Old 02-20-2018, 01:48 PM   #1
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default (free) Virtual Playing Orchestra 3.2.2

UPDATE: The latest version is now 3.2.2

My free orchestral sample library Virtual Playing Orchestra 3.0 is now publicly available

There are 2 versions of Virtual Playing Orchestra, the Standard Orchestra edition (same as previous versions but with bug fixes and slight enhancements) and the new Performance Orchestra edition, which uses the MOD wheel for volume control and the key velocity for articulation selection (at least for sustain, staccato and things in between)

More details (and the free download files) available at my web site:

virtualplaying.com
.
.
.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com

Last edited by pbattersby; 10-12-2021 at 08:37 AM.
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-20-2018, 05:29 PM   #2
teniente powell
Human being with feelings
 
teniente powell's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Spain
Posts: 323
Default

Accept my deepest congratulations. I have tried, just some minutes (out of curiosity), and that way of changing the articulations is very useful indeed. I play with very famous libraries (Lass, spitfire, cinematic studio strings, several cinesamples, ...), always changing articulations with Program Change, and your way of changing the articulations is fantastic.

I'll try it more time. Thanks.
teniente powell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-21-2018, 07:42 AM   #3
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by teniente powell View Post
Accept my deepest congratulations. I have tried, just some minutes (out of curiosity), and that way of changing the articulations is very useful indeed.
Thanks.

Quote:
Originally Posted by teniente powell View Post
I play with very famous libraries (Lass, spitfire, cinematic studio strings, several cinesamples, ...), always changing articulations with Program Change, and your way of changing the articulations is fantastic.
I became tired of recording a track, then going back and adding in key switches and then volume automation. I wanted a better way. Now I can just perform the part with changes to articulations happening naturally from the way I'm playing, as well as recording volume changes as I'm playing. Hopefully this will be useful for a few other people too.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-21-2018, 03:20 PM   #4
gmgmgm
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 163
Default

This is excellent work and a valuable contribution.

The Performance version seems to me a significant improvement in usability - particularly for skilled keyboard players, I imagine, but also for incompetents like me.

Congratulations and thanks.
gmgmgm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-21-2018, 06:58 PM   #5
Rangler
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 569
Default

I just downloaded everything. Using sforzando. How do I point the sfz file to the wav files? Do they have to be in the same folder?

"Not sound asset loaded"
__________________
MacBook Pro; Late 2016, 16 GB

Last edited by Rangler; 02-21-2018 at 07:07 PM.
Rangler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-22-2018, 06:36 AM   #6
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by gmgmgm View Post
This is excellent work and a valuable contribution.
Thanks!


Quote:
Originally Posted by gmgmgm View Post
The Performance version seems to me a significant improvement in usability
I wasn't sure how useful it would be to others. Glad to know you like it.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-22-2018, 06:40 AM   #7
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rangler View Post
How do I point the sfz file to the wav files? Do they have to be in the same folder?
You need to unzip everything in the same place and in the same way. See the installation section of the download page:

Virtual Playing Orchestra - Installation

I include a picture of how the installation directory should look if everything has been installed correctly
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-22-2018, 10:13 AM   #8
Rangler
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 569
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbattersby View Post
You need to unzip everything in the same place and in the same way. See the installation section of the download page:

Virtual Playing Orchestra - Installation

I include a picture of how the installation directory should look if everything has been installed correctly
Thanks. The only reason I didn't unzip them all in the same folder was because the "documentation" folder would be overwritten and didn't think that was intentional. Maybe rename the documentation folders on the other zip files.

It works now.
__________________
MacBook Pro; Late 2016, 16 GB
Rangler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-23-2018, 11:46 AM   #9
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rangler View Post
I didn't unzip them all in the same folder was because the "documentation" folder would be overwritten and didn't think that was intentional. Maybe rename the documentation folders on the other zip files.
Though it would solve the problem, I would then have potentially 3 documentation sub directories each with maybe 1 file in them and any future update still has the same need to permit files to be overwritten anyway.

But, to deal with the problem, what I can at least do is make it more clear that being asked to overwrite files is normal and should be approved during installation. I've now made that change to my web site. Hopefully that helps.

Thanks for your feedback on why you had a problem with installation.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2018, 10:50 AM   #10
Indirect
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 122
Default

This library needs much more love!
Indirect is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2018, 10:08 PM   #11
imagegod
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 410
Default

How so? I'm not implying you're wrong, I'm just curious and want to hear your thoughts.

I find the library to be incredibly useful and powerful...I use it to supplement the incredibly useful and powerful (and much more expensive) Orchestral Tools 'Inspire', GPO, and some Spitfire libraries. In a word, VPO very much holds up to the best that's out there (in relatively limited settings, of course. YMMV).

Let me know.
__________________
Windows 10/Surface Pro 3, Intel i7 4650U 1.7/2.3 GHz, 8GB SSD
Overture 5/GPO 5.1/Omnisphere 2.1/Audacity/Komplete/Reaper
imagegod is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2018, 05:32 AM   #12
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Indirect View Post
This library needs much more love!
Quote:
Originally Posted by imagegod View Post
How so? I'm not implying you're wrong, I'm just curious and want to hear your thoughts.
I wonder if "Indirect" is saying that the library deserves to get more attention from other people?

If so, and if anyone agrees, please help spread the word on other forums. I'm only part of a couple of forums so I haven't spread the word very far on my own.

Quote:
Originally Posted by imagegod View Post
I find the library to be incredibly useful and powerful
Glad to know. Thanks!
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2018, 06:03 AM   #13
heda
Human being with feelings
 
heda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Spain
Posts: 7,239
Default

thank you... any free alternative to sforzando? It gives me problems and it tries to connect to internet all the time.

It would be great if you can make a HISE instrument. http://hise.audio/
heda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2018, 12:32 PM   #14
jrk
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,969
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by heda View Post
It would be great if you can make a HISE instrument. http://hise.audio/
Surely HISE will load sfz? http://hise.audio/manual/Sampler.php#sfzimporter
__________________
it's meant to sound like that...
jrk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-14-2018, 07:37 AM   #15
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by heda View Post
any free alternative to sforzando? It gives me problems and it tries to connect to internet all the time.
You can try searching for "rgc:audio sfz" which may eventually lead you to the plugin that was in common use before Sforzando. The official "rgc:audio sfz" has a problem though. You can only have 1 instance per project and it only supports a single instrument at a time. There is a modified version that permits multiple instances to co-exist in the same project so look out for that, but Sforzando is still the better option.

If you are having problems with Sforzando, ask for help on their forum. I've found them to be helpful in the past when I had questions.

Quote:
Originally Posted by heda View Post
and it tries to connect to internet all the time.
I would guess that it's connecting to the internet at startup to check for updates. Do you believe it is doing more than that?

Quote:
Originally Posted by heda View Post
It would be great if you can make a HISE instrument. http://hise.audio/
Maybe some day, but I have no immediate plans for that.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-14-2018, 07:40 AM   #16
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jrk View Post
Surely HISE will load sfz?
Apparently, but it only supports a limited number of sfz opcodes. I can see from the list of supported opcodes that importing some Virtual Playing Orchestra instruments won't sound the same and others won't really work at all (like trumpet, french horn, trombone).
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-14-2018, 07:51 AM   #17
jrk
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,969
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbattersby View Post
Apparently, but it only supports a limited number of sfz opcodes.
Ahh. You've talked yourself into some extra work there, then. I use sforzando, with no obvious problems.
__________________
it's meant to sound like that...
jrk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-14-2018, 08:21 AM   #18
DSmolken
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 18
Default

Yeah, HISE looks interesting and I need to take a closer look at it, but it does not try to be a full-featured SFZ player.
__________________
Karoryfer Samples developer, now with Swirly Drums
DSmolken is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 04:43 AM   #19
slooky
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 159
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by gmgmgm View Post
This is excellent work and a valuable contribution.

The Performance version seems to me a significant improvement in usability - particularly for skilled keyboard players, I imagine, but also for incompetents like me.

Congratulations and thanks.
could not agree more!
slooky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 12:36 PM   #20
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jrk View Post
Ahh. You've talked yourself into some extra work there, then.
Uh Oh. What extra work have I talked myself into?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jrk View Post
I use sforzando, with no obvious problems.
Me too.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 12:40 PM   #21
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by DSmolken View Post
Yeah, HISE looks interesting and I need to take a closer look at it, but it does not try to be a full-featured SFZ player.
Yea, I suspect the minimal SFZ implementation is meant as a convenience for those wishing to convert an SFZ instrument to a full HISE instrument, rather than HISE trying to act as any kind of useful SFZ player. Which I think is a perfectly reasonable approach. At the very least, the existing SFZ implementation would save someone the chore of mapping the wav files to MIDI notes all over again.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 12:43 PM   #22
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Re: usefulness of performance version
Quote:
Originally Posted by slooky View Post
could not agree more!
Thanks! I was hoping people would find the Performance version useful.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 02:53 PM   #23
DSmolken
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 18
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbattersby View Post
Yea, I suspect the minimal SFZ implementation is meant as a convenience for those wishing to convert an SFZ instrument to a full HISE instrument, rather than HISE trying to act as any kind of useful SFZ player. Which I think is a perfectly reasonable approach. At the very least, the existing SFZ implementation would save someone the chore of mapping the wav files to MIDI notes all over again.
That's exactly what I'm planning to do when I get around to trying HISE, so, yeah, makes perfect sense.
__________________
Karoryfer Samples developer, now with Swirly Drums
DSmolken is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2018, 05:51 AM   #24
mplay
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Curaçao
Posts: 410
Default

Wow, these are awesome. Thanks so much!
mplay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-07-2020, 03:47 AM   #25
dahya
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 229
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbattersby View Post
My free orchestral sample library Virtual Playing Orchestra 3.0 is now publicly available, with a warning that part of it might still be in a Beta state. I suspect it's fine and won't need to change, but different MIDI controllers respond differently so I may need some adjustments, but I've already used the Performance Orchestra edition it in a composition and it's working fine for me.

Anyway, there are now 2 versions of Virtual Playing Orchestra, the Standard Orchestra edition (same as previous versions but with bug fixes and slight enhancements) and the new Performance Orchestra edition, which uses the MOD wheel for volume control and the key velocity for articulation selection (at least for sustain, staccato and things in between)

More details (and the free download files) available at my web site:

virtualplaying.com
.
.
.

PBattersby I think you've done an incredibly fantastic job here, so many thanks for sharing! I haven't had much time to look at it properly, plus I am only starting to use sforzando so don't yet know how to use it fully.

What I was wondering is how you can get all the instruments / articulations to 'automatically' come up in the menu as per the attached image? It would be nice to be able to choose them from there, rather than having to keep navigating to the Orchestra folder and dragging them / importing them one at a time.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg sforzando menu screenshot.jpg (38.5 KB, 187 views)
dahya is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-07-2020, 04:51 AM   #26
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dahya View Post
PBattersby I think you've done an incredibly fantastic job here
Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dahya View Post
What I was wondering is how you can get all the instruments / articulations to 'automatically' come up in the menu as per the attached image?
If I recall correctly (I haven't done this for a while), within Sforzando, click the "settings" button, look for "user files path", click the "set" button then navigate to select the Virtual Playing Orchestra directory.

I also recommend, after loading all the instruments in to each track of your project, saving your Reaper project as a template. Then you can just load the template into a new project and all your tracks will already be populated with all the instruments.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com

Last edited by pbattersby; 03-07-2020 at 04:59 AM.
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-07-2020, 05:09 AM   #27
dahya
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 229
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbattersby View Post
Thanks!



If I recall correctly (I haven't done this for a while), within Sforzando, click the "settings" button, look for "user files path", click the "set" button then navigate to select the Virtual Playing Orchestra directory.

I also recommend, after loading all the instruments in to each track of your project, saving your Reaper project as a template. Then you can just load the template into a new project and all your tracks will already be populated with all the instruments.

Wow ! Nice One Pbattersby !! Thanks for the quick reply, and yes, the settings / user files path works nicely !
dahya is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-08-2020, 02:20 AM   #28
enroe
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,575
Default

Thank you! Virtual Playing Orchestra is georgeous!
You've put a lot of work into it - and present it
to everyone - that is great!
__________________
free mp3s + info: andy-enroe.de songs and weird stuff: enroe.de
enroe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-08-2020, 10:02 AM   #29
jazzmandan
Human being with feelings
 
jazzmandan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Chicago, Il USA
Posts: 706
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dahya View Post
Wow ! Nice One Pbattersby !! Thanks for the quick reply, and yes, the settings / user files path works nicely !

Wow, this thread could not have come at a better time. thank you to all for sharing the content and information. I am up and running with this hoping it will find a place in my music making.
__________________
"significantly better than bad..." - Dell XPS i7, 16G Ram, Win 10 64Bit, REAPER 64Bit, MOTU Audio Express, PG Music - BIAB 2020, Kontakt 5, more VSTs than I know what to do with. Will trade all to play the guitar and keys better!
jazzmandan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2020, 05:45 AM   #30
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by enroe View Post
Thank you! Virtual Playing Orchestra is georgeous!
Glad to know you like it. Thanks!
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2020, 05:48 AM   #31
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzmandan View Post
Wow, this thread could not have come at a better time.
It almost didn't. This old thread was resurrected by dahya to ask a question. Glad that happened so that you could find it.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2021, 02:55 PM   #32
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default 100,000 downloads

Just thought I'd resurrect this old thread to announce that Virtual Playing Orchestra has just reached 100,000 downloads. Not a big deal for some sample libraries but a big deal for me. ;-)


__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-11-2021, 03:12 PM   #33
dahya
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 229
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbattersby View Post
Just thought I'd resurrect this old thread to announce that Virtual Playing Orchestra has just reached 100,000 downloads. Not a big deal for some sample libraries but a big deal for me. ;-)


Oh wow, I'd forgotten about this, it sounds fantastic, thanks for bumping the post!
dahya is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2021, 12:19 AM   #34
fred garvin
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 791
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbattersby View Post
Just thought I'd resurrect this old thread to announce that Virtual Playing Orchestra has just reached 100,000 downloads. Not a big deal for some sample libraries but a big deal for me. ;-)
Congrats! That's a lot of happy people. Highly recommended, it came through with good solid sounds when a $300 package let me down.
fred garvin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2021, 04:34 AM   #35
Spookye
Human being with feelings
 
Spookye's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Torino, Italia
Posts: 734
Default

Congratulations Pbattersby! Things done right work well .... for everyone. Things done without passion have "short legs". Being able to use a well done orchestral library that does not "kill" the CPU and adaptable to old PCs is a shareable happiness. Thank you with all my heart.
__________________
Cupboard Home Studio YT
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm8...X1912MA260ELzg
Spookye is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-12-2021, 08:36 AM   #36
pbattersby
Human being with feelings
 
pbattersby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 348
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dahya View Post
Oh wow, I'd forgotten about this, it sounds fantastic, thanks for bumping the post!
Quote:
Originally Posted by fred garvin View Post
Congrats! That's a lot of happy people. Highly recommended, it came through with good solid sounds when a $300 package let me down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spookye View Post
Congratulations Pbattersby! Things done right work well .... for everyone. Things done without passion have "short legs". Being able to use a well done orchestral library that does not "kill" the CPU and adaptable to old PCs is a shareable happiness. Thank you with all my heart.

Hey thanks! Glad to know there has been no buyer's remorse.
__________________
Paul Battersby
Virtual Playing Orchestra - free sample library @ http://virtualplaying.com
pbattersby is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:36 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.