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  • Some questions from a beginner

    S
    S

    Hi everyone. I recently purchased VI Special Editions and have a few questions about the library and VE.


    Are all VSL instruments recorded with neutral panning?

    How are chords played when using ensemble patches?
    Are they played divisi, or non-divisi? (For polyphonic instruments)

    If I think a patch is too loud, and it only has one velocity layer(like sfz), how can I make it sound softer?

    I am not sure on how to best implement dynamics with VSL. I see there is a velocity X-fade(CC 2), expression(CC 11), note velocity, patch volume in the slot editor, and dynamic range scaler. And also the velocity curve graph. How do I use these controls for good dynamics? It seem pretty confusing.

    And finally, I am having an issue with VE and Cubase 7.5. I play the song, and the note expression in cubase triggers the appropriate articulation. However, pausing cubase causes instruments to revert to the sustain articulation. How can I fix this?
  • J
    J
    last edited
    last edited

    @Silver said:

    Hi everyone. I recently purchased VI Special Editions and have a few questions about the library and VE.


    Are all VSL instruments recorded with neutral panning?

    How are chords played when using ensemble patches?
    Are they played divisi, or non-divisi? (For polyphonic instruments)

    If I think a patch is too loud, and it only has one velocity layer(like sfz), how can I make it sound softer?

    I am not sure on how to best implement dynamics with VSL. I see there is a velocity X-fade(CC 2), expression(CC 11), note velocity, patch volume in the slot editor, and dynamic range scaler. And also the velocity curve graph. How do I use these controls for good dynamics? It seem pretty confusing.

    And finally, I am having an issue with VE and Cubase 7.5. I play the song, and the note expression in cubase triggers the appropriate articulation. However, pausing cubase causes instruments to revert to the sustain articulation. How can I fix this?

    By "nuetral panning" you mean instruments are NOT pre panned to fit an orchestral seating the answer is yes.  most everything is dead center it's up to you to pan them.  My graphs tell me that some are slightly off left or right but I don't hear a difference.  Also, I think the close mic bosendorfer is stereo panned respective of the keys; higher keys to the right lower keys to the left.  I don't own all of their collections so I can't speak for everything.  Overall, VSL strives to let you create your own sonic environment with regards to panning, reverb, EQ, etc.

     

    I think with VI Pro you can play chords with legato patches now, I'm not sure about the stacs portatos portamentos, etc.  You can watch the videos on VI Pro.  Otherwise I think only the sustain patches are polyphonic.  Personally I just use seperate VI instances or seperate tracks because I like to treat each voice independently but that's me.  As for divisi, I use two seperate instances of say Chamber Strings Violins within an Orchestral String setting because the smaller string sections sound more like a real divisi to me.  However, there are other ways of doing this maybe some of the other users can chime in.

     

    If a one velocity patch is too loud, you can use the expression fader to tone it down. or you could use the filter fader for say blaring wind instruments.

     

    As for the velocity X fader, watch the videos on how to use it.  Some people use a breath CC controller for this. It's best to use it and record the midi in real-time while the piece is playing.  It takes a little practice but you'll get the hang of it.  I don't mess around too much with the velocity curve graph (if it's not broken don't fix it) but I believe it's adjustable to your liking.  I remember seeing something about this on one of the videos.

     

    I don't use Cubase so I can't help you with the last one but maybe try using keyswitches to program articulations?
  • S
    S

    Thanks for the response Jasen.

    Ok, now I understand how non-legato patches work. Previously I thought some patches had chords recorded in the samples. I see VI in just mixing monophonic samples to play them. I do not have the pro version of VI so I guess cannot play polyphonic legato intervals, but I'll get by using separate tracks to play legato chords.

    I was hoping VI has a way to make the samples switch between divisi and non-divisi but thats asking for too much I guess. VI is powerful enough. Using dual instances of Chamber strings for an orchestral sound should work fine. But do I need to do this if the only chords in the track are from some non-legato patch like staccato or sforzato? I imagine it will sound louder if I use a single full orchestra, since each note in the chord will be played by a separate orchestra, but I could just lower the expression for that chord.