Four specific reasons orchestral mockups sound like MIDI, the SSO workflow that prevents them, and CC fixes that make samples sound like players.

A breakdown of the vertical remixing technique in Guardians of the Galaxy by composer Richard Jacques, and what it teaches about writing music that responds to players in real time.

I produced the official demo for the Quanun sample library by Best Service. Here is what the qanun sounds like in a full arrangement, and how I approached composing the demo.