Why does the VSL House style file for Sibelius have different dynamic levels?

[MikeHC]

The Playback Dictionary in the VSL House Style file seems to have a greatly reduced range of dynamics, with ppp starting at 43/127 - whereas in the default house style, ppp is 20.  Why is that?

[andi]

Hello MikeHC!

The reduced dynamic range was not made on purpose. There will be an updated version of the House Style in a few days with optimized dynamic values going from 1 to 127.
ppp = 1
pp = 20
piu p = 37
p = 53
meno p = 60
mp = 70
mf = 86
meno f = 93
f = 100
piu f = 107
ff = 112
fff = 127

Additionally the new House Style will contain a few new dictionary entries for the upcoming VE Choir sound set.

Best regards,
Andi

[Oceanview]

In his book The MIDI Orchestrator's Handbook, Dennis F McCorkle talks about the difference between linear and non-linear dynamic levels. His values are as follows (linear first, non-linear second):

ppp 16     5

pp  32    10

p   48      17

mp 64     29

mf  80    46

f    96    68

ff   112    95

fff  128   127

He writes, 'Dynamic levels in MIDI are not linear ... [linear values] assumes that the increment between each pair of dynamic levels is exactly the same as all of the others. This not correct ... [non-linear] increments between each pair of dynamic levels get larger as the sound level increases.'

Would anyone like to comment on this, especially in regard to working with VE Special Edition and velocity cross-fading and trying to get realistic playback?

[andi]

Hi Oceanview!

It always depends on the sampler/synthesizer how MIDI values are interpreted. The values I listed above are optimized for our sample collections. They work very well with Vel. Xfade on or off and are included in the latest version of the Vienna Symphonic Library House Style for Sibelius.

Best,
Andi