Old 01-27-2019, 08:07 AM   #1
composerguy78
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Default Orchestral template setup advice?

I am planning on turning my Vienna Ensemble Pro machine into a my main Reaper DAW machine. It is a has an intel i7 Core 7800 CPU and 128 GB RAM.

I am new to Reaper and I am looking to build a large orchestral template.

Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom in this area?

Some of the things I am considering are:
1. Loading orchestral virtual instruments internally within Reaper instead of using Vienna Ensemble Pro.
2. Whether to load a single instance of kontakt per instrument vs loading a kontakt multi-instrument which then has 16 midi channels routing to it and then multiple stereo audio outputs from the kontakt multi instrument.
3. How to group instruments?

I would really appreciate any suggestions!

Felix
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Old 01-27-2019, 09:46 AM   #2
mikeroephonics
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Quote:
Originally Posted by composerguy78 View Post
1. Loading orchestral virtual instruments internally within Reaper instead of using Vienna Ensemble Pro.
I'd test Kontakt on your system to figure out how many instances of it you can run before getting crackles and pops in your audio. I can run 4 Kontakt instances inside REAPER on my i7 2600K machine (Windows 7 64-bit, SP1.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by composerguy78 View Post
2. Whether to load a single instance of kontakt per instrument vs loading a kontakt multi-instrument which then has 16 midi channels routing to it and then multiple stereo audio outputs from the kontakt multi instrument.
It's going to be much more efficient on your CPU to use less instances of Kontakt. On my system, just loading empty instances of Kontakt has a significant hit on my CPU, so I always use as few as possible. It's also easier to keep track of your instruments if they're packed within fewer Kontakt instances.

I use Kontakt Banks per MIDI channel instead of single instruments, because I find it easier to use MIDI Program Change messages on a single track/MIDI channel than to switch between a huge number of tracks, each on a different MIDI channel. 1 Bank can hold up to 128 instruments. You can have up to 16 channels loaded so that's 128 x 16 = 2048 instruments, as opposed to 16.

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Originally Posted by composerguy78 View Post
3. How to group instruments?
REAPER has a pretty fancy grouping system for tracks. Right-click on the tracks you wish to group and select "Track grouping parameters..." to select grouping options.

You can also view the Grouping Matrix window from 'View > Grouping Matrix'.

PS: I mainly use Kontakt for my VSL sample libraries. I purchased nearly all the GigaSampler format 'Horizon Series' libraries back in the mid-2000s, and converted them to Kontakt format after Tascam kicked GigaStudio to the curb. I'm pretty happy with how Kontakt behaves inside REAPER. It's practically perfect for my needs.

- Mike
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Old 01-27-2019, 02:06 PM   #3
Geoff-h3o
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to check out Storyteller's Orchestral Template for Reaper - even if you don't use it it might give you some ideas
http://otr.storyteller.im/
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Old 01-27-2019, 05:09 PM   #4
Fergler
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Definitely go with the single Kontakt instance with routing. It improves project loading time, CPU, etc. Orchestral needs all the CPU you can get because theres a lot of sample loading and processing going on.

Other tips:

- You can use a MIDI chord splitter to split piano input and send each channel (one per note) to different instruments, then create different versions of this track like for e.g. All bass instruments in octaves, Strings with violin doubled at octave, all clarients, bassoons, flutes, etc you get the idea. Great for quick but massive sounding note entry.
- Plugins like ToneSpace can generate those chords for you (free )
- Use ReaControlMIDI and create automation items that automate CCs so you can create nice curves and easily copy paste expression data all over the place, great when your music uses an abundance of string swells for example. Copy paste it everywhere, stretch to fit, tweak, all much easier in automation than in the small and cumbersome CC lane.
- ^ Same applies to switching articulations, depending on how the plugin handles this you can assign either a CC to modulate a dropdown list of articulations, or create MIDI items with the keyswitches in them (I recommend creating every keyswitch in one item as takes ) and then you create a child track to the MIDI track where you can place these keyswitch items. I find this much more manageable than putting it in the individual MIDI items.
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