MIDI Orchestral Template + tools

[sadicus]

A page to host advice tips/tricks for organizing large instrument sets.

• Key Switch Drum Maps for EWQ SO KS by: FrankieC
  http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1965558
• NI - Kontakt 5 Sibelius Sound Set
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Edited July 17, 2019 by sadicus

[Mánibranðr Studios]

Load a synth, set up audio and MIDI tracks, put it all in a track folder, setting a unified colour scheme would help. Then right-click the track folder and save as track template. If you have keyswitches, also include separate MIDI tracks pointing to the same channels they pertain to.

[sadicus]

 

New Cbb project (no tracks)
trk1 = default settings: Insert Simple Instrument track
trk1 = default settings: Insert Simple Instrument track
Kontakt 5
K5 ch1 = chocolate lover
K5ch2 = panda massacre
 
After setting up the correct midi channels in Kontakt,
In Cbb, just stay selected on track 1, and use the A-300 pro Value Dial to change the MIDI Channel then play the keyboard.
(in this example change from 1 to 2 and hear the different sample in Kontakt5)
* using this method by Jose7822 http://forum.cakewalk.com/Orchestral-Template-m2087571.aspx
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Kontakt must be in the for-ground in order for the [MIDI Controller] to effect any Kontakt Dials
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Cbb + EWQL - PLAY version or Kontakt

Insert it as a Simple Instrument Track in Sonar
Multiple instances of EWQL - PLAY
Each Instrument Track hosts all the articulations (up to 16) for that particular instrument
organize them all in folders based on their instrumental family.  This way everything is kept clean, with the least amount of tracks possible.
 

Trigger each articulation
load them up into separate MIDI channels in PLAY
Use the Event Inspector in Cbb to change MIDI note channels. 
For example, say for the "Violin I" instance  only needs 3 articulations; Legato, Spiccato and Tremolo. 
Each of these would have their own MIDI channel in sequence; Legato

(MIDI ch1), Spiccato
(MIDI ch2) and Tremolo
(MIDI ch3). 

Then select the Legato notes and, via the Event Inspector change their MIDI channels to correspond with the articulation needed. 
This gives the ability to work with one track per orchestral instrument and see all their notes from one MIDI track. 
The Multi-out method would use 1 Audio and 3 MIDI tracks, for a total of 4 tracks, just for one instrument.

There are many more benefits to working this way, including not having to use keyswitch notes to change articulations, which potentially clutter your PRV as well as your score if you need to print your work.  It spreads up the CPU load more evenly than housing all your articulations into 4 or 5 instances of PLAY/Kontakt.  It's easy to mix your project since each instrument has its own track, so any effects or automation used will only apply to that instrument and not several of them.
 

There are two ways, the method used will be based on how the "layered" articulations are being handled.

Method 1
Used if you want to always use the supporting or "layered" articulation in conjunction with another, then all you do is assign it the same MIDI channel.  EWQL - PLAY, Viola1 and Viola 2 will be triggered simultaneously every time a MIDI note that was assigned that MIDI channel is played.  As an example, you could use this technique on 'Staccato Trumpets' and 'Cresc. Trumpets', assigning both to MIDI channel 3, to get a sforzando effect before the crescendo comes in.  If you have room in your sampler, you could even load the Staccato articulation twice, on separate MIDI channels of course, so that one is being triggered with the crescendo notes and the other when you need regular staccato (no crescendo).

Method 2
Used when you don't want to have the same MIDI channel for both articulations, and/or when you have two parts using different articulations simultaneously on the same instrument.
In this case, use track layers, each with its own MIDI channel(s).  For example, you have a Horn playing a melodic line while the other Horns are playing a staccato part in the background.  With the use of track layers you can easily separate the two distinct parts in conjunction with the Mute button ("Q") as well as the option to hide muted clips in PRV.  This way you only see the part you want to work with at a time without having a mess of notes, which would make editing their MIDI channel a nightmare.