Thanks, David, for your nice words. Nice to hear that you enjoyed the music. For me it is really exploring the possibilities of the orchestra, and combinations with soloists.
In the past I heard often orchestra music in myself, but had no possibility to bring it to life because (as many others) I had (and have) no life orchestra at my disposal. And I'm not the hard-core composer that have the drive to just put the notes on paper without hearing them played. On the contrary: I need it very much to hear the notes, because in my thoughts especially harmonies, but sometimes also melodies, sound different than in reality, so it is writing, listening, changing, listening... and it is that what I like very much. (I have an education as a musician but not as a composer).
When I discovered VSL eight years ago, a new world of sounds was opened for me and I started to explore the possibilities of all kind of instruments and the symphony orchestra as a whole. And for me it is always a joy to write a note, and hear the doublebasses, or the oboe or what ever instrument playing that note instantly.

So, while perhaps highjacking my own thread: Herb and team, if you read this, thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to bring our musical dreams to real sound and in that way to life!  

Thanks, William, for your comments on the composition and the audio. Hopefully I have the opportunity in the coming days to have a look into the sound of the piano. I think, you have a point on this. 

Hi Paul,

Thanks a lot for the time you took to listen to the Appassionato and your comments on the piece and your suggestions. I really appreciate it.
My reaction is some delayed, but I wanted to do some experiments with the suggestion you made with triple and quadruple stops in the last bars first. Yesterday and today I had some time to work on it. And here is the result.
I like the idea you gave! (I changed also the cello part of the first bars a little).

Appassionato for piano trio and string orchestra v3

Hi, I have Harp 1.

I just tested if it is possible to use the sustain pedal (cc64) to let to ring the notes and to dampen the notes by setting the value of the sustain pedal to zero.

There are two ways.

There is a patch "normal + RS mute" (in the full library, not in the standard library), where you have this possibility.
There are 2 release samples, a high volume and a low volume. It is possible to switch between them by e.g. a key switch.
Sometimes you will need to adapt the volume of the release sample further with expression (cc11) , especially if the tones last a while before you stop the tones (the release sample can be a little to loud).

It is also possible to use the patch "normal" and set the release value on about 25.
In this occasion there is no release sample. This is an easier way to work, but probably sometimes less realistic.
In my ears this sounds also good...

I didn't use the library for solo pieces for harp, but what I saw, you can use it in a good way for solo writing.
But I don't know of course if the possibilities of Harp one correspond with your needs.
Good luck in finding the right library.

Last days I worked on the piece to approve the performance, especially of the solo violin, some balance things in the orchestra and some other minor stuff. After hours of working at the end the differences are not huge, but I think there are some refinements. Advice and suggestions are appreciated (on the forum or with PM). Thanks for listening.

Appassionata for pianotrio and string orchestra v2

Today I finished a piece for piano trio and string orchestra, using VSL Solo violin 1, VSL Solo Cello 2,
the Concert D-274 and a combination of Synchron Strings and SYNCHRON-ized Dimension Strings. 
I wish everybody a happy and peaceful 2020!

Appassionato for piano trio and string orchestra

Hi Dave and Becky, thank you so much for your very personal good wishes for all of us! I enjoyed seeing you for the first time as a couple playing very beautifully.
You wished us a merry little Christmas. Well, in any case (or do you say "anyway" in this case, I don't know, sorry. As you know, I'm just a poor Dutchman) you caused a big smile on my face on Christmas Eve! Thanks.

And of course I wish both of you and your family also a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

Hi Paul,

That was a shock to hear from all the problems you have concerning your health! I wish you all the best! And concerning your music: thanks for sharing this. A beautiful piece of music, and definitely in a field, where you feel very comfortable. I hope that you will share much more new compositions in the time to come!

Thank you, Marcus, for your response. Unfortunately I don't use Logix Pro X, and I don't recognize the things you explain. 
However what you wrote gave me an idea how I could make a work-around.
So indirectly your reaction gave me some help!
But the most helpful should be of course, if there came a tool in the Synchron Player, but then I always think:
there are more people with wishes, and every tool has a price ...

Working with the SYNCHRON-ized Dimension strings I missed 2 possibilities.

1. I should like to use sometimes the Legato Espressivo patch without the first note.
That first note start with a non vibrato part, then it turns to vibrato. The legato notes (all the notes after the first note) have strong vibrato from the start of the note, really beautiful, expressive. 

2. The repitition notes have always a non vibrato start. I miss the possibility to repeat with just strong vibrato notes.

In the Synchron player it is possible to cut 1 second of the non vibrato part, but you keep always a non-vibrato part, with the first notes and the repetition notes.

A possibility to switch off the first note should be very welcome (In ViPro this is possible, unfortunately I don't have the extended library of Dimensions Strings in the VI version).

So I have beautiful samples to my disposal, unfortunately not always when I need them.

Hi Paolo, I just heard your little experiment.
I don't know if this is ringing or that I'm totally wrong, but the f4 (with the Vienna Equalizer Pro it is very easy to determine frequencies with the keyboard in its window), that is about 349 Hz, when you diminish that frequency, it becomes in my ears much more natural. It is just that frequency, so I used Q between 15 and 20, to just affect that particular frequency.
But the melody as a whole sounds beautiful to me and believable.
But at the end, I'm not a string player... and they listen in a different way, hear much more, I discovered.

On the website of VSL you can buy the standard library or the full library (that's the standard plus extended library). When you buy it there, you have to login and when you have registered the standard library, the full library is priced as the extended library. There it is not possible to buy the extended library without having the standard library. (Of course you can buy the full library at once).

I don't know if it is possible elsewhere just to buy and install the extended library (that is the upgrade from standard to full) without having the standard library.
Hopefully somebody of VSL can answer that question...

Hi, the extended library contains other articulations, you find the list with articulations HERE.

I like the extended library very much. With the dynamic articulations you can add a lot of expression. 

Thanks, William, for sharing this piece. I had the opportunity to take a moment of rest to listen to the music, and I enjoyed it very much. Really inspired music. In this case less is more. Just a flute, a horn and a harp and they do beautiful things. How beautiful this is!

Originally Posted by: jasensmith

What exactly do you want to know about the velocity layers?

How many velocity has a patch, but especially on which velocity value(s) are the changes of samples.
Example from the solo violin manual: "01 VI_perf-legato: 2 velocity layers: 0–88 p; 89–127 f".
Because the sound of the samples can be rather different, it is very helpful to know where the boundaries are exactly.

Hi,

I was testing some instruments in Epic Orchestra 2.0 and I was looking for some information about the velocity layers of the oboe d'amore in the manual of Epic Orchestra 2.0. Unfortunately I didn't found that information there. After that I looked in the manual of the SYNCHRON-ized Dimension Strings. There I missed that information also.
Is this by accident that the information about velocity layers isn't available in the manuals, did I miss the place where I can find it, or is it on purpose, that it isn't available? 

Hi Dave,

there I am again. What a nice, lively, rich, beautiful piece is this. Congratulations! And again, what a beauty are the Dimension Strings. Realy unbelievable, that we can make such lively performance these days with a computer. I think the way VSL has gone through the last years is one, where obstacles had to be removed, legato needed to be improved, but the results are so amazing. 

@ David: Nice music, beautiful use of the library, interesting video. I enjoyed it very much!

@ VSL: this library IS a beauty!!

... listening to the demo "All Aboard on the SE Express" of Guy Bacos...

Demos SYNCHRON-ized Special Editions Volume 5

I ask myself, if it make sense, to make one output for each company in VEP, and for every instrument a seperate input in Cubase. I think the outputs and inputs are coupled to each other and need to be in accordance with each other. But perhaps I don't understand you right...