There are those who like to compose their stuff one little bit at a time, beginning with the most basic parts and then adding in instruments and sections if or when they’re needed in the composition. A clean slate, every time. Then there are those who like to have the whole damn orchestra available at a moment’s notice. “I might be needing this later on, so why should I be wasting time loading virtual instruments and looking for presets, right? Better to have the whole palette of sounds loaded from the get-go.”
I’m definitely in the latter camp, though I have to say the former must have its merits. If you have the whole orchestra there, it’s far too easy throwing MORE stuff at a part to make it sound good. When maybe what you should be worrying about is whether the part in question is musically interesting enough to be carried by fewer instruments.
I really need to get back to writing more minimalist stuff. Making everything go BAAAAH-HUGE-AND-EPIC gets kind of old after a while. Also, once you figure out that particular trick, you begin to understand that the real challenge is making the quieter and stripped down parts sound good.
But I love my full-orchestra template. Does this mean I’m going to have to learn self discipline? *sigh*
Become a musician, they said. Get girls, they said.
Why not have multiple templates? That way you can enforce the discipline, but still retain the option of migrating it to a bigger sound.
I have several templates I use, each with a variation in ensemble size/type (winds and strings, brass and strings, strings only, brass only, etc.).
Another trick is if I haven’t used and instrument (and have no active plans to use it) by the time I reach the B section, I delete it from the piece entirely. I originally started doing this just to save memory, but I’ve found it helpful in other ways.
Anyway, them’s my two bits…
Kurt M. Landre’