Opus Hollywood Orchestrator Tips

www.soundsonline.com/hollywoo...
0:00 Intro
2:02 Presets, Patterns & Editing Navigation
2:58 The Many Solo Buttons
4:47 Color Coded Keyswitch Mutes
5:27 Turn On The Patterns
6:48 Percussion
7:15 Instrument Settings
7:45 Zone Triggers
8:00 Editing Patterns
9:15 CC1 Automation Lane
10:05 Voice 2
10:25 Working with Presets incl. How To Legato
14:58 Conclusion
This video was not sponsored. I made this to learn myself and to help others. I paid for Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Even MORE Tips here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/goLPY36pjZWEmM0 Also ... Is using the Orchestrator “cheating”? kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6fJpaN3aaeLqJo

[@RockBoBsteRMusic]

I'd say it's cheating if you only use the presets. But so far, it seems like you can write your own stuff. Now we can actually play all the parts instead of having to write each part first then playback. But mainly I just see this as an ostinato tool. You couldn't play something like afternoon of the faun on this. It seems it's mainly for... Hollywood film scoring, ostinatos being played 90% of the time. Like a drum machine for the orchestra. Which is pretty crazy.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

@@RockBoBsteRMusic good analogy! a drum machine for the orchestra!! cheers!

[@doublehelix3952]

Clear explanations/useful tips This will be bookmarked so that I can get back to it when I hit a wall

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Markrspooner]

This is amazing Nathan! I didn’t know most of this, so it has been a real eye opener. Thank you!

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Glad to hear it Mark! Thanks for letting me know!

[@kingslaphappy1533]

This video will the invaluable to me since I just purchased HO today. It’s already saved for re-watching and now i want to thank you for making it!

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

So glad you found it valuable!

[@nodzsound]

Hi :) You might have noticed, that the Arrangermode has influence on what your pattern plays. Voice 2 only works with Arrangermodes that utilize exactly two notes (Like Lowest 2, Lowest + Octave, ...). What it does is, that it allows you to write different melodic progressions for each of the two. Which of the two notes is the starting point for each voice can be seen on the left side of the editor, as there are no notenames, but something like "Lowest" or "Lower Middle" :)

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Ah! I think I understand now. Will try that next. Thank you! (Didn’t find that caveat in the manual.)

[@nodzsound]

@@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed Hi again :) I just had a look at the manual and found the info on page 170 at the top. :) Easy to miss though :)

[@nodzsound]

It´s in the section "Two notes per instrument" and marked with a red "Please Note:". :)

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

@@nodzsound we must have different versions of the manual. The one I have installed doesn't have that information on page 170 or anywhere that I can find. Also, have you tried it with legato? It seems to work for shorts and sustains but not legato for me so far.

[@studioryde]

Very good tutorial. Examples are clear, explanations are enough but not too much. Congratz and thanks.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Glad it was helpful!

[@jarmomarkkanen2473]

Great work Nathan! Thanks for pointing me here through vi-control’s private message.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Glad you took the time to watch, thanks!

[@kennethjackson4858]

Hello Nathan, I just got Opus because it was monthly payments (on sale). Wanting to learn orchestration and this and got Opus to hear what orchestrating sounds like. You break things down and it’s Exciting. Please get back. Thanks again.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Awesome! Welcome to the world of orchestration!

[@MustacheVerra]

Thanks man.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Happy to help

[@laromai2245]

THANKS + QUESTION + HINT Thank you for your very well done videos, both the topics, the content and the pace while still pointing out important details that are easy to miss and thus can cause frustration. Just wow, very easy to follow! QUESTION: I'm using v1.4.2 and when playing the HO in standalone mode I have a problem that only "half" of the notes in a range has a sound(!). This means that I can't play smooth melodies, especially not in the lower range like you do in your video. Using for example Elves World 04 in the range C2-C3 simply doesn't work because not all notes have any sound (except for the black keys but one and only two white keys at most). Strange.... In the DAW it works though. How can this be? Shouldn't all notes be there? HINT: When samples are missing, Orchestrator popup window listing the missing fiels, tends to get locked so that the Cloud-icon & Download button simply doesn't respond. Workaround: Close the popupdialog and go to the main meny (the breadcrumb, not the cogg wheel) and select "Check missing files...". The same popup dialog is displayed again, but not the UI is not "locked" and unresponsive. Notice that one must always select/load the desired preset before the "Check missing files..." menu option works, which means that IF tghere are missing samples, you will have this popupdialog "in your face" two times. This can be a little bit annoying when many files are missing after a new installation.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

They range limited some of the patches. The best workaround I found is to recreate them from scratch where there’s no range limiting. I think they tried to keep phrases in particular instrument ranges for the effect but it’s still baffling sometimes. Thanks for the other tip!

[@Notmehimorthem]

Very The tip at 6.00 was throwing me. I could not get the Stepper to work what a sneaky place to hide the ON button! in another window! Great tips thank you

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Glad it helped!

[@aqeeljohn-johnnyb3433]

Thank you Nathan, very informative video and saved a lot of frustration. One question though; DO I HAVE TO DRAW NOTES IN THE EDITOR OF ORCHESTRATOR BY PENCIL TOOL, OR CAN I PLAY THEM VIA MIDI KEYBOARD AS WELL?

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

As far as I know you need to draw with the pencil tool. If you find a way to play them in, let me know. It seems like a hassle (and it sort of is) but maybe it’s less work then writing transposed parts by hand with pencil and staff paper. Cheers!

[@aqeeljohn-johnnyb3433]

@@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed thankx Nathan, if i find, i will share.

[@jimfischer4703]

thank yo!

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

You're welcome!

[@ChrisGSimmons]

My question is, why can't I get that realistic effect just using Philharmonik normally. Why does the orchestrator sound so much more realistic and full of "feeling"? What are they doing differently when they sequence?

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

They have automated a variety of parameters… it’s “easy” to study, learn from, adapt and recreate them but it does take a lot of time and effort poking around. They are quite effective orchestration teachers.

[@reboagni]

I'm guessing you already figured this out, but to get voice 2 to work, you have to select two voices like "Lowest + Top". You also cannot use a legato patch. Unrelated, if you are having some of the "ghost notes" (notes that are too short or the wrong notes) when you use the new export feature to export the midi to your daw, a fix is to raise the track delay a bit.

[@nicksaya]

Thanks

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Cheers! Thanks!

[@yildiz-fotografcisi]

Thanks Mr.Nathan While playing the Opus Hollywood Orchestrator, some instruments continue to play to itself. It's like I'm pressing the keys. Where do you think there could be a mistake?

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Does it happen in Standalone as well (no DAW)? Seems like it could be stuck notes. Meaning; when you lift your finger off the key, the sequencer isn’t receiving the note off message.

[@yildiz-fotografcisi]

@@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed Yes it happens in standalone too. Komplete s 49 and Audio Box 96 drivers are up to date.

[@pakipoli4895]

HI ...Hollywood orchestra (STRINGS, woodw, perc, brass, solo violin, solo cello, arp) can be installed STANDALONE?

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Yes, Opus is also a standalone app that can be launched outside a DAW and will play the Hollywood Orchestra sounds.

[@joeandrew5861]

How are you,,,,,my Orchestrator is not showing anything and I installed the hollywood opus brass but is not showing anything

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Hmm … have you reached out to support?

[@jamesiandavis9352]

I have armed the sections, and when I go to play a chord to start of the Orchestrator, nothing happens. when I unarm the particular track I can play the instrument as normal.. please help 😭

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Did you figure it out? The only thing I can think of is pay attention to the ranges?

[@user-ix5rz4lc2o]

I can Buy it for very good Price actually, how is the Quality of the Samples? it worth?

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

It has some very good samples. And the Orchestrator balances levels fairly well, which is an advantage. Strings are great usually, with occasional hiccups. Brass is usually excellent and well regarded. Percussion is quite good. Woodwinds might not always be quite as good as some other packages for exposed solo lines in some cases. But you can export Orchestrator MIDI. If you like the sounds here, this is straight out of the box with no alterations other than Mod Wheel.

[@user-ix5rz4lc2o]

@@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed thanks 👍

[@Weaverofdreams90]

I'm lost on how to even use the presets

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

The video didn’t help?

[@owenchaim610]

OMG, you did NOT just put a Super Mario inflection on "pencil" at 11:26. I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't say "chelly" right before.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

This joke is so deep it went under my feet.

[@RockBoBsteRMusic]

#vii? Lol sry that's as far as I got so far.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

Yeah. So, G# minor in A minor.

[@RockBoBsteRMusic]

@@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed oh ok gotcha. You don't have to put the #, because then you're basically saying # the vii chord which is... The tonic minor chord. You just put -vii There is only vii and bvii.... #vii is the tonic chord. Get it? It actually took me a minute to get that same exact thing in school. You always put the accidental for where it's at compared to the tonic major. bVI, bVII, bIII The only # chords are passing diminished, but those are. #io, #iio, #ivo, #vo and #vio Not trying to be a dick lol I love music theory and I like teaching it.

[@RockBoBsteRMusic]

@@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed there is a #iv half diminished, or #iv-7 b5.... Which is basically the upper structure of a V7(9)/V. Key of C,. D7(9) the dominant of V.

[@FuadJavadov]

Very confusing software to be honest.

[@NathanDavidCarltonSoundbed]

That’s why I made this! ;-)