VSVI Dev. Blog 6: Mic Usage in Sampling

“Ur Doin’ It Wrong”; Image by Geoff Kaiser

There is a fascination, in the last few years, with primarily three features of orchestral sample libraries: If the number of multisamples/RR is in two digits, if it has sampled/”live legato, and how many mixable mic positions are available. Today, I’m going to talk a bit about the latter, “multiple mixable mic positions”, as well as using microphones effectively to create an effective experience for the end user of the samples, to the point where they really do have control over the tone of the instrument.

IotW 5: Performing for Samples

I’m not always the one behind the mics, such as this (admittedly shaky) shot from last summer’s sampling bonanza.

If you’ve seen trailers for virtual instruments with real footage of the musicians performing, you probably see a 10-second or less clip of some cool note or just some silent close-ups while some dramatic music created using the plugin months after the original session.

In reality, sampling sessions are long, slow, borderline Zen marathons of endurance, especially when alone, as is often the case in such Guerrilla-style sampling sessions as those I often run. In which case, I either see something like the above or like the image below-

Any pianist will tell you sitting at a piano for two hours is a long time… sitting at a piano for two hours playing one note at a time waiting for each note to decay is an eternity.

VSVI Devblog 5: An Orchestra in Threes

One of the most common issues I have with the latest line of “high quality” virtual instrument products is the lack of variety in the libraries they provide. If it is a brass library, they might give you a trombone with every articulation imaginable, but it is still only one trombone, either qualified best for one specific purpose or forcibly rounded out for many.

Dan Tranh VSTi Released!

We are pleased to announce the release of our latest virtual instrument, a deep-sampled Dan Tranh. As far as we know, we are one of the first people in the world to sample this instrument, and the very first to really explore it fully including live tremolo, live vibrato, round robin on pretty much everything, and tons of awesome effects. Feel free to check out the product here for more information.