I've always used Vel X fade for intensity and dynamics but there always seem to be volume fluctuations between certain articulations with some being extreme. Subsequently, I use the Expression fader to smooth out those differences for seamless transitions.

For example, if you use portatos with legatos the portatos will usually come out louder than the legato so I bump the expression fader down a bit when the portatos play to match the legatos.

Another example is a diminuendo/decrescendo sample at the end of a phrase.  The beginning of the sample is usually much louder than the rest of the phrase causing it to sound unnatural so you bring down the expression fader just before the sample plays.

The opposite is true for a crescendo sample unless after the crescendo you want the phrase to be fortissimo or something.

By the way, What the hell's the difference between diminuendo and decrescendo?

You're welcome

And you're right about the legacy VS.  I too still use the Master EQ because it's an intuitive and easy to use application.  It has never let me down and some of the mixes I've had to fix have been real doozies.  

The convolution reverb is still my first choice whenever I need to create an environment for my songs no matter what the style.  Also, the multiband limiter works great for treating the lows in acoustic and bass guitars.

As for VS Pro, both the imager and the compressor stand out for me but all the plugs are top notch.

Again, my compliments to everyone involved with the development of the Vienna Suite (Pro)

I took atvantage of the Black Friday sales and purchased the Vienna Suite Pro and I just want to say what an awsome set of plug in effects in that suite

 

I've recently gone back to my Pop Music roots and have been using those plugs in my songs.  I've just been blown away with the results.  Not to mention I'm having so much fun playing with the software. 

People are surprised when I tell them what plugs I'm using.  "Vienna?" They say, "Aren't they the ones who do those little violin samples or something?"

In which I reply, little violin samples, big violin samples and a lot more "or somethings" than you can imagine.

But there is a down side however and that is now I'm going to have to remix and remaster all of my old tracks. "Oh the humanity" 

When I first began my journey into the world of virtual orchestra I had heard that many MIDIstrators created Corporate Music.  I had never heard of Corporate Music before so I wanted to aquaint myself with that style.  I happened across a Youtube video that gave these "rules" that you had to abide by if you wanted to be versed in all things Corporate Music. I tried in vain to find the video and post a link here as I thought it would be a great companion piece to the video Errikos posted but from what I remember:

Rule 1.   Never write in anything other than a major key because coproate music is always happy or introspective.

Rule 2.  Never write a chord progression with more than four chords. And even four is pushing it because you can't have the listener think too much.

Rule 3. Only use "Happy" instruments but not whismical.  So violins (fiddle), flutes, clarinets, whistling, Ukuleles yes, but no harmonicas or zithers.  Also, no overbearing instruments like double bass because it's not fair to the violins that the double bass is so overpowering.  Same thing goes for the bassoon but staccato tubas are cool.  No trumpet either because trumpets are blaring loud mouths that display aggression. And definately no ethnic instruments because that shows cultural dominance over other cultures; a cardinal sin.

So basically Corporate Music is music that is, what I would call, "Woke Culture compliant."  It's ironic since the word "corporate" is an offensive and filthy word in Woke Culture society due to its capitalist pig and bourgeoisie connotations.  Be that as it may, Corporate Music compliments Woke Culture and all of its asininity.     

I don't understand why you would feed stereo signals as mono into a convolution reverb but, then again, there's quite a lot I don't fully understand about virtual orchestra and I've been doing this over ten years now.

No. I would leave them stereo unless you're trying to create some effect.

As for clarity try EQ'ing the reverbs.  I always put a high pass filter on mine and then adjust it according to the instrument.  So I EQ more of the low end out of bass instruments and less out of treble instruments.

First of all, what's your budget?

Secondly,

Do you want to work "out of the box?" Then look into the Synchron Series.  It's quicker and easier as you basically just plug and play but your options are severely limited.  If it doesn't sound the way you think it should then there isn't much you can do to about it.  It might suffice for Pachelbel's Canon in D however.

Or do you want much more flexibility? Look into VI, Dimension, and the SE series with VI Pro.  With VI you can shape and mold the compositions to your liking but, if you're new to VSL, there is a learning curve that can be frustrating.

A Special Edition (SE) collection might work just as well with the Canon in D espeically if you're on a tight budget.

 

Well unfortunately VSL has yet to make a "Yultide Fireplace Sample Library."

But when they do, look out Skippy because, not only will it move, but it will be so real that you could warm your hands with it.  Get the full library and you'll be able to roast marshmellows with it.

 

Happy New Year to all

Depends on the size of the ensemble.  If it's, say a string quartet or quintet, then I won't quantize anything.  Also, I'm a pianist by training so anything I do on the piano is never quantized.  But if it's a large ensemble piece like a 100 piece orchestra then yes I quantize because even slight rhythm inconsistancies will be amplified and the human ear will detect it.  It's the fluctuations in tempo, like slowing down slightly at the end of melody line which players do naturally, that make the piece sound more natrual.

?????????????

Do you mean you're NOT in the Synchron Player?


In VE, you insert two instances of VI then load the SFZ in one instance and the Cresc. In the other instance. Make sure both instances are set to the same MIDI channel (output).

Yes.


All the above.


I play most of my compositions on my keyboard then end up going back and quantizing most of what I played. Back in the day, you used to have to play sloppily then automate the tempo, then slightly fiddle with the tuning using a wide variety of articulations to try and achieve a natural sounding performance.

Nowadays I still fluctuate the tempo but thanks to the miracles of VSL humanization and repetition performances those other processes can be automated and randomized. If you have VI Pro you can use the humanization feature in conjunction with the bigger full size libraries to automate much of what we did back in the day manually.

If you don't have VI Pro then you'll have to do everything manually which can be quite laborious and painstaking.

Just a shot in the dark but have you updated your soundcard drivers?

A belated merry Christmas to you!


Thank you guys so much for spreading some yuletide cheer around the forum. The cozy fireplace reminded me of some white Christmases I had as a child growing up in Colorado. Of course up there in the Great White North you guys always have a white Christmas. And a white New Year's, a white Ground Hogs Day, a white Easter a white Mother's Day, and probably a white all of July for that matter (Man, it gets brutally cold up there).


Anyway it was very kind of you guys to take the time to do that and thank you again for it.


Next year you can perform a trio of "All I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" with your little one on vocals B-)


BTW Did I hear a little bit of "Home Alone" in the intro???

I think the video tutorial on "Humanization" or "Performance Repetitions" shows you specifically how to turn off instances in the round robin order but basically you'll see a row of I think red dots above the humanization section of the Advanced view in VI PRO. Just click on the red dots to turn them off.


So, for what I think you want to do, make a matrix with a Performance Repetition patch loaded. Then load the same perf. Rep. Patch in another slot, then another and so on. Then, go back to each patch and turn off whichever repetitions you want to turn off. Finally just randomly keyswitch between the patches.


You could also adjust the time when the reps activate.


Paul, if you're eavesdropping on our conversation could you please give him a link to that video. Do you know the one I'm talking about? Sorry I'm writing this on my phone.

Hence my request to VSL to automate the transposition trick in the next VI PRO generation.

Okay, I've never done it myself but you could experiment with the master tuning. I think it defaults to 440 Hz but I you could try setting it to equal a semi-tone. Not sure if it will work but you could experiment.

I MIDI learn a knob on my keyboard (MIDI controller) then just turn the knob all the way up or down and leave it. Of course your set up and work flow may be different but MIDI learn a knob works for me. Also, make sure you don't already have MIDI data recorded on the track for that controller.

Which libraries are you using? I use the full libraries not the S.E. collections which might make a difference because SE libraries are sampled at whole tone not half.

Like I said, the only issues I've had is with semi tones versus whole tones. I just noticed whole tones working better but it might depend on the library, strings vs. Brass or something.

Otherwise known as "The Transposition Trick." 

I haven't done it in a while but basically you set the pitch range then push the pitch bend fader all the way up or down depending on the range of the melody line.  Then transpose the MIDI.

It's in the options tab and this is straight out of the VI (not Pro) manuel, page 35 I think. 

"Pitch Range  Click-drag to set the master pitch bend range (as controlled by the Perform tab > Pitch Bend slider)."

So set it to a semitone then just push the fader up or down.  Although In my experience a whole tone worked better for some reason.

BTW it would be nice if this were just automated some how in the next generation of VI Player (hint! hint! VSL )

 

That is odd Dietz because as children most Americans were taught the spelling rule " I, before E, except after C "

Of course, there are exceptions but your name is not one of them

And even when we know the rule we break it as my "deleted" post above is proof because I misspelled your name which is why I deleted it

deleted

Hey Paul,

I agree with William on the style of your piece here but I think it's more Copeland sprinkled with some Haydn because I'm hearing many of the telltail signs of Classical structure.  But I like that style and I wish more composers would embrace it.

And we all hope that your health issues won't become so debilitative that you cannot compose anymore as that would deprive not just you but all of us.

Thanks for sharing

If you go to the videos of the Vienna Suite Pro https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Vienna_Software_Package/Vienna_Suite_PRO#!Video_Demos 

The fifth video down has "Imager Pro" presentation.  It's a nefty sweetening tool used heavily in Pop music stylings which is why I was a little surprised to see it in Vienna Suite Pro but it's a great for widening your stereo mixes.  You could put the listener in the back of the concert hall or you could put him at the conductor's point of view. 

I'm just going to comment on the "film music"

The composition is magical and sounds almost Elfmannesque or something you might hear in a Tim Burton movie.

Was this EQ'ed? Because the lows and mid lows get punchy at times. It may benefit from some multiband compression. Or it could be my listening environment which is my car.

An inspiring piece of music. I'm not a fan of the show so I can't comment on how faithful your rendition is to the original. The mix sounds fine but I'm not sure The Special Editions samples are suited for a piece like this as they are sounding a bit thin and tinny to my ears. I guess the whole step to half step sampling really makes a difference.

You said you used Vienna Suite Pro did you mix the piece in surround sound? If not, did you use the stereo imager?

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I think it has to be "Synchronized" in order for it to work in the Synchron player and I don't remember a "synchronized" Concert Guitar being released as of yet

However, The Vienna Player and standard Vienna Ensemble are free downloads and they'll play and host the Guitar

Now good luck getting the reverb to match your Synchron samples

Maybe turn off the reverb in Synchron then use a third party reverb?

The way I understand it, the historical instruments are a work in progress like all the other product lines VSL offers. For example, First you had Solo Strings, then Orchestral, then Chamber, etc. so be patient.  Good things come to those who wait.