Orchestration Recipes - Serving Suggestions for the Synchron Prime Edition

Introduction

The idea of the Serving Suggestions is, that we take one of Philip Johnston's Orchestration and Composition tutorials from https://OrchestrationRecipes.com and give you some suggestions on how to achieve realistic playback by using VSL's Synchron Prime Edition library.

This manual summarizes the content of the videos to give you all the download links, basic screenshots, and detailed instructions all in one spot.

However, it is highly recommended to watch the YouTube tutorials to get the best out of our tutorial series. Those videos can be found in our Serving Suggestion YouTube Playlist.

These orchestration recipes are for

• New users in the world of virtual instruments
• Experienced users who want to know how to improve their MIDI programming skills
• Musicians interested on how VSL Prime Edition can sound

Tutorial Overview

Note

When we talk about Recipe #2 we always refer to the numbering from Orchestration Recipes. The order of the content is by VSL release date and the recommended order. But after understanding the basics in the Introduction Chapter you can also change the order according to your needs.

Title	Tutorial Content
Introduction	Where to find the material Basic Usage of the Synchron Player 4+1 Steps we follow in every recipe Instrument & Preset Selection Preparation / Articulation Selection Basic Phrasing Finishing Touches Mixing Type and usage of presets Focus on differences between Velocity crossfade (used for long notes) and MIDI Velocity (used for short notes)
Recipe #2: PERIOD DRAMA stringed oboe ravioli in HAYDN sauce	Apply the 4 Steps to all instruments of the recipe Basic Phrasing with VelXF for Longs and Midi Velocity for Short Notes Improved Phrasing by utilizing Expression and Timbre Adjust How to use a Midi Velocity on a "long note" Use Timbre Adjust to make an instrument sound "darker" Importance of humanization to avoid robotic playback Use the Release Slider to create slightly disconnected notes First basics of Mixing (Balancing, Reverb, EQ)
Recipe #21: PRE-BATTLE horn bavarios with snare au chocolat	Importance of mixing articulations for exposed soloists Creation of a custom patch to have a long note with a portato-like accent Create a tempo track in addition to humanization delay
Recipe #8: ENGLISH DETECTIVE bassoon escalops with scurrying flute-string pan-bagnat	Time Stretching (change length of the staccato patch) Custom patch - combining marcato and tremolo for a "busy violin" sound Attack Slider (to soften accents) Combine wide and classic Mixer Presets (increase stage prominence of solo instruments)
Recipe #13: Brass FANFARED au gratin with running winds	Build and balance woodwind runs Create a new virtual player (Timbre Adjust and dedicated humanization tuning curve)
Recipe #27: Two years, to the day	Add the free Soft Piano to a Synchron Prime Edition Project Utilize the Dynamic Range Slider (Compressor) Emulate Flautando Use Legato Blur for more smeared transitions
Volume 3: Bisected 10th	Showcasing first Orchestration Recipe Spice Create own drum loop Epic Brass with String Spiccatos