Help with expression

Hey Niah

I personally always draw them in by hand using long smooth curves.
For legato's , i usually draw a very small expression going downwards before the new note comes in so i can then again , increase the expression afterwards on the new note.
For brass, i use larger curves since there are more dynamics. For flute lots of volume increases/decreases as well.
When a melody ends, i usually fade out the note instead of just releasing the key or i accent it exactly at the end of the note.

I have some pictures of expression online but the server is down at the moment .

Here are the links for when it starts working :

http://server5.uploadit.org/files/sevaliath-LegExpression.JPG (http://server5.uploadit.org/files/seval ... ession.JPG)
http://server6.uploadit.org/files/sevaliath-CelloExprsPtB.JPG (http://server6.uploadit.org/files/seval ... prsPtB.JPG)
http://server6.uploadit.org/files/sevaliath-CelloExprsPtA.JPG (http://server6.uploadit.org/files/seval ... prsPtA.JPG)

These are how i usually do it -> most propably you are already achieving better results and i am wasting your time

The best thing to do , is find a song on which you like the expressions from a composer in here , and ask for the .mid file . I guess they won't mind

You can also assign cc#11 midi expression controller on a single fader on the track in question within your sequencer. I find its more intuitive this way generally (you can make the edits in realtime) but drawing the expression curves is sometimes necessary too. You can assign as many cc#11 faders to your virtual mixer as you want per track and latch record them so that the sequencer records your movements whenever you move the fader during playback.

I like to use CC11 as well assigned to the mod wheel. I think the key is barely moving the mod wheell. A little movement can go a long way. Sometimes we think we want to be really expressive but it just doesn't sound realistic because the timbre isn't changing enough with the sample.

The key I think is to use samples which have natural emotion in them. I would be remissed not to plug my own libraries here.

Download the free Oboe demo which has wav files of all the articulations of the Oboe and you can see what I'm talking about.

Theo,

I'm really appreciating the informative profile and the time youre giving to this forum, indeed .

Luca

Thank you very much Theo, your ticks and tutorials and a great addition to this forum.
I am getting a little better yes, but I need better tools (better mouse and better sequencer maybe).

Thank you also Frederick from giving me the idea of controlling expression with a fader, it is indeed a lot easier.

mental note to myself - I need a hardware mixer badddly hehehe

As always your demos are priceless Donnie, full of expression and human feeling.