Sharing a brief orchestrated composition... utilizes free VST instruments (listed)

[ProgMusician]

I've had this acoustic guitar composition for a while, and decided to orchestrate it with free VSTs I found. All of them can be found on www.vst4free.com

Sonatina: Flute (flute, alto flute, piccolo), Bassoon, Double Bass
RedTron SE - mellotron

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWg62gGGyno&t=22s

[Progbear]

Unless someone has since created something better, the Redtron SE is the best free VST Mellotron emulation out there. I’m surprised how good it sounds for free! Accept no substitutes!

[progmatist]

I use Redtron on the cheap Windows tablet I use as a VSTi synth module. Works very well for live gigs.

[pmrviana]

I'd be curious to know which VST host are you using on that Windows tablet for live gigs.

[battema]

Nice little tune! I like when the bass kicks in especially

[Rarebird]

Nice piece.

[progmatist]

I'd be curious to know which VST host are you using on that Windows tablet for live gigs.

I use an older version of Sonar, which doesn't require as many resources as newer versions. I then create projects with VSTi synth setups for each song. Open one project for one song, then close it and open another for the next song. Within each project, I'll assign a VSTi to a track with a particular MIDI channel, another synth to another track/channel. Sonar saves all pertinent synth patches and settings for each project. Sonar also uses all 4 cores of the Intel Atom processor, very important for performance.

[Rarebird]

The piece is a bit short.

[pmrviana]

I use an older version of Sonar, which doesn't require as many resources as newer versions. I then create projects with VSTi synth setups for each song. Open one project for one song, then close it and open another for the next song. Within each project, I'll assign a VSTi to a track with a particular MIDI channel, another synth to another track/channel. Sonar saves all pertinent synth patches and settings for each project. Sonar also uses all 4 cores of the Intel Atom processor, very important for performance.

Thanks for that, I'm interested because I also use a Windows tablet as a live VSTi sound module, but I never came across an ideal solution for live gigs. Similar to you, I started using an old version of Cubase, but I thought it was not very friendly for live gigs, especially since all buttons and menus are not easily accessible from the touch interface. I also found it to be quite heavy, taking a very long time to load the projects. Searching for a more lightweight and touch friendly solution, I came across the Usine Hollyhock software, which is perfect for this kind of use. It is very light, and you can customize your own interface with faders, buttons, knobs, etc to control any parameters of your VSTi, and it's all optimized for touch interface. The only problem there is that I found some compatibility issues with a few VSTis. Some of them do not produce sound at all, others keep asking for license activation even though it is activated. Other than that, it would have been the perfect solution. More recently I was looking into Reaper, and I saw some people are using it for live VSTi triggering. Since Reaper is very customizable, it seems there are some templates especific for live use. Haven't tried that yet, but looks promising.

[progmatist]

^^ I control the VSTis mostly through my keyboards and hardware controllers. One such controller is an old first generation Korg Nano Kontrol. It has exactly 9 faders, which I set up to control the 9 drawbars in Organized Trio. I use other buttons to control things like key percussion, and bank/patch up down in this and other VSTis. This works so much better than trying to manipulate things through the tablet's touch screen, especially on the fly during a performance.