Olympus Elements: how to install, plus review

Dorico
1

I took advantage of the Steinberg offer on Olympus Elements: bought it, downloaded it, received the licence code.

It could have done with some instructions, as I just got the .vstsound file in my Download folder, with no idea of what to do.

I had to add the the licence to my key, and then work out that I needed to launch the Steinberg Library Manager, and then drop the .vstsound file onto that to get it to work.

Essentially, what you’re getting is: more vowels, more key switches. Ah, Ee, Eh, Ei, Ih, Oh, Oo, and Mm, each as Legato, Sustain, Staccato, and Marcato. So for each setting, there’s 2 octaves of Key switches, twice, for each ‘bank’ of voices - men, women.

I’m not sure I understand the choices in the HALion player: you can choose “Legato Mm”, but that has Key Switches for all the other styles, so you can set it to ‘Staccato Oo’. Similarly, there’s a ‘Staccato Oo’ setting that also has a KS for ‘Legato Mm’. :confused:

Most of the settings (all but the Legato settings) have an ‘overlap’ between the banks, so that around Middle C, you’re using both samples. The Legato settings, without the overlap, have a bit of a ‘jump’ if, say, an Alto dares to stray below Middle C, and suddenly gets very butch. :wink:

The Tenors are very realistic, as they start exploring the undersides of some notes. :wink:

I recently bought the Requiem Light library, which is significantly better (at $199), (though Kontact is a bit of a faff, with more user accounts, licences and library managers, etc.).

Anyway, for the current discount price, Elements is certainly worth a punt, just to have a wider range of choir sounds within the HALion player.

I’ve just noticed that there isn’t actually a custom Expression Map for Olympus Micro. Dorico gives it Mod Wheel and Note Velocity, but it seems to respond more to C11 and Mod Wheel. There’s probably some work to be done there.
Test-Requiem.mp3.zip (572 KB)
Test-Elements.mp3.zip (553 KB)

2

Interesting… I didn’t know it was on sale. I’m tempted. The truth is, I rarely use the samples, but I’ve been relatively happy with the gregorian setting with what’s bundled.

3

Just curious. If you have two Dorico licences and you buy something like Olympus Elements, is it usable for both instances of Dorico or is it coupled to a single Dorico licence?

4

Elements has a “Monks MW” setting (I don’t know what MW stands for, but it’s on some other settings), which is bit more ‘full on’ than the Gregorian one. It also has the full range of vowels and styles.

Good point: no, it only sits in one place, so either on your dongle, or each separate seat of Dorico needs a separate one.

Interestingly, I note that Steinberg will accept a licence from any version of Finale – going to back to version 1.0 – for the cross-grade …!! Normally, each Finale upgrade would keep the same serial; but I do have a ‘spare’ Finale licence number that I haven’t already used for cross-grade, so I might buy a second seat.

5

ugh. I literally threw away an old (physical) copy of finale 2012 two days ago. I figured it was worthless now. :angry:

6

Check your emails for authorisation from MM?

7

Or you could look for the Serial Number in the My Account section of the FinaleMusic.com web site.

8

I find two Dorico licences invaluable. I used both my Finale and my Sibelius authorisations to cross-grade and I’m very happy I did. I use the eLicencer on my laptop and the USB dongle on the home computer, meaning that wife can use the dongle on the copy on her laptop so we can each work at the same time when we’re away from home. Too bad about having to buy multiple copies of Steinberg sound libraries but there are others out there which allow more than one installation.

9

Might it mean Mod-Wheel? what happens if you move it on those sounds?

10

Good thinking! But no. Nothing happens there.

It will only be useful if it has a different serial number from the version you already used to cross-grade. As I said, normally each Finale upgrade has the same serial. It would be very generous if Steinberg allowed you a cross-grade for every Finale version you’ve ever owned!

11

There’s a special price for Olympus Choir Elements for Dorico 3/3.5 users as an upgrade for the bundled Olympus Choir Micro library, and for a limited time it’s available at a further discount as part of the current VST instruments summer sale. You can find out the price in your local currency by adding it to you cart by clicking this link.

We are working on a playback template for Olympus Choir Elements that will allow HALion to load the sounds automatically and provide built-in means of switching between the different syllables, but it might be that we can’t fully integrate the library until the next version of Dorico, in which case in the meantime we will provide some kind of stop-gap solution. We’ll add something to the sticky thread for expression maps and the Dorico blog when it’s available.

12

I also have purchased it because of the sound quality.
I double-clicked the file “Soundiron_Olympus_Elements.vstsound” and it is added to the Steinberg Sound Library app, but I cannot find it under HALion Sonic SE. I also could not find a proper place to type in my licence code.

13

You have to add your licence to the elicenser eLCC app.

14

Ah, thanks!

I do not usually use “HALion Sonic SE”. Is “Olympus Elements for Dorico” loaded in the interface now?

Screen Shot 2020-08-24 at 18.44.23.jpg
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15

If you click on “All Instrument Sets”, you should be able to see Olympus Elements as one of the groups. But the fact that you can see ‘Legato Ih’ means the Elements sounds are listed among the options you have there.

16

Thank you very much!