OK - yeah, it's not terribly clear exactly what you're supposed to do, and the note about Synchron SE, as written now, specifically applies to the drum and percussion rolls, not to other instruments.

In my case it's probably just a hangover from years ago.  I've been using Sibelius with VSL SE since 2007, when I'm sure it was necessary to manually change the VelXF controller to 11, so I just assumed it was still the same.

Thanks for your help.  Dynamics now working. Looking forward to the Synchron Player update with the memory fix!

Mike

See attached!

Hi Paul

Can you get the dynamics to work at all?  And if so, are you using the velocity x-fade settings as recommended on page 30 of the "Optimising Sibelius" PDF? - i.e. Vel.XF assigned to controller 11?  I've created a totally new score with a single oboe, 5 notes going from ppp to ff, VSL House Style, one Synchron Player device in the playback config, loaded with the standard Oboe (French) factory preset, but with the Vel.XF controller changed to 11 and Expression changed to 12.

This is exactly as per the VI settings, and excalty as per the instructions in the "OPtimising Sibelius" PDF, as far as I can work out.

But it plays back with all notes on a constant volume!

Oddly, if I leave the VelXF controller at the default (2) and expression at 11, then it seems to work ... but in that case why are VSL telling us to make that change?

I seem to have encountered another problem with Sibelius and the Synchron SE.  It's ignoring all my dynamic markings!

I have a test score which starts ppp and has a hairpin over several bars going to fff.  Uses the newly installed VSL house style, which was imported with all options checked.

When I load up my VI-based Playback Configuration, it works fine.  When - using the same score - I switch to my Synchron-based Playback Configuration, all I get is a single constant volume level.

The playback config (as per my other recent post) has several instances of VE (not Pro) each of which has several instance of the Synchron Player assigned to difference channels.  All the Syncrhon Player instances have Vel.XF on controller 11, expression on 12, and master volume on the default of 7.  Vel.XF is switched on (lit blue).

What have I missed?  It can't be anything in Sibelius, because the same score works fine with VI (unless there's something you're supposed to change in Sibelius if you're using SY rather than VI).

Mike

Hi Andi

Great news about the CPU problem.

I think I fixed the french horn problem - I had to change the two French Horn entries from the manual sound set to other (random) instruments, then save, then reset the channels to the correct ones.  There's definitely something going odd there, though - probably yet another Sibelius bug that Avid can't be bothered to fix.

Mike

PS just found another anomaly: my score contains a French horn part (Horn in F from Sibelius instruments list).  But instead of loading the program Horn (sound ID brass.horns.french horn) from the manual sound set, it's loading program Wagner Tuba (sound ID brass.horns.wagner tuba)!

Hi Andi

OK thanks.  So I need VE Pro 7 to do what exactly? - just to send the MIDI commands to disable channels? Disabling "manually" seems to work OK with the normal VE.

Also can you explain exactly why the CPU activity is still so high even when most of the channels are not in use in Sibelius?  That was never the case for VI - I was able to set up dozens of instruments on the off-chance that I might need one and the only overhead was the loading time when I first launched Sibelius.  But with Synchron, that approach no longer works and it is going to force a whole new way of working.

So I'd like to know exactly why this is the case.  It seems to me that it's a bug! - and if it's a bug, then hopefully you might fix it, which would make it easier for me to justify spending a lot of effort setting up a Synchron-based setup.

But if it is some weird technical restriction of the Synchron engine - that the mere fact of loading an instrument into a channel makes the CPU usage go through the roof even if most of the instruments are not being used - then I think I might stick with VI at least for now.  So far, I haven't exactly been overwhelmed by any increase in the quality of the output compared with VI.

Mike

Thanks.

Do I need VE Pro for that?  I have a licence for VE Pro 5 which I used back in the days when I needed multiple networked computers to run all this stuff.  But I stopped using it because of the lack of high DPI support, and the normal VE Pro seems to do everything I need nowadays since I can run everything on a single computer.  (Or could with VI, anyway!)

Individually disabling every unwanted channel (when I have around 100 channels over 7 instances) would be something of a pain (even with MIDI commands), but it might be manageable if I could disable entire sections (e.g. choir) when I'm not using them.  From what I can see, simply disabling the Master Bus channel has the effect of disabling all the channels that are routed through it, but not knowing exactly what's going on behind the scenes, it's hard to be sure if this is an approach that would work.  After all, it doesn't make much sense that disabling a channel reduces CPU requirement, when that channel isn't being used in the score in the first place!

Mike

I've been experimenting a bit and it seems that the high CPU usage occurs even when instruments are not actually in use?

As mentioned at the start, I have 7 instances of the Synchron Player in Vienna Ensemble (strings, solo strings, woodwind, sax, brass, percussion, choir), each one loaded up with around 16 instruments.  That way I can use the same Sibelius playback configuration for almost any score irrespective of the instrumenation - I produce around 40 scores a year, so saving separate playback configs for each score would be unmanageable.

This has worked fine for years with VI.  But it doesn't work with the Synchron SE - the CPU usage is too high and I get clicks and pops in the audio, as noted above.

However, when I set up a new playback configuration with only the instruments I actually need for this score, it worked fine, with CPU running at about 25%-40%.  That seems a bit odd ... why would it need to do all that "convoluting" for instruments that aren't even in the score?!

Mike

Hi Andi

Thanks for the tip about the [VSL Special Edition] instruments - that wasn't necessary for the VI versions? - or if it was, it made little difference because I've never used those instruments.  But that, together with switching the manual sound sets to reference the "appassionata (SE3)" programs, seems to have fixed the problem with the strings articulations.

(BTW that information doesn't appear to be in the Optimising Sibelius Playback PDF - might be worth adding it.)

I think the audio clicks are possibly a performance issue.  When running my Synchron setup on the score I'm working on, the CPU is running at between 70% and 90%.   In contrast, when I use my VI setup - for exactly the same score and the same instruments - it runs at around 20% - 30%.  And I don't get the clicks.

Why is the Synchron-ized SE so much more demanding?  It could be a bit of a showstopper for me.

(I tried the "release device" option - made no difference.)

Mike

I have a Sibelius playback configuration which uses 7 instances of Vienna Ensemble to provide all the orchestral instruments I need.  One of these instances contains Appass. strings, another conta ins Solo strings, another woodwind, brass, and so on.  This setup has worked brilliantly for years, using the original VI Special Editions 1-4.

Last week I bought the Synchron-ized SE, and have been trying to create a parallel setup using the new Synchron-ized libraries.  I've created a new Sibelius playback configuration, using the new SY soundset, and loading the Synchron player instead of VI.  And I've imported the new house style.  But there's a problem.

By default, the strings chanels in the Mixer use the Solo Strings instances, rather than the ensemble (Appassionata) strings.  So I have to manually change the assignment of the instruments from (Auto) to the correct Appassionata strings channels.

But when I do this, Sibelius stops observing changes of articulation!

I've tested this over and over again.  When the mixer setting is left at (Auto), all works well, but as soon as I change it tomanually specify an instrument, the articulations (pizz, staccato, arco, etc.) are ignored.

I'm also getting clicks in the playback, as though two programs are trying to access the sound device simultaneously.  I've noticed exactly the same effect when I forget to minimise Sibelius before playing a wav file in Wavelab - Sibelius still has the sound device attached and that produces exactly the same clicks.  I don't get this with my VI setup, only the Synchron-ized version.

Help, please!

Hi - and many thanks for the explanation.  I've actually been using Vienna Ensemble for years - and I knew that the Synchron Player doesn't have a standalone version, unlike VI.  This problem wasn't really anything to do with that.  It was just that the installation process is confusing, to say the least - because even after you've installed the libraries using the Vienna Download Manager (and then deleted the installation files) the installation of the Synchron Player puts a menu option in the Windows 10 Start Menu that seems to imply that there's another installation step still required - the "Synchron Library Installer".  (After all why would you need a separate Synchron Library Installer, when the Vienna Download Manager does the installation for you?).  So I clicked on that installer and discovered that my package.info file was missing, and had to download countless Gb of installation files again - only to discover that it wasn't necessary after all!

The Synchron Library Installer already puts up a message to the effect that you will be asked to locate the package.info file, so I'd have thought it would be helpful if VSL changed that message to make it clear exactly what this program is for - namely, to "manually" install the samples, as Paul says above - and that this is not necessary if you've already installed them using the Download Manager.

Mike

... and then, the install process for the Synchron Player turns out to be a duplicate of the install process that I've just gone through, and achieves nothing at all!  What a waste of time!

So what exactly is the point of the "Synchron Library installer" entry under both "Vienna Synchron Pianos" and "Vienna Synchron Player" in the Windows 10 Start menu?  They just repeat the installation process that you've already followed in the Download Manager, in order to get to the point where they're in the menu!

And for those of us who assumed that there'd be a standalone Synchron Player (there is a standalone VI Player, so it's not an unreasonable assumption) it doubles the confusion.

I just purchased the Synchron-ized SE volumes 1-4.  Downloaded the latest Download Manager, ran it, waited the best part of a day for the downloads to complete.  Clicked the Install button, waited, got messages for all four libraries that the installation was complete.

Fantastic. Prompted by Download Manager to delete the installation files, and took that option since clearly, according to the messages on screen, the installation was complete.

Now I just need the Synchron player.  Downloaded the player installer, ran it, all fine.  Tried to run the player, but got something called the Synchron Library Installer.  That's odd - thought I'd already installed the Synchron libraries - see above.  Still, let's keep going ...

First thing it asks for is the package.info file, which - after some head-scratching - I find was included in the downloaded installation files.  Only problem is, the Download Manager has just deleted those.

And they aren't in the Windows Recycle Bin, either.  It did a hard delete.

So now I have another 24 hours of downloading to do.  Thanks so much, VSL.

Why in God's name doesn't the Download Manager warn you not to delete the installation files until AFTER you've installed the player?

Hi Andi -

OK, thanks!  The June prices are tempting, so I'll probably give it a go.

Mike

Thanks for the information.

I'm a bit confused as to why one would upgrade from the normal VI Special Edition (I have Vols 1-4, but not the Plus).

The only difference seems to be that the Synchron-ized versions come with built-in reverb?!

OK, there's a new Synchron player too, but everything I do is from within Sibelius so I can't imagine that new player software is going to make much difference to me.

So it's a few hundred euros (and a ton of disk space) for the same setup, but with a fixed reverb (albeit for a room with a very nice acoustic)?  I must be missing something somewhere!

Just received your email with very tempting crossgrade prices for Synchron SE in June.

But they'll be totally useless to me without the corresponding Sibelius soundsets.  Are those available yet?  If not, can we have a due date?

Also ... for myself and anyone else who really doesn't understand what Synchron is all about and just wants to make the nicest-possible sounding music ... are there any other gotchas when using Sibelius with Synchron?  Will playback configurations using Vienna Ensemble (not Pro) still work the same way, for example?

Thanks!

No, this recent announcement doesn't add up.

For years VSL have been arguing that if I lose my dongle, someone else might find it and use it, and therefore I have to pay for 50% of the cost of new licences to protect them against piracy.  OK, it's a bit brutal, but you can see their point.

But suddenly this is no longer an issue! They've somehow magically solved the problem of piracy ... as long as we pay them another €70 every couple of years!

Really?  So this apparently enormous risk that someone else might walk off with my lost dongle and start using it illegally is suddenly annulled by a fee of a mere €70?

And why is it always €70, regardless of the value of the protected licences?  If this were anything to do with protecting against piracy, the fee would be related to the value of the protected products, as all other insurance policies are.

Makes no sense.

I agree with musos and others - this is a complete rip-off.

Typical home contents cover is about £1 per £250 of cover.  If I have around £2000 of licences on my Vienna Key then on that basis the cover should be around £8 (say €10) per year - not €35.

But it should actually be much less because the cost of home contents insurance is based on replacing everything with brand new equivalents, whereas all VSL need to do is push a button on a computer to create the necessary licences.

Thanks very much for this.  I see how this would work in a sequencer.  But (sorry, forgot to mention) I'm using Sibelius! - no pitch controller track.  :-(

I found two kludges:

- set master tuning to 420 and challenge anyone to notice the 5Hz difference

- export the audio wav file and then use Wavelab to push it down a semitone!

Mike

Thanks - do you mean the pitch control in the "Perform" section of Vienna Instruments?  Every time I click that, it springs back to the centre! - I assumed it was only for pitch bending.  How would you make it stay in a particular position?

I still don't really understand why the master tuning can't be extended to cover Baroque tuning - the original PDF user manual for Vienna Instruments 2 even specifically said it was for "adapting to the tuning of earlier musical eras"!  And it's so much easier to do it globally in VE than individually in each VI instance.

I'm puzzled why the tuning range doesn't go below 420.  Like to 415 for Baroque tuning?

OK, so in some cases you can transpose down a semitone to get the same result, but that's not much use is you have a violin part with a load of open G's: G flat won't sound!

I must have missed something...

I don't have MIR, but whenever I go into VE Pro (5.0.9753) it asks me to select a venue and then gives an error about installing Room Packs.  Surely if you don't have MIR it should know that?

Many thanks - that's very helpful.

Mike

My setup consists of a "workstation" computer running Sibelius/Reaper, and a separate "server" computer running VE Pro, with most of the VSL SE loaded and "preserved".  I very rarely reboot the "server": when not in use I just hibernate it to save the planet (and my electricity bill).  And if Sibelius or any other dodgy software on my main computer crashes and forces a reboot, I don't have to wait 20 minutes while all the VSL samples are loaded.  So I can fire up Sibelius and within seconds, I'm up and running.

I'm currently evaluating Notion as a replacement or alternative to Sibelius.  While Notion officially supports the above setup, it does so in a very kludge-like way: you have to create a dummy staff for each VE Pro instance, and then set up instrument changes at the start of every staff to tell Notion to use a particular VE instance and channel number.  With a typical score using 20+ instruments, this makes initial score setup extremely tedious.  But worse than that is the fact that it's all done by channel numbers rather than instrument names, so  any changes within the preserved VE Pro instances will have to be reflected in any old scores in order for them to continue to work.  I often go back to old scores to re-work or adapt them.  This is definitely a step backwards compared with Sibelius 7!

The only way out seems to be not to use VE Pro, but to run Notion on the same machine as the VSL libraries, and just use individual instances of VI (or VI Pro). With a bit of juggling, I could do this.  But that would set me back to the situation where the VSL libraries have to be reloaded every time I reboot, or load a new score in Notion.  I remember that scenario from pre-VE days: I don't have time for that many coffee breaks!

I understand that installing an SSD would make the library load time much quicker.  But is that the only answer?