Timpani

[rrayner]

Thanks, Sherry. I'll dig into your suggestions on Thursday. Got to travel today and tomorrow. It occurred to me after the fact that I should have included some samples of what I've tried. The Timpani Test.not is a) whole note w/tremelo; and b) 64th note quintuplets. The TIMPANI.mid was created on my midi using a) 16th notes; and b) 16th note triplets. I note that my midi created a Ctrl32 of 112, whereas my .not files are Ctrl 0 for GS Wavetable. This sounds a little better on my PC's sound card and marginally better on my Clavinova (midi).

Ralph

[dj]

Hi, Ralph, Sherry:

I've always found that success with synthesized tympani depends very largely on the playback source.

Many synths (especially PC soundcard synths) have very limited polyphony and cut off the decay of a note when a new one is triggered, even in polyphonic mode. Therefore, a tympani roll will have no residual "roll" when a second (or later) note is triggered. Sufficient polyphony, good samples and a bit of reverb go a long way.

It also helps to use two playback tracks, with each track on a different midi channel, alternating the notes so that notes don't cut each other off.

When Wendy Carlos (Switched On Bach) did the score for A Clockwork Orange, the astonishing quality of her tympani sounds for the William Tell Overture track won great praise. Years later, she admitted that she had simply rolled some real tympani into the studio and recorded them live. Is it cheating to use "real" instruments on an electronic track?

David