Thank you for the feedback.  Glad to hear I'm on the right track then and from someone who knows what they're doing!!  

I'll explore some of the other CC's as well.  I didn't notice CC1 was available to me in the SE volumes but thought CC2 changed the timbre.  Anyway ultimately I'm trying to just let my ear guide me and focusing on sound orchestration but I am finding rendering the results as if real players are playing it quite challenging.  

Thanks again for the feedback.  

Normally I would never ask a question like this because I typically work in a notation software, however I find myself working on a project where the "mock-up" will be the final product.  So in an attempt to make it sound as good as I can I wondered how folks deal with drawing and/or recording CC data. 

First of all I'm only using the Synchron SE libraries and think those will be adequate, however bringing a MIDI export into Reaper and dealing with that presents quite a learning curve. 

What I've come up with so far is to delete the CC11 data, turn on CC2, draw in some more realistic sounding curves for CC2 and copy/paste that into a CC11 lane.  From there I just adjust to get a better balance and adjust note lengths and keyswitches along the way for correct articulations. 

So my first question is my method for achieving balance a sound approach (see what I did there :) ). Right now my process seems pretty random so any tips on going through things more streamlined would be appreciated as well. 

Aah yes that cleared things up.  And I add a plugin rather than a VI instrument which makes sense.  

Thank you again.  Hope you're well and doing lots of writing......especially that you'll share on other forums :)

I just recently upgraded my Vienna Ensemble player to V6 AND took advantage of the reduced prices to upgrade my SE volumes to synchron.  However it doesn't seem that I'm able to load synchron player in Vienna Ensemble as I did before.  Is there another method now or do I need to upgrade to Vienna Ensemble V7? 

I'll probably also be buying Dorico soon but I'm working on something now and don't have time to learn a new way of doing things.  I do know however that Dorico opens an instance of the synchron player per instrument but I don't think it'll work that way in Finale. 

Ok I think I'm good now.  I uninstalled and re-installed MVC 2015-2019 and was able to install build 18945 of VI. 

I'm still stuck not able to install build 18945 with the error that MSVCP140_1.dll is missing even though it isn't. I've tried installing previously mentioned  MVC builds with errors indicating those files do exist.

I'm running Windows 10 and really stumped at this point. 

I'm looking for some help with this.  I have a new computer and trying to get VSL installed getting the same error.  Fresh Windows 10 install.  If I try to install the 2015 re-distributable I get an error that it's already installed for both x86 and x64.  So I'm kind of stuck at the moment. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

 EDIT:  Interestingly I downloaded build 18935 and did not get the error but it installed successfully.  I only get that error with 18945. 

Steve

Is version 6.5 of VI not supported on Windows 7?  It seems like it installs but won't start due to missing dll.  The dll file does exist but I'm assuming isn't compatible with my version of the operating system. 

Not exactly related, but can one use Finale with Smart Orchestra?  

Have you checked out Hermann's Symphony #1?  I like it very much.  It is consistent with his movie music but not the same either.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT_KmqNVueA

Too funny Erikos.  You and I sound similar in many ways.  Thanks for your advise and probably saving me from more frustration and wasted time and money.  

I've also read a couple of things recently where people are linking their notation software with DAW via midi time code or rewire but I haven't come to terms with whether that would help or just be an unecessary complication.  I suppose the idea would be to handle all the fine tuning CC data in the DAW while just composing in notation but kind of at the same time?  It might take care of the problem of making corrections in the notation and having to realize those corrections in the performance.  

Quite true agitato although I'll not comment on Hans Zimmer :)

Another thought I've had over the years but never heard anyone talk about is that any similarity or references to classical repetoire only helps ground the music in terms of its familiarity.  So if they are concious borrowings or just instinctive they always serve the picture IMO and again bring some familiarity to the music.  

I'd again encourage people to listen to his concert music (especially the violin concerto) and I think you'll realize he's truly a masterful composer.  

This is a very interesting thread.  I don't have too much to add except to say that when I was in college it was poplular to accuse JW of plagarism and point out all the various themes and such that he "stole".  So for a long time that shaped my opinion of him.  However some years later when I decided to think for myself I came across his concert music and realized immediately that his music is his music.  

@William I also love Korngold and Hermann.  I appreciate other movie composers of that era like Waxman and Rozsa too.   

I too compose in Finale exclusively at this point.  I have taken the time to create some Human Playback expressions and use the dump library provided by the folks at Vienna.  I used to think what's the difference between spending hours in a DAW manipulating individual notes and phrases by adding controller data, etc and dong it in Finale.  And to some extent I still think this is true. 

However I've started entertaining the idea of buying a breath controller (TEControl) and playng all the parts in once I'm satisfied with the composition.  I've not heard more expressive realistic performances than what people get with those controllers.  The part that always frustrates me about using a notation software AND a DAW is if you decide to change something you have to touch it twice.  But I suppose there's no way around it.  

The other consideration is why you're writing and what you're writing for.  If you're writing with hopes of a live performance then of course you have to produce a nicely engraved score and parts.  Otherwise you could consider not using notation software at all.  

Yeah terrific piece.  Since we're talking about your music I've found myself listening to your variations on a theme by Beethoven quite often lately.  I absolutely love the journey that takes me on. 

I'll likely upgrade to 2014.5 in the next few weeks and hopefully that will take care of some of these issues.  Thanks for checking Andi.  I appreciate your diligence and patience with us. 

Hmmm.  I wasn't aware of that bug.  That's interesting though because when I use the keyswitches the Vienna team provided Finale seems to confuse CC11 with CC1.  In other words when I use a keyswitch to do a keyswitch/CC1 patch change it also sends the same value to CC11.

So I've figured out it is Finale inserting itself somehow (percussion maps I suspect).  I opened Reaper, loaded the SE drums armed a track and no problems with midi keyboard -> virtual keyboard mapping.  It lines up as one would expect.  So I need to understand Finale's percussion maps a lot better. 

well regardless of how the octaves are mapped I'll for instance press a B which is reflected correctly on the virtual keyboard but the C 1/2 step above causes an E an octave and a fourth higher to get pressed on the virtual keyboard.  So it's not even the same note.  Very strange and like I said I'm wondering if there's some strange mapping that Finale is inserting itself into that i'm not aware of. 

True Finale isn't playing.  It's a fairly new M-Audio keyboard Keystation 61 II. 

No transposition at all.  It's strange because some of the keys match up just fine.  It could also be Finale doing something goofy with it's percussion map which is another total mystery. 

I'm using the drums from the SE library and I cannot get my head around how the keys are mapped.  I can find the sound I want on the virtual keyboard then I go to my midi keyboard and the notes don't match up at all.  I press a "C" on the midi keyboard and a B or even an E is activated on the virtual keyboard.  Can someone help me understand how this works? 

Make sure you download the Human Playback Preferences for Finale Special Edition file.  I realize you're not using a Special Edition library, but it changes things like which controller to use for sustaining instrument volume.  I'm not sure if it's the same for Finale 2014.5 but 2012 has 3 options I believe.  CC7+velocity, CC11+velocity and CC1+velocity.  Something like that anyway and you'd want to choose CC11+velocity since that's the default for VSL. 

Perfect.  That answers my question.  I figured Sibelius First was limited in some way but didn't know how.  If I decide to purchase I'll definitely get the full version just as I have with Finale. 

Thanks again. 

I'm evaluating Sibelius as a notation/playback tool for myself because of it's seemingly better integration with VSL SE libraries.  The demo unfortunately is Sibelius First so my experience may not be quite the same if I had the full blown Sibelius.  Anyway one strange thing I've noticed is for example on strings I have to use trem. to get it to trigger a tremolo chamber strings sample rather than the usual 3 lines through the note which triggers a sustained patch really fast. 

Can anyone elaborate on what might be going on here?  Is this editable if this is expected behavior.  I'm a long time Finale user and still love the program but my frustration with its HP idiosyncracies and less than stellar integration with VSL is my motivation for really kicking the tires on Sibelius.  So far I'm pretty impressed really but I haven't delved too much into the actual engraving capabilities yet. 

Thanks for any help or guidance you can offer.