All:
I've completed a large orchestral piece, and am pretty happy with the rendering of the thing (Sibelius Ultimate, VI Pro in VE with Sibelius/Orchestral Strings Extended selected), but would love to have the slurs rendered a bit more slurred -- there are slightly noticeable attacks with each note, even though they're part of a series of slurred bowings. Per another posting in this forum, I tried to extend "R Dly" in "Advanced/Edit" for the instruments involved. I've also tried greatly expanding "LBlur" in under the Performance tab. Neither have had a profound impact on this problem.
Are there other things I might try?
You can listen to the entire composition here: https://jeffreyljonesmusic.com/chapter-5-the-completed-tone-poem/ . It's most noticeable in the violas right at the very beginning, where they have slurred groups of 3 notes in the first measure. That recording was made before trying any of the above, but, again, I'm not hearing a substantial change.
Thanks in advance!
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String slurs aren't perfect!
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Reducing the attack through the Edit/Envelope slider reduces the attack, but actually makes the gap between successive notes more pronounced -- the notes play more separate due to the reduced attack after note completion. At least that's what I'm hearing.
The Perform tab/LBlur seems aimed at this, but its impact is quite small.
I know I'm a babe in the woods with this stuff, but it seems like a legato performance from a string section should play back as a continuous, connected sound, since that'd be how a string player plays it. I've spent some time playing back just the violas and adjusting all the Envelope sliders and other performance controls, and nothing seems to give me continuous, connected sound.Sorry! Anything else I can try?
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Hi Jeffrey!
There's another way you can edit the legato transition with VI Pro.
- Select the cell/slot in the player that you want to edit.
- Go to Advanced/Advanced
- Select Start Offset Mode "Leg". This way only the transitions get edited.
- Select a very small Start Offset amount (like 0.03ms). You can edit this option in small steps by holding the SHIFT key. By having a value bigger than 0.00 the Start Offset Attack gets activated.
- Select a Start Offset Attack to your liking. I would start with values around 10 ms.
Best regards,
Andi
Vienna Symphonic Library -
After getting some techs straightened out, I'm back at this. I set Start Offset for the PLeg cells (at least the ones that seem active for the opening violas) to 0.03, then tried Start Offset Attack values to 5, then 10, then 15. I really don't think I can hear the difference. And any difference truly disappears when the line goes from pp to mp 2 measures later -- there, the lack of legato is quite noticeable.
It all kinda begs the question, though. If I solo my woodwinds (just tried flute and oboe), I hear less attack with slurred notes than I do with my strings. I've also compared my passage to some of VSL's VI Series example string renderings, and mine is less legato than those. Being as bowed string slurs have zero inherent attacks in real life, this all seems counterintuitive. I'm tempted to have a go at a true MIDI DAW system (I do own Pro Tools), but I'm not currently one of those guys.
Thanks again.Hi Jeffrey!
There's another way you can edit the legato transition with VI Pro.
- Select the cell/slot in the player that you want to edit.
- Go to Advanced/Advanced
- Select Start Offset Mode "Leg". This way only the transitions get edited.
- Select a very small Start Offset amount (like 0.03ms). You can edit this option in small steps by holding the SHIFT key. By having a value bigger than 0.00 the Start Offset Attack gets activated.
- Select a Start Offset Attack to your liking. I would start with values around 10 ms.
Best regards,
Andi
