Composing with Metropolis Ark 4

[@lukdub]

Oh, I love you, OT, for all of this tutorial series! Amazing!

[@cubicdalek8607]

LOVe the ARK series . Thanks for this video !!! Give us more . Sooooo good !

[@AlexNiedt]

There are three other videos in this series so far and more coming very soon! Thanks so much for watching!

[@BluemountScore]

I love videos like this!

[@garaughty]

Awesome to see your working process Alex... MA4 sounds so versatile !

[@AlexNiedt]

Glad you enjoyed it, Marti! MA4 can certainly do a lot!

[@JaredBathurst]

Beautiful sounding instruments. If could I buy the Native Instruments Komplete Ultimate 12 suite for $599 I would definitely buy this as well. You showcase the instruments in all their glory. Great tutorial Alex. I didn’t know you were making these videos. I stumbled on this today.

[@AlexNiedt]

Hey Jared! Thank you!

[@YoraiDragon]

:D.......... hopefully there's a black friday/cyber monday sale... And hopefully I'll be able to afford that xD

[@rubenmolino1480]

exelent ¡

[@MarkDonnison]

Nice, it sounded great! Subbed now so I can tune in some more!

[@mustuploadtoo7543]

is there a way of loading this kontakt library and have all the different instruments as an individual track as you have in a daw (you look like you have ~100 all ready to go)? currently i have to manually add a new track which corresponds to the instrument. thanks

[@ApasheOfficial]

His tune is so fire he burned his ears and turned them red 🔥

[@alainpatry]

Thank you! Would be awesome if we could download the Cubase template he's using!

[@AlexNiedt]

Hi Alain! I think it only took about half an hour to throw the template together, but maybe in the future I can provide templates for various libraries. Thank you for the idea!

[@alainpatry]

@@AlexNiedt Thanks - I'm setting up mine like yours - so you're using a different instance of Komplete Kontrol per track, yes? Also, are you using any of the TM patches? Not sure I understand when to call the TM patch instead of the regular one... is one surperior?

[@AlexNiedt]

@@alainpatry Yes, each track is an instance of Kontakt housed within Komplete Kontrol. The Time Machine patches feature a slider that allows sample length adjustment, so you can make staccato articulations even shorter, for instance. They do use more RAM, as they load the full sample content into memory.

[@alainpatry]

@@AlexNiedt Thank you! One more question: I notice you have your tracks minimized so you are not actually pressing the Record or Monitor button to "hear" the sound as you switch from one track to another. Are you using a keyboard shortcut or did you set a preference so that the selected track turns on automatically?

[@AlexNiedt]

@@alainpatry I have the "Record-Enable allows MIDI Thru" preference checked in the Record > MIDI settings. Guessing that's it? Give it a try. To record, I have Ctrl+Space assigned as a shortcut.

[@metallpt147]

Does Ark 4 get as epic as Ark 1? I know it has more dynamic range but recorded with less player sizes for a contained and controlled sound. Just wondering if it can be pretty huge and edgy sounding like Ark 1?

[@Mharjasis]

You are fantastic at doing this stuff man! Kudos for such great talent. What software do you use to record/compose?

[@AlexNiedt]

Thank you so much! I'm using Cubase 10.5 right now

[@Mharjasis]

@@AlexNiedt We're on the same page! I just bought Cubase 10.5. Great software, don't know how I've been doing without it for so many years

[@AlexNiedt]

@@Mharjasis I used Pro Tools for a number of years when I was focused on mixing, and I wasn't doing orchestral production yet. Glad I switched to Cubase for orchestral templates, for sure.

[@SheldonTam]

Nice demo, Alex! I can see you have a few useful Cubase setup there. Can I ask how do you cut the beginning & ending of the recorded MIDI event without using the scissors and eraser tool at 11:00? And how do you show the grid line when you point your mouse on a MIDI event? Thanks a lot!

[@AlexNiedt]

Ah yes, those are shortcuts I brought over from Pro Tools, "Trim Start" on the A key and "Trim End" on the S key. Since Cubase doesn't have that functionality built in, I had to make macros. For "Trim Start" the macro is "Edit - Split at Cursor" > "Navigate - Left" > "Edit - Delete". For "Trim End" the macro is "Edit - Split at Cursor" > "Edit - Delete". If you're talking about moving the cursor/playback head onto an event, I went into Preferences > Editing > Tool Modifiers, then clicked Select Tool and made Set Position a Ctrl+Click action. Basic navigation/transport in Cubase is the worst thing I've ever encountered in any DAW, and I have no idea why it takes a modifier to move the playback head anywhere on an event like you can do with a single normal click in any other DAW. After using Cubase for a year, I still can't stand that or the fact that they still haven't implemented a smart tool, haha 🤷‍♂️

[@SheldonTam]

@@AlexNiedt Really useful tips, thanks Alex! However, when I click "Select Tool" in "Tool Modifiers", "Set Position" is not under the Action list, so I cannot modify it. I think this may due to my Cubase version is the older 9.0, and this function is not possible yet. Yours is version 10 I guess. Anyway, thanks so much!

[@damiangarcia285]

whats difference between ark 1 and ark 4?

[@simplesa3d434]

One question Alex, if you may? does this library have an option to make poly sustains???

[@AlexNiedt]

What exactly do you mean by poly sustains?

[@simplesa3d434]

@@AlexNiedt I figured it out thanks, the patches were only playing legato

[@noreaction1]

What’s the difference between metropolis ark 3 and 4? Where can I compare?

[@AlexNiedt]

Ark 3 is quite percussive, aggressive, and atonal while Ark 4 is very lively and detailed and recorded in smaller sections. You can check out full walkthroughs of both libraries on this KZbin channel, and you can also hear demos on the Orchestral Tools website.

[@JeffreyHayat]

Thumbs up from me - very nice! But please, next time, let the opening music be something that does not interfere with your dial. :)

[@AaronVegaMusic]

oooff horrible