SONORA CINEMATIC Poiesis Cello Solo Strings Series User Manual

CINEMATIC Poiesis Cello Solo Strings Series
User Manual

POIESIS CELLO: A SHORT INTRODUCTION

Thank you for purchasing Poiesis Cello, the first chapter in the Poiesis solo strings series. We love organic textures and we love extended techniques: this is why we made Poiesis Cello. Poiesis Cello will allow you to instantly create beautiful (or beautifully ugly!) soundscapes that will inspire new music the first time you touch the keyboard.

Poiesis cello was recorded in a dry studio with three high-end microphones placed relatively close to the instrument, to offer an intimate sound that you can shape as you please.

The microphones used are a Neumann U87 large-diaphragm condenser (LDC), an AEA R84A ribbon (RBN) and a Schoeps CMC/mk4 small diaphragm condenser (SDC).
A pre-rendered stereo mix (MIX) with the single microphones in LCR position and additional processing is also included and it provides a ready-to-use, resource-friendly way to obtain a great sound, right out of the box.

The instrument recorded is a 1995 Moes & Moes cello built for and owned by Yo- Yo Ma and played by Alan Black, principal cellist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

THE PATCHES

Poiesis Cello features two different patches:

1. The texture is a two-layer instrument that allows you to choose between any of the 43 included articulations for each of the layers and freely crossfade between them using your keyboard’s mod-wheel (midi CC#1).
2. Short is a complimentary patch that features three velocity-sensitive short articulations sampled with 5 round robins and 3 dynamic layers (+ snap pizza. on the pizzicato articulation.

THE MIXER

Both patches feature a mixer that will allow you to have complete control over the sound: use the faders to adjust each microphone’s level and the pan knobs to determine its position in the stereo field.

The instrument was recorded using three microphones:

LDC: large-diaphragm condenser (Neumann U87)
RBN: ribbon (AEA R84A)
SDC: small-diaphragm condenser (Schoeps CMC/mk4)

MIX is a pre-rendered stereo mix of the three microphones in the LCR (left- center-right) position, with additional processing. You can cmd+click (ctrl+click on Windows) on any element for it to return to its default position. Each microphone (and the pre-rendered mix) feature a button underneath the fader that will purge (unload from memory) its samples. To save resources (RAM in particular), purge the samples you are not using.

NOTE: make sure a microphone is loaded before tweaking its volume level and pan position.

When loading the patch for the first time, only the MIX mic position is loaded, the other mic positions need to be activated: to change this default use Kontakt Save As feature to resave the patch according to your own preferences.

The pan position of the single microphones defaults to the panning used in the pre-rendered mix, cmd+click (ctrl+click on Windows) on it to center it.

It is possible to route each mic position to separate outputs. This is useful if you want to process the single microphones independently. Click the text underneath PAN (defaults to “St. Out”) for a drop-down menu with the available outputs for routing. Please note that the available outputs depend on what has been set up in the Kontakt Outputs window, refer to the Kontakt manual for a detailed explanation of it works.

NOTE: for the newly available outputs to appear on the dropdown menu, it’s necessary to reload the patch or to force a re-initialization of the audio engine by clicking on “!” at the top right of the Kontakt user interface.

THE TEXTURES PATCH

The Textures patch is dedicated to long, sustained articulations deliberately recorded to have a sense of movement and evolution.
The core of the patch is a two-layer system that loads a specific articulation on each layer and crossfades between the two using the large knob. This is in the center of the GUI and is mapped to the mod-wheel (CC#1) by default. Midi CC#11 controls the overall volume.
NOTE: while it is possible to change the midi mapping of the crossfading knob, please don’t assign it to midi CC#102 as this is used internally by the engine.
To load an articulation in one of the two layers, click on the articulation selection menu for that layer and pick any of the 43 available articulations.
Articulations are organized in 9 different categories, depending on the bowing technique used: Ordinario, Tremolo, Sul Tasto, Sul Ponticello, Harmonics, Textural, Tratto & Extended Techniques, Motions, and Flautando.
NOTE: the articulations under the “Motions” category are tempo-synced and follow the tempo changes set in your host (such as your DAW). However, we avoided a strong beat alignment of those articulations to maintain the natural, human feel of the recordings.
Clicking on any articulation once will load it into the selected layer, double-clicking on it will select the articulation and return to the main page.

A NOTE ABOUT MIXING MIC POSITIONS

The multiple close-mic placements of these sample recordings provide a unique perspective on the instrument and give access to three unique microphone tones; Large Diaphragm Condenser (U87), Ribbon (R84a), and Small Diaphragm Condenser (CMC4/MK4). Users should remember the relationships between the microphones and movements of the cello during a performance may create slight variations in gain and/or tonal balance between mics.
Individual processing of mics as separate channels from within the DAW mixer may be helpful (see “THE MIXER” for independent routing of single mic positions), just as if you were mixing microphones from a real recording session.
The pre-rendered MIX will save resources, provide a larger sound, and a pre- processed blend of all three microphones in an LCR stereo spread. The processing of MIX samples does change the waveform’s phase relationship from the original recordings. While it’s possible to blend MIX and MICS to create new tonal blends to great effect, this may induce phasing between the individual mics and the prerendered mix. Depending on the mixer settings, and articulations selected, users may notice phase relationship problems when blending MIX with single mic positions. Users can minimize phase problems by changing the balance and/or panning of the single mic positions against the MIX, but the best solution for unwanted phasing is to choose between using the pre-rendered MIX or the individual mic positions.

THE SHORTS PATCH

The shorts patch is a complimentary patch that features 3 articulations sampled with 5 round robins each and 3 dynamic layers. The pizzicato articulation includes snap pizz. (also known as Bartok pizza.) on top of the 3 dynamic layers: this is triggered on notes with midi velocity = 127.
The Shorts patch is key- switchable. The key switches are located on C0, D#0, and E0 (the red keys on the Kontakt keyboard): use these notes to switch between articulations.

THE ADVANCED MENU

Both patches feature an ADVANCED menu (reduced in the Shorts patch). Use this menu to access features that will allow you to tweak the way the instrument reacts.
REVERB: Poiesis Cello features a built-in reverb with controllable Send level, Time and PreDelay. It includes two different algorithms, HALL and ROOM, that can be selected alternatively. Turning the built-in reverb off will contribute to save CPU resources, and you will probably want to have it off if you’re using a third- party reverb in your DAW. RELEASE: Controls the amount of time in ms it will take the sample to fall from its full volume level back to silence after the key has been released. It is the “R” in a traditional ADSR envelope.
PLAYER NOISE: If active, it randomly triggers two sets of samples (one on attack and one on release) featuring player noises, such as breathing, the fingers touching the strings, the arm rubbing against the instrument’s body. This represents a subtle yet powerful way to add realism to performance and add a sense of intimacy. The knob controls the volume of these samples.
X-FADE CURVE: Different crossfading curves work better with different articulation combinations in the two available layers: it’s worth experimenting with different shapes to see what works best.
EXPRESSION dal niente: If active, when CC#11 is set to 0 the instruments makes no sound. If inactive, CC#11 will still produce a sound even when at its lowest value. Pitch bend on layer B: If active, pitch bend modulation is available on layer B. This is useful to create small variations in pitch when crossfading to the second layer, and it can sound interesting when selecting the same articulation for both layers as it allows the user to crossfade between a sample and a detuned version of the same.

CREDITS

Produced by Alessandro Mastroianni and Joe Miller.
Recorded at The WAV Lab, 2028 Carolina Place Fort Mill SC 29708.

Cellist : Alan Black
Sound Engineer: Joe Miller
Audio Editing: Joe Miller
Product Design: Alessandro Mastroianni
Kontakt Scripting: Alessandro Mastroianni
GUI design: uimother.com
Additional Audio Editing: Bernard Duc
Additional Kontakt Implementation: Matthew Errington and Bernard Duc
Photos: Jacob Hare

Get in touch at:
www.sonoracinematic.com

References

• Audio UI Templates – UI Mother
• Sonora Cinematic - The Art of Sound

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