solis aeterni | for solo soprano and orchestra

INTRODUCTION

Solis Aeterni is a short piece I recently wrote as a demo for a new (solo soprano) sample library by Realitone.

The text is Latin (and possibly a clumsy translation):

Solis Aeterni
Moveat et in orbem terrae

Which roughly translates to 

Eternal Sun
Moving around with the Earth 

Which is based loosely on, but fully in the spirit of, this writing by the writer/preservationist John Muir:

This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.

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AUDIO AND SCORE

Title Page

ENJOY!

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Disclaimer: This score is provided for study purposes only, and may not be copied, performed or distributed without prior written consent by Blake Ewing Music.

spitfire audio / touchosc | uacc v2 template

UACC

Spitfire Audio has created a new articulation switching method, known as the UACC (Universal Articulation Controller Channel), to be used as a standard across their libraries.

It's currently at v2 (as of May 2014).

For more information on the nuts and bolts of how it works, and the philosophy behind it, please see these links:

UACC - A New Proposed Standard

Tutorials - Spitfire Audio - Changing Articulations

Current UACC spec v2

TouchOSC

TouchOSC is an app for iOS and Android that relays OSC or MIDI values to a host DAW (via TouchOSC Bridge) over WiFi or USB.

Users may make various templates for their instruments/projects via a desktop program (TouchOSC Editor), and upload them to the mobile device that will be used as a controller.

For more information on how to setup TouchOSC, TouchOSC Editor and the TouchOSC Bridge applications, please see:

Hexler TouchOSC

Template v1.0

With that out of the way, here is a template I've created for the iPad using the latest UACC spec and TouchOSC version to control Spitfire libraries.

Here are a couple of images of the template with some explanatory notations...

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template overview

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template zoom

Please use the above links as reference to how to properly load/utilize TouchOSC templates.

I am providing a download of the template below for anyone who is interested in controlling their Spitfire templates/instruments this way.

Please be sure you select "Locked to UACC" preference in the Kontakt performance view window (as seen below).

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Kontakt Performance View - Select "Locked to UACC" for proper functioning.

I hope you find this tool useful and helpful in efficiently managing your Spitfire Audio workflow!

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logic x - a modular template approach

For a while now, I've kind of struggled with the idea of DAW templates.

I understand the draw of it; the ability to load everything at once and then pick an instrumental color on the fly as you're working.

But, I hate clutter. And, I don't always want to wait for huge templates to load when inspiration (or a deadline) hits.

So what are the other options?

What I've usually done to date, is start with a blank slate, and I then add my instruments as needed.

Obviously this type of workflow requires at least some semblance of foresight or musical need, as you are sort of making-it-up-as-you-go. The advantage to this approach is that you have your basic set of instrumental colors established and in place for subsequent cues/songs/etc for a given project. This can help keep within a nice set of aural boundaries when working on a linear project that could otherwise sway towards disparate elements, even if accidentally.

So here's an idea using Logic X User Patches.

This is an approach to creating a template in Logic X that can be as complex or simplistic as you need/desire. I'm sure I am not the first to think of this or to implement this type of system, but in the event anyone reading this has struggled with the concepts or process of "templating"...

I hope this helps.

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First, select a new instrument. Check the multi-timbral box as to use one instance of Kontakt to load up to  16 patches.

As above, make sure to select Multi-timbral - 1 part and 1 track.

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Next, instantiate an instance of the Multi Output Kontakt plugin.

After adding Kontakt, look in the mixer. You should now have a little "+" button on your newly creating multi-timbral instrument track.

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As seen with additional plus-iness.

Click the "+" button on the mixer channel strip shown above and create 15 Aux channels. Then, select all of those tracks you've just created and right click, then select Create Track.

You should now have a track available for each of the 16 Kontakt patch slots like below:

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Here, you can see the tracks we've created for the 16 Kontakt patches we will now add.

Alright, now add the Kontakt patches you want in this particular instrument. In this example, I'm creating this Kontakt instance as my default Albion 1 Synth Pads.

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Here you can see the 16 patches I've loaded for this particular Kontakt instance.

In order to send the audio from each Kontakt patch to the appropriate Logic channel, on each Kontakt patch, select subsequent output pairs as below.

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Notice how each patch is routed to sequential stereo pairs.

Next, in the Output menu of Kontakt, select the first option to "Clear output selection and create one individual channel..." (you can go back and select the second option afterward if you want the output names to match the patch names).

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Changing Kontakt patch outputs.

Alright, now name your tracks in the Logic arrange window if you'd like. After naming, I like to create a Summing Track Stack and name it accordingly (in this case - Albion 1 Pads).

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Tracks in Logic named and Track Stacked.

So that's the hard part.

Now for the more rewarding part of this.

You can now select your Track Stack and open the library drawer in Logic. Click the Save... button in the bottom right corner and name it accordingly (in this case - Albion 1 Pads - again. See a pattern here?).

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Saving this Kontakt instance as a user patch in Logic X.

Now, anytime I want to bring in my Albion 1 Pads into a Logic project, I can just select this User Patch within the Logic X library.

To do this, you just create a new software instrument (it doesn't need to be multi-timbral) in Logic X, and then select your user patch in the library pane.

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You sexy beast. Step 10 - profit?

As you can see with this approach, it takes a bit to set up up front. But, once you've created all of your user patches for all the most commonly used aspects of what would be your larger overall template, you can pick and choose them as needed. Thus, the modular aspect of this whole thing.

These steps I've illustrated are just the basics, but the sky is limit, as while you are creating your user patches, you can route various sends and instantiate whatever plugins you'd like on each instrument aux channel (or the summing stack as a whole). You can also purge your Kontakt patches if you wish to create an even more speedy recall when loading user patches.

These methods can also be used with Vienna Ensemble, etc. for other instrument families, or I even have one for a blank instance of Kontakt, just because it's faster to load this way than selecting from the plugin list.

The settings will all be remembered when saving and recalling the user patch in Logic X.

I know, right!? Awesome.

Anyone else got any interesting alternative template methods?

-B

"hunt for the labyrinth killer" premieres tonight

Tune in tonight on Lifetime at 8/7CST, as I wrote some music for this one...

 Young, ace assistant DA, Shelby Cook, works with driven cop, Mike Holland, to catch Daedalus, a serial killer infamous for luring his victims to their deaths through labyrinth traps. Three innocent men have already taken the fall for Daedalus and when Daedalus strikes again, Shelby finds herself defending the latest man accused, a retired and respected judge--who also happens to be her own father.

 More info:

Lifetime

IMDB

the gremlin - designed

SOUND DESIGN LIBRARY for KONTAKT 5

The Gremlin is a 3/4 sized acoustic guitar (classical style), with nylon and wound metal strings.​ 

She collected dust for years, thought of as nothing more than a novelty. But one fine day, in the mid '00s a certain young composer pulled The Gremlin from forgotten obscurity (and quite possibly saved her from that great guitar field in the sky), and the rest is history...​

This is no toy. She has been lovingly added to every film score I've ever written, in some form or another.​

Here, I've sampled some muted finger plucks, and then created 7 custom .nkis that are perfect for atmospheric sound design - from warm and beautiful to icy and fragile.

Introducing:  The GREMLIN - Designed

Patch List:​

• ​Bowed Cold
• Echelon
• I'll Be Your Huckleberry
• No Man is an Island
• Sacred
• Six Feet Under
• The Rattler

Kontakt 5.1 (FULL version) required. Otherwise, these patches will only work in demo mode.

DOWNLOAD

Please consider donating below if you find these instruments useful.​

All sounds and instruments ©2013 Blake Ewing Music. All Rights Reserved.

spitfire audio | loegria (polyphonic legato vs sustains)

I thought I play around with the newly introduced poly-legato feature in Loegria 1.1
and see it compares to the regular sustain patches in this post.

To do this, I played in triadic chords with the sustain patches, added cc1 (mod wheel) data,
and then copied this to another track an octave lower for the low strings.

After that, I copied each of those to matching Legato tracks and adjusted each of the triad members' velocity data,
as that is how Loegria determines the polyphonic function.

Rinse and repeat for the half sections, and c'est voila!

poly-legato vs sustain

• 0:00 - Full Sustain
• 0:25 - Full Legato
• 0:49 - 1/2 Section Sustain
• 1:13 - 1/2 Section Legato

"the real st. nick" premieres tonight

Happy to announce the premiere of "The Real St. Nick" with original music by Jeff Toyne.
I orchestrated/programmed and composed additional music for this one. Tune in!

Premiering tonight on Lifetime at 10/9CST, The Real St. Nick” tells the story of Kate (Torrey DeVitto), a nurse at St. John’s Hospital. A couple of days before Christmas, a cute young man (Callard Harris) in a Santa costume is brought into her ward, unconscious. When he wakes up, he is convinced that he is Santa Claus and explains that he fell off his sleigh during a routine “test run” before Christmas. At first he is disregarded as crazy, and placed in the psychiatric wing; however everyone in the ward–patients and staff included–cannot help but feel the warmth of his Christmas spirit. 

More information:
Lifetime
IMDb

spitfire audio | albion 1 & 2 demos

To further show how I've personally used these two different libraries,
here are two demos that hopefully show off some strengths of each library.

Albion i

albion ii

Ultimately, I think combining the two libraries will give the most flexibility,
and offer the most variety in ensemble sizes and articulations.

spitfire audio | albion 1 & 2 (brass longs and legato)

Here is a comparison of the Albion 1 & 2 Brass Longs and Legato patches.

From Albion 1, I'm using the Horns/Bones, and from Albion 2,
I've used the Horns/Euphoniums and Sacbuts.

longs

• 0:00 - Albion 1 Horns/Bones Longs
• 0:16 - Albion 2 Horns/Euphoniums Longs
• 0:32 - Albion 2 Sacbut Longs

legato

• 0:51 - Albion 1 Horns/Bones Legato
• 1:05 - Albion 2 Horns/Euphonium Legato
• 1:19 - Albion 2 Sacbut Legato