Every creator starts with a blank page, but today you have a major advantage: a complete, free orchestra right at your desk.
Whether you’re composing for film, adding lush strings to a track, crafting atmospheric cues, or experimenting with new textures, this guide will help you take your first steps into creating powerful, inspiring orchestral music with a virtual instrument.
When you see an orchestra, it can feel overwhelming - a hundred players, dozens of instruments, all following what seems like a secret code. But it’s not as complicated as it looks.
Think of the orchestra in sections - strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion, like four or five “super instruments.” Once you break it down this way, it becomes easier to explore without getting lost in a forest of violas and bass clarinets.
No matter what kind of music you make, the same fundamentals apply: melody, rhythm, harmony, texture and structure, the only thing that changes is your sound palette. So if you already write songs, beats or electronic tracks, you’re halfway there. Orchestral writing simply gives you a whole new set of colours to explore, from soaring strings to bold brass, expressive woodwinds and powerful percussion instruments.
When you’re starting out, separate composition from orchestration. First, sketch your idea using a piano or one of the orchestral ensembles in SSO Discover.
This lets you focus on the core ideas like your melody, harmony, rhythm and structure, before worrying about which instrument plays what.
When starting a new composition it can be helpful to take a few moments to consider the structure of your piece.
Here’s a simple structure to try:
Intro – A1 – A2 – B – A3 – C – A – Outro
Each time the main theme (A) returns, you can change the orchestration - maybe the first time it’s in horns, next time in woodwinds. The orchestration should grow out of your musical ideas, not the other way around.
To make your arrangements sound realistic, learn a bit about how orchestral instruments are played.
In SSO Discover, you’ll find essential articulations - longs and shorts for all instruments, plus pizzicato and tremolo for strings. These represent how real players perform notes.
Use them intentionally:
Virtual instruments need to be played just like real instruments. That’s where MIDI controllers come in.
For sustained notes, your keyboard’s mod wheel (mapped to CC1 in most DAWs) is your best friend - it controls instrument dynamics in SSO Discover. Try loading a French horn patch and moving the mod wheel while holding a note, you’ll hear the tone become louder and brighter, just like a real brass player.
Try also playing with parameters like expression, release, and vibrato (when available) to shape the sound even further. Similar to dynamics, these parameters are mapped to MIDI controllers in your DAW.
Controllers breathe life into your performance and make your virtual orchestra feel human.
If you don’t have access to a MIDI controller, you can use different features from within your DAW to bring the sounds to life.
Start simple by loading a few instruments - maybe Voilins, Celli, Horns, and Woodwinds Ensemble, and get comfortable with your workflow.
When you’re ready to expand, build a template so you don’t start from scratch every time.
Here are a few template tips:
Use reverb carefully, don’t overdo it.
If you’re on an older computer, don’t worry - SSO Discover is designed to be lightweight. To make things run smoothly:
A little housekeeping goes a long way toward a smoother workflow.
There’s no magic trick to sampled orchestration, the magic is in the music itself.
A well-composed piece will shine, so focus on the ideas, the emotion and the story you’re telling through sound. The technology is there to serve your creativity, not define it.
Remember: every great composer started with a first note.
Now, it’s your turn.
Want to keep learning? Our free mini-course, Introduction to Writing for Orchestra, created with ThinkSpace Education, is the perfect next step for SSO Discover users. And when you’re ready to unlock even more depth and detail, the complete Spitfire Symphony Orchestra library awaits - a professional-grade collection used by leading composers across film, TV and game.
