Thank you so much for this clear video. I'm been a very chaotic creator until now but wanting to 'up my game'. I've got just the orchestral template I wanted set up now all thanks to you!
I've never come across Expression maps for key switching like you demonstrated, very good tip! I'm looking to get into orchestral music making in Cubase and this is definitely going to help with workflow :D
Thanks for the good Video! A few suggestions: For the individual tracks, either leave out the section (e.G. 'Strings') or put it at the END of the trackname, not the beginning. By doing so, you get more useful information, especially if the names are cut short in the mixer. For my own part, i do also add a VCA fader per group. this comes in very handy for automation. I also usually generate a PRE-MASTER group, all groups are routed to. By doing so, you can do (almost) all mastering stuff in the premaster group while sending reference tracks directly to the master. Makes referencing very easy!
Good tip. For me, I prefer having the tags on the left and use icons + colours for the mixer so I don't worry about names. You also brought up a good point about the reference track, something I completely forgot to mention about, having a separate master stops the reference being processed.
Hey! amazing tutorial, the expression maps bit was a mindblower. You mention at the beginning that creating the template only using one instance of kontakt is pretty much for super computers only, so I'm curious about the difference in RAM footprint between said method and yours. I mean, yours certainly makes things a lot faster, but I thought that having one instance of kontakt per instrument would make more impact on RAM than only having one instance per 8-16 instruments.
More instances of Kontakt may use slightly more CPU. It won't really affect RAM at all... its a tiny footprint. The samples of your instruments are what get loaded into RAM (unless you're streaming from Disk). So the more instrument patches you use the more samples get loaded into RAM. If you don't have much RAM to start with, you'll soon run out of RAM just from loading many patches REGARDLESS of how many instances of Kontakt you use. The best thing to do is "purge" unused samples from each patch, this will free up RAM which can then be used to load a different patch.
After doing all this, the next stage is to balance the sounds. If your template has more than one library than the libraries can differ in volume. There are a lot of ways. You can set volumes in the intrument, in the track, in the pre gain in the CC. Which one is best? I am currently pondering. How can you balalnce the orchestras across all libraries and sections?
TBH I don't think there is a best way to do things, just which ever works best for you. I prefer to balance volume via the DAW groups and not using CCs to balance Kontakt or Play etc...
I love your channel - the distinct playlists of Cubase and Kontakt are awesome and clear. Love your icons too - visuals are so important! I have 2 questions about the orchestral template: (1) I didn't see a purple fader in your MixConsole (which I would have expected for the reverb used on the group channels). Did you not use an FX channel for these? (2) I already created a template that is one patch/articulation per track (although I'm now considering your approach with the maps!) but I'd like to know, if you were to do one articulation per track, given that Orchestral Tools usually includes a TimeMachine version of all the patches, would you set up a track for those ones only or would you set up only for the regular ones? Kinda seems overkill to set a up a track for each articulation of BOTH types... I'm not super familiar with them yet but I figure they are the same except the TM might be more flexible and therefore the one to use. Thoughts?
Hi Alain! Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying the channel. In regards to your questions. (1) I don't really tend to use FX channels, most audio processing plugins have a wet/dry feature built in which acts the same way as an FX bus. The only time I use an FX buss is if I need to have more control and don't want a particular plugin to affect the original processed signal. For example, say I wanted to compress the reverb and colour it with different plugins, then I'd send it to an FX buss to do this. (2) It all depends on how you work. For me, my main template I actually have everything I tend to use, loaded. This includes key-switches and some single articulation patches (which are used for layering). If I ever need to add anything, then I'll add it and remove patches I don't need to free up resources. Some people like having EVERYTHING they own loaded, for me it's a little cluttering. TM patches are handy for sound design or making certain articulations sound sharper / longer, but other than that, its easy to overcook them. They require more RAM to load too, so take that into account for your rig. But if you can afford to have them loaded in your template, by all means have them loaded. Here's some pics to give you a idea of one of my templates. cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0821/7079/files/1.png?13879512361415460644 cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0821/7079/files/2.png?13879512361415460644 cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0821/7079/files/3.png?13879512361415460644
I'm using a VCA Fader to control all the Group faders. This is so I can control the overall level of everything going to the master fader (and plugins on the master channel)
Hey man... Won't there be a problem loading up all the bunch of kontakt instances if we create kontakt tracks instead of midi tracks.... Even though it has purge functions.... For a orchestral template it takes around 100 instances.... Will there be no problem?
Not sure about using one instrument per instance of kontakt, seeing as you're limited to 64 vst instances in pro, when you could happily use 16 midi x 64 instances, giving 1024 tracks.
You're not limited to 64 at all. Unless youre talking about VE-PRO? Which I think requirs using MIDI track method instead. However 1 instance of Kontakt per patch is better if everything is running off 1 machine with multi cores. Spreads the load better.
Great videos! I've used Cubase for 15 years now producing and writing songs/TV scores and I'm learning more orchestration. This really helped me get organized. Oh, and Just curious what your video set up is for doing these tutorials. I mentor some younger engineers and need to learn how to make simple instructional videos. Any tips on how to get started?
Thanks Brad! - Here's what I'm using: * OBS Studio (Screen capture & streaming software) obsproject.com/ * ReaStream (To rout Audio from Cubase to OBS) www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/ * MRecorder (VST plugin that lets you record Cubase Outputs) www.meldaproduction.com/MRecorder * Davinci Resolve (To edit the videos) www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/ * USB Microphone All of which is FREE software, apart from the microphone obviously!
Wow. Thanks for the info. I have many microphones including an sm7. But no usb! Haha. Do you know how I could route that in? Would I need a separate interface?
@@thebradgordoncomposer You can use your own interface and rout it OBS. I just find it's much easer to use a USB mic, as they have their own audio driver which acts indipendantly from the interface. Less messing around and more flexibility!
Excellent idea. Really appreciate the tips. Oh, and one last thing regarding your orchestral template. How are you able to set up so many instances of kontakt? Are you using server machines? I have some good string libraries but after I load up 4 or 5 the system starts slowing down. I have a pretty robust pc where I can mix over 100 tracks of audio every day (I'm primarily an audio based producer/songwriter/mixer). But I see composers on UA-cam easily setting up whole orchestras to write with. Am I missing something?
@@thebradgordoncomposer need a lot of RAM (minimum 32gb if I'm honest) a quad core (or more) CPU with fast single core performance, and you'll need to keep sample libraries on an SSD drive.
Hey mate, thanks for doing this video. Im about to buy cubase and nucleus so will try to set up like you have done. Do i need cubase pro or can i do all that you have done in cubase Le or cubase artist?
Depending on your Cubase, you have a limited number of tracks to create. For example, with cubase Elements you can't do what this video shows because you can only create 25 instrument tracks.
Yes. It can handle up-to around 240 quite comfortably (without plugins), at a push 300 ( id runnig CUBASE in 64 bit) But I have to really max out the buffer setting. Bare in mind this is if I do not purge samples in Kontakt. If I purge samples after writing lines, it frees up more resources so I can add more channels. Kind of a balancing act. For what I write, I don't really tend to go over 150 used tracks anyway and I can use plugins without freezing or rendering parts, so long as they're not SUPER CPU hungry. If I run Cubase in 32bit I can easily run over 400 tracks no problem.
I was looking for a good way to create a template in Cubase. This helped me to lay a foundation. Thank you very much for this!!
Thank you so much for this clear video. I'm been a very chaotic creator until now but wanting to 'up my game'. I've got just the orchestral template I wanted set up now all thanks to you!
A really good, clear step by step guide to learning cubase and to improve your productivity 10/10
Very very good, thanks👌😀 I always had a problem, now its clear 👍👍
Great, one question: how do you get the workscreen (space) withall those lines?
I've never come across Expression maps for key switching like you demonstrated, very good tip! I'm looking to get into orchestral music making in Cubase and this is definitely going to help with workflow :D
8:52 - send a group of instruments in the mixer to 1 channel - great for mixing
22:00 - Expression Maps
Thank You Pound Sound!
Thank's Marcus. Very usefull ! Stephan from Montreal Canada
Thank God, I found this videos. Thank you for making this very helpful video. Keep up the good work.
Great tutorial! Very simple and comprehensive. Thank you!
Thanks for the good Video! A few suggestions: For the individual tracks, either leave out the section (e.G. 'Strings') or put it at the END of the trackname, not the beginning. By doing so, you get more useful information, especially if the names are cut short in the mixer. For my own part, i do also add a VCA fader per group. this comes in very handy for automation. I also usually generate a PRE-MASTER group, all groups are routed to. By doing so, you can do (almost) all mastering stuff in the premaster group while sending reference tracks directly to the master. Makes referencing very easy!
Good tip. For me, I prefer having the tags on the left and use icons + colours for the mixer so I don't worry about names. You also brought up a good point about the reference track, something I completely forgot to mention about, having a separate master stops the reference being processed.
What do you mean by reference tracks?
Excellent.
Karl Pilkington is doing very well as a producer.
20:08 Hilariousssss !!! :)))))))
Hey! amazing tutorial, the expression maps bit was a mindblower. You mention at the beginning that creating the template only using one instance of kontakt is pretty much for super computers only, so I'm curious about the difference in RAM footprint between said method and yours. I mean, yours certainly makes things a lot faster, but I thought that having one instance of kontakt per instrument would make more impact on RAM than only having one instance per 8-16 instruments.
More instances of Kontakt may use slightly more CPU. It won't really affect RAM at all... its a tiny footprint. The samples of your instruments are what get loaded into RAM (unless you're streaming from Disk). So the more instrument patches you use the more samples get loaded into RAM.
If you don't have much RAM to start with, you'll soon run out of RAM just from loading many patches REGARDLESS of how many instances of Kontakt you use. The best thing to do is "purge" unused samples from each patch, this will free up RAM which can then be used to load a different patch.
After doing all this, the next stage is to balance the sounds. If your template has more than one library than the libraries can differ in volume. There are a lot of ways. You can set volumes in the intrument, in the track, in the pre gain in the CC. Which one is best? I am currently pondering. How can you balalnce the orchestras across all libraries and sections?
TBH I don't think there is a best way to do things, just which ever works best for you. I prefer to balance volume via the DAW groups and not using CCs to balance Kontakt or Play etc...
I love your channel - the distinct playlists of Cubase and Kontakt are awesome and clear. Love your icons too - visuals are so important! I have 2 questions about the orchestral template:
(1) I didn't see a purple fader in your MixConsole (which I would have expected for the reverb used on the group channels). Did you not use an FX channel for these?
(2) I already created a template that is one patch/articulation per track (although I'm now considering your approach with the maps!) but I'd like to know, if you were to do one articulation per track, given that Orchestral Tools usually includes a TimeMachine version of all the patches, would you set up a track for those ones only or would you set up only for the regular ones? Kinda seems overkill to set a up a track for each articulation of BOTH types... I'm not super familiar with them yet but I figure they are the same except the TM might be more flexible and therefore the one to use. Thoughts?
Hi Alain!
Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying the channel. In regards to your questions.
(1) I don't really tend to use FX channels, most audio processing plugins have a wet/dry feature built in which acts the same way as an FX bus. The only time I use an FX buss is if I need to have more control and don't want a particular plugin to affect the original processed signal. For example, say I wanted to compress the reverb and colour it with different plugins, then I'd send it to an FX buss to do this.
(2) It all depends on how you work. For me, my main template I actually have everything I tend to use, loaded. This includes key-switches and some single articulation patches (which are used for layering). If I ever need to add anything, then I'll add it and remove patches I don't need to free up resources. Some people like having EVERYTHING they own loaded, for me it's a little cluttering.
TM patches are handy for sound design or making certain articulations sound sharper / longer, but other than that, its easy to overcook them. They require more RAM to load too, so take that into account for your rig. But if you can afford to have them loaded in your template, by all means have them loaded.
Here's some pics to give you a idea of one of my templates.
cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0821/7079/files/1.png?13879512361415460644
cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0821/7079/files/2.png?13879512361415460644
cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0821/7079/files/3.png?13879512361415460644
Thanks! What are the red Link 1 squares on your group channels (3rd screenshot)?
I'm using a VCA Fader to control all the Group faders. This is so I can control the overall level of everything going to the master fader (and plugins on the master channel)
Hey man... Won't there be a problem loading up all the bunch of kontakt instances if we create kontakt tracks instead of midi tracks.... Even though it has purge functions.... For a orchestral template it takes around 100 instances.... Will there be no problem?
Not sure about using one instrument per instance of kontakt, seeing as you're limited to 64 vst instances in pro, when you could happily use 16 midi x 64 instances, giving 1024 tracks.
You're not limited to 64 at all. Unless youre talking about VE-PRO? Which I think requirs using MIDI track method instead. However 1 instance of Kontakt per patch is better if everything is running off 1 machine with multi cores. Spreads the load better.
Great videos! I've used Cubase for 15 years now producing and writing songs/TV scores and I'm learning more orchestration. This really helped me get organized. Oh, and Just curious what your video set up is for doing these tutorials. I mentor some younger engineers and need to learn how to make simple instructional videos. Any tips on how to get started?
Thanks Brad! - Here's what I'm using:
* OBS Studio (Screen capture & streaming software) obsproject.com/
* ReaStream (To rout Audio from Cubase to OBS) www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/
* MRecorder (VST plugin that lets you record Cubase Outputs) www.meldaproduction.com/MRecorder
* Davinci Resolve (To edit the videos) www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/
* USB Microphone
All of which is FREE software, apart from the microphone obviously!
Wow. Thanks for the info. I have many microphones including an sm7. But no usb! Haha. Do you know how I could route that in? Would I need a separate interface?
@@thebradgordoncomposer You can use your own interface and rout it OBS. I just find it's much easer to use a USB mic, as they have their own audio driver which acts indipendantly from the interface. Less messing around and more flexibility!
Excellent idea. Really appreciate the tips. Oh, and one last thing regarding your orchestral template. How are you able to set up so many instances of kontakt? Are you using server machines? I have some good string libraries but after I load up 4 or 5 the system starts slowing down. I have a pretty robust pc where I can mix over 100 tracks of audio every day (I'm primarily an audio based producer/songwriter/mixer). But I see composers on UA-cam easily setting up whole orchestras to write with. Am I missing something?
@@thebradgordoncomposer need a lot of RAM (minimum 32gb if I'm honest) a quad core (or more) CPU with fast single core performance, and you'll need to keep sample libraries on an SSD drive.
Great video! What is your system specs to run this orchestral template? Ram?
I'm running a Ryzen 1800x with 32 GB of Ram, but my system isn't purely for audio work which is why I'm running with AMD over Intel.
Hey mate, thanks for doing this video. Im about to buy cubase and nucleus so will try to set up like you have done. Do i need cubase pro or can i do all that you have done in cubase Le or cubase artist?
Depending on your Cubase, you have a limited number of tracks to create. For example, with cubase Elements you can't do what this video shows because you can only create 25 instrument tracks.
I always thought it was better to run fewer instances of Kontakt and use all 16 channels in each instance...
yes, with multi outs
Hey, i'm curious. are you using the free kontakt player or the full version?
Hello! Im using the full version.
can your computer handle all this instance ??
Yes. It can handle up-to around 240 quite comfortably (without plugins), at a push 300 ( id runnig CUBASE in 64 bit) But I have to really max out the buffer setting. Bare in mind this is if I do not purge samples in Kontakt. If I purge samples after writing lines, it frees up more resources so I can add more channels. Kind of a balancing act. For what I write, I don't really tend to go over 150 used tracks anyway and I can use plugins without freezing or rendering parts, so long as they're not SUPER CPU hungry. If I run Cubase in 32bit I can easily run over 400 tracks no problem.
Boooo