I would say that the correct notation is the tenuto symbol (the small line over the note), or the tenuto+staccato dot symbol. The sample length should depend on the note length and phrase speed.

Paolo

Andi, if I’m not mistaken, in the past you called 0.5 and 1 sec the articulations later called portato short and long.

Paolo

Hi,

The instruments in VSO abrubtly begin and end at a particular note. For example, in the Normal Strings violas start immediately at C3; in the Normal Woodwinds clarinets immediately end at C4, leaving the flute alone.

With Vienna Instruments Pro one can make this kind of transitions smoother: instruments gradually enter or disappear at the end of their best range. It would be great if your preset were as smooth, even without giving the user the luxury of editing the range themselves.

The library would as a consequence sound absolutely perfect in any situation.

Paolo

I personally prefer the Vienna Instruments series, recorded dry in the Silent Stage. I'm not particularly interested in the Synchron Series, that has the advantage of being ready to use, but lacks the incredible flexibility offered by the VI series.

There is an online shop currently proposing 50% off from the Symphonic Cube. I would go for it, and maybe wait for other offers to get Appassionata and Dimension Strings. But there is a lot you can already do with the Cube, that is the complete symphonic orchestra.

Paolo

Ok, I took some time to explore the various pedal combinations. What I found is that there is a sound of half pedal – only, it is not used!

Turn 2sus on. Play a note, and release it. Immediately press the damper pedal, before the note release ends.

What you can hear, is a halo that sounds nearly exactly as the half pedal: a subtle resonance, a distant sound remebering the damper pedal.

It would be just a matter of scripting this effect, to have a convincing half pedal simulation.

I'll say it again: Vienna Imperial is a great piano. It takes very little CPU, and not all that space on disk. It would be great to give it a second opportunity.

Paolo

Hi,

If an instrument is sorely missing from the market, it is a sampled fortepiano. Strongly needed for accurate rendition of Mozart's music, we can only use the humble and dated Bolder Sound's, or the oddly sounding models included in Pianoteq.

It would be a great completion to the Keyboard VI collection an instruments sampled as VSL usually does. Hoping it will be part of the VI series, not the Synchron.

Paolo

Hi,

Does anybody have a piece performed with the new Synchron Steinway piano, with just the close mics or close+medium mics from the Standard library? I would like to hear what's the driest sound, with the least room sound as possible. The official demos only contain the Decca mics, and that is already too reverberant for me.

Paolo

A solution for the cost of the three licenses could be this:

- Sell the basic one-machine license as is.
- Sell the individual additional licenses as they are.
- Sell a package of three licenses at a discounted price.

Paolo

Paul, thank you for your answer. I'm lucky to own all the VI instruments. But having them integrated in Smart Orchestra is a different thing, where you have everything immediately under your fingers. It's like a piano with black and white keys replaced with multicolor keys.

Paolo

Smart Orchestra is a very well-thought raw painting tool. What I miss is a solo cello, probably the instrument I use the most for melodies. Maybe it will come, with an update?

Paolo

They sound great (both the announcement of VEPRO 7 and the new Epic Orchestra). And the price is right!

Paolo

Both in Vienna Instruments and Synchron Player, it would be great to see a single CC number used to select one of the cells in a matrix, or a cell in the Synchron tree.

In VI, you would be limited to only the first 128 of the 144 cells in a matrix, but it would be enough to cover most, if not all cases (who uses 12 rows, anyway?).

In SP, you would use groups of ten values for each columns in the tree, with values to spare.

So, a single CC would allow selection of all the cells (at least, in most cases).

Another controller that could work, in SP, is one already implemented in VI: Keyswitch Velocity. Play a Ksw softly, and you will also select its first children cell; play it at an average strength, and select the second childen; stonger, and here is the third children.

Paolo

Hi,

While moving the Vienna Key to a different computer has become less troubling, with the protection plan, I wonder if there is smarter way to at least share it on a home/studio network.

Computer (at least, Macs) can access USB drives anywhere on the network, if they are allowed. At the same time, they should be able to access a Vienna Key, if connected to a different computer on the network.

This would mean that musicians could let the Vienna software access the Vienna Key on the network. The key would not be moved, but will be accessible on the network.

The result would be that the same key would work for the home and studio computer, without having to move it everytime.

Paolo

I guess speed detection is happening on the last note length. So, the articulation selected according to speed seems to be the following one. This is the reason why I can't mix long and short articulations in the same column controlled by speed.

In any case, where speed can be a valuable controller (like for switching between legato slow and fast, and sustain normal and fA), I find it is working reasonably well.

Paolo

I agree with all the points. VSL instruments are empowering tools. I was literally shocked twice with them: the first time when switching from older technologies to the VSL starting set included in Kontakt; the second time when playing a line with the newely purchased SE. It was as if I could finally have a real orchestra at my fingertips.

I hope the old VI collection is not abandoned, because I too feel these are their best, more complete and more flexible instruments. On the contrary, I hope they will expand them with extended techniques, something once reserved to us elitist academic composers, and now also loved by freaker film and trailer composers.

Paolo

Hi,

Thank you for your answers. I'm using the full libraries with both Logic and Dorico.

Using Speed control seems very interesting. You can simply focus on the basic articulation (say, sustain, staccato or legato), and let the Vienna Instrument player choose the correct articulation for that playing speed, without having to add manual controls for this.

In the end, I think it is not a good idea to let playing speed select a shorter articulation instead of a long sustaining one. Assigning a shorter duration to higher speeds means risking to end a phrase on a short, non-sustaining note.

An alternative I could find among the VSL articulations is the Fast Attack (fA) Sustain. This type of articulation lasts as a normal sustain, but has a faster attack, much better suited to higher playing speeds. I found it suggested as "optimized for legato", but it works great on non-legato, high-speed sustains.

The fA articulations don't sound exaclty the same as the ordinary sustain ones, but this slight variation should add to variety and vivacity of the phrase, making it sound more real.

Paolo

Hi,

I would like to add some degree of automation in the way a sample player selects an articulation when playing at a certain speed.

For example, if you have the needed articulation I find it natural to choose the following pairs (respectively for slow and fast playing):

- staccato, spiccato
- normal legato, fast legato
- détaché long, détaché short
- portamento slow, portamento fast

What about with the ordinary sustain? When playing fast, would the normal sustain be replaced by short détaché, staccato, or on the contrary fast legato?

I would say staccato, or any degree of non-legato between short-détaché and staccato. Legato seems to be a different state of mind, asking for a different set of articulations (the legato pair/combo).

What do you do in this case?

Paolo

Hi,

Since not all the patches of the full instruments are included in the presets, how do you deal with the more advanced articulations that are excluded? Do you modify the presets and maps? Or, all considered are you happy with the supplied patches?

I'm thinking, for example, to the strings' progressive vibrato, or the strings' portato articulations. Or the prerecorded repetition patches. Are you happy not to use them, or are you finding a way to add them to the expression map system?

Is there a reason they were excluded from the presets?

Paolo

"Pure happines".

Happy free composing!

Paolo

If I understand correctly, Smart Spheres is more extreme than the Hybrid part of Smart Orchestra. But a clarification would be nice, since it seems there are some overlapping zones.

Paolo

Sorry for reopening this thread, but if someone had issues with assigning unused keyswitches to the same note, it would be very helpful to me to know it. I'm near to start replicating my template preset to other presets, and would like to avoid replicating a major flaw.

Thank you!
Paolo

As an alternative, I'm thinking of assigning a G9 (highest MIDI pitch) to all the matrices. Would this cause problems that I can't see at the moment?

Paolo

Hi,

I was planning to use Program Change messages to select matrices.

However, I had to discover that keyswitches continue to remain active, and select matrices even when you are in 'prg' (Program Change) mode.

Also, when loading a preset, the selection mode always defaults in 'ksw' (Keyswitch) mode. Is there a way to only use Program Changes to select matrices?

Paolo

Paul, I'll experiment!

Best, Paolo

Hi Paul,

Do you think that "fast attack sustain" patches make sense, today? I was thinking of letting the speed detection recall them at the highest speed of non-legato passages, when attacks are usually faster. But I suspect that the difference with ordinary sustain, in real use, is negligible.

Paolo