UPDATE: EW Hollywood Orchestrator has been updated to include a drag and drop MIDI feature to act as the MIDI export! Watch my update video here: th-cam.com/video/-4ewJE0rjMM/w-d-xo.html
Hi Just found you today. I'm brand new to composing music. I specialise in strict temp music as I'm first and foremost a dance teacher. But this orchestrator is going to help me so much. I also learned far more in your videos than I did with the official EW videos as the educator was using jargon I didn't understand. Thank you Steve
This is just amazing. So thorough, thought out, and done in a way that respects our time, but still gives everything we need to know. Had to leave a comment, thanks!
Great review! I stayed away from phrase libraries at first for the obvious reason. Since working with them, I love them. You can still make them your own, and still need a musical ear and talent to create an amazing piece with them. Plus, it's extremely difficult to create certain articulations as seamlessly with single note libraries. For someone who isn't a classically trained musician, you can also learn alot, and subconsciously absorb how instruments work with each other. I'll always remember a comment on a post condemning this type of software. Someone said they were watching an interview with Hans Zimmer, and noticed a phrase library loaded on the computer behind him. Now he's also jumped onboard, and has a couple phrase instruments with the company UJAM, soooo...lol. Even the greats are more than likely using these to their advantage. Sometimes they need quick workflow, and it doesn't get better than this.
I don't agree with using The Orchestrator for 100% of the song, and don't think anyone going to lose their job/replaced. It's all just marketing. It's best use cases will be for creating arrangement performance textures for phrases of certain background/supporting lines, tutti and ensemble moments/choruses, things like that. Anything with more complex harmonies, articulations, and patterns it will be best to just create a separate Opus channel instrument patch and piano roll program/play the more unique notes/articulation moments/harmonies yourself, this is where your experience and music theory will come into play to separate the cookie cutters from the artists. All that being said, I'm using Opus :D I've had the older Hollywood Play engine versions for years, but this latest edition is a sorely needed and good expansion for accessibility, sketching inspirations with the presets, and for learning too if you're new to orchestration.
I couldn’t have said it better myself! This is such a great tool for sketching. I typically go straight for a piano to start writing and then orchestrate from there but this could really just change my workflow! This orchestrator could let you hear things when sketching that you might not have heard in your head while just on a piano or guitar (or whatever sketching instrument you use)
I've been an EW guy for long. I am so happy with the Composer Cloud and this new update. I expect to learn from these Orchestrator presets and improve my skills. Thanks for the great video!
There’s so much packed in the Opus engine and the new orchestrator! I’m going to be spending a lot of time playing around with those features! Also, great MIDI export video! I saw you did it in Cubase! I gotta figure out how to do it in Logic
Thought I would let you know in case you haven't found out already - East West has updated Hollywood orchestrator and it now has a midi drag and drop function, tried it out on Logic and it works like a dream.
Hey, sorry for the late reply! I just checked it out and….wow 😱 They just made the “midi export” super easy. Thanks for the update! Also I was super excited that I forgot Logic loads up stock plugins and my ears weren’t ready for all the synths 😂
Absolutely. And, to Robert.....The people, like my husband, (PhD in music) who has spent his life studying with the "old time" orchestrators of the big band orchestrators, of the mid1900s, with a masters in Composing, has skills and education that needs to be passed on to others. His skill in arranging for bands, orchestras, and wind ensembles can't just disappear, because the skill alone is masterful and cant just "disappear". This amazes me, every time I hear new pieces he just finished, that he just pulled "out of his head" and knows HOW to score it all, AND get a band to interpret what he writes. (I am a professional pianist/organist, but know little about transcribing and writing scores) I do appreciate all the technology, and having the knowledge of music theory and technique, wiring, etc. But, I do believe the "old skills" of pen/pencil to paper, can't be equalled. I always think of "what would happen if our electrical grids were effected for any lengths of time, and maybe break down forever? Always possible these days. The ways of the old masters need to continue. And, it's always sad when a skill and trade is "lost" to time, and so called "progress". I enjoy your channel, and will keep watching. Just found this, and will enjoy more, and learn more of what you're working on. Thanks.
@@dede4004 i agree with everything you say. You can never replace such skill, dedication and naunce. However such software is great for us mere mortals who do not have the luxuary to spend the many years needed to reach the levels your husband and, no doubt yourself, have reached. I personally just enjoy making music on a purely amatuer level and such a program is a great crutch to not only help me, but to educate me on a basic level of composing.
There's a great deal of elitism even snobbery where 'classical' music is concerned, specifically, employing a computer in the creative process. Can a chap who doesn't write music ever be called a 'composer' when he composes a piece on his laptop? Of course he can. Like any composer, he hears a phrase in his head but instead of writing it on paper, he plays the notes in a sequencer. Pen, paper, and computer: they're tools.
@@--legion but if he isn't writing what he hears in his head but rather is using a pre-built piece of music that at best sounds similar? No. I'd say he was an arranger, not a composer.
@@Beauweir Yes, an arranger arranges other folk's compositions, and 'pre-built' music or ready-made samples downloaded from the internet is not composing music. But as far as orchestration is concerned it's perfectly legitimate to compose via computer - manual composition, not presets - individual notes recorded rather than written on paper.
If you want to use this outside of EW products you can record out the midi from the orchestrator and copy it to other patches. Every instrument can be recorded out on individual tracks by channel.
@@ignaciolarronde I just heard back from EW customer service and it turns out that Logic doesn’t support the MIDI export feature right now! I’m hoping this gets fixed some time soon!
Try using Scaler 2 to build your chord and melodies. Route it INTO Orchestrator and it amazing. After you're happy with what you have in Scaler 2, use its Midi Capture function then Drag and Drop it onto Orchestrator. That will give you a SINGLE Midi track BUT you can change anything in Orchestrator such as presets which can be quite dramatic. I'm still trying to figure out how to route the Orchestrator individual Instrument Tracks. :)
That’s a great idea! I’m trying to plan out a video for a workaround in Logic. I’m trying to separate the outputs to aux tracks and then record tracks as audio. THEN flex pitch the audio to covert it back into MIDI. This is such a hassle because it’s not optimal but it’s a potential workaround
@@RobertRodriguezMusic The manual says to contact their support on how to route to separate tracks. I did just that. All I got so far is crickets tho they've been busy pushing out fixes since the roll out blew up in their faces. LOL!
@@LightWingStudios haha yeah they took a few hours to get back to me on the MIDI export question but EW has been very clear and helpful with their responses so I definitely give them credit
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Yeah. They really got their asses beaten up on the FB page and I was part of "The Abuse Brigade". Face it. The product wasn't ready for prime time at release. They should have just delayed it a week, tested more, fixed it and bulletproof on release. Anyway the "Brigade" sure got them to respond and quickly. Still more fixes to come too but at least it's 95% functional at this point.
All tutorials on Albion one & others are great but no one ever says anything about what it takes to run them. Like your computer, how much ram, how much hard drive ssd etc. It’s helpful to know that before buying the deals everyone’s offering. We could end up buying it & not being able to run it. Your tutorials are great. Thank you.
my biggest gripe with Orchestrator is that it basically excels at one thing: Making a score like Hans Zimmer from Pirates of the Caribbean. It doesn't really orchestrate long notes that well, and is mostly useful for ostinato-filled action/adventure music. There is certainly uses for that, but more times than not I want something to underscore or containing longer notes - and that really lacks in Hollywood Orchestrator.
Would love to see EW add the option to specify whether the step in the step editor is chord-based, or scale-based, so you could include passing notes in the ostinatos etc. And voice leading too...I don’t always (or ever actually) want, say, the French Horns playing concert E in a concert C maj chord to move in direct parallel motion to a concert A in a concert F maj chord. For smooth voice leading, they’d likely go from E to F...not always, but much of the time. It would be nice to be able to unlock the instruments from being stuck playing the middle/lowest/highest etc. note of every chord and instead employ typical voice leading. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these and other features in future updates.
That would be a great update! I definitely agree, a way to adjust the step editor would help out a lot. Right now it takes a lot of tweaking to get the passing notes. I would think the best way is to export the MIDI but it’s such a hassle
Okay so I signed up for the composer cloud. I'm excited, but I have to say, my first experience with EW is less than stellar... 1 - the shopping cart wouldn't complete using Firefox or Chrome. I tried it on Microsoft Edge, then it worked 2 - Must have a 2nd generation or newer iLok. Okay I have this, not a deal-breaker 3 - I install the EW "Installation Center", but when trying to install "Opus software" I get the "Disk Full" message and cannot continue. No clues about how much space that module needs or which disk is full. So I go into settings and specify another drive for the libraries. Both disks have hundreds of gigabytes free on each of them but even when I restart the installation center, I get the unhelpful and uninformative "disk full" stopper. 4 - So I try and activate my cloud subscription, it goes to some eastwest URL and produces an error "redirect_uri not registered". WTF does that mean??? 5 - So I try and find support. It sends me to reams and reams of information that has nothing to do with my problems. Eventually there is a checkbox where I promise that I read all the reams and reams of information so that I can create a support ticket (there is no other way to reach this people, I tried to about the shopping cart thing). Then when I go to create a ticket, it sends me to some Oracle website where i gotta log in again. Okay so I create a ticket, then when I submit it, it automatically redirects me back to eastwest site (soundsonline) and I have to initiate the process again and login again to create the second ticket. not a great start in my experience with this company. Lets see how responsive they are...
UPDATE: Still not out of the starting blocks I managed to get Opus installed by going to the burger menu on Installation Center and selecting "Reinstall Opus" (even though it was not installed in the first place), lo and behold, it began downloading and I was able to run the installation routine. PENTY OF DISK SPACE. The disk was NOT full. Then, because iLok products have the activation process built into each product installation, I was able to get the Composer Cloud license activated on my iLok device - Hooray! That doesn't mean that the Install Center activation process is fixed, it just means I was able to circumvent it. So now when i restarted Installation Center, all of the products listed there are ACTIVATED thanks to my Composer Cloud subscription. BUT.... When I go to install any of them from Install Center, clicking on a product simply takes me to the product page on SoundsOnline website and does not actually download the product library item or activate it in the Opus application. So when I launch Opus for the first time, I have NOTHING under the library tab, and no way to get anything installed there because Install Center is retarded. When I click on the database tab, and I select an instrument on the right to install, I get an error message "Instrument could not be downloaded. Message:[blank]". Presumably because one of the [containter?] products like "Goliath" is not installed into the library section? I dunno man. This is ridiculous.
Hey Terence! Wow, I’m really sorry you’re having a rough first experience. That really just sounds like one negative experience after another! I’m hoping they get back to you soon because I’m a HUGE believer in good customer service. I know the Opus rollout has been pretty rough. I actually got a similar Disk Full message on my end even though I know it wasn’t. I’m really surprised about the CC subscription sign up but maybe the support team can give a better explanation as to why that’s happening. Either way, I hope the EW experience gets better once you start using the samples!
@@RobertRodriguezMusic I've tried to be as helpful and informative as possible so that they can fix the issues for other prospective customers. I would hope that they don't want to lose business just because the silly shopping cart is broken on mainstream web browsers.
UPDATE: I'm happy to report that East West have been very quick in their response to the support tickets I opened and they provided me with an email which gave a comprehensive solution. Having said that, the solution had to include links to download the software which the "Install Center" refused to give access to (because of the stupid "Disk Full" error). I did look everywhere on the website to find these installers and they are nowhere to be found. It was absolutely necesary to get the links through the private email. I won't provide the links here. They really need to fix these issues. They can obviously write epic music software, I dunno why they dropped the ball with their Install Center. These bugs should be easy to fix. I used to be a software developer myself in a previous life. There would be one line of code to fix regarding that stupid error which is a complete blocker. Unreal. Anyway, very happy with their support and responsiveness. I hope they assign some resources to the Install Center so it doesn't ruin other people's first experience. It's been said a company's brand has nothing to do with their corporate identity, it has everything to do with a customer's experience of them. Sloppy install software is such a stupid waste of brand power. Thats one thing Native Instruments gets right. They have the best installer with Native Access - even though Kontakt is rubbish compared to Opus and Play.
Hi Robert. Excellent presentation! Back in the early 1980's I was using one of the fist music writing programs for computer called "Jim Miller's Personal Composer". Later I started using another sequencer called "Voyetra SP3". I haven't done any writing for decades, but would like to start again, now in my 60's. I'm curious if I would be able to use East West library simultaneously with other libraries in my DAW (which I still need to purchase). I would be grateful for any tips you could provide for me. Thanks!
Hey! Nope, you’re not missing anything. That’s just another EW library that runs on Opus! It’s actually a few years old so I’m not too sure if it’s part of their collection of products anymore 🤔
Updated Installer, OPUS, Orchestrator Libraries released yesterday...they got over 95% of the bugs fixed in 5 days which tells me they should have delayed it's release a week and they wouldn't have had the rollout implode like it did last week. MIDI export works too. Exporting out of Orchestrator gives you separate tracks that you can use OTHER VIs with them EXCEPT in Logic. I tested everything with the latest version of Pro Tools and Studio One 5.2.
I ended up upgrading to the Diamond edition. The installation was a bit of a hassle but the support team had me send them the installation logs so they could keep record of the problems. The Opus engine was either updated OR it’s Diamond specific, but there are now 16 stereo outputs which could be the closest we get to individual instruments in Logic. It’s not a real fix but it’s more helpful than the original 9
@@RobertRodriguezMusic so Logic can now get 16 separate tracks of AUDIO out of Orchestrator but not MIDI? It was 9 outputs in v1.01 Diamond Opus as well
@@newbreednet Right! I have a video that I'm working on that kind of goes over this (though at the time of recording, there were still only 9. Doing last minute edits now!). Basically, you can get up to 1 Instrument track/15 more aux tracks per instrument. It doesn't solve the problem of the MIDI Export/editing MIDI data in your actual DAW but you CAN add reverb, sends, effects, etc. to those individual tracks which is beneficial now that we have access to all 16 outputs.
@@RobertRodriguezMusic So frustrating that Logic users can't get MIDI outputs though :( I've tried researching and it seems to be something to do with the way AU plugins work... I asked EW about it as well, and they said it works in "Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Protools... any DAW that can create a simple midi track and then set it to receive Midi from Opus will work." (edit: just saw in other comments that you're experimenting with ways to flex the audio back into MIDI - interesting! Look forward to your next video! Good luck!)
I'm working on a site to collect patches people make from this for sharing about which i think is gonna go a long way to combatting the issue of beginner composers spamming the presets. When I got it done I'll pass the links on, but for now, WIP And yeah, I intend on punching the whole goddamn Addler book into this puppy lol.
I was thinkg of getting Balkan Ethnic Orchestra by Strezov Sampling, but now EastWest Hollywood Orchestra has gotten my attention. Strings of Winter by Sonuscore was another library that I was looking at.. Anyone have any input?
Hi Robert. I just started a subscription this past Friday, but this crazy thing is I've not even been able to use OPUS because of the long download time and the even longer unpack time! I understand the files are SUPER LARGE and take a while to download, but the unpack time is bananas. 24 plus hours for one of the 200 plus gig files and I still have another 200gig file plus the 400gig file to down load. So at this speed it will take a week to unpack the three largest files. How did you get the sounds on your harddrive? Did you download and unpack like I am having to do or did you get the files some other way; ie..a hard drive sent from EW with the the sounds. I am patient, but this is crazy. Downloading 100 plus game files are quicker on my PS4. Just venting :)
Hey! Yeah that’s super frustrating! I believe I was able to set the download location right to my external drive but I do remember it taking an abnormal amount of time. If you’re not doing so already, definitely download over Ethernet cable (if possible of course). I must have blocked the wait time out of my head because you’re right, it did take a while 😂
@@RobertRodriguezMusic I could not believe that it was still unpacking the one of the libraries that I started on Sunday so that being said it had been 24 hours just unpacking one of the 200 plus gig sounds files. I just broke down and ordered the SSD hard drive from EW. My download speed is good but the unpacking is crazy. It would have taken me a week plus easy to get the remaining 3 large sound files. Oh well I think it will be a good investment especially if the sounds will help me in my production projects.
Well, I enjoy orchestrating my compositions, even though i know I have far to go in terms of getting that polished, professional sound; I cannot afford Music School, that is for sure. Sometimes, i feel i am trying to reinvent the wheel.
I agree, I personally think orchestrating is part of the process. At least having a basic understanding of the orchestra and other instruments can help you make decisions in your composition process. There’s definitely plenty to learn but I think you get 1% better every time you orchestrate! Plus I learned a lot from the Samuel Adler Study of Orchestration book
I just whimsically tried something...Playing my Wireless Fishman Triple Play mounted guitar as a Midi Controller INTO OPUS/Orchestrator in Studio One 5.2. Works just as well with OPUS/Orchestrator in Standalone. Oh. My. GOD!
@RobertRodriqgues Hi, I got the orchestration book 4th edition that you recommended but I found many of the online resources are missing for example : chapter 2 starts at 2:11 example instead of 2:1 . Do you have this as well??
Hey! I believe that typically the online examples would have an extra charge to go along with the access codes found in the book. I personally haven’t used the examples that often. If you have access for the examples, I would definitely suggest reaching out to their support to see if they can fix that!
I love Opus, EW done an amazing job, and you've done amazing presentation of this...this is helping me to learn how to create my own writing, all epic music isn't just hiding behind an Metropolis 9 French horns.. Opus let you peak inside the articulations of various instruments, and the part they play to make up that full throttle sound. I learned that staccatos plays a huge part. And that you must treat each individual instrument separate, and not as a keyboard patch.. Thanks again..And what PC/laptop are you using.?. My PC 'bout had a stroke when I tried to play some of the scores..😂😂
Hey! I really appreciate the kind words! Sometimes it’s just so easy to play simple chords and get that Hans Zimmer sound but there are plenty of ways to innovate and add our own style! And I’m using an iMac (late 2015). The specs aren’t great when you compare it to today’s standards but it gets the job done!
Mine is a Mac with an i5 quad core CPU and a 32gb ram. I actually don’t even find that the ram usage is too bad either. The minimum system requirements seems to be quad core, 16 Gb of ram, and most likely an ssd drive that can hold the HW Orchestra Opus library
Hey! Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed! I personally use the Nektar Impact LX88+ I’m a fan of the full 88 keys but that’s just preference. There are some basic 49 key controllers out there but they’re just around $100. I would suggest either the Akai MPK249, The M-Audio Oxygen Pro 49, or the Komplete Kontrol A49! Mainly because these are companies that pretty consistently release good products. Plus these fall in your price range and they come with knobs/ faders which I find to be super useful! I added them to my MIDI Keyboard Recommendations in the description if you wanna check them out! Hope that helps!
Just goat it but do you Know how to split thé midi files ?? To put détails on each bécasse as you Said nobody want to plat the same way !! If you find the way to split ! Thanks And good job ! 👌👌👌
Thank you! Seems like there’s a way to send the different instruments to different aux tracks but i didn’t find it to be useful at all. EW support says there’s no official way to actually export MIDI files unfortunately! Logic would need to support midi tracks that can record the midi input from the opus output.
How many gig is the opus engine and orchestrator? Also does it have smaller libraries... I'm in Africa so I don't have unlimited internet here... We pay per gig. Pls advice
I know that the Gold edition is around 242 gigs and the Diamond edition is around 944 gigs but those are the sizes of the sample libraries to download. Im unsure of how much it would consume of your internet data
I reached out to EW support asking about the MIDI export feature and it turns out some DAWs don’t currently support that option, Logic included! Hopefully this changes soon!
@@leiawen1313 Nothing specific but they said that the DAW’s MIDI track needs to be able to record MIDI input from the plug-in’s (Opus) output! I do know Cubase can do this but I’m not sure about others
@@leiawen1313 I asked EW about it as well, and they said it works in "Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Protools... any DAW that can create a simple midi track and then set it to receive Midi from Opus will work."
Just a heads up, they got the software from Sonuscore who created The Orchestra 2, which this is built upon. You can export the midi files out for each voice. But all it is is a complex series of Arpegiators and envelopes. It can be set up in any daw :)
I’m surprised it’s taken so long. All these preorchestrated phrases when these companies have recorded sometimes multiple full orchestra libraries. I don’t think it stops the need for an orchestrater because they still need to know how to have it all work for a real orchestra to play. I certainly would never trust anything like this to just print out and hope it works
Hi Jake! The Gold edition (which is what I used in the video) was around 250 gigs. Since then I’ve upgrade to the Diamond edition, which is around 950 gigs. They do have an option where you can download specific articulations or instruments if you want to save space/ download time
Years ago I went from the EW composer cloud to a lot of the SFA stuff and the ease of use/quality of sound was amazing! It’s such a treat to go back to EW now because it has a distinct sound to it. It just needs a lot more work to get it how I like
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Work flow is a must have neatness, that's something I look for easy friendly products otherwise you can stay an eternity polishing. Also SPA has products such you can split voicings amongst your strings sections, imperative.
Have orchestrators been replaced? If a professional working orchestrator in the film/tv music world would orchestrate like the Opus Engine does, he/she would get fired immediately. And that's the truth.
The Opus engine is a standalone engine that replaces Kontakt (similar to Play) but is specific to EastWest. It seems like for now, the orchestrator only comes with the purchase of the Opus Edition library
Hey! I’m using the Nektar Impact LX88+ and it’s semi-weighted. I’ve had mine for years and love it (though it can be a bit clunky). I have a link for it in the description if you wanna check it out!
Very kind of you to respond, are there any places you know of where you can get up front hands on training in like a classroom type of involvement.? You should give seminars...
Hi Robert! Thanks for your video. Excited about this one. I'm always a bit hesitant with major updates like this one because of my ongoing projects right now. Can you confirm that nothing has changed in your older projects with the PLAY Hollywood Orchestra? So no complicated sample location errors and so on? And, apart from the orchestrator, do you think the samples have been improved compared to the old edition? Always worked with diamond by the way. Thanks!
As far as I can tell, it hasn’t affected any of my older projects! But I’m 100% am on board, just to be safe, I’d back up and reach out to support if anything. So far, it’s been great! Samples are definitely great! It’s not necessarily an update on the older libraries but rather an extension. Being able to switch back and forth between Soft, Classic, and Epic has been amazing!
There have been teething problems for some users. Early days, to be expected. I'd advocate holding off till your between projects as you will have to update your templates
Great video, just to let you know apparently there is an export midi function with the orchestrator, massive plus if you have a lot of other libraries. I've just contacted support to ask where is this golden function hiding (it says on the website page that there is a midi export function).
Here's a quote from East West about the midi export: 'You can play the presets into your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), or export them to your DAW using MIDI export. With MIDI export, you can record complete passages with any Orchestrator preset with all data as MIDI regions. This enables you to adjust your recorded composition and change notes at any time as if you created these in your DAW.'
Thanks for the kind words! Apparently EW says that there’s a midi export feature so I’m playing around in Logic now to see how to do so! If we can get the orchestration to come out as MIDI data, then I think this is a complete game changer!
⚠️WARNING⚠️ Using the iCloud option is deadly to your projects. The iCloud service is actually a trap that holds all of your East West subscription related projects hostage. Once your subscription service ends, all of your subscription based downloads stop working. That means all the sounds you used for all of your music projects that require the subscription service will stop working. All of my cinematic music projects are 100% East West virtual instruments. I can’t afford to loose years works when I leave the subscription based service. Worse yet, what happens to your projects when they go out of business? What happens when you no longer have internet service? So, actually purchasing your sound library, rather then renting them, is truly the best way to go if you don’t want your East West based cinematic music projects to be held hostage year after year. Nowhere on their website, or affiliate websites, do they warn you, the consumer about this. NOW YOU KNOW. 🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹
It’s cool to build quick ideas. But mostly, I see it as a crutch. Better to learn these techniques on your own as you grow. I personally see it more as a gimmick.
This is comparable with playing a keyboard with accompaniment functions vs real piano playing. Awesome software for not learning how to orchestrate. Awesome software for spreading more generic mainstream film score music.
Definitely, I think the presets sound exciting out of the box but if we all have the exact same presets that we go to, then we sound exactly the same as the next person. I think we need to hold ourselves accountable for actually learning orchestration techniques and not getting too comfortable with what it gives us
This has a very synth sound when trying to do something complex; more so than other libraries. It's a good price for people new to VST, since they get the whole orchestra.
Eastwest is great but beware once purchased items can’t be sold and licenses are non transferable it’s not an Ilok thing it’s their thing.You will be stuck with whatever you buy from them even if you don’t like it.
UPDATE: EW Hollywood Orchestrator has been updated to include a drag and drop MIDI feature to act as the MIDI export!
Watch my update video here: th-cam.com/video/-4ewJE0rjMM/w-d-xo.html
Hi Just found you today. I'm brand new to composing music. I specialise in strict temp music as I'm first and foremost a dance teacher. But this orchestrator is going to help me so much. I also learned far more in your videos than I did with the official EW videos as the educator was using jargon I didn't understand.
Thank you
Steve
This is just amazing. So thorough, thought out, and done in a way that respects our time, but still gives everything we need to know. Had to leave a comment, thanks!
Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you were able to get some value out of this one!
Great review! I stayed away from phrase libraries at first for the obvious reason. Since working with them, I love them. You can still make them your own, and still need a musical ear and talent to create an amazing piece with them. Plus, it's extremely difficult to create certain articulations as seamlessly with single note libraries. For someone who isn't a classically trained musician, you can also learn alot, and subconsciously absorb how instruments work with each other. I'll always remember a comment on a post condemning this type of software. Someone said they were watching an interview with Hans Zimmer, and noticed a phrase library loaded on the computer behind him. Now he's also jumped onboard, and has a couple phrase instruments with the company UJAM, soooo...lol. Even the greats are more than likely using these to their advantage. Sometimes they need quick workflow, and it doesn't get better than this.
I don't agree with using The Orchestrator for 100% of the song, and don't think anyone going to lose their job/replaced. It's all just marketing. It's best use cases will be for creating arrangement performance textures for phrases of certain background/supporting lines, tutti and ensemble moments/choruses, things like that. Anything with more complex harmonies, articulations, and patterns it will be best to just create a separate Opus channel instrument patch and piano roll program/play the more unique notes/articulation moments/harmonies yourself, this is where your experience and music theory will come into play to separate the cookie cutters from the artists. All that being said, I'm using Opus :D I've had the older Hollywood Play engine versions for years, but this latest edition is a sorely needed and good expansion for accessibility, sketching inspirations with the presets, and for learning too if you're new to orchestration.
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
This is such a great tool for sketching. I typically go straight for a piano to start writing and then orchestrate from there but this could really just change my workflow!
This orchestrator could let you hear things when sketching that you might not have heard in your head while just on a piano or guitar (or whatever sketching instrument you use)
I've been an EW guy for long. I am so happy with the Composer Cloud and this new update. I expect to learn from these Orchestrator presets and improve my skills. Thanks for the great video!
There’s so much packed in the Opus engine and the new orchestrator! I’m going to be spending a lot of time playing around with those features!
Also, great MIDI export video! I saw you did it in Cubase! I gotta figure out how to do it in Logic
@@RobertRodriguezMusic As a user of the Diamond, the rest is not that new to me. New 18 vlns and 2 Trombones are beautiful
Thought I would let you know in case you haven't found out already - East West has updated Hollywood orchestrator and it now has a midi drag and drop function, tried it out on Logic and it works like a dream.
Hey, sorry for the late reply! I just checked it out and….wow 😱 They just made the “midi export” super easy. Thanks for the update!
Also I was super excited that I forgot Logic loads up stock plugins and my ears weren’t ready for all the synths 😂
@@RobertRodriguezMusic No problem, look forward to channelling the power of the orchestrator with other libraries now.
We don’t need orchestration to do repetitive cinematic music. But to do real creative pieces we need real orchestrators.
Absolutely. And, to Robert.....The people, like my husband, (PhD in music) who has spent his life studying with the "old time" orchestrators of the big band orchestrators, of the mid1900s, with a masters in Composing, has skills and education that needs to be passed on to others.
His skill in arranging for bands, orchestras, and wind ensembles can't just disappear, because the skill alone is masterful and cant just "disappear". This amazes me, every time I hear new pieces he just finished, that he just pulled "out of his head" and knows HOW to score it all, AND get a band to interpret what he writes.
(I am a professional pianist/organist, but know little about transcribing and writing scores)
I do appreciate all the technology, and having the knowledge of music theory and technique, wiring, etc. But, I do believe the "old skills" of pen/pencil to paper, can't be equalled.
I always think of "what would happen if our electrical grids were effected for any lengths of time, and maybe break down forever? Always possible these days.
The ways of the old masters need to continue. And, it's always sad when a skill and trade is "lost" to time, and so called "progress".
I enjoy your channel, and will keep watching. Just found this, and will enjoy more, and learn more of what you're working on. Thanks.
@@dede4004 i agree with everything you say. You can never replace such skill, dedication and naunce. However such software is great for us mere mortals who do not have the luxuary to spend the many years needed to reach the levels your husband and, no doubt yourself, have reached. I personally just enjoy making music on a purely amatuer level and such a program is a great crutch to not only help me, but to educate me on a basic level of composing.
There's a great deal of elitism even snobbery where 'classical' music is concerned, specifically, employing a computer in the creative process. Can a chap who doesn't write music ever be called a 'composer' when he composes a piece on his laptop? Of course he can. Like any composer, he hears a phrase in his head but instead of writing it on paper, he plays the notes in a sequencer. Pen, paper, and computer: they're tools.
@@--legion but if he isn't writing what he hears in his head but rather is using a pre-built piece of music that at best sounds similar? No. I'd say he was an arranger, not a composer.
@@Beauweir Yes, an arranger arranges other folk's compositions, and 'pre-built' music or ready-made samples downloaded from the internet is not composing music. But as far as orchestration is concerned it's perfectly legitimate to compose via computer - manual composition, not presets - individual notes recorded rather than written on paper.
If you want to use this outside of EW products you can record out the midi from the orchestrator and copy it to other patches. Every instrument can be recorded out on individual tracks by channel.
I just found that out! Knowing that we can do that just made the workflow significantly faster!
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Amazing video Robert!!! It would be amazing to see this that @TheKnowhereMen is saying in a video please! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
@@ignaciolarronde I just heard back from EW customer service and it turns out that Logic doesn’t support the MIDI export feature right now! I’m hoping this gets fixed some time soon!
Try using Scaler 2 to build your chord and melodies. Route it INTO Orchestrator and it amazing. After you're happy with what you have in Scaler 2, use its Midi Capture function then Drag and Drop it onto Orchestrator. That will give you a SINGLE Midi track BUT you can change anything in Orchestrator such as presets which can be quite dramatic. I'm still trying to figure out how to route the Orchestrator individual Instrument Tracks. :)
That’s a great idea! I’m trying to plan out a video for a workaround in Logic. I’m trying to separate the outputs to aux tracks and then record tracks as audio. THEN flex pitch the audio to covert it back into MIDI. This is such a hassle because it’s not optimal but it’s a potential workaround
@@RobertRodriguezMusic The manual says to contact their support on how to route to separate tracks. I did just that. All I got so far is crickets tho they've been busy pushing out fixes since the roll out blew up in their faces. LOL!
@@LightWingStudios haha yeah they took a few hours to get back to me on the MIDI export question but EW has been very clear and helpful with their responses so I definitely give them credit
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Yeah. They really got their asses beaten up on the FB page and I was part of "The Abuse Brigade".
Face it. The product wasn't ready for prime time at release. They should have just delayed it a week, tested more, fixed it and bulletproof on release. Anyway the "Brigade" sure got them to respond and quickly. Still more fixes to come too but at least it's 95% functional at this point.
Nice video man! Just got Opus & orchestrator, can't wait to create some magic with it!
Hey, thank you for the kind words! It’s so easy to get lost in the Orchestrator, enjoy!
Thanks for that video it’s helpful for decision
All tutorials on Albion one & others are great but no one ever says anything about what it takes to run them. Like your computer, how much ram, how much hard drive ssd etc. It’s helpful to know that before buying the deals everyone’s offering. We could end up buying it & not being able to run it. Your tutorials are great. Thank you.
my biggest gripe with Orchestrator is that it basically excels at one thing: Making a score like Hans Zimmer from Pirates of the Caribbean. It doesn't really orchestrate long notes that well, and is mostly useful for ostinato-filled action/adventure music. There is certainly uses for that, but more times than not I want something to underscore or containing longer notes - and that really lacks in Hollywood Orchestrator.
Would love to see EW add the option to specify whether the step in the step editor is chord-based, or scale-based, so you could include passing notes in the ostinatos etc. And voice leading too...I don’t always (or ever actually) want, say, the French Horns playing concert E in a concert C maj chord to move in direct parallel motion to a concert A in a concert F maj chord. For smooth voice leading, they’d likely go from E to F...not always, but much of the time. It would be nice to be able to unlock the instruments from being stuck playing the middle/lowest/highest etc. note of every chord and instead employ typical voice leading. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these and other features in future updates.
That would be a great update! I definitely agree, a way to adjust the step editor would help out a lot. Right now it takes a lot of tweaking to get the passing notes. I would think the best way is to export the MIDI but it’s such a hassle
Great video! Looking forward to checking out your content. Nice and clean explanations, thanks
Thank you! That’s very much appreciated. Hoping to share more content soon! 😄
Great video, have now subscribed to your TH-cam channel!
Thank you so much for the support! I really appreciate it!
Okay so I signed up for the composer cloud. I'm excited, but I have to say, my first experience with EW is less than stellar...
1 - the shopping cart wouldn't complete using Firefox or Chrome. I tried it on Microsoft Edge, then it worked
2 - Must have a 2nd generation or newer iLok. Okay I have this, not a deal-breaker
3 - I install the EW "Installation Center", but when trying to install "Opus software" I get the "Disk Full" message and cannot continue. No clues about how much space that module needs or which disk is full. So I go into settings and specify another drive for the libraries. Both disks have hundreds of gigabytes free on each of them but even when I restart the installation center, I get the unhelpful and uninformative "disk full" stopper.
4 - So I try and activate my cloud subscription, it goes to some eastwest URL and produces an error "redirect_uri not registered". WTF does that mean???
5 - So I try and find support. It sends me to reams and reams of information that has nothing to do with my problems. Eventually there is a checkbox where I promise that I read all the reams and reams of information so that I can create a support ticket (there is no other way to reach this people, I tried to about the shopping cart thing). Then when I go to create a ticket, it sends me to some Oracle website where i gotta log in again. Okay so I create a ticket, then when I submit it, it automatically redirects me back to eastwest site (soundsonline) and I have to initiate the process again and login again to create the second ticket.
not a great start in my experience with this company.
Lets see how responsive they are...
UPDATE: Still not out of the starting blocks
I managed to get Opus installed by going to the burger menu on Installation Center and selecting "Reinstall Opus" (even though it was not installed in the first place), lo and behold, it began downloading and I was able to run the installation routine. PENTY OF DISK SPACE. The disk was NOT full.
Then, because iLok products have the activation process built into each product installation, I was able to get the Composer Cloud license activated on my iLok device - Hooray!
That doesn't mean that the Install Center activation process is fixed, it just means I was able to circumvent it.
So now when i restarted Installation Center, all of the products listed there are ACTIVATED thanks to my Composer Cloud subscription.
BUT....
When I go to install any of them from Install Center, clicking on a product simply takes me to the product page on SoundsOnline website and does not actually download the product library item or activate it in the Opus application. So when I launch Opus for the first time, I have NOTHING under the library tab, and no way to get anything installed there because Install Center is retarded.
When I click on the database tab, and I select an instrument on the right to install, I get an error message "Instrument could not be downloaded. Message:[blank]".
Presumably because one of the [containter?] products like "Goliath" is not installed into the library section?
I dunno man. This is ridiculous.
Hey Terence!
Wow, I’m really sorry you’re having a rough first experience. That really just sounds like one negative experience after another! I’m hoping they get back to you soon because I’m a HUGE believer in good customer service.
I know the Opus rollout has been pretty rough. I actually got a similar Disk Full message on my end even though I know it wasn’t.
I’m really surprised about the CC subscription sign up but maybe the support team can give a better explanation as to why that’s happening. Either way, I hope the EW experience gets better once you start using the samples!
@@RobertRodriguezMusic I've tried to be as helpful and informative as possible so that they can fix the issues for other prospective customers. I would hope that they don't want to lose business just because the silly shopping cart is broken on mainstream web browsers.
UPDATE: I'm happy to report that East West have been very quick in their response to the support tickets I opened and they provided me with an email which gave a comprehensive solution.
Having said that, the solution had to include links to download the software which the "Install Center" refused to give access to (because of the stupid "Disk Full" error).
I did look everywhere on the website to find these installers and they are nowhere to be found. It was absolutely necesary to get the links through the private email. I won't provide the links here.
They really need to fix these issues. They can obviously write epic music software, I dunno why they dropped the ball with their Install Center. These bugs should be easy to fix. I used to be a software developer myself in a previous life. There would be one line of code to fix regarding that stupid error which is a complete blocker. Unreal.
Anyway, very happy with their support and responsiveness. I hope they assign some resources to the Install Center so it doesn't ruin other people's first experience.
It's been said a company's brand has nothing to do with their corporate identity, it has everything to do with a customer's experience of them. Sloppy install software is such a stupid waste of brand power. Thats one thing Native Instruments gets right. They have the best installer with Native Access - even though Kontakt is rubbish compared to Opus and Play.
PSS: Going to have to buy a dedicated SSD drive just for this product - still cheaper than Action Strings 2. I'm very excited to get into this.
Hi Robert. Excellent presentation! Back in the early 1980's I was using one of the fist music writing programs for computer called "Jim Miller's Personal Composer". Later I started using another sequencer called "Voyetra SP3". I haven't done any writing for decades, but would like to start again, now in my 60's. I'm curious if I would be able to use East West library simultaneously with other libraries in my DAW (which I still need to purchase). I would be grateful for any tips you could provide for me. Thanks!
What folder is that - „EW Scoring tools“ I dont have that in my diamond edition. Am I missing anything?
Hey! Nope, you’re not missing anything. That’s just another EW library that runs on Opus! It’s actually a few years old so I’m not too sure if it’s part of their collection of products anymore 🤔
@@RobertRodriguezMusic ah ok thanks. I havent seen it on their site.
Updated Installer, OPUS, Orchestrator Libraries released yesterday...they got over 95% of the bugs fixed in 5 days which tells me they should have delayed it's release a week and they wouldn't have had the rollout implode like it did last week. MIDI export works too. Exporting out of Orchestrator gives you separate tracks that you can use OTHER VIs with them EXCEPT in Logic. I tested everything with the latest version of Pro Tools and Studio One 5.2.
I ended up upgrading to the Diamond edition. The installation was a bit of a hassle but the support team had me send them the installation logs so they could keep record of the problems.
The Opus engine was either updated OR it’s Diamond specific, but there are now 16 stereo outputs which could be the closest we get to individual instruments in Logic. It’s not a real fix but it’s more helpful than the original 9
@@RobertRodriguezMusic so Logic can now get 16 separate tracks of AUDIO out of Orchestrator but not MIDI? It was 9 outputs in v1.01 Diamond Opus as well
@@newbreednet Right! I have a video that I'm working on that kind of goes over this (though at the time of recording, there were still only 9. Doing last minute edits now!). Basically, you can get up to 1 Instrument track/15 more aux tracks per instrument. It doesn't solve the problem of the MIDI Export/editing MIDI data in your actual DAW but you CAN add reverb, sends, effects, etc. to those individual tracks which is beneficial now that we have access to all 16 outputs.
@@RobertRodriguezMusic So frustrating that Logic users can't get MIDI outputs though :( I've tried researching and it seems to be something to do with the way AU plugins work... I asked EW about it as well, and they said it works in "Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Protools... any DAW that can create a simple midi track and then set it to receive Midi from Opus will work." (edit: just saw in other comments that you're experimenting with ways to flex the audio back into MIDI - interesting! Look forward to your next video! Good luck!)
@@newbreednet Agreed, I usually can find some kind of workaround in Logic but this is the first time I feel like it's lacking compared to other DAWs
I'm working on a site to collect patches people make from this for sharing about which i think is gonna go a long way to combatting the issue of beginner composers spamming the presets. When I got it done I'll pass the links on, but for now, WIP
And yeah, I intend on punching the whole goddamn Addler book into this puppy lol.
This a great idea. I’d love to check it out when you’re finished !
I was thinkg of getting Balkan Ethnic Orchestra by Strezov Sampling, but now
EastWest Hollywood Orchestra has gotten my attention. Strings of Winter by Sonuscore was another library that I was looking at.. Anyone have any input?
I know Sonuscore collaborated with EW on this one so I would really be interested to look into Strings of Winter!
Hi Robert. I just started a subscription this past Friday, but this crazy thing is I've not even been able to use OPUS because of the long download time and the even longer unpack time! I understand the files are SUPER LARGE and take a while to download, but the unpack time is bananas. 24 plus hours for one of the 200 plus gig files and I still have another 200gig file plus the 400gig file to down load. So at this speed it will take a week to unpack the three largest files. How did you get the sounds on your harddrive? Did you download and unpack like I am having to do or did you get the files some other way; ie..a hard drive sent from EW with the the sounds. I am patient, but this is crazy. Downloading 100 plus game files are quicker on my PS4. Just venting :)
Hey! Yeah that’s super frustrating! I believe I was able to set the download location right to my external drive but I do remember it taking an abnormal amount of time. If you’re not doing so already, definitely download over Ethernet cable (if possible of course). I must have blocked the wait time out of my head because you’re right, it did take a while 😂
@@RobertRodriguezMusic I could not believe that it was still unpacking the one of the libraries that I started on Sunday so that being said it had been 24 hours just unpacking one of the 200 plus gig sounds files. I just broke down and ordered the SSD hard drive from EW. My download speed is good but the unpacking is crazy. It would have taken me a week plus easy to get the remaining 3 large sound files. Oh well I think it will be a good investment especially if the sounds will help me in my production projects.
Well, I enjoy orchestrating my compositions, even though i know I have far to go in terms of getting that polished, professional sound; I cannot afford Music School, that is for sure.
Sometimes, i feel i am trying to reinvent the wheel.
I agree, I personally think orchestrating is part of the process. At least having a basic understanding of the orchestra and other instruments can help you make decisions in your composition process.
There’s definitely plenty to learn but I think you get 1% better every time you orchestrate! Plus I learned a lot from the Samuel Adler Study of Orchestration book
This is very informative, Thank you ❤
Thank you so much! I hope you get to check out the orchestrator! 😃
I just whimsically tried something...Playing my Wireless Fishman Triple Play mounted guitar as a Midi Controller INTO OPUS/Orchestrator in Studio One 5.2. Works just as well with OPUS/Orchestrator in Standalone. Oh. My. GOD!
Woah.... theres some intriguing possibilities with that...
@@shayneoneill1506 Oh yeah! :)
@RobertRodriqgues Hi, I got the orchestration book 4th edition that you recommended but I found many of the online resources are missing for example : chapter 2 starts at 2:11 example instead of 2:1 . Do you have this as well??
Hey! I believe that typically the online examples would have an extra charge to go along with the access codes found in the book. I personally haven’t used the examples that often.
If you have access for the examples, I would definitely suggest reaching out to their support to see if they can fix that!
This is a game changer
Now has a hand button to drag MIDI into a sequencer
I love Opus, EW done an amazing job, and you've done amazing presentation of this...this is helping me to learn how to create my own writing, all epic music isn't just hiding behind an Metropolis 9 French horns.. Opus let you peak inside the articulations of various instruments, and the part they play to make up that full throttle sound. I learned that staccatos plays a huge part. And that you must treat each individual instrument separate, and not as a keyboard patch.. Thanks again..And what PC/laptop are you using.?. My PC 'bout had a stroke when I tried to play some of the scores..😂😂
Hey! I really appreciate the kind words! Sometimes it’s just so easy to play simple chords and get that Hans Zimmer sound but there are plenty of ways to innovate and add our own style!
And I’m using an iMac (late 2015). The specs aren’t great when you compare it to today’s standards but it gets the job done!
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Thanks Robert, and keep making music videos...
anyone found any problems using it with protools ??
How powerful is your system to run this thing? It would help to know that.
Mine is a Mac with an i5 quad core CPU and a 32gb ram. I actually don’t even find that the ram usage is too bad either.
The minimum system requirements seems to be quad core, 16 Gb of ram, and most likely an ssd drive that can hold the HW Orchestra Opus library
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Thanks for the reply. That's surprising. I thought it would use up much more resources than that. Good to know.
Thank you for the video. What midi controller do you use? I am looking to buy a new controller in the $ 200-300 range 49 keys any recommendation?
Hey! Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed!
I personally use the Nektar Impact LX88+ I’m a fan of the full 88 keys but that’s just preference. There are some basic 49 key controllers out there but they’re just around $100.
I would suggest either the Akai MPK249, The M-Audio Oxygen Pro 49, or the Komplete Kontrol A49! Mainly because these are companies that pretty consistently release good products. Plus these fall in your price range and they come with knobs/ faders which I find to be super useful!
I added them to my MIDI Keyboard Recommendations in the description if you wanna check them out! Hope that helps!
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Thank you. I will check them out.
Just goat it but do you Know how to split thé midi files ??
To put détails on each bécasse as you Said nobody want to plat the same way !!
If you find the way to split !
Thanks And good job !
👌👌👌
Thank you! Seems like there’s a way to send the different instruments to different aux tracks but i didn’t find it to be useful at all. EW support says there’s no official way to actually export MIDI files unfortunately!
Logic would need to support midi tracks that can record the midi input from the opus output.
a very similar engine to sonuscore's the orchestra complete
Definitely! They collaborated with EW on this one. It’s also very similar to their Native Instruments Action Strikes collaboration!
How do you export the midi data?
I heard from EW support and they said that right now Logic doesn’t support MIDI export!
How many gig is the opus engine and orchestrator? Also does it have smaller libraries... I'm in Africa so I don't have unlimited internet here... We pay per gig. Pls advice
Like.... If I subscribe with 29 dollars for just a month.. What can I do with 20 gig internet data on eastwest
I know that the Gold edition is around 242 gigs and the Diamond edition is around 944 gigs but those are the sizes of the sample libraries to download. Im unsure of how much it would consume of your internet data
I reached out to EW support asking about the MIDI export feature and it turns out some DAWs don’t currently support that option, Logic included! Hopefully this changes soon!
Did they say which DAWs do support it?
@@leiawen1313 Nothing specific but they said that the DAW’s MIDI track needs to be able to record MIDI input from the plug-in’s (Opus) output! I do know Cubase can do this but I’m not sure about others
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Thanks. I'm using Reaper so I'll have to test it out. :)
@@leiawen1313 I asked EW about it as well, and they said it works in "Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Protools... any DAW that can create a simple midi track and then set it to receive Midi from Opus will work."
Just a heads up, they got the software from Sonuscore who created The Orchestra 2, which this is built upon. You can export the midi files out for each voice. But all it is is a complex series of Arpegiators and envelopes. It can be set up in any daw :)
I’m surprised it’s taken so long. All these preorchestrated phrases when these companies have recorded sometimes multiple full orchestra libraries. I don’t think it stops the need for an orchestrater because they still need to know how to have it all work for a real orchestra to play. I certainly would never trust anything like this to just print out and hope it works
How big was this download?
Hi Jake! The Gold edition (which is what I used in the video) was around 250 gigs.
Since then I’ve upgrade to the Diamond edition, which is around 950 gigs.
They do have an option where you can download specific articulations or instruments if you want to save space/ download time
I think it's decent start for mockups. But sound wise isn't as polished as a Spitfire product. Just being realistic but it's a package for sure...
Years ago I went from the EW composer cloud to a lot of the SFA stuff and the ease of use/quality of sound was amazing! It’s such a treat to go back to EW now because it has a distinct sound to it. It just needs a lot more work to get it how I like
@@RobertRodriguezMusic Work flow is a must have neatness, that's something I look for easy friendly products otherwise you can stay an eternity polishing. Also SPA has products such you can split voicings amongst your strings sections, imperative.
In you you can split out the individual instruments into midi tracks and use tour own samples. This is a biggie!
Have orchestrators been replaced?
If a professional working orchestrator in the film/tv music world would orchestrate like the Opus Engine does, he/she would get fired immediately. And that's the truth.
Does it use kontakt?
The Opus engine is a standalone engine that replaces Kontakt (similar to Play) but is specific to EastWest. It seems like for now, the orchestrator only comes with the purchase of the Opus Edition library
what key board are you using and is it weighted?
Hey! I’m using the Nektar Impact LX88+ and it’s semi-weighted. I’ve had mine for years and love it (though it can be a bit clunky). I have a link for it in the description if you wanna check it out!
Very kind of you to respond, are there any places you know of where you can get up front hands on training in like a classroom type of involvement.? You should give seminars...
Any chance to do a vid on the MIDI out feature? This might help us with other libraries if we can just ultimately deal with MIDI in our DAW.
I reached out to EW support! Hoping they can give an answer soon because I’d love to export the MIDI (since I’m in Logic)
Thanks so much! I might try it for one month to see how it stacks up to The Orchestra 2 for that feature. Great video and keep up the fabulous work!
@@melodikmusic Thank you! Yeah definitely give it a shot. I’m using the CC subscription which is totally worth it just to give it a try!
Hi Robert! Thanks for your video. Excited about this one.
I'm always a bit hesitant with major updates like this one because of my ongoing projects right now. Can you confirm that nothing has changed in your older projects with the PLAY Hollywood Orchestra? So no complicated sample location errors and so on?
And, apart from the orchestrator, do you think the samples have been improved compared to the old edition? Always worked with diamond by the way.
Thanks!
As far as I can tell, it hasn’t affected any of my older projects! But I’m 100% am on board, just to be safe, I’d back up and reach out to support if anything. So far, it’s been great!
Samples are definitely great! It’s not necessarily an update on the older libraries but rather an extension. Being able to switch back and forth between Soft, Classic, and Epic has been amazing!
There have been teething problems for some users. Early days, to be expected. I'd advocate holding off till your between projects as you will have to update your templates
Is this really any different from standalone arranger workstations ??
Great video, just to let you know apparently there is an export midi function with the orchestrator, massive plus if you have a lot of other libraries. I've just contacted support to ask where is this golden function hiding (it says on the website page that there is a midi export function).
If that’s the case then my mind is blown even more than it already was! Now I gotta go looking for it.
Also, thank you for the heads up!
You're welcome.
Here's a quote from East West about the midi export: 'You can play the presets into your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), or export them to your DAW using MIDI export. With MIDI export, you can record complete passages with any Orchestrator preset with all data as MIDI regions. This enables you to adjust your recorded composition and change notes at any time as if you created these in your DAW.'
@@theinvitation1198 I found a way (for Cubase). I made a quick and dirty tuto on my Channel to help! feel free to check
Excellent video
Also pls explain how the midi files are transferred to logic individually for all the instruments for tweeking and editing
Thanks for the kind words!
Apparently EW says that there’s a midi export feature so I’m playing around in Logic now to see how to do so! If we can get the orchestration to come out as MIDI data, then I think this is a complete game changer!
@@RobertRodriguezMusic I have also spent most of today trying to work this out in Logic and Studio One! Great Video.
@@RobertRodriguezMusic I have also spent most of today trying to work this out in Logic and Studio One! Great Video.
Insta-sub. Great vid. Cheers.
Thank you so much! 😁
Better than Spitfire Audio?
I’m hesitant to say better but definitely different! These EW samples are very lush and roomy. (you can adjust the mics with the diamond edition)
⚠️WARNING⚠️ Using the iCloud option is deadly to your projects. The iCloud service is actually a trap that holds all of your East West subscription related projects hostage. Once your subscription service ends, all of your subscription based downloads stop working. That means all the sounds you used for all of your music projects that require the subscription service will stop working. All of my cinematic music projects are 100% East West virtual instruments. I can’t afford to loose years works when I leave the subscription based service. Worse yet, what happens to your projects when they go out of business? What happens when you no longer have internet service?
So, actually purchasing your sound library, rather then renting them, is truly the best way to go if you don’t want your East West based cinematic music projects to be held hostage year after year.
Nowhere on their website, or affiliate websites, do they warn you, the consumer about this. NOW YOU KNOW.
🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹
Wow this is super informative! I'd be a FOOL not to subscribe.
It’s cool to build quick ideas. But mostly, I see it as a crutch. Better to learn these techniques on your own as you grow. I personally see it more as a gimmick.
I think you are asking an wrong question
This is comparable with playing a keyboard with accompaniment functions vs real piano playing. Awesome software for not learning how to orchestrate. Awesome software for spreading more generic mainstream film score music.
Definitely, I think the presets sound exciting out of the box but if we all have the exact same presets that we go to, then we sound exactly the same as the next person. I think we need to hold ourselves accountable for actually learning orchestration techniques and not getting too comfortable with what it gives us
This has a very synth sound when trying to do something complex; more so than other libraries. It's a good price for people new to VST, since they get the whole orchestra.
The price of this is now way down and the number of presets has over doubled.
Eastwest is great but beware once purchased items can’t be sold and licenses are non transferable it’s not an Ilok thing it’s their thing.You will be stuck with whatever you buy from them even if you don’t like it.
Im scared