I don't use Cubase, only SIbelius. So is this fix something that applies to my set-up and if so, how. Is this applicable to any ASIO card? I'm on Windows 7 64-bit. Thanks.

Hello Philip and Andi,

I hope you won't mind if I come in on this thread. The Sibelius Mixer in my 14 or so years of using Sibelius with VSL has been one of the biggest problems with getting playback to be reliable. It is temperamental and easily thrown off. 

It still seems to be the case that if you load two instances of the same instrument the Mixer will put them on the same channel. This can be a problem in any Vienna library where there is no dedicated second violin(s) - for example, writing a string quartet with Solo Strings before Solo Violin 2 was released. I encountered it again recently working with the Dimension Strings I. I wanted to load the Group 1 / Group 2 presets for a first violin section and second violin section so each had its own staff (so 4 staffs in all). The Mixer put all of them on channel 1.

I also recently tried using this 5-staff string section: Dimension Violins, Chamber Violins, Dimension Violas, Dimension Cellos, Dimension Basses - using the VE Strings soundset - and that wouldn't play back.

In connection with Philip's changing of the channel number, sometimes this has seemed the only option left, when everything else doesn't work. I avoid it now, but in the past sometimes it did solve the problem.

Andi's advice about saving, closing and opening again with the Mixer on Auto setting is new to me - maybe it should go in the next revision of the Optimizing Sibelius pdf (?). I'd like to see more tips added to that to help those of us (and it feels like we're in the minority) who are relying entirely on a Sibelius score for the playback.

The rather lengthy procedure for setting up playback in Sibelius, and the troubles with the Mixer, make it a  matter of regret that VSL are not inclined (as discussed in another recent thread) to create a notation-based playback that was more integrated with its own libraries. That would be a more desirable purchase for me than any further instrumental library or software.

All this still with profound gratitude for what VSL has made possible for notation-oriented composers such as myself.

Hello ZWaves,

Thanks for taking the trouble to post your detailed accounts of trouble-shooting. I'm not using the Epic Orhcestra at all, so that won't apply in my case. I'm also only using Sibelius and the Vienna players, not Cubase or any DAW software. I have my problem with the Synchronized versions of the SE+ and the Solo Strings. I use VIPro, V Ensemble. Your word 'choke' in your first post exactly describes the sound I get from all samples in the Synchron Player.

I last updated the software at the weekend.

Good luck. Hope Vienna can figure this out.

This is the same problem I'm having. See the thread titled 'Installation'.

Hello Andi,

I checked the format of the SSD drive and it is NTFS. Funnily enough, I have the older Chamber and Solo strings on another SSD drive which is exFAT and have no problem with those.

Hello Andi,

Thanks for coming in on this thread. The reason I mention the 'enable' was because the fact that it was not available suggested to me that the sounds had loaded despite the fact I couldn't play them.

The Synchronized Solo Strings are on an external SSD drive coming into the computer via a USB 3.0. Is that the issue here? 

I will try altering the pre-load and see if that makes any difference. I have 16GB of RAM to work with, so I usually don't load more than 11GB. (Ten years ago 16 RAM seemed a lot! Not today ... )

With thanks.

Hello Paul,

I ran the latest Synchron Player. I now have 0.85GB (74413 samples) loading for a six-part test page in Sibelius consisting of all six Synchronized Solo Strings. The presets I'm loading are 01 Violin 1 Basic and so on for the other five. I ticked Force Enable so that hopefully everything would load. When I right click on any of the listed groups in the central coloured menus 'enable cell' doesn't appear as an option. So does this mean the sounds are loaded? What would the GB size be for this basic preset?

Each instance of the Synchron PLayer loaded in one Vienna Ensemble is aligned to VEPlug-in MIDI 1 ch 1, VEPlug-in MIDI 1 ch 2, etc. Is that correct or should they be set to 'All' (what used to be called 'Omni')? The soundset is VE Strings. The staffs are the Solo Violin, Viola, Cello, D Bass, with Solo Cello 2 and Solo Violin 2 [VSL Single Instrument].

When I use the mouse to play a note on the S Player's GUI keyboard I get only a pinched tone - like staccato. I notice the peak symbol at the top of the Player lights red.

I have managed to get a few notes to play in Sibelius but not for all instruments and sometimes only every other note.

I didn't post this in the Sibelius / Notation section as I didn't think at that point it was a notation issue.

Any further advice on getting this to work?

Thanks.

Hello VSL,

I have a problem with the installation of the Synchronized Solo Strings. There is no sound inside the Synchron Player and VE instance, even using Force Enabled. The MB amount looks too low to be correct. I attach an image of the SSD drive where the library is supposed to be - is this correct? I used auto-install but I accidentally deleted the package.info file and cannot download it again from My VSL on the website because it is greyed out if I go to downloads for this library. Please advise.

Thanks.

Hello Andi,

I am working with the single instrument download Cor Anglais (I think it is called English Horn French) and the instrument is currently stuck on the fp cell.

The soundset I'm using is VE Woodwinds+Brass. In the house style in Sibelius' staff menu I see a dedicated staff for Clarinet VSL single Instrument (and one other) but not for Cor Anglais - or not labelled VSL single instrument.

Are these the correct soundset / staff to load?

Thanks.

Andi and Gil - both very helpful, and I'm sure will be useful to others working with Synchron and Sibelius in this way.

Many thanks!

Thanks Andi,

Can you explain a bit more about how commands do this, or which ones? I don't normally use any CC commands in Sibelius. I think there is a page about CC commands in the Sibelius Handbook but it would be good to have some guidance on how this actually works with the time-stretcher.

Best wishes.

Hello Andi,

I read the following: 

One of the major improvements is made possible by the Synchron Player’s time-stretch feature. Now you can change vibrato speed in real-time using a MIDI controller! Real-time time-stretching also allows you to change the speed of tremolos, trills, portamentos and glissandos by assigning a CC controller to the Synchron Player’s “Stretch Factor” fader. 

Can this feature be used with Sibelius and if so, after assigning a CC controller what would be the next move needed?

Many thanks.

Sorry if this is the wrong thread for the question.

I've been updating some of my VSL libraries. In some instances an update referred to a whole library - say Solo Strings - but in my Directory Manager I saw no single Solo Strings to drop it onto, only separate folders for the four instruments of the Solo Strings. What is the correct thing to do? Drop the update onto each individual folder?

I also notice that I have a single Dimension Strings folder but not ones for each instrument. Is this correct? And the order of all the folders doesn't seem logical. Does this matter? Is there a simple fix if needed?

Thanks and Happy Easter.

Image attached.

Any news on this from Vienna?

Hello VSL,

Downloaded and installed the VIPro 2 update, eager to see the change in resolution. If I launch it as a standalone I see the new version. But if I launch a new score and try loading one instance of VIPro into V Ensemble I get a plugin error toolkit missing message. Can you advise on this?

Thanks.

Hello Andi,

I did get a five stave Syn Sp Ed Apassionata strings to work. It looked like there might have been a mis-match between the SE2 and SE3 staves for those instruments on my part. Okay, a step forward.

The first instance of the Synchron Player loaded into VE every time in my set-up is automatically allocated ch 2 so this has to be manually corrected to ch 1 (this is the small box to the right of VE Plugin 1. I'm not sure why it was designed to do that rather than go straight to channel 1.

Today I tried setting up a 10 string playback where staves 1,3,5,7,9 are solo Syn SE instruments and 2,4,6,8,10 are orchestral Syn SE. In VE I had 10 instances of the PLayer channel 1-10, I loaded solo violin + and solo violin II +; I also loaded violins orch + and second violins orch +, then orch violas, cellos and basses all +. I chose 'solo violin' for the two solo violin parts (not the Single Instrument) and the even-numbered staves were all from the VSL Special edition (where it seems the staves in Special Edition are the same for chamber as for orchestral).

This didn't playback properly. When I checked the Mixer Sibelius had automatically put the two solo violins onto ch 1; it also put the two violins groups onto the same channel. The solo  violin II sounds and the violins II sounds were not triggered.

Without a separate dedicated second solo violin or second violins staff I don't see how to stop these channel conflicts.

Best wishes.

Hello Andi,

I'm sorry I didn't make my set-up procedure clear. I NEVER even LOOK at the Sibelius Mixer until everything else is set up and loaded in Vienna Ensemble and the Sibelius Playback page. I only LOOK at the Mixer if the playback is not automatically working, and I only then use auto-reset if the Mixer is showing blank channels and everything else nll. Only as a LAST resort would I then try setting the Mixer because there seem no other options.

I am going to send you some files to have a look at.

This morning I tried to set up a 5-pt string section using the Synchron SE Appasionata on 1, 3, 4 and 5, with 2 taken by Violins Orch in order to avoid two instances of the Appass Violins causing trouble on Ch 1. I started with a blank page, imported the latest House Style (I assume it continues to be called Vienna Symphonic Library), set up Sibelius PLayback using the Special Edition staves, assigning etc). I loaded 5 instances of the Synchron Player into VE which automatically load to channels 2-6. They all play when tested by the mouse on the VE keyboard.

At this point everything is in place and one has an expectation that the staves should now play any notes entered without further intervention.

Instead I find that the Mixer has assigned channels in the wrong order. I also find that hovering over the Mixer to get soundIDs visible I see references to chamber strings ?? Needless to say there is no correct playback.

The soundset I'm using is 1.0.162.

Can you see what is causing this? How would I go about checking to see if the soundset is the problem, or its location? But I'm guessing here.

Hello Andi,

Well I guess I spoke too soon ... The problems with the Player (not the Piano) persist.

Today I tried creating a string quartet using the Synchron SEd samples. I wanted Solo violin, Solo violin 2, Viola and Cello. Only one or two of the instruments would play back. At one point the viola staff was also triggering the cello sound!

Just to clarify: what are the correct staves in Sibelius Add Instruments for the violin 2 and cello 2. There are two staves labelled [VSL Single Instruments] - are those correct or are they not for the Special Edition?

The second group I tried setting up was Flute / Oboe / Cor Anglais / Clarinet / Bassoon / Horn in F / Horn in F / Trumpet / Trombone / Bass trombone. I set up the playback config in Sibelius and the 10 instances of Synchron Player inside a single VE - they were all VE Plugins 1, using channels 1-10.

I entered a couple of notes on the flute staff. At this point, for the first time, I opened the Sibelius Mixer. It had every single of 10 channels was allocated to the flute and on channel 1!

I also notice that If two instances of a single string type are entered the Mixer still insists on putting them on the same channel number. When a Synchron playback config is set up I also find that the Mixer shows everything as nll. And sometimes Shift+Auto does not produce a reset.

Your observations welcome - or anyone else trying to use Synchron Player with Sibelius ...

Thanks.

Hello Andi,

Thought I would let you know I seem to have both the Synchron Piano and the Synchron Player working. I'm not sure what made the difference, but I did do a certain amount of re-applying the channels inside Sibelius playback and possibly deleting and re-pasting staffs in the time-honoured way ...

Very impressed with the resonance of the light Steinway when the Sus button has been pushed and with pedal markings in place.

Thanks.

Hello Andi,

Still trying to solve this problem of getting the playback working.  I need to check with you a couple of settings inside VE to make sure this isn't the problem.

1. For every instance of Synchron Player loaded inside VE the top left box should say  1VE Plugin MIDI in 1? Or does that change for each Synchron Player instance? i.e then VE Plugin 1, VE Plugin 2, VE Plugin 3,4,5. 

2. If the Masterbus is channel 1 in VE, the channel for the first instrument is 1 or 2 in the box to the immediate right of where it says 1VE Plugin? I have the first instrument as '1'

I have Orch Violins ok on ch 1; chamber violins on ch 2 ok; viola inaudible but showing signal in VE and in Sibelius Mixer. Contrabass is audible but not responding to changes of articulation.

The click is muted but on the same channel (5) as the double bass in Sibelius Mixer - their volumes are therefore not independent of each other.

Best wishes,

Hello Andy,

I deleted the dlls as you recommended. That's better on load-up.

I can now load the Synchron piano and trigger the notes with the mouse; likewise can load something from the Special Edition and do the same. The list of instruments is now appearing.

Are there dedicated Synchronized Special Edition staffs in Sibelius' add instruments list? Or is it just a matter of loading the usual Special Edition?

There is no sound from Sibelius though - on either a string setting or the piano.

Synchron Piano: Sibelius mixer says ch 1 VS K, twice, and there is a click also on ch 1. Is that correct?

What are the correct MIDI channel numbers in and out of Ensemble and Synchron Player or Piano? Avoiding channel conflicts ... in case this is the problem.

Also, I'm not clear about how the Synchron Player and Piano is supposed to be set up inside Sibelius. If I want a 5part string section usually I have an instance of Vienna Ensemble as an active device in Sibelius and then set up manual soundset / channels there. Is this the same with the Synchron PLayer? i.e. it is not loaded in Sibelius with a separate manual soundset for every instance of it? It is just loaded inside V Ensemble with an instance for each instrument needed. The manual soundset / channel is done in the Playback section of Sibelius only in relation to one instance of Ensemble?

(I can't find a video tutorial on the website that would cover these steps - we need something that explains the stuff that comes in between installation and playing around with loaded samples, especially if linked to a keyboard. Some of us are only working from a score inside Sibelius.) I think for the developers this stuff is blindingly obvious but for some us not at all.)

Thanks in anticipation.

Hello Andi,

Work has until now prevented me dealing with the Synchron Special Ed and Sibelius playback problem after your reply of a couple of weeks back. Having looked at it again I am still in the position of nothing working.

If I load an instance of the Syn Player or the Syn Piano in an instance of VE I get the respective GUIs but the Syn Player has no presets listed on the right hand side. I can find the 6 settings of the Light Steinway on the right of its GUI but clicking on any of them does not load any samples. The database for the piano says C:\Program Files\Avid\VSTPlugins. The Volume Scan Paths is blank. In the Syn Player there are no presets and a refresh doesn't do anything either. The database looks the same as the Syn Player - C:\Program Files\Avid\VSTPlugins. and Vol Scan Paths is empty.

Audio Engines in Sibelius is showing C:\Program Files\Avid\VSTPlugins and C:/Program Files/VSTPlugins. (Notice the slashes are going in different directions ...??)  So there is a VST Plugins folder inside AND outside Sibelius. I have copied the dll files into both but this has slowed the initial load up of Sibelius because it is now scanning for 13 dll x64 files when it should only be looking for about 5 or 6.

There are configuration settings in a file at C:\AppData\Roaming\VSL.

I have tried rescan and also the directory manager scan which finds the Synchron Special Ed content on the external SSD drive. There are five folders on that drive - one is full of Special Edition vsynvolume files including the Steinway patches, room and close - I take it that's the new light piano. The other four folders are called T11_SY-ized_SE_Vol-1 / 2 / 1+/2+. Those are X and Y files. The package info file is also there. So those are the original downloads and the vsynvolume file folder is the installed files?

I did run the Soundset Installer again and the House Style loads into a score okay.

I'm left with these initial problems: why are the presets not appearing and where should they be? The installer should have put them in the right folder? Also, why is the piano not loading? Without the presets I can't even try loading the Special edition instruments load.

Best wishes,

Hello Andy,

I'm having a problem understanding the set-up procedure to get the Synchron SE and Synchron SE piano working in Sibelius. (I'm usign Sibelius Ultimate latest and Windows 7 64 bit.) I have the sample content for the SynSE on an external SSD drive.

When Sibelius opens Vienna Ensemble 6 also opens. I load a piano score. There doesn't seem to be a synchron piano staff listed in the house style - is that ok?

In Playback devices I find Vienna Syn Piano Surround, Vienna Syn Pianos, Vienna Synchron Player surround, Vienna Syn Player listed in addition to the usual V Instruments Pro and Vienna Ensemble.

Do I make the V Syn Piano and V Syn Player both active devices with the Vienna Syn Special Ed soundset? Is this correct?

By clicking 'show' I can see the GUIs for the piano and the player. But I can't figure out how tp proceed from here. There is no sound from the piano; no presets listed in the player. I assume I have to load the piano into the player but there is nothing I can see in the player at present to click on to do this - no list of presets.

I'm obviously doing something wrong.

Thanks for your help.

Hello VSL,

I've just bought four instruments, standard library for each, on the February offer. I already have the Vienna Super Package hard drive. Instead of downloading the four instruments can I install them from the hard drive?

If not, and I have to download from the website the computer I use for the internet is not the computer where my VSL files are stored. Does that cause a problem with the download manager, etc?

Thanks.

Thanks Andi. It's a tempting offer.