So I picked up Miroslav Philharmonik

Two forums would work for me. Any more and it would just be too much, unless you expect people from all ends of the HC world to be coming over here.

Agreed. I always feel guilty about sending Stick or Lee mix questions (though it doesn't stop me! ) and the places on HC for those discussions just doesn't have the camaraderie or activity of our group.

I wholly support and would contribute to a forum of that nature.

Funny you should bring this up... but first, congrats on the library Oswey. Very cool.

So, I'm reading a very very good songwriting book, with a horrible title. The Billboard Guide to Writing and Producing Song That Sell: How to Create Hits in Today's Music Industry.

What a title. But a freaking great book.

www.amazon.com/Billboard-Guide-Writing-Producing-Songs/dp/0823099547

Anyway, there is one of those quotes where they bold it and make the typeface HUGE right in the body of text to make a punctuated point. And it says, paraphrasing:

NEWSFLASH! A SONGWRITERS JOB DESCRIPTION HAS CHANGED! YOU’RE JUST NOT WRITING SONGS ANYMORE, YOU'RE ARRANGING THEM, YOU'RE PRODUCING THEM, YOU’RE RECORDING AND MIXING THEM. YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALL TODAY.

And it's true. I get the reluctance of those that don't produce. That's fine, they know what they want to do, write. But as a job description? We have to do it all. There is no such thing as the guitar/voice demo. There is no such thing as the DEMO! They don’t' exist. Only to the writer do demos exist. To facilitate the writer only. But it does not leave the writer's possession anymore. Demos don't go out. Finished MASTERS go out.

It a great point and it was fantastic to read it in black and white from a hit songwriter turned A & R guy. That is the world we live in today.

With that in mind, I personally feel that the guys that don't want production blended in to some degree are not being realistic.

That’s my take.

EDIT: But this works great what you've done here!

Interestingly, you may remember a few months ago I was so excited because I finally ordered some midi cables. Well, I received them... tried hooking them up... and gave up on it. Just too much crap to understand and I get frustrated easily...

Yeah... there seems to be no option to add more emoticons. You can always insert one as a picture.

Hooking it up was easy... but figuring out how to assign the stuff... too much for my feeble brain. At one point, I could get the midi stuff sort of working, but then I couldn't play and record my keyboard with its internal sounds.

I find that the most influential parameter for realism is the attack portion of the sample. Which one is being triggered via velocity. Me not being a real keyboardist, I tend to play it as expressive as I can but then go in and try the different velocities in the midi editing of my DAW. By rasiing or lowering one note's velocity, I peruse the effect of the different attacks samples. Then...

...I go in and edit obvious jumps in velocity if they sound funny. I'll add one sticking out if that makes the part more alive and realistic. Soemtimes I choose all and lower the whole performance if I like the way those sample layers sound better or more fitting for the part and song. Just looking and listening tells me a lot and lets me know how I can quickly (or not so quickly) edit velocity to up the realism factor.

And frankly, as hacky as I am, I tend to slam the keys and trigger inappropiatly hard sample. Harsh and biting cause they're the top of the dynamic. Backing that off smooths the whole deal and make sit sound a lot more realistc.

I just did it last night on Piano Lessons Down the Hall. An upright piano that at first sound pretty freaking midi, ended up sound a little more McCartney Upright after some tweaks.

Yes... I know if I have a song I'm working on, I'll contain my questions on both the writing and the production in a single thread. I'm thinking this other area will be good if you're truly only seeking production/mixing advice... or if you have some generally Off-Topic something you want to get off your chest.

Of course, this will likely all go away once HC gets its head out of its ass. (And I just tried going over there again and got the ol' TCP Network Error. It really is a trainwreck... what are they thinking!?1?)

I personally don't think this forum is going to be short-lived at all, assuming Bee is willing to keep it running.

As for the cross-pollination, when I click on "new topics" at the top of the page, I get all the threads in both forums, so that is good enough for me. Other people can filter out what they want to see and those of us who want it bundled are one click away.

Hate when that happens.

Thanks, it is getting there. I've finally got the thing able to read its samples, but it doesn't consistently provide any audio when recording or on playback. The midi file that records plays fine when copied onto another VST instrument but I just get silence when playing the MP track.

Thankfully, that issue seems to be going away on its own...

IK's system is butt. Hate it. I've got a few hundred bucks in Sample Tank and I don't even use it now because of the crazy install, rights issues, and lame app/sample onginization. Not to say your experience will be bad with your new purchase. I've heard good things... but I get your frustration.