Do you use an MPC to make orchestral music?

Probably not what comes to mind with an MPC but I know some people do use them to make orchestral music. Wondering what your workflow is?

Personally I've used mine to sketch out orchestral tracks and then transfer to a DAW for further work. It's a pretty good workflow for sketching. (Lack of tempo changes is probably the biggest downside - although that seems to be coming in 3.0) Mostly I just use a piano sound for sketching but I've also re-sampled some orchestral libraries to fill in basic orchestration.

I'm trying to improve my process. Maybe use more orchestral sounds earlier on.

What is your process? What sounds do you use? Any further tips?

Thanks

I do this quite a lot -- I use an Alesis NanoSynth and Roland Jv1010 to create the instrument sounds (better for blends than modern HD sample kits tbh)

I have an album coming out with full orchestrations on ~5 of the tracks done in this way. here's an older track with an orchestration done in this method that's a bit more 'hybrid' -- doesn't really try to sound 'real' but moreso to create some orchestral aesthetic moods through the track.

I make a variety of genres, but I've been experimenting with orchestral music on and off for 2 years now. Im not classically trained so I rely on midi files, sample packs and plug ins. Ghosthack have a tonne of sample packs to choose from covering most aspects of orchestral/trailer music ie ambient drones, impacts, Brahms etc. They also have great midi files which I use to build the basis of a track. I run them through the strings and piano plugins, as well as using them on pads in fabric xl and hype. I might use a sample loop for the drums, or bang out my own after loading timpani etc into a drum program, as I used to play the drums.
Originally I'd load up the various sounds, midi files etc and just jam around with it till I found a theme, but now I use the arrangement windows to program the tracks in a sequence and use the song mode to tie several sequences together. Once I've done that I'll start looking at cleaning up any muddy frequencies with eq, side chaining etc. Because im not classically trained, it really is mostly just experimenting, but because of the sheer power of the mpc its possible to build up a track quickly.
Eventually I hope to make music similar to UK group Hybrid, a breaks/cinematic/orchestral group im inspired by. Their first album they used strings they sampled from an orchestra in Russia. They found out it was cheaper to go to Russia and sample a whole orchestra than to get a couple of session players in the UK

I did it when I first got into Orchestral music, now I do that on a computer, because as a standalone, the MPC doesn't have the power nor the sounds I need.
But it can be done.

suntan wrote:Probably not what comes to mind with an MPC but I know some people do use them to make orchestral music. Wondering what your workflow is?

Personally I've used mine to sketch out orchestral tracks and then transfer to a DAW for further work. It's a pretty good workflow for sketching. (Lack of tempo changes is probably the biggest downside - although that seems to be coming in 3.0) Mostly I just use a piano sound for sketching but I've also re-sampled some orchestral libraries to fill in basic orchestration.

I'm trying to improve my process. Maybe use more orchestral sounds earlier on.

What is your process? What sounds do you use? Any further tips?

Thanks

pseudo orchestral / hybrid.

Sounds I use depend on the style, I have AIR Stage Piano and Studio Strings, but also use synth for orchestral sounds, the Mellotron, Hype, the string machine thing, etc.
From Studio Strings I only use Cello and sometimes Viola.
Have a look at MPC Samples com there are also some expansions I am eyeing at for this.