AB : some VI patches have alternate sounds dependent on A "play it this way" or B "play it that way." 

Try this: load a patch with a scale run. A: run goes up. B: run goes down.

Load a dyn-li, dyn-me or dyn-str patch. A: crescendo. B: diminuendo.

Want one or the other all the time for a particular slot?  Advanced View > Edit (with correct slot selected and enabled ) Advanced Tab > AB Mode : Global ( works according to controller ) /  Force A ( A plays no matter where the controller is set ) / B ( B plays no matter where the controller is set ). 

On occasion, I find sustain patches that have a built-in crescendo, but it is very subtle -- nowhere near the designated crescendo patches. 

I've just auditioned the sample in question. At certain velocities, there may be a slight build up, but 1 dB at the very most -- like a subtle leaning on of the bow among certain players in an ensemble. It is most apparent at a mid-velocity sample, but it's near-negligable. I wanted to mention it -- but I don't think that's what you're hearing.

Before proceeding, just to be safe, dis-engage all velocity Xfade so when you play, you're just hearing one stereo sample.  

Two diagnostics: 1. Open Advanced view, select the VI-14_sus_Vib slot, select Edit, and make sure the Atk is all the way down to 0.  This is **not** the Attack slider in the controller mapping. It's a setting in Advanced > Edit associated to the patch. Edit is the tab between "Voice" and "Stretch." Be certain the correct slot is selected, as this editor is slot-specific. 

If "Atk" is anything but zero, you may have found the problem.

2. If it's already 0, then replace 10 VI-14_sus_Vib with 13 VI-14_sus_noVib in the same slot. Can you hear the same crescendo?  Now try 11 VI-14_sus_Vib_fA (fast Attack). Is that any better? 

In other words, we're trying to figure out if the behavior is patch-specific when all slot edit settings are the same. 

From the manual:

5. Sync Matrix:

• ON: Enables synchronization of cell position when switching between Matrices of the same size (they need to contain the same material as well)
• ON + Ctl: Enables additional synchronization of all matrix controls between matrices.

I know what ON does. Could someone explain what ON + Ctl does? What's meant by "all matrix controls between matrices." To what specific matrix controls does this refer? 

There is indeed no consensus.

That being understood, I agree with Stig. The one element that supersedes all else is a clear head. That's best achieved by the reasonable exclusion of complicating factors. When you have to trouble-shoot (and most likely, that will be your learning curve and not VSL issues), the simpler your set-up, the better.

To have one instance say Violins and the next Cellos helps. Digging about one instance to find either, their channels and then the right key switch, are steps you don't need right now.  One instrument per instance is the shortest distance between understanding what you have and making music. 

In fact, within those instances, I'd keep the channel and articulation counts reasonably low. And if you're completely new to VSL, building a small VI Pro stand-alone would simplify things even more. 

Nice helpful people here. Don't be afraid to ask. And the videos are indispensable. 

Cheers to Denmark. 

The website instructions say that, to post files in a thread, check "Attach Files to Post" and instructions will follow. 

When I check the box, nothing follows. 

I have tried dragging in PNG, JPEG, and PDF files.  A green plus sign appears, but nothing registers, nothing sticks. Just a blinking cursor. 

Please advise. 

I had to check some of this before responding. 

"... there are fast repititons where the repititions are actually recorded, rather then round robin programming."

Yes. Load a fast-rep patch, and in the Advanced View, you'll see only one version of the sample (one red dot). By the way, a few of the older libraries also have one and two upbeat samples. 

"There are so called PERF REPITITION patches which ahve cresc and decresc patches."

Perf-Repetition patches come in two varieties: dyn5/9 *and* regular (non-dynamic) repetitions. 

"And then many other normal patches throughout VI are also using the Repititions Control, but without any cresc or decresc programming..to avoid round robin artifacts."

Yes. There are short and long notes with more than one alternative sample. They often have four options if you include the initial note (designated with the 1 in a circle). They're not designated with "perf" anything, but they still have round robin options.

Note as well that to deflect the machine gun effect, alternating tuning curves which can be triggered per note further obscure any sense of a repeated sample. 

Hey Dewdman, you're the reason I bought a MacMini 2018 instead of a Mac Pro! :-)

"...are any of them designed to not <>?"

You're confusing perf-rep patches with perf-rep cre5 / cre9.

VI patches come with:

perf-rep_leg  (legato repetitions)

perf-rep_port (portato repetitions)

perf-rep_sta (staccato repetitions)

perf-rep_spi (spiccato repetitions)

There are exceptions, of course, per instrument. See the manuals for listings. None of these naturally cresc/dim --they hold the same dynamic. (But by velocity or any other assigned controller, they can, of course vary their dynamic.) 

The patches with cre5/9 sequentially play louder or softer. Particular notes can be omitted so that they grow or diminish more quickly, as you observed. 

Thanks again for all your help at LPH.

Thanks Ben. It's good to know MIR is not as resource-heavy as I thought, and I can see why Dimension Strings can be as ( relatively ) taxing as MIR when it fetches so many samples concurrently. Also, that IR in Synchron-Ized products are not much different than MIR is useful knowledge. 

I’ve just graduated into the world of Thunderbolt 3 with a new 2018 Mac Mini, but I’ve got several old school 3 TB drives, standard issue 7200 RPM 3.5, notably in my 3,1 Mac Pro.

I’m considering an OWC empty four bay Thunderbolt 3 external drive enclosure, and I know the top speed specs for Thunderbolt 3 do not apply if I put these useful but pokey spinning platters in the chassis. 

Question: what kind of read speed might I reasonably expect from old platters in a T3 chassis? This would be for VSL sample playback.

I am incorporating a new Mac Mini 2018 into my VSL-heavy workstation with two other much older Macs. 

Could some tech-savvy folks (Dietz, Ben, etc.) quickly run down what components of VSL are most taxing to drives and CPU? I think it's MIR Pro, and perhaps some of the Vienna Suite plug-ins. I have numerous licenses, and doubles (but not triples) of some authorizations. So an idea of what to prioritize in the fastest, newest Mac vs. what can be off-loaded into the slower, older Macs would be instructive. The DAW is Logic, on Catalina.

All samples will be streamed off SSD's, no matter the computer, running on an Ethernet network or resident in the host. The Mac Mini is upgraded to the 10GB Ethernet, but of course, the older computers are standard 1 GB.

The Mac Mini 2018 has Thunderbolt 3, the older Mac Mini has original Thunderbolt, and the eldest computer, an early 2008 cheese grater has no Thunderbolt -- only USB 2, Firewire 400 and 800.

These two older computers have been great, but the needs of Synchron pushed them beyond their CPU capabilities -- especially vel x-fading several mixer channels as found in Synchron Strings. The Room Mix setting squeaked past, but not multiple, simultaneous stereo channels.

Perhaps your advice can spare me some trial and error.

I recently purchased a Mac Mini 2018 with the upgraded Ethernet. It has four Thunderbolt 3 ports and two USB 3.1 ports. 

I have a Mac Mini 2011 server. That too has one Thunderbolt port, though it is only rated at "up to 10 Gbps." In other words, it's the slower, earlier Thunderbolt. 

I have three working eLicenser keys for Vienna Instruments Pro and Vienna Ensemble Pro. 

The new Mac Mini has the 10 GB Ethernet which (I'm assuming) doesn't get me much since the old mac Mini is just standard Ethernet.

Using the new Mac Mini 2018 as the host, driving Logic Pro on Catalina, is it possible to connect to the older Mac Mini as a server with Thunderbolt directly (no Ethernet)? On paper, Thunderbolt 3 to early Thunderbolt would be faster than old Ethernet.  

Another thought: they make Ethernet to Thunderbolt adapters. Could a VSL user connect the Ethernet adapter to  the new Mac Mini, the Thunderbolt to the old Mac Mini, set up a server that way and (theoreticlaly) have faster performance? (Again, the slower Ethernet on the old Mac Mini would be bypassed.)

It would also spare me the purchase of a router (my third computer is a Mac Pro 3,1 early 2008). But I don't know if A. a server can be configured with Thunderbolt, B. I'm willing to puzzle it out , or C. the gain in speed is of any real world consequence. 

I'm not hardware savvy. This is the first time I've worked with three computers for Vienna Ensemble. So forgive my unenlightened questions and responses. 

For a foretaste and the promise of such a sound, we have the VI Orchestral Strings'  sul ponti tremolo -- a unique patch in the VSL library. 

I cannot recall a VE function that side-steps CC 11 in any scenario. To my knowledge, it can only be turned off by the user. 

What you're hearing is not additional crossfade beyond your CC2 control. It's only an increase in amplitude. That's what Expression does -- it just makes it louder or softer. It's a volume control *within* the volume set by other controllers and the natural gain of the sample itself. 

To demonstrate this, you could turn cross fade off, set Dynamic Range to nil (so key velocity does nothing), pick a sharp attack sound like a pizz, and play with CC11. It'll still get softer and louder, but it's the same as twirling the volume knob. 

I anticipate this feature will be included soon. I post this in the small chance that it's gone unnoticed. 

When customizing presets, it's common to re-title slots. Presently, standard text commands don't work. Double-clicking on a slot opens the whole text field, but double-clicking beyond that does not choose a word within the slot. And a more common frustration is trying to cursor to letters left and right with the arrow keys -- this only adjusts the view of the overall window. 

Also, it'd be nice if, once the text field is highlighted, a right-click opened a copy/paste option (though command C, V and X do work).

These text commonalities are found everywhere else in VSL products. I'm sure it's on the "things to do" list with Synchron slots. Thanks.

On page 54 of the Synchron Manual PDF v 1.71, instructions are given for swapping the instruments of a custom preset. For example, a user can apply a template customized for Dimension First Violins to Dimension Violas.

In my own season of custom templating, this has been an extremely helpful time saver. 

But there is a catch not mentioned in the manual. Instrument ranges differ. A simple example would be violins starting on G3 and violas at C3. When the manual’s instructions are followed, ranges do not carry over. The new violas begin at G3. 

The user has two alternatives: A ) dragging each sample manually in the Synchron edit tab, or B ) an additional search/replace in the text field:

Violins: "rangeFrom" : 55,

Violas: "rangeFrom" : 48, 

( And usually “rangeTo” : also needs to be updated. )

To streamline this process, I ask for a new command to be available from a parent slot: “set default range of all child slots.” This command would examine the patches in each patch slot and re-set the ranges according to their default. 

A curiousity: with Patch chosen, type SVI-6A in the Search field. Obviously all the Synchron-ized chamber first violins appear. 

BUT... pizz snap is missing. Now type a space and then 52. Pizz Snap appears. 

The same thing happens with all the Synchron-ized Chamber Strings. 

If you use Logic, this can be the best of both worlds:

Alternating Live MIDI and Score Notation in One Track

What I hear is a distiinction without a difference, two performances that are not identical -- but I can't put into words what's really different about them. 

If pressed for an answer, I prefer B. It might have more depth, and the pan seems a little wider and looser, which I consider to be a good thing, or at least, a common phenomena: when eight seperate players are in unison, sooner or later someone will play a little louder than someone else. Even with the uniformity of the Dimension String library, I hear this at times, a very subtle moment of imperfect perfection. I suspect the second method's division of players one by one could highlight this. 

Or, as you note, I *think* I hear it, as ears must pass through the brain before sound is heard, and all brains have filters, assumptions, expectations. 

In any case, if they are not easily distinguished in this exposed context, without accompaniment, the matter would be even more obscure with more instruments.

As such, this may be a workflow decision more than a matter of sound. 

I printed out the manual last month and spent two minutes looking for "#10" on page 7. :-) That and Waldo could not be found. 

And "screenhot" is a typo at the lower right of the page.

"...you can only see this option with short notes selected."

To clarify, any patch slot will show this option, no matter the length or nature of the sample. You may have clicked on a parent slot (like "Short notes" in the string presets). Parent slots will not show wave-related options (velocity crossfades, start offsets and discrete output settings). 

Check 11 VI-P2 [ through P8 ]_perf-rep_cre5_leg. Here the last of the five notes is mis-mapped starting at F4. 

Player 1 plays correctly. 

Yes, it is needed. VSL might consider bringing the IR Editor up to the mixer itself ( to avoid the click-to-open ) as a knob or slider and adding a grouping function on the Mix page. All Dimension Strings' (as an example) could be grouped, and one adjustment on one channel would change the IR levels of all assigned channels. 

[ Even an additional category above EQ / Delay / Reverb called "IR" would be helpful. ]

I am currently templating Synchron-ized Dimension and Synchron-ized Chamber Strings with Synchron Strings, and fine-tuning the IR's requires a lot of clicking. 

1. I'm getting conflicting quotes on the price of a Roompack side license ( in this case, the new Synchron Stage Roompack ). In the video "MIR Pro Product Information," at 2:14, Paul says side licenses are available at a 70% discount. I've found a VSL forum post confirming this. 

But one vendor told me that side licenses are 50% off.

Might VSL confirm which discount is correct? 

2. Roompacks are on sale this month ( November 2019 ). Is the discount off the standard price or this month's sale price? 

Thanks. 

You did it. You solved an issue that I have faced for over a year. i even posted here regarding it. I'm on Mojave.

Note: Vienna Ensemble Pro had already been checked. What solved the problem was checking my DAW (Logic Pro) as well. 

Many thanks, gt123. 

I look forward to watching this too. 

Be advised that the presentation on youtube doesn't start until 5:45 into the video. Before that, it's just the intro "Starting Soon" slide.

Cheers.