I use 20-30 instances of the Vienna Instruments plugin in Logic to make a piece of music. What would be the advantage of using Vienna Ensemble? It seems to me it just takes the patch selection outside of Logic, but I don't see the need for this. I also never run into RAM problems because I don't load presets... just the one patch -- the exact one I want -- for each track. It sounds like a lot of people use VE, so there must be a reason... what is it?
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Vienna Instruments vs. Vienna Ensemble -- I don't get it
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Think of Vienna Ensemble (VE) as hosting software that hosts one and only soft synth application and that one and only soft synth app is Vienna Instruments (VI) When you have an instance of VE loaded into your project you can load up to 16 VI's which you can output to one MIDI channel. With 30 to 40 instances of VI, you are unnecessarily using 30 to 40 MIDI channels not to mention causing a lot of stress to your CPU, unless you record one track at a time. With VE, you can record those 16 VI's at once at considerable less stress to your CPU then recording 16 instances of VI. Also, you can utilize more RAM. Good God man, you're not recording different patches (articulations) on different MIDI tracks are you? That's practically draconian nowadays. So old school and so unnecessary.
In addition, you can set up additional buses which can control different reverb settings, different power panning settings different effects and all of this can be saved as a project or template so that you don't have to keep reinventing the wheel every time you start a project. It's all saved.
Basically, it's just much more efficient to use VE (consolidated by instrument family) and saves much more time. However, if you like working the way you work then keep working that way
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One disadvantage of Vienna Ensemble is automation. With individual Vienna Instruments you can (in Logic) utilise the full range of Track automation. With Ensemble you have to use midi automation which apart from being a little old fashioned and clunky doesn't display so clearly within your DAW.
Julian
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Hi,
I've asked myself the same questions about using VE that Clamnector does. Does adding VE improve the workflow, or are you adding another layer to an already complicated onion? We who aren't particularly computer savy have already spent a lot of time learning DAW's and VI's. So far I've only used VE for jazz drums, wanting to avoid yet another learning curve. But this is probably a draconian approach, which leads me to a question--
My Macbookpro has been collecting dust since I bought a used MacPro. I should probably hook it up via Vienna Pro to make use of it's CPU power. I can certainly use more, as I currently max out at about 18 instances of VI, and that's often when I'm near completing a project. I haven't looked into the host/slave approach, as my system is finally running without hitches and I haven't wanted to mess with it and possibly throw it off again. Sooo, is setting up a MacbookPro w/ a host a tricky proposition?
Thanks & good luck, Tom
MacPro 2.66ghz, 16RAM, Logic 9, Ensemble Interface
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Thanks for the info. I think I AM happy with my current method. I just wanted to know what I was missing. Seems like... not much. I don't see how it uses more CPU moving the very same resources from Logic to VE... either way, something's got to process the MIDI info and play the samples. The sending of MIDI signals itself is not resource intensive at all, so more channels doesn't equal more sluggishness. Yeah, I pretty much use a different track for every articulation, except anything that's legato gets a staccato on the same track. I don't like complex key switching. It's opaque -- you can't just glance and figure out what's going on. And I don't see the utility of having 'additional buses'... Logic has as many busses as I could possibly want. I can open a previous project and 'save as' when I start a new project, so it's not a lot of work getting the same sound twice.
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Well clamnectar I'm not about to tell you or anybody else how to work. I don't know what your system specs are but I only have 4 GB of RAM to work with so I take full advantage of any streamlining methods I can. But for the benefit of others who may have the same question you had in your OP, let me address some of your points.
And I don't see the utility of having 'additional buses'... .
To be honest, I don't use additional buses in VE I think that was designed more for VE in standalone mode. Come to think of it, I don't use buses at all in Sonar I just submix everything and work with the submixes. I don't use Logic so I don't know about bussing in Logic.
As far as automation is concerned, in Sonar, it's easier to automate the audio tracks not the MIDI tracks so, at least for me, having automation in VE wouldn't be an advantage, it would be completely useless.
FWIW six months ago, I use to think the same way you do. But I was getting tired of loading the same instruments with the same keyswitches and settings in the same sonic environments over and over. I thought, there's got to be a way to streamline all of this repitition. There was, it called Vienna Ensemble. I found the VE User Manual in my user area I started using it and I haven't looked back since. Projects that took weeks now only take days. As I said before, I'm not going to tell you how to work.
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Yeah, it's not about anyone telling anyone how to work... I'm just curious about the pros and cons, and curious about how different people work. There are a lot of ways to approach the VSL package... thanks for your thoughts.