two instances if I need shorts) and do woodwinds and brass in BBCSO core, then I bounce down the wind&brass and do detailed work on the strings in separate instances of core to replace the LABS tracks.

Taron

Now I really should see, if I find some of your music! I'm too darn curious...

Oh, hoho, I'm so happy you haven't mentioned the "General Midi" impression earlier, hahaha, that would've knocked me over for a bit. 😱 😅

Compare the "oomph" to Metropolis (argh, I'm mentioning others...Sacrilege!), well, haha. But I'm just sayin', not something you can fool any ear into, if you know what I mean.

I'm still on a 12 core Xeon, which turns out to be quite powerful (DUH!), even after 10 years. No bounce needs, yet.

THANK YOU, though, I'm thrilled we're having a bit of a conversation here. Feels right! And, again, if you wanted to help me find some of your music, I'm happy to go there! 😃

Retroblueman

Just to be clear it was "just a little bit" general midi the first time round - still sounded good but my ear caught a "quality"... but just a little: )

My latest offering was this one:

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/1315/bbcso-core-3-months-in-olwen-s-lullaby#latest

Very interested in your thoughts!

Best wishes, and thanks in advance for listening!

R

Krisp

Reading your enthusiasm, I recognize mine word for word when I started working on BBCSO.

And this first realization is virtuoso!

Taron

Oh wow, you've found this one, too, that's so sweet, thank you, thank you! I mean, yes, listening to what you do with BBCSO, I immediately believe it, too, haha. What a piece of joy. You have already made it (BBCSO) so much your own, your compositions feel uncompromised, deep, true and with unhindered command over it. I'm still exploring, still trying to get on top of it enough to allow myself to let go. But there's just still so much I need to gain confidence over well beyond Core, which is shockingly pleasant to control, but over this kind of compositions. Your confidence well and truly does inspire me and your encouragement give me energy!

Jason_Webster32

Hi Taron and all, I've created this score with BBCSO CORE

https://youtu.be/Wa89YUxT1KE

Thank you for the epic sounds Spitfire.

Taron

Hi Jason, this certainly deserves it's own thread, rather than getting buried in mine from ages ago! 😉

But thanks for posting it here, I feel very honored! Especially because you made the gift of Core available to me and I'm happy to see you finally joining the joy of working with it! 😀

(Lord almighty, those emojis are not very nice, or is that just windows11 looking that way?)

Anyway, great stuff, Brother! 👍️

Jason_Webster32

Thanks brother, I could start my own thread but nobody uses this forum and it would collect dust, at least on your thread its less dusty haha! 😂 Also the emojis are weird!

Taron

Well, we've met here and we bring live into it. There's always the chance that a post reaches the right ears. 😎