Snare volume and xylophone

[shnootre]

Greetings,

I am just getting my skills up using Finale 2006 and GPO full. In the Basic Orchestral Percussion patch, I'm noticing that certain instruments are louder than others. In particular, I find the snare drum hits to be generally rather quiet (compared to the some of the other sounds, like the cymbals, on the same patch). Is there any way to adjust the individual strength of that patch, or any workaround to get my snare drum as loud as I need it (quite the opposite problem you usually have with REAL snare drums!).

Also, the Xylophone KS patch sounds an awful lot like a vibraphone to me. Anyone else notice that? Far more sustain than any xylo I've ever heard.

[cptexas]

I'm no percussionist so I can't comment on how the default volumes are or the Xylophone decay. It sounds like a xylophone to me! Maybe Styxx can help. He's a percussionist.
You can adjust each instrument's individual volume in the Kontakt player. There's a volume knob. You can also simply alter the velocities to suit your needs, but from what you've said I think the volume knob is your best bet.

-Chris

EDIT: OK, I misread your post. In the basic orchestral percussion patch you can't adjust the individual volumes so I suggest you either just load each percussion instrument seperately and adjust the volumes or change around the velocities to suit your needs. However, the velocity not only makes it louder, but brighter, thus changing the timbre (how's that for nice big words? ). I like to load the patches seperately anyway because I can make mod data for rolls different for cymbals, bass drum, snares, etc. so that I don't have to have one set of data for all of the rolls. This way I can make it more realistic.

[shnootre]

Of course - that makes perfect sense to load the full patches separately! Thanks.

RE volume, in general I was under the impression, when using GPO from within finale, that adjustments to the actual volume knob on any instance of Kontakt Player is superceded by actual dynamic expressions in finale. Any word on that?

[Jeff Turner]

Of course - that makes perfect sense to load the full patches separately! Thanks.

RE volume, in general I was under the impression, when using GPO from within finale, that adjustments to the actual volume knob on any instance of Kontakt Player is superceded by actual dynamic expressions in finale. Any word on that?

I don't know if superceded is the correct term. In my mind, the volume knob on the Kontakt player sets the default volume level that is being used in a piece for that instrument. The dynamics that Finale reads adjusts the modulation control relative to that overall volume.

As a test load up 2 different flute samples on different channels. Adjust the volume on one of the samples higher than the other. Give both staves the exact same notation and dynamics to playback. The playback in the channel with the higher volume control should louder than the other staff. Meaning that both the volume level and Finale's interpretation of the dynamics work together to create the output, meaning that neither one supercedes the other.

Also in regards to HP's interpretation of dynamics, make sure your staves have names assigned to each staff. HP looks at these names and then decides if it should send modulation or velocity info for volume control.

Jeff

[Thad]

I am just getting my skills up using Finale 2006 and GPO full. In the Basic Orchestral Percussion patch, I'm noticing that certain instruments are louder than others. In particular, I find the snare drum hits to be generally rather quiet (compared to the some of the other sounds, like the cymbals, on the same patch). Is there any way to adjust the individual strength of that patch, or any workaround to get my snare drum as loud as I need it (quite the opposite problem you usually have with REAL snare drums!).

If you have a staff with only the snare drum, you can turn it up in Finale's Mixer or Studio View. Otherwise, you can assign invisible dynamics to the snare part. (Remember also that Human Playback always needs to be on when using GPO instruments.)

Also, the Xylophone KS patch sounds an awful lot like a vibraphone to me. Anyone else notice that? Far more sustain than any xylo I've ever heard.

If you are using the Xylophone KS patch, you're not using the instruments in the "9. Notation" folder. You need to use only the GPO instruments in the Notation folder when using Finale 2006. (If you don't see a "9. Notation" folder, you need to install -- or reinstall -- the latest GPO Kontakt Player update.)