Welcome to the Vienna Symphonic Library’s series of Synchron Instruments! As the name says, Big Bang Orchestra furnishes you with a selection of full-orchestra articulations, at the same time allowing you (if you haven’t done so already) to explore our powerful Synchron Player software. If you're looking for that extra dramatic effect or want to highlight a passage in your composition, this bonus library could be the solution, or at least point you in the right direction.
Big Bang Orchestra: Black Eye, the second library expansion provides you with all-new musical elements, such as hits, rips, runs, clusters, tension sustains, rhythms, arpeggios, grace notes, echo effects and more.
Just like its predecessor BBO Andromeda, Black Eye offers a regular Preset, where marcato articulations are controlled with the modwheel (CC1), and another one marked "VelXF", where keystroke velocity controls the marcato intensity.
The main categories Hits, Phrases and FX, and Clusters can be selected with the keyswitches A0/A#0/B0. The subcategories of those are mapped to the keyswitches C1 and C#1 (Clusters: D1), while the Articulations range from D#1 to A1.
- Flams are basically grace notes played very close together (the first one soft, the second at normal volume) in order to sound like one slightly longer note.
- Delayed means that the lower or higher registers of the sound set in slightly later than their opposites.
- In the Graced patch, the instruments of the high register rip towards a target note, which is reinforced by the rest of the orchestra with a powerful marcato-staccato.
- With pp sustain provides a fortississimo staccato of brass and low strings, of which a very soft high note played by the muted strings remains.
- Range:
- Flams: A#1–D5
- others: A#4–D5
Major, minor, open, and diminished chord hits.
- Range: A#4–D5.
Octave runs major and minor, up and down, as well as upward and downward rips, i.e., powerful glissandos to the beginning of a note.
- Range:
- Runs: A#1–D5
- Rips: C2–D6
This category contains various sustained textures.
- Volume pumping does what it says – the sound’s volume swells and abates.
- Shuffled sustain is a kind of controlled chaos, where different groups of the orchestra play complementary rhythmic patterns. Due to its complex structure, this effect can be used independently of tempo and provides a propelling density that lends itself well to underscores, for instance.
- Microtuning comes in slow and fast variants, with the pitch of instruments hovering around the target note.
- Echoes repeats the initial sound at a lower volume while keeping up the sustained note.
- Octave trills are just that – instrument groups playing trills in octaves.
- Seagull arpeggio is an effect created by flageolet glissandos played on open strings, with the accompanying wind instruments playing arpeggios that follow the overtone series of the strings.
- Range:
- Volume pumping: A#1–D6
- Microtuning: A#1–D6
- Shuffled sustain: A#2–D5
- Echoes: A#3–D5
- Seagull arpeggio: A#3–D5
- Octave trills: A#1–D5
The "regular" clusters come in two variants marked "A" and "B", respectively. Both of them have the same low range sounds, with the variants in the high ranges. The clusters comprise short notes, long notes without and with marcato option, and short and long swells (sounds increasing continuously in volume and ending abruptly at the peak) without and with marcato option.
- Range:
- low clusters: A#1–D4
- A/B clusters: A#4–D6
The marcato option allows you to add marcato attacks with the help of the modwheel (MIDI CC1) or by keystroke velocity when you use the VelXF Preset.
Using marcato with the swells allows you to create particularly intriguing sounds as the volume drops off after the initial hit but immediately starts to build up again.
- Cluster to root offers sounds that start out from a cluster, with the instruments gradually coming together at the target note.
- Root to cluster does the opposite – the tones deviating more and more from the original root note.
- Hits + pp sustain starts with fortississimo staccato clusters of brass and low strings, out of which emerge very soft higher-range clusters played by the muted strings.
- Range:
- Cluster to root: A#1–D6
- Root to cluster: A#1–D6
- Hits + pp sustain: A#3–D5
The expansion to BBO Black Eye offers runs and clusters with a full orchestra playing soft to mezzo dynamics where the string sections play con sordino. It includes a regular Preset, where marcato articulations are controlled with the modwheel (CC1), and another one marked "VelXF", where keystroke velocity controls the marcato intensity.
The two main categories Runs and Clusters can be selected with the keyswitches A#0/B0. The subcategories of those are mapped to the keyswitches C1 and C#1, while the Articulation keyswitches range from D#1 to A1.
Octave runs major and minor, up and down.
- Range: A#1–D5
The "regular" clusters come in two variants marked "A" and "B", respectively. Both of them have the same low range sounds, with the variants in the high ranges. The clusters comprise short notes, long notes without and with marcato option, and short and long swells (sounds increasing continuously in volume and ending abruptly at the peak) without and with marcato option.
- Range:
- low clusters: A#1–D4
- A/B clusters: A#4–D6
The marcato option allows you to add marcato attacks with the help of the modwheel (MIDI CC1) or by keystroke velocity when you use the VelXF Preset.
Using marcato with the swells allows you to create particularly intriguing sounds as the volume drops off after the initial hit but immediately starts to build up again.
