Cubasis

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[edit] The setup

The chosen installment options should reflect your needs, I recommend installing GPO both as stand-alone and plug-in. When opening the stand-alone player one realizes quickly that this only loads the instrument sounds, no editing is possible. So why bother ? Well, if you have a midi keyboard connected to your PC, there is a possibility to play the sampled instruments on it. One complaint I got early on from the program was shortage of memory, so away to the computer store for another module. I've now 1 Gb which works fine. The plug-in variant is used in connection with the bundled Cubase, in which GPO becomes a VST plug-in.

[edit] Operation of the Kontakt player

This is the basic procedure:

Under the logos there is a row of 6 slots, which all can contain different instruments. Select the first by left-clicking on it, it then changes colour to blue (1). Select which midi channel the instrument has by holding down the left mouse button on the word "omni" (2). Load the instrument you want (3), the load button is also used to unload an instrument. The latter is necessary when you want to find the best instrument for your music. The volume level is changed with the MOD wheel (4) in connection with the volume control (5). The procedure is repeated if you want to add more instruments, using the other 5 slots.

[edit] Operation of Cubasis

This is where it gets interesting. The first thing I do after starting the program is to delete the default document. Check out the top menu:

The next step is to import my midi file, produced in any notation program such as Finale or the bundled somewhat limited Overture program. The midi file has to contain one channel for every instrument. So select File > Import > Midi file (1). A window with the different midi channels appears, I usually delete the top midi information channel with Del and Return. In the Chn column, check so that each track has a different number. We only want the GPO instrument sounds so turn off MIDI Thru under Options (2).

We are now in position to start loading the GPO sounds. Press the VST instrument button (3) so this window appear:

Press the bar at the top (here called Universal Sound Module) and select PersonalOrchestraVST. By pressing the blue Edit-button the Kontakt player appears and you load the instruments you want as above under II. Before the instruments can be heard you'll need to specify that each track in the arrange window should use GPO, by selection in the "out" column.

In order to make a very high quality output, one should immerse oneself in the various possibilities in Cubase. I found that one instrument usually sounds fine by itself, but when you combine several instruments in e.g. a quartet the output is much harder to get right. A nice introduction is the Tutorial Song under Help.

There are some easy ways to enhance the output, however. Press the VST channel button (4) so that this window appear:

Find which track your music is in and press FX/EQ (5). This opens another window where you can add additional effects. Most of them are Mickey Mouse-stuff not suitable for classical music. The only one I've found helpful is the reverb, which simulates that your instruments play in a large room. The EQ filters adds volume in a frequency band of your choosing, which also may come in handy.

When your production is ready, it is time to export it as an uncompressed wave-file, using the Export Audio-function (6). These files can then be converted into mpg-files if you want, using basically any audio editor and saved onto a CD for distribution. If you know your way around Photoshop you can even design your own CD cover, but that's another story ..

Fred Wallinder