Originally Posted by: ColinDougall

Hi

I've been listening to and reading reviews of Synchron strings pro - very impressive, the "new king of strings". Will SSPro sit well with the woods and brass in SE1 plus, or will it overpower them in terms of its class? I'm guessing that if I were to buy Synch Strings pro I'd be committed to getting the brass, woods, and percussion if I wanted to have a balanced full orchestra?

Thanks, ColinD

Hi Colin:

Under a year ago I too started off with just the Sy Strings Pro Standard Library and Syzed SE Vol 1 (at that time the rest of the Synchron orchestra had not yet been released).  At least for the music I was writing then I did not find it to be a mismatch (admittedly I focus more on my musical choices than the instrument minutiae).  

But you certainly get a stepup in tone/phrasing quality and range of articulations if you go to the Synchron instruments.  For future upgrades, buying them when on sale plus the use of vouchers will reduce your cost a lot.

Good luck.

Just installing it.  Congrats to the whole VSL team for having produced all orchestral sections for Synchron in just over a year, and that too during the pandemic!  Given VSL quality and attention to detail, that is quite an achievement!  I’m glad you made the call to release Synchron Woodwinds now and not wait a few more weeks/months for the 2nd solo instruments to be ready.  And the vouchers are a very nice bonus.

If I can be greedy, my Synchron cup would be complete if you released Synchron harps, followed by con sordino expansions…

Originally Posted by: VirtualVirgin

Where do I look to find these crash reports to compare (on Windows 10)?

I'm far from an expert on these things, but I believe it's the DAW that produces a crash report (or crash log).  So in my case, Studio One produces it, and the way I access it is different for Mac vs Windows.  

I'm pretty sure Cubase produces a crash report from my recollection of others' posts.  So I'd imagine Nuendo would produce it too.  As to where you can find it, you could search online or post the question on the Steinberg-Nuendo forum.  Or maybe someone else will chime in here...

Originally Posted by: VirtualVirgin

I can't test weather on not the updates work given that the template I was setting up crashes as soon as the file opens to the project window.

This is on Nuendo 11.0.41, Windows 10 

I have six numbered projects, saving new versions as I added more Synchron instruments .

This was starting from a blank project file and only contains instances of the Synchron Surround player, no other VSTis or plugins.

At this moment, none of those project files will open so I cannot proceed.

Other projects are opening fine.

Interestingly I’ve also been having crashes often when opening or closing files with Synchron Player instances.  When reopening my DAW (Studio One) after such a crash it suggests that the Synchron Player is causing it.  (Although I only get the crashes about once a day, so it's not as bad as your situation where you cannot even open your project.)  After trying various builds of the Synchron Player, I just contacted VSL Support a couple of days ago.

I’m curious as to whether your crash reports look similar to mine, which have the following exception type and exception code:

Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)

Exception Codes:       KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000019b08

And the crash thread description (the thread number varies) typically looks like this:

Crashed Thread:        16  at.co.vsl.vinext.WorkerThread

If your crash reports look similar to mine, it would help VSL support figure out whether our problems are arising from VSL software rather than being related to our specific configurations.  

In any case I think it would be helpful for you to send your crash report(s) to VSL Support if you haven’t done so already.  Good luck.

OP:

This solution from an earlier thread (downloading the Library Update) worked for me when I had the same problem:

Please make sure that Synchron Percussion I, including the Library Update, is available, then it will work. 

Thanks for the clarification, Paul.

Thanks for your response, Paul, and the link to the changelogs.

I think I was not clear in my question: It was not about bundle or not.  It was whether or not previous updates are automatically included when I purchase a library.

I recall you mentioning in another post that newer updates always include previous updates (pl correct me if I’m wrong in that).  I had extrapolated from that - perhaps incorrectly - that a library purchase also incorporates previous updates, eg if I bought a library in Jan 2021, it would incorporate updates from 2020 and earlier.

So my question really is: To access all the functionality and updates, should I get the updates for all the libraries I bought this year, even if the updates were done in previous years? 

Hi Paul:

Glad I saw this - I was having the same problem and thought it was something I was doing incorrectly.

But I’m puzzled by the fact that I bought the Synchron Percussion bundle only last month (including Percussion I) and I still needed to add updates from 2020.  I thought the libraries always incorporated previous updates?  

Is this an exception, or do I need to check older updates for the libraries I bought in the past few months?  (These are Synchron Strings Pro, Elite Strings and Brass, and Synchron-ized Dimension Strings Bundle, Woodwind Package and SE Vol 1.)  

Thanks.

Thanks, and good luck.  

I've had a lot of crashes of my Studio One on a Mac with the earlier build 2035, so I'm hoping to have better luck with this new build....

Originally Posted by: Paul

Hi Mobius, 

Good news. This error message might be caused by a bug in the Synchron Player Software!

I'm sending you a beta version to check (to your registered email address).

Best,
Paul

I was just about to update my Synchron Player to the 2046 build when I saw this.  Has the current version on the myVSL website already taken care of the bug, or should I wait a few days?  Thanks.

Congrats to the team and to our own Andi Olszewski for his role in this - a man of many talents!  I loved seeing him featured in this VSL yt video on interesting aspects of the making of the library https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm6MmHPXM8Y  - well worth a watch. 

I’m particularly pleased to see the deep marimba sampling…

Originally Posted by: Macker

Paolo, I've been measuring what Synchron Player's Main Volume and Expression faders do, but haven't finished that yet - in every measurement it can take ten minutes or more until the meter readout is settled to 2 decimal places. (I'm using BlueCat's DP Pro Meter plugin, which does lots of very useful stuff, including RMS level averaging in real time over however long I want.)

A few highlights of my findings so far:-

   Both faders have the same logarithmic transfer function, as one would expect.

   -1.0 dB is at MIDI value 120; (all dB values here are relative to 0 dB attenuation at MIDI val 127.

   -2.5 dB at 110;

   -4.1 dB at 100;

   -6 dB at 90

   -8 dB at 80;

   -10.3 dB at 70

   Going all the way down to -83 dB at 1, then complete cutoff at 0.

Just saw this thread. FWIW this is to confirm that I got exactly the same results as Macker’s table using a lazier method.  In my DAW (Studio One), dB change is the default unit for changes in Expression. 

So I put in different values of dB change for an Expression automation point in S1, and noted how the Expression MIDI values changed in the Synchron Player for that instance.  I’m glad that the equivalence table I’ve been using from doing that has been confirmed by someone who knows far more than I do.

This and the related threads (even with the twists and turns of the discussion process) have provided me as a newbie with lots of insight into questions I’m trying to figure out.  My thanks to Macker and the other participants.

In case somebody later has the same question about the solo violin, below is the answer I got separately from the ever-helpful Andi:

VSL has prepared mixer-presets that focus on the solo players which can be found under "04 Divisi Presets” in the MixerPreset tab.  

The preset for 1st Violins Player 1 (which is available even with the Standard Library) has 3 mics: Solo 1, Mid and Room-Mix.

VSL’s mixer-preset’s fader levels are 0 for the Solo 1 mic and -10 for the other two. He suggested that if their preset includes too much bleeding from the section, you can turn down or turn off the "Room-Mix" and "Mid" faders.

Thanks Paolo!  Btw I’ve also followed the idea you mentioned in the VI-C forum of using molto vibrato as the default articulation for legato, which IMO works well to add a bit more expressiveness compared to the regular vibrato. 

Any thoughts from Paul or other VSL staff on the appropriate settings for using the solo violin from SES?

I’m using the Solo Mic 1 in Elite Strings (the first chair mic’d separately) as a solo violin for a mockup and just wanted to check how best to configure the settings to do so (I have the Standard library).  The small amount of bleeding from the orchestra is not a problem; the solo violin in this piece is rarely exposed and is also combined with a background using Synchron Strings Pro.

 What I’ve done is go to the Mix tab in Elite Strings and (1) turn on the Solo 1 Mic and change the Volume slider setting from minus infinity to zero, and (2) turn off the Room-Mix mic which is the default preset (for good measure I also moved its volume fader from zero to minus infinity although I don’t know if this is necessary).

 Anything I should do in addition or differently?

Originally Posted by: Vinny Colletti

Paul,

This is really an amazing feature! I have to say I'm delighted to find out about this. I recently switched to Studio One and just got my first VSL products in the last couple of weeks. I'm curious though since I just got Smart Orchestra and VE Pro 7 and started making templates. Any thoughts on how to best integrate all this goodness? Now I have deer in the headlights syndrome !

I too started both VSL and Studio One about a month ago.  A couple of things I found very useful to get started:

The obvious: Manuals for the Synchron Player and your library, as well as the walkthrough videos (there are 3 for the Synchron Player).  There may be other yt videos for your library.

Also: groove3 has a 90-minute series of videos titled Vienna Smart Orchestra Explained.  It was useful to me even though I don’t even own Smart Orchestra, just to illustrate the basics and some capabilities of the Synchron Player.  It’s $15 for a month’s subscription, but there are other tutorials you would find useful: Studio One 5 Explained (total of 7 hours!) - I needed that to get a grip on S1's many automation features, and even one on VEP (albeit VEP5, but probably still useful).  These tutorials give you a systematic explanation, as opposed to the pointillist nature of youtube videos and the forums. 

You mentioned using VEP7.  I was under the impression that VSL’s API implementation with Sound Variations in S1 does not yet work with VEP7, but that they’re working on it.  Even apart from that, I personally feel like I’m drinking from several fire hydrants already without adding VEP7 to it, but I’m also new to DAWs, and for my workflow VEP7 would be nice but not essential.  YMMV.

Originally Posted by: Telemachus

Hello,

I am looking for a workaround with as minimal configuration effort and as close to the original synchron presets as possible.

Another option if you’re not wedded to Logic Pro is to use Studio One, where VSL has recently used S1’s Sound Variations API so that all the articulations are automatically available to you for all Synchron and Synchron-ized products. 

See https://www.vsl.co.at/en/News/VSL_StudioOne 

I switched from Logic to S1 for this reason (admittedly as a newbie, so I hadn’t invested a lot of effort into Logic).  But S1 is very intuitive, and it’s incredible to be able to have all of Synchron Strings Pro’s 127 articulations available instantly.  Or the 3420 artics of Sy Dim Strings I ! (well, that eye popping number is because of the 6 string position options and 8 group configurations.)  Not to sound like a shill for S1, but you can try it for a month for $15.

You’re welcome, Paul.  Given the ease of using Synchron libraries with Sound Variations, VSL seems to have set up a dangerous pipeline straight to my wallet ;-)  

I feel the siren call of Elite Strings….

Originally Posted by: Mavoz

Hi. I'm still quite new to this whole virual instrument world...I've just upgraded to Synchron from SE 1

As a fellow newbie, I’d urge you to consider the new Sound Variations feature in Studio One mentioned by Ben.  I switched from Logic to Studio One in order to use this, and it has been fantastic (and you can check around and see that other adopters have been very pleased as well).  You don’t have to think about how to program keyswitches, CC or program changes and the pros and cons of various methods - you can immediately focus on the musical possibilities of the articulations.  And you never have to worry if you’re doing the programming correctly or anticipating future changes - VSL is doing that for you!

The extent of the benefit depends on which Synchron products you use, or are likely to use in the future.  If you just have Synchronized SE Vol 1 and are not planning on more, that’s only 12 articulations so it should be not as difficult to do yourself, and not worth switching DAWs for.  But if you have Synchron Strings Pro (or think you may in the future) - that’s 127 articulations.  (These numbers are based on the number of articulations programmed by VSL in their Sound Variations feature in Studio One.)  And Paul has mentioned that this Sound Variations feature will be available for future Synchron products as well ( and VSL’s future development efforts are focused on the Synchron line).

As newcomers, you and I don’t have existing large templates or other switching costs in using the new Sound Variations.  In this case, being newcomers actually gives us an advantage that it enables us to leapfrog legacy techniques.

I have to say this is absolutely amazing!  Having a wide range of articulations is a major reason I recently chose VSL string libraries.  As a newbie I began learning MIDI, starting to parse through forum posts on using keyswitches/CC/program changes/the Logic ‘environment’ etc. and getting prepared for the long slog ahead to program my articulation sets for all my VSL libraries.  And voilá: this implementation using Studio One’s API magically appears!  I decided to switch from Logic to S1 to check it out.

The very first day I loaded the Synchron player into S1 I was like a kid in a candy store:  I could do all 127 articulations in Synchron Strings Pro (well, maybe I tried out about 30-40 the first day….. the candy rush got too much).  It’s incredible to straightaway start thinking of musical possibilities instead of how best to program keyswitches.  Also I wouldn’t have programmed all the 127 possibilities, and may not even have realized what sonic possibilities I was missing if Sound Variations were not available. And then there is my Synch Dimension Strings bundle!

This is a game changer - many thanks to all at VSL who’ve made this possible.  And I’m very encouraged that you have plans to take this even further.

Thank you, Paul.  

I'm just trying out Synchron Strings Pro with some basic inputs and it sounds amazing already.  I'm using Studio One Pro for the first time to able to use the new Sound Variations API that VSL has done - a great initiative, and one I hope you will take further with S1. 

Best,

wt

I’m new to VSL and recently purchased some libraries.  Part of the reason I decided to make VSL my core libraries is the reputation for customer service (in addition of course to their quality and breadth, and fit with my needs).  And I’m glad to say that my faith has been really justified so far.  

I've received outstanding customer service from Andreas Rautner as well as Andi, in terms of both technical knowledge as well as responsiveness (keeping in mind that they are handling many clients, so expectations need to be reasonable in terms of how much info they can provide).  They are musicians and composers in their own right, so they understand what you’re asking.  Lest you think one has to be named Andreas in order to provide excellent support, even the sales department (Michael Hula) was great in accommodating me when I made a mistake.  

No doubt there will be things about VSL that I’ll be unhappy about - nothing is perfect, and no complex product can satisfy any customer fully.  But my initial impression is very favorable and it is such a pleasure to work with a company that seems to value quality so highly.  This is increasingly rare in today’s corporatized world, and I hope VSL will continue this tradition for many years. 

I’m also grateful to the many members of this forum who take the time to provide answers, and also ideas on different ways to approach issues.  And of course to VSL's staff like Paul who answer the questions posed here.  I’ve learnt a tremendous amount from this forum (and from the VI-Control forum).  I also think that checking the forums and the VSL Youtube playlists first is good because it allows us to keep our queries to VSL customer support focused on troubleshooting and specifics.

In case it's helpful in figuring out the source of the problem, I just happened to notice a similar issue relating to Studio One mentioned in a post from last June:

https://www.vsl.co.at/community/posts/t56351-Incrorrect-CCs-Bening-Interpreted-by-Studo-One-When-Controlling-Synchron-Player-With-Nektar-Impact#post297803