Yeah I completely agree with that but didn't say it so directly.  The simple fact is - by using samples of the symphony orchestra, you are one person doing the work of 60 to 80 people.  So to expect that instantly to create exactly what you imagine, is not going to happen.  Though I'm sure you realize that, that's just putting it more extremely.   On the other hand, it is pretty astounding what you can hear simply pushing a few keys with VSL sounds.  Translating that into an entire piece of music though does take a lot of work.  Though once one finds a system of one's own, it becomes something you are used to and can develope some real facility with.  i also have the same feeling as maestro in that after doing all the MIDI and sample tweaking, then comes the mixing which is another entire world of technique.  But still it is exciting to get music to that stage and start working on it. 

One thing I did not put so clearly is the idea that with the approach of a matrix or preset of your own, you can start with the minimum of what you need.  And you find that you can do a HUGE amount of music with just legato, sustain, portato/detache and staccato.  Many lines of music require nothing more than those.  So setting up matrices that use the minimum, and then expanding as more articulations are needed, simplifies the task enormously. 

You have to enjoy getting into the details to make VSL work. Personally I greatly enjoy it. I usually go through a piece very roughly the first time (only staccatos and legatos), and when the basic shape is there I work through each track one at a time, bar by bar, adding articulation details until each instrument sounds realistic on its own. If each track sounds realistic on its own, you know it's going to sound good with everything playing at once. But it's never perfect... listening to the whole ensemble usually reveals more problems, and you need to go back and tweak a lot of things before it really works. At times it's frustrating, but the frustration is eclipsed by the satisfaction when you can finally play it through with all the articulations and reverb, and it actually sounds like music.

@clamnectar said:

You have to enjoy getting into the details to make VSL work.

No... no I really don't. 😄

I totally get all the speechifyin' about 'suck it up' and 'no pain, no gain'. I'm not looking for 'Hans Zimmer' style mock-ups. And although I -really- admire guys like... well, like Guy... who do Rite Of Spring on a DAW, that's just not what I'm aimin' for.

My low rent friends ask me all the time now what I think of the VSL libs I own and I think I can finally say that, although they sound -way- better than EWQLO (which just reek 'video game') but I stll have a tough time -recommending- VSL because...and I think the replies I've receive bear this out... IT'S TOO FRICKIN' HARD OOTB. It's almost as if the programmers -intentionally- make it tougher than it needs to be... there's like this culture of 'manliness' with regard to how much suffering one endures to get the best results. Again I say: that Universal Mode s.b. included with -every- lib... and the default patches should be made a LOT more ergonomic. With the price of these things, some care should be taken for ease of use. There's no reason it -has- to require custom patching just to get something usable OOTB.

@William.... thanks for the -very- useful reply. On the contrary, I now think your layout is how VSL should be -shipped-. The default patch...which I've been struggling with is intrinsically a right PITA. And my big problem has been thinking that I needed to figure out how to work -with- it, rather than making my own because I figured VSL -must- have had some deep logic behind the defaults. Well, now I reckon the only 'logic' to the default is that this must be the way they always did it so they just kept the same consistently difficult patches across the lib.

Anyhoo... Some very helpful ideas here. Time to roll up my sleeves and create some patches. I don't intend to do all the hand-editing many of you so relish... I just wanna be able to get in the ballpark when I lay down tracks.

THANKS! YOU GUYS ROCK

---JC

suntower - glad that is helpful. 

I, too, am in the process of learning a great deal about how to use the VSL libraries.  It is precisely due to being "hard" that such good results are possible with the VSL libraries.  If you take away all the tools and options, the results will be far more "canned".  It is well worth taking the time to map articulations note by note as each phrase requires.  As another already said, you are seeking to mimic the results of what 60-80 people are doing in one pass, following the conductor.  We not only have to be the conductor, but also have to play each musician's part, musically, as that musician would play it.

If you have not yet purchased it (and if needs are smaller, wait for MIR Pro 24), getting MIR Pro would be a strong suggestion.  Although my computer power only allowed for MIR SE, it is a wonderful tool, and extremely helpful for those of us who do not excel at mixing, etc.

@Suntower said:

there's like this culture of 'manliness' with regard to how much suffering one endures to get the best results.

Nonsense. It's very easy to get good results in VSL relative to many other software toolsets, which sound bad no matter how you use them, and even easier relative to learning to play the violin. But there's still effort required. How exactly can it be effortless to create a convincing and nuanced performance on a complex instrument? The point of my original post is that if you want to take it as far as it can go, you can do it, but it's time consuming. If you want to do it halfway, as William says, you can get an awful lot of mileage out of just a couple of patches per instrument. But it might sound less than amazing, and that shouldn't be a surprise.

Thanks for the replies. Like I said... I ain't lookin' to fool -anyone-. I'm just trying to develop a way of getting rough ideas in place -quickly-. My end product (fpr now) is notation and live performance. So 'realism' is a relative term for me. Far more important is -speed-. I basically just need a way to -play- in real-time, legato, sawing, pizz and maybe spicc... and ideally hit the occasional double-stop, without stopping to 'draw'... exactly what Paul does in the Universal Mode video. Anything else, like harm or whatever? Sure, I'll stop and draw.

I go on about Garritan Strad because they really had a nice concept re. ergonomics. Was it the last word in 'realism'? Of course not. But it gets you 80% of the way there in real time. So far with VSL, here's my typical day:  I take 1 minute to think up a string line consisting of: a few pizz notes, then a slurred passage and right into some detache sawing---maybe 20 seconds of music. Then I spend 10 minutes figuring out the 'ballet' I need to do in order to play that bit into the DAW... or -draw- it in. I get that right, hit 'play' and then realise that I did -something- that 'undid' the articulation on the next passage. D'Oh!

Basically, I just find the default patches not very ergonomic. Hopefully, I can develop my own 'Universal Mode' so I can play something rough into the DAW as quickly as I can with Garritan. And then if I want, I can 'polish' it to a high 'burnish'.

Regards,

---JC

I don't mean to lecture you, but you need to put the Garritan thing out of your mind. It is not a sample library, so it works in a different way. i could do what you described in real time with VSL, but then again I know exactly what patches I'm using and how to access them.

I really do think your best bet is to think about what patches you want to use, how you can control them in real time and then set up your matrices and Presets accordingly.

DG

@Suntower said:

How does VSL determine up/down bow or slurring? ....

Hello Suntower

probably you already got all the necessary answers.

Nevertheless, here are some sound examples. They will show you that you need to take the "correct" articulations for getting the feeling of up and down bows.

Which is the "correct articulation?". That's a question of knowing your library (articulations) and how real string instruments do sound...

And another tip: Forget the names and indication of all the samples. The correct ones are those which sound as the should and not those which got the correct names.

So check out: http://www.beat-kaufmann.com/vitutorials/vi-tips--tricks-3/index.php (No. 21 and No. 26)

Have fun

Beat

I don't feel 'lectured'. I -do- think that the VSL community---like the communities of most great products---tend to be a bit touchy about -any- criticism.

The bottom line, for me, is that the included Presets are not very user-friendly and I need to create my own. I've received some great advice on how to do it... so I'll do it.

My grouse---and I think it's valid--is that the included Presets could be, and should be, easier to use OOTB. I just don't think they're particularly useful. And regardless of how one can work around it and how one should study and so on, for the kind of money they charge a little more instant gratification is appropriate. After all: under the hood a Mac is basically a Unix computer.

VSL is a small company and they obviously choose to spend their time on other things, but I think it's reasonable for me to 'lobby' for what I care about.

Again: thanks for the suggestions. The Beat Kaufman 'Basic Preset' is definitely the way (for me) to go.

---JC