(Subject title stolen from a '68 Pink Floyd track.)

With reference to my recent post about a 6 decades old TV-recording of a Wiener Phil/Solti/Wagner rehearsal, today's orchestral sounds are significantly different in several respects. For example, it could be argued that today's instrumentalists tend to give more "sterile and exact" renditions, compared to the "sheer uninhibited passionate unbridled and raw playing" we hear in that wonderful old Wiener Phil rehearsal. I'd say it's merely a reflection of what we're like in Europe now, and short of trying to make musicians act out roles that aren't commonplace or familiar nowadays, not much can be done about this cultural sea change.

There's little point in lamenting what can't be immediately undone. Perhaps many generations into the future they'll look back on today and pity that most of us resembled Nietzsche's description of "man, the sick domesticated animal."

One aspect of orchestral sound that we certainly can celebrate these days is the superb audio fidelity of recorded performances. And yet - and I'm as guilty as any - when we set about our synthetic productions using all the technological tricks at our disposal today, all too often we destroy realism by flooding the sound with reverb. And I do mean flood. Our ears know that reverberation is rarely if ever as energetic or powerful as the source sound - and practically never ever more powerful. So why do we tend to crank up our added reverb Fx until the source is, relatively speaking, inundated? I'm not sure why.

If it's true that music models (or at least represents) currents and movements within the ever-changing ocean of our feelings and emotions (to which a very substantial part of the human brain's right hemisphere is devoted), then surely it needs to be heard as somewhat intimately nearby phenomena, rather than as reverberant vestiges of something so far away that it might not even be anything to do with the listener's organic realm.

These days I'm extremely critical of my reverb settings and just recently I've found a recording that I now treat as one of my benchmarks for setting reverb parameters. Here's a link to an exquisitely recorded and mixed, truly superb performance of several pieces of Wagner's Ring cycle, given by the extremely excellent Radio Philharmonisch Orkest (van Nederland), conducted by Markus Stenz, performed in 2016 at the Grote Zaal of the fabulous new TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht. (There isn't a MIR Pro room pack for this concert hall; one day hopefully there will be.) I haven't yet attempted to "deconvolve" the recording in order to determine various authentic reverb parameters, but it's on the agenda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PBhlPeTJ_g

I've been mulling over the choice between VI Brass II and Dimension Brass II, because (a) I want to add yet more to the heft of my current brass sections, and (b) I love the timbre of Wagner horns. One of these libraries will be on my shopping list for this year.

In doing my homework on this quandary I encountered a video (looks to me like '60s era) of Solti rehearsing the Wiener Phil. (where?), rendering Siegfried's funeral music with a power, drive, intensity and verve that I just adore. Since then I've returned to this video again and again, partly to revive and recalibrate my sense of musical drama, but mainly for sheer pleasure. I post a link here in case you've not already found this precious treasure.

The words of the writer who posted this video 10 years ago on Youtube's hornchannel are sehr treffend - 

" ... This is here to lament the passing of a style of playing that is so rare to encounter these days - sheer uninhibited passionate unbridled and raw playing which has today been replaced by something more sterile and exact. ..."

(I can't get excited about the issue of correct nomenclature: "tuba", "horn", ... whatever.)

The Wagner horns first appear at 0:28. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkOiKy6sXfM

(Under the "uninhibited" heading, I include Solti's Rik Mayall-style display of underpants; I'd say this minor breach of sartorial decorum helped rather than hindered, lolol.)

Hurrah! Thanks for the good news Wader. And my thanks also to the VSL devs for continuing to be world-class problem-solvers!

Wader, I can't even reproduce your VEP server on-its-own scenario. I used an older 10-instance test VEP7 (now 7.0.834) server metaframe which has never ever seen any MIDI-controlled disable/enable from any source; it has several dozen Kontakts, VIPros, VSPs and various synths scattered through the instances; nothing huge. Without launching Logic, I've manually disabled certain channels and folders, saved the metaframe (i.e. in the "file" menu), then quit and re-opened VEP; those manually disabled items are still disabled, just as I had them before saving. I've done similar inside just one of the instances and saved it in the "instance", menu; it still works ok.

I'm out of ideas (and time). Perhaps VSL can help you unravel this mystery.

Hello Wader,

I've not seen that problem, but I don't use any of Dewdman's stuff. My VEP is woken up by Logic always as expected with VEP channels and/or folders disabled or enabled as I wanted. I haven't been using the disable button on any of the VEP client plugins in Logic, nor do I use the Instance Disable buttons in VEP; they're always left enabled. No idea what the issue might be in your setup, but when I have time I'll see if I can reproduce your problem, trying out different things.

Ah, thanks, now I have a somewhat better understanding of what you're doing.

1. First things first. Yes there is a free VST/AU delay plugin I can recommend: MUtility, by MeldaProduction. I use the paid version but believe the delay function works exactly the same way in the free version; and it lets you set delay values in samples or mS.

2. I wonder how Dimension instrument sample patches and presets actually relate to the acoustic realities of renditions given by the ensemble players during the Silent Stage recordings. I certainly don't doubt VSL when they tell us that the Dimension instrumentalists played in ensemble while being recorded individually. But also I wouldn't mind betting that VSL's library editors have subsequently tightened up time alignments across the ensemble's recorded samples, so that (a) it's then easier and more predictable for users to apply their own choices of complex post processing, such as humanisation, stretching, envelope manipulation, etc; and (b) the patches are capable of being played in DAWs with very precise temporal discipline if required. I see nothing wrong with such an 'editorial normalisation' approach. That said, I don't suppose VSL would ever describe their competitive tradecraft in detail.

3. I have only the (Sy-zed) Brass 1 library of the Dimension collection but I know what you mean about the 'smallness' of the unprocessed sound of the ensembles. I guess that's probably partly a consequence of editorial tightening - just as in reality, musically very "tight" live ensembles tend to sound somewhat compact acoustically.

4. I applaud your efforts to undo the temporal tightness and acoustic compactness of Dimension Strings. As far as I can see the only thing you would be 'breaking' is that 'editorial normalisation' which one can regard as a technically convenient starting point - ONLY a starting point. Good luck to you!

[Edited addition]

I'm guessing you're after longer duration of the thickening effect, which is stronger the more that the voices' pitches deviate from each other. The risk of ending up with an out-of-tune orchestra is there, but otherwise there's no reason why you shouldn't experiment with your own more extended pitch contours. Of course it's also possible to offset the fine tuning parameter on each instrument, though that can in some cases sound more artificial than letting humanisation introduce modulated pitch discrepancies between the instruments. The latter technique is especially effective, as you've discovered, when the humanisation contours happen at different times because you've put different delays (all within the Haas region) on the various voices.

I assume you've had to add your Haas region delays outside VIPro. [Edit - Oh wait, sorry, I've just remembered the other delay facilities in VIPro.] Maybe VSL will introduce a new facility in VIPro for easily setting up the Pixelpoet chorus effect!

Hello Pixelpoet,

it seems you've discovered for yourself the well known "chorus" effect which thickens the sound and which mix engineers have been using for many decades. Up to about 40 mS the human ear doesn't notice any echo (i.e. the Haas effect; well worth reading up in Wikipedia). It appears to me far too few people these days are bothering to do what you've done and experiment for themselves with basic principles. Well done.

As for why VSL's humanisation pitch contours generally all return to zero and quite soon, experienced musicians can tell you far more and far better than I can. I think it's generally understood in broad terms that during the so-called attack phase of a note, the player very quickly and intuitively "seeks" the required pitch, so to say, then (sort of) settles into the next phase, dynamic or otherwise, with a more or less established pitch. But of course that's an idealisation. Many, many times using Melodyne I've examined pitch contours within recorded samples from many sources and I've seen the good, the idiosyncratic, the weird, the bad and the ugly. I'd say VSL have conservatively adhered to good taste as well as practical realism.

I'm glad to see my question hasn't elicited any adverse comment about the disabled-VEP template technique. I'm taking that as no news is good news, and I'll proceed with my plan.

Glad to see you're up and running with AU3 at last, Dewdman42. And thanks, but I'll be building my custom template step by step around a hefty subsystem I already have in the Environment.

I'm planning to build an everyday work template for Logic 10.4.5 and VEP7-AU3 in my one and only computer, using the so-called "disabled VEP" type of template configuration, along the lines described in Guy Rowland's splendid Youtube video, "A Cubase / disabled VE Pro Template Part 2: How To Set It Up."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0f4kVzzwL8

It appears to be ideal for me. Guy has about 800 or so tracks in his template, so I'm thinking Logic + VEP7-AU3 will cope and, in my more modest case, have room for me to expand later. Like Guy I'm limited to 64 GB RAM, and though I don't know what computer he's using I believe my 5K iMac (4.2 GHz 7700K i7) will manage well enough.

I don't suppose anyone's actually producing yet with an equivalent AU3 template in Logic 10.4.5, but does anyone with experience of a Cubase template of this type in a single computer have any comments about why a disabled-VEP7 configuration might not be the best way for me to go?

I've often struggled with one kind of case in which multi-mic live stage recordings can be somewhat of a hindrance.

If I want to alter an instrument's close mic sound creatively and perhaps even radically using various Fx, then the problem is of course that all the various ambient mics still 'give away' the instrument's original sound. Sometimes this doesn't matter much, but there are also cases when it really does matter and is definitely undesirable.

Depending on what kind and degree of creativity has been applied to the instrument as heard on the close mic(s), it may be difficult if not impossible to use Fx to make all the original ambient mic streams appear to be genuine ambient renditions of the modified close mic sound. In these cases I tend to do without the original ambient recordings for this instrument, and mock up some new ones based on the instrument's modified sound - while of course endeavouring to make these new ambiences stay in keeping with the qualities of the overall mix as derived from the original live stage.

I suppose what I'm talking about here is likely to be an edge case if not irrelevant for the great majority of traditional concert hall orchestral renditions. But I'm thinking it's very relevant to today's high-excitement, max impact, Fx-riddled movie and video game scores.

I'm probably one sort of representative of the extended market VSL are now aiming to encompass - I'm not a pro composer and have somewhat limited computer assets. But I love to get under the hood and enjoy the manifold nuances possible with Silent Stage recordings in VIPro. I also use Synchron but don't as yet have any original Synchron libraries (except EO 2.0), nor MIR, and usually make my Synchronised library instruments as dry as possible. I have certain other, very recently released, truly excellent facilities for sound spatialisation which now I couldn't do without; they enable me to place Silent Stage instruments on a live stage with superb 3D precision and exquisite reverberant beauty.

Yet I'm also keen on big multi-mic live sound stage sample library recordings, and to date my best experiences in that regard come from using George Massenberg's astoundingly good and ground-breaking recording of Superior Drummer 3's core library at Galaxy Studios (with up to 11.1 channel surround capabilities). I believe percussive and plucked instrument sounds benefit the most from multi-mic live stage recording. Alas, to really enjoy the full splendour of big sound stage orchestral libraries I'd need some serious additional computer assets. (Well I'm dreaming of building a couple of VEP slaves with the latest lightning-fast PCIe-Gen4 slots and SSDs to match.)

While I'm up against these limitations they serve to make me more determined, more resourceful and more inventive in order to get the very best I possibly can out of what I have at hand. And these days the possibilities are HUGE. VIPro is in my view still one of the best enablers out there.

On my reading, all the viewpoints expressed in this thread have solid validity. But I'm guessing some substantial degree of resolution and unification of these viewpoints may well come when Synchron Player Pro eventually arrives.

(Oh and by the way, Paolo, I adore some of Messiaen's works and I certainly admire and respect your keen ambition with Quatuor. However I'd say to Mr Messiaen about Quatuor:- 'Mais mon ami, pour le chant des oiseaux, I'll stick to listening to live Blackbirds and Nightingales and all our other friendly feathered maestri out there.' lol - forgive me, just teasing.)

Edited my post at the top of this thread, hopefully adding a bit of clarification here and there.

Right up front I'd better let you know you'll have to open the Environment to do this. Techie awkwardness ahoy! Apple haven't yet fully integrated AU3 functionality into Logic 10.4.5 but what's there now is very useful if you don't mind doing a tiny bit of tech admin in the Environment. Still want to boldly go? Really, it's not that bad so let's go.

First thing to know: in LPX 10.4.5 we can now use Software Instrument tracks to provide access to more than one port in each instance of VEP7, with the added performance advantage of highly robust AU3 end-to-end communications integrity, rather than the older port-addressing technique used in VSL's pre-AU3 multiport workaround. (Note that VSL used the word "workaround" with good reason; it wasn't offered as a full production-standard solution. It was a good workaround while waiting for AU3 but it's open to certain highly technical questions which simply don't arise for AU3. So please don't go bashing VSL).

AU3 port assignment is not currently available in Logic's MIDI instrument tracks but it does appear possible to construct multi-port operation using MIDI Standard Instruments and Multi-Instruments, each connected in the Environment directly to a Software Instrument object that is assigned to a VEP7-AU3 Port; I'll cover that in another post, after some more experiments and testing.

We use only one Logic Software Instrument per VEP7/AU3 instance. This acts as the VEP client software instrument device in Logic for all ports and channels in an entire VEP server instance. All the additional tracks created after the first one (up to 768 tracks in total, but currently only 127 MIDI channels max) that are to connect to one VEP instance are merely hidden copies of the client software instrument track strip device in which you have a VEP/AU3 plugin inserted, except that each copy has its own port and channel assignments. Currently, any MIDI FX or MIDI scripts you plug in to the VEP client software instrument will affect outgoing MIDI streams on all ports identically. You won't see any of these instrument copies in the mixer pane of Logic's Main window, but they'll all be there in the Environment's Mixer Layer. More on that in a moment.

The Procedure

1. Launch the VEP7 server. Starting with a completely empty Logic project, create the first software instrument and insert a VEP7/AU3 plugin. You should now be able to see MIDI channel (default "All") and Port (default "1") assignments in the Track Inspector of Logic's Main window. Connect the plugin to an instance of the server.

2. Let's set up 16 single-channel tracks for Port 1. Set MIDI Channel to 1 in the Track Inspector. With Instr 1 track in the track list selected, hit [Ctrl]+[Return] or top-bar menu item Track/Other/New Track With Next Channel, 15 times. Stack these tracks in a folder if you wish. Now you have 16 tracks on one port, each on its own channel.

No need to agonise over the choice between omni (MIDI Channel: All) or single channel tracks at this stage - the steps below will enable you to manage your options later. You can at any future time add more tracks to a port without necessarily having to delete or change anything already done. This ability to layer many tracks in a single port is useful for assigning several omni tracks to one multitimbral Kontakt player in VEP, thereby allowing you to choose an instrument in Kontakt simply by assigning note channel numbers in the score. It's especially handy for changing between tutti and two divisi parts in one staff.

3. Next comes the tricky part: how to create more tracks and assign them to other VEP ports. Having tried lots of other ways, I've settled on this one cuz it works cleanly and predictably.

Create an empty new software instrument (i.e. with no VEP or any other plugin). Now open an Environment window and select the Mixer Layer. You'll see 16 track strip objects representing the 16 tracks you created in step 2, along with the new Instr 2 you've just created, plus some default strips belonging to the mixer. Might be a good idea to tidy it up a bit before you go further - it can get messy.

Select Software Instrument 2 that you've just created and look in the Object Inspector panel. It won't show any Port assignment yet. In the "Channel" assignment field (second one down in the Inspector list) open the popup menu and select "Inst 1". You now have another track connected to the VEP plugin in the first software instrument you created at the top of step 1. Software Instrument 2 has gone. Next down in the Object Inspector list, set "MIDI Channel" to 1 (or leave it at "All" for an omni track) and "Port" to 2. 

Hop back to Logic's Main window and satisfy yourself that this new track in the track list is now assigned to Instrument 1, Channel 1, Port 2. You can now use the process in step 2 above to add more channels to this port.

If you created an omni track you'll then need to repeat step 3 if you want to layer more tracks (single channel or omni) into the same port. Also, if during step 2 you happen to try and add another track when all 16 channels are already assigned to the port (by an omni track, for example), then Logic will automatically create a new software instrument which is separate from the VEP client instrument; in this case you can easily re-assign the new track back to the VEP client instrument and a port that you want, as described above in this step.

4. And that's it, basically. For each new port you want to assign new tracks to, or in order to layer more tracks into a port that already has 16 channels assigned, create another new empty Software Instrument then hop into the Environment and re-assign this new instrument to the software instrument that already has the targeted VEP instance plugged in.

Hello Stephen,

Lol, agree with your comments about Apple's apparent 'strategy'. I still have a great deal of respect for Apple's desktop hardware design engineers (much more so than the MacBook cowboys), and OMG the exotic new cheese grater and that fabulous new 6K 32" Retina screen have set the world of computer techie Youtubers on fire! Looking forward to some serious testing and reviews from those guys before I know whether to feel miserable or very miserable about not being able to afford those beauties.

As for AU3, I've had VSL's AU3 Beta multiport templates (created by VSL on 2nd May) working without problems on my localhost 2017 5K iMac with LPX 10.4.5 in High Sierra. Also I've been able to build my own custom AU3 multiport templates from scratch without too much hassle and thus far without any serious problems in operation. 

Custom-building AU3 templates is not exactly a slick job (though just a little smidge easier than in 10.4.4) because Apple clearly haven't yet brought AU3 functionality up to full production standard in LPX; it seems to work ok on my system but one could say right now it's in an early Windows/Cubase kind of awkwardness lol. I'll be posting a new thread here on how to approach the building of custom AU3 multiport templates in LPX 10.4.5.

Dammit that sucks, Dewdman42, sorry to hear it.

I was really disappointed to see - apart from a couple of undocumented tidy-ups in the use of ports with VEP7AU3 - that 10.4.5 seems to have placed zero importance on getting AU3 up to full production standard.

I'm seriously entertaining the not too distant prospect of terminal so-called "code rot" in LPX. That'll be a terrible wrench for me cuz I've been with Logic since Logic Audio Platinum 3.5F back in 2001. Honestly I don't think Apple's LPX devs are up to the challenge of maintaining and developing Emagic's erstwhile masterpiece of software engineering. Years ago, Steinberg faced up to code rot in Cubase; they decided to ditch a big chunk of Cubase's legacy code that could no longer be maintained and developed economically or technically, replacing it with more recent, cleaner, better structured code lifted from Nuendo. Apple has no such option. I've very recently taken the plunge and embraced Cubase Pro 10, having banished Cubase back in the early 2000s because I didn't like its rudeness, its propensity to fall over in a big heap usually taking down the Mac with it, and its being overly influenced by Microsoft's geeky and less-than-congenial ideas about user-interfacing. But, well, things are very different now and I'm preparing for the worst with LPX.

Meanwhile let's just hope LPX has another few versions' worth of life left in it. Judging by the thousands of fixes in recent versions, it seems Apple are now seriously concerned about getting LPX to live up to its "Pro" name. Only time will tell if they can succeed in that. I'm betting - against my dearest wishes - that they can't.

Hello Robin,

it's still early days but things have indeed changed since that video. I need to get a bit technical here, so my apologies if this doesn't mean much to you - I know there are others who are very much into the technicalities of this topic.

That pre-AU3 multiport workaround used two discrete MIDI messages sent from Logic Environment to specify port number and channel number for each and every MIDI event sent from Logic's sequencer to VEP. It's a clever and creditable workaround by VSL and seems to work very well most of the time. However, I'm not convinced those two MIDI messages will stay together under all circumstances while being passed through Logic and onward via operating system core services - perhaps via an Ethernet LAN - to the appropriate VEP server instance. It's like trying to send a letter through the mail using two envelopes, each with a different part of the address written on it. Hence I suspect (though I can't say for sure) it may sometimes be possible for the port number message to be associated with a different (i.e. wrong) MIDI channel message by the time they reach VEP's routing - which can't be blamed for the confusion.

Since LPX 10.4.4 we now have Apple AU3 which, I assume, administers each MIDI event's data content and port and channel assignments within an indivisible packet or some sort of data frame which ensures port number and channel number always stay together with the associated MIDI event data. Thus it is to be expected that AU3 will ensure more robust and dependable multiport communication between Logic and each VEP instance.

As for how LPX 10.4.5 works with VEP AU3, I'm still working through it but from what I've seen and tried thus far, I haven't yet found a slick way to set up multiple ports for VEP7 AU3. But at least now each instrument strip in Logic can be expanded to provide up to 25 separate stereo pairs of audio from the VEP instance. 

LPX 10.4.5 includes hundreds of fixes (though lord knows how much additional stuff they've broken as a result); see Apple's complete release notes here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203718

Bravo William!

I'm in awe of your magnificent creative energy, your fine skills in composition, orchestration and midistration, and your boundless care and attention to all detail, artistic and technical. I happen to be a fan of big bold romantic pieces (especially by the Russian greats) and I agree with Paolo in that I found myself effortlessly and willingly moved along by the narrative in this work, always finding my place as a listener appositely alongside the narrative at every moment.

Right now I can't aspire to such feats but your fine example inspires me to strive ever onwards in the great ocean of musical art and craft. Thank you William.

Hello Klavieronin,

Egregious bow scrape noise is a particular bugbear of mine also. I've found a way to reduce it substantially in monophonic instruments, though it can be a bit of a faff to set up correctly. 

With the aid of a spectrum analyser, there are two keyboard-tracking external filters to be applied, having first ensured that both filters are set up to track MIDI note numbers precisely:- 

  (1) a steep-slope high-pass placed immediately below the instrument's partial No 1;

  (2) a steep-slope -ve band-shelf or bandstop (or a simple peak may do nearly as well) positioned tightly between partials No 1 and 2.

In both cases avoid attenuating the partials themselves.

On the analyser you'll see bowing noise all over the place; nevertheless, I've found this method substantially attenuates the worst of what we can hear of it. One drawback is that in fast passages I can sometimes hear the filters moving with each note, which is a definite no-no; but since bowing noise tends to be less of a nuisance in fast passages the filters can be bypassed by automation during those sections in the music.

I've used MeldaProduction's MAutoDynamicEQ (with dynamics switched off) for this, though there are other plugins that will do as well if not better. Unfortunately, in Logic I have yet to work out a way to apply keyboard tracking to FabFilter's exquisite Pro Q3.

Well, like I said: a bit of a faff. But if the scrapes annoy you as much as they do me, I think you'll find it's worth the hassle.

Hello Dewdman42,

I get that orange "!" for about one second after I've inserted a new VEP7 AU3 client plugin, then it goes away and I can assign the Logic-VEP connection. I'm afraid I have no clue where or how your AU3 plugin's persistant error may be happening or WTF might be going on there.

I saw Martin's info about having the AU3 checkbox not ticked for the VEP7 AU3 plugin in Logic's plugin manager; had a look at mine and no surprise, it's not ticked.

I'm using LPX 10.4.4 in a 2017 5K iMac (7700K i7 option) with High Sierra 10.13.6. No tricks or fancy workarounds to get VEP7 working; it just did right out of the box.

Hope VSL help you get that sorted soon.

BTW, I saw you comments about Logic's MIDI Scripter. Because I also use a few scripts of my own I checked up on the Scripter situation in the multiport configuration. You're right, currently it appears there's no way different Scripters can be placed on different ports or even MIDI channels, within any one VEP instance. Whatever MIDI script happens to be inserted in the instrument mixer strip that has the VEP client plugin, it just gets duplicated along with all the other stuff belonging to that original instrument channel strip.

Although right now it seems Port and MIDI channel assignments are the only parameters that can be changed between duplicated tracks, we just don't know what Logic's AU3 features, functions, configurations etc will eventually be. Pretty sure Apple and VSL have a very tight Non-Disclosure Agreement, so even if VSL know what's coming in Logic they can't tell us anything about it.

Aaron, I've found a way that lets me create more than 16 MIDI channels per VEP7 instance using Logic's AU3 multiport 'feature'. I'm now happily using VEPro7 with various multiport Logic AU3 templates I've made from scratch - but only after several long sessions of cursing and wrestling with Logic's weird ways.

I guess you've already been using the "Track/Other/New Track With Next MIDI Channel" menu item (or [CMD+RTN] default key command) to create 15 more tracks in the Track List, all assigned to the Instrument mixer strip with the VEP7 AU3 client plugin. But now if you try to create any further new tracks using the same method, you find that instead of incrementing the port number and starting a new MIDI channel count, Logic assigns each new track to the next available Instrument strip in the mixer, creating a new Instrument strip if necessary. Also, the Main Window Track Inspector won't let you re-assign the new track back to your original VEP client Instrument strip. Gaaaahh!!

It seems Logic's AU3 multiport implementation is still only half-baked. (I have a strong suspicion that too many of Apple's Logic Pro X software engineers indulge in smoking weed; I'm not sure how else LPX could have become so incredibly flaky, cowboyish and irrational, compared to the good old Emagic Soft- und Hardware GmbH days.)

But all is not lost. The trick is this: we just have to hop over to the Mixer layer of Logic's Environment. There, once the Instrument Channel Strip objects have been dragged, one by one, out of the big pile Logic has made in its creation of each  new Track-With-Next-MIDI-Channel, the Environment Object Inspector can then be used to re-assign each of these additional (i.e. duplicated) Instrument track strip objects to any Instrument (using the "Channel" popout menu), any MIDI Port (1 to 48) and any MIDI Channel (1 to 16).

Only one thing I find a bit too weird to use now: in any VEP instance, If I assign the audio output of any mixer channel to the "base" channels 1 and 2, then in Logic's Environment ALL the duplicated Instrument Channel Strip objects assigned to that VEP instance show that same audio stream dancing on their meters. For me that just goes against the grain so I avoid audio channels 1 and 2, leaving me with only 15 stereo pairs per VEP instance. Hmpff.

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask for more or clearer nitty gritty details if you need them.

BETTER WORKAROUND

(Note: I have only one computer, a 5K iMac running MacOS 10.13.6.)

In the DAW I Insert a second VEPro7 client plugin before connecting the first, then I connect them both. After that I can insert more VEPro7 client plugins in the DAW whenever I want; each new insert now shows the list of server instances and can be connected to the VEPro7 server app in the normal way.

I've found this works for Logic 10.4.4, Ableton Live Suite 9.7.7 (VST and AU) and Reason 10.3.

Let's see if this workaround also does the trick across Ethernet LANs.

UPDATE - Well done and thank you Martin!

Alex, I encountered the same issue in Logic Pro X. It's a bit awkward but there is a method by which it all works as expected.

It appears we can't add and connect any new VE Pro 7 client plugins if in the DAW there is already one such plugin that has been connected to the VE Pro Server at least once. But it works ok for me if FIRST I insert ALL the VE Pro 7 client plugins I require BEFORE attempting to connect any of them to the server, and then I connect them.

Also, if a client plugin has been connected and then disconnected, client plugins added subsequently to that connection will not list any server instances unless and until the previously connected client plugin is deleted from the DAW.

(Logic Pro X 10.4.4; MacOS 10.13.6; iMac Retina 5k, 27 inch, 7700K, 2017)

Congratulations and a thousand thanks to the whole team who've brought this splendid new VE Pro 7 to market. While I'm trying out everything (with Logic in a single 5K iMac setup) I notice I have a big silly smile on my face. I feel perfectly comfortable and at home with VSL's product-engineering style, and that means a lot to me as an old pro engineer.

My first impressions of everything new in VE Pro 7 are most favourable. In particular I love the wonderfully convenient automation labelling, the articulation labels in the mixer strips, the new plugin menu organization, the very fine appearance and feel of all the free Vienna Suite plugins on my 5K Retina screen, the colour options, the vertical instance-tabs list option; well, the whole thing is a delight. (Yes it's very early days but for me, first impressions go a long way and are usually an important foundation of how I come to relate to particular products over the long term.)

I'll patiently wait for the full AU3 multi-port functionality, but will try out the provided work-around solutions (and I pray that Apple don't mess it up.)

Very best regards to all at VSL,

Macker