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  4. Expected Performance of VSL Score Tutorials in Cubase

  • Expected Performance of VSL Score Tutorials in Cubase

    P
    P

    I’m a decades-long Logic user, but I’m also a fan of Jay Bacal’s movie mock-ups. Excellent work. Unfortunately, the tutorials for these are Cubase files, a program I don’t even own.

    Questions:

    If I bought the cheapest version of Cubase (Elements), would I be able to play Mr. Bacal’s tutorials?

    If I own all the VSL libraries that these tutorials use, would loading the tutorial into Cubase automatically find the sounds?

    Would the expression maps be included so that sounds would switch properly?

    I downloaded a demo of Cubase Elements and was able to convert a tutorial file to a generic MIDI file, and then I loaded that into Logic. Needless to say, so much was lost in translation from a performance standpoint, it was not a workable method of study.

    But if owning the program and having it call up the intended patches at the right time is possible, I’d look into a Cubase purchase.

    Thanks for any clarification.
  • andiA
    VSL Team
    andiA

    Hello plowman!

    As far as I know expression maps are a Cubase Pro only feature. So you will not be able to use them with Cubase Elements. If Jay Bacal has used expression maps in his tutorials, these projects will not work correctly with Cubase Elements.

    Best regards,
    Andi

    Vienna Symphonic Library
  • P
    P

    Thanks so much @andi.

    I got a week's extension with the Cubase demo, thanks to Steinberg, and I was able to run Pro.

    A point of irony: my test file, "Adventures on Earth" by John Williams as rendered by Jay Bacal, doesn't appear to use Expression Maps -- just key switches.

    I did get a pretty good playback. Cubase Pro rendered it better than Elements. The demo appears to be a Vienna Instruments-only file (but I did not check it thoroughly, and again I don't know Cubase at all).

    One other limit with Cubase Elements is the allowable track count. Tracks over the limit seem to load and playback, but a prompt says they cannot be altered.
  • P
    P

    Hi Andi,

    You are correct: I have since learned that expression maps are only found in Cubase Pro. If the user attempts to load a file with such maps in Elements, a prompt states that the expression map data will be ignored.

    As noted, Mr. Bacal's "Adventures on Earth" uses VI and standard per-region keyswitches. Exporting the MIDI from Cubase and importing that MIDI file into Logic carries over the keyswitches of course. Needless to say, there's a good bit of re-attaching tracks to VEP instances/ports/channels that's needed.

    But the goal -- studying a Cubase mockup in Logic -- is achievable.

    Now, "Flight to Neverland" uses Synchron and expression maps, and those are lost in Logic.

    I do own XDAW and use it frequently. And yes, it can convert expression maps to Articulation Sets. But as you know, Cubase's method is much deeper, and the conversion to Logic's Articulation Sets proves the difference (particularly in labeling of IDs -- one gets several "Variants," and some are identical, others different, and no way to tell them apart by articulation ID name).

    So, the question: if in Cubase Pro, a user would run a track with "Merge MIDI in Loop," would that imprint the actual note key switches into the track that the embedded Expression Maps were sending? If yes, then one could drive articulation switching via a MIDI import.