Jerry Gerber

I have figured out all the routing with the TotalMix FX software.   What really bewildered me for a few minutes was the loopback feature, but once I understood it all is well.

There is still one minor issue I am having.   I am running a high quality digital cable between the AES XLR digital IN of the UFX II to a CD player that has an SPDIF output.  The sound is fine, but the green light on the panel of the UFX II is flashing, telling me that the sync is not locked. 

Can this be resolved by getting a digital cable that has XLR AES on both ends (or an XLR to RCA adaptor)?  The CD player also has an XLR AES digital output.

If this won't stop the flashing green light I'd rather not spend $75 for a high quality cable.   But if it stops the flashing I will get it.  It might be that the CD player (a TASCAM CD-500B) just doesn't have the capability to sync lock to word clock no matter how I connect it to the UFX II.

Thank you!

Jerry

3 minutes ago, scook said:

Try using the friendly name Enhancements for input and output port names feature introduced in 2021.06 to rename the ports.

Oh, yes, I know about those and have been using them since they were introduced. 

It's the actual names of the drivers that are associated with ADAT or analog; what does ADAT or analog have to do with the signal coming in and out of the computer via USB?

It seems that I'm also limited to only 15 pairs of stereo outputs, I use a lot of soft synths and would not mind a few more. 

3 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

@Jerry Gerber how’s the transition to the UFX II coming along?

t

Perfect! I spent all of yesterday unwiring the 1248 and wiring the UFX ii. Everything went smoothly other than my unfamiliarity with TotalMix software. 

The sound is a little more "crisp", a bit more detailed than the 1248 and the software is definitely easier to work with. 

I'm still confused about the way RME names their drivers, I definitely could use some explanation. 

Thank you for asking Tom.. 

Jerry 

2 hours ago, timboalogo said:

This is an excellent piece of work Jerry. You've got an amazing talent for orchestral work! This is such a complicated piece to produce, can you tell us how you put it together?

Hi Timbo,

Sure, thanks for asking!  First, since is the 2nd movement of a longer work, I decide which elements (if any) I use from the 1st movement.  In this case I ended the 1st movement on C# with a recognizable motive in the cellos and basses and used that to begin the 2nd movement in a different tempo, and including 8 soft synths; there are no synths in the 1st movement.

In choosing the synth timbres the first thing I do is decide which synths I want in the piece, in this case I chose Dune and Zebra.  Then, I go through the laborious work of listening to dozens of synth patches, some of my own and some factory patches, to see which ones I want in the piece.  I chose 4 instances (timbres or patches) from Dune and 4 from Zebra. Sometimes a patch will need light editing, often adding cc's to control the release time and the delay cutoff time.

Then I choose the orchestration, in this case a modest sized ensemble of 4 horns, trumpet, percussion, synths  and string section from the Vienna Symphonic Orchestral Cube library.  Then I begin composing.  For me, I never have a particular form in mind when I write.  I believe that form grows from content, every measure I write determines what comes next.  Even in song form I never think "verse, chorus, bridge, etc.", but rather let the music determine the form.   This allows for more experimentation, and doesn't lock me into trying to fit music into a pre-existing mold. 

The composing continues until I feel I've said everything I want to say in the piece.  I do usually have some idea how long I want the piece or movement to be, in this case I set a parameter of between 5 and 7 minutes, I think it's about 5:30.

I do all of my composing in Cakewalk's staff view, and all cc programming in the event list and controllers view.  I also use tempo view a lot when inserting tempo changes, ritards and accelerandos.

After the composing is complete I send a Cakewalk MIDI file type 1 over to Sibelius and create the score.  The last step, before rendering to a stereo wave file is to go over the event list details of every track looking for errors and unnecessary programming.

I master in Cakewalk and use EQ, Dynamic EQ, sometimes I'll use the Ozone exciter or the Sonnox Inflator.  I usually also make use of volume envelopes once the stereo wave file is recorded to match sections dynamically.

That's it!  The devil's in the details, so the more MIDI programming I do (attack times, release times, velocity, note lengths, cc11s, etc), the better it begins to sound.

I hope this is helpful in your music.

Best,

Jerry

On 7/16/2022 at 11:33 AM, bjornpdx said:

Norway

I got back from Sweden and Norway a couple of weeks ago with thousands of pictures and videos of fjords and villages and churches etc etc. I was going to jump in and make a music video from my Norway images, but I came down with Covid a day after I returned. Until a couple of days ago I felt like crap - coughing and nausea and fever, but the worst was a sore throat that discouraged eating and drinking.
And yeah, I'm fully vaccinated but I think I got the newer variant that manages to get by the vaccine.
Hope you're all doing okay.

-Bjorn

 

I really enjoyed that Bjorn.  The music goes well with the beautiful images. It makes me want to get on a plane and go to Norway.  It's exquisitely beautiful.  On the other hand, I am very sorry to hear about your experience with COVID.  That is exactly what makes me not want to get on a plane and go anywhere.

Thanks for posting! I hope you fully recover!

Best,
Jerry
 

22 hours ago, scook said:

I don't have a UFX but on my Babyface Pro there are two types of i/o ports with names like

1+2 ASIO Fireface USB Analog 1 (1) and 5+6 ASIO Fireface USB Adat (1)

reported in CbB.

The Analog i/o are the 1/4" and XLR ports on the interface.

The interface also has a connection for an ADAT device so these are listed in CbB even though I have no ADAT device connected to the Babyface.

I used Totalmix to setup one of the ADAT connections as a loopback connection to the DAW.

 

I'll learn more when I get it set up.   The MOTU 1248 shows up in Cakewalk  as only the USB channels that allows for playback/recording and softsynths, although I can still send audio out the analog ports of the 1248.  It seems like a naming issue, that's all.

Thanks Scook.

22 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

Yes, very nicely in fact. 
t

Wonderful!  Can't wait to set it up and resume writing and recording with it..

Thanks Tom.

Hi Tom!

I purchased the UFX II today.  I'm busy studying the manual and images of TotalMix FX to learn it as quickly as possible.

I saw an image online of Cakewalk's audio device menu with an RME interface and I thought it strange that the USB device channels were listed something like "RME analog 1".    I have no idea what USB data, whether going in or out to Cakewalk, has to do with the analog hardware ins or outs of the UFX II.   Hmm...

TotalMix FX looks fairly easy to learn.  Can't wait till it arrives...

I never switch sample rates so I probably would not have even noticed that.

But all in all, does it play nicely with Cakewalk?  

Thanks,

Jerry

i am considering purchasing the RME UFX II audio interface.   Can anyone around here share their experience using this interface with Cakewalk?  I've been using the MOTU 1248 for 4 years but Iike TotalMix software better.  I also hear a lot of great things about the UFX II's mic preamps..

Thanks,

Jerry

Thanks for listening bdickens!

I finished the 2nd movement today.  I love working with softsynths, particularly in combination with orchestral samples.  This movement is scored for 4 horns, trumpet, timpani, tambourine, cymbal, glockenspiel, celeste, 4 instances of Dune, 4 instances of Zebra and strings (1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellos and basses).

I hope you find it interesting!  Since I finished the producing today, you people are the first in the world to hear it, it's a world premier!   😁

PLAY

Jerry

On 7/25/2022 at 6:42 AM, Bajan Blue said:

Jerry - this is great, really enjoyed listening to this

Cheers

Nigel

 

Thank for taking time to listen Nigel!

Jerry

A short piece on my album Virtual Harmonics.

PLAY

Jerry

This is a short piece on my album Virtual Harmonics.

PLAY

Jerry

For those music lovers who don't want to buy full albums, I now have downloads, either high-resolution wave files or mp3, available on my site.  Every track from every album I've produced is there.   Click here to browse!

Critical reviews from music journals and online music magazines are here.

And, for those music students and other curious people, scores to nearly all my works are available on each individual CD page at no charge.  The link to my CD catalog is here.

If you have any question, please ask!

Jerry

It was just announced that in my area a midget fortune-teller escaped from prison.  Everyone should be on the lookout for a small medium at large.

My doctor told me the bad news today--I have been diagnosed with kleptomania.  But I'm not worried, as I'm taking something for it..

6 hours ago, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

Yes, many thanks for this Jerry.  A completely different approach to any I have seen previously, I can understand now how you get so much expression.

Next time I need to write some strings I'll try this approach for sure.

I added a few more tips that may help to get the most expressive performances for your compositions. (see above post)

21 hours ago, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

Interesting Jerry thanks, it's rare to find someone expert in all this that uses Cakewalk too. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on  the best way to switch articulations ?  I see some folks using key switches, yet others insert a new instrument per articulation and manually place the notes on the relevant midi track.  I guess now there are folks who use the articulation lane now too but I've yet to try that.

I sometimes need to add strings parts to a piece so I bought a dedicated controller with 2 x programmable CC faders. I set one to modulation and the other to expression. I try to use them with my left hand playing the part with my right ( as per a Youtube tutorial by Marc Jovani )  and whilst it generates a lot of CC events they don't seem particularly easy to manipulate/edit on the PRV in Cakewalk compared to using the draw tool on an automation lane  within the track view instead.      

Well, I don't know if it would be the best way for you, as everyone works differently with DAWs.   I do almost all of my programming in the event list.  When I need to insert a program change or a CC change I do it very quickly in the event list.   The VSL library uses a horizontal and vertical grid that has up to 12 cells in each grid, each cell controls a set of samples.   I also use the controllers view frequently when deleting cc7s or cc11s if I have to re-think those.   And finally, all of my actual composing, in contrast to cc editing is done in the notation editor.

So, if I have a note that begins with a legato patch, I'll program 1 tick before the note (always put the note 1 tick AFTER all of your patch and cc programming to make sure that the note is affected by those controls!) 

patch change = 3 (in my case I use actual names that I program in Cakewalk's instrument section)

cc11 =  96 (track volume at that point in time (I use cc7 for overall track volume)

cc18 =  attack time

cc19 = release time

cc22 = which articulation VSL will call up, for example within the pizz patch there's normal pizz, snap pizz, etc.

cc33 = same as cc22 except this control the next row of cells if there is one

cc44 = this changes dynamic patches from soft to loud to loud to soft

There's a few more I use but not often.   And then there's every note's velocity, location relative to the beat and the note's length--very important to get proper "phrase-shaping" so that the notes you want accented really are and also to create strong and weak beats. Finally, the connection between notes is as important as the notes themselves when it comes to phrasing.   Selecting the best sample set for the passage is the first issue, once you do that you can fine tune the phrase with the techniques I mentioned.  Remember that with MIDI if one note overlaps (is longer than it's default time) into another note of the same pitch, the 2nd note won't sound.  In that case, instead of increasing the note length of the first note, extend the release time or choose another sample. 

I attached a screenshot of the event list so you can see an example of what I am referring to.

I hope this helps.  
 

Event List Example.docx

7 hours ago, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

Great work , impressive use of orchestration - it's not easy to get these orchestral sample libraries to sound realistic, you must have bee working overtime with the expression controllers and articulations ?  If I have one slight nitpick those cymbals at the start sound too loud to me , they kinda jump out of the mix like the guy playing them is stood right next to the conductor.   Out of interest which orchestral libraries do you use ?  There's so many of them to choose from these days.

Could totally hear it used against planetarium type footage but last I heard NASA had a deal with Killer Trax ( part of Universal ) for their production music. I remember reading about it somewhere a few years ago but they are notoriously difficult to get accepted into as a writer.  A lot of these big corporate entities like NASA won't be inclined  to do direct licensing deals with individuals  because they need everything locked down and pre-cleared to indemnify themselves as far as the license goes and possibly mixed / mastered in some sort of immersive format for replay in a venue like a planetarium .  Also If you write for one of the bigger publishers like Universal or Warner Chappel they will usually take your mock up and re-record some or all of it with an actual orchestra and do their own mix & master so it sounds as good as it possibly can.

Really impressive though, I hope you can get as many sets of ears on it as possible - I'm sure some of the production music houses would be open to listening to your work.

  

Hi Mark,

I've long said that MIDI makes a lot possible, but not necessarily easy.  MIDI controllers are the key to creating an expressive "performance".  I do spend a lot of time with controllers, it's all about detail, detail, detail.   Particularly important are note attacks and release, and, of course, choosing the best sample-set for the phrase in the first place.  Paying attention to velocities. tempos and strong and weak beats is necessary to create a convincing MIDI performance.   The more programming you do, the better it will sound.   If something bothers your ear, fix it.  Do not gloss over it.  Fix and improve every little detail that isn't right.   

My library-of-choice is the Vienna Symphonic Library Orchestral Cube.  It has about 764,000 24-bit samples and I doubt I will ever need or want any other library.  It's fantastic.  I use it with MIR, which is an incredible spatial convolution reverb that lets me place instruments where I want in the stereo field.   There are a lot of libraries available now.   It's more about one's skill as a composer/orchestrator/producer than it is what library you use.  There are many good libraries now on the market.  

I haven't found a need to use Cakewalk's articulations as of yet.  I've looked at them but cannot see how they'd save me any time based on how fast I work and how well-established my sequencing habits are.   But who knows, perhaps in the future I may find a way to make use of them. 

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this movement.  I know I am asking a lot of a person's time, but always hope that the listener finds that their time was well-spent.

Jerry

On 7/16/2022 at 7:44 PM, bjornpdx said:

Hi Jerry
I've been duly impressed seeing the images from the James Webb Telescope lately and now listening to your music (and also being duly impressed) I thought wouldn't that be cool to combine the two into a symphonic video?  Don't know if you're into "planetarium" music but might be something to think about.
Always a fan
-Bjorn

Well Bjorn, you've inspired me to contact NASA, so I did.  They generally use more pop-style music in their video productions, but, who knows, maybe they'll be open to the kind of music I write.    The images from Webb are stunning, particularly the 1st one of the multitudes of galaxies some 13 billion light-years away.   What a mind-blowing universe we live in.   It truly boggles the mind..

I'm not going into many studios these days because I was recently diagnosed with kleptomania.   I am taking something for it.  😁 

Best,

Jerry

6 hours ago, Max Arwood said:

Very nice !  Hope that gets you a little boost!  I’ve always loved your work. 
Max Arwood

Thanks Max!

Thanks for listening and commenting Andy and Bajan..

I recently was interviewed by Colin Clarke of Fanfare Magazine.  Here it is for those interested:

Fanfare Classical Music magazine has been doing a series of interviews and reviews of my albums. Here's one of the interviews with Colin Clarke:

https://www.jerrygerber.com/fanfareinterviewcolinclarke.htm

Thanks everyone for listening to this new movement.  I'm busy composing the 2nd movement, will post when I am ready.

Best,

Jerry

Hey everyone,

I've been taking a break from posting music on forums for a few months to focus on new composition.

I recently finished the 1st movement of my 12th symphony.  I know, according to legend, I'm supposed to be dead after writing my 9th, but since I'm not dead yet I'm still at work!

This movement has a wide dynamic range and starts softly so keep that in mind when adjusting your listening volume. 

Made with love in Cakewalk!

PLAY

Jerry