Best places to ask would be the Dorico forum or the Notation section of the VI Control forum.

Originally Posted by: Bill

Are the strings setup to to use VelXF ?

Three versions, as typical lately with VSL.

VelXF MOD (uses CC1 for all x-fading)

VelXF sus (uses CC1 for x-fading long notes, velocity for shorts)

Velocity (uses velocity only for all)

Originally Posted by: Bill

I don't suppose there any way to control the ensemble size of the string players?

I don't believe so. This is one major difference between the Special Editions and Prime. No small sections, no solo strings.

Originally Posted by: Bill

RM's already posted! For Dorico, Sibelius and even Notion

I knew where to find maps before under eLicenser MyDownloads, but where do I find these now that I've transitioned to iLok and Vienna Assistant?

Edited to add:

Answered my question by looking in a rather obvious place...the same place they used to be, under eLicenser MyDownloads.

Thanks for the heads up, Bill

Congratulations on the new library.

I don't imagine you can say right now whether there will be VSL-created Dorico expression maps for this library in the near term. For me that is crucial as to whether I would use this library very much.

For me, I see Prime as something that might be used in Dorico for initial composition before exporting to Studio One for further work and production. In this case the sound, basic articulations, and hopefully the basic CC work of the instruments would nicely correspond with the Standard instruments I would use in Studio One.

Again, since this was just released, I understand if you cannot say at this time. It would be great if an answer is available before the introductory offer is over.

And again, congratulations.

I suggest you ask for opinions on the VI Control forum here:

VI Control - Sample Talk

You will get more and quicker responses there.

The patches have to be dragged into a slot in the Synchron Player. Doublel-clicking on them does not make them accessible to play. Slots contain patches. You have to reference the slot (via keyswitch or other control) to play the patch.

Just got my first update notification in Vienna Assistant. Really appreciate not having to check MyDownloads to find out if there are any updates.

I want to congratulate VSL on what proved for me to be a fairly easy, successful transition from eLicenser to iLok. It was a two-day project because of my provider's slow internet speeds but also because I wanted to babysit the parceling out of installations to particular SSD's, so I did no overnight fire-and-forget downloads.

Great job by VSL, and I like the Vienna Assistant.

Originally Posted by: andi

We will fix it with the next library update. In the meantime you can fix it yourself by assigning keyswitch C6 (with middle C = C4) instead of C2 in the "Custom" dimension.

Best regards,
Andi

Done and fixed, thanks Andi.

Originally Posted by: David Braun

Took me some time to find this, so maybe this will help somebody and/or VSL might fix this.

Indeed it has solved the same problem for me. I was totally stumped. I'd have never thought to look in the Custom folder.

Thanks a lot, David!

Originally Posted by: Beat Kaufmann

Even though you seem to want to say goodbye to keyswitches, here is a link to a video about the choice of articulation. Maybe it can change your mind.

https://youtu.be/dsw6FIdDeY0

Beat Kaufmann,

That looks like an interesting approach. Thanks for pointing this out.

Alias capability would be very useful to me as well.

Originally Posted by: Mikecomp

Thank you - I had not thought of this, but will certainly try it!

Mike

I'm nearing completion of my transformation of Studio One from Synchron Player-based to VE Pro-based using this technique. Works like a charm. I am so glad I ran into this, hope you benefit as well.

No more need to disable instruments in Studio One, no worries about load and save times either. At least so far.

Originally Posted by: mkiz

Not sure of this helps, but I am using sound variations in Studio One with VEP 7 by first adding a track in studio one with a synchron player, selecting the instrument I want and then saving the auto-loaded sound variations as a preset, then, on a track with VEP loaded I apply the preset there. That then triggers the correct articulation switching in the synchron player that I have loaded in VEP7for that track.

This is interesting. I've got to experiment with this. Would prefer VEP over instrument tracks. Thanks for posting.

EDITED TO ADD:

This works sweet! A bit of a process, but not much of one once the VEP presets are in place. Thanks again.

...

It turns out that the best way to organize and then assign user-created Sound Variation presets is the Browser. Forget the dropdown in the Sound Variations dialogue, organize, then drag-and-drop directly from the Browser into the Sound Variations dialogue. Bingo! Done.

So the steps I have come up with are:

1. Save and name a SV preset for your instrument using a Synchron Player track, which is auto-populated.

2. Organize SV presets into folders by library by instrument family (see attached screen shot).

3. Drag and drop SV presets directly into the Sound Variations dialogue. This will assign the dragged SV preset to the instrument.

4. Rinse, repeat for all the VEP-hosted instruments you want, making sure the appropriate instance and MIDI channels are assigned.

A day or two of effort ought to gain me the use of my entire VEP set of instances, and from there I can move forward using VE Pro at will with all my Studio One projects.

Again, thanks to you, mkiz, for pointing me in the right direction.

Interesting comments, thanks.

It is a real disappointment that Cubase 12 has brought nothing in the way of expression map improvements. The feature set of the newly released versions of Cubase and Dorico were heavily impacted by the development time for their new licensing system (the Dorico team has plainly said this). But it's still disappointing. It kicks the can down the road another year. I had been hoping that Studio One's auto-population advance would stir competitors up match or exceed them and create some momentum for better VST - DAW interaction.

Actually, I should acknowledge the real solution is what VSL has already done working with Studio One and Sound Variations, making user-created expression maps needless except for circumstances that go beyond just referencing individual slots (reference Dorico's conditions options.)

Originally Posted by: ravez

Have you tried using program change for dimension controllers as well?

In any case i think you'd run into issues where the same CCs are controlling dimensions that have a different number of cells in them, as they would likely not be the same amount from instrument to instrument, even worse between different libraries, so the same CC value would choose a different articulation.

Program change is not available in VST3. It's a shame, because the value of a program change is a straightforward number range. If you want the fifth slot, the value is five. As you say, CC's are not so straightforward. If you want the fifth slot, you have to figure out the total number of slots, then use that to calculate the value from 0 to 127 that will get you there.

And the problems you pointed out of variance in the mapping structure and available articulations for instruments in a library do indeed exist. It might be possible to overcome them by creating custom presets that standardize the mapping, and where articulations are wholly missing leave blank slots or substitute with a copy of the best alternative.

Keyswitches suffer from some of the same problems, requiring multiple maps when variances occur.

I admit this is an idea in flux and at this point theoretical because of the Dimension Control limit. 

Thanks for your comments.

So many these days switch using not keyboards but iPads and other hardware and software controllers (Metagrid and Touch OSC) which can be programmed with CC data instead of note data. This way the note range of an instrument becomes irrelevant to the creation of expression maps.

This same feature applies to most keyboard controllers as well. Even my existing MIDI keyboard has 9 faders in multiple assignable banks, eight knobs, and sixteen assignable drum pads.

When I think about it theoretically, why other than live playing do we use keyswitches as the default for controller presets? And live players so far as I guess are not going to use more than a few in any given session. I don't play in live sessions. Why do I need keys for switching? I don't. Then why am I stuck with a finite number of keys when I can be freed to use the far larger number of CC's?

Just food for thought. I realize I must not be in the majority on this subject.

ravez,

I have ended up using the same octaves as you, but I think it was Elite Strings where I bumped up against the limitation and ran out of available notes for switching.

But even beyond that, I would like to set up universal CC controls for various options that come up repeatedly like:

Attack

Transition

Release

Vibrato (senza, con, regular, molto, crossfades)

Vibrato Crossfades (between vibrato types)

General crossfades (other than vibrato)

Tempo

Duration (various switchable durations)

edited to add:

Lineup (for dimensions that select players included)

Instrument (for dimensions that select which iteration of an instrument is active)

That's ten in addition to the oft-needed Speed and Velocity assignments

Also, if I can standardize what CC's always apply to a given parameter for all applicable libraries (woodwinds, brass and strings), it is easier to work with them. I would quickly remember which CC to use for what, just like I always know CC 28 turns Velocity X-Fade on and off.

For example:

CC 60's for Attack, Transition and Release

CC 70's for Vibrato and Vibrato X-Fade

CC 80's for General X-Fades

CC 90's for Tempo and Duration

CC 100's for Lineup, Instrument, and other iterations

Thanks, Paul. Now that you mention it I could have sent an email to support.

To forum users, the purpose behind raising the question has to do with expression maps. If I could set up custom Synchron Player instances, based on the factory presets, with non-key dimension controllers (CC's, Speed, Velocity, etc.) that would allow me to set up a single expression map for all instruments in a Woodwind, Brass or String library. I wouldn't have to worry about primary instruments in a library with ranges that extend very high or very low, making the range of notes available for switching too limited to support all with one map.

With keyswitches one has to vary the octaves of the switches to account for low and high instruments. Creating, changing, and maintaining multiple expression maps  per library can be very time-consuming and tedious even with copying and editing.

Eight dimension controllers are not enough in some libraries to accomplish all the needed switching.

I have no idea if I am the only one with an interest in doing this. If I am in a minority of one or a few, I expect there is no reason for VSL to expend any effort to add to the number of available controllers.

Hopefully this is not a difficult question to answer.

I am curious if there is some internal reason why the Synchron Player dimension controllers are limited to A through H, 8 in number. 

Since I never use a keyboard to select dimensions and slots, CC numbers would provide me with more flexibility than keyswitches. But with just 8 dimension controllers it is not possible to replace all keyswitches with CC assignments for some libraries.

I understand it if it turns out there is an internal reason for this.

Edited to add:

I'm not asking to know what a reason might be, only whether there is one, whether there is any reason to hope the number of available dimension controllers might be increased.

Thanks, Paul.

When Synchron Woodwinds was released in December we were told that 2nd versions of Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet and Bassoon would follow soon, with, if I recall correctly, February as the possible time frame.

Is there any update on when these instruments will become available to owners of Synchron Woodwinds?