I believe it was @ComposerEverett here in the forum that liked working with Kontakt multis. I never did, but I have started to experiment with creating layered instruments. Meaning playing them in unison by mapping the same MIDI to each one, and thus be able to “sculpt” my own unique hybrid mix.
I am not sure if I like this over simply using the track stacks in Logic (you can record and play layered instruments in stacks in Logic Pro). But it does seem to be an interesting alternative.
Have you tried creating layered instruments in Kontakt for playing as “one complete instrument” in this way?
I have occasionally layered Spitfire Solo Strings over Chamber or Symphonic Strings and things like that, as a quick’n’dirty hack to get first chairs, just to get a more detailed sound - but since that approach eliminates the extra level of detail control which is sort of the reason to add first chairs in the first place, I usually just use separate tracks.
However, I sometimes load multiple instruments in one Kontakt instrument, but then I put them on separate MIDI channels, and sometimes also on separate audio outputs, so apart from affecting CPU load and load balancing in some cases, it’s mostly a user interface thing… It can be handy to have all VLN1 instruments (legato, other articulations, first chair etc) in one instance, all VLN2 in another etc, to reduce the number of Kontakt instances to keep track of. (Even I run out of screen real-estate at some point. )
Ah good point, I have always used one track per instance. However I use a custom “open/close” key command for instrument UIs. I only want to work with one at a time anyway.
PS. Also to relate to my other thread. I have started to try layering physically modeled instruments (for the playability) with samples instruments for the tone. Trying to achieve some kind of “best of both worlds”, even though it is a hack lol
Yeah, I think solo parts, first chairs etc is the best use case for modeled instruments at this point. Part because traditional sampling tends to work rather well for “basic” ensemble parts, part because it’s a lot of work to record/edit expressive parts for the individual instruments of the whole orchestra.
I’m with David here. I probably wouldn’t create a multi for layering.
I just use multis for organization. One Kontakt player for all my V1 samples, One for all my V2s, etc. rather than create a new instrument for every articulation.
I do this all the time, especially when creating Fm style pads that I manipulate inside the Kontakt instance.
I also use this to make beds of sound that I later add solo instruments to. For instance, mixing string libraries together to create not only a new tone, but a more realistic sound… such as layering in a trill patch and a harmonic patch underneath a long patch to add subtle movement. I’m always saving multis I know will come in handy.
I will say this, I do feel that you get a more authentic sound More quickly doing it this way. And it also speeds up your composing if you save the miltos you like and will use often. I used to just do individual patches and stack them together too, and I still do for additional layers but I find that there’s more room for error doing it that way just my experience.
Do you assign different CC’s to expression or anything on those layers, in order to have them move differently over time? I am thinking that it might add even more authentic sound that way.
I especially like the idea of doing that with adding a tremolo layer on top of a string sustain patch, to create a movement curve for that tremolo background ambience to move in and out over time.
I usually add to threm subtly as it works better so it just adds movement, rather than it being the main sound. But I think you could do this any way you like.
In terms of CC assignment I usually assign the modulation and vibrato of all instruments in the instance of kontakt together. However, I’ve also flipped the parameter assignment on one or two of the instruments in the past, so as the main strings go down in volume then secondary strings that were too quiet to hear now go up in volume so that you can switch sounds. This is great for swapping from strong powerful sections to softer sections. Often I do this with long octave strings or horns and harmonics/flair and o patches. This ones so expressive and really saves tonnes of time!
Flipped parameters…hmm: How do I invert CC mappings so that CC-data sent to a specific parameter is inverted? Meaning that when my mod wheel is all down it means dynamcis is on the top, and vice versa?
Here’s a video Mikael. Christian Henderson shows you how to do it. I learnt in university but it’s really straight forward, plus he puts it in a few different ways which is really useful.
)
just my experience.