The VI manuals have been updated fairly recently and I appreciate that. However, no examples were given so it makes the manuals purely a reference for a forgotten point when there  a person already has a good  understanding of how the VI interface works. 

So this is where the videos come in and they are great!

However, I've watched several of the videos at least three times and find myself giving up (again) in frustration because the dialog goes by too quickly and Paul unpacks some concepts so very, very quickly I just can't make the leaps as steps of explanation are left out. 

So in the interest of better pedagogy, could someone perhaps add into the written manuals, examples such as Paul has in the videos but making certain to not leave out any steps of what is done. The section on matrices and outputs connected to ports in VE went sailing by too fast. There's also a section on the slot editor which could use a rewrite. My main point is to get what Paul is saying into written format-I find videos usually helpful, except when they aren't and then they are too frustrating to use. 

Thanks

October/21/2020

Figured out the issue here was a plug in (Ivory II (Italian Grand Piano) by Synthogy that needs to be updated.); it was crashing VE Pro 7 and 6.5.

But the manual for VE needs to state explicitly what the difference is between the server version of VE and just plain old VE because of the midi *port* thingy as the server only has one port available for each instance where as VE Pro has 32 ports. 

Anyway. 

Have another issue with the training videos for VI pro2, but starting a seperate thread on that.

But this all takes away from composing and arranging, fussing with the technology takes way too much time and definitely takes all of the fun out of using these otherwise wonderful applications.

Later. 

1. Built up a template over the past 6 weeks with of patient, time consuming and now Vienna Ensemble crashes whenever I load Cubase 10.5.2. I suspect the problem is something I did so here goes with some questions before I report a crash-at any rate, there is no crash log anywhere that I can find. 

2. Let's start with a question: In terms of strictly from a users standpoint-what is the difference between VEPro 7 server and VE 6.5?

I get the idea of having VE Pro Server to set up 2 or more computers but I'm not interested in doing that right now.  I understand the server/slave setup would allow the server to do the heavy lifting of assigning memory slots but up until now, my templates have not come anywhere near using even 1/2 of the available memory.  Also, for that server setup to ever be possible, I'd need have to have a techie within a phone calls reach, (or arms reach) and that's just not possible. Beginning to see I need someone very close by for help with this whole scenario of using sampled sounds  and the associated software. There have been just tons of frustrating moments in the past 12 years. In a way, I wish I could give it up, it's only a pastime afterall, but I'm hooked and that in itself is disturbing. 

For me VE allows the establishment of up to 32 midi ports with 16 channels each in each instance. I found this very confusing when I only recently discovered that the drop down menu for the ports was connected to a real number of ports as they never show in the Inspector window in Cubase with VE Pro Server. But the ports are visible when I create instances with VE. I really need those ports to be visible in Cubase.

Or maybe not. Maybe I should forget about VEPro Server 7- I'm beginning to wonder about it's efficacy. Maybe I could get the same organisational ability by putting all the instruments in different folders (one each for Violins, Violas, Cello, Bass, Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion) in Cubase 10.5.2 and just use VI Pro2 all the way down. 

So again, does VE 6.5 work inside of VE Pro server 7? And will instances built with VE Pro 7 successfully load into VE 6.5?

Well thanks for listening to my ramble 

Ray

Holt, Michigan, USA

I assume you've found a solution to this?

I have the UA Apollo Twin USB 3.1 and had similar problems. I discovered they were related to missing some issues found on the Windows Setup - Required Settings page.

In particular, I had failed to disconnect two other sound systems that were preinstalled on the mainboard and monitor. 

Ray.

The plugins load under their own protocols so VEPro can't control that. You'd have to go into the system settings, display area and change the scale and layout as well as the resolution to get better scaling. I have a HiRez screen which is nice but there are times when it's useless in showing the GUI interfaces like Photoshop. Kontakt and Synthogy are all but invisible at highest resolution. 

Not sure how to unpack this statement from the Channel Overview MIDI Ports, MIDI Channels, Transposition and Key Ranges section of the VE 7 manual. My question is in red next to the area I need to understand. 

Using the latest version of VE7 Pro as well as VI Pro 2 and Cubase 10.5.

Each Vienna Ensemble Pro instance offers up to 48 MIDI ports [How do I access these ports in Cubase 10.5 PRo, where VE Pro is instantiated as a rack instrument plugin?]  with 16 MIDI channels each (= 768 MIDI channels) and a virtually unlimited number of audio ports. You can set the number of ports in the Server Preferences of each instance. [This I was able to do] 

The channel selector also allows you to choose omni to receive on all 16 channels (for multi-timbral instruments such as Kontakt, Omnisphere or Stylus), or none to temporarily disable MIDI input on that port. If you’re running Vienna Ensemble Pro as a plug-in, a dedicated Plug-in MIDI In port will be offered for every Instrument. [Not sure how these are 'offered' in my DAW-Cubase 10.5 PRO-so far I'm limited to 16 midi channels per instance, some snapshots of my setup are included  ]  Used as a VST 3/AAX/MAS plugin, up to 48 ports are available within Cubase, Nuendo, Pro Tools, Sonar and Digital Performer.

Issue resolved thanks to Bill

Good Morning all:

After several days of searching, I'm putting this question out to the community: Does VSL still supply prebuilt expression maps?

I'm gathering from the discussion on this forum that they are part of VI presets and matrixes but I don't know where to steer the load expression map in Cubase so it will find them. I've built a couple of maps myself. 

Thanks. 

Tons of Thanks to Paul for his great training videos on the Vienna Instruments player options, especially the legato instruments features.

Sounds like Cubase is not sending the signal to the audio interface. Try contacting Cubase tech help-good luck there. Sometimes the friendly VSL tech folks will chip in on issues with Cubase-they want you to enjoy your time spent with VSL. Post

Is anyone else experiencing this? I spend hours to build and save projects in Vienna Ensemble Pro 5. I try to put the projects in as an instance in Vienna Ensemble pro 5 weeks or months later and nothing is live; the patches are there but they will not play in Cubase.

Also, right now the midi Keyboard inside of  Vienna Ensemble (the strip at the bottom of the  VI channel) is not functioning. It is a very handy feature. Also I used to be able to play the midi controller which is live in Cubase while the Vienna Ensemble was on top of everything else. Now that is dead. Also the stop/start transport is dead. Hence my term 'Ghost' (or maybe I should say Zombie) instance for this post. 

When I rebuild instances from scratch in Vienna Ensebmle 5 they are live-but for how long? A week, a month?  There seems to be a creeping zombinization also, first a few patches will go dead and then eventually the whole project is dead. Hence again, the term ghost. 

I've double checked to make sure all software is up to date and the latest drivers for all hardware and software in the system.  I ran the directory manager to force Vienna Instruments to read all of the installed samples that I use.

AMD Fx 6300 six core processor  3.5 ghz  16 gb ram  64 bit Windows 7

Version6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601 

BIOS Version/DateAmerican Megatrends Inc. P2.60, 11/11/2013

any thoughts or input?

Ray Phenicie

Southfield, Michigan USA 

I had been using the Fatar SL 880 Studiologic but there were issues with the power on/off switch which all but stopped working in the first 100 days. I just left it on after that and used a power strip switch for the on/off function. So my point is that Fatar has the most likeable  piano hammer action feel but not so hot on electronics.  Fatar still makes fine instruments but those are not the most sophisticated in terms of features. I'd look elsewhere. 

I had other issues with the Fatar recently and gave up on it, I keep it around as a back up -I have found back up equipment is always necessary for me.

I currently use the M-Audio- Oxygen 88-which is ok. I don't find the supposed hammer action to be as likeable as the Fatar. Additionally the features are not fully workable with Cubase 7.0 and higher. M-Audio was bought out by inMusic and there are no updates for the Direct Link drivers. Still Cubase 7.0 does recognize the Oxygen 88. I don't have a lot of use for controllers on the midi controller anyway, that's why I have a DAW. 

Next stop would be the Akai MPK88 Hammer-Action USB/MIDI Controller-hefty 67 lbs, kind of klunky but probably the better of the three I've talked about. The hammer action is critically acclaimed. But that feature has to be actually tried to know . 

I guess it depends on what you want out of a midi controller; that will drive your buying decision. If hammer action is not such a hot button item to you go with a synth like touch and save the extra bucks. 

For now, I've landed with the MOTU Audio Express. Out of the box, it has easy, fast set up, via USB 2.0. No problems so far in hearing the wonderful VSL sounds. I'm as happy as in the 10th row back at Orchestra Hall

Originally Posted by: starspectre

I called Sweetwater and spoke to a sales representative and he told me that buying a PCE-e card might be overkill because I mainly do not record anything but VST Instruments. So HE was the one who suggested instead of getting the RME HDSP AIO that I get a RME Babyface instead (which is a USB 2.0 Interface)

I know this is an old thread but I'd like to put in my opinion anyway

I think the bandwidth issue with audio interfaces is on overkill in the forums that I have visited. Too much focus on how many megabits per second will transfer from the hard-drive to the audio interace to the amplifier and not enough focus on the quality of sound that is delivered. By quality I mean, especially with VSL samples, does the oboe sampled sound that is delivered to the speakers or headset, sound just like an oboe or does it sound like a slightly colored version? Do the string samples  come out sounding like violins, violas, cello or bass? Or are they sounding like sythesized sounds? That is really all that matters.

Or course if the interface can't keep up with the heavy input and starts clipping, or clicking or making sounds like an overdrive guitar when you're playing violins, well of course something's wrong. But with most interfaces running over $150 that will not happen. And yes of course having computer hardware (especially having: two fast hard drives, minimum of 16 gb memory, good quality video driver, etc (roughly $1700 for a PC)), all of that is important. With a lower quality audio interface,  What will happen in my experience is that sounds will be colored so the origninal timbre is not present. And that is the crux of the matter. 

Originally Posted by: noldar12

The RME Babyface would be connected to your computer via a USB 2 cable.

thanks for that, I guess USB 2.0 must be ok. I can't really say I am displeased with the TASCAM 1800 USB 2.0. There seems to be some issues with loading all the sound of a full orchestra through the box. Also, I seem to have lost some dynamic breadth (louds are not as loud and softs don't shine through) compared to the M-Audio 2626.

I can't figure out how the RME interfaces would be connected to my computer. The entry level price wise (BabyFace) has a tail that looks awkward for connections. There are no RCA or 1/4"  style inputs to be seen. The other interfaces look inexplicable and the website can't seem to focus on what is connected to what for the $2400 interface. So what, I spend $2400 and that's just the foundation? For 64 channels. Do I need that many to do a mix down of my version of say Bach Brandenburg # 6?

Hmmm-need to hire an audio engineer. And this is just a hobby, not a career. I still have a day job for a reason. 

Originally Posted by: DG

I always recommend RME, because I know lots of people who have them and none of them have problems. However, I'm not sure that they will be within your budget.

DG

I could spring for the RME, however, I don't want to mess with Firewire (moving target) or PCI (seems archaic). I can sense that USB 2.0 would be capable of supplying enough bandwidth. Temporarily, I am working with the TASCAM 1800 and it hangs in with the heavy traffic flow from midi keyboard playing say 6 or 8 VST instruments (Vienna Symphonic Library of course) at a time. My concern is the quality of sound or the ability (or inability) of the  audio interface to deliver the original sounds from the samples on the hard drive. I hear some 'boxiness' or false representations in some instruments with the 1800 compared to the 2626. In other words, the 1800 is not delivering life like sound. However it is close enough that I can live with it for now. 

I guess all I need is an interface  that can hang in with the data flow for low latency and not add timbres or overtones of its own to color the sound so that the output sounds unlifelike. I take it that the RME gear delivers lifelike (high fidelity from back in the day) sound from the samples without falsely coloring the sound? The judgement of what an instrument should sound like would come of course from exposure to acoustic instruments. I am not sure who would be a good judge for what the term 'lifelike' sounds like. 

Hello everyone;

I had to give up on my M-Audio 2626 interface due to problems with the firewire interface not being a good match for my PC. I am looking for something of similar quality but need to keep the price down. The 2626 was about $500-looking to go with something slightly less than that. Any suggestions?

thanks

Ray