Big Bang Orchestra: Musca

Introduction

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.

Children's choir recording Big Bang Orchestra: Ymir at Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Stage, with conductor direction and music stands.
Overhead diagram of Synchron Stage Vienna, illustrating microphone and instrument placement for recording Synchron Strings I. The diagram shows violin, viola, cello, and double bass sections, with specific mic types like Close Mic, Mid Mic, Back Mic, and the Main Decca Tree array, indicating Standard Library and Add. Full Library mic options.

Included Presets

Multiple large metal sheet percussion instruments, possibly thunder sheets or gongs, arranged on stands in a recording studio or concert hall.

BBO Lyra and BBO Musca feature high and low string ensembles, respectively. The layout of articulations is designed to resemble that of other BBO Libraries with similar content (e.g., Hercules with its low brass ensembles), so that you can switch between the articulations of different Libraries without having to adapt any keyswitches.

  • Range: B1-F5
  • Articulation Keyswitches: C6-G6
  • Type Keyswitches: starting at C7
Synchron Percussion II: A variety of orchestral percussion instruments, including gongs, cymbals, and small bells, arranged on stands in a recording studio or concert hall.

Short notes

Bold and agile.

  • Bold/agile: C2/C#2
Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Instruments interface showing articulation and type options like short notes, legato, tremolo, pizzicato, bold, and agile.

Long notes

Long notes with light and strong vibrato, and espressivo.

  • Type keyswitches: C2-D#2
Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Instruments interface showing Articulation and Type options including long notes, short notes, light vibrato, and strong vibrato.

XF vibrato

The XF vibrato option combines the light and strong vibrato articulations, so that you can control the vibrato amount using Dim.Ctrl/A (MIDI CC1, modwheel).

Screenshot of the Big Bang Orchestra virtual instrument interface displaying articulation, type, and XF vibrato settings with Long notes and XF vibrato selected.

Legato

Legato with light and strong vibrato, and marcato. There also is an XF vibrato slot with Dim.Ctrl/A (MIDI CC1, modwheel).

  • Type keyswitches: C2-D#2
User interface for Big Bang Orchestra virtual instrument showing articulation, type, and XF vibrato parameters.

Dynamics

Sforzato, sforzatissimo, swells short and long, soft and very soft swells, and soft diminuendo.

  • Type keyswitches: C2-F#2
Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Instruments interface showing Articulation and Type settings, with Dynamics and Sforzato selected.

Tremolo & trills

Tremolo regular and with fast attack, half and whole tone trills.

  • Type keyswitches: C2-D#2
Vienna Symphonic Library software interface showing Articulation and Type options, including Tremolo & trills, for Big Bang Orchestra Synchron Instruments.

Fast repetitions

Staccato repetitions at 120, 140, and 160 BPM, with the choice of proper note release or cut release. These are already prepared for timestretching, i.e., all Patches have the original tempo they were recorded with entered as their source tempo. This allows you to adapt your repetitions automatically to the tempo of your project with only two mouse clicks.

  • Tempo keyswitches: C2-D2
  • Note/cut release: A5/B5
Orchestral Big Bang Orchestra Musca Synchron Player user interface showing Articulation, Tempo, and Release settings with Fast repetitions selected.

Glissando

Glissandos, minor and major second, up and down.

  • Interval keyswitches: C2/C#2
  • Up/down keyswitches: A5/B5
Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Instruments Big Bang Orchestra interface displaying articulation, interval, and up/down controls with Glissando, Minor second, and Up selected.

Pizzicato

Pizzicato, with no further options.

User interface for music articulation settings, showing options like Short notes, Long notes, Legato, Dynamics, Tremolo & trills, Fast repetitions, Glissando, and selected Pizzicato on a purple background.

Lyra + Musca: High & Low Strings

Owners of both BBO Lyra and BBO Musca will find in the Musca Presets an additional combined Preset, where both Libraries are stacked to present the full tone range of high and low strings together. You can select two modes - one where the high and low notes are divided at C4, and one where they overlap. Below you can see an example of what the Preset looks like.

  • Range: B1-D7
  • High-Low Mode keyswitches: A0/B0
  • Articulations: C1-G1
  • Type keyswitches: starting at F7
  • Glissando up/down: A7/B7
Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Instruments interface showcasing settings for Big Bang Orchestra, including High-Low Mode, Articulation (Short notes, Long notes, Legato, Dynamics, Tremolo, Fast repetitions, Glissando, Pizzicato), Type (Light vibrato, Strong vibrato, XF vibrato, Espressivo), XF vibrato (Light vibrato, Strong vibrato), and High/Low Stack (High Strings, Low Strings).