Cubase Expression Map list for importing into Cakewalk.

[Steve Harder]

Let's start a list of sources for Cubase Expression Maps.  It is important to note that some expression maps are sold by private creators and should not be shared.  But many sample library publishers provide free downloads of Cubase expression maps.  And I'll be the first to admit that I have very little actual experience with expression maps.  Some of the Cubase articulation map sources may turn out to be dead ends.  But if our community comes together and shares knowledge we can all make a big jump forward in our use of Cakewalk.

 

Spitfire (not tested)  https://spitfireaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006315094-List-of-Expression-Maps

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Arpegiah with lots of EastWest (tested) https://arpegiah.com/expression-maps/  Downloaded the Hollywood Brass, you get attributes and effects and they work.  You do get 2 directories, one is Attribute and other is Direction, Cakewalk uses Direction.  Check out the Custom maps section at bottom of page.  Lots of info on using multis in Play and Kontakt.  The vstpreset files are not useable by Cakewalk. Yes, the daw mentioned is Cubase, but all the articulation content can be used in Cakewalk. All the maps I have downloaded from this page have been very useful.  Tons of EastWest, Albion One, Metropolis Ark 3, Cinematic Strings 2, Strummed Acoustic Guitar, Cinebrass Core, Orchestral Tools.

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Steinberg with Chris Hein, Cinematic Strings, Cinesamples, Eastwest, Garritan, Orchestral Tools, Project Sam, VSL  (not tested)  https://www.steinberg.net/en/support/content_and_accessories/expression_maps_for_vst_expression.html

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Another good and expanding resource for articulation map usage.

Nico Schuele

Composingtips.com, his new website to complement his Youtube channel.

Nico is uploading a number of the Cubase expression maps that he uses as a professional composer.

Composingtips.com asks that you create an account to download files.

I've tested both the Play ewi files and imported the Cubase expression maps.  All works 100%.  Bingo, you are up and running with a full string ensemble contained in 5 instances of Play.

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BBCSO Core (not tested) https://bit.ly/bbcso-core-expmaps

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If you own VSL products then login into your account on vsl.co.at and look in My Downloads, Notation Related to see if maps are listed for your product. (not tested)

 

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BabylonWaves for Spitfire BBCSO Discover (tested, see note) https://www.babylonwaves.com/2020/05/07/free-art-conductor-for-spitfire-bbcso-discovery/  First articulation in every instrument is blank, you create an entry for it based on Midi Events you find in articulation editor for other articulations in that instrument.

And BabylonWaves sells Art Conductor for $70. Huge collection of pre-made expression maps for Cubase.

Nov 13 2020 BabylonWaves will soon release Art Conductor for Cakewalk.  This will be big help for users getting started in art maps.

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https://rivetedstudios.com/downloads-expressionmaps/  (not tested) an interesting mix of sample libraries

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This is a link to discussion of a universal articulation manager that runs in Excel.  It is another opportunity to jump start from the work of others.  https://vi-control.net/community/threads/universal-daw-articulation-manager.95959/

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Detailed discussion re Hollywood Brass and a HW keyswitched patches.

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Most Cinesample libraries can be converted from the default velocity control of articulations to keyswitch.  Go to Mapping page and select Keyswitch where you normally tweak velocity that selects articulation.

Edited November 13, 2020 by Steve Harder
additional info

[Noel Borthwick]

We tested the VSL maps and the Vienna folks have had early access to this build of CbB for some time as well.

[msmcleod]

There's a couple of collections of Cubase expression maps in github:

https://github.com/r-koubou/ArticulationMappingFiles
https://github.com/mvy/symseries-exprmap
 

[Maestro]

I'm going to build some for Miroslav Philharmonic 2, but they'll likely be Cubase Pro 10.5 Expression Maps.  I don't want to start in a "non-portable" format (rather fix in Cakewalk than build again from scratch in Cubase).

I'm not sure the extent of the compatibility, but I'll upload them for sharing after I get the Ensembles done, and add the Solo Instruments as I finish them.

Unless someone has some available on the internet for download.

I'll probably just start a new thread for them.  I don't use GitHub, so I'll just link on OneDrive and someone can mirror if they want.

[Feral State Sound]

I am testing this with the free Spitfire BBCSO Discover and is working https://www.babylonwaves.com/2020/05/07/free-art-conductor-for-spitfire-bbcso-discovery/

Did someone try if it works to switch between "Attribute" (single notes) and "Direction"? In my case both expression maps seem to have the "Direction" behaviour.

[Steve Harder]

15 minutes ago, Feral State Sound said:

Did someone try if it works to switch between "Attribute" (single notes) and "Direction"? In my case both expression maps seem to have the "Direction" behaviour.

I took a guess in this other thread.

I'm about to reach the "trying to drink from a firehose" stage as I dive into expression maps.  The capability to import Cubase maps really turned on the flow.

[Maestro]

I'm going to wait until this gets out of EA, as I'm having a ton of issues getting Cakewalk to reliably trigger the Key switches for Miroslav.  The Expression Map I built for Cubase works properly, but the Cakewalk Articulation Map does not function identically.  Half the Articulations do not trigger.   I did built the Cakewalk Articulation Map from Scratch (it's not an imported Cubase Expression Map).

Some Key Switches trigger, but others do nothing.  The sample player doesn't seem to be the issue, as it works properly when Cubase uses a map to switch articulations in the same manner.

Ugh.  I built the entire Philharmonik 1 and 2 Solo and Ensemble Strings Articulation Maps (from scratch) before I noticed this issue ? 

[msmcleod]

7 hours ago, Maestro said:

I'm going to wait until this gets out of EA, as I'm having a ton of issues getting Cakewalk to reliably trigger the Key switches for Miroslav.  The Expression Map I built for Cubase works properly, but the Cakewalk Articulation Map does not function identically.  Half the Articulations do not trigger.   I did built the Cakewalk Articulation Map from Scratch (it's not an imported Cubase Expression Map).

Some Key Switches trigger, but others do nothing.  The sample player doesn't seem to be the issue, as it works properly when Cubase uses a map to switch articulations in the same manner.

Ugh.  I built the entire Philharmonik 1 and 2 Solo and Ensemble Strings Articulation Maps (from scratch) before I noticed this issue ? 

@Maestro - can you post (or PM) a small project that demonstrates this so we can get to the bottom of it?

[Nigel Mackay]

On 10/24/2020 at 1:51 PM, msmcleod said:

There's a couple of collections of Cubase expression maps in github:

https://github.com/r-koubou/ArticulationMappingFiles
https://github.com/mvy/symseries-exprmap
 

The ones at r-koubou don't import. No error message. Nothing happens.

[msmcleod]

3 hours ago, Nigel Mackay said:

The ones at r-koubou don't import. No error message. Nothing happens.

Yeah, I noticed that... we'll be releasing a fix for that shortly.

[Sergei Pilin]

Would be cool to have a place on the forum for exchanging user made articulation maps. Here's one I made for Modo bass. So much easier to make more realistic performances now, thanks Bandlab.

Modo Bass.artmap

[Nigel Mackay]

3 minutes ago, Sergei Pilin said:

Would be cool to have a place on the forum for exchanging user made articulation maps. Here's one I made for Modo bass. So much easier to make more realistic performances now, thanks Bandlab.

Modo Bass.artmap 5.25 kB · 0 downloads

Yes, a dedicated forum would be better tan having to store a link to this topic.

 

[Steve Harder]

1 hour ago, Nigel Mackay said:

cool to have a place on the forum for exchanging user made articulation maps

I just dropped a request for this into the Early Access forum.  

[Maestro]

8 hours ago, msmcleod said:

@Maestro - can you post (or PM) a small project that demonstrates this so we can get to the bottom of it?

 

I think the issue is the default Velocity being 0 causes some KS to not activate.  Changing the Velocity to e.g. 10 fixes the issue.

[Nigel Mackay]

I have created an articulation map for Ample Sound Guitars. It should work with any of their guitars.

Adding Orange Tree Samples Evolution series.

Ample Sound Guitars have been updated.

Ample Ukulele added.

Here is the link.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Nigel Mackay
More info

[Steve Harder]

You can learn a lot about using multis in Play or Kontakt with articulation maps at https://arpegiah.com/expression-maps/

Check out the Custom maps section at bottom of page.  Yes, the daw mentioned is Cubase, but all the articulation content can be used in Cakewalk.  The vstpreset files are not useable in Cakewalk, but looking at the Directions articulations give you a general idea of how to proceed in setting up multis.

The files in the upper section can be imported into Cakewalk, use the Directions dir.

All the maps I have downloaded from this page have been very useful.  Tons of EastWest, Albion One, Metropolis Ark 3, Cinematic Strings 2, Strummed Acoustic Guitar, Cinebrass Core, Orchestral Tools.

Edited October 27, 2020 by Steve Harder

[Maestro]

Miroslav Philharmonik 2

Strings Multis (Ensemble and Solo)

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AmZh3zp9ZRufgrZQYk5hi7w74izvwg?e=e5ioOM

I will  do Brass tomorrow, and the Woodwinds the day after.

These are Cubase Expression Maps, not Cakewalk Articulation Maps.  You will have to Import them.  Since I use Cubase Pro as my main DAW (Cakewalk is a backup), I prefer creating these maps in that format and then importing to Cakewalk, in lieu of starting out with a non-portable Articulation Maps format.

Next week, I'll probably get around to doing the Legacy Philharmonik 1 Multis - for the sake of thoroughness.

NOTE:  These expression maps are for people using the Multis (Larger Patches with Key Switches), not for people loading up multiple individual patches  to map different articulations to different MIDI channels.   I'd literally have to create Multis myself and share them just to make sure the MIDI Channels would be mapped correctly when anyone else uses them, otherwise I could never "assume" what order you load the patches into the sampler (and therefore, what MIDI Channels are assigned to the patches).  That is too much work for charity  

Things of notice:

1. Text for Articulations maps 1:1 with what is displayed in the Philharmonik 2 Plugin/Standalone.
   1. The Names and Description or all Articulations are set to what is displayed in the Plugin. 
   2. The names of the Expression Maps match the name of the patches as displayed in the Plugin, as well. 
   3. No Special (i.e. Scoring) Symbols are used because I do not know how these would display in Cakewalk.
      1. Example:  "Esprsvo" instead of "Espressivo," and the use of a common instead of a period in decimal numbers (i.e. 0,5 vs. 0.5)
2. All Articulations are "Direction."  I didn't use Attribute for anything, as the Developers have stated that CbB Articulations map more closely to Cubase Pro Direction Articulation Type.
3. For Ensemble Patches, the "Multi" and "Multi + 1st" are identical except in name. 
   1. I decided to keep this and distribute two Expression maps because  this can serve as an aid to see what is available in the orchestral library without expanding tons of sections in the browser. 
   2. The Expression Maps are very small files, so there is no loss in doing this. 
   3. End user can delete the "Multi + 1st" Maps if they don't want them.
4. I provide no support for these Expression Maps. Don't even ask me questions about them.
5. I recommend putting them in a "Philharmonik 2" subfolder, particularly if you're going to want to get the  Philharmonik 1 Maps, when available. 
   1. Otherwise, you may have to deal with duplicate file names, since I name the Expression Maps after the Patches as they are named in the Sampler Plugin.

When I finish the Brass and Woodwinds, they will be uploaded in Archives to the same link.

After Woodwinds is uploaded, the link will be set to expire in one week.  Someone else can mirror if they want.

[Maestro]

Update:  Miroslav Philharmonik 2 Brass Expression Maps (All Solo and Ensemble Multis) have been uploaded.

There were quite a few Multis, so the ZIP file contains Ensemble and Solo Folders.  There are no duplicates with different names in this archive, so don't delete anything if you want everything.

Same link.

Will try to get the Woodwinds done later today.

Not sure when I'm going to do the Philharmonic 1 patches.  They are legacy, so not exactly high priority, and if I'm going to be honest... I'm need a bit of a break after I finish the MP2 Multis ? 

Again...  These are Cubase Expression Maps, so you will have to import them into Cakewalk by BandLab.

If anyone wants to convert these and update an Archive of the Cakewalk  Articulation Maps, for ease of use, feel free!

Edited October 29, 2020 by Maestro

[Steve Harder]

3 hours ago, Maestro said:

If anyone wants to convert these and update an Archive of the Cakewalk  Articulation Maps, for ease of use, feel free!

Thank you for all the work you have done on these.  I don't have these libraries but the point is that if we all put time and energy into creating for libraries we do have the entire Cakewalk community will benefit.

I will download and archive for later posting on an articulation library that I'm hoping the forum moderators create, attributed to you.

[Maestro]

Update:  Miroslav 2 Philharmonik Solo and Ensemble Woodwinds Expression Maps complete

I've replaced the archive in OneDrive with a single archive that contains all of the Expression Maps.  The expression maps are organized into a folder structure that should be self-explanatory.

I've looked through the Philharmonik 1 instruments and there are a few that I want to create maps for (Flugelhorn, Choirs, etc.), so I'll probably get to those over the weekend.  The choir has like 20 key switches, and my fingers are triggered by that, right now.  So much clicking and typing! Just a few of the instruments that aren't in Philharmonik 2, but are relevant and useful.  Not sure I will do the entire legacy library ?