Make Some Music Now has released One Track Orchestra, a freeware sample-based virtual instrument in VST plugin format for Windows-based digital audio workstations.
The instrument was designed by Luis Valoyes and is based on the free collection of symphonic orchestra samples from the VSCO Community Edition. This means that the included sounds aren’t new, but they’ve packed in a new format that’s very convenient and easy to use. This isn’t the first VST plugin based on VSCO CE samples, though, as Bigcat Audio did something similar a year ago.
The plugin features a simple user interface with reverb and output volume sliders as the only two available controls. The different instruments are listed on the GUI along with the information on how to access a particular sound. For example, the brass section is accessed by playing any note between C1 and B2 with 50-125 velocity. Playing the same note range with 0-50 velocity will trigger the marimba samples. Obviously, the instrument isn’t suitable for playing live, but this type of workflow is pretty efficient when you’re sketching new musical ideas in the piano roll. Better yet, One Track Orchestra can be used to, as its name implies, place an orchestra (or at least multiple orchestral instruments) in a single audio track.
The plugin was made with Maize Sampler, a program for rapid development of sample-based virtual instruments for PC and Mac. Because of this, it’s a bit odd that a Mac version of One Track Orchestra isn’t available yet. It literally takes a couple of mouse clicks to export a Mac-compatible version of an instrument in Maize Sampler. For now, though, the instrument can only be used in VST host applications on Windows.
So, is One Track Orchestra worth downloading? If you already own the VSCO Community Edition samples or a more expensive orchestral instrument solution, then not really. But if you’re looking for an extremely lightweight tool for adding some orchestral sounds to your projects, this could indeed be a good choice.
One Track Orchestra is available for free download via Make Some Music Now (43.15 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit & 64-bit VST plugin format for Windows).
Last Updated on January 7, 2018 by Tomislav Zlatic.
