Orchestral Tools TIME micro - BLANK PAGE Special added!

[Patrick de Caumette]

The two libraries are different and complement each other
: it is not more of the same.

 

[ism]

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for listening!

I think a lot of the feeling of it being detailed and "orchestrated" is credit to the library itself.

There's a combination of 3 things about OT Time Micro which magnify each other to make it feel really detailed and expressive. (a) using chamber or solo patches for thick chords instead of ensemble patches, because it sounds more like a natural divisi, (b) animated motion on sustains further helps to expose individual players even more. this combo is why "chrono chamber structures" is so appealing to me personally. And third the dirty little secret on top - (c) removing the close mic and using a tree-only sound. OT's typical tree sound is very precise to locate individual players in the stereo image and I personally felt the close mic on by default was hiding that. When I removed it, suddenly there was more depth and dimension on the thick chords being played on a chamber patch.

The "orchestration" is actually very simple. The first articulation I started with was the quartet color sustains SV. But eventually I wanted more full bass sound and more static feeling flautando-like color. So I discovered the high/low strings sul tasto that filled those needs. So I just copied all MIDI notes to all three parts, and then gradually pruned the MIDI away. places that needed more animated color, I layered or exposed the quartet patch. places that needed the static cold flautando feel, I exposed the sul tasto patches. For solid bass, I added the contra clarinet at the bottom. I used CC11 to control volume in some places to sculpt some dynamics if I didn't want the color to change, or if I was already stuck close to the quietest setting and wanted to sculpt it further down there.

I suppose the last part of my thought process was about voice leading. I didn't really have voice leading in mind when making the chords initially, but when it came to pruning and delegating the MIDI notes across the three strings patches, seeing some of the voice leading comes in handy. Then suddenly it really started to feel "orchestrated" because I found specific lines through the chords where the same coloration makes it feel like "connected voice line".

Thanks so much for all of that. Very interesting, and very helpful.

And I really love the track that came out of it. Is it for anything, album, soundtrack?

 

[dsblais]

The two libraries are different and complement each other
: it is not more of the same.

Thank you very much. I’ll give it a try.

 

[Loïc D]

I'm very curious whether Time Micro adds much if one already has Time Macro. It looks like it's the same concept, some of the same articulations, but with different section sizes and a couple bells and whistles. Thanks in advance.

Yes, no overlap between the products.
Micro is less ensemble and more focused on instruments (hence the name).
Choirs offer new articulation and most of the “combi presets” (I don’t recall the name OT uses) are stunning.
So is the Quartet instrument.
If you love the sound of Macro but feel limited by ensembles only then Micro is a nice addition.
And it’s not restricted to ambiant/aleatoric style (I did a very different track with it).

 

[dsblais]

Yes, no overlap between the products.
Micro is less ensemble and more focused on instruments (hence the name).
Choirs offer new articulation and most of the “combi presets” (I don’t recall the name OT uses) are stunning.
So is the Quartet instrument.
If you love the sound of Macro but feel limited by ensembles only then Micro is a nice addition.
And it’s not restricted to ambiant/aleatoric style (I did a very different track with it).

Thank you. This is very much what I’m finding playing with it. It is the solo counterpart to Macro’s ensembles (plus the gorgeous string quartet and some nice articulation completions). I think I actually am going to prefer it to Time Macro. Thanks again.