I've owned every Synchron Piano including the Vienna Imperial. While each on has its unique charm, I feel that the Fazioli F308 transcends them all and has become my favorite VSL piano. Here is a short review demonstrating why I have an affinity for the F308. 

VSL Fazioli F308 Review

God bless,

David

Originally Posted by: Rafa Ferreira

I'm interested in the basics: live performance with no pops, no crackles, and round-trip latency below 40ms with 6 or 7 mics..

Logic Pro says I'm at 9.5ms roundtrip (at 64 latency). It doesn't matter if I'm using 5 or 10 mics. My Mac mini M2 laughs and says, "is that all you got?" 

Synchron Pianos really works awesome with with Apple silicon. It was worth the wait. Thanks again to VSL for making our dreams come true. 😀

God Bless,

David

Originally Posted by: dbudde

Latency @ 32 is available for me (same machine spec).  What audio interface are you using?  Maybe that is what is limiting you.

Doesn't work with anything. Mac core audio, Yamaha N1X audio interface, or Scarlett 2i2. Whenever I select 32 it defaults to 512.

God Bless,

David

So far so good. No spikes in the CPU meter. 5 mics, latency @ 64, pedal down, glissandos up and down the keys and I still can't get my CPU load to 100% on my Mac mini Pro M2 (32GB ram).

This was not possible with the non-silicon Synchron Piano player. 

Just for fun I turned on all the mics in the full library (F308) and was able to play without pops/crackles and was only able to reach 100% load with pedal down glissandos. And it still was playable at 100% load. 

Pretty awesome! 

One thing I noticed was that the 32 latency setting is not available (defaults to 512 when selected). I normally play at 64, but I was curious how it would perform at 32.

God Bless,

David

Wonderful! Downloading it now. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks VSL team.

God Bless,

David

Hi Danno,

I saw you posted this question on PianoClack as well so I'll copy and paste my answer from there.

The RS (Release Sample) on the edit page adjusts the sound that the damper makes when it contacts a vibrating string after a key is released. The speed in which a key is released has an impact on the noise as well. -inf turns it completely off, which sounds very sterile and not like an acoustic piano. The release samples on the Fazioli F308 sound perfect (to me) at the default setting.

The Key Release Noise in the play page controls that amount of mechanical noise that is made by the action parts key/whippen/jack/hammer shank, etc., when the key is released. It's more of a thud sound. It's a noise that has nothing to do with the strings like the aforementioned release sample does.

God Bless,

David 

Cool!

I'm looking forward to the Synchron Piano Player being updated. Did you have to delete the non-silicon Synchron software before the update or does the update erase the non-silicon version? 

God Bless,

David

Originally Posted by: fatis12_24918

 

(I had the hope it was improving dynamic of basses, being the main weakness of this nice library in my humble opinion, but it was not the case).

Do you want more bass or less bass? I find that the F308 has plenty of bass, but I did raise the individual note volumes of the lower two octaves slightly. That makes the bass a bit louder without having to play as hard. However, I increase the bass on a lot of my VSTs.

God Bless,

David

I installed the update as well and have the same question.

I can't tell a difference. The Fazioli still sounds great. 

God bless,

David

I don't have a VPC1, but I've been using the F308 with my Yamaha N1X and I've found that access to the highest velocities is important to get the most out of the instrument. Here is my current curve. It works good with the N1X on normal touch setting. 

Dscw_kp3rYIzf7yvhAX_Tj4uO1wfFdC0OurEuL95n84I1sUJzB9qGgcZGqBPOLetJ84zfq9TTPpJKQ=s218-nd-v1

God bless,

David

Originally Posted by: Paul

Hi David, 

That was in our Silent Stage, back in the day, and the Vienna Imperial was definitely showing us how a combination of accurate recordings and a custom sample player can improve the authenticity of a virtual instrument. 

Best, 
Paul

Cool! Thanks for the link. I read through your entire "About Us" section. I like how the Synchron musicians got better from all the sampling they did over the months (aka paid practice). So you don't own the Silent Stage anymore? 

God Bless,

David

Originally Posted by: Paul

it fits our MIR Pro 3D very well, being recorded on the dry side!

I like the dry bias as well. Kind of reminds of the the 280VC. Where was the Vienna Imperial sampled? Did you have Stage A and B back then? 

God Bless,

David

I took advantage of the voucher discount and purchased the Vienna Imperial. I was really surprised at how well the instrument sounds and plays. I really hope VSL continues to support it (M1 compatibility and maybe half-pedal feature). Here is a short video review I made highlighting what I like about it. 

https://youtu.be/Bpj8QwiVtgk

God Bless,

David

Originally Posted by: Paul

using the 2sus feature takes more streaming bandwidth. The "warning" is probably irrelevant on modern computers, but back then it was essential.

Thanks for the response. I still don't quite understand. Is the polyphony being reduced to half the amount when I use the 2sus feature, e.g., do I end up with only 40 if I started with 80 when using the 2sus feature? The way you're describing it sounds like the polyphony increases. 

Also, is the 2sus acronym short for something like "double sustain" or something else? Thanks again for the help.

God Bless,

David

Hello,

I just purchased the Vienna Imperial piano sample library and I'm really amazed at how well it sounds and plays. The GUI is obviously a bit outdated and doesn't offer as much customizing of the sound as the newer Synchron Piano Player does, but I'm still really amazed by the performance of this older sample library. I have a couple questions:

1. How many years ago was this piano sampled?

2. The 2sus feature is really nice. What does the "2sus" acronym stand for?

3. When I hover over the 2sus button this box appears: "2sus function increases the realism of sustained notes that are pressed before the sustain pedal. This, however, halvens the streaming performance and reduces the effective polyphony value in half." 

What does it mean to "halven" the steaming performance and reduce the effective polyphony value in half. Does that mean if I have the the polyphony set at 80 it will be reduced to 40 when I use the 2sus feature?

Thanks for the help.

God Bless,

David  

No problem accessing my presets after Fazioli install and Synchron Piano update. 

It seems to be the most evenly sampled (from bass to treble) piano in the lineup. I've found no need to tweek individual note volumes or octave ranges. It's very consistent across the board. 

However, it does seem to be lacking power in the bass compared to the 274, 280,  and Imperial. I don't know if they had to sacrifice that to get the evenness across the range because it does seem to be the most accurate sampling in terms of consistency.

God Bless

David 

I'll save VSL the time of having to respond to this.

We are working on it and we cannot give any date as to when It will be available. 😀

That's been their response for the last year or so. 

God Bless

David

Thanks for the demo option. I'll be trying out the new upright today. Also, the entire revamp with iLok and Vienna Assistant is a real winner. The entire process of acquiring licenses and sample content is so easy. Now all we need is the M1 version of Synchron Pianos and life will be complete. 😀

God Bless,

David

I'm very thankful for all the nice videos Paul and the VSL team put together to make the transition to iLok as smooth as possible. I watched all the videos (very informative) and made the transition without difficulty.

I really appreciate the cloud activation feature. I'm part of the group that only needs 99% availability. iLok cloud is a real benefit for me because I use my computer/synchron pianos at home and work. Now I don't have to worry about the dongle getting lost in transit or accidentally leaving it at one of the locations (which has happened before). The cloud is working great for me. 

I'm very happy to be part of this new era and I'm thankful for the product support VSL has offered. Now I'll patiently wait for the switch to M1 native compatibility. 🙂

Thank you VSL Team.

God Bless,

David

Yikes! Another discovery.

I found that I can manually "Add Existing Libraries" (upper left corner menu) and now my products show up as installed on my computer. 

The earlier version of VA (10118) did this automatically after the install. Version (10121) did not do it. But I suppose the "Add Existing Libraries" feature will remedy that no matter what versions of VA you're using. 

All seems to be good. Hopefully, I'm not cluttering this forum up with my meanderings through the migration. 

God Bless,

David

Ok, I think I really did figure it out now. 

VSL sent out an email telling Mac users to install an older version of Vienna Assistant (10118) because the current version (10121) would not automatically update. I had already installed my products with the version (10121) and therefore it won't update to show that they are actually installed even though they are and I can use them. 

I had to reinstall one of my pianos because I accidentally uninstalled it trying to figure this stuff out. I reinstalled it using the older version of VA (10118) and now that piano shows up in VA as installed on my computer. I also reinstalled Synchron Pianos with the older version of VA and it also now shows up in VA as installed as well.

Does this mean that anything installed with the dysfunctional version of VA (10121) needs to be reinstalled with the older version? Is it really important for VA to recognize all products as installed on my computer? They work either way. 

God Bless,

David

Synchron Pianos doesn't open my old presets after the switch to ilok. I get an "eLiscenser POS Error Message" that says, "File Synsoacc.bundle could not be located in the Application Support folder." 

I've sent this information to VSL support, but I don't have a high expectation that this can be remedied. 

God Bless,

David

I think I figured it out. 

Vienna Assistant will not show Vienna Products on your computer unless those products are installed/moved to Vienna Assistant. It will show products that are actually installed in the Vienna Assistant app. From the app you can move/copy/uninstall the products. If the products are moved outside of the app then you get the message that there are no Vienna products installed on this computer, which is still misinformation because they are on the computer, just not in Vienna Assistant App anymore. 

I'm not sure if that's the way it's supposed to work, but that's how it's working for me. Now it took me over 24 hours to download 2 Synchron Pianos. When I was experimenting and moved one library back to the Vienna Assistant, I clicked uninstall and it deleted it from my SSD. RATS!!!!!!! :-( 

I thought it was only going to delete it from the App and leave it in the file it was moved from. Wrong assumption on my part. 

1. If no products are showing up in Vienna Assistant, but are actually installed on your computer, you can move them back to Vienna Assistant and they will then show up as on the computer. However, be very careful because if you uninstall them from Vienna Assistant they will be uninstalled from your computer. :-(

2. Besides being a download assistant, I'm not sure what other benefit Vienna assistant has. You don't need VA to copy files or move files from one location to another even though it can be used for that. It seems like an unnecessary extra step if you use VA for those common transfer/copy/delete functions. 

Now I've got to spend another day downloading what I accidentally deleted. 

God Bless,

David

Mac OS Monterey 12.2.1

I logged in/out serval times/restarted the VA app and it gave me the same misinformation.

From what I understand about "download only" is that it only downloads and doesn't install. I didn't use that option and therefore the libraries installed after the download to the designated folders. 

Everything works fine with the exception of 2 things. 

1. Synchron Piano Player won't open any of my previously saved presets. However, I have submitted that to VSL support.

2. Vienna Assistant gives me the misinformation that there are no Vienna products on my computer even though I'm actually using them via cloud activation. Jut to repeat, everything downloaded fine and is working (I'm playing the pianos) even though VA says there are no Vienna products on my computer. 

God Bless,

David