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Does this sound like a good representation of Note Performer 4?

TheHansen01

TheHansen01

Member
Note Performer 4:
MuseSounds:

This is my first time putting something together with Note Performer 4. Compared to the many great demos I've heard online, the output here sounds underwhelming. I exported the score from Dorico via MusicXML and imported it into MuseScore as is (with MuseSounds), and I'm not sure one sounds better than the other. They both have strengths and weaknesses.

Do any experienced NP4 users feel that this sounds like a fair demo? Or might there be some changes I can make to the score in Dorico to improve the performance? I attached the Dorico file to this post if anyone wants to check it out.
Click to read more...
 

Attachments

  • Helena's Theme.zip
    1 MB · Views: 16
i think that's pretty typical NP performance. Your score is well marked and it's interpreting what you marked. Overall the dynamics are smoother and more consistent with the NP version, but there are aspects of individual sounds that are better with MuseScore. In particular woodwinds sound smoother when slurred. Strings generally sound better in MuseScore to my ear. There's just a sonic fullness to the MuseScore sound not present with NP. But again I'd prefer the performance of NP.

Now if you have any of the supported libraries for NPPE (BBCSO, Synchron Prime, Berlin Berklee edition) it would be interesting to hear this utilizing one of those. In particular this sounds like a piece where BBCSO would shine. Sonically would be more like MuseScore but the performance of NP.

All my opinion of course, but to answer your initial question, yes I think this is a representative NP interpretation and mockup.

What movie is this from?
 
The MuseScore one sounds more wet to me. I don't have Ozone (looked in your project), but to get a more equivalent comparison, have you tried adding the REverence reverb (Steinberg built-in to Dorico) to the top of your inserts? The LA Scoring Stage preset sounds pretty good to me.
 
mbishop said:
have you tried adding the REverence reverb (Steinberg built-in to Dorico) to the top of your inserts? The LA Scoring Stage preset sounds pretty good to me.
Click to expand...
GREAT call here. I haven't figured out how to use NP4 with individual outs on the Dorico mixer, but putting that LA Scoring Stage preset as a send effect for the two mixer channels used by NP4 sounds MUCH better than the default reverb setup within the NP4 mixer on its own. 👍
 
This is Musescore kind of territory, it sounds much better than anything else in the market-notation software today (maybe Berlin Strings in Staffpad is slightly better). Overall I find Musescore hit & miss, but if it's a hit nothing beats it. It's about the sound, expressiveness, the way it all glues together. Woodwinds are superb too if you treat them a bit, with dynamics, marcato, etc.

NP4 it's amazing for balance, nothing beats it for revealing a bit of "truth" in your orchestration. Brass is the best part for me, woodwinds next, strings meeh, not a fan!
 
I have a couple of the NP playback engines to go with the applicable sample sets and they do sound quite good without a lot (or any, in my case) of tinkering.
 
Here's my typical template (heavy NPPE user here). Woodwinds are Synchron WWs, Synchron Brass mostly, CSS for strings, synchron prime harp and CS piano. No tinkering except I added an FX channel with VSS3 reverb and sent some of the dry signal to that but. Added Gulfoss on the master. In a typical template, I'd have all the instrument types situated in a room with MIR Pro, but didn't in this case.
 

Attachments

  • Helena's Theme - Helena's Theme.mp3
    6.2 MB
While YMMV with Noteperformer, I’ve generated really good results in most cases. I released several albums on Bandcamp and the streaming services with it. Here are two examples that may help inform your decision around Noteperformer:

canonical ensembles (alto flute, bass clarinet, alto sax, piano, violin, cello, contrabass)

uprising (piano and string orchestra)
 
TheHansen01 said:
WOW! This sounded incredible. Is this BBC Core or Professional? And this is using the Note Performer Playback Engine?
Click to expand...
Yes, it’s NPPE. Technically, it’s BBCSO Pro, but it’s all Mix 1 so it would have the same sound as Core.

Edit: But as Swinkler says, it does make a difference because of the instruments that Core doesn’t have. In that case, I’m not sure what happens, if NP chooses its own instruments as fallbacks, for example.
 
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NP is A LOT better playing, but it has not very good sounds. MuseSounds has very nice sounds but it's a mess playing and the unbalance is almost unelievable. It's actually very sad that you can't do anything, I mean, you can't control velocities, edit dynamics to balance this mess. You can still compose some easy pieces by the way, but when it requires more complexity is a total mess.

Here some unfinished orchestral sketches I'm working on:


View attachment An-WNP6i7zCmHFDU9qVa4kc1ihxxlH15TYwcVRREFr7HLvCdzl1lEf8T4oLcUZox7_FxHkxdPsqr_rWwlpbrcluD.mp4
 
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