Pinnella on Odyssey: Synth and samples??

[Rose Immortal]

I happened to put The Odyssey on in the car (easier to listen to that way), and I really got to wondering some stuff about Pinnella on that album.

First, what new synth did he buy between V and this one? It's obvious to me he's got a new one...the difference cannot be explained by just production techniques.

Oh, and is he using orchestra samples in any places rather than playing things out by hand? I especially wondered this on the title track. Or is that just his wonderful new toy at work?

 

[Luis]

Romeo worked with real samples on the tittle track.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

The title track was done using Giga Studio.

 

[Rose Immortal]

That's what I had a feeling it was...the quality was just TOO much to be a synth. Thanks for confirming that!

But what about the previous tracks? It does seem that Pinnella's got some new gear he didn't have before. Any intel on what sort of synth it is he's recently acquired?

 

[Luis]

But what about the previous tracks? It does seem that Pinnella's got some new gear he didn't have before.

Yeah, he got a new keyboard in one interwiew he metioned his complete gear.

 

[arglebargle]

The synth differences could EASILY be explained by production. You're underestimating the power of a good producer.

Also:

That's what I had a feeling it was...the quality was just TOO much to be a synth. Thanks for confirming that!

lol, do you mean the quality was too much to be a hardware keyboard? A synth produces analog tones, not acoustic samples. Anyway, there isn't much difference between Giga Studio and a good hardware keyboard. Both use realistic samples, and while Giga is capable of playing HUGE samples, top of the line hardware keyboards like the Motif could probably accomplish the orchestration on The Odyssey quite easily.

 

[DoktorShred]

yeah but usually keyboardists do their own patches mostly. It could be a new synth or he could've tweaked his patch.

 

[Rose Immortal]

The synth differences could EASILY be explained by production. You're underestimating the power of a good producer.

But I also heard equipment that I think was Pinnella's old synth, and while the quality had sharpened up considerably, I could still tell it was the same synth. I think there's a new one in there somewhere, and I think I could hear it right from the get-go on "Inferno". I'm afraid I can't describe it any better.

lol, do you mean the quality was too much to be a hardware keyboard? A synth produces analog tones, not acoustic samples. Anyway, there isn't much difference between Giga Studio and a good hardware keyboard. Both use realistic samples, and while Giga is capable of playing HUGE samples, top of the line hardware keyboards like the Motif could probably accomplish the orchestration on The Odyssey quite easily.

I'm not sure if I can say this very well, but there's a kind of variance...actually a very slight IMperfection that appears in real sounds that you don't really get on a synth that I found myself hearing on the orchestration of the Odyssey. The sounds were just too...human.

 

[arglebargle]

Um, the orchestration isn't live, so the effect you're hearing is being acheived with samples. Provided you know what you're doing, it's possible to use samples in an extremely realistic way, it's just really hard because you have to take stuff like velocity, articulation, performance techniques, etc into account. A lot of the top-shelf orchestral libraries include dozens of types of articulation for each sampled instrument, making it possible to put together very convincing "artificial" orchestration.

 

[Rose Immortal]

Yup...but unless I'm mistaken, those sample libraries were recorded from human beings actually playing the instruments, right? And then somebody like Romeo or Pinnella takes those samples, manipulates them, and recombines them in different ways? So it does originate with real performances (albeit in a nice studio), right? This as opposed to a sound created by a synth.

I'm really sorry I don't know how to explain this stuff better.

 

[arglebargle]

Er, haha, you don't seem to be too familiar samples and synths.

A synthesizer is a musical device that creates ANALOG sounds. You know, vintage type stuff. It actually creates the tone though analog circuitry (or a digital representation), rather than playing back a recording. As such, synths can't recreate any type of acoustic instrument, because they're too complex.

If you want to use acoustic sounds like strings and brass and pianos and stuff, you need to use a sampler, not a synthsizer. A sampler takes actual recordings of instruments and allows you to play them back on a keyboard.

You can have hardware samplers (keyboards you play), or software samplers like Giga Studio. Either way, they use the same method. Technically, software samplers have the advantage, because computers can hold far more memory than a keyboard, allowing for larger samples. The larger the instrument sample, the more realistic (in most cases).

When you're referring to a "synth" you actually mean a hardware sampler. Yes, it'd be harder to achieve realism with a hardware keyboard than a software sampler like Giga Studio, because the Giga sounds are much larger and have more variations.

In general, orchestral libraries are recorded with the instruments playing different techniques and articulations, e.g. staccato, legato, etc. It's up to the orchestrating musician to take these different kinds of samples and arrange them in a way that imitates the techniques of a real orchestra.

So when you're asking if he's using orchestral samples, yes, ALL types of keyboards and samplers use samples for acoustic instruments.

Sorry for rambling, but you seemed kind of confused.