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  • Pro Edition and Symphonic Cube

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    R
    Herb,

    I just received the demo cube today (and I must say I hate you -- it just makes the wait for VSL that much more excruiating now that I've had a taste of it) and I have a few questions. I know that the Pro Edition is the next step, but I'm a little curious about the Symphonic Cube. What is the difference, besides the obvious 210 to 375 GB of sampe size and the fact that's SC is on a hard disk, while PE is on DVD?

    Also, I was wondering something about the harp. Are all enharmonics sampled, and if so (or if not), how would one go about writing enharmonic tremelos (i.e. E#/F, Cb/B, etc.), glissandos, and harmonics (artificial and natural)? Maybe this has been covered before, but as I didn't see it (and I'm realy anxious) I'm asking here (i.e. will it be an external program, with one of the performance tools handle this, etc.).

    The back of the phamplet boasts about the library eventually encompassing 1.5 million samples. If this is so, then am I correct to assume that the Symphonic Cube is not the end of the VSL legacy? If this is true, what else would you be recording? A choir perhaps, one with full choice (i.e. soprano, mezzo-soprano, etc.)?

    In case anyone asks, yes, I'd love to be charter member VIP, but by the time I'd have enough the Pro would be in full swing and the 1st Edition would be ancient history. Herb, hopefully you can shed some light on the comparison between the Symphonic Cube and the Pro Edition.

    Thanks!

    Russell Cox
  • P
    P
    Hello, Russell!

    Think of each edition as a building block. The First Edition stands on its own, for lack of a better expression, as the standard "classical orchestra." The Pro Edition builds on that with more programs allowing for an "impressionistic" orchestra. For example, the Pro Edition, which releases this summer, gives the MOST muted strings ever recorded. Not just a few sections, but the same caliber of articulations as you'd find in the "regular" strings. Fingered tremolo at the major and minor third are included so now you can build sections like the opening of Daphnis and Chloe.

    The brass in the Pro Edition, fills in with the bass trombone, Wagnerian tuba (!), contrabass trombone, cimbasso and piccolo trumpet. In the woodwinds, you get piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet and contrabassoon. In percussion (I can hardly wait for this one!), celeste!

    Just think of each edition as an expanded vocabulary.

    Hope this helps.

    Peter Alexander
    www.truespec.com
  • R
    R
    Thanks for the reply.

    What about the harp?

    Russell Cox
  • J
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    The Harp....ahhh the Harp - I can't get enough of it. Yes, you do get harmonics - over two octaves; yes you can do tremolo, or bisbigliando (or whispering) and yes, there are glissandos, that are sampled. This said, you wouldn't need a tool (like the performance tool) for instance, to work with the Harp. Basically, your glissandos are in the Performance Set and everything else is in the Cube. There are also muted tones as well as the pres de la table tones.

    I hope this helps.

    Jordan
  • R
    R
    Thanks for the information Jordan, but how are the enharmonics sampled? Were all sampled (i.e. C, D#, Db, B, D#, Eb, etc.) or were a more limited sound sampled (i.e. C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, etc.)? I would imagine that the harmonics were sampled from C in the bass clef to A above the treble clef, since these are the most useful.

    I'm not one for pre-sampled glissandos, as I usually just write them myself. While I wasn't too thrilled about the closeness of the sampling, I liked Ggigaharp because of the fact that I could write a harp part that utilizes authentic glissandos and normal harp playing on one channel -- I just used the Glissando A and B for my Harp 1 and Harp 2. I treated my writing like it was for a real harpist by abiding by the pedal settings in Gigaharp -- helped to reinstate the fact of the enharmonic issues.

    I was wondering if Herb and Co. had something similar in store. If not, then when I receive VSl (whichever it is at the time -- be it Pro or Cube) then I can just (hopefully) program my own Harp 1 and Harp 2 from the samples.

    Yeah, I'm full of questions, I know.

    Russell Cox
  • H
    H
    The single notes of the harp were sampled in a chromatic scale.
    We chose those keys (enharmonic choices), so the instrument sounds best and most homogeneous through all keys.

    The glissandi are sampled in 3 speeds, in three ranges (one octave, 3 octaves, full range), up and down, an extra patch with superfast ff glissandi / one octave range, and cross glissandi.

    The First edition offers all major and minor sharp scales, the Pro Edition all 4 key scales, and pentatonic scale.

    The Symphonic Cube will focus on 6 key scales.

    Of course you can programm your own glissando scales with the multisamples,
    It depends on the orchestration if this "fake" glissandi are working.
    In a solo context I would prefer the real played glissandi.

    best wishes
    Herb
  • R
    R
    Yeah, I understand your standpoint on solo glissando situation, it's just I'm a stickler for writing my own (probably a glutton for punishment). From what I understand, since you sampled it chromatically then each enharmonic is missing it's relative counterpart, correct?

    Also, were there more than one plucking of each note sampled? This might seem excessive to some people but I figured since VSL is adding more and more instruments in each successive addition to the family that 'another harp' (i.e. enough alternate samples so that one could construct another harp if he desired, or if the programmers of VSL included a 'second harp').

    About the VIP charter -- I know that I'm not alone in my wish for the first edition, but will have to go for the Pro Edition full price. Would this include me as a charter member for say the Symphonic Cube? I would hope so, but I don't know what your (and others at VSL) plans are so I though I'd ask.


    If so, that's a little disappointing as I would have liked to have true recordings of all tunings of the strings, but as I stated I could still build a glissando patch myself to coincide with the programming of Gigaharp. Who knows, when I get finished programming my own glissano patch(es), I could make an .art file if anyone would be interested.

    Thanks for taking the time Herb.

    Russell Cox
  • H
    H
    If you are registered user for the Pro Edition, you have of course your VIP price for all further upgrades.

    I plan to offer a second harp for the Symphonic Cube. Only single notes - it's impossible to go through the whole glissando repertoire a second time.

    Herb
  • N
    N
    I agree with Russell that it would be nice to have alternate samples on the single notes. It's not a huge deal, but it would be nice. As would samples at an extra dynamic level or two...
  • R
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    last edited
    last edited

    @herb said:

    If you are registered user for the Pro Edition, you have of course your VIP price for all further upgrades.

    I plan to offer a second harp for the Symphonic Cube. Only single notes - it's impossible to go through the whole glissando repertoire a second time.

    Herb


    Honestly, I didn't even expect this, but I am glad to hear that. Like I said, the glissando repertoire doesn't really interest me (though it might -- I don't have the Pro Edition, yet! [:)] ) so this would be perfect for how I write.

    Thanks for commenting Herb.

    Russell Cox