More than often composers using virtual instruments have to check what the instrument is able to. I mean that there is not yet any “fit all needs” product. So the wallet will suffers….

After a while one may be able to accumulate different products about the same purpose, Strings, Woods, Brasses, Choirs and so on.. So now it is the time to organize and templatize, the other option been to always start from scratch and rediscover patches, this is fine if the deadline is not short. (which often is)

So when the template is ready we are with those few hundreds tracks choosing the right one to play in. I often redo stems or part of them with a different instrument or just blend the whole.

Ex: having a string section playing harmonies but sounding thin or harsh > blend in a few sordinos.

Loose staccatos > blend some spic.

I wrote about blending a few, this is possible with VSL Dimension Strings and also other products Divisi patches or even a few solo instrument instances.

I now recall that been done so nicely in real orchestra, it was called Klangfarbenmelodie (melody of colors). Arnold Schönberg named it this way but I remember also hearing that in Richard Strauss symphonic poems.

8DIO recently released synphony which a part consist of orchestral elements made of electronics. After all when I bought a Roland modular synth in the 80’s there were instructions to program a clarinet and others “acoustics” instruments. The idea is not using sounds in their own but as a blending element. When the mix begins to be on the heavy part (hundreds of tracks) one will not notice the super beautiful flute patch sitting in the middle.

We are now with the mixing of spectrum in hands and in this case it does’nt differs from any mixing job. Spectrum, space and dynamics…