Some help getting smooth string and piano sounds

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-- Some help getting smooth string and piano sounds

Posted by dj_nocturne on May-18-2005 23:44:

Some help getting smooth string and piano sounds

Hi,
I'm writing a soft trance song with an orchestral part in the middle, and I'm wondering if anyone can give me some help or some links to get the strings and pianos sounds smoother and more natural.

I'm using edirol HQ orchestra right now, and the string notes start and end so abruptly. Basically it sounds like sh**.

I find that if I have an automation track and I take the time to make EVERY NOTE fade out and fade in to another, it sounds okay. But that's gonna take weeks. That can't be the way everybody else does it.

So I anyone can point me to a link, or a word in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

PS: I read a few things concerning aftertouch. My keyboard doesn't support it, do I need it?

Posted by IDarkISwordI on May-19-2005 00:48:

Hey. Firstly, no after touch is needed for this :P. All aftertouch does is allow you to press down on a key that is already depressed and various things can be done to the sound (like a button on top of another button kinda). The simple answer to your question is a delay followed by a reverb. Generally for pads, I have a synced 4 beat delay and then after that I have a very wide, open reverb. Somewhere in the range of 35-50% wet and 75-90% dry, no ceiling or floor on the reverb (filter), and a big room, also a decay of 5s-10s is good depending on how smooth you want it. For the piano, a similar approach can be taken but only use 15%-35% wet out and then youll probably need to change the input into the reverb plugin. In FLStudio, the input is desided by the little knobs next to each plugin int he FX window. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15%-50% should be good for pianos. You might do the same with the input for the delay as well to get a cleaner sound.

If you're sitting there reading this thinking, 'but i cant do this cause Orchestral is in as an effect?!,' no worries, theres a simple solution. Just plop Orchestral down as a regular instrument and route it the same as it is when its an effect.

I hope this helped .

Cheers,
Zac

Posted by hey cheggy on May-19-2005 06:02:

Use the amplifier envelope to make the notes start and end more smoothly. Open up the amp attack a little bit to make the start of the note less obrupt and open up the amp decay so that the sound trails off gently after the note has finished.

You may also try the portamento/swing/glide (whatever they call it) just a little bit to see if that helps not the sound but the notes flow into eachother a bit more.

Hope that helps.

Posted by eulerfx on May-19-2005 06:54:

Also, you can try a soundfont for the piano and strings.

Posted by oboema on May-19-2005 09:57:

quote:
Originally posted by flamingopikken
Ye piano and strings should be soked in reverb. And EQ aswell (Try to add some middle-part frequencies.)

that won't make it sound more natural,what it will do is make it sound muddy and unnatural,try playing it with alot of velocity changes and automating attack times and stuff like that,also experiment with some portamento and vibrato(small amount of lfo on the pitch),i think there are some tips on sound on sound as well,look at http://www.soundonsound.com/search?...Search+Articles
hope this helps.

Posted by dannib on May-19-2005 10:04:

Why would you want to soak the piano and string parts in reverb? That is the worst advice somebody can give you. You use reverb to create a sense of space and depth, especially with acoustic instruments, not make it sound unreal, muddy and un-natural.

Posted by flamingopikken on May-19-2005 15:21:

I am deeply sorry. I mis-read the topic, and gave you a wrong/different answer.

Please ignore my post.

Posted by Signal2005 on May-19-2005 19:55:

lol

just raise the attack add heavy reverb more like a hall effect than a room effect a little dealy and and a good amount of release all ways helps.

work with the decay a bit so it doesnt release off to abruptly as well and always a underlying bassy string to it doesnt sound too high toned a and cheap.

so remember mainly

attack release reverb will make the diffrence but it depends on the sample your working with.

preset i mean lol

Posted by dj_nocturne on May-19-2005 21:15:

Thanks for that advice.
I'll fiddle around and see what I get.