Beyond reviewing for you the capabilities of Power Pan, Ernest Cholakis has provided a never-before-published mini-course on how to pan each instrument in the orchestra, and how to set the stereo width so that each instrument has its own space in the mix. Sonic Control appreciates the time, effort and great gift from Ernest to the community this series has been.

MAIN PERCUSSION
This includes timpani, snare drum, bass drum and cymbals.

Timpani

Snare Drum

Bass Drum

Cymbal

MALLET PERCUSSION
This includes glockenspiel, marimba, and xylophone.

Glockenspiel

Marimba

Xylophone

Tubular Bells

OTHER NON-PITCHED PERCUSSION

This includes tam-tam (gong), triangle, etc.

Triangle

The percussionist playing triangle often has a stand or table on which can be found Latin American instruments (claves, maracas, etc.), woodblock, and other non-pitched percussion.

Tambourine

HARP/KEYBOARDS

Harp

Piano

In a concerto, the piano is usually stage front. Sometimes in a film scoring session the piano can be on the far left.

Celeste

In WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE MARINE you are Captain Titus of the Ultramarines, humanity’s last hope for survival in a war-ridden future. Step into the armor of this superhuman warrior and use a lethal combination of deadly weapons to crush overwhelming alien forces. Fight against the savage Orks and the unholy forces of Chaos in a brutally violent world based on one of the most popular science fiction fantasies.

Inspired by the stunning cinematic visuals and visceral gameplay of SPACE MARINE, the renowned duo of composers Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan crafted an expansive emotional score featuring anthemic orchestral compositions and contemporary Hollywood music production, reflecting the epic scale of this rich, sci-fi fantasy.

Glenn Jamison, Audio Lead at Relic Entertainment commented, “Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan have composed a world-class, emotionally intense original music score for SPACE MARINE that exceeded all of our expectations. We were blown away by the inspired music they wrote for our game and can’t wait to share their epic score with everyone when SPACE MARINE releases this September.”

Composers Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan commented, “SPACE MARINE has been one of the most creatively satisfying projects of our scoring career. This being the first third-person shooter in the WARHAMMER franchise, we were honored to write an original score that lives up to the games’ prestigious history and also pushes the series forward with a bold and fresh sound.”

The WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE MARINE original soundtrack will be included in the Collector’s Edition now available to pre-order.

For more information please visit http://www.spacemarine.com.

About Space Marine
When wave after wave of savage ORKS descend upon the Forge World GRAIA, it is up to humanity’s greatest warriors, SPACE MARINES, to win the planet back. SPACE MARINES are genetically modified, encased in hallowed armor and the equivalent of one hundred lesser men. They live only to defend the Imperium, and to slay its enemies in a war that never ends. CAPTAIN TITUS, along with his comrades LEANDROS and SIDONUS, leads a detachment of SPACE MARINES onto the Forge World. There, they quickly discover that the fight against the Orks is not all that requires their attention. An Imperial Inquisitor named DROGAN needs help securing an experimental POWER SOURCE, before the Orks capture it for themselves.

About THQ
THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) is a leading worldwide developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. The company develops its products for all popular game systems, personal computers and wireless devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles County, California, THQ sells product through its global network of offices located throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. More information about THQ and its products may be found at www.thq.com. THQ, Relic, Relic Entertainment and their respective logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THQ Inc.

While brass positions can be moved around, the woodwinds seating plan remains remarkably consistent. The chart below is from Alexander Publishing’s Writing For Strings Expanded 2011 Course. Used with permission.

The chart indicates that the flutes and clarinets are left of center while the double reed instruments are right of center. With that in mind, here’s how the Vienna Suite’s Power Pan enables you to pinpoint stage positioning in the virtual environment.

LEFT OF CENTER
Piccolo

Flute

Clarinet

Bass Clarinet

RIGHT OF CENTER
Oboe

English Horn

Bassoon

Contrabassoon

THOUGHTS FROM ERNEST CHOLAKIS
Reverb Impulses can dramatically shape the overall sound and tone of a particular recording. Audio demos with this technology in various music styles can be found at the following link http://www.numericalsound.com/forti-serti-audio-demos.html

Technical information on how to use Vienna Suite with FORTI SERTI can be found at http://www.numericalsound.com/documents/FORTI_SERTI_QuickStart_Guide_1.pdf also a reverb impulse comparison or shootout can be found at http://www.numericalsound.com/FORTI_SERTI_RI_Shootout.html

Note that users who do not have Vienna Suite but Logic can use Logic’s plugin “Direction Mixer”. This plugin combined with the the mixer’s pan can precisely set ER’s ambient stereo field setting precisely adjusting where each instrument section sits in the orchestra. I personally prefer the much more elegant plugin PowerPan in Vienna Suite.

I’ve just installed Hollywood Brass Diamond and in this review I’m breaking down how to write and plan your template with it. Understanding the diagram below is key to working with the library.

I’m making the following comments as the author of Professional Orchestration 2B: Orchestrating the Melody in the Woodwind and Brass Sections which was endorsed by Pulitzer Prize nominated composer Stephen Melillo, and after having compared Hollywood Brass to Vienna Orchestral Brass I and II, and Project SAM Orchestral Brass. I don’t have SONiVOX Brass. I do not have Vienna Dimension Brass.

Overall, what Hollywood Brass enables you to do is to plan your writing and music production similar to how you would write for a live orchestral brass ensemble section by section.

Trumpets
Hollywood Brass has solo trumpet, two trumpets in unison and three trumpets in unison.

1. For vertical harmony you can take Solo Trumpet and write it in two or three parts (block harmony or polyphonic writing). If you find some beading happening in 3-part vertical harmony, take a trumpet from another library and consider making it the 2nd trumpet so that Hollywood Brass Solo Trumpet is the top and bottom part.

2. For octaves, take the Trumpets 2 on the high part and put Solo Trumpet an octave lower. You can also write in “light” harmony with thirds, sixths, fourths, and fifths with this combination.

3. If you’re writing a work with only two trumpets, use Solo Trumpet for individual lines, combined for two-part harmony and then move to the unison Two Trumpets.

French Horns
The French horns work slightly differently and here if you want to write more than three (3) vertical harmony parts, you may want to consider adding a horn from a different library on one of the inner parts, and keep the Hollywood Brass Solo French Horn on the inner and outer parts.

You have a Solo French Horn, Two French Horns and Six French horns. You do not have four French Horns in unison which is the most common symphonic setup. Instead, you have a section more akin to Mahler and Strauss. Bear in mind that at f, it takes 2 French Horns to equal 1 Trumpet because the bells of the horns point to the rear of the stage.

Solo French Horn – The Solo horn can be written solo (obviously!), in up to three, possibly 4 vertical harmony parts. For each two vertical harmony parts you’re writing, when you want to move to unison, go to Two French Horns.

Two French Horns – Two French Horns at f = 1 Solo Trumpet at f, so plan your volume levels accordingly. You can use two pairs of Two French Horns to simulate a four-horn section. If you’re writing for four trumpets at f, you can emulate Mahler and use Two French Horns on separate tracks playing open harmony supporting the trumpets or interlocking with the Trombones. For a six French Horn sound, you can write in in triads or other form of three-part harmony and then dissolve into a unison with the Six French horns.

Six French Horns – I suggest keeping these to unison.

Trombones
The trombones work slightly differently. In the symphony, you often have three tenor trombones and then tuba. With Hollywood Brass you have one (1) Solo Trombone, then 3 Trombones in unison including the bass trombone. Then, of course, tuba.

Solo Trombone – Similar comments as above. You can have one to three trombones in light or triadic harmony and add the Tuba for the fourth part. Or, you can write polyphonically with three Trombone parts, then move to the Three Trombone Unison.

Three Trombones – This is a solid unison sound that sounds like a trombone section in unison (I lead a big band with five trombones, so I should know). It enables you to write in either the French school with trombones in the upper register, or in the German school with the trombones in the lower register creating that big dramatic sound.

Learning Curve
Hollywood Brass doesn’t have nearly the number of articulations as Hollywood Strings (whew!). Consequently, I’d guess 1-2 hours of experimentation with the various articulations and you’re ready to go. Use what I’ve outlined as your starting point for creating your template.

Organization and Writing Flexibility
The overall organization is very good and allows for a lot of writing flexibility. For example, in my Writing For Strings course, we analyze the overture of L’Arlesienne Suite #1 by Bizet which is written for only two French horns. Since Hollywood Brass has French horns in 2s, it works perfectly with the right amount of balance.

The opening to Mahler Symphony #3 has 8 horns in unison starting on bar 1. And the six horns in Hollywood Brass cover it beautifully.

Controlling Volume
As we know by experience, several brass libraries work out volume changes with velocity switching and others with cross fade.

The cross fade methodology used here allows you to create a much more natural line without worrying about your fingers hitting a pitch too hard and jumping up a dynamic level.

What Hollywood Brass Is Not
Hollywood Brass is an outstanding brass section for film, game, concert pieces, jazz and pop applications. And while it does have some “jazz” articulations and more coming on a future update, do not expect a trumpet section dangling up at Double High C. Having jazz articulations doesn’t mean having a sample section made up of guys like Al Porcino, Bobby Shew, Dusko Goykovich, Don Rader, Maynard, Lin Biviano, the late Bill Chase, or Stan Kenton’s trumpet section out of what we used to call North Texas State.

That said, you’ve got a flexibility in this library to cross musical styles, including up to a certain range, the group called Chase made up of four scream trumpet players.

Hollywood Brass doesn’t do these aerials, but it is organized so that you could approach them with Solo Trumpet, Two Trumpets, and the Three Trumpets. You could add to this parts of Ministry of Rock 1 and 2, and if you have Logic, there’s your Hammond.

My point here is don’t get locked into thinking that Hollywood Brass is entirely for film, game, and concert work. Though the performance of Chase was from the early 70s, still, the idea is there as to what you can produce with some musical creativity. With all the new PLAY stuff recorded in the new EastWest Studios, you can look at the entire collection and start picking and choosing to create unique ensembles.

Pricing
With Hollywood Strings, I felt confident about suggesting that Gold was probably enough. But at this point with the intro pricing going on, and given that the library is only 150GB or so, I think you’d do well considering the Hollywood Brass Diamond Edition because of the extra flexibility it gives you in mixing and matching libraries.

Conclusion
What I like about Hollywood Brass is that it’s a studio sound, not a scoring stage sound, and not a hall sound. A studio sound. A studio sound, from my perspective, allows you more options, especially if you’re producing pieces with singers.

It’s quick to learn. And you have enough articulations to get the job done, including muted brass. The only “wish” I have at this point is that it would have been nice to have had Four French Horns and Two Trombones to round out the sectional possibilities.

Overall, I think it’s a great value, so get it while it’s on Pre-Order pricing.

HOLLYWOOD BRASS GOLD
Since writing this first review, Hollywood Brass Gold on DVD begins shipping the week of August 29, 2011. Demos can be found at the link above.

Set four years after the end of Resistance 2, dishonorably discharged Sentinel Joseph Capelli has given up fighting the Chimeran menace. Now he’s in hiding with other survivors, including his wife and young son. When Dr. Fyodor Malikov arrives with the plan to defeat the occupying Chimeran force, Capelli must leave his family and journey the harrowing road from Oklahoma to New York City. Along the way, he’ll encounter the remnants of humanity left in the aftermath of the brutal Chimeran invasion.

Paul Mudra, Audio Director, Insomniac Games: “For RESISTANCE 3 we required a composer who would be able to interpret the nuance of mankind’s struggle for survival in a brutal world and create an engaging and emotive score. Boris spent many hours at our studio becoming familiar with the story, meeting with several key members of the development team and immersing himself in our process and culture. The soundtrack that Boris composed is compelling and a perfect fit for the game. We consider it to be a key part of the overall RESISTANCE 3 experience.”

Marcus Smith, Creative Director, Insomniac Games: “Working with Boris has been a dream. I’ve never had the pleasure of working with someone so committed to the project as a whole; Not only did he spend lots of time with us at our studio listening and asking questions, but he’d also make great suggestions on story, pacing and character development. The soundtrack he delivered is stunning in its intricacy, delicacy and humanity.”

Boris Salchow, Composer: “In RESISTANCE 3 human civilization as such is gone. People flock together in small groups, trying to survive as long as possible. Not even a military organization is left. The soundtrack reflects this – instead of military elements, we find some very intimate sounding compositions where I use piano, woodwinds, a boy soprano and somber string arrangements. For this setting, it was crucial to record the score live since the RESISTANCE 3 score describes the emotions of the survivors. Going to London and recording this music with such incredible A-list musicians at this historical venue was the perfect match for the game, and it was an incredible honor for me personally. I am very thankful that Insomniac made this happen.”

RESISTANCE 3 is powered by Insomniac Games’ fifth-generation PlayStation 3 technology. Featuring new upgradeable weapons, the return of the weapon wheel, two-player online or split-screen campaign co-op and a progression-based multiplayer experience, RESISTANCE 3 delivers a heroic-yet savage first-person shooter experience for PlayStation 3. For more information visit www.myresistance.net and www.insomniacgames.com.

But I had another reason. You can upgrade to the Diamond Edition. This means you can get your feet wet on the system you have and really learn this library, then after upgrading, your major learning focus will be on mastering the Legato Bow Change and the various mic positions.

Finally. I’m reviewing this at a time when PLAY 3.0 is about to be released. So in fairness, I’m not making any comments about the player until 3.0 is released. Besides, there’s plenty to learn before that.

INVESTMENT AND INNOVATION
Before jumping into the overview, in fairness, I’m starting in the same place I did with L.A. Scoring Strings – innovation.

When we in America think about innovation, we often think about the small entrepreneur doing ground breaking work in his or her garage or bedroom, fighting the good fight, and then making it big. We Americans love this story. By comparison, at the ground level, we don’t often match innovation with the bigger companies unless we love them, like Apple.

One of the things that can happen when a company gets bigger, and they have the nice offices, or two, is that risk becomes more risky because they fear losing what they’ve already achieved.

That could have been said about EastWest, who’s clearly not operating out of their garage!

They have offices in Los Angeles, New York and Europe. In Los Angeles, they own their own recording studio. An envious position to be in, for sure. They manage shipping centers in the U.S. and Europe. When you see a commercial for UPS talking about logistics, that’s EastWest. Except they ship with FedEx. Not only are they the OEM, they’re also sub-distributors for several companies. They have a very strong presence on Facebook and have been aggressively learning to capitalize on social media. Judging by the comments on Facebook, it looks like they’re doing pretty good, too.

The above paragraph brings a single word to mind – coast. Another phrase, play it cool. Or, be safe.

So why risk? Why innovate? Why take a chance in a crappy global economy especially when you already have one of the best selling orchestral libraries in the world that’s still selling?

All fair questions.

And then, there’s one more factor. It’s no secret that the company has been hit with a lot of forum criticism over its PLAY player. That alone was enough to delay and defer investing in any major new library. Thus, the easy way out was to wait.

So what did EastWest do?

They risked and moved forward.

No one has told me the behind the scenes story. But I’ve been there enough times in my own entrepreneurial journey to know that the vision to go forward and a knife twisting in your gut to encourage non-action are often traveling companions. One has to win. There cannot be two masters. Every sample library developer that’s still around or about to make the plunge knows this.

What has been missed by many is that EastWest’s decision to go forward was a gutsy move in a time where playing it safe would have appeared to be the wiser decision.

But who ever said that entrepreneurs are wise?

In simple words, the goal was to have, “the most detailed collection of string orchestra instruments ever assembled.” And Doug Rogers plunked down the cash to make it happen. In short, they went for it.

The money didn’t just cover the recording time. PLAY itself had to be vastly updated to handle the vision presented by Nick Phoenix and Thomas J. Bergersen. So that meant extra programming costs. And more beta testing. And then over time, discovering just what type of computing power was really needed.

Every decision was a risk. Then the programing of PLAY took longer than expected. Then the programming of the library took longer than expected. So that delayed the launch by several months, until finally they said something I’ve heard about a few Thanksgiving dinners, “It’ll be ready when it’s ready.”

And that announcement represented yet another round of risk. With more investment!

Christmas 2009 and NAMM 2010 came and went. But April came, and it was released. A “mere” one million samples and over 3000 patches for Diamond alone. There had once been a plan to have a Diamond and a Gold package. But that was changed to Diamond only, then back to Diamond and Gold. What I have read, and I don’t recall where I read it, is that within a few weeks of its release, EastWest had made back its investment.

Risk -> reward.

The general conversation about Hollywood Strings frequently uses this short phrase, game changing. But why is it game changing? I think that specific reasons come faster when you look at Hollywood Strings from an orchestration perspective. So let’s do that.

STRING ORCHESTRA SIZE
Hollywood Strings is one of the few libraries that has recorded this large a string section. All of the sections are independently recorded including Violins 2, which used a second group of players to sound different.

While many will look at this as a big film orchestra, outside filmland, this is a post-Romantic sized section, meaning that it’svery close to that used by Debussy, Holst, Mahler, Ravel, Wagner, and slightly bigger than what Berlioz asked for – 57 strings

Violins 1 – 16
Violins 2 – 14
Violas – 10
Cellos – 10
Basses – 7

Consequently, the end sonic result should be a big beautiful massive sound, depending on how you write. It has been the trend over the past few years to play Baroque works with a string ensemble maybe a third this size. In his letters to his father, Leopold, Mozart wrote with joy and excitement about hearing his symphonies played with a much larger ensemble. Hearing A Little Night Music or portions of the Requiem mocked up with HS would be a treat, and not at all “historically” inaccurate.

I mention this because Hollywood Strings should not be considered for film/TV/game work only. If you’re someone who wants to compose outside those genre, then don’t pull back from Hollywood Strings because of its name. This library has vocabulary as you’re about to see.

Additionally, a live string section this size can handle woodwinds and brass in 3s and still be in balance. Mahler proved it, and sometimes he wrote for six to eight horns! When compared to the soon to be released Hollywood Brass, you find that the size of Hollywood Brass also follows the Mahler-model.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BOW
The beginnings. Stating the obvious. Strings are bowed instruments. This means that with rare exception, all of the sounds produced on the violin come as a direct result of the bow. How many string bowings are there? Well, the American String Teachers Association publishes an entire book of them. So there’s far more actual bowings than what are usually available in string libraries. I mention this to point out that Hollywood Strings has recorded an enviable list of bowings that once you learn how to play them from the keyboard, gives you a good portion of that envious language from live performance, the language of the bow.

More bowings = more composer expression.

In the chart below, I’ve organized the bowings as listed on the Hollywood Strings home page, in the way string players often speak about them: on the string, off the string (the spiccato family), special effects, tremolo, and pizzicato.

The Hollywood Strings PDF manual, which you can download, gives you their definitions of all the bowings.

As I wrote at the top, the phrase game changing has been applied mostly to the sound, not to the bowings. I suggest that game changing might also be applied to Hollywood Strings bow choices, too.

Legato
There are two types of legato played in a string section. The first are those pitches played under a single bow. The second is by connected detache bowings which is a back and forth or push/pull motion.

Hollywood Strings Diamond gives you both types, Gold gives you one. One is called Legato and the other Bow Change Legato. The one available in Diamond is called bow change legato, and from what I’ve heard, that sounds to me the detache definition of legato I just gave you. See Nick Phoenix’s Legato Tutorial #1 for demonstration.

Not a criticism, but I wish that EastWest had considered placing this feature with at least Violins 1 in Gold to demonstrate the musical reasons for updating to Diamond beyond getting the multiple mic positions.

If you’re not sure the difference between the two bowings and why it’s exciting to have them, watch this brief video of Herbert von Karajan conducting a portion of Brahms Symphony #4 and you’ll see many of the bowings in action found in Hollywood Strings.

Sul G, Sul D, Sul A, etc.
Hollywood Strings has a feature described on the web site as, “Up- and down-bowed sustains, all at 4 finger positions, at least one full octave on each string.”

What this description does not clearly indicate is that the composer can create his own Sul G, Sul D, etc., with all four members of the string section.

For example, let’s consider the pitch D above middle C where middle C is C3. That D is the open D string on the Violins. The G string can also play that pitch. Though it’s in the First Position, some composers specifically mark that they want that D on the G string vs the open D. The score is marked Sul G. Please see the graphic on our Strings Position Booklet page that illustrates this. The color change is also visible per string on the Spectrotone Chart, which was created by four time Academy Award nominee for best score, and one of the founders of the Santa Monica Symphony, Arthur Lange.

Again, stating the obvious, this is the same pitch whether it’s played on the Open D or the covered G string. But they don’t sound the same. And that’s the whole point! The difference is intensity. The further down the neck towards the bridge the performer plays on a single string, the more intense the sound becomes.

Point: until the release of Hollywood Strings, unless a library had recorded pitches up an individual string, this capability has simply not been available before.

Separate Upbows and Downbows
EastWest is not the first to have this feature, but they do have it. The bowing has to be heard to be appreciated. Watch the opening of Beethoven Symphony #7, Second Movement to see repeated upbows in action and how they sound. Other recorded versions of this symphony place the upbows in different locations. The benefit of the feature to the composer is again, more vocabulary, and more musical expression. This is followed by short excerpts from Beethoven’s Ninth also conducted by von Karajan.

Examples of Spiccato and Staccato Mixed
Regarding the actual performance of spiccato and staccato, as seen in the video, I spoke to violinist Hannes Frischat at Strings On Demand who explained, “While in violin school, books and slow motion explanations spiccato leaves the string and staccato does not, in reality the distinction is not really as easy. Fast spiccato often stays on the string while very short staccato can leave the string.”

Col Legno
Col Legno is found in the opening of Mars from The Planets. To protect the bow, some of which cost $2000 and up, players often turn the bow to the side as performed here.

Measured Tremolo
Hollywood Strings is the first library to offer accurate measured tremolo because it syncs to tempo. This is another innovation not talked about too much.

BOWINGS: THE FIRST GAME CHANGER
I’m really surprised that more “fuss” (in a good sense) about the bowings in Hollywood Strings hasn’t been made. Those who know their bowings and always wanted the tools to score electronically this way, now can. Those who don’t know the bowings, have a library with which to grow. These bowing choices also give you another way to consider setting up your string template.

LEARNING HOLLYWOOD STRINGS
I think there’s a genuine need to have some game changing instruction for this library. The starting videos created by Nick Phoenix are very good. But I’d like to see more videos given the bowing potential Hollywood Strings gives you.

In fairness, I can say the exact same thing about two other libraries. So I’m not “picking on” EastWest.

CONCLUSION
When you look at Hollywood Strings from an orchestration perspective, it’s evident that this library, Diamond or Gold, is genuinely game changing not just at the “sounds great” level, but also at the starting point, the compositional/orchestration level, the language of the bow.

Now to learn it.

About Brass Positioning
The arrangement found in the screen capture below is based on the typical orchestra seating arrangement for a scoring session in Los Angeles as illustrated in Professional Orchestration Volume 1. The word typical must be emphasized, because ultimately, the two factors determining the final seating arrangement, and hence, placement in the stereo spectrum, are the stage on which the orchestra sits, and the desire of the conductor.

This link takes you to a chart requiring the conductor/music director to work out:

Go one more step by selecting your favorite search engine and type in: orchestra seating chart. Go to the Images section of the search engine and you’ll immediately find a variety of seating arrangements including different positions for the brass.

Here’s one for the Baroque Period.

In the video below, Christian Thielemann conducts Wagner’s Die Meistersinger Von Nurmburg. You’ll see a different seating plan with the brass in the back, Violins 1 on the left, and Violins 2 on the right with violas and cellos in between.

Wagner (pronounced “vagner”) may not be your cup of tea musically, but within three minutes of seeing and hearing this performance, it becomes evident you’re not locked into a particular seating arrangement with the Vienna Instruments.

One of the least explained benefits of the Vienna Instruments is your ability to design your own orchestral setup and recreate seating arrangements. This is a different type of sound design.

As previously explained, Power Pan within the Vienna Suite enables you to do just that including working with the width of the stereo field. This is why I believe that Power Pan is the Vienna Suite’s secret weapon.

Therefore, let’s look at the setup below based on the setup used many times by the late Jerry Goldsmith:

Trumpets

Trombones

Tuba

French horns

Conclusion
The Vienna Suite Power Pan continues to demonstrate itself as being the secret weapon of the Vienna Suite. With Power Pan, you can position each instrument in the stereo field so that it has its own space and speaks clearly.

Grade: A+

I came to this conclusion by doing a simple test which you can do too, provided you have an iLok key. Go to Quantum Leap Spaces at the EW web site, click Purchase/Trial Version, and download a 10-day full working version.

After QL Spaces is installed, in your sequencer, set up an arco (legato) bowing for Violins 1 for each string library you have. For Symphobia, pick an arco bowing. Insert QL Spaces in a master bus so you can quickly compare the same QL Spaces selection with each string library.

In my setup, I selected:

As you test each library with the numerous IRs within Quantum Leap Spaces, you’ll quickly discover that Spaces sounds great and that everything you use it with sounds better. That said, the further discovery is finding that certain libraries and certain Spaces fit like hand-in-glove. It’s like they were made for each other. It’s hard to describe, but you know it when you hear it.

Testing each library gives you a good sense of its inherent color. For example, with Appassionata Strings, the natural sound (uneffected) was a little darker to me. To brighten it up, I’d use an impulse labeled FR (front reflections – see more definitions below). If I wanted to make it richer, then using an RR (rear reflection) really enhanced the depth.

With this approach you are, in effect, sound designing, but with the heavy lifting done for you by Quantum Leap Spaces because of both quality IRs and how it’s organized.

One thing I observed with any library recorded dead center, including the Kontakt VSL String Ensemble, my feeling is that you really need the Vienna Ensemble’s Power Pan feature to take full advantage of QL Spaces orchestra instrument specific IRs as found in Folder 3 (see below) Concert Halls: SoCal Orchestral Hall.

With Omnisphere, Adagio Transparent Strings Warm just took on a whole new dimension when used with QL Spaces.

When LASS 16 Violins 1 Legato_L is placed in Northwest Hall, the sound is really stunning as some of the edginess is toned down.

And speaking of Northwest Hall, for those who’ve wanted IRs of where QLSO was recorded, this is it.

As a writer, beyond the sound, what I really appreciate about Quantum Leap Spaces is that it’s a quick learn because of its thoughtful design and implementation. In about 47 seconds of training (which you’re about to get), you’re working with understanding and comprehension, which, to say the least, is a breath of fresh air.

So let’s see what makes Quantum Leap Spaces so easy and effective to use.

The QL Spaces GUI
Below is the main screen. In this 1.0 version, you only have four virtual knobs to “turn”. Of the four, the one you may want to just leave alone is Pre-Delay because according to Nick Phoenix’s instructional videos, these have been set meticulously.

Click the graphic above for a larger picture that opens in a separate window. In the “LCD” readout, you’ll see this description:

Northwest Hall TS RR 2.6s

Northwest Hall is the name of the hall where the impulse was recorded.

TS stands for True Stereo. Further in the description you’ll read that it’s four-channel mixed to two-channel.

RR means rear reflections and 2.6s means 2.6 seconds, the reverb time in seconds.

So here are the keys to using Quantum Leap Spaces.

There are three possible mic positions available:

1. RR – Rear Reflections
2. FR – Front Reflections
3. C – Center

My experience with the above libraries is that the richer sound is RR while the brighter sound is FR.

There are two types of stereo impulses.
True Stereo, TS, is 4-channel mixed to two while Stereo, ST, is two-channel, mono -> stereo.

Of the two, my experience is that TS is deep and rich.

The Folders
In the navigation, you’ll see folders labeled S-S and M-S. M-S means mono -> stereo. S-S means True Stereo.

Well, the good news is that this is as complicated as it gets!

Example of Simplicity: Instrument Specific Tour
Folder 1, Instrument Specific Tour, is a perfect example of what makes QL Spaces so easy to use. Here you’ll find 26 folders each labeled for a specific instrument. Inside each folder, are presets from a variety of halls selected just for that instrument. See the example below for Epic Film Final Verb.

For those doing a lot of orchestral work, I point you to this folder, So. Cal. Orchestral Hall within Folder 3. Here you find stereo impulse responses for each orchestral instrument recorded where the musician sits. In fact, this entire So. Cal. Orchestral Hall folder is all about orchestral placement. The amount of time it will save you is pretty extraordinary. Click the graphic below and see for yourself. It opens in a new window.

Re: Hall Names
In looking at the various hall names, my advice is to learn from Ernest Cholakis’ interview explaining convolution reverb, and not over identify a particular impulse or hall with a specific instrument. For example, Acme Warehouse may be just what your strings need. But if your entire focus is on the recorded source name only, you’ll miss out on some great options. So if you’re looking for the Spaces with strings in the name, by all means start with those suggestions first, but then keep going.

My Only Critique
Across the boards, I only had one critique which is that the code information I organized for you here isn’t available as a one page PDF. On the various forums, some have wished for more virtual knobs, but I for one was glad there was only the four on the front panel! That may seem to be an archaic retro view, but there’s something refreshing about the simplicity and ease of use of Quantum Leap Spaces.

The heavy lifting has already been done. All that’s required for you is to audition, pick and use.

How cool is that!

Simplicity!

Regarding price, it couldn’t get any sweeter: MSRP US $299.00.

NOTE ON FINAL CUT PRO
For those using FCP 7.0, Quantum Leap Spaces loads right up into Soundtrack Pro 3. And yes, it is very easy to use.

CONCLUSION
There aren’t too many products I get so excited about that I want to say, “thank you,” to the developer. But this time it’s called for. Thank you Nick Phoenix for making my music, and consequently me, sound better. If you download the trial version and test for yourself, I’m sure you’ll feel the same way, too.

Having spent some time with this package over the past week, my view is that the secret star of the Vienna Suite is the Power Pan.

1. If you’re doing orchestral, and you’re trying to blend multiple libraries that have been recorded in different halls, Power Pan enables you to blend the libraries very quickly.

2. If you’re doing something different, like creating a precise set of drums, Power Pan gives you the precision to make it just right. And it’s not that difficult to learn.

3. If you’re working with ambient textures as in Synergy, Evolve or Omnisphere, Power Pan is the tool to use to layer and place textures in the stereo field.

4. When used in combination with the FORTI/SERTI impulses from Numerical Sound (represented by Vienna), you can move a sound left and right across the stereo field, and with the TILT filters used with FORTI/SERTI, then move the sound front or back.

5. Power Pan loads into Soundtrack Pro 3 and so has potential sound design use with Final Cut Pro. Click on the graphic below to expand it. Look left and you’ll see the Power Pan controls listed. So you have the option of working with the controls there or with the GUI.

All in all, a very powerful tool unique to the Vienna Suite.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since you can download a demo version of Vienna Suite, I’m working my review so that you download and try it for yourself. Click here for the details from VIenna.

SIMPLE CONTROLS
The controls on the Power Pan have, to me, rather “scientific” names that could make the less experienced feel inept when first reading about it.

Width – controls how wide the stereo field for a particular sound will be. You can set the width using either the left or right handles or by using the Width slider.

Center – Center could be retitled as “positioner” since with this slider, once the width is set, you then position it in the stereo field, left to right.

Pre-and Post Balance – The Pre- and Post Balance are used to shape the stereo field or the characteristics of the stereo field. This is done by adjusting the left and right channel’s volume at the plug-ins input and/or output.

Volume Faders (stereo) – raises and lowers the output signal of the virtual instrument. See picture below where the Logic level meter verifies the loudness of the audio signal going into the Power Pan.

Swap – can exchange the left and the right side of the stereo signal (good for making more use of pre-panned libraries, or for changing the perspective on instruments like piano, glockenspiel, marimba, and so on).

Pan Law – Determines the way the volume increase of the left and/or the right signal are handled when they are brought towards the center. This is a very obvious effect, which happens because the signal now comes from two loudspeakers instead of just one. 4.5 dB are a very common value on consoles, for example).

Phase – Very useful when combining (mostly) low-pitched instruments: If two of them are out-of-phase against each other, the volume of them will DE-crease (!) noticeably when they play together.

POWER PAN STRINGS TEMPLATE
I asked Ernest Cholakis of Numerical Sound to create a basic template for Violins (1 and 2), Violas, Cellos and Basses. When setting up a section, you can isolate each section or you can slightly overlap them. What’s “correct” for you is determined by trial and success.

Violins 1 & 2

Violas

Cellos

Basses

APPLICATIONS
If you have Kontakt or Logic – both products come with a sampling of the Vienna library. Assign Violin Ensemble to track 1, Viola Ensemble to track 2, Cello Ensemble to track 3, and Bass Ensemble to track 4. If you’ve downloaded the Vienna Suite, using the controls I showed you here, recreate the stereo width and positioning.

Here are two very, very simple examples by Ernest Cholakis. The first uses the VSL Kontakt strings as they are, dead center, just playing a basic chord. The second is each part positioned using Power Pan.

String_Section_no_PPan_Only5
String_Section_PPan_Only5

If you have LASS or any other string library – using the positions Ernest created, insert Power Pan into one track with LASS Violins 1 (or whatever Violins you have) and then insert Power Pan into a second track with the second library. Using the Center and Width sliders, position each set of violins until they sound like they’re in the same space. Now adjust levels.

LASS Legato L
This is a screen capture of the LASS Legato L Violins 1 Full Ensemble sustaining. No stereo field shaping has been done.

Kontakt Violins Set to Match LASS
Here I’ve matched the Kontakt VSL Violin Ensemble to match the on stage position of LASS Violins 1. The next step is adjusting volume levels and shaping the sound via Power Pan.

CONCLUSION
I already have an EQ, an Exciter, etc., in Logic. But I don’t have a Power Pan. I think the Power Pan helps put the Vienna Suite in the “must have” category. And not to delimit Vienna in any way, Power Pan is a killer tool whether you’re working with the Vienna Convolution Reverb, Altiverb, or the new Quantum Leap Spaces.

So download the Vienna Suite and try these two experiments.

My Grade on The Power Pan: A+
My Grade on The Manual: D.

Thanks to Ernest Cholakis for taking the time to create the Vienna Suite Power Pan String Templates and for Dietz Tinhof at Vienna for his valuable input.

Las Vegas, Feburary 25th, 2011 – License To Thrill Music LLC, an independent music publisher providing one-stop music synchronization and licensing for advertising, films, television, radio, movie trailers, video games and new media, today announced a music publishing partnership with internationally acclaimed composer Inon Zur. License To Thrill Music represents original music composed by Inon Zur available for use in advertising, film, TV and other media productions.

Best known for providing the cinematic orchestral music for blockbuster franchises such as Dragon Age, Prince of Persia, EverQuest, Crysis and Fallout, Inon Zur’s dramatic music can also be heard in numerous trailers including Drag Me To Hell, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Escape To Witch Mountain, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, Kingdom of Heaven, The Pacifier and The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. His original scores for film and television include Au Pair, Escaflowne, Digimon, Power Rangers and State of Grace.

“Inon’s music consistently captures the intensity and emotional landscape in every medium with true professionalism and passion,” said Valerie Vickers, A&R/Licensing Manager for License To Thrill Music. “We are incredibly excited to promote his work and artistry in upcoming creative avenues.”

License License To Thrill Music features a boutique roster of imaginative-thinking artists and uniquely identifiable music that inspires and transcends a company or brand’s messaging. The team behind License To Thrill Music has worked on platinum selling records, films, #1 hit singles and critically acclaimed album releases by some of the biggest names in music, spanning a period of over 25 years in the music business with innovative artists such as Bjork, The Cure, Kraftwerk and Happy Mondays, and a decade of interactive entertainment marketing for global markets promoting soundtracks from the world’s top video game companies including Microsoft, Sony and Ubisoft. For more information please visit www.licensetothrillmusic.com.