Articulation Guide TIME macro 1 www.orchestraltools.com
CONTENT I About this Articulation Guide 2 II Introduction 3 III Recording and Concept 4 IV TIME Series 5 1 TIME macro... 5 Instruments... 6 1 Rev. 04/10/2 018 2018 Orchestral Tools Schwarzer & Mantik GmbH
I About this Articulation Guide The number of Orchestral Tools is constantly growing and covers all instrumental families of the orchestra, with some collections even branching out into non-orchestral instruments. This Articulation Guide describes all contained articulations as well as their technical properties (velocity layers, Round Robins, and many more). This document is a special version of the Articulation Guide that only contains features applicable to the collections listed below. You can download the full Articulation Guide that applies to all Orchestral Tools collections in our Helpdesk. The following table lists all collections covered by this Articulation Guide with their current Capsule version as well as the minimum Kontakt version. Collection Name TMA TIME macro Collection 1.0 Capsule 2.7 Kontakt Player 5.8.1+ Important This Articulation Guide does not cover the general installation, usage and features of Orchestral Tools collections. These topics are explained step by step in the respective User Guides and Installation Guides, which you can find in your collection's Documentation folder. You can also find them in our Helpdesk. 2 About this Articulation Guide
II Introduction Welcome to the Orchestral Tools Articulation Guide! Orchestral Tools provides high-quality sampled instruments for composers. Thanks to our Capsule Scripting Framework developed in-house, all Orchestral Tools collections look and work in a very similar way. Articulation names, labeling and all technical terms are identical in every collections, so you will find it easy to find your way around. This Articulation Guide describes all articulations as well as their technical features and is organized as follows: - The general Se r ie s Ov e r v ie w shows you all available Orchestral Tools Series', which group our collections into broader categories. - Following this is the respective Se r ie s Ov e r v ie w Page of one particular Series, which lists all available collections by name and gives suggestions for expansions options. - Each individual collection then has its own C ol l e ction Ov e r v ie w page, which describes the general content of the collection as well as its most important features at a glance. - This is followed by the Instr ume nts Section, which lists all instruments (or sections) contained in the collection with a short description of tone, scope or other pertinent information. - The Ar ticul ations Section finally lists all articulations in detail along with all their properties. 3 Introduction 2018 Orchestral Tools Schwarzer & Mantik GmbH
III Recording and Concept We are happy to have found a sonic home for our collections at the Teldex Scoring Stage in Berlin. The large recording stage at Teldex looks back on a long tradition of many well known and Grammy award winning recordings. Famous orchestras, like the Berlin Philharmonics and great film composers from the USA and Europe trust and love the wide and clear acoustics of this room. One of the best sounding scoring stages in Europe, this room together with a fantastic complement of legendary microphones catapults our work to a new level of orchestral sampling. The quality of a sampled collection begins with the recording. Every Orchestral Tools collection is recorded at 96khz with state of the art equipment. The full editing and post-production process uses these 96khz recordings without downsampling. We very rarely denoise our recordings and never treat them in any other automated way. If tuning is needed, it is done by ear without resorting to tuning algorithms. Only at the very end, right before the samples are mapped into their instruments, the content is converted to 48khz for best use of resources. Our goal is to provide a set of tools that easily adapts to any workflow and creates a coherent sonic representation of the orchestra. The main way we achieved this is by recording every instrument in its orchestral position. All collections come pre-panned and pre-mixed with their respective volumes balanced. If there are multiple types of the same instrument, they are recorded in slightly different positions, yet still in their general section area. The different snare drums in Berlin Percussion, for example, have been recorded slightly spread over the general "snare drum area" within the percussion section. This allows you to have a very wide and full sound when combining multiple instruments. We deliberately choose to also record non-traditional instruments as belonging to a symphonic setup, like electric guitars and a drumset in our Metropolis Ark Series. Modern media scoring introduces a host of new instruments into the established orchestral lineup and we feel these instruments deserve the same care and precision in fitting them into the symphonic sound as their traditional counterparts. All collections feature a number of microphone positions commonly used in orchestral recording. The position of these microphones is identical in every collection, which means that for example the Tree is much nearer to the string section that it is to the percussion section (because the percussion section is situated at the back of the orchestra). This enabled lively acoustics that come pre-mixed for the respective stage position. The choice of mic positions also depends greatly on the instrument. Some instruments, especially in the percussion section, benefit greatly from a M/S position to enable accurately positioning the sound source. Wherever possible, similar instruments use the same mapping scheme so it is usually possible to transfer MIDI data from one instrument to another easily. This is especially important and useful for percussion. 4 Recording and Concept
IV TIME Series TIME Series is our take on bringing the element of time to the sampled world. Unique collections with a flowing element, yet inifinitely adaptable to any composing process and open for any rhythmic or tonal idea. The following table lists all TIME Series Collections currently released - underlined names jump to a description of its content and unique features. You can download a version of this Articulation Guide that applies to all released Collections on our Helpdesk. TIME Series 4.1 TIME macro TIME macro is the essence of many concepts and ideas about music in a temporal context. It led us to this extensive collection of inspiring orchestral and choral textures, advanced articulations and dynamic gestures related to the paradigm of time. All recordings are unprocessed, captured with a multimicrophone setup in a perfectly balanced scoring stage. With TIME macro a very special concept came to life It all beginns with the paradigm of time, its implications and source of inspiration, moving on to the selection of instruments, designing and placing them creatively on the scoring stage, all the way to inspiring articulations and textures delivered individually and combined. TIME macro is the perfect tool for underscoring, sound design and all those moments, where you need those special sounds standard orchestral samples are not designed to create. ALTERED TIME In the Altered Time section, we play with the definition of time. Time can not only go forward with constant speed. Playing back articulations backwards or playing them back slower is the concept defining the Altered Time instruments. TIME ORCHESTRA Within the Orchestra section, we offer combined and production ready patches like Full Orchestra, Brass & Strings, Choir & Strings, Woodwinds & Strings. All articulations in these sections are an absolutely valuable source of inspiration when they develop over the course of time. 5 TIME Series 2018 Orchestral Tools Schwarzer & Mantik GmbH
Instrumentation and Recording TIME macro contains recorded sections grouped into categories, which are divided into patches containing a single articulation as well as multi articulation patches. You will find all of these patches inside the Instruments folder. The collection contains the following sections, as they appear in your instruments folder: 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. Orchestra Altered Time String Orchestra Woodwind Orchestra Mixed Choir Individual Sections 01. High Strings 02. Mid Strings 03. Low Strings 04. High Woodwinds 05. Low Woodwinds 06. Double Reeds 07. Brass 08. Harps and Vibes 09. Women Choir 10. Men Choir TIME macro features Multi Articulation Patches in a separate folder for all sections and instruments. You have free choice between the four microphone positions, Close, Tree, Surround and A/B, plus Close AB for the brass. These microphone positions are switchable in the GUI and can be controlled via MIDI CC. Additionally, all core articulations have been recorded with multiple velocity layers for realistic dynamics. All samples have their natural panning. 4.1.1 Instruments The sections in TIME macro brings a large complement of articulations in the realm of time. This section briefly explains the individual instruments and points out usage scenarios and expansion options. Orchestra The Full Orchestra patches take the Individual Sections and make them into immensely inspiring full-range instruments both for inspiration and quick turnarounds. The articulations are a subset of the articulations in the Individual Sections, so if you are looking for something specific, it always pay off to also look at the even greater range of sounds in the Individual Articulations. 6 TIME Series TIME macro
Altered Time Altered Time, true to its name, contains tempo-changed variants of different sections made into special curated thematic patches. All these sounds have been carefully crafted from the high-resolution recordings. String Orchestra The String Orchestra combines the individual String Sections into full-range patches. Woodwind Orchestra The Woodwind Orchestra combines the individual Woodwind Sections into full-range patches. Mixed Choir The Mixed Choir combines the Women and Men Choirs into smoothly blendable choir tonalities. Individual Sections The Individual Sections are the bulk of TIME macro. We made sure to record special sections that fit the temporal concept perfectly and work well together. High Strings The High Strings consist of 10 Violins to the left of the stage and 10 Violins to the right, leading to interesting stereo effects and a very coherent sound. Mid Strings With 8 Violas and 8 Celli side by side, the Mid Strings cover a wide tonal range. Low Strings The low end is provided by the Low Strings with 8 Celli and 8 Basses one octave lower. High Woodwinds The High Woodwinds are made of 2 Flutes, 2 Alto Flutes, 2 Clarinets and 2 Basset Horns. Low Woodwinds The Low Woodwinds are played by 4 Clarinets and 4 Bass Clarinets 8vb. Double Reeds The Double Reeds Section consists of 2 Oboes, 2 English Horns and 4 Bassoons. Brass 4 Trumpets and 4 Trombones make the Brass Section. Harps and Vibes The Harps and Vibes patches use 2 Harps and 2 Vibraphones. Women Choir Men Choir The two choirs make up a number of interesting textures. 7 TIME Series TIME macro 2018 Orchestral Tools Schwarzer & Mantik GmbH
Notable Articulations: Berlin Brass has a huge number of very special articulations in even more special sections. - Clockworks tempo-synced patches - Rhythmic gestures - Swells and Drops - Post-processed Altered Time patches Some articulations are also available as Time Machine patches, which allow you to adjust the sample length dynamically. Expansion Options: TIME macro works beautifully with any OT collection. The Berlin Series is a natural companion and the Metropolis Ark Series transforms the collection into a tool for production music. 8 TIME Series TIME macro