I have a Haydn string quartet passage entered in Dorico and assigned solo strings VSL. It plays the articulations, but it does not play any of the dynamics. New at this. Please advise
That is weird. I suppose something is wrong with the expression maps. For strings, the usual combo for dynamic playing is both CC1 and CC11 for everything played with the bow, and velocity for pizz. You can check out how the dynamics are handled by opening the expression map (in the library menu)
got it. thanks
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VSL uses velocity also for short notes with the bow, like staccato and spiccato. I donāt know if that is in all presets, but in the presets I use it is most of the time.
It probably isnāt anything wrong with the expression maps. Some of the VSL libraries are programmed differently than others. Those libraries that use CC2 by default in the expression maps will have velocity crossfade disabled by default and VSL wants you to turn it on by manually entering a CC28 value in the CC28 lane in the Dorico key editor to turn on velocity crossfade:
https://www.vsl.info/en/tutorials/guides/dorico-integration/quickguide#optimization
I believe most of the Synchron-ized Special Edition series are like this. If you donāt read the manual of course, you would not know about this and might wonder why they arenāt responding to dynamics.
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Wonderful! thanks!
patrick
Sorry to ask a seemingly ādumbā question here, but also trying to use VSL synchronised solo strings. It works OK to a degree, but am wondering which solo string patch do you pick for best results, e.g. solo vn1 basic or vn1 velxf?
Am trying to get a better response from the strings, especially vn 2 which seems very pallid in comparison to vn 1
The VSL template generated by the Dorico Wizard is configured to automatically load whatever patch is intended for the expression map that VSL made. If you load something different manually, it may not match what VSL intended.
Their older expression maps are often configured for crossfade with CC2, in which case they expect you to send a CC28 value of 127 by manually adding that to the CC28 lane in Dorico for all tracks that need this, in order to get crossfade working (and thereby get dynamic changes working on long sustained notes). Their newer expression maps for newer libraries are often configured for CC1 by default and with the patches loaded for those, VelXF is normally on an āonā state from the beginning without having to do anything with CC28.
This means it can be a bit unpredictable when you load up a specific library whether it will have VelXF on or not and whether the XF will be handled by CC1 or CC2.
The thing that isnāt unpredictable is that when you use the VSL template to automatically load the libraries, it loads the expression map along with the specific patch that the expression map was designed to use. So when you use the Vienna Assistant-generated playback template to load the samples and map, it will load up the correct expression map along with the patch that was intended for use with that map.
If for some reason you do need to load a patch manually in a file, you might want to temporarily open a new dummy file with the same instrument(s) added, apply the VSL template in that file, and see what patch and expression map it loads, and make note of those. Then go back into the file you want to load the same instrument(s) into manually and load up the same patch and same expression map that the VSL template did in your dummy file.
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Thanks so much for your informative reply. New to Dorico and getting the hang of working with my sound libraries within it. I will try experimenting with a new dummy file as you suggest. I think the problem is that the synchronised solo strings open with the synchron player with which you have to load a patch so its a good suggestion to try out a few things.
Although I donāt have the solo strings myself, they should load with the patch already loaded.
Create a new dummy file with a string quartet or whatever, plus maybe a second cello and a double bass if you want to see the settings for all the instruments in Synchron-ized solo strings (which, if I recall, has two violins, a viola, two cellos, and a double bass). In the Play menu, when you choose Playback Template and apply the VSL playback template, it should automatically load up several synchron players in Play mode which will already have the correct patch loaded.
If you end up with several Synchron players with nothing at all loaded in each, something is wrong. Maybe VSL made a mistake or maybe they broke something in a newer Synchron player version or newer update for that specific library. Either way you should report it to them. You should not have to manually choose the patch/preset to load from Synchron Player - applying the template alone should load everything and everything should just work (with the exception of older libraries where you have to send CC28 manually at value 127 to turn on Vel XF if you need crossfade).
Ah, OK. This makes more sense now. I have been loading up patches as they were empty. Iāve just updated the synchron players from Vienna so will try it all out tomorrow and feedback. Thanks so much.
Also realised the file in question is from converted xml file from Finale so had to play around with the sounds.
So have tried it and the players are empty. Will report to VSL and see if they have an idea what to do.
Very informative. Best feedback among the few I got. Thanks!