Taking Your Strings to the Next Level ep.1

Over 15 years ago, when I was just starting to orchestrate some pieces and work with samples, simulations of most classical music was not a reality yet.
The sampling technology was vastly improved compared to the past, however, there was a long way to go until we could simulate "everything" that we conceived in our minds. That is why most composers on that time were composing according to what sounded good in their sample libraries and not following a genuine idea that they previously had in their mind.
Simulating classical music with virtual instruments was not a very good idea no matter how good you were with samples. It was because orchestral music was composed based on what sounded good on a real orchestra and not what sounded good on a virtual orchestra. Then, both realities were very apart from each other.
Midi orchestration today is an entirely different history. With the new development of sample libraries we can now shape the sound of an instrument the way we want. This is comparable to the performance of a real instrument.
However, working with those libraries require a good dose of knowledge of midi orchestration if you want to be assertive, effective and fast.
A minute of a scoring section of a real orchestra is very expensive and that is why they won't allow you, composer, orchestrator or mixer, to test your ideas. Once you are there everything must be fully set up for the performance and recording.
In the same way, we composers should not waste our time testing our libraries. Once we start our midi programming we have to be assertive, effective and fast, mainly when we are programming a masterpiece that is worldwide known and has been interpreted by many great maestros and orchestras.
In the following video, you will learn a little bit about everything that is deeply discussed in Scoring Tools Masterclass.
Enjoy!