@Paul said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/316852):

Hi B.Minor, 

No NKS set for Synchron Duality Strings yet, but we will see to it that all things NKS that were in the pipeline for a while will be updated soon (I'm thinking August). 

Best,
Paul

Thanks, Paul. These are great news!

@Paul said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/316851):

Hi smellypants, 

Always hard to talk about upcoming products... 

As it looks now, the Con Sordino will come with the same set of articulations as the regular version we released right now. 

We will have to see about the ponticello and flautando subsets, details will be announced when the product is ready. 

As usual, no ETA, this is work in progress!

Best,
Paul

I understand, thanks man 👍

Hello Paul,

how many dynamic layers are recorded in the library articulations for both stages ? Thank you in advance for your reply.

I installed this yesterday. Absolutely loving it! I’m finding the sound richer and more lush than my other VSL strings. Gorgeous!

Some feature requests…
1. I’d love to see a “runs” expansion pack with many more scale options. 
2. How about an option to “ link” the mixers across instances? For example, if I adjust the balance between the Studio A and B mics for violins 1 , the setting would be mirrored across the other sections in other instances of Synchron Player. 

Dave

What a delight, a celebration, a relief to have runs and minor/major 3rd trills. I had to dig back into my VI Orchestral Strings libraries to slip those into my Synchron mixes when needed. In fact I had asked the forum if Herb planned to Synchron-ize the Orchestral Strings for just those sounds. 

And Duality incorporates the slur sound, previously limited to the Elite Strings. 

Alas, I miss the dyn 2s, 3s, 4s. I'm guessing VSL decided that the CC's could perform the same end result without dedicated patches. (But those dyn patches are convenient, dramatic and inspiring, if ever VSL has the time to add them -- like pre-recorded trills are more convenient than perf-trills, and friendlier to notation.) 

While I'm in applause mode, that video of Herb was so cool -- the way he wanted to leave it at a few core sounds and Paul encouraged him to keep going. Poor Herb. No matter how replete a library is, we keep asking for more. And the way Herb told the ensemble to not go crazy with the portamento. Loved that. Portamento walks a fine line between sweet and cringing. It can be the perfect cube of sugar or three bottles of pancake syrup. 

(Hmm, too much Orchestral Recipes for me....)

I often think about the wholesale tedium of building these sounds -- the man-hours, the review and error-checking, the acronyms and dimensions and compounding complexities. My days of building sounds sample by sample are long since gone, thanks chiefly to VSL. 

Hi everybody, 

Thanks for all your replies!

@FPaolo: We have recorded 3 velocities for all main articulations (shorts, longs, all legatos, portamentos, tremolos). 

@Marsdy: We're testing the waters with those runs. They are very time-consuming to record and edit right. I agree that some way to link selected instances would be great (similar to the MIRx linking we have in VI Pro, but hopefully more elaborate). It's on our list. 

@plowman: You are right, we'll never run out of tasks here, and of course recorded dynamics would be great to have.... one of the things you could "borrow" from other Synchron recordings and then mix as you like.

I also agree that Herb should do more videos. Let's see how we can convince him!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Paul

This library is a knockout!

What sold me ultimately was the wall-to-wall top quality – in both music and sound – of every single one of the demo pieces; and even so, I must give special praise to Guy for his truly superb "Storm and Serenity". I've a feeling the Duality library will be a market leader and a firm favourite for many, many users. My hearty thanks and congratulations to the whole team who produced this unique and beautiful library.

The first thing I was mad keen to try out was divisi a 4 for Violins 1 – comprising a 2 for Vn1A (Mid only), and a 2 for Vn1B (Dark only) – using 4 Synchron Players. To avoid phasing, each of the a 2 parts were separated as either L or R channel, and each channel given separate binaurally located positions. The results not only sound great but are also technically hugely surprising!

Disabling all my L-R channel separations and binaural pannings, I expect to hear phasing between the pair of Vn1A-Mid Synchron Players, and also between the pair for Vn1B-Dark; but no! It still sounds perfectly fine! What's going on here? Are the Synchron Players conferring with each other such that they each select a unique sample for any given patch they might have to play unisono? Or are decorrelation filters now being used? Or is it mere chance in selection of repetition-sample, or something like that? Is it intended as a feature? Have I missed something in the product descriptions? If it's only a chance thing, I already have a solution, so it wouldn't be a problem. Whatever, I'm over the moon with this library right now.

For too long I've been struggling to cobble together various different libraries such that I can have the option of easily "over-engineering" my orchestrations à la Wagner (e.g. by divisi) wherever the piece can benefit from it. Now Duality gives me that option. And what's more, the beauty of divisi in the Duality library is that it avoids the usual congested sound when large sections are duplicated and combined (using the transpose trick in the old days). Previously, the Dimension libraries came closest to a nice solution for divisi, albeit without the rich symphonic power that Duality has.

Bug found in Duality in the AU Synchron Player.

In Logic, with nothing other than Duality Violins 1 (Vel) and the factory Mix Preset "Default" loaded, I switch off all Synchron Player mixer channels except for "Dark". Then on loading a factory Synchron Stage A convolution reverb (Dim Strings Vn 1) in the "Dark" channel, the default convo reverb mix ratio shows (an absurdly high) 50%. 

Here's the bug:– then when I double-click the data entry box provided for convo reverb ratio, and then type any number into this box, Logic immediately responds to the entered number as if it's a Screenset selection, and reacts accordingly. Or if, having double-clicked the convo reverb ratio data entry box, I then attempt to delete the highlighted number already in the box, Logic immediately deletes the instrument track containing Synchron Player.

(Alternatively, setting the convo reverb ratio fader with the mouse works normally as expected, although adjustment tends to be somewhat too coarse within the useful range of ratios – which is why I wanted to use the data entry box.)

I'm using Synchron Player 1.3.734 in Logic 10.7.8 in MacOS Monterey 12.6.7 on a 2017 iMac.

Hi, as a Synchron String Pro owner i wonder if the Duality Strings have a better sound or not. I know the Pro does not have the small setup but I am not sure if I am smart enough to benefit from the Duality

@Sakamoto said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/317024):

Hi, as a Synchron String Pro owner i wonder if the Duality Strings have a better sound or not. I know the Pro does not have the small setup but I am not sure if I am smart enough to benefit from the Duality

Hi,

imho. and to my ears, Yes. I think I hear an improved timbre, and character, also flow in the legatos in this new Duality Strings Library, compared to Synch. Str Pro, and Synch. Strs 1. I also hear more of a natural release when listening to some of the videos/demos of Duality Strings. It just sounds more musical-expressive-and-natural compared to the other libraries they released. 

One thing that I sensed is that the Duality concept / recording techniques used are maybe different to their other libraries, their recording engineer would surely know exactly what he did differently in this sampling session for Duality Strings, I also feel that the VSL team is also very excited, and pleased with the improvements this new Duality Technique has given their strings line, they surely hear the improvements, therefore decided to move forward with more specialized Duality Strings i.e. Sords, Sul-Pont, ..etc. Which are major projects, they would have not bothered with if they felt they are not getting better, and more musical results from the Duality Strings experiment. 

Oh.. and I have decided to purchase Duality Strings Full version before July 31st. 

Just my 2Cents on this topic. I hope I was a bit helpful. 

Cheers,

Muziksculp 

Why three dynamic layers only, also for shorts?

@lupine said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/317036):

Why three dynamic layers only, also for shorts?

I don't see this info. on the product pages. Where did you see that the shorts are limited to three dynamic layers in Duality Strings ? 

I think the most dynamic layers for shorts is between 8 and 10 velocity layers they recorded for Synchron Strings 1 . imho. That's the best part of that library. 

It would be helpful to know how many dynamic/velocity layers were sampled for Duality Strings Short articulations. Hopefully more than 3. 

Paul wrote the first page of this thread that they recorded 3 velocities for all articulations, which unfortunately seems very limited to me.

@muziksculp said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/317037):

I don't see this info. on the product pages. Where did you see that the shorts are limited to three dynamic layers in Duality Strings ? 

Here is the post regarding the velocity layers:

@Paul said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/316870):

@FPaolo: We have recorded 3 velocities for all main articulations (shorts, longs, all legatos, portamentos, tremolos). 

@lupine said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/317039):

Here is the post regarding the velocity layers:

@Paul said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/316870):

@FPaolo: We have recorded 3 velocities for all main articulations (shorts, longs, all legatos, portamentos, tremolos). 

Oh.. I see. Thanks. 

I wonder why they limited the shorts to 3 dynamics ?  Maybe Paul can chime in on this detail, and what is the general opinion on the shorts quality given they are limited to 3 dynamics ?  I like what I hear, but maybe more demos that focus on exposing the shorts only would be helpful in evaluating this important detail. 

Yes, I also hope Paul can chime in here. Their older strings libraries such as Appassionata and Dimension Strings have 4 layers for longs and legatos, and more for the shorts.
I'd like a new string library (specially a library with an improved legato like they said) to come with a larger amount of layers other than features like simultaneously two rooms recording, in order to avoid faking missing layers with CC11 envelops or filters.
I also wonder why octave and fifth runs come in major scales only and why the ascending and descending third runs are not specular: if you want to play an ascending third and then come back down you can't do that on every note, because they did not record every single third up and down :(

@lupine said in [NEW: SYNCHRON DUALITY STRINGS](/post/317042):

Yes, I also hope Paul can chime in here. Their older strings libraries such as Appassionata and Dimension Strings have 4 layers for longs and legatos, and more for the shorts.
I'd like a new string library (specially a library with an improved legato like they said) to come with a larger amount of layers other than features like simultaneously two rooms recording, in order to avoid faking missing layers with CC11 envelops or filters.
I also wonder why octave and fifth runs come in major scales only and why the ascending and descending third runs are not specular: if you want to play an ascending third and then come back down you can't do that on every note, because they did not record every single third up and down :(

Hello Lupine
Hello to all those who are still undecided about taking advantage of the offer until the end of July.

I am currently working on a demo that will show the sound and its possibilities of this new library in detail. Here is a small preview - at least audio-wise.

The examples are all without presets, but all as the libraries were originally recorded. There is no better way to judge the library and its sound. Have fun so far.

You ask about the number of layers. Unfortunately I don't know the answer to this question, but from the sound point of view this question doesn't arise. It simply sounds natural from soft to loud, without any gradations as with earlier libraries. Especially in combination with the Timbre Controller (CC08) you can support the sound as it suits you.

As far as runs are concerned, the Legati are so great that you can write out a run and it actually sounds the same as the runs that are stored as a whole. So it doesn't bother me that there are only major runs.

During the production of the demo, I never had the feeling that I could not realise one of my ideas. With earlier libraries, there were often limitations that made a necessary game form simply not possible. Of course, you have to have a certain dexterity and know the sound possibilities of the library well in order to get a real playing result.

See you later - when the demo and the video are ready.
Beat