Protools Emergency - Hit Instrument Track Capacity

[etroiano]

Hello, I'm an amateur orchestral mock-up composer. I have decided in an effort to utilize the most of a full orchestra and improve my orchestration skills, to make up a HUGE orchestral template, full of my favorite patches and effects for almost every instrument.

I've spent the last 4 hours creating this template, but this was brought to a halt when I tried to make my next section of tracks only to run into this error:
"The Maximum Number of Instrument Tracks already exist for the current Pro Tools Configuration."

I googled everywhere to try to find any work-arounds and solutions but it seems that this error message isn't common? This forum is a last resort, is this ANYTHING I can do to finish up my orchestral template without having to delete some of my patches / start over?

Thanks.

[Glenjb]

How many tracks have you used? If you used them all you can make some inactive. I think pro tools 10 has a 96 track/voice limit.

[albee1952]

There is a limit to how many instrument tracks you can have, but you could still likely create several MIDI tracks and AUX tracks(pair them and insert a VI plugin on the AUX and route the midi to the VI). Before you do this, consider a few things, such as:
How many VI plugins your system can actually handle(and still play/record without choking)
You can make several of your tracks inactive(to free up system resources) and activate later, as needed.
As you build your arrangements, you can print Instrument tracks to audio, and then deactivate the instrument tracks(and hide but don't delete, in case you need to revisit).
Remember that many VI plugins are capable of handling more than 1 sound(so you may have way more tracks and plugins than you really need).
Lastly,(and this is not meant to be an insult at all) since you are a beginner, you might start off with smaller projects and learn how(and why) you should do things(or NOT do things). IOW, learn to walk before you try running.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by albee1952

There is a limit to how many instrument tracks you can have, but you could still likely create several MIDI tracks and AUX tracks(pair them and insert a VI plugin on the AUX and route the midi to the VI). Before you do this, consider a few things, such as:
How many VI plugins your system can actually handle(and still play/record without choking)
You can make several of your tracks inactive(to free up system resources) and activate later, as needed.
As you build your arrangements, you can print Instrument tracks to audio, and then deactivate the instrument tracks(and hide but don't delete, in case you need to revisit).
Remember that many VI plugins are capable of handling more than 1 sound(so you may have way more tracks and plugins than you really need).
Lastly,(and this is not meant to be an insult at all) since you are a beginner, you might start off with smaller projects and learn how(and why) you should do things(or NOT do things). IOW, learn to walk before you try running.

To expand on what Dave said with respect to multiple instruments in a single vi instance what I do is for first violins I have one vi instance (EWQLSO running in their Play engine) on an Instrument track and in that instance I have the articulations I'm likely to use. And for the extra articulations I feed multiple MIDI tracks to the second, third, fourth, etc, articulations. The audio output of all the articulations is fed via the vi's internal mixer automatically back to the Instrument track the vi is on. Saves a lot on cpu usage as well as Instrument track usage.

There's no need to have a huge orchestral template unless you're scoring for movies or TV like Hans Zimmer does (and he has a computer farm for that). I've been at this for a while and while I don't do film or TV the orchestral stuff I do clocks in at the biggest so far of just shy of 60 tracks. I'd suggest getting a book on MIDI orchestration and this is one I keep around for reference: http://www.amazon.com/Guide-MIDI-Orc...+orchestration
Not cheap but worth it if you want to do things right.

[JFreak]

My trysty composer just has the template in his mind. He can choose any sound he wants to in a blink of an eye. I've witnessed him actually doing the work and for him it's just as easy as dialing in a 4:1 compressor ratio for bass or a 250Hz hi-pass filter for female vocalist.

IOW, learn your sounds and keep the template simpler.

[etroiano]

Hi all and thanks. So the deactivating of tracks is a fabulous idea and is one that I can totally use since I've got a lot of different effects that I probably won't be using too often.

As far as keeping my template simpler, I believe that that would only serve to stand in the way of becoming a better orchestrator. I'm not particularly scoring film score, more of a traditional romantic/20th century approach like Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov etc.

What my setup right now is that I've got 8 instances of EWQL play up, and for each instance I've got 9 different instrument channels assigned to it.

Also @musicman691 thanks for that online resource reference, that's definitely something I'll be looking into.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by etroiano

Hi all and thanks. So the deactivating of tracks is a fabulous idea and is one that I can totally use since I've got a lot of different effects that I probably won't be using too often.

As far as keeping my template simpler, I believe that that would only serve to stand in the way of becoming a better orchestrator. I'm not particularly scoring film score, more of a traditional romantic/20th century approach like Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov etc.

What my setup right now is that I've got 8 instances of EWQL play up, and for each instance I've got 9 different instrument channels assigned to it.

Also @musicman691 thanks for that online resource reference, that's definitely something I'll be looking into.

I'm afraid you've got it wrong - having a big template won't help you to be a better orchestrator. For the composers you cite you don't need huge options to choose from. They sure didn't. Learn to use a small template and array of sounds to their fullest and then start to think about putting together a mondo template. Having too much going on will only muddy the sound and get you nowhere and you'll learn nothing.

And effects - you shouldn't be using them at all. Get a good sound first from EWQLSO (you don't say which version you're using but even Gold with the one mic position can do a heck of a lot as far as getting you a great sound and orchestration) and then think about effects. Don't depend on band-aids like eq and compression to give you the sound - that's the wrong approach.

[etroiano]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I'm afraid you've got it wrong - having a big template won't help you to be a better orchestrator. For the composers you cite you don't need huge options to choose from. They sure didn't. Learn to use a small template and array of sounds to their fullest and then start to think about putting together a mondo template. Having too much going on will only muddy the sound and get you nowhere and you'll learn nothing.

And effects - you shouldn't be using them at all. Get a good sound first from EWQLSO (you don't say which version you're using but even Gold with the one mic position can do a heck of a lot as far as getting you a great sound and orchestration) and then think about effects. Don't depend on band-aids like eq and compression to give you the sound - that's the wrong approach.

Well, I'm afraid we've reached a disagreement and maybe you need some fact-checking on composers. Listening to Rimsky Korskov, Ravel, Resphigi, or Mahler it becomes quite obvious that they had no issues in taking massive ensembles, trying out unique ways to play instruments, and using a-typical instruments to achieve an array of different colors and textures. I don't know where you're taking the assumption that I haven't learned to use a small template.

Of course sound can get muddied with a large orchestra. Sound can get muddy with a string trio. It's all on how well you're organizing it. I don't EQ or compress too much either. I mentioned that I am an amateur producer and still a beginner to the world of mockup, but I have a solid foundation of orchestration.

I asked a question on production and you tried telling me that I shouldn't be using a large orchestra unless I'm Hans Zimmer, and not until I've learned how to orchestrate with a smaller orchestra.

[Emcha_audio]

I think the point that was getting around, was not about the ability you have in orchestration, but in fact in production. You will undoubtedly notice, if you haven't already, that writing music in a notation program or on paper is a world difference of producing it and getting the right result. Which is why they were saying to start smaller to get used to the tools you are using/going to us. Whether you're using pro tools (which is not an easy program to learn from the get go) Logic, cubase or any other one, there's a learning curve that you're going to have to go through, and by starting with smaller track counts, it's going to be much easier to learn the tools fast, instead of trying to fight against all the tracks to see where the problems are occurring.

[FajitaTone]

Originally Posted by etroiano

Well, I'm afraid we've reached a disagreement and maybe you need some fact-checking on composers. Listening to Rimsky Korskov, Ravel, Resphigi, or Mahler it becomes quite obvious that they had no issues in taking massive ensembles, trying out unique ways to play instruments, and using a-typical instruments to achieve an array of different colors and textures. I don't know where you're taking the assumption that I haven't learned to use a small template.

Of course sound can get muddied with a large orchestra. Sound can get muddy with a string trio. It's all on how well you're organizing it. I don't EQ or compress too much either. I mentioned that I am an amateur producer and still a beginner to the world of mockup, but I have a solid foundation of orchestration.

I asked a question on production and you tried telling me that I shouldn't be using a large orchestra unless I'm Hans Zimmer, and not until I've learned how to orchestrate with a smaller orchestra.

when you run out of instrument tracks use Aux Inputs and MIDI tracks. Color Code and make groups. Though not as convenient, it works. learn window memories too. they come in handy for large sessions.