Welcome David,

I think I don't get your problem, sorry to say so. The Performance Tool is a small MIDI-utility invented for the use with our earlier products like the First Edition, the Pro Edition or our Horizon products.

Since the advent of the Vienna Instruments, our customers can rely on our own sample-player, so you don't have to circumvent the shortcomings of third-party players with the Performance Tool any more. As the Special Edition is only available as Vienna Instrument, no Performance Tool is needed, therefore.

... are you maybe experiencing problems with the GUI of the Vienna Intruments-plugin ...?

@Dietz said:

... are you maybe experiencing problems with the GUI of the Vienna Intruments-plugin ...?

Hi Dietz,

Yes, sorry, it's the Special Edition plugin GUI - I thought that "Performance Tool" was your name for it. I get a small window when I open the plugin in a track which says "Vienna Instruments AudioUnits Server Interface - Show Window". I read on another forum for another AU plugin that this is related to PPC / Intel and Apple's alteration of how AUs are validated. Is this the case or is it a quirk of the Vienna Instruments GUI? If the former, is an update on the way to resolve it?

Thanks

David

Hi David,

Sadly, this is how the Vienna Instrument AU plugin has always worked. The "Vienna Instruments AudioUnits Server Interface - Show Window" is the link to VI which kind of works as a separate app. The main VI window can never be opened as a float (like other Logic plugins) and you have to click back on a Logic window to bring Logic back to the front to continue working.

Because VI is so remakably good, we have all resigned ourselves to this odd behaviour. [:)]

We hope someday this may change.....

Regards - Colin

Thanks Colin. I suspected as much but had hoped it was just a temporary quirk due to 10.4.9 like other plugins seem to have had.

David

I didn't know that there was another person on this forum named Colin. Glad to meet you.

Or you could look at this as a feature - - which I now do after first thinking it was a mistake. The VI GUI is so large that just a few fill a 23" monitor, so having them disappear into the background significantly reduces screen clutter and you can summon the one you want almost instantly by pushing the button on the little control panel.

Do you like this "feature":
When you have a few instances of VI open in Logic, then you change screensets - when you return to your VI screensets, all VI windows are closed and you have to re-open them.

Or this "feature":
It's not possible to Hide the VI windows - ever (in OSX). So if you hide Logic, the VI windows stay visible. VI running in Logic doesn't appear as a running app, so you can't hide it.

So, VI windows vanish when you want them to stay, and they stay when you want them to vanish!!

[:'(] [:(] [:'(]

Personally, I find this "feature" extremely annoying. The main irritant is key commands. With all other plugins, I can have the plugin window open but still control the transport of Logic, Live, etc with my keyboard. With the Vienna way of working, it is considered a separate app so when I have the plugin window open, I have to click into the Logic screen to make Logic the active app active again before using key commands. Very clumsy.

In fact, I am quite disappointed with my purchase and although the Vienna sample player is a nice concept, the mediocre sounds and the ommission of a bundled universal mode which I was led to believe was part of the package, I would sell it or return it if I could.

D.

To David:
If you consider VSL sounds to be "mediocre", then quite simply, you haven't spent enough time listening and learning the interface.

VI instruments are huge, complex and require a lot more than just load and play. All of my criticisms of the interface and its failings are nothing compared to my respect for the quality and musicality of Vienna Instruments.

My suggestion:
Brew a hot beverage of your choice (tea/coffee/etc), re-open a VI, flavour lightly with Space Designer and report back in 2 weeks.

[[;)]] Colin

@musos said:

To David:
If you consider VSL sounds to be "mediocre", then quite simply, you haven't spent enough time listening and learning the interface.

VI instruments are huge, complex and require a lot more than just load and play. All of my criticisms of the interface and its failings are nothing compared to my respect for the quality and musicality of Vienna Instruments.

My suggestion:
Brew a hot beverage of your choice (tea/coffee/etc), re-open a VI, flavour lightly with Space Designer and report back in 2 weeks.

[[;)]] Colin

Hi Colin,
I'm comparing them to my EWQLSO Platinum (close recorded samples). I'd say my preference is 70% for the EWQLSO samples and 30% for the Vienna samples (I prefer the harp, sax and guitar in Vienna for example). I think it might be the number of velocities sampled per articulation or something. I feel the strings in particular are very rough sounding at the lightest velocities in Vienna. Anyway, I'm stuck with my purchase so I'll have plenty of time to investigate further!

BTW, I thought Space Designer was lush sounding till I tried the Audio Ease Altiverb app. My goodness that's a beautiful reverb (with low CPU overhead too).
D.

@dmacintyre said:

Hi Colin,
I'm comparing them to my EWQLSO Platinum (close recorded samples). I'd say my preference is 70% for the EWQLSO samples and 30% for the Vienna samples (I prefer the harp, sax and guitar in Vienna for example). I think it might be the number of velocities sampled per articulation or something. I feel the strings in particular are very rough sounding at the lightest velocities in Vienna. Anyway, I'm stuck with my purchase so I'll have plenty of time to investigate further!

D.

Hi David,

I'm David too. I also own EWQLSO Gold Pro XP and HALion SO. My initial reaction to Vienna SE was similar to yours....until I began editing a little. With very little effort, changing the ADSR (especially the release and sustain) on some samples gives them that release-sample feel. Honestly, I mainly bought Vienna SE for the beautiful legato patches which no other library comes close too (Qlegato in EWQLSO for the most part is not good to my ears).

I've written a few pieces only using Vienna SE and I've gotten very good comments about the realism. By comparison, I find Gold Pro XP too wet at times, especially if the piece I'm writing is a chamber setting. I love how intimate Vienna SE sounds.

As another poster mentioned, you should sit down and tweak SE a bit here and there. I think you'll be pretty impressed with the results. I have been!

-David C

Thanks David,

I have been tweaking the release slider - it does make a difference. I'll persevere [:)]

Regards

David

Thankfully we don't all have the same taste and I recognise the appeal of EWQLSO for people who need quick results. But if you want to play a real-sounding melody line, nothing on earth compares to VSL's performance legatos!

@Conquer said:

Thankfully we don't all have the same taste and I recognise the appeal of EWQLSO for people who need quick results. But if you want to play a real-sounding melody line, nothing on earth compares to VSL's performance legatos!

I couldn't agree more. That's why I felt so happy when the VSL team announced this package. And you know, for what you're getting, it's a pretty incredible value. I also recognize that leaving out some features/sample layers makes sense since many of you paid big bucks for the Cube. It wouldn't be wise to offer everything to the SE buyers from the Cube otherwise VSL would have a lot of angry customers.

I'm very very happy with this purchase and I can tell you that it inspires me to write. Even if I'm adding other lib samples it's the Vienna SE that gets me off my duff and booting up my Mac. that says something to me.