EastWest instruments

[chibear]

I'm still a relative novice when it comes to this stuff but am REALLY enjoying Mixcraft. I am ready though to expand my orchestral and vocal sounds and I found EastWest instruments. The samples they provide are astounding; however they are pricey so before putting out the cash I'd like some input from people who've used them with Mixcraft, specifically:

1. Do you install the instruments like any vst or do render the result in the instrument and import the wave aka Beatcraft?

2. Have you discovered any compatibility issues? For instance I have tried some DSK instruments (strings, ethnic instruments) and found that if I use the instrument on more than 2 tracks mixcraft locks. One of my geekier friends suggested it was the quality of the dll. So, any problems like that from EastWest?

3. Exactly how hard are these to use? My time writing is limited and I don't want to be spending 10s of hours learning software. I was up & running in Mixcraft in less than an hour, so that's an example of the level I work/learn at.

Any help appreciated. Thanks!

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

There are several people who hang out on these user forums that use EastWest products with Mixcraft. You do use them as plugins.

Greg

[Veneteaou]

1. It is a virtual instrument that is applied to a MIDI track within Mixcraft just like any other VSTi.

2. In the past, I have run into issues when loading RAM-intensive VSTi's (including Eastwest products) into Mixcraft. Part of that is due to MC still being 32-Bit, which means it hits a RAM ceiling somewhere below 4GB. That can be sidestepped using something like VEPro (or even managing RAM in the Play engine). None of it should be a huge issue unless you are running enormous templates though. What kind of music do you want to be making?

3. Eastwest is tough to grasp, because it is designed for people who know exactly what they are doing with these kinds of instruments. Understanding articulations requires an understanding of orchestration. That knowledge has to be applied to envelope manipulation, field placement, and all of your regular mixing and mastering. It's great software and I'm sure you would have fun with it, but it's something that could take hundreds of hours to get familiar with.

All that said, I would always recommend it to anyone. Eastwest products are so good that it's almost worth any amount of trouble they throw at you.

[chibear]

Thanks for your replies.

@ veneteaou:

What kind of music do you want to be making?

While I'm taking the opportunity to explore many genre, my main focus is orchestral. Something I actually finished here: http://mixcraftlive.com/members/1455/albums.php This was done totally with the instruments supplied with mixcraft and ended up <> 60 tracks.

I'm retired musician (40+ years free lancing and symphony orchestras), so I know exactly the sounds I'm looking for and what I'm looking for is more and varied articulations and expressivity than is available in the instruments provided with mc. I was a little frustrated in the project above on this.

@ Greg: that's the reason I requested the ability to edit the ADSR on Acoustica instruments in some later version.

[Veneteaou]

EWQL Symphonic Orchestra is probably exactly what you are looking for in that case.


Your music reminds me very much of Nobuo Uematsu's work on Final Fantasy 6.