Kontakt instruments creatively emulating real performance

Sampler and Sampling discussion (techniques, tips and tricks, etc.)
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Ok so I just got into basic compositions with Kontakt libraries and two things immediately came to mind:

1. my compositions suck
2. some Kontakt instruments go out of their way to make them less so

What I mean by point 2 is that, for example, various parameters like expression automatically change according to how long, how often etc. the note is being played. Also, I have the impression that there must be some in-between samples that glue various notes together or something, it just sounds too natural for a staircase sample show even though I haven't even touched velocity setting yet. Is this really what's happening?

In general, how far has this guiding hand of Kontakt, Aria etc. instruments come? How reliable are they to produce the illusion of authenticity? Will they ever reach the level when even professional players can be mistaken? How far are we from that place?

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Tonberry wrote:Ok so I just got into basic compositions with Kontakt libraries and two things immediately came to mind:

1. my compositions suck
2. some Kontakt instruments go out of their way to make them less so

What I mean by point 2 is that, for example, various parameters like expression automatically change according to how long, how often etc. the note is being played. Also, I have the impression that there must be some in-between samples that glue various notes together or something, it just sounds too natural for a staircase sample show even though I haven't even touched velocity setting yet. Is this really what's happening?

In general, how far has this guiding hand of Kontakt, Aria etc. instruments come? How reliable are they to produce the illusion of authenticity? Will they ever reach the level when even professional players can be mistaken? How far are we from that place?
The answer is it depends - in many cases, I think even the best professionals could *not* tell the difference between a real and a sampled instrument: for single notes of an instrument in mix it would be pretty much impossible to tell. For others, say a sax solo all on its own, I suspect you'd have a hard time making it convincing with samples. (There was a big controversy over whether the Game of Thrones theme used a real or a synthetric cello. Given that there was some controversy over this, presumably, many listeners could not tell which it was).

In general, instruments like pianos and drums, where there is little possibility of varying the notes after they have been struck will be easier to emulate than things like violins, woodwinds etc, where you can modulate the note as you're playing it.

The other issue of course is time - you could use a supercomputer and hundreds of hours of your time tweaking your sequence to come up with the perfect emulated sax solo, 30 seconds long, that even Kenny G (;-) cannot tell from the real thing. Or you can hire a real sax player who nails it on the third take - in 5 minutes.

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quick name another sax player!

i use one of those yamaha wx5 wind controllers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5ar_3nGx2w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T29uWWjmCI

https://soundcloud.com/tonyostinato

and you can get pretty realistic but you know a lot of people love the trumpet solo on "west end girls" by pet shop boys and that sample cant even be 2 meg big lol.

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Tony Ostinato wrote:quick name another sax player!.
.... ummm

Big Jay McNeely
Stanely Turrentine
Ornettte Coleman
John Coltrane
Jan Gabarek
Stan Getz
Coleman Hawkins.

.....

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Tony Ostinato wrote:quick name another sax player!
Other than Kenny G? Preparation H!

No, wait... um...

There are libraries that have more support for the kind of thing than others. From the description of VSL Dimension Strings: "You may even designate one or two “weak” musicians to play sloppy notes, with hesitant or delayed starts, for instance."

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