Long sustained notes on Sibelius using plug-in "Add continuous control changes"

[John In CC]

I'm not sure of the language to use to describe my problem so pardon if this post isn't as clear as it could be. 

I'm trying to come up with a solution for long notes of those patches that need to be refreshed, or which peter out after a couple of beats.  The Sibelius plug-in seems to be the answer but I have not been able to come up with the combination of settings that are effective.

I've gotten as far as inserting a horizontal line over the notes in question, but there are a ton of options in the plug-in.  I've spent the better part of an hour tweaking it but so far no bliss.  Does VSL have recommendations on how to use it to accomplish my goal?

Thanks in advance,
John

PS I'm using Ensemble Pro 4.1.7043, Sibelius 6.2.0 build 88, SIR2 v2.4.010-64b reverb, and Windows 7 64-bit

[DaveTubaKing]

If the patch you are using is not a looped patch then you can't do what you want. For instance the perf legato patches are not looped so will stop. Sus patches are looped so will play forever. Annoyingly the length of the perf leg notes varies from instrument to instrument some a lot shorter than others.

The way round that is to have both perf legato and sus patches loaded in the same cell and then on long notes use cell crossfade which you control using "add continuous controller".

What particular patches are you concerned about?

[John In CC]

At the moment I'm struggling with the Solo Violin, part of the Solo Strings bundle on DVD.  I've uploaded a snippet to https://www.yousendit.com/download/dklyUWVzNnlTRTd2Wmc9PQ (this attachment will be available until 11/26/10).  Pay particular attention to the three repeat chords in measure 9 at the very end.  There's should be a slight breath perhaps between each note but as is they die out after just a beat or two of a 4 beat chord.

Any suggestions on how to smooth this out will be greately appreciated!

John

[andi]

Hello John!

Thanks for uploading your score.
Because of the "espress." command the Solo Strings sound set will switch to the "sus Vib-esp" articulation for sustained notes without slurs. This articulation is not looped and will stop after some time. You could exclude the "espress." command from playback. This can be done in the Properties/Playback window (uncheck "Play on pass 1") and will avoid switching to "sus Vib-esp". Instead the normal "susb_Vib" articulation will be played.

Btw.: Soundwise it's not a good idea to let 6 or 10 solo violins play the exact same sample at the same time. For a better sound, I would add some Chamber Strings staves and let them play these passages.

Best regards,

Andi

[John In CC]

Andi:

Thanks for your reply.  I did as you instructed -- unchecked "play on pass 1" -- but was surprised to note that it seemed to have no effect.  However your reply gave me an idea:  I added "ord." to the first of the sustained notes and got the result I was after.

More on the same topic:  perhaps I should address this to the forums at Sibelius, but while I have your attention:  does the Sibelius plug-in to "add continuous control changes" have any use relating to VSL products?  It seems as if it would be the solution to extending unlooped sounds, but as noted earlier it does not seem to work as described.

Thank you again,
John

[andi]

Hello John!

If the Sibelius plugin "add continuous control changes" is of use for you with Vienna Ensemble depends on your personal preferences. However, it can't loop unlooped samples. If an unlooped sample is too short, you will either have to retrigger it or look for another articulation.

Best,
Andi