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