Klarinet Archive - Posting 000553.txt from 2003/03

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Sampled Clarinet
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 14:36:11 -0500

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John P. Varineau [mailto:jvarineau@-----.com]
>
> Apropos of the current discussion with live music on Broadway, check out
> the sampled sounds at the following website (Vienna Symphonic Library)
> Click on "Demos and Products" and then on "demos" when you get to the
> home page of the VSL. They have solo instruments, and ensembles. If you
> have a slow modem hookup, have patience with the download time , but
> listen especially to the clarinet demo and the orchestral demos:
>
> http://vsl.co.at/index?http://vsl.co.at/news/product_news.htm?cmsqflag=1&
> cmsscheme=moz
>
> What do you think?
>

These are the premiere sample libraries on the market right now. The sound
is pretty stunning (for samples). They even built a studio in Vienna to
record in because they project was so large.

That being said, I have never heard a sample library that approaches the
quality of a live performance. Gigastudio (the platform that these run on),
is a standard in the film and tv industry for composers. When composing a
score for a movie or tv show, composers write their mock-ups using samplers
and sequencers like this. They sound decent, but the orchestra always
sounds better. I find that the string sections are actually the best
sounding of all of the samples. Go through the VSL website and find the
section on the creation of this library... It's pretty impressive.

I that low budget productions will become sample-based. Look at TV, every
reality show and most series don't use music or they use a cheezy synth
score (look at Law and Order for example). In the productions that have
budget, you will probably only see live that is perhaps augmented with
samples. Many movie scores are like that. A perfect example of that is the
Spiderman sound track. It is a great blend of acoustic instruments,
electronic instruments, sampled percussion, and voices.

Rather than fighting technology, if we embrace it, we can find ways of
working with it. It will be there to stay. Acoustic music, obviously, in
many situations works better. If we just fight the technology, we'll all
end up without jobs. Learn to accept it, and you'll have a better chance at
maintaining the little we have.

My $0.02.

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
benmaas@-----.com
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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