I have a Logic project that uses many instances of synchron player. I created it on my laptop, but I wanted to open it on a different machine that has all the same installations. So I copied it over, and when it opened there was no sound. I checked the synchron instances, and every synchron player was empty, as if no patch had been selected. This is not good to say the least. Anyone know what might be causing this?

After trying different things--- it turns out that installing from one drive to another is just as problematic as installing to an exfat-formatted drive. You have to have the installation files on the same drive they're being installed to. So that's how I solved it.

First, I downloaded all the Synchron strings files. Then I opened the package.info file for 1st Violins in Synchron Library Installer, selected a directory on my SSD, and started installing. The progress bar chugged along at 1% per 2 seconds until it hit 11%... and then it stopped. No more progress. And I have no idea why. The disk is not full. There is no error message. It's all taking place on a very fast Samsung SSD. There's no clear explanation for why this is happening. I retried several times, always with the same result. It hangs at 11%. I've tried with the 2nd violions and violas... same thing. I assume this applies to all the Synchron libraries.

After retrying many more times and always quitting after it gets stuck at 11%, I decided to try leaving the installer running overnight. In the morning, it had reached 85%. But I had to cancel anyway because I needed to leave the house with my laptop. And going through a 12 hour+ install for each library is ridiculous and shouldn't be necessary, so I don't consider this a solution.

My computer is a mid 2014 Macbook Pro running Mojave, connected to a 2 TB Samsung SSD. All Vienna software is the latest. However, I've tried installing from and to other drives (HDDs) and the result is the same. And I suspect the problem runs even deeper, as I also ran into the same thing on an iMac running High Sierra back in the summer. At the time I thought it was a one time glitch, but now I realize that I need a solution or I won't be able to use the Synchron strings I bought.

Anyone else deal with this? Please help!

It's my understanding that at some point the Synchron Strings released over the past several months will be available to download as Synchron Player-specific libraries. Now that I've used the player with the FX strings and I love it, I'm eager to start doing this. My question is when?

Originally Posted by: SJSF

AIR on a G-String

The legato is very off for me. That said, I offer this quote. "Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong." - Neil Gaiman

If I'm understanding his post correctly, the Air is not done with Synchron. I assume he'll be posting that soon.

Just want to say bravo. I find this new library quite inspiring, and a lot easier to use than dimension strings. I'm a little lazy and it's nice when something sounds great with minimal effort :)

Thanks Mark.

37 downloads, 1 comment! Who are these lurkers?

Howdy. Here's some music I made -- probably the best sound I've been able to achieve yet with VSL.

https://www.mediafire.com/?hkixwhm6p2ynwme

If anyone is generous enough to offer criticism, from a musical or production standpoint, I'll be happy to hear it. Thanks

hello, I wanted to share something I made recently with VSL. A simple cinematic piece.

https://www.hightail.com/download/elNMTmZkR0YrV3c4RmNUQw

This is the first time I've ever been happy with the sound of the VSL timpani. It's difficult to mix, but I think I figured it out... let me know what you think.

Yes, it's total bullshit. I respect the need to prevent piracy, however if the situation is as serious as "lose this tiny piece of plastic, and you lose your ability to use this multi-thousand dollar product forever" there should be a better system. Period.

As much as I love the VSL sounds, I'm already very nervous about how much money I've sunk in that tiny piece of plastic, and I'm reluctant to spend another dollar at this point. That's not how it should be.

Figure it out, VSL.

Here the problem is not Hans Zimmer - the problem is you. The Dark Knight made $1 billion and was highly acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. If you really break it down, there are only 2 purposes for a film like that:  to make money and to satisfy the consumers of popular entertainment so that they'll spend money on associated products and future installments of the franchise. By these two measures alone, it was a total success. Obviously the music did not hold it back.

Now, I'm not saying that you should like the music, or that the music is particularly great. What I'm saying is this: why should anyone expect Zimmer's music (or the modern soundtrack in general) to sound any different? Time and time again, Hans Zimmer has come in and done his thing, and the movies have made billions of dollars. If you're in the business of film, and you share the two goals outlined above (making money, satisfying consumers) you look at that and you say "Get me Hans Zimmer..." or more likely "Get me someone who sounds like Hans Zimmer." That's where we are now, with regard to mainstream commercial cinema.

There are filmmakers who actually want to have good/interesting music in their films, and there are composers who can give it to them, but that music doesn't necessarily appeal to you. That's because FILM has changed, and so has MUSIC. The creative and market forces that would dictate using a Korngoldian score do not exist right now. That style was most prominent at a time when that type of music was a popular type of music. Since then, film composers have learned that recorded music, as a medium, is not just for capturing musicians in a room, but in fact allows you to put a magnifying glass over particular sounds. When music was only transmitted via musical notation, composers had little control over timbre other than by choosing the instrumentation and hoping for the best. But once composers wrapped their heads around the ability to set a single specific sound in stone, timbre began to take over from tune as the dominant paradigm. Synthetic instruments have increased the timbral palette exponentially. A film soundtrack today could be created by banging on empty paint cans with microphones inside them. Is it music? I'm not sure. Is it great Sunday afternoon listening? Definitely not. Could it be the best approach to scoring a particular film? Absolutely. The music you like is of a time, and that time is past. The default approach to scoring is no longer "get 50 musicians and write 20 great tunes." There are infinite ways of exploring the merger of sound and image. I do think that it's a shame composers don't try out a few more of those ways, but don't forget who's calling the shots most of the time: businessmen.

And I'll say this to anyone who loves great music: why the hell would you go looking for great music in film scores? Sure, there are a few good ones, but there are literally centuries worth of great pieces that have nothing to do with movies - why look for musical satisfaction in some hokey studio picture starring some hokey thespian?

PS, I work in the film industry in a creative (non-musical) capacity

PPS, the Dark Knight Rises is irredeemably bad and no score could change that.

It probably won't happen but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be useful. Of course it would require a redesign, but it's probably a very small task compared to recording, editing, sequencing, and testing the million+ samples in the DS collection, and it would make them more of a joy to use. 

The clarinet Bb is great. Flute 1 is great. The epic horns are really great. I got Soprano choir with mine, because I already have the special editions, which covers most of the available free instruments, but if I didn't, I would get clarinet, flute, or horns for sure.

Thanks for the tips, and I do realize these options are there. And I acknowledge that I probably have a thing or two to learn about VI Pro. I just think, when you're getting into these bigger and more complex collections, maybe some custom tools would be extremely valuable to streamline things, so there is less time sepnt on technical fussing and more on music making. As is, they're really straining the usability of VI Pro.

I agree this is needed. I don't know if I'd want it implemented exactly as suggested by Sami, but I too have been struggling to manage the crazy number of patches and have found my setup time has increased astronomically for projects using dimension strings. I know there are VSL-made presets that have it all, but what happens when you want to be selective, or arrange things in a different or new way? You're stuck dragging hundreds and hundreds of little items into squares from a side menu that, quite unhelpfully, closes when you switch folders.

I've been going a bit insane with it. I spent several hours making my own set of presets one evening, only to realize that I hadn't thought of one articulation I might need. Redoing them took many more hours still. I need better tools for this! In fact, I would argue that each Dimension collection should have its own special version of VI Pro that simplifies many of these tedious operations into a simple GUI (for example, a single assignable parameter to change the number of players per voice, a single assignable parameter to change whether it's "regular" "open" or "force string," a velocity-fade style slider to change between vibrato and non-vibrato). All these things are completely possible to set up within VI Pro, they're just extremely unwieldy... thus, the special version idea. I don't know if VSL is working on this, but if you are, thank you in advance!!!

That's really night and day with the old version. Very nice composition, and great cello sound.

Criticisms: some of the faster parts sound a little fishy, such as the descending three note figures at 0:10 and 1:00,  and the ascending run at 1:45. The tremolos at 0:30 don't sound right, either. Timings are loose overall, and sometimes it sounds like it's for human effect, and sometimes it sounds like samples being out of sync.

Other than those specific points, it's astoundingly easy to imagine you're listening to actual players. While it appears to be harder to wield than previous collections, the sheer detail of the recordings seems to give DS the highest level of fool-the-ear realism yet.

Well, I'm intrigued enough that I bought it, so I guess that's a job well done by the demo creators. And I bet I can get better sounds out of it than I've heard so far

Because some of us have other things happening in our lives than the VSL forums?

Anyway, I just listened, and this has a better cello sound than the other demos, for my tastes. But it still sounds a bit awkward and unnatural in the phrasing and timing of it. Certain parts are beautful and totally convincing, and others just sound like a synthetic instrument. This is nothing new -- VSL is just tricky that way. That said, the Dimension cellos sound more hit and miss in that regard than usual.

I'm still a bit confused about how the patches work. From what I understand, you get 8 totally isolated solo patches for each instrument - one for each musician in the section... is that right? If so, how do those solo patches compare to the regular solo strings? Or do I have it wrong? How does it work?

My understanding is that Guy's demos are sponsored by VSL as a way to entice people like me to buy them. These particular demos sound thin and brittle and do not appeal to my ears at all, especially compared to previous products. Guy is a fine VSLman, so that makes me immediately suspect the samples. Or it could be that there are a lot of high notes for the cello, which aren't too enjoyable at the best of times. Or maybe, as you imply, it's that Guy is "being made to produce" demos with instruments he's not familiar with in a rushed way, which if true would be a silly approach to promotion. Whatever the reason -- why would anyone spend $1000 unless the demos blow them away? Listening to demos is literally the only way of evaluating libraries short of putting up a large sum of cash. So, no sale here. Not yet. Not even if a guy on the internet called William says it's "the best thing."

I have to agree. This makes me not want to buy dimension strings. Special edition sounds better, in my opinion. Not sure if it's the instrument samples themselves or the mix, though...

It's not for relaxation. I have a strong impulse to create, which I don't examine too closely... it's just something I need to do or I get itchy. Sometimes I make music for money, but usually I just make it because it would be irritating not to. After it's done, I listen to it a few times, then move on to something else. What else can you do?

I wanted to try something using only the special edition's solo strings so i made this microscopic piece of music. you can hear the limitations of the samples, but it's close...

https://soundcloud.com/user5248141/stringduetbminor?in=user5248141/sets/vsl

i wouldn't say that, but i guess it depends on your definition of "soundscape."

the inspiration was early 1800s orchestral music, and it has some pasted-together elements of that, but there isn't the same committment to developing melodies and keeping things ticking rhythmically, because it's 2013 and that ain't my deal man. 

i will say that i don't think i've ever gotten better sounds out of VSL.

https://soundcloud.com/user5248141/portal

Comments welcome...