How to Use BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover in Waveform Free (Step by Step)

Achievable outcome

When you finish, you'll have a Waveform Free project with one named track per orchestral instrument. Each track runs its own instance of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover plugin, and the project renders to a stereo WAV file. This is a sketching and mockup setup. It's good for hearing orchestration, register and balance. It won't give you a finished film-score mix.

This guide covers the DAW half (DAW means digital audio workstation, the program where you arrange, mix and export audio) of our free composing setup on Windows. If you write in notation first, create an orchestral mockup from a MuseScore MIDI export explains the handoff before you reach the steps below.

Free MIDI downloads

Prerequisites and boundaries

Menu names below come from the official Tracktion Waveform manual and the Spitfire Discover manual and help centre, linked at the end. Where a step isn't covered by those documents, we say so. Labels can move between releases, so if your build looks different, trust the current official manual over this page.

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Spitfire lists Windows 10 and 11 (latest service pack, 64-bit), an i5 quad-core or Ryzen 5 minimum, and 8 GB RAM, plus a 64-bit DAW. Tracktion lists Windows 10 and 11 64-bit, macOS 13 or later, and Ubuntu 24.04 for Waveform Free 14. The steps here were written on Windows.
• A free Spitfire Audio account. Discover costs nothing, but you install it through the Spitfire Audio App after signing in.
• MIDI to play, either as files exported from a notation program or another tool, or played in from a MIDI keyboard.

1. Install Discover and Waveform Free

Discover is a dedicated plugin (AU, VST3 and AAX). VST3 is the standard plugin format on Windows, so it's the one Waveform loads there. It doesn't need Kontakt, and there's no serial number: authorisation happens during the download.

1. Download and install the Spitfire Audio App from Spitfire, launch it and log in.
2. Find BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover under My Products. You can filter with not installed or search by name.
3. Click Install. The location defaults to your Default Content Path, which you can change in the app's Settings or by clicking the folder icon. Then start the download and wait for the progress bar to finish.
4. Download Waveform Free from Tracktion's product page and install it. Create a new project in its own folder so imported MIDI and renders stay together.

2. Scan for and load the VST3

1. Open Waveform and go to Settings → Plugins. With Automatically check for newly added plugins on (the default), Waveform offers to scan when it notices a new plugin. To scan by hand, click Scan for Plugins… and choose Scan for new or updated VST3 plug-ins.
2. If Discover still doesn't appear, check Settings → File Locations → Plugins → VST3 Plugins to make sure Waveform is searching the folder where your VST3 plugins are installed, then scan again.
3. When you insert the plugin, pick the BBC Symphony Orchestra VST3. On Windows it's installed as BBC Symphony Orchestra (64 Bit).vst3 in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, so a "(64 Bit)" in the name is normal. If you see two similar entries, pick the VST3 from that folder.
4. Waveform may ask how to handle a multi-output plugin. Choose Add single plugin. (The prompt comes from the Wrap multi out plugins option on the same Plugins settings page, which is on by default.)

3. Set up one track per instrument

Waveform has no separate MIDI track type: any track can hold MIDI. For each instrument in your cue:

You don't need extra tracks for articulations. Each Discover preset holds all of that instrument's techniques.

1. Press T to add a track. Click the track name and type the instrument name in Name in the properties panel.
2. Use one track per instrument, in score order: woodwinds, brass, percussion, harp and keys, then strings. Our example used 15 tracks, from 02 Flutes through 45 Basses. A number prefix keeps the order fixed and leaves gaps for instruments you add later.
3. Drag the Plugin object onto the track's mixer area, to the left of the Volume & Pan plugin, and choose BBC Symphony Orchestra (VST3). The plugin window opens.
4. In the plugin's Preset Selector, choose the matching instrument and double-click it, or select it and click Load. When the LED turns solid green, the instrument is loaded.
5. In the plugin's top bar, set MIDI CH to All or Any. Spitfire's advice is to select "all" if in doubt, so the instrument reacts to any incoming MIDI. This matters when your MIDI files put each instrument on a different channel.

4. Import MIDI or play the parts

1. Set the tempo first. Click the tempo readout in the transport bar and set the BPM (72 for our example). Our docs check didn't find whether dropping a MIDI file changes the Edit's tempo in Waveform, so check the bar lines afterwards.
2. One MIDI file per instrument works best. Drag each file (for example 41 Violins 1.mid) onto its matching track at the start of bar 1. You can drag from Windows Explorer or from Waveform's Browser. Double-clicking a MIDI file in the Browser inserts it at the current insert point as a new clip, but dragging is more predictable. We haven't checked how Waveform splits a single multi-track MIDI file, so export per-instrument files if your notation program or tool allows it.
3. Or play it in. Choose your MIDI controller as the track's input, click the red R on the track input to arm it, and press R (or the transport's Record button) to record. Press R again or the space bar to stop.
4. Press Q to toggle snap, and drag any clip that landed late back to bar 1.

5. Articulation and dynamics basics

Discover keeps things simple, and that's worth understanding before you start adjusting controls.

• Techniques. The strings have Long, Spiccato, Pizzicato and Tremolo, except Basses, which have no Tremolo. Most woodwind and brass presets have Long and a short technique (Staccatissimo). Tuned percussion, harp and celeste have a single technique. Click a technique in the plugin's technique switcher to choose it.
• Keyswitches. Spitfire's keyswitches let you reach all of a patch's techniques on one channel. Turn on Show Keyswitches in the plugin settings to see them in red on the plugin keyboard. The Discover manual doesn't list which key selects which technique, so check on the plugin keyboard before you write keyswitch notes.
• Dynamics (CC1) and Expression (CC11). These are the two controller lanes you'll use most in Discover. Dynamics controls how loud the instrument plays, and Expression makes finer volume swells within a phrase. Discover has one dynamic layer per technique. The manual says the Dynamics slider therefore acts as an extra expression control: it changes volume, not the pp-to-ff tone change you get in the bigger editions. Long techniques ignore note velocity. Short techniques respond to velocity by default.
• Editing controllers in Waveform. Open a clip's MIDI editor, click Control, then Type to choose controller 1 or 11. Avoid drawing CC7 (controller 7). In Discover it's mapped to Global Gain (the plugin's overall volume), so use the track fader for balance instead.
• Reverb (CC19, controller 19) adds convolution reverb on top of the room sound. Keep it the same on every track so the orchestra sounds like it's in one room.

6. Balance the sections

1. Start with the Waveform faders at 0 dB and play the full cue.
2. Brass is usually the first thing to tame. Try lowering trumpets, trombones and tuba by 3 to 6 dB. Lower the horns only 2 to 3 dB when they carry the melody. That's our working rule of thumb, not a Spitfire recommendation.
3. Keep the master meter out of the red. If the full orchestra clips, lower the master rather than every track.
4. Discover plays a single "Mix 1" signal recorded in Maida Vale Studio One, and the manual describes the players' normal seats. We left pans centred and didn't find extra panning necessary, but listen for yourself.

7. Group sections with folder tracks

Waveform Free groups tracks with folder tracks:

A folder track can collapse, and it can solo or mute a whole section. Its VCA fader moves the level of every track inside proportionally. No audio passes through a folder track, though, so you can't put plugins on it. For a shared section effect you'd need a submix track instead.

1. Click the first track's name, then Shift-click the last track in the section.
2. Right-click one of the selected track names and choose Create new folder track containing.
3. Select the folder and name it in properties (for example Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, Harp, Strings).

8. Export a WAV

1. Put the In-marker at the start of the cue and the Out-marker just after the last note's tail.
2. Choose Export → Render to a file. In the Render dialog, set Format to WAV and tick Only render the marked region.
3. Render at 44.1 kHz. Waveform runs at the rate set in Settings → Audio Devices → Sample rate. We haven't confirmed whether the Render dialog has its own sample-rate field in Waveform Free 14.
4. Click Render. Unless you change the path, the file goes to an Exported folder inside the project. You'll also find it under Exported Audio/MIDI on the Projects tab.

Material limitations

Discover is a small free library. Spitfire's figures are 34 instruments, one mic signal ("Mix 1"), one dynamic layer per technique, no round robins and no legato patches. Core and Professional add those. You'll hear the limits in exposed solo lines and in fast repeated notes. Discover works well for testing orchestration and balance, but it doesn't replace a full library or live players.

Waveform Free is a full DAW, but this route is audio-only. We haven't checked video sync here. If you're scoring to picture, check the video support in your DAW edition first.

Common problems to check

• The plugin isn't listed. Make sure the Spitfire App finished installing, that the VST3 folder is in Waveform's file locations, and run the VST3 scan again.
• A track is silent. Check that the LED is solid green, that MIDI CH is set to All or Any, that the track has the right MIDI input or clip, and that the plugin sits before Volume & Pan.
• Notes don't line up with the bar lines. The Edit tempo doesn't match the MIDI. Set the BPM and check again.
• Everything sounds flat. That's usually Discover's single dynamic layer, not your MIDI. Shape the lines with CC1 and CC11, velocity for short notes, and note lengths.

Who this guide is for

It's for Windows users who want a genuinely free way to hear an orchestral sketch, whether the MIDI comes from notation software, another tool or a keyboard.

Who this guide isn't for

It isn't a guide to finished orchestral mixing or scoring to picture, and it isn't a Kontakt workflow.

BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover in Waveform Free FAQ

Documentation-verified note

The steps above were checked against the official documentation below. The setup was used to produce the cue in the video, but performance on your computer isn't tested here. Anything marked as unverified is where the documentation was silent.