Hey EricNJ et al -

I'll re-designate my original $1k for just solo strings too!  There have to be some experts out there that can get this one done?  Conditions:  Veracity/quality to be confirmed by Andi!

Happy composing everyone..., 

Eric

Hey MMKA - 

I wasn't aware of that particular set.  Thanks for the link!

Happy composing, 

Eric

Hi Andi, Cyril - 

Thanks for responding. 

Andi:  Am I missing something, or do we already have expression maps for the 'big one', i.e., Synchron Strings?  I'm a hobbyist, so not as familiar with what's out there as some of your customers.  If not, are you planning on making such an expression map?   Or is it perhaps not worth it, i.e., it will be very difficult to automate the full expression of the library even with the expression maps in Dorico, and one is better off working in Cubase?  Or does Dorico have the ability (through controllers, etc. on top of key switches) to access the full palette of VSL, and this is just a matter of not having the resources to create the expression maps?  

My dream (as a hobbyist for 30 years) is to be able to access all of the verisimilitude available in these libraries without having to program extensively, or even, at all - just write the music a la Staffpad and the 'interpretation engine' takes over, with a few controls available for drawing curves, etc.  

My offer to crowd fund the effort stands!  Perhaps I am naively underestimating the scale of the effort...

All the best, 

Eric

Dear VSL Friends - 

Could you estimate the FTE hours required to make Dorico 3.5 maps for key instruments where it matters 'most', i.e., where verisimilitude most requires the ability to carefully trigger from numerous articulations?  

(FTE=Full Time Equivalent).  

Maybe you could organize a distributed, paid effort for this talented community to get paid to contribute high-quality maps?  Crowd-source it, essentially.  Already there is an effort underway (thanks to many talented, generous people) but perhaps some leadership/technical guidance from VSL could make it even better, get it done faster, and save your team from the distraction when you could be making new libraries instead?  

Here's how it would work:  Folks donate (I will personally kick in $1,000 for starters) to a 'goal' (specific goal, such as a specific instrument?  or to a 'general fund'?)  Tasks are put up on 'Upwork' by VSL (say, 'EM's for Synchron Violins, the full instrument) with a 'prize' for completion, and estimated FTE-hours to get it done, based on your experience.  Someone in the community agrees to do it right, vetted by VSL, but paid for by donations.  They are awarded the contract (people could collaborate, too, Upwork supports this).  When they finish, you trigger the milestone and they get paid.  Folks in the community who are good at this could also bid to complete the project for a given amount.  Again, when the maps are made to VSL's/the community's satisfaction, VSL (who controls the Upwork account) triggers the milestone, and the community member gets paid. 

What do you think?  I will put (some of) my money where my mouth is.  Anyone else?

All the best, 

Eric

Wow, this was great news.  Thank you, Paul!  I was ready to crowd-fund some development of 3.5 expression maps, if Vienna has some bandwidth issues that might slow their arrival.  Anyone know how many FTE's, at what cost/FTE, it would take to get a volunteer army to do this right?

Dear Colleagues - 

Forgive the likely redundant post; I could not find a recent answer to this question - please feel free to point me to an answer that I am ignorant of. 

I am a hobbyist without a lot of time for making music.  I own Dorico, Notion, Sibelius, latest versions.  If using VSL is my primary goal, and I want to make full use of the software (articulations, etc.), which is the best package for me to really invest my time in getting good at?  Ease of use for note entry/composing on the score is my other priority. 

Sibelius - feels like there isn't a lot of support for controlling expression, etc.

Dorico - from reviews and posts, clumsy and not VSL ready, at least,  not ready for VSL to make a soundset...

Notion - not a lot of talk on this one on the forms - but a nice recent implementation with Synchron made me wonder if I should dust that one off?  

And of course, I own Cubase.  Unfortunately Logic went away (from PC) when Mac bought them...

Thanks for your help, 

Eric

 Thanks, I'll give it a try - I also found a neet little ap (haven't tried it yet) that purports to allow you to draw a transform curve for MIDI velocities, that you can then juxtapose inbetween your controller and your software.  May be just what I need...  Thanks again!

Hey Folks -

I just got Vienna Imperial and I'm absolutely blown away.  However, I'm having some trouble getting the touch right.  I want to at once ask for advice, and suggest to VSL that they allow us, in the advanced view, to draw the velocity response curve.  I don't have a great feel for what the 'dynamic range' and 'midi sensitivity' settings mean in terms of what the velocity response curve looks like, and also how to compare that to what it 'should' be if I were at a real piano

In the meantime, any advice on how to tune this?  Right now, I keep accidentally creating 'step functions' in the velocity response - almost like there is a sigmoidal curve - I have to play pretty hard to move up the loudness/louder samples curve, and then suddenly, bright, loud samples.  Probably because I'm superposing two V-R curves that I can't see.  I'm playing with it, but if anyone has some suggestions for how to go about it systematically, that would be great.

Ideally, it would work like this:  You have a Velocity-Response curve 'graph' and then you play your keyboard, and a vertical line indicates the velocity that the Imperial is receiving (and holds it until the next note is played).  Then you can see the correlation between your playing style, and the velocity transmitted.  And you can tune your keyboard appropriately, if the keyboard's transmission curve is the problem.  Then, on the VI side, you can shape the curve so that you get the desired relationship between your playing and the output.

Maybe Vienna Ensemble has this already, so I should just open an instance in VE?  But I prefer the stand-alone engine, because its thinner, and I'm running a dedicated system for live practice - I want to reserve all the power for the piano engine!

Any ideas?  Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Eric

Thanks Edward - very helpful...Curious whether Mac or Windows (through boot camp) is the better way to go if optimizing CPU load?  Windows has always felt thinner to me.    Anyone? 

Cheers, Eric

Hey Folks -

I'm trying to make the ideal 'silent practice' setup.  After much research and tryouts, I just traded my old weighted keyboard for a new Kawai EP3, the action (AHA-IV) of which feels just right to my touch (its not quite the AWA action on the MP8, but that thing is the size of a small car).  The sounds, however, well, you know.  VSL has spoiled me.  The trouble with my current setup is that its not really optimized for live use - even a 512 sample buffer makes an unacceptable lag for playing piano.  Any less and - snap, crackle, pop.

I've been thinking of setting up a small, discrete box just for playing Vienna Imperial.  I almost don't want to see it.  I just want to turn it on, and have it load up, like a good slave system.  My idea is:  Mac Mini, 4GB.  New HD (or firewire external) 7200 RPM.  However, I need something really small and fast to run the audio (out), and the midi in. 

Can I get this system down to an acceptable lag for live use?  Will I notice the difference between Bosendorfer Imperial, which I now own, and Vienna Imperial, for LIVE use?  What would your ideal, small, system be for this application?  Any takers?

Thanks very much!

-Eric

Apologies if I'm nitpicking, Christian, but if the key had to be on the master to work, period, then VE3 could open the patches anywhere it wanted, as long as the library was authorized on the master station.  Syncrosoft network authorization would not be necessary if VE3 were the one passing the license status. This would also prevent sharing the library over the internet, as the VE3 licenses could restrict the passage only to slaves that were on the same license.  I refuse to believe that this is beyond your programming capacities, given the miracles you have worked in every other category! 

Appreciatively,

Eric

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Come ON!  What gives?

Hi -

Back from hiatus, very excited about VE3.  Will we finally be relieved of the need to shuffle library licenses from one machine to another?  I have the full library loaded on 2 machines but only use them on the ones that have the corresponding license in the key.  Sometimes, I would like to have different combos, but the license shuffle is a hindrance.  It seems to me that now that all of the processing is being done within the VE 'family', VE3 should be able to detect the license on whichever VE3 machine its on, relieving us of the shuffle!  Yes?  No?

Enthusiastically,

Eric

Hi Steve et al - as the person who started this post, i just wanted to say thanks for all of the helpful information, and sorry for the radio silence - my day job has taken over again of late and I can only look wistfully at my VSL server setup lying dormant next to my desk.  I appreciate your help, and look forward to having the time to take advantage of the advice you've given.

Best regards,

Eric

THanks, Steve - I've sent you a direct email!  Looking forward to the soundset files. 

Best regards,

Eric

dear colleagues -

I have recently gotten excited about using Sibelius soundsets to map all of the articulations in VI so that one could, at least as a first pass, write in the score without even thinking about the technical aspects of selecting articulations, etc.

The trouble is, there is only a soundset for Vienna Instruments Special Edition.  I have most of the VI library and would like to be able to use it with Sibelius.  Does anyone have a soundset out there that has switches for the whole Vienna Instruments library? 

your suggestions are appreciated!

regards,

eric

Hi DG -

Thanks!  I think you're right - I haven't pushed the limits, but VE 64bit is launching "inside" 32Bit FX Teleport Slave, and reporting all 7.2GB! 

I'm off for a week, so if you don't here back, its not 'cuz I'm rude...

Best of luck,

Eric

Hi Peter - Thanks for your interest.  I'm happy to contribute what I can, but I may be slow to do so - I'm barely an amateur musician.  Just a weekend jockey (if that) who has always wanted an orchestra at his fingertips to see what my simple ideas would sound like.  Started with the S760, then Gigastudio and Garritan, now VI.  We may finally be getting there. 

I am indeed running VI on this system, as of tonight.  Actually, Vienna Ensemble.  To my delight, it appears at present that 32-bit Teleport can host 64-bit Vienna Ensemble, which is reporting all 7.2GB of RAM available for samples.  I think that they designed the Vienna Ensemble Service to do just this?  I intend to get another 8GB, and maybe fill that second processor slot (bringing us to 16GB).

Here's the catch - I'm just an amateur (professionally, a scientist and financial analyst) and thus I don't have any good mock-ups to try - I also work insane hours, presently, at my real job (hence the 2am post).  So, I don't have a lot of time to play with this.  I still haven't realized my dream of being able to write purely on the score, changing dynamics and articulations purely with annotations.  But we're getting close.  Maybe Logic 8 will have midi meanings?  I'm currently a dedicated Logic user because nothing else has the same score features (running PC Logic platinum, old school).  But I digress...

I'm going to be traveling for the next week; when I get back, I'll try to find some time to load up one of the heavy demos that are posted here, and see what it can do, and post what I find.  I am not very skilled with Vienna generally, which is why I jumped at the opportunity to give back to this forum by contributing my thoughts on building a server. 

I'll try and post some usage results when I get back, but it will be at least a week or 10 days.

Thanks for your comments...

Best regards,

Eric

Hi, the server I built is actually the 8GB, and now you could build the 2-Xeon, 16GB server for the same price. 

Stephen - don't know if your question is for me.  There is no soundcard,  I use it as a FX Teleport slave.  Haven't figured out how to get VE 64-bit hosted yet?  I know there is a 64bit version of Teleport  in early release...  DG?  Anyone?

The Intel board specs are here: http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/s5000psl/sb/s5000psl_tps_rev_1_3.pdf

I don't know if the several PCI-Express or PC-X 64Bit slots will take your existing sound card, etc. 

Best regards!

-Eric

Hi -

I thought I would chime in, as I last April built a system with an eye towards taking advantage of ultimate 64-bit compatability.

I don't have a lot of room in my 1 bedroom apartment, and I hate noise, so I built this.  From scratch.  4 hours? It is WHISPER quiet.

Here are my specs:

Intel S5000PSLSATA Server Board ($500)

2.33 Ghz Xeon quad core, 2.33 Ghz ($937)  [Now $485!! Damn.  You get 2 for my price of 1]

Windows XP x64 ($153, OEM)

Lian Li PC-V1200S-Plus-II (Silver) Aluminum Tower Case (with Cooling Kit) ($205)

HD_CTRL 3WARE|9650SE-4LPML SATAII R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$334.99)  (RAID Controller)
HD 320G|WD 7K 16M SATA2 WD3200AAKS - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$89.99) (System Drive)
HD 500G|WD 7K 16M SATA2 WD5000AAKS - OEM (Qty=2, Price=$134.99) (RAID ARRAY)

Memory: Crucial

Part Number: CT2KIT25672AF667
Price: $729.99
Description: 4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM  Upgrade for a Intel S5000PSL System
Line total: $1459.98  [Now would be 1/2 of this, or this much for 16GB]

ATX Nesteq Semi-Fanless ASM 620 Watt Quiet Power Supply: ($199.95)

Noctua NF-S12 1200 RPM 120mm Quiet Case Fan  3x $24.90  ($75)

About $4200 for the whole thing, but you would get 16GB and 2 Xeons for the same price I paid for half of this.

Oh, yeah:  The stock XEON fans are LOUD.  Get this, from Veraxfans.com

X21NGA
Cooling system designed for Intel XEON Dempsey
Woodcrest Covertown socket LGA771   $99.00

(Not even Zalman makes one for this socket)

Being able to load 16GB (and potentially 32GB) of Samples in VE in a single tower without having to swap collections and samples and Vienna keys around?  Priceless.

I hope that helps!

Best regards,

Eric

Hi Folks -

Perhaps a better question for the Teleport forum, but is there a 64-bit version of Teleport yet?  My sample box (quad xeon, 8gb, XP x64) is teleport only, and I want to use all that RAM for VE.  If it works, I'm a-goin' to 16GB!  Then we'll see what breaks...(RAID0 1TB array, can go to 2 quad xeons). 

Thanks for your help - this VE is the best thing EVER!  OK, I'm a little too excited.

Best regards,

Eric