Disapointing playbacks with Special Edition + Sibelius

[Greg_78300]

Hello!

I've just bought VSL Special Edition and installed it with a lot of enthusiasm!

No problem installing it and making the link with Sibelius thanks to your great video tutorials. So far, so good!

But when I tried to playback the Bach's concerto for two violins in D minor, I was so disapointed!! The violin sounds have no realistic dimensions, just a little bit better than MIDI. Of course it is great that Sibelius automatically switches from sustain to pizz to legato, but it is not natural at all...

I guess there is some additional effects to add to have a better render? How can I improve this?

I've tested the same music work with East West Symphonic Orchestra and the result was much more impressive! I thought it would be even better with vsl... The demo you have on the video tutorial sounds great, but i'm very far from such a playback...thaks in advance for your tips!! My Bach concerto deserve it!!!

[bogdan]

 Hi Weezic,

   Indeed all  VSL instruments are recorded rather dry, but in my opinion it gives you a lot more room for making them sound beautiful!!

   You can try the Vienna Suite  for a period of time and play around with convolution reverb, eq or compressor.....it has already presets for different class of instruments and believe me the software is a charm.   Also, you can add your prefered FX as well..altiverb or whatever...I work with VSL SE bundle + strings solo both in Finale and Sibelius with VE pro and Vienna suite and they act superb in terms of realism and depth.

   All the best

[Greg_78300]

Thanks a lot Bogdan for your answer. I've just downloaded a trial version of the Vienna Suite, and I'm about to play with it and try to get what I want with my Bach concertos...

Again, thanks for your prompt answer![:)]

[Sergino Futurino]

 If you want to go for "the real thing" try VSL MIR!

[andi]

Hello Weezic!

There are many things you can do to make the playback sound better. For example you could work on the dynamics, on note lengths, timing, add more variations to the used articulations, ...

If you haven't done so yet, I recommend reading the "Optimzing Sibelius Playback" manual. You will find some useful hints there. It can be downloaded at the following location:
http://vsl.co.at/en/68/141/460/576/655.htm

Best regards,
Andi

[Greg_78300]

Thanks a lot Andi! As a naive young musician with Sibelius, I thought I could get realistic playbacks without additional work :-)

I may find a good compromise by typing some additional indications on my scores to get realisitc sounds.

To go further, I had a look into .xml file of the soundset for Vienna ensemble: is there any edit to perform on this file to change the default articulation? Sustain is the default one, but I'd like to choose sforzato instead. Should I change the matrix presets for all instruments or could I edit the xml?

Thank you very much for your help.

[andi]

Hello Weezic!

I wouldn't use sfz as the default articulation. Just for trying out how it sounds, you can replace the sustain patch in your matrix with the sfz patch.

If you really want it as default articulation then, I recommend editing the sound set with the Sibelius sound set editor and do the following changes:
Switch Type Winds: [reset] Keyswitch 26 (instead of 25)
Switch Type Low Winds: [reset] Keyswitch 86 (instead of 85)
Switch Type High Strings: [reset] Keyswitch 28 (instead of 26)
Switch Type Contrabass: [reset] Keyswitch 88 (instead of 86)

Best,
Andi

[HeiPet]

Hello, I've read this thread and have got some additional questions, because I'm in a similar situation than Weezic. 1. What would be the better addition for a good playback of VSL SE in Sibelius 6: Vienna Suite or Vienna MIR SE? 2. Is the built in reverb of Vienna Instruments Pro comparable to the possibilities of Vienna Suite or Vienna MIR SE? In other words: would that be a (cheaper) alternative? Heiko

[Sergino Futurino]

My opinion: VI Pro reverb is just for an idea,

Vienna Suite is good for those that got a budget PC

Vienna MIR is the best in town, if you try it you can't leave it!