Tobias is truly the best at navigating the technical process of setting up an orchestral template on multiple machines. He carefully explained every step on multiple levels so it was extremely easy to follow along. He is a consummate professional on all levels. I couldn't have done it with out his help and am so grateful I stumbled across his website!

After several years with a gigantic number of free updates to Vienna Ensemble Pro 5, the fine folks at VSL have released Vienna Ensemble Pro 6, the next generation of the venerable plugin host and best tool on the planet for building templates.

VE Pro 6 comes with a completely redesigned interface that now uses tabs for all the instances to keep everything in one window.
The list of changes and new features is absolutely gigantic. VSL have really listened to their user base and added a plethora of much-requested features.

Just a small part of the change list (and my personal favourites):
- Instances can be freely reordered and this order reflect in the plugin inside the sequencer.
- The plugin now lists instances sorted per the machine they are on, which is great with lots of slave machines.
- Instances can be coloured and in general the colour selector is much improved. And you can colour multiple items at once, yeah!
- Metaframes can now auto-save and will only do so when no played is active, thus making sure they only save when not in the way.
- Plugin instances can now be raised directly from the host, jumping to the correct instance without having to click "raise". Even greater, this setting can also be automated!
- Folder Support!

And, here is the single most greatest invention:
Channels can now be disabled, preserving their content and settings, but completely unloading them from memory. This allows hosting tons of instruments within VE Pro, ready to be activated when needed. The enabled/disabled state can be automated, thus making it possible to load pre-assigned plugin instances remote into VE Pro as needed. No more "hosting rarely used stuff directly in the sequencer just so it does not consume memory when not needed".

So - should you use it?

On-location work is always tremendously exciting and satisfying and it is especially so when one has the chance to work with someone at the top of his field.
June 2016 saw me returning to Italy to help Luca Turilli (from Rhapsody/LT's Rhapsody - creators of cinematic metal) with setting up his giant composing template used for all his album productions.

Luca loves to create music at 360°, ranging from classical to modern, mixing the most epic orchestral impact with the electronic ‘hybrid’ vibe of the last generation of soundtracks. The new updated music template, whose sounds are distributed on 3 computers, will allow him to work on his future music beyond any technological limit and with the same sound quality of the greatest Hollywood composers!

I want to thank my friend TOBIAS ESCHER from ORCHESTRAL TEMPLATES (www.orchestraltemplates.com) for visiting me in Trieste and to have updated my music template based on the CUBASE 8.5 software. 3500 tracks featuring all the instruments existing on the planet, the real dream tool for every composer!

Recently I had the chance to do some on-location work. While being tremendous fun, template building is pretty solitary most of the time, so those on-location builds always are a treat.

This time, the road (or rather: the plane) led to more or less rainy London, UK, where I helped composer extraordinaire Nainita Desai of Soundology fame plan and setup her composing template. Here’s a nice picture (please marvel at the custom-built studio Nainita and her partner in crime Malcolm have built here!):

Doing this was a wonderful experience - there’s nothing like being on the road :)

Here’s a quote from Nainita herself:

I am transitioning from Logic Pro to Cubase over a period of several months and so employed Tobias to set up a basic template in Logic Pro with VE Pro and a more extensive one in Cubase so that I could utilise VE Pro instances between both DAW systems. He is also writing custom Lemur setups for various Sample libraries which work beautifully.Tobias's after support, enthusiasm and extensive specialist knowledge are superb. He is very efficient and offers excellent custom solutions for your individual requirements.I am looking forward to developing my system further with his continued support and wicked sense of humour !

If you are ready for the adventure of your lifetime and want to experience the thrills of commanding a huge composing rig, download my tutorial and get going! And don’t hesitate to drop me a line when you are in need of help!