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Billy sounds like you have taken on an ambitious project. Just a few comments on the drum thoughts.
Regarding orchestral percussion. I did make a couple attempts of working with this in the short piece you uploaded. I have gone down that rabbit hole over the past years and have a collection of suitable VSTs to produce this, for example, Kirt Hunter's kettle drums and tympanyi, Kontact Komplete 13, several of the Spitfire Orchestra products, and those are only a few of the products I remember I have.
As suggested by others here, these type of swelling and thunderous hits with long tails make sense in your space story board. However I found they just did not fit in the track you provided. These types of sounds simply need more "space" in the mix.
That short track has three sections: Intro (4 bars), Bridge (8 bars) and Soft Section (~18 bars). The Bridge section is the best candidate for the orchestral percussion, but each downbeat has a hard guitar strum which does not go well with a big drum hit. In fact, the Toms I used avoided the downbeat in all sections. And the Soft Section is too quite for a heavy hit.
Bottom line, it is a nice piece and a good start to your project. If there is anything else that I can do for you, just holler.
Dan
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Thanks for the link oldmuso. I have been looking around for free or nearly free stuff. I will get Mario's thoughts on the subject. He is always ready to help anyone.
Billy Hi Billy, Along with the free orchestral VSTs you might want to check the free SFZ sounds: https://sfzinstruments.github.io/orchestra/I have found the least expensive really good orchestral sounds are Kirt Hunter Virtuoso Ensembles : https://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/products/virtuoso-ensembles-kontakt-retail/(wait for a sale - I purchased it for $149 - but it requires the full version of Kontakt) and Amadeus https://www.kvraudio.com/product/amadeus-symphonic-orchestra-by-sonic-scores-music-software($149 and it runs on the free Kontakt Player) I just found out that the Garritan Instant Orchestra is free: https://garritan2017.wixsite.com/personal-orchestra-5(I bought that a number of years ago - it still has usable sounds and this maybe the best free one out there) These are just off of the top of my head. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Note that starting tomorrow I will be on vacation/holiday. Where I am going may not have WiFi so I maybe off line for about a week or so.
The bumper sticker said "I'm a veterinarian, therefore I can drive like an animal".
Suddenly I realized how many proctologists are on the road.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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The free version of BBC Symphony Orchestra from Spitfire Audio is excellent.
It includes timpani... (and other percussion).
As an alternative, you might consider using some synth drums for a more futuristic sound. They (synths) all come with a wide variety of "drums sounds" and much of today's music is built around them - embracing the those-don't-sound-like-real-drums sound of synth-y drums...
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Thanks Mario for the links. I will investigate those.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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The free version of BBC Symphony Orchestra from Spitfire Audio is excellent.
It includes timpani... (and other percussion).
As an alternative, you might consider using some synth drums for a more futuristic sound. They (synths) all come with a wide variety of "drums sounds" and much of today's music is built around them - embracing the those-don't-sound-like-real-drums sound of synth-y drums... Hi Floyd, I think I downloaded the free BBC from Spitfire yesterday. Their paid version is pretty world famous. Funny you should mention the synth drum idea. Some friends in Europe have been sending me ideas. Here is one. https://soundcloud.com/planobilly/engineering-scratch-demo-engineeringscratchdemo-bagpipe-planobily-space-ideasI am sure it will take me a few days to sort through all this. Thank you again for taking the time to respond. Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Thanks Dan for all the feedback. What you are saying is certainly logical to me. All of this is just ideas that are being developed and the final product will most likely be quite different.
Perhaps I should have posted the original piano piece so everyone could get an idea of how all this started. Maybe I will do that if I have the time today.
Thanks for all the help.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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The free version of BBC Symphony Orchestra from Spitfire Audio is excellent.
It includes timpani... (and other percussion).
As an alternative, you might consider using some synth drums for a more futuristic sound. They (synths) all come with a wide variety of "drums sounds" and much of today's music is built around them - embracing the those-don't-sound-like-real-drums sound of synth-y drums... Boom. The spitfire is the best IMO
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The free version of BBC Symphony Orchestra from Spitfire Audio is excellent.
It includes timpani... (and other percussion).
As an alternative, you might consider using some synth drums for a more futuristic sound. They (synths) all come with a wide variety of "drums sounds" and much of today's music is built around them - embracing the those-don't-sound-like-real-drums sound of synth-y drums... Boom. The spitfire is the best IMO I forgot about Spitfire. Yes it is one of if not the best free one out there.
The bumper sticker said "I'm a veterinarian, therefore I can drive like an animal".
Suddenly I realized how many proctologists are on the road.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Sorry, this is a bogus site. MakeMusic bought Garritan a number years ago, and it's still a commercial product.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Whooops. If that's the case, then thanks for the heads-up !
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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eddie1261
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eddie1261
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My best advice is simply to bang the drum slowly... 
Last edited by eddie1261; 09/15/21 02:17 PM.
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My best advice is simply to bang the drum slowly...
That's about how I figured this would go. He was asking for ideas. Billy heard it, so I'm good. 
Last edited by HearToLearn; 09/15/21 03:37 PM.
Chad (Hope that makes it easier)
TEMPO TANTRUM: What a lead singer has when they can't stay in time.
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