Some orchestral instruments, and questions on FLOT/FLOTPATCH

ClassicalFan · Post by **ClassicalFan** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:39 am

I've been using TJ and enjoying it very much, and have branched into creating some of my own instruments. I'm more interested in the classical/non-digital sorts of instruments (your cello, flute, harp, classical guitar and grand piano are spectacular for my needs), so I've started working my way through orchestral instruments as I can scrounge the samples and the know-how. Here are my first efforts, use and enjoy if you like. (I don't know if I'm coding those links correctly, but you should be able to at least copy/paste them into a browser.)

These two are non-looped, so a bit easier -- lots of samples in each, I really wanted the fidelity of actual sampled notes as much as I could, but they play fine on my iPad 2.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11256207/glock_2.zip -- a glockenspiel, also makes a nice music box

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11256207/xylo_5.zip -- a xylophone

These two are my first looped instruments, I'm still learning with these -- again, some hefty sample usage here.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11256207/clarinet_3.zip -- clarinet, each note has that lovely breathy opening of a clarinet, but it makes quick legato play pretty choppy, so better for slow melodies

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11256207/oboe_5.zip -- oboe, some notes more oboe-y sounding than others

My questions? I'm learning-by-tinkering with the FLOT and FLOTPATCH files, and trying to come up with a bit of documentation I can refer to for what the various items in there mean. In particular, with looped samples, is there a setting I can enter for release, like there is for attack_length? So many instruments are characterized not only by how they sound when the note starts, but how they sound when it ends, even when there's looping. I see a release_time item in the FLOTPATCH file -- how would I use that to end a looped sound when the key is released?

I also have some questions about how the legato options work in conjunction with sustain_offset and attack_length, but I think I need to tinker some more before I can ask anything intelligent on that subject.

PS I'm happy to share my attempts at documenting the FLOT/FLOTPATCH format, if anyone will find it useful (I write documentation for a living, so I'm pretty good at it). I have this OCD thing about documenting what I learn so I don't forget it.

Post by **Jesse** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:54 pm

Check out the bottom of this page for some details about the looping parameters:
http://thumbjam.com/sampleset_format
I'm happy to accept revisions and additions for that, if you have the time to write it!

Well, unfortunately I haven't yet implemented support for release samples (release_time is ignored), although I agree they can make things much more realistic. I also haven't implemented velocity layering, that should come sooner.

Where did you source the wind samples, not bad! For the others I'd suggest sampling them without any reverb (glock and xylo, for example) if you can.

As for orchestral wind and perc samples, I have been acquiring some very high quality ones for another project that may make an appearance as an in-app purchase option for TJ later on.

ClassicalFan · Post by **ClassicalFan** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:48 pm

That's excellent news on the possibly upcoming high-quality orchestral samples! I will certainly look forward to that. All of the samples I'm using are things I purchased online for use with GarageBand ... they were just raw sounds, so I had to figure out the looping and such myself, and some are better for that than others. Thanks for the tip about the reverb, I think I can eliminate that for my future percussion-type samples.