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  • pitching down ViPro by semitone?

    I am interested in pitching down ViPro by one semi tone in order to layer the same instrument in unison and avoid phasing problems (pitch down in the instrument, transpose up the midi).  However, I can't seem to find any way to do that in ViPro.  Is there a way?  Is there some other preferred approach with ViPro for layering the same instrument in unison, to avoid phase problems?


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    Otherwise known as "The Transposition Trick." 

    I haven't done it in a while but basically you set the pitch range then push the pitch bend fader all the way up or down depending on the range of the melody line.  Then transpose the MIDI.

    It's in the options tab and this is straight out of the VI (not Pro) manuel, page 35 I think. 

    "Pitch Range ï‚· Click-drag to set the master pitch bend range (as controlled by the Perform tab > Pitch Bend slider)."

    So set it to a semitone then just push the fader up or down.  Although In my experience a whole tone worked better for some reason.

    BTW it would be nice if this were just automated some how in the next generation of VI Player (hint! hint! VSL 😊)


  • Thanks for detailing that. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use pitchbend because of course now I can’t use pitchbend for creative expression but this is probably not an issue for big unison parts anyway. Have you had any issues with the pitchbend adjustment being different at different pitches or sample layers or anything like that or has all the programming been pretty consistent that if you set that to one whole step up, all notes are sounding exactly a whole step up?

  • Which libraries are you using? I use the full libraries not the S.E. collections which might make a difference because SE libraries are sampled at whole tone not half. Like I said, the only issues I've had is with semi tones versus whole tones. I just noticed whole tones working better but it might depend on the library, strings vs. Brass or something.

  • Thanks.  I'm using Full Cube.  I will give it a shot later.  Thanks again.


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    @jasensmith said:

    Otherwise known as "The Transposition Trick." 

    It's in the options tab and this is straight out of the VI (not Pro) manuel, page 35 I think. 

    "Pitch Range ï‚· Click-drag to set the master pitch bend range (as controlled by the Perform tab > Pitch Bend slider)."

    So set it to a semitone then just push the fader up or down.  Although In my experience a whole tone worked better for some reason.

    Still having trouble geteting this to work.  In order to set the pitch bend "range" I had to go into options tab and set the pitch bend to 100 cents.  Fine so far, but when I try to actually move the pitch bend slider to the bottom, it springs back to zero when i release the mouse button.  I have already tried to diassociate the pitch bend from the actual PB controller...but it still springs back to zero.

    what am I missing?


  • I'm using the MIDI FX plugin in Logic with velocity controlling the pitchbend. You can select pitchbend up or down. Actually, since I'm not at my computer right now, I can't remember if velocity was the trigger... :) If I remember correctly, I also changed the controller curve in VI Pro to the highest setting.


  • I MIDI learn a knob on my keyboard (MIDI controller) then just turn the knob all the way up or down and leave it. Of course your set up and work flow may be different but MIDI learn a knob works for me. Also, make sure you don't already have MIDI data recorded on the track for that controller.

  •  think you guys are suggesting something else.  I don't want to use the midi controller to control pitch bend.  I want to change the insetrument settings itself so that the entire instrument is permanentaly pitched down 100 cents.  

    It was suggested to use pitch bend for this, but the pitch bend fader in viPro springs back to zero automatically.

    I do not see any other way other than perhaps using a CC and also adding one CC automation to push that cc to zero, hopefully holding it there, but that is way too messy, I will simply avoid doing these unisons if its required to do that all that.  Are we sure there is no way to pitch the instrument down 100 cents somehow in the actual VI instrument settings?


  • Hence my request to VSL to automate the transposition trick in the next VI PRO generation. Okay, I've never done it myself but you could experiment with the master tuning. I think it defaults to 440 Hz but I you could try setting it to equal a semi-tone. Not sure if it will work but you could experiment.

  • I don’t think master tune would be satisfactory but it’s worth a try, 415.3 hz for anyone trying this at home

  • No that won't work, master tune can only go down to 420 hz


  • So, I looked it up... 

    For me it works with the MIDI FX Plugin, the pitchwheel is constantly up or down without automation.

     

    1) In VI (Pro) assign pitch to the pitchwheel with the standard curve.

    2) In Logic use the Modifier plugin and set velocity as input event (mode is set to thru, of course).

    3) Re-assign to either pitchbend up or down.

    4) I set scale to 100 % and the add-value all the way up to 126.


  • Yea I'd probably do it with Scripter myself, but good point.  That should work.  Here's one more vote, however, for this capability being added directly to ViPro and Synchron players.

    Very strange.  Interestingly enough, if this approach is used, then the pitchbend fader inside ViPro sticks at the bottom it doesn't spring back to zero like it does when you move the slider from within the GUI.

    I don't think this GUI slider should be springing back to zero, but I guess for more typical pitch bend operations that might be kind of expected, I don't know


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    That approach is working fine though, thanks for the idea.  Here's the scripter script I'm using in case anyone wants that:

    @Another User said:

    var pb = new PitchBend;

    pb.value = -8192;

     

    function HandleMIDI(event) {

        if(event instanceof NoteOn) {

            pb.channel = event.channel;

            pb.send();

        }

        event.send();

    }

    Sonically I am liking the results and by detuning each player slightly (above and beyond the humanization), it spreads it out a bit more.

    One more question about ViPro humanization.  It sppears to use a round robin approach to cycle through each fo the humanization tunings one at a time.  This is fine, but is it possible to some how save each player preset in a state so that each of the 8 (or 16 ) players will be starting from a different point in the round robin series?  I don't want all 8 or 16 players to be playing the same humanization detune, etc...  Is there any way to randomize that or somehow ensure that at all times the various players will each be using different steps of the round robin series?


  • I think the video tutorial on "Humanization" or "Performance Repetitions" shows you specifically how to turn off instances in the round robin order but basically you'll see a row of I think red dots above the humanization section of the Advanced view in VI PRO. Just click on the red dots to turn them off. So, for what I think you want to do, make a matrix with a Performance Repetition patch loaded. Then load the same perf. Rep. Patch in another slot, then another and so on. Then, go back to each patch and turn off whichever repetitions you want to turn off. Finally just randomly keyswitch between the patches. You could also adjust the time when the reps activate. Paul, if you're eavesdropping on our conversation could you please give him a link to that video. Do you know the one I'm talking about? Sorry I'm writing this on my phone.

  • I don't really want to turn them off.

    If I have 8 tracks feeding 8 instances of ViPro, each one hosting one of the 8 dimension string player.  I want to make sure the humanization is happening for all 8 players, but that at any given moment they aren't all playing the same humanization cell.  And ideally all 8 are rotating through the series of humanization cells also.


  • Why do you want to do this? 

    For each (dimension) player there are different humanization settings, they never start with the same tuning. 

    Or are you talking about the transposed players (2nd violins)? 

    This can be tedious with the dimension series, I know it. The suggestion from jasensmith is good, but it's only possible to turn them off with repetitions, not with the humanization pattern, isn't it? If it's possible, I would turn off the first, third, etc. cells. You don't need 12 variations.

    I would recommend to use either another preset (slow, fast) or just different values for the humanization/tuning/delay slider. 

    I watched the VI Pro video again: Maybe the threshold value could accomplish this?


  • No I am not talking about second violins. I am talking about 8 first violins, each one is unisoned with the transpose trick, 16 total players. It should be obvious why I am doing this?


  • So, we're talking about the same thing. With second violins I mean the tranposed ones.

    I can only repeat my previous suggestions. Or you have to make presets on your own.