Steinberg Iconica and Dorico

Puma0382,

I’d jump onto your idea and would support baroque/early sounds. They don’t exist yet as far as I know…
… and yes, all from the Funkhaus :wink:
is this, by the way, just a marketing synonym, or is it something like Rundfunkhaus Berlin („Haus des Rundfunks“)??

VSL has got Recorders and Historic Winds.

VSL = Vienna Symphonic Library.
I will try to find an ‘exsample’

actually this sounds rather interesting
thank you HeiPet

k_b and others,

Some other lovely early instrument VSTs that I’ve used recently:

Lute - https://www.cinematique-instruments.com/inst_lute.php

Viol - Cinesamples

Theorbo, Renaissance guitar, etc. - The Conservatoire Collection | Baroque and Renaissance Sample library for Kontakt | Soniccouture



As well as a collection that I thought I’d try despite knowing it’s not really aimed at or suited to my and probably many or most in this community’s needs but I really wanted to see if I could get the natural trumpets, sackbuts, and cornetti to work for a recent project (spoiler alert: it didn’t work out too well…): ERA II Medieval Legends | Best Service | bestservice.com



So… yes, this area of virtual instruments is underdeveloped, but there’s at least a little bit out there! :slight_smile:

Have watched, with enthusiasm, the Iconica Section tutorials. Such a wonderful sounding library with so many extras included to make one’s music sound “live.” Just wondering, do the sampled sounds in the library default to wet or dry? I didn’t see anything regarding application of “effects” like reverb in any of the tutorials. Probably because that is applied in the individual DAWs.

Jack

Another thought. Iconica now offers a 30-day FREE trial period to become acquainted with the new Iconica library. If one downloaded the trial offer and worked with it for 30 days, they would exceed the July 11 deadline for purchase ($699.99 vs. $799.99). Has anyone heard of a reduced price extension for trial period users?

Haven’t heard anything like that, and I doubt that such an extension (to users whose trial period extends beyond the deadline for the introductory price) would be generally made on any individual basis. Either they extend the introductory period for all users, or they don’t extend it for anyone other than exceptional cases.

That said, my take on the question is not based on any inside information, just past experience with such deadlines.

Is there an educational discount on Iconica?

I don’t think so: it doesn’t appear in the Edu Shop.

Thanks.
Bought it. Sounds incredible. Focused and tight, very usable for quick mock-ups. Legato not as flabby as some of my other libraries.
Nice to see high quality libraries like this being custom made for the Halion platform.
VST expression in Cubase/Nuendo works like a charm. (I just changed all articulations from “Direction” to “Attribute” so I can right-click on a note and choose articulations note-by-note.)
Excited to start using Iconica with Dorico Pro 2 as well!

Can you elaborate on this? I’m trying to make sure I understand how it works.

With NotePerformer, I have very little control and I can’t change the samples. Good for people who want an “automatic” mock-up. Usually I want that.

Iconica has superior samples, but it seems I would need to monkey with it to get a sound that seems “real” from an expression perspective. If I use Iconica and just press play, how will it compare to NP?

I have some ability to use sample libraries and CC control, but I want to be able to make mockups with very little work (Ha! Who doesn’t??).

If Iconica requires all the usual massaging, I’d rather use my existing libraries, or stick with NP. But the thought of a sample library “natively” integrating with Dorico is appealing.

I know I could download Iconica trial version and try it myself, but I’d rather not spend the massive amount of time before having an idea of its usefulness.

Thanks.

The first step to making Iconica useful in Dorico is to have a set of Expression Maps, and part of this involves the Dorico Team’s plans to continue to implement Note Expression and other sophisticated Expression Map-related techniques. This seems the Team’s intention, and I look forward to their progress because I look forward to being able to make use of Iconica sounds.

I agree, and I’m going to wait for that sort of airtight compatibility until I even consider Iconica. I’m happy to tweak and fiddle with some things, but sample libraries can be a real time-thief.

NotePerformer cannot really be compared to other sample libraries, because NP also make brave, and generally pretty impressive, attempts at interpreting the score musically, according to the classical tradition (with many now requesting a version which does the same for the jazz tradition) It’s a sound library AND a good conductor in one package, so to speak.

While (as I understand it) NP uses a tiny percentage of samples, it’s basically synthesized sounds, which makes it light on resources. The problem with all these HUGE sampled libraries (Orchestral Tools, Spitfire Audio, VSL, Iconica (as I understand it) etc.etc.etc.) is 1) they are heavy on resources (RAM, Disc real estate and processing power) and 2) they require an enourmous amount of programming/sculpting in order to sound musical, and, as Derrek outlines above, also require that Dorico is fully fleshed out playing-technique-wise…

Let’s see Oct 17…

Any chance iconica will be ready in 6 months or less?

If previous releases are any indication, you won’t get an answer. Or the answer will be “It’ll be released when it’s ready.”

I kinda wondered if that was the case. But this is my only product with Steinberg, and I haven’t spent that much time overall reading the forum, as I put the product away for about a year after getting Dorico.

Maybe they will answer this part::: I’m hoping I don’t need to mess with setting up the basic expression maps, or need to buy Cubase to have access to import and exporting Iconica settings just to get the basic setup working.

Part of the delay is that not all playing techniques are fully implemented, and creating expression maps before technique overlaps and exclusions are fully programmed is not worthwhile.

The biggest issue with Iconica at the moment isn’t the expression maps (as Iconica doesn’t provide a huge number of articulations), it’s that the Iconica articulations are spread over several separate presets and so Dorico would need new mechanisms to load multiple sounds and route different articulations separately, plus there are implications for play mode because automation lane events would have to track the splits into different channels.

Thank you, Paul, for this info on the specifics. I knew it was not just a matter of writing expression maps.
I look forward to the day down the road when it all comes together.