Vienna MIR RoomPacks Version 2

RoomPacks are the crown jewels of Vienna MIR. Containing thousands of individual impulse responses from a single venue, they form the foundation the whole MIR concept is built upon.

During almost a decade of development, our experience and finesse in preparing these huge amounts of data has grown constantly. New techniques and an enhanced toolset offer more and considerably better possibilities now than we had five or ten years ago.

For the upcoming release of Vienna MIR PRO – the next-generation MIR engine – we decided to rework all our existing RoomPacks to do these developments justice. Of course, all new RoomPacks will be released in the new "V.2" format.

In appreciation of our loyal Vienna MIR and Vienna MIR SE user base, we have decided to introduce the new V.2 format not only for Vienna MIR PRO, but also as an update for the already well-established Vienna MIR  platform!

Note: Version 2 of MIR Standard RoomPack 1 (Vienna Konzerthaus) will be available a few days after the release of RoomPacks 2 and 3. 

Key features of Vienna MIR V.2 RoomPacks

• New Venues added to RoomPack 2 (Teldex Studio Berlin) and 3 (Pilgrimage Church Strassengel)

• Vienna MIR PRO compatibility

• Homogeneous sound for all Main Microphone polarity patterns due to improved Ambisonics processing.

• Adaptation of relative volume between all Main Microphones in all Venues, making it even more comfortable to switch Venues while working on a MIR Project.

• More consistency in Dry Signal level scaling.

• New Starting Point-settings for many Venues.

Furthermore, we put lots of effort into the elimination of small bugs and mapping inconsistencies that went unnoticed up to now.

Updating Information

• Vienna MIR / MIR SE 1.3 (build 1831) or higher is needed for V.2 RoomPacks. Software updates are available in your VSL User Area.

• All your existing RoomPack licenses are valid for V.2 RoomPacks, too. Downloads are available in your VSL User Area. Please follow the guidelines of the Installer application.

• V.2 RoomPacks will not replace your existing RoomPacks. It's not necessary to uninstall V.1 RoomPacks since both versions will happily co-exist in the same folder on your hard disk. Vienna MIR will be able to discern between them all by itself.

• Converting an existing MIR Project to V.2 of the same Venue is possible by simply selecting the new version from MIR's Room Editor. – CAUTION: Depending on the chosen Venue, the sound and especially the balance of the Project may change considerably! There's nothing wrong with keeping V.1 RoomPacks active for any existing or future MIR Project, especially if you’re happy with the result.

Download Manager:

All MIR RoomPacks are now supported by the VSL Download Manager for comfortable data transfer. Please follow the instructions in your VSL User Area!

Owners of RoomPack 2 or 3 licences will be able to download the new additions FOR FREE.

Introductory Offer: Purchase RoomPack 2 and RoomPack 3 at the current lower price and get the additional rooms for free! On March 16, 2011, prices will go up.

-> [URL]http://www.vsl.co.at/en/211/497/1687/364/1965/1633.htm[/URL]

New MIR Venues:

We are very proud to announce the release of two exceptional new Venues for Vienna MIR. Built from a total of more than 8,000 individual impulse responses, these new halls greatly enhance the sonic possibilites of Vienna MIR and MIR SE.

• Teldex Studio Berlin is one of the most prestigious orchestral sound stages in the world - the first choice for all kinds of contemporary orchestral recordings, especially film scores.

• The Pilgrimage Church Maria Strassengel is a jewel of gothic architecture, built 650 years ago.

For detailed documentation and background information about the new additions to the MIR RoomPacks 2 and 3 please refer to the manuals:

→ RoomPack 2 - Studios & Soundstages - Manual

→ RoomPack 3 - Mystic Spaces - Manual

MIR's internal Preview audio files are available online, too:

→ Teldex Studio Berlin - Previews

→ Pilgrimage Church Maria Strassengel - Previews

Two exemplary session presets for Teldex Studio (developed by Herb Tucmandl himself) are available in your VSL User Area.

Dedicated audio demos will follow.

 Dietz!!

The room sounds amazing!  I love the Teldex Studio Berlin sound.  Very realistic and smooth sounding to me.  Seems to be working fine as well.  Although I did find that if you hit the "preview" it errors out.  The room loads fine with my projects and sounds great, just thought I would point out the preview isn't working at the moment.

When you say presets, you do mean an actual template with instrument icons already placed for us to work with correct?

Exciting stuff and thanks so much for giving the loyal current owners this free update!

Maestro2be

Thanks for the positive feedback! For me, Teldex is one of the most brilliant Venues we ever made for MIR.

@Another User said:

When you say presets, you do mean an actual template with instrument icons already placed for us to work with correct?

Yes - directly from Herb's working bench. 😊 They should be available for download later this week.

Kind regads,

Dietz, the installation instructions are not very clear. I don't have the D/L manager installed on my production machine, only the Internet one? So once I've transferred the files, how do I install them?

DG

Hi DG,

Should be simple: Copy the downloaded files, then run the exe, that should install the roompacks.

Best,

Paul

Yes, thanks a lot for the free new venues! Both rooms sound brilliant, but I have to agree, especially the Teldex is awesome! But also the Strassengel Church is really just the right in between from the other church to the Konzerthaus-venues! I will have a lot of fun with those! :-) and I guess the overall sound of MIR got a little bit more brilliant, if I am not mistaken... Since MIR is out I really use it as a standard when working with orchestral stuff, but still its level of realizm impresses me again and again, so I think even now, a while after release it is still groundbreaking! 

So this update is something like a real teaser for MIR pro, I guess.. :-) I am really looking forward to this!! 

Thanks a lot again guys..., 

Patrik

@Paul said:

Hi DG,

Should be simple: Copy the downloaded files, then run the exe, that should install the roompacks.

 

Best,

Paul

Ah yes, I should have looked in the folder. Might be a nice idea to include some instructions on the web page though.

DG

Thanks Vsl!

The new rooms free of charge for existing room pack owners!!!

In my oppinion, this is very generous from Vsl!

I cant evaluate the new rooms yet, they sound great though. And for sure, the Teldex studio is gonna be super important.

The versatility of Mir increases in a big way.

 +1

Great that we have the old versions for done work too!!

btw - the little bug (license error message for some vsl-instruments) has gone since update MIR 1836!

Thanks a lot!! 

Frank 

Thanks a lot for all the positive comments! Keep them coming ... 😉

@patrik said:

[...] I guess the overall sound of MIR got a little bit more brilliant, if I am not mistaken. [...]

Yes, in a way. Actually it is an improvement in regard of the improved pre-processing of the raw Ambisonic IR data. The new V.2 RoomPacks allow for any chosen output microphone setup without the loss of high frequency content that was inherent to the "old" decoding process.

This is why we decided to allow V.1 and V.2  side-by-side, because depending on the Output Format, V.1-based projects may sound quite different when using the same Venue, but from a V.2-RoomPack.

As a rule of thumb it is good to know that figure-8-based Main Microphone Setups (like "Blumlein crossed fig.-8") will sound more or less identical, while setups with increasing omni-component (like "Standard X/Y") will benefit a lot from the new way of doing things. V.2 based Ambisonic decoding will sound homogeneous frequency-wise, independently from the selected Main Microphone characteristics.

... in this context it let me point out that MIR 1.3 now starts with a new Default Output Format, which is broader and "more stereo" than the previous, pretty conservative "X/Y Wide"-setup (... which is still available, of course).

Kind regards,

UPDATE:

The Audio Previews for both new MIR Venues are available online now! These Previews are the same prerendered audio examples that are selectable from MIR's Room Editor window (converted to mp3 for online release).

Keep in mind that they are meant to give you a basic idea from a Venue's acoustic characteristics only. Of course the actual results from MIR can (and will) vary according to the actual settings chosen.

-> Teldex Studio Berlin - Previews

-> Pilgrimage Church Maria Strassengel - Previews

Kind regards,

I'm confused - as usual!

I have downloaded and installed the new roompacks using the VSL downloader. I now have three folders on the same drive.

The first is programme data - VSL - Vienna MIR - and that contains my existing room VMI files.

The second and third folders contain the new room packs with BIN files.

The new rooms do not show up in MIR.

What should I do?

Dave,

there should be an installer application (*.exe) carrying the same name as the *.bin files. Click it for installing the new RoomPacks.

... this is also explained in detail in all RoomPack manuals.

Kind regards,

UPDATE:

@cgernaey said:

[...] I did find that if you hit the "preview" it errors out.  The room loads fine with my projects and sounds great, just thought I would point out the preview isn't working at the moment. [...]

There's a new build of RoomPack 2 online which corrects this error. Other than that, the data is identical.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

If I want to correct this preview error for the Teldex studios, do I need to download the entire two gigabyte file or is there a quicker fix?

Marko

I hardly dare to say it ... but there's no other cure than downloading the whole thing again. ... [:S] Each RoomPack is one monolithic file, which doesn't allow for any "side entrances".

But as I wrote before: The good thing is that there's nothing wrong with using the faulty build for real work, with the exception of the Preview, which can be considered a convenience feature anyway.

Once I have installed the roompacks, can I delete the bin files? I won't need them unless I decide to install again. Am  II right on this?

Marko

Yes.