Steve, a quick listening test I've just done with the  01 VA-PI_RE_fast-rep_140 patch suggests there are 2 layers: at velocities = 0 to 88, and 89 to 127. I don't know if that's true for all cases of every fast-rep patch.

It's a good question. Although I happen to have Dim Strings I in both VI and Synchronized versions, for my other Synchronized libraries I depend on the equivalent VI user manuals to give me an idea of how many velocity layers I might expect (since the Synchronised manuals are all way too simplistic). But in this particular case, as you've noticed, the VI manual is strangely silent on how many layers are in the RE fast-rep patches; I'm wondering why.

Quickest way to test how many layers is to set Velocity X-Fade On, Release samples Off, and play a single note on a single patch while looking at the Voices numerical readout. In our case here the number shown is 2, which means 2 layers because for X-Fade to work, all velocity layers must always be triggered by each Note-On, no matter what the note's velocity happens to be.

Of course it's also possible to find out how many layers - though involving much more faffing around -  by playing or programming single notes over a range of velocities and just listening closely (setting DynR=0 can make this much easier).

Originally Posted by: Macker

Quickest way to test how many layers is to set Velocity X-Fade On, Release samples Off, and play a single note on a single patch while looking at the Voices numerical readout. In our case here the number shown is 2, which means 2 layers because for X-Fade to work, all velocity layers must always be triggered by each Note-On, no matter what the note's velocity happens to be.

I believe this is not correct, you just need two adjacent layers for cross-fade to work efficiently. Therefore the answer you'd get using this method is never more than 2, no matter how many layers there are.

Oops! Hold the phone!

Just encountered some hard evidence that invalidates my "rule of thumb" that a patch's number of Velocity layers = "Voices" readout (with VXF On and Release Off); or at least places a condition on its validity.

While recently comparing VI Timpani (Full) patches with Synchron Timpani, I noticed that the VI Pro "Voices" readout shows no more than 4 voices when an 8-layer patch is played. This seems to suggest that VIPro's VXF mechanism operates with a maximum of 4 concurrent velocity layer voice streams at any one time: perhaps in this case covering either the upper group of velocities or the lower group, depending on the current note velocity - though of course it's not possible to be certain without knowing or having the actual source code listings at hand.

In light of this new evidence (and pending further, more revealing hard evidence) I'm now assuming that my original rule of thumb is (provisionally) valid only for patches with up to 4 velocity layers.

My apologies for not having tested my original hypothesis further at the time - especially given that I could and should have tested it with my VI Timpani library but didn't. Slipshod work; big tut-tuts!