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Ot BWW Manual
Ot BWW Manual
w w w . o r c h e s t r a l t o o l s . c o m
About Berlin Woodwinds
Berlin Woodwinds is our third library and marks a giant milestone both for our company
well as our users.
Our first full-section sample library focused on core articulations as well as a large
amount of trills and tempo-synced runs, Berlin Woodwinds is your go-to solution for
orchestral woodwinds. All recorded runs are completely identical to the string runs in
Orchestral String Runs, our critically-acclaimed first product to make combined string/
woodwind lines dead easy.
Berlin Woodwinds has the Trills Orchestrator, bringing trills up to the interval of a fifth
to your compositions at a level of realism never seen before. Our very own Runs Builder
lets you create custom-built runs as you need them without having to make do with just a
handful of pre-recorded runs. A large selection of recorded Scale Runs and figures in all
keys provide sweeping epicness to your compositions. We chose to record both portato
and staccato articulations at two different lengths to give you full control over the sound
of your woodwinds. BWW has fully customisable dynamics, allowing you to integrate the
library seamlessly into your templates playing nice with other woodwind libraries you
use.
One of the things that really make woodwinds shine, is the right room. We are very
happy to have had the chance to record Berlin Woodwinds at the Teldex stage in Berlin/
Germany. The large recording stage at Teldex looks back on a long tradition of many well
known and Grammy® award winning recordings. Famous orchestras, like the Berlin
Philharmonics and great film composers from the USA and Europe trust and love the
wide and clear acoustics of this room. One of the best sounding scoring stages in Europe,
this room together with a fantastic complement of legendary microphones catapults
Berlin Woodwinds to a new level of orchestral woodwind sampling.
A big thank you to all of our customers! Only the huge success of Orchestral String
Runs and Symphonic Sphere made it possible to embark on recording this huge library.
Your continued support enables us to keep exploring our dreams of innovative sampled
instruments!
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Mixing / Mastering
Manfred Mantik
Editing Tuning
Manfred Mantik Fernando Aguila Garcia
Jan Lepold Tobias Escher
Gernot Lange Manfred Mantik
Peter Ulrich Gabriel Gudenus
Daniel Wilhelm Lukas Knöbl
Sebastian Zangar Wolfgang Liebig
Alexander Ketel
Dennis Schuster
00. Piccolo
01. 1st Flute
02. 2nd Flute
03. 3rd Flute
04. Flutes 8va (Ensemble)
05. 1st Oboe
06. 2nd Oboe
07. English Horn
08. 1st Clarinet
09. 2nd Clarinet
10. Clarinet Ens (Ensemble)
11. 1st Bassoon
12. 2nd Bassoon
All instruments within a section are different instruments played by different musicians,
not just additional recording passes.
You have free choice between three microphone positions, Close, Room and Mix, the
latter being a memory-friendly premix of the former.
These microphone positions are switchable in the GUI. Additionally, all core articulations
have been recorded with multiple velocity layers for realistic dynamics.
All samples have their natural panning.
You can combine articulations with the Articulation Performer (separate free download)
to control multiple articulations from a single track with powerful usability features.
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All pre-recorded runs, the Runs Builder and figures are synchronized to your host tempo.
This marks the next step in flexibility in professional sampling. For Berlin Woodwinds,
we recorded all tempo-synced runs and figures at different tempos, with the script of the
instrument deciding in realtime upon the sample to use. The chosen sample is then
stretched to your host tempo by means of Time Machine 2 (Close and Room microphone
positions) and Time Machine Pro (Mix).
Note that when using extreme tempos not playable by real musicians, you will hear
artifacts and the playback will not be clear. If you use the auto tempo mode in BWW, the
script will default to half tempo. A 16th run at 200 bpm is not actually playable in reality -
there is no recorded sample for this tempo range. The script would then stretch the
fastest available sample too heavily, resulting in a bad sound. The auto tempo feature will
play the run at half you host’s tempo and the result will sound much nicer. Be mindful of
your tempo when writing with runs. Not every run is compatible with every tempo. If
you use the Runs Builder or the Scale Runs (or any runs for that matter) in their natural
tempo range, meaning: at a speed actually playable by real woodwinds, you will get the
best results.
Please note that Kontakt 5’s Time Machine Pro, with a vastly improved time-stretching
algorithm compared to Time Machine 2, only works in the Runs Builder if the Mix
microphone position is used, but not for Close and Room! This is due to Time Machine
Pro’s limitation in polyphony, which makes it impossible to use it with double the number
of samples, as would be required when using the other microphone positions. So for more
extreme tempos always make sure to use the Mix position for best results.
To make Berlin Woodwinds seamlessly integrate with our own Orchestral String Runs,
the complement of Scale Runs, figures and Runs Builder blocks is identical to the
complement present in OSR. This allows you to play runs from both libraries at the same
time without timing issues or note collisions. You can easily double a string run with flute
section - all notes will sound perfectly together.
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We have spent considerable energy on making Berlin Woodwinds fit into your existing
workflow and make it work together effortlessly with other libraries you are using.
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Move the dial all to the left and you will have the original dynamics as recorded. Move it
to the far right and the lowest velocities will be very quiet while the highest velocities will
be pretty loud, giving your the full possible dynamic range. By default, this dial is set to
give you some nice dynamic range compared the raw samples while at the same time not
leaving you with almost silent low velocities. Experiment with this setting and use it in
your templates to bring out the full dynamic range of your orchestrations! The volume
range feature allows you to blend BWW with your other woodwind libraries with ease.
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We have taken great care to not clash with your existing MIDI CC allocations for Berlin
Woodwinds. Most CCs used by the library are standard and should work well with your
current setup. Nevertheless, BWW’s scripts internally use a number of additional CCs,
which are also available to you as a user in case you want to adjust settings. Most CCs
are user-assignable, so you can change them if you like.
Here is a list of all CCs used by default and their use:
CC 1
The modwheel controls morphing through the velocity layers if the X-Fade mode is
activated on the BWW knob. You can change this CC (right-click).
CC 11
All patches have CC 11 (Expression) set to control the general patch volume.
CC 22
This CC controls the vibrato mode (select patches only). This CC is user-assignable.
Internally, the Articulation Performer script uses three CCs. Most of the time, you do not
need to do anything with these, but if you want to influence the instrument directly, you
can experiment with them.
CC 107
Controls the volume of individual articulations. Managed by the script by default, but
overrideable by the user.
CC 108
This CC is used to slightly detune individual articulation for a „humanized“ ensemble
sound. Seldom used for BWW, or for woodwinds in general, so for the most part you can
totally ignore it.
CC 109
The Articulation Performer manages system memory with the aid of this CC. Use with
caution. From great power comes great responsibility!
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BWW has three types of patches with some differences in their GUI:
1. Articulation Patches
and
2. Trills Orchestrator
These patch types use a similar interface and represent the bulk of BWW’s content. This
section will describe the common GUI features of these patches in detail, while additional
sections dedicated to the two patch types will show you what makes them unique.
3. Runs Builder
This patch type represents a breakthrough in sampling and was first introduced in
Orchestral String Runs. BWW’s Runs Builder patches use a completely different GUI to
the other patches in the library. All features of this patch type will be described in detail
in the corresponding section of the manual.
General GUI
This sections shows you the user interface of Berlin Woodwind’s articulation and Trills
Orchestrator-powered patches. This is how these patches look like, with all interface
elements labeled:
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Microphone Positions
All patches in Berlin Woodwinds have three adjustable microphone positions. You will
find rotary encoders with on/off buttons for all positions at the bottom of each patch:
If you switch off a position, its samples will be purged from memory. Conversely, as soon
as you switch a position on, the samples will be loaded.
Close
Increase the amount of the Close knob if you want to have a more direct sound with less
response of the room. Raising the volume of the Close mics will also increase the playing
noises made by the musicians, giving added realism for intimate settings.
Room
Increase the amount of the Room knob if you want to have as much room information as
possible. The reverb will increase while the direct sound decreases.
Mix
The Mix position is a mixture between Close and Room. This position has a rather direct
sound, but also features a lot of room information for realism.
Note You do not need to think about adjusting the mic positions if you do not want to!
When you load any instrument into Kontakt, the microphone knobs will be set to well-
balanced standard positions.
The Room/Close and Mix positions exclude one another to avoid phasing. If you activate
the Mix positions, Room and Close will be deactivated and vice versa.
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The BWW knob is a key component of using the library. It allows you to select one of
two ways to control the velocity of played notes:
1) Velocity (how hard you press the keys on your MIDI keyboard)
2) X-Fade (lets you control the volume via the modwheel)
Legato and sustained articulations as well as portato are by default set to X-Fade
(modwheel). Staccato and Staccato Short use Velocity by default because they are much
more easily playable this way.
You can re-assign the CC used for the X-Fade setting by right-clicking on the BWW
knob and assigning a new CC by moving your corresponding fader/encoder or whatever
input source you are using.
In the lower third of the BWW know, the current velocity layer is displayed. As you
morph through the layers, this value will change to reflect the active layer. If no text is
visible, you are in the middle of two layers. Note that this display represents the actual
recorded samples. So if you have p / mf / f in the display, that not only tells you that there
are three actual layers per note, but also which one is currently active. This is a huge help
when creating realistic mockups because you are told by BWW that “right now those
flutes are playing mf“. When the display says mf, what you are hearing is the actual
sound of the flutes playing mf, not just a random sample lowered or raised in volume!
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With the Release Volume knob you can control the volume of the release samples that get
triggered when you release a key. Increase the value of the knob if you want to increase
the volume of the release samples, decrease the value and the volume of the release
samples will decrease.
You can adjust the volume curve of a patch directly in the BWW interface: Clicking on
the Vol Curve button opens a bar chart where you can set your desired velocity curve by
clicking and dragging in the chart window. Note that this setting is only applied to this
particular instance of the patch, so if you want to permanently change the volume curve
you need to re-save the patch. The volume curve also affects the X-Fade mode using the
modwheel. This means that you can fine-tune the behaviour of the modwheel to allow for
unique dynamic control, for example for creating terraced dynamics.
The Volume Range encoder sets the dynamic range of the patch. You can find a detailed
description of what this control does in the section “Blending With Other Libraries“.
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Like a real flute player, you can add more or less air and wind
noises on staccatos notes. Press the Wind Noises button to
switch them on. The button will light up and you can adjust the
volume of wind noises with the encoder dial. This knob can be
controlled with any MIDI CC of your choice via MIDI learn
(right click on the dial).
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Instrumentalists
Berlin Woodwinds has true legato (interval sampling) for all instruments and sections. To
achieve the highest level of realism and detail, we have recorded every interval up to an
octave. That means you will hear the natural transitions from one note to another. Every
true legato patch is sampled with three dynamic crossfade layers.
The legato and sustain patches both feature adjustable vibrato and key noises.
Vibrato
By default, CC22 switches between normal vibrato, no vibrato and progressive vibrato.
These three vibrato styles use dedicated recorded samples and have not been created by
manipulating existing audio material. You can see which vibrato style is active by looking
at the interface. The highlighted button shows the currently selected style:
If you would like to use a different CC to control the vibrato style, double-click on the
CC number and enter a new one. Make sure not to use any CC already in use.
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Legato Volume
Legato patches have one additional rotary encoder that lets you control the volume of the
legato transitions between notes. We have found that quite often, sampled legato
instruments tend to have very pronounced transitions, whereas when
listening to real instruments playing legato, the connection between notes
is much more subtle. We have opted to recreate the natural sound of
legato instruments as close as possible, so the transitions in BWW may
be much quieter compared to other libraries. You can adjust the volume
of these transitions with this control, though.
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Berlin Woodwinds has recorded double tongue and triple tongue samples for most
instruments. In a painstaking process we recorded real double and triple tongue notes
and made them react to your playing speed. All patches have
samples for slower passages as well as samples for faster passages.
You can switch between the two modes by pressing the
corresponding button. This button, like all controls in BWW, is
automatable via MIDI CC. Right-click on the button to assign a CC.
Double Tongue
Play a note and the first note sounds. Release the key and the second note is played.
Basically you only need to play every second note, with the gap between notes
determined by how long you keep the key pressed.
Triple Tongue
Playing triple tongued notes requires a bit of practice, but it is easily worth it: Press a key
and the first sounds. The second note sounds when you release the key and BWW will
automatically sound the third note after an equal period of time. This is very useful for
playing triple-tongued triplets!
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Read more about the use and features of the Trills Orchestrator on the following pages.
At the right of the GUI you see a helpful tool for your orchestrations: The notation view,
a huge timesaver if you want to notate trills in your written scores. It shows you every
trill you are playing, regardless of the number of notes you play. Just like in all other
instruments, there are three knobs and buttons for the microphone positions: Room,
Close and Mix, as well as a knob for the Release Volume. Last but not least, every Trills
Orchestrator has a Mode Change Function.
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Note
The starting note must always be lower than the final note. While you are playing, the
delay between the start note and the end note can be very short, you can “roll up” the
chords very quickly. But it is important to always roll them up; pressing two or more
keys at exactly the same time will not work.
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Tip
You can blend the sfz trills perfectly with the irregular trills to achieve a sharp attack at
the beginning of a long sustained trill.
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Scale Runs
The Scale Runs patches contain full recorded runs in all major and minor keys. All runs
have been recorded at different speeds and are tempo-synced to your host. Please refer to
the included Scale Runs Chart for information about the different types of runs available.
Scale Runs patches have a toggle that lets you choose between major
and minor runs. You can assign this toggle to a MIDI CC by right-
clicking on it to control it from within your sequencer.
The tempo mode slider with the auto tempo button is controllable via
an assignable MIDI CC (right click - by now you should know this by
heart) and lets you adjust playback of the samples between half tempo,
double tempo and regular tempo as well as half triplets and double
triplets. The current selection is shown below the slider. As an example,
if you have a host tempo of 200bpm, a 16th run would be way too fast.
Change the setting to half tempo and the run will essentially play as an 8th run.
If you have the auto tempo button switched on, BWW will adjust this slider
automatically to find the ideal solution. To control the slider manually, switch off the auto
tempo button.
All Scale Runs use NI’s Time Machine Pro to sync to your host tempo, regardless of the
mic position(s) used. This means unrivalled fidelity and complete freedom in choosing
your tempo.
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The Runs Transitions patches (also called Playable Runs, because that is essentially what
these patches allow you to do) are based on the same technology that powers legato
instruments and use very fast legato transitions between notes. They are available for
both solo instruments and ensembles. We have sampled transitions between notes up to
the interval of a fifth, so you can play runs leaving gaps between notes if you want. Now
it is finally possible to play completely unique runs on a MIDI keyboard and hear the
“glue“ in between individual notes. Just play your run and BWW will do the rest!
Runs Builder
The Runs Builder, which is available for the Clarinet Ensemble (a3) and the Flute
Ensemble in octaves (a2+Flute 8va or Piccolo in the higher register), allows you to create
custom runs by combining several groups of notes. Within these groups, which are all
real recorded samples, you can hear the natural connection between notes - the “glue“,
which brings these real recorded short phrases combined as a bigger run into your
sequences.
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First you need to select the key by pressing the corresponding keyswitches. Then you
select a slot via keyswitch. If you have switched Auto Tempo off, you need to select a
tempo mode with the Tempo Mode slider or MIDI CC.
All contents and settings of the slots will be saved with your sequencer project file or in
any Kontakt instrument/multi you save.
When you load the Runs Builder into your Kontakt instance, all slots will be empty and
basically nothing will be loaded into memory. Now you can click on any empty slot to
select it. This slot is now activated, easily visible by looking at its highlighted border.
To fill the slot with an articulation, just click on any of the available articulations in the
lower left of the interface. The articulation will be loaded into RAM and its picture is
displayed in the slot.
When a slot is activated (white border), you can play the articulation currently loaded in
that slot on your keyboard. You can change the slot in realtime using keyswitches.
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To clear a slot, select it and press the articulation button again. There also is a Clear All
button next to the articulation buttons.
You will find a Tempo Mode slider underneath every slot. This slider is controllable via
any assignable MIDI CC (just right click) and lets you adjust playback of the samples
between half tempo, double tempo and regular tempo as well as half triplets and double
triplets. The current selection is shown below the slider. As an example, if you have a
host tempo of 200bpm, a 16th run would be way too fast. Change the setting to half
tempo and the run will essentially play as an 8th run.
If you have the auto tempo button switched on, BWW will adjust this slider
automatically to find the ideal solution. To control the slider manually, switch off the auto
tempo button.
Keyswitches
Scale
Use the Scale slider to select the scale you would like your run to be in. You can assign a
CC to this slider by right-clicking on it.
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