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I will make a full video on it! While I am in process of that, here's a quick written overview of what I did here: 1. Finalize everything in the music (not the score!) and then import it into cantamus. Something is always wrong the first time so I make sure to use the first run through to change anything that sounds odd (e.g. sometimes Cantamus has a hard time with the endings of certain words), so I use this to fix any weird errors like that. 2. Create 6 versions of that finalized "cantamus version" in different keys-- + and - 1, 2, and 3 semitones. I don't know if cantamus uses samples at all, but I suspect they have to as moving the music even a half step away seems to trigger totally different sound that doesn't cause phasing issues. 3. Export SATB stems for each version, resulting in 4x6, thus 24 tracks in different keys. 4. Import into the DAW and use a pitch shifting plugin to move them to the original key, and import SATB stems of the original key as well, so now 7 individual voices per Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass line. 5. Offset each track by a small amount so that you don't get all the voices hitting various consonants exactly perfectly, to mimic how a real choir doesn't have everyone hitting all consonants at exactly the same time. 6. Mix the resulting SATB stems better-- I find Cantamus generally has the SA voices much too loud and out of balance, and not nearly enough B, so I usually push the basses by at least a couple db, and tone down the Sopranos considerably. (Obviously, this is a relative measure-- with 7x4 or 28 tracks that were originally meant to be only 1/4 of a full mix I have them all down something like 10 db before I even start mixing to prevent peaking/distortion) 7. Run through reverb and other finalizing plugins to "suck it all together" like it occurred in a real space. 8. Make a version that's the actual score that has all the cantamus changes removed. I'm not sure this is the absolute *best* way to do this yet, as I'm still experimenting. It always sounds better to pitch things down as opposed to up, and in this method almost half the tracks are pitched up, and I've noticed that they tend to sound weird, so in this version I think I actually have them mixed in *extremely* lightly. I think it might be better to put together a set of tracks that's the original plus maybe 4 semitones of transposed versions instead so that everything is pitching down. Might be able to do that with, say 2 tracks that are pitched up to retain the feeling of 7 singers per part, or maybe even mess with a version where the lyrics are changed to create subtly different consonants/vowels and aren't transposed at all. (I keep forgetting to change all instances of "I" to "eye" as I've noticed cantamus doesn't do a diphthong for this and it sounds absolutely bizarre to me). Basically, its the "transposition trick" that is often used when you are working with say, a sample library that only has 1st Violins and you need a 2nd Violins part, so you sent MIDI that's maybe a whole step up from the "true" pitch to force every note to be a different sample, and then use a pitch correction plugin to pull everything back down to the correct tuning, only in this case you are sending MusicXML to cantamus that's transposed instead of using a MIDI transposition plugin. Adding a reverb plugin makes a big difference too as it tends to smooth out some of the weirdness.

@@CurtisSchweitzer Dear Curtis, thanks a lot for that detailled explanation. That's simply amazing. It might be a quite complicated process, but it seems totally worth it. I Like your rendition a lot and will try out the technique soon with one of my yet unperformed pieces. Thanks again!

Thanks for you kind comment, and of course glad that you liked the music. Appreciate you stopping by!

Thanks for stopping by and giving it a listen-- I appreciate the time commitment as I know it's not exactly short! :). Would certainly love to hear your take on this style-- I find that people who "stretch" themselves often write the most interesting material.

Just finished listening to it. That was incredible 🙌 How long did it take to write that?? That would've taken me months if not years 😭 I'm not usually one for modern-esque music, but I absolutely loved it!!

@@Sgbear_ this was maybe a couple of weeks? I was originally going to make it a first movement of a larger work but ended up changing my mind about the structure and decided it worked best on its own. I composed it in StaffPad which makes the composition time a lot more compressed as I am most comfortable in that process. Glad to hear the vibe hit you exactly how I was hoping it would- definitely going for exactly what you described!

Glad you enjoyed it-- been sitting on this one for awhile so its nice to get it posted!

That's quite a nice compliment given how much I adore Goldsmith's writing on that score!

🌠

Sorry I missed this one! As for presets, I'm mostly just messing with different combinations of each instrument-- say, one of the Viola layers with another Viola layer, with the whole ensemble being something like a string quartet + double bass with as little layering of each as possible to (ideally, not always succeeding) give it a natural feel. Honestly I've pretty much used probably 50% of the available layers to build my own presets so hard to list them, but that's the process by which I choose them.

The lines are the various CC1 (Modulation) controllers for the tracks, often controlling volume or timbre settings. Glad you liked it!

There's a lot-- a bit more than is easy to list in a reply, but you can see an overview of my template here: th-cam.com/video/GFui13Bp87k/w-d-xo.html And a slightly out-of-date look at the hardware setup here: th-cam.com/video/G6tFqpO_mBM/w-d-xo.html

Would love to be invited back-- one of the highlights of my career!

@@CurtisSchweitzer I'm sure it was. As far as I know thats the only time you've had your music actually played by a real orchestra, right? So I imagine that was really cool for you.

@@CurtisSchweitzer I think starbound was as well

I am so glad you stopped by and enjoyed it!

I have a couple of things like that-- "tools in the toolbox" I like to say-- that fit a particular mood or atmosphere that I pull out from time to time. I find they are most useful in little sections, and that it is a good idea to have a bunch of them to switch between so that you avoid using them too much!