Know the EastWest Opus Orchestrator - Really Well (Part 3)

[@LaurinaHawks]

This is imho the best video about the orchestrator so far!

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you very much Laurina! :)

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

i am watching again and was going to say the same. Maybe this content looks advanced for EW, so that they don’t do the best kind of video to sell their products

[@andymusic6943]

100%

[@davidwalker8481]

Thanks!

[@Markrspooner]

These videos on Hollywood Orchestra and the Opus update have been amazing. Really helps with using this product more confidently :)

[@SecondTierSound]

Great! Thanks for letting me know Mark :)

[@johne1083]

Thank you so much for these videos. I have watched many others and learned nothing. Its always do this, do that without and explanation of what it is and why. Just from your 3 videos, I have a total understanding of every feature of this software. Very easy to understand and detailed. I subscribed.

[@SecondTierSound]

I'm happy it helped you. Welcome!

[@ocean457]

Thanks a lot for explaining the Orchestrator.

[@SecondTierSound]

You're welcome 😀

[@joobastudio]

Thanks a lot !

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you!

[@frattuncbas]

I had it and its just amazing..Worth every penny.❤

[@obrechtbeelen8406]

Very good Tutorial. Much better than reading the manual. 😊👍🏻👍🏻

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you. Yes, I did it because I wanted it myself 🙂

[@gorgeousgeorgeous-GG]

I'm throwing my hat in the ring...I've embraced technology in my compositions since Cubase and ProTools were black and white...they were revolutionary in how they enabled those without great resources to advance into hallowed grounds. No longer was a studio/musical career assured by the bank of mom and dad and a degree. The playing field levelled a little. So, here we are again, only this time it's orchestral democracy. This is an immensely valuable learning tool for those who can't afford music school etc. Those who feel threatened by the Orchestrator need to realise, good music can be written by anyone and a music degree may ensure competency but doesn't necessarily ensure creativity. Additionally, this software could potentially add/save/sustain a lot of orchestral musicians gigs, as we write new orchestral music in new genres. You know once we've composed it we're going to fight to record it with live players... I'm looking forward to the revolution, interesting times...

[@SecondTierSound]

Interesting topic. Could be a video... I think we delve into it a bit on composers roundtable.

[@Ryahan]

GREATLY appreciated

[@SecondTierSound]

Cheers!

[@DanaVastman]

Great job! I was totally lost till now. THANKS!!! 💖

[@SecondTierSound]

Great!

[@BobbyPrinceMusic]

Thanks for your time in doing these videos -- and for your expert opinions. Like it or not, the software like the Orchestrator will bring more competition, but so did DAWs -- player pianos too :-)

[@SecondTierSound]

There are always new tools. The ones who master them, and stand out, are the ones who succeed. A Piano was once a tool that brought music to more people, so did sheet music. Thanks for your input!

[@evanseesred]

I wish you still did the Composers Roundtable podcast. Maybe bring it back for Black Friday?

[@SecondTierSound]

Yeah, that was great fun. At the moment there's no plans but who knows.

[@seazenbones6945]

Thank you for your honest and well considered commentary. I’m an animator and not the greatest keyboard player. Orchestrator let’s me do great Animatics (Animated Storyboards) inside Logic. I love it. It’s still buggy in mid 2023 on an Apple Studio with 64Gig of RAM. Love your channel and you have a new subscriber.

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you for your kind words and update about the engine

[@obrechtbeelen8406]

Opus is really so fantastic!!!!

[@SecondTierSound]

It is pretty great.

[@PeterRosaDK]

Another excellent video that confirms the wisdom of upgrading to Opus. At least for me. The latest update fixed a couple of broken but essential features, and Hollywood Orchestra is now in my top 3. My favourite is still Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra, but when I need a dry but still vibrant backdrop, I will reach for Opus. The Orchestrator is a great tool for inspiration, and it’s sufficiently advanced to end up in my final projects. It bridges the gap between ensemble orchestras, which are really only for sketching, and full orchestral patches.

[@SecondTierSound]

Well said. Thank you!

[@contemplativecomposer5983]

Thanks for the time and detail you put into this :)

[@SecondTierSound]

Thanks for letting me know. I will actually review more libraries in the composer cloud soon. Cheers!

[@jamesrossmusic6013]

Sam... YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!

[@SecondTierSound]

😊

[@wjniemi]

Thanks, Sam. You've discussed a number of things that I've noticed with Play, and how they have been addressed in Opus. My upgrade price on 12-12-21 was $249.

[@SecondTierSound]

Not bad. Yeah, my review was s while ago, and I'm not surprised that the price changes. Enjoy! 😊

[@masterstacker2833]

For the differently orchestration enabled The Orchestrator is a heck of a thing.

[@SecondTierSound]

I really like it, is great for inspiration.

[@ryanchilcote]

Nice run through! I did the upgrade last week, and now I have a much better idea how to create my own presets, thank you! I plan on using the other patches to reverse engineer and help me come up with new and fresh ideas. I do export the midi, put it into my notation software, which is connected to another computer to allow all articulations to be available on the fly. Thanks again man!

[@chrisoates9613]

having watched a few reviewers and your series has been an eye opener for this beginner much more info than others and a sensible attitude to the orchestrator. thanks very much

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you Chris. :) I'm happy you found it useful

[@JimmyCooperAustralia]

Fantastic series. Thank you.

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you!

[@josejuanllopisdura2757]

Very nice. Thanks for doing it from the basic level. For me it has been ideal to follow the explanations to create your own presets

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you. Yes, I think that one has quite a lot of potential, but isn't always covered.

[@torgenxblazterzoid]

Have you ever spent time teaching? I'm asking because almost everything you say or demonstrate is so clear and easy to understand. I also have to give you the highest of compliments on the number of times you respond to questions and comments - it's really generous of you to give your time so freely, and it's not only this video. Thank you 🙂 And I'm more than happy to sub to your channel.

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you very much! I do teach in fact. Both private and at institutions. I also have patreons. At the moment the comments and subscribers are manageable. If it grows I might not have the same time, but let's hope. I like the interaction. Cheers!

[@andymusic6943]

Really good video. Been learning TV Film music and wanted to get into orchestration which is not my sweet spot. Will watch you over and over again. Technology can quickly teach us all more about music than doing the hard slog. Well done. 😊

[@SecondTierSound]

Cheers!

[@CRD1210]

Thank you, was really a good introduction, adn also well structured and easy to follow. Can´t wait to have all libraries downloaded. Just started the process for Diamond/Platinum Version .

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you. Yes, it might take a while to download🙂

[@CRD1210]

@@SecondTierSound with my download speed it would have taken 29 days. But thanks to my friends environment I downloaded even more than 1.5 TB (downloaded also Platinum Pianos) in less than 2 days . 😊

[@kingslaphappy1533]

Another excellent video, i have it saved for re-watching! By the way, I just purchased this 2 days ago, (july 2022) and after playing around with creating my own presets for about 5-6 hours, it has not crashed once yet. ( Mac Studio Ultra 64 gigs ram) I assume that Eastwest is polishing the engine and fixing any bugs as they go along. I love your videos!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@SecondTierSound]

Great to hear! Let's hope so. They keep doing upgrades and I have myself noticed it runs better. Cheers!

[@iwishiwasolderinit501]

Cheers: These 3 part videos have helped, greatly, in deciding whether to upgrade my existing Symphony & Hollywood+++ Libraries to OPUS! Offer, till end of September 2021 is $354(in UK) vs $270~ per year (this is how much I paid this year, for CCX, so I could test libs I do not own), anyways thank you for pointing out the improvements and making everything easy to follow and accessible. I like the libs I already own and also like the recent updates, since your videos and I do not like subscriptions!

[@SecondTierSound]

I know what you mean about subscriptions, but you could always try the upgrade a month with the subscription to see if it is for you or not

[@ronricherson6685]

It looks like I'm late to the party, but I hadn't discovered you untl recently and subscribed. I watched all 3 parts back to back. As a former teacher, I must say your relaxed and consistent delivery, pacing and attention to detail is impressive. All "likes." I've got H'wood Orchestra Platinum, so Opus for only $199 as an upgrade is not a difficult decision. I've got Spitfire, Cinesamples and am just an overall sound library glutton. haha. If you happen to see this, do you know if E/W has worked out the kinks? I'll be back to check out more of your videos.

[@SecondTierSound]

Cheers! They have had many updates since this video, and i rarely have problems anymore.

[@ronricherson6685]

Thanks!!!

[@allenmuirhead]

Thanks Sam for very comprehensive review. It all looks quite complicated and will take a while for a new guy like me to learn - nevertheless I believe the Orchestrator will be a great way to learn about orchestration especially if, like me, you’re pretty new to all of this.

[@SecondTierSound]

Yes, it can be quite a handful, but perhaps just playing around with for now it's a good start. It will come bit by bit. Cheers

[@neroldeer]

No crashes in Orchestrator but Cubase crashes if I use the downloader or player outside of it.... which I don't like... but overall, I'm in love with it. The inspiration that comes from Orchestrator is unbelievable!

[@SecondTierSound]

It's getting better with each update

[@neroldeer]

@@SecondTierSound absolutely. If there is one thing that sets them apart it is their attempt to be the best

[@jonathanbennett4535]

Excellent 3 videos for someone new to orchestrating. I have just bought Hollywood Orchestra after trying a month subscription. I am interested in your comment that the solo instruments are not your first choice. I am very keen on emotional solos, so can you recommend ones that you use that are not too expensive (are there any?). Thanks again for your insights.

[@SecondTierSound]

Try the free solo cello from performance samples. Their solo violin is also excellent but costs. Still cheap though. Otherwise check out the solo strings by cinematic studio, or embertone.

[@Zaleskee]

29:20 🤣🤣🤣👍🏽. 31:41😂😆😂

[@zachsandvik1867]

Thank you for your review. No opus and or orchestrator for me! Top review!

[@SecondTierSound]

Glad it helped deciding! 😊

[@PeterFolliard]

Thanks so much for these videos! I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'd love to talk with you about speaking to our students at our School of Music - hopeful we can connect.

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you Peter! Send me an email if you have any proposals. Cheers!

[@masterstacker2833]

I prefer to buy on sale and OWN the particular East/West libraries that I want. There is a lot of stuff in the cloud I personally don't need. It is good to have the choice.

[@SecondTierSound]

Yeah, the cloud is not for me, but it is a great introduction.

[@deboucheaoreilles]

A very deep analyse of orchestrator ! A litle bit difficult to follow all the subtilities for a french guy like me... (the translation is not activated in youtube for this tutorial). But anyway thanks a lot !

[@SecondTierSound]

Hmmm, I'll look into that. I'm happy you got something out of it! à la prochaine!

[@LightWingStudios]

I have to somewhat respectfully disagree with you on the Ensembles and Ostinatos in one way. For "The Great Unwashed" (NOT formally trained) they can be a wonderful LEARNING tool. As one of those "TGUs", I have approached them from the perspective of loading them, muting all instruments except one, playing on the keyboard and looking at a picture of the various Orchestra sections at the same time. Essentially I am learning not only by hearing but SEEING the placement of each one as I cycle thru the instruments. THEN I play with all of them activated at the same time which allows me to not only grasp much quicker the concept of the particular patch I've loaded but, just as importantly, APPRECIATE it and the time and effort that goes into building it. I agree with you on creating your Chord structures first. For that I'm using Scaler 2, ROUTING the progressions into the Orchestrator and working with it as I do above. It's just my approach and possibly strange process but it works for me. FANTASTIC video series by the way. They have helped me tremendously. :)

[@SecondTierSound]

Thank you for posting your view. The more the better, I'm sure many will find it useful. Ultimately, studying orchestration is how you get there. Cheers!

[@LightWingStudios]

@@SecondTierSound BTW, I've been going round and round with their Tech Support Director on their Pro Tools AAX version. It blows up constantly. Happy I also use Studio One and their VST version performs very, very well. :)

[@SecondTierSound]

Perhaps there is a difference, but the orchestrator is fairly unstable är this point

[@LightWingStudios]

@@SecondTierSound Actually my experience as of this week has been of the opposite. They released new updates a few days ago. Check out your EW Installation Center. The newest version of OPUS/Orchestrator is 1.02. They updated some of the libraries as well. I HAVE found a couple of patches that don't load if another one is already loaded. So I just "Clear" it and then the new one loads fine. Reported to their Support Director via email. It is a work in progress tho but they've made great strides since the initial disaster of a rollout. It can only get better moving forward.

[@SecondTierSound]

Cool, I'll check it out

[@joachimhafergut]

I follow you step by step but I can't get the arpeggiator to work :(

[@SecondTierSound]

I'm sorry to hear that. Hard to know what you're doing exactly, and what instrument you're using.

[@obrechtbeelen8406]

Because that would be more in control.

[@SecondTierSound]

I'm not sure I understand what you refer to here :)

[@obrechtbeelen8406]

Think I will go for cc121 then…..

[@SecondTierSound]

I totally recommend it, but just make sure it is for you. Check some reviews out. Dom Sigalas is a good source.

[@obrechtbeelen8406]

is it also possible to controle pluggings like wah wah via insert or quick controle?

[@SecondTierSound]

Yes, the AI knob works with all plugins in cubase, and most 3rd party plugins. The eq controls work with the cubase eq in the channel strip

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

i don´t see there nothing that can´t be setup on Logic Pro with all built in content. I guess it is a great orchestra for people who still do not have a daw other still are not into mixing then? I hope this works on notation programs

[@SecondTierSound]

Yes, but you don't have to do the setup. It can be done in cubase too, but you have to create it first, which is a lot of work. And the orchestrations are pretty good in the orchestrator, which matters unless you have knowhow. Also, I doubt Logic pro has the sounds that EastWest offers, plus that the orchestrator is purposely built for that content.

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

@@SecondTierSound yes the sounds of Logic are in general far away from EW, principally because EW recorded many takes for different nuances. And now they come with awesome plug ins inside Opus. So I kind wastes money in Waves so to say...There is however a good part of samples in Logic that can still be "saved" very well, depending on kind of project and your skills. The sample works great with the strings, and i miss this freedom in Opus still, but the most annoying thing for me is that the strings were recorded in Logic with too much bow noise, that gets worse when you double these samples or set a reverb. So basically now with composer cloud i had absolutelly no excuse not to upgrade and keep nerding in Logic alone ;/

[@davidfaragalli5395]

Thank you for this! I don't know if you or anyone else has run into this particular problem, but when I play any strings (in this specific case, spiccato in 3/4 time), I have to use something like the Track Delay to have them come in earlier so that it sounds in-time with the rest of the piece. But, the first note plays as if Track Delay is set to 0, and the following two play with the adjusted negative number. If I change chords (which happens every measure or every other measure), that mistake in the sound happens again. So, I get a very unwanted shuffle in my sound. To get around this, I have to use my DAW's equivalent to have the instruments play earlier. Have you or anyone else experienced this, and if so, have you found a fix within Orchestrator? Honestly, if it's not fixible, the Track Delay is basically useless. Thanks!

[@SecondTierSound]

I haven't had this problem myself. But it can be quite a hassle sometimes to get the timing right. I usually don't use Track Delay, but fix it in the midi editor. You can always export the midi and then fix it in the editor

[@tosvus]

Complaining about Orchestrator is like Photographers complaining, first about Autofocus, then Digital Cameras, and now phone cameras starting to get very good, filters etc.

[@SecondTierSound]

I agree. And also forgetting that new opportunities also bring new challenges.

[@samlowry3902]

very insteresting like all your videos :). Do you plan any template for opus gold on your patreon ?

[@SecondTierSound]

I would love to. Just that I can't, since I don't have that version. The best I can offer is the diamond template, where the setup is correct (instruments and channels), and you would have to set the correct patches yourself. This is because of the difference in bitrate of the patches.

[@fearceolbob]

Excellent Video got a lot from .I have cubase pro 10 with 16gig ram yes crashing a lot will try the quick load option for the opus engine. The preference setting you mentioned in the orchestrator vid will that help the crashing problem, or would you recommend increasing the ram. Would be interested to hear your comments. I am on windows 7

[@SecondTierSound]

Hard to tell. I would say make sure you have the latest updates from EW, as they have updated quite a bit lately. Otherwise I would talk to them directly. I hope it gets better.

[@ralfsieber3342]

Hi Sam, I trid to MIDI export out of Orchestrater. I can see it working, but it is nothing to hear. Got you a problem like this, did you fix it? Ralf

[@SecondTierSound]

I made a video about how to export, but it seems like it doesn't work on all DAWs. But check out the video on how to do it.

[@PreacherAtArrakeen]

Does it work reliably? Any quirks? Thanks.

[@SecondTierSound]

It works fine

[@ralfsieber3342]

Sorry, do you know a place to recive a composer proved preset for the DAW Logic X in my case?

[@SecondTierSound]

I'm afraid i don't.🙂

[@oskararnarson]

You are doing God's work...

[@SecondTierSound]

Heh, perhaps not quite, but thank you!🙂

[@oskararnarson]

@@SecondTierSound In all seriousness, can't tell you how often I've looked for a channel that's exactly like yours throughout the years when fiddling with Hollywood Orchestra. Glad I found it. Keep up the great work. :)

[@ronnyb5890]

i have the orchestra complete from sonuscore, the eastwest orchestrator comes from sonuscore

[@SecondTierSound]

Yes, the concept at least, while the sounds come from the eastwest library😊

[@ronnyb5890]

@@SecondTierSound i looked at the hollywood orchestrator,and even when it comes from sonuscore i find the orchestrator from the orchestra and elysion easier to program,sadely,the sounds dont compare with the eastwest ones

[@SecondTierSound]

That sounds about right

[@obrechtbeelen8406]

You are using Cubasewith cc121? Also good with Cubase 11?

[@SecondTierSound]

Yes, I do, and I really enjoy it. It makes cubase faster, and more fun to work with.

[@gianlucafarinaperseu]

What the hell your videos (this part and part one, part two is ok) are classified in vietnamita language ? So that is impossible to activate the english subtitles ... any chance to correct ? In any case your pronunce is very clear and easy to understand, but subtitles sometime helps ;-)

[@SecondTierSound]

That sounds like a hysterically fun error. I'll check it. 😊

[@obrechtbeelen8406]

That sounds great. So for example I can play a gitar and use the way wah and control this via the knobs on the cc 121?

[@SecondTierSound]

I don't know about the particular plugin, but the AI knob works with whatever control you hover over with the mouse

[@cd78]

How do you get this midi into Logic

[@SecondTierSound]

I'm afraid i don't know how it is done in logic. In cubase you rout into midi channels, but i haven't really seen it is worth the trouble. The orchestrator does a good work of the provided samples and doesn't fit well with other libraries. I think of it more as sketch tool, or for background chords, but I still get done very good results with it. But perhaps someone else knows how it is done. Cheers

[@MarsenK1]

They updated it. Now you can use the small hand-symbol in the corner down to the right. Just drag & drop after you played something in. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2XIqH17Zdedg68

[@errmable]

Good series but no installation video. Not that it's your job to do that. East-West hasn't done one either?

[@SecondTierSound]

It's quite straight forward. Have you had trouble installing it?

[@errmable]

@@SecondTierSound So what I've noticed is that there are different options to install. Lucky for me I had the CCC PRO HD that happened to include EW Hollywood bundle. If I didn't have this, there was no way for me to initiate the downloads to install all the libraries because it kept giving errors. If you own the EW Hollywood collection, you wouldn't run into any issues installing the OPUS Edition libraries and probably wouldn't notice that there are problems.

[@SecondTierSound]

If you already own Hollywood orchestra, it shows up as well. Just install everything that has the opus icon on it, well, what you want of course. Also there could be different versions because the base library is one thing, and the additions another, but I didn't see that myself. Hope it works out for you.

[@errmable]

@@SecondTierSound So I own the symphonic Orchestra and a few other EW libraries. Pressing download and reinstall under the cog doesn’t work. Deactivating and trying to initiate a download doesn’t work either. Once I dragged and dropped the east west Hollywood bundle on a solid-state drive, I was then able to initiate a download and it will download anything that was missing from that library. That’s the only reason why I mentioned it because I wanted to know if it was just me but it was no longer an issue because I already had the east west Hollywood library on a different hard drive. Anyway thanks 😊

[@SecondTierSound]

No worries. Glad it worked out

[@fingerhorn4]

You need to spread your chords more or try different voicings. You play closed position triads. Instead of 1/3/5, try 1/5/10, or instead of 5/1/3 try 5/10/15. This is quite basic technique. Closed chords severely narrow the sonic result and encourage the very church organ sound effect you are trying to avoid. Regarding so-called "wide" patches - these are surely just octaves. No skilled orchestrator would EVER use canned octaves except maybe Bass/Cello on occasions. Auto octaves in brass, strings or woodwind ruins the voicings, particularly of inversions, creates unwanted doubled thirds (cardinal sin in most cases) and makes the whole sound mushy and unmusical. Thanks for review.

[@SecondTierSound]

You clearly don't understand how the orchestrator works. I'll leave it at that

[@ziadkhalaf198]

the solo violin viola and cello need to be worked on. They don't sound convincing at all.

[@SecondTierSound]

It's not the best. I don't use those. But the strings are still great.

[@yves2078]

bla bla

[@SecondTierSound]

And a good day to you