sloppy

[Rangi]

Hi there, Had VSL solo strings fro a while but only now getting down to the details. The timing is pretty ordinary on a run of semiquavers within a slur. Actually even semi quavers outside of the slur aren't that great. "sluggish" is a good descriptive term. The tempo is not especially fast (90bpm, 12/8 time sig), could it latency or ram setting? Its a straightforward string quartet voicing so would have thought the system was up to the job (sibelius, 2.66ghz I-mac, 10.6.8, 4 gig ram). VSL sounds are on a separate firewire drive. I am using AU from Sibelius - should I use VST instead? Have seen and implemented the notes on "VE optimizing Sibelius Playback". Not sure where to start...? Cheers.

[andi]

Hello Rangi!

Due to the fact that our interval patches (like legato) are sampled with the transition from one note to the next a slight sloppyness is system immanent. With our Vienna Instruments Pro player you could shorten this transition and make legato less sloppy.

Keep in mind, that it's possible with Sibelius to change Live start positions and durations of notes in the Properties/Playback menu. With this option you could also correct sluggish notes.

If the playback is very sloppy, the problem must be something else.

Best regards,
Andi

[Rangi]

Thanks for the quick reply Andi. I guess its open for interpretation - how much variation is reasonable and how much is not. But... I just had a listen to the VSL solo string demos and for instance the Beethovan quartet is way more precise in fast passages than mine. But that may be the product of some serious editing and top end machines. Have improved things somewhat by messing with the legato/slur settings in Sibelius. Maybe my drive is too slow? Its doing 400 Mb/sec through firewire? Cheers, Rangi.

[Rangi]

... further, the drive is in fact a Western Digital WD1600JB. a 7200rpm drive, so should be up to the task. Rangi

[andi]

Hello Rangi!

If it was the drive, you wouldn't have timing problems, but dropouts. So, this shouldn't be the problem.

Best,
Andi

[Rangi]

then maybe its normal. A friend of mine suggested I have to mess with the note timing on the passage or trigger samples designed for faster passages. But in principle: do you think VSL should play semiquaver patterns on four solo string instruments in time at 90bpm, 12/8 time signature, with the default settings? As I write this, and think about it, it just doesn't seem like that big an ask of VSL, even on a modest computer.... which leads me to think there remains a technical issue somewhere to be resolved...? Cheers, Rangi.

[andi]

Hi Rangi!

If you want to, you can send your score and playback configuration (xml file and data folder) to  and I will have a look at it.

The Playback Configurations can be found at the following location:

Windows XP:
Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Sibelius Software\Sibelius 5 (or 6)\Playback Configurations
Windows Vista and Windows 7:
Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Sibelius Software\Sibelius 5 (or 6)\Playback Configurations
Mac:
Users/username/Library/Application Support/Sibelius Software/Sibelius 5 (or 6)/Playback Configurations

Best,
Andi

[Rangi]

I'll do it tomorrow as I have to go - but one last quick thought - could it be because I only have Level 1 license - does level 2 handle faster passages better with samples designed for them?

[andi]

I don't think so. If everything is set up correctly, Sibelius should trigger the "legato_fast" patches during fast legato phrases. That's the same for the Solo Strings standard and extended.

Best,
Andi