Martin Wolflux

The specs I have planned for myself are: ASUS P6X58D-E with SATA 3 and USB 3 Intel i7 950 (4 x 3.06 GHz with HT) 24 GB DDR3-1333 RAM M-Audio Delta 1010LT Soundcard GeForce 8800GT BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 750W PSU Thermaltake Element S Studio Case series That should be able to cover pretty much any VSTi today (maybe except Vienna). Basically, what you'll want is a powerful CPU, a lot of RAM (over 16gb recommended) & a good professional grade soundcard and a proper power supply. Maybe a good set of speakers too.

I really like the motifs and melody, especially in the first movement. I think this is an excellent Classical piece, staying true to the feel of the classical period, and it's been a joy to listen to! <3

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it! I'm working on getting the notesheets printed out, but the old version of the software I used somehow corrupted my .notion files, so it's taking a while to recover them. I will post notesheets, though!

My girlfriend told me to think of a golden pegasus flying across a desert when I asked her for a source of inspiration a while ago, so I made this. And yes, we have notesheets! Even if they're not as well written as they should've been. Golden Pegasus

I can detail my workflow when I've the time to make a longer post, but I can give some tips and suggestions. From your sample I will assume you're writing a romantic/drama soundtrack, so I would look into putting the melody in the string section with piano on top and orchestrate it from there. See, orchestration is a very personal thing; you'll want to arrange it so that it sounds good to you, but there's no "correct" way to orchestrate for soundtrack. Familiarize yourself with the sound of the orchestra & its instruments and find the ones that sound good together and would work with your idea. Experiment. You can draw inspiration from other composers as well; listen and mimic, try to learn the techniques others use, and how they orchestrate music. Then it's all up to hard work. Personally, I can see the staccato/tenuto(?) at the beginning being played by woodwinds and the piano until it turns into that wonderfully flowing melody. The piano could be the focus and the strings would play below it to supplement the sound, maybe texture it with soft wind instruments and some brass. Maybe you have a different idea too, so just experiment. There is only one way to learn orchestration and that is through practice. And this.

A certain CSI episode springs to mind... To be quite honest, I'm no fan of Bieber and I never were. He's a pop singer, so that kind of defaults him to my "ignore list", so to speak. I've listened to a few of the songs he's performed & I think I can safely say that there is nothing new or interesting going on here, and that we should all move along.

Maude Suite This is a suite containing all of the tracks I've written for the "Maude" project for your listening pleasure and convenience. (Maude: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5256804/ ) Each individual track is available for download here: 1. "The Beginning" - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5139648 2. "The Test Flight" - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5237764/ 3. "The End" - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5166814 Maude Suite

Hi folks! I've recently been writing music for a Story&Music collaboration with some of my friends & I'd very much like some feedback on the first ~36 seconds of a cue I'm working on. I can't reveal the story behind it without asking first, but the general outline of it is that the story takes place in the early parts of the 1900s and is about air racing (airplanes! Yay!). This particular cue is meant to illustrate a test flight for the two main characters' machines, in front of a huge, cheering crowd. The music style is inspired by the soundtrack for the motion picture "The Rocketeer" (which by the way is a brilliant score!). The target release date for the finished project is December 20th, but I'm itching for some outside feedback as well ^^' I've uploaded both the notesheets and the soundfile of the music in its current state. Please tell me what you think, what is good, what is bad, what could be improved on, etc. ^^' Particularly on the notation end. DO NOTE: - Percussion instruments (apart from Timpani) are WRONGLY NOTATED ON PURPOSE so that it's easier to use my VSTi while writing. Should the piece ever be performed live, I will of course fix it. - It is roughly notated. Dynamics, instructions, etc. will be added or nitpicked after the pieces' completion. - I am a n00b at notation and should be treated as one. Don't be afraid of dumbing down anything you have to say about the notesheets; it'll make it easier for me to see what you're talking about. maude_test_flight (1).mp3 maude_test_flight.pdf

Very... different to what I'm used to hearing. It took some time to grow on me, but after listening to it a few times I began to rather enjoy it. Like someone else pointed out it's very unpredictable (a good thing, really; it works very well with the piece). There's this sort of tension in the piece that really gets to me-- a some sort of feeling that something's going on that I don't quite understand, but at the same time draws me toward that thing I don't know what is. I like it, though. It flows really well, is exciting and not too repetitive although I imagine that having this play over and over again in a loop for a long time could cause some serious headache. It'd be fun to listen to while fighting this foe "Mizu Bubble", but if one began struggling against it & kept failing it might set off some people. Then again I suppose that's true for all music in a sense >_>

This is a beautiful composition. I don't have much else to say, mostly because this is way, WAY out of my league xD I really enjoyed listening to it (and the movie was good too). I am also totally envious of you being able to score a short movie D:

Pretty brilliant, in my opinion! It captures a feeling of excitement or anticipation and I think the title fits the piece very well. The sound samples immediately creates a feeling of Final Fantasy (the 9th game, to be precise, before the grand play in Alexandria), indeed mixed with Horner and Williams which is not a bad thing at all! I'm afraid I don't really have much constructive critique tonight (mostly because I couldn't find anything to nitpick in particular); overall composition and execution is very nice and though simple in structure and orchestration, the piece is excellent and a joy to listen to.

I wrote this as a contribution to "Infinity Universe", a space MMORPG in-the-works. The goal was to create a piece that could fit well with a randomly generated jungle planet. Requirements: - Must be symphonic (i.e as little use of electronic instruments like synths, etc.) - Should NOT be something that would fit well into a fantasy setting. - At least 3 minutes long. I have not, however, submitted the piece to the Infinity devs because there are a number of things I am unhappy with and would like to improve. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with how it turned out all-round. (bearing in mind the alternative) This is the list of things that annoy me with the piece: - Transitions do not work very well. - It *is* kind-of Fantasy-ish. - Orchestration feels (and in hindsight, is) incomplete. - A few sound issues I haven't been bothered to fix just yet. - Strings are too muddy (but I've finally found a fix, though I haven't applied it yet). - Velocities don't work right. - Woodwinds and Strings are too marcato-like where they're not supposed to be. What did you like about the piece? What did you not like? How do you feel it could be improved? Do you think it would work well with what it's written for/inspired by? I appreciate all the feedback I get, positive or negative. And thank you for taking the time to listen. I hope you'll enjoy it! Infinity, Jungle Planet

My opinions on EastWest is based on music created with the library and information I've gotten from people I personally know who use the VSTi in a professional working environment. The same applies for VSL. Unfortunately I am one of the unlucky "few" who cannot afford a VSTi with a four-digit cost which renders me in a position where I have to make do with a makeshift repertoire of budget libraries and free VSTi plugins & sound fonts. Your posts no longer strike me as 'professional' criticism, though. I would prefer that if you have a personal issue with me you'd contact me through PMs so that we may sort it out rather than maintaining your irrational witch-hunt. Otherwise I would much prefer that you leave criticism instead of your obvious attempts at flaming and spamming. After all, why did you reply to my post to begin with if you didn't want to tell OP why I am wrong? You have not argued for EWQL's superiority in any way other than ORDERING, not SUGGESTING that OP obtains the cheapest EastWest Quantum Leap library during SoundsOnline's sales. You have not stated why you think OP would benefit from this VSTi. You have not described (nor demonstrated) the ups and downs of the library. You have not explained exactly why you think this library would be best for the OP's needs. You have not at all given the OP any form of constructive advice or suggestions. You only typed down one sentence before you hit the Reply-button: "Get the cheapest EWQL or get it on sale." Frankly, you are in no position to attack me nor my post unless you can counter it with PROPER arguments made in the OP's best interest rather than posting for the sake of raising your post count. Thus far in the discussion I have been the only one who genuinely tried to help the OP. I've told him or her what I knew about other sound libraries, I clearly stated that my information is based on observations and information obtained from other users of the sound libraries in question and that I have no personal experience with them. With that information in mind, it should be obvious to anyone that my statements should be taken with a grain of salt. I then presented facts about the sound library I'm currently using which is Miroslav Philharmonik (and it is the cheapest, decent VSTi out there that I know of), described most of the sound library's ups and downs, its faults and its strengths, as well as its possible uses, how versatile it can be, etc. This is important information that is not necessarily found on the product's page at IKMultimedia.com , which is vital for anyone looking into a decent & affordable VST. I've also provided the OP with a resource for free VSTi plugins and some of those plugins rival even your beloved EWQL in sound quality, believe it or not. My post was reasonable and the advice I gave was sound enough and much better than your half a line, which in my opinion doesn't even qualify as a proper forum post. When next you reply to my posts, IF you reply, I beg that you carefully consider what you write. You will not be able to win an argument between you and me if you cannot elaborate on your statements and/or reasons for disagreeing, particularly not if you continue to attack me like this.

I don't think EWQL would be great for a classical orchestra. EWQL is made largely for that big and deep Hollywood-sound and not the classical feel that classical music has. For that you'll need a more expressive VST and Vienna Symphonic Library is the number 1 sound library for classical pieces with its diversity and abundance of available instruments (it is also a powerful replacement for EWQL and in many cases it even tops EWQL's film-sound, and VSL is used by a lot of composers-- like Danny Elfman). The brass in VSL is very lackluster compared to EastWest, but it's easy enough to combine VSL instruments with EWQL instruments in a sequencer. SoundsOnline's Hollywood Strings I feel do not top the strings that come with VSL, or at least the difference is so minimal I can't hear it. VSL, however, is much, MUCH more expensive than EWQL. You can probably make EWQL sound good for a classical orchestra, but I feel that'd be a waste; the sound library is made for filmmusic and the sounds are recorded for the film industry. Of course I can't speak from experience, but I've listened to a lot of EastWest libraries and a lot of VSL music and I really, REALLY don't think EastWest is the best choice for classical music. This is also a slight case of "believing what you're told"; a few friends of mine who use EWQL also spoke against the notion of using that library for classical music a year back when I began looking for a good sound library myself. For a cheaper VST with decent sounds I'd recommend Miroslav Philharmonik. It feels a bit incomplete and the standard Timpani sounds are out of tune and the strings are slightly muddy, but it's made for a classical orchestra. It doesn't cover all the articulations, but I'm coping by improvising and using other articulations to emulate the effects I want. It is very cheap though, and highly memory-efficient. SampleTank (the engine it uses) may lack a bit of performance on the CPU side, but it does the trick. It's not that ASIO-friendly and requires a bit of tinkering for it to work properly with the driver, but aside from that I recommend MP to anyone who's looking for a cheap, but decent VSTi. Not to mention that Miroslav got percussion instruments and ambient elements that not even VSL or EWQL has, as well as a large collection of excellent percussion sounds and a small, but fantastic collection of woodwinds. Miroslav's brass is rather lackluster, but it does the trick and though the string sounds are a bit muddy, they have plenty of articulations and are fairly easy to use. And their solo string sounds are gorgeous. If you'd like to hear examples of Miroslav in action, check out some of my music. It's not great & I'm still working out a lot of kinks in the VST (simply because I am clueless about the technical aspects of a VST & I'm learning by trial & error), but it should give you a good idea. You can also go here to check how I work with Miroslav: http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/luxy/ My gallery on FurAffinity (please ignore the fact that it's a furry site?) is full of pieces. A lot of them will sound different because I've always been changing the settings on my Miroslav to get it to sound like how I want, but it should give you a good idea. Watch out for my low-quality VST pieces, btw! If it sounds like MIDI, it probably IS. You can also check out the demos and other features, AND watch videos of the library in action here: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/philharmonik/features/ Remember that the library DOES have a lot of downsides, but the ups are also very good. You should try the demo, but be prepared for some frustration in making it sound like how you want. You're also going to have a lot of "fun" with fixing the Timpani sounds. If you can live with that, however, you'll have a fairly solid VST. If there are any specific sounds you want, but you lack, you can always have a look here: http://www.vst4free.com/ This website lists A LOT of free VST instruments and even some that are surprisingly high quality. (I've heard there was a harp one that beat even VSL's harp sounds, but I've been unable to find that one) I hope you find what you're looking for!

It's a plus to know these things before you start; it's not a requirement. I didn't start out knowing the basics either, but it does help. Basic knowledge in this case would be knowing how the instruments sound and how well they go together, for instance. There's no correct answer if you don't follow the rules as what each person likes and/or thinks works differs among individuals. If you want to follow the rules of, let's say orchestration, then how you arrange your instruments and use them together does matter. I began composing before I actually started my composing classes in College and I was also going through the whole process of disagreeing with the mere notion that I would benefit from having some knowledge in the subject. What I learned, however, sped up the rate at which I improved. Now, 2.5 years after I began composition, I'm writing mostly short but largely orchestrated pieces, which I feel is quite the improvement from my first 3 works that consisted largely of 3 chords in A Minor. Whether my music is enjoyable to listen to or even half-decent is up to the listeners to decide. From a technical standpoint (notesheets, playability, orchestration, etc.), I'd say I am average. Basic knowledge is a benefit, not a thing to be shunned. If future composers aren't as lucky as I was & can't learn music in school there are plenty of online resources that are free which will give you the same knowledge. I'm sure a lot of free composers will disagree with me, but I suppose it's how things change. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not all that fond of a few of those changes. I'm not entirely sure how you could write music without being able to read notesheets (if only just being able to tell a C from an F#), though-- I thought it was a must? I know I can't take something I improvised and consistently perform it without writing it that. I know there are a lot of composers who started out without any sort of education, like Hans Zimmer. Zimmer is completely self-taught and look where he is today. My point is just that basic knowledge helps. If you're going to try your hand at composing music without it, chances are you'll find yourself frustrated and end up quitting before you can get started. That's what kills most of today's composing talents; a lot of them either don't have the luxury of professional education, or they aren't encouraged to develop their talent, or they jump right into the fray and try to write but don't know the absolute basics. (of course there might be a multitude of other reasons) In the latter example, maybe they upload their works to the Internet and someone leaves extremely negative comments on their music. On the Internet, people won't sugarcoat anything which I think is good, but people who are genuinely trying to help you are overshadowed by people who are trying to halt your development or who just don't want to give you good feedback. I know myself how discouraging that can be for a beginning composer. If you have basic knowledge in music composition, at least you have a fairly solid starting point. You'll more than likely know how to improve your music. Edit: Sorry, I tend to be rather long-winded when people disagree with me but don't elaborate on their reasons. It's not really that constructive and it doesn't help the OP at all. OP question was: "Where do I start with composing game and film music?" We've learned that OP does not appear to have any practical knowledge with music composition, and we do not yet know if he or she has ever composed music before. Admittedly I've yet to take the time to check his/her profile about that. I'm merely offering what advice I have based on my own experience and education. If you wish to dispute my advice, I ask that you do so properly and explain your reasons for disagreeing. Unless you do so, your post could easily be considered spam. And I can understand people wanting to break the rules, but another composer and a good friend of mine once said that "to break the rules you have to understand them first". And that statement is always in the back of my head, and it is also the reason why I encourage new composers to learn the basics and at least a little bit of theory before they venture into the world of music composition. I'm not trying to discourage anyone. I am trying to help new composers so that if they jump into the fray they'll be prepared for, and anticipate the amount of work that goes into a composition rather than be discouraged by it. What you're talking about is practical knowledge; you started out, probably with little to no knowledge at all, but persistence leads to improvement, and with improvement comes skill. I haven't listened to your pieces yet, but it takes talent to start out with virtually no knowledge at all and persist. (edit) I don't mean that in a negative way at all, btw! Please don't misunderstand. I'm only assuming from what you described that you started out almost completely blank, which makes it even more impressive to me that you're writing the music that you do. Not just because you've got talent, but because when you write music in the way you described it's real. I can only describe it like painting a picture with sound. Unfortunately, to many composers I've spoken to before, music is just a bunch of dots on a notesheet to them. They don't believe in any kind of music "soul" or in emotion in music. I took the liberty to listen to some of your works and I quite enjoy them. I think they're brilliant. For one who doesn't know orchestration at all, you do have a good ear for sound. Or talent, if you prefer that word! Orchestration can be two things: It can be what you like, or it could be the standards set by others. It's something you learn as you compose in the case of the former and the more you compose, the better you'll get. My point isn't that you can't compose music without basic knowledge! It is that basic knowledge will make it easier to get started.