Discuss Notion Music Composition Software here.
3 posts
Page 1 of 1
Hi everybody. I just had a try with solo violin in EQWL gold (loading it using EWQL Notion full preset).
None of the different techniques shown in EWQL Tech. palette (like marcato, spiccato, lyrique...) work (and nothing seems to happen in Play when encountering these techniques) :(
Have I missed something ?
User avatar
by Surfwhammy on Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:24 am
I did several experiments over a few hours with no success . . . :(

THOUGHTS

I have a subscription for EW CloudComposer X, and this gets me the current versions of nearly everything EW provides, including the various orchestras (Gold, GoldX, Platinum, and so forth) . . .

When I try an load certain EWQL instruments, I get a series of error messages about required samples not being found . . .

I did what the EW error messages suggested but to no avail . . .

I also tried replacing the 2020 EWQL presets in NOTION with the Legacy EWQL presents, also to no avail . . .

I think this is a two-part problem:

(1) The NOTION EWQL presets require an older version of the EWQL orchestra

(2) The NOTION EWQL presets have not been updated to work with the current EW orchestras.

WORKAROUND

As a general rule, I do not use NOTION presets for anything; and I do this for a variety of reasons, primary of which is that I avoid articulations, dynamics, playing styles, and all that stuff, since my perspective is that it wastes time for no useful reason . . .

Instead, if I use VSTi virtual instrument versions and then select the specific articulation, dynamic, playing style, and so forth that I want to use . . .

The reason for not using dynamic marks is that they only change the volume level in the underlying MIDI, which ranges from 0 to 127, where for example a particular dynamic mark maps to changing the volume level to 100 or some other integer value; and this has nothing to do with the way the instrument actually was played by the trained musician. It only changes the volume level . . .

I can do the same thing via the volume slider in the mixer (Studio One Professional) or with an compressor-limiter effects plug-in in Studio One Professional; and for me this maps to better results . . .

As another example, if I need a staccato articulation, then I create a separate staff for it and then select the staccato articulation from the EW library for the instrument . . .

If I need legato, then I create yet another staff and then assign the instrument playing legato to the staff . . .

More specifically, I use ReWire MIDI staves in the NOTION score and host the corresponding VSTi virtual instruments in the Studio One Professional ".song" . . .

This works with the EW CloudComposer X instruments, but it requires a separate ReWind MIDI staff and corresponding instance of Play in the Studio One Professional ".song", which is fine with me . . .

One might suppose there are hundreds of articulations, dynamics, playing styles, and so for just for Solo Violin; and using all of them the way I do it would require hundreds of staves, which at some point becomes quite absurd; but I don't need a lot of variations for instruments, plus it's vastly too complex to mess with all that stuff . . .

Some of it makes sense; but having a different articulation, dynamic, playing style, and so forth that changes for each measure is not something I need to do, although I appreciate that for some folks this is important and necessary . . .

Most of my songs have 25 to 50 instruments, but some of the instruments have two or three staves for panning purposes (far-left, top-center, far-right), since I like to put instruments in motion to entertain headphone listeners . . .

In this context, I usually have two or three kick drums and do the same thing with snare drum rim shots . . .

I usually have pairs of rhythm guitars, identical except for panning; and I tend to do this for everything . . .

Having pairs of instruments, panned far-left and far-right, lets me adjust the spatial location as well as the respective volume level, compressing, limiting, and so forth, including echoes and reverberations, tremolo, and all that stuff when desired . . .

You can see the strategy I use for music notation in this song, which as all songs I post is best enjoyed when listening with studio-quality headphones like SONY MDR-7506 headphones (a personal favorite) . . .

phpBB [video]


In the typically rare even I need a lot of articulations and playing styles for lead guitar, I play it on a real lead guitar with an elaborate effects pedal rig, which is vastly easier for me than messing with music notation . . .

Otherwise, the general rule here in the sound isolation studio is that, for example, the drummer has a specific set of drums, cymbals, and Latin percussion instruments, hence is not going to be doing a lot of what I call "tinkering"; and the primary reasons is that when digital music is played through loudspeakers or headphones mostly all that matters is that the instruments are heard clearly and distinctly . . .

If the instrument volume level is too low, then (a) it can't be heard clearly and distinctly, hence (b) it's useless noise and does not to be included in the song . . .

Lots of FUN! :)

P. S. Calling PreSonus technical support or filing a trouble ticket probably is the best way to determine whether there is a solution for this problem, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous! :roll:
User avatar
by nathanielwalker2 on Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:04 am
EWQLSO works, but you cannot use any of the "Full" presets. The Lite presets work, and actually load the Full Key Switched instrument patch in EW Play.

Just avoid the "Full" Presets, as they are designed for the EWQLSO Gold, and many people these days are going straight to Platinum or Platinum+. This means that the files for Gold aren't even going to be on your system - which is why these errors occur.

EastWest installs the files for each SKU of the library into distinct folders. So, you only have the files in EW Symphony Orchestra Gold if you have purchased and installed the gold SKU. If you only have Platinum or Platinum Plus, those directories will not exist on your system.

This is just bad maintenance on the part of the Notion team. At this point, these presets really should have been updated for Platinum, as that is the SKU most people buying this product will buy in at (for the Mic Positions - Platinum Plus is only for people who want the lighter 16-bit samples for use on i.e. a laptop with RAM limitations - though that WOULD be the optimal set to use for notation software).

I think the system for integrating sample libraries is just a relic, at this point. This really limits the software, as the default sounds are not anywhere near the level of even this older EWQL library.

If Note Performer was an option, this would be less of an issue. I've been mulling moving to Dorico for notation. I got the Elements version, and it plays back scores more accurately than Notion, so I might move up to Pro. The Expression Maps system is far better than the Notion Rules system, and exponentially better in terms of documentation.

PreSonus will likely eventually move Notion onto a codebase that is similar to Studio One, but I think they will a LONG time to do this.

In any case, EWQL is fine. Just avoid the Full Patches as you're going to get them using the Lite Preset with the latest version of the library ;-)

3 posts
Page 1 of 1

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests