Some Free Downloadable Synchron Player Presets

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I just got the SYzd SE4, because I already had 1 and 2 and wanted some more vocal sounds, but I was somewhat taken aback by how poorly the vocal patches play in SE4. Like 80's synth voice sounds. But it was the programming of these patches not the recordings themselves, I found as I worked to crank them into something useful. I may as well share my presets with anyone here who has SE4 and wants to make use of the choirs and soloists...though the tenor soloist is still absolutely nuts sounding in the upper register lol.

I'm also including the SE1 Bosendorfer patch I uploaded a couple years ago, it tries to make the Bosey sound like the Synchron Steinway Lite they include in SE1, of course, with Bosey character. I also have it blend with the free Soft Imperial for a different flavor.

And also included, for anyone still using Vienna Smart Orchestra, I've programmed the missing bass-only presets. They include No Bass Instrument versions of the VSO patches, and they actually include the patches for Bass-only instruments, but they never provided playable presets for the bass-only instruments, so I've added them here without changing the keyswitches you're used to. This way you can have the contrabass do something else vs the cellos, write your bassline first, sketch with a freer hand.

These just unzip and go in Synchron Player Presets which is typically in your VSL folder in your Documents folder, then you find them at the bottom of your preset menu. Save a user preset of your own within the player if that folder doesn't exist yet. Public Domain, full disclaimers. Enjoy... Download "VSL Community Patches.zip"

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I was comparing about a dozen libraries with solo cello, many of your familiar suspects, and decided to add the SE1 solo cello into the ring.

One of the tricks with finagling these Synchron-ized libraries is the convolution impulse in the mixer. In the choirs above, I cranked it to max. In this solo cello preset, I bypass it. In some of the presets, the impulse isn't just convolution: it's also incorporating their "power panner" and EQ custom to that instrument. And in some of the SYzd orchestral products it uses the mono tracks approach: the stereo information is destroyed with that power panner entirely, making the instrument a one-dimensional point source with reverb added to it.

That is a cheapo way of getting separation and clarity in a mix in my opinion, no instrument is a point source, there is stereo information even in an anechoic chamber, we gots two ears boys, and it's totally unnatural to have a whole orchestra full of point sources with fake reverb tacked on. I can understand reducing stereo information with various techniques but destroying it entirely? I doubt they'd do this if this were their flagship product still. They don't do it in the Synchron libraries.

But thankfully, it's easy to turn all that off with the orange bypass button in the Synchron Player impulse dialog. Which I did here, unleashing this monster solo cello, that absolutely goes toe-to-toe with the rest of the solo cellos I have. It's not a polite "first chair" preset and yeah you might want to pan it more for some arrangements or replace the reverb but it can work in many contexts as-is. Download "04 Cello I - VelXF sus.vsynpreset"

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Here's a preset that lets me have a Synchron string pad just using the Epic 2.0 library that came with VEPro and the free Celestial Strings. I have also added the tremelo and pizzicato from Synchron Smart Orchestra but those are in octaves, and if you don't have that library you can delete them or replace them as you wish.

In this setup I have a normal keyswitchable set of long notes that offers the Flautando, Celestial (a gentle swell) and the Soft Lyrical Vibrato. I have evened these out for range and release times to make it easy to switch. I've also added a trickier set of the same longs, "Velocity Longs," where the articulation is switched by velocity but you still have the mod wheel allowing swells. This can work terrifically for playing-in once you get the hang of it, you need to understand that the velocity constrains your swell range, and the velocity is per-note. You will also need to retrigger a note that is held like a pedal between chords if you want that articulation to change with the new chord. You can always edit the MIDI for your recording to make sure everything is as you want it, but this lets you, for instance, two-hand improvise an entire soft but emotive string section with a pedal or breath controller set to CC1. And you get Synchron-quality full range strings, with nice tonal variety, very very cheaply and many situations you're not going to need more than this...the staccato short is also included.

Download "Epic Celestial Strings - VelXF.vsynpreset"

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And here's a patch for the Bosendorfer Imperial Std edition (probably works with full?) recorded in the Synchron Stage that's on sale now. I picked this one as I already had the Steinway Lite from SE1 and I felt the other options were, like the Hamburg D274, a bit bright and pokey for my tastes. This Imperial has the Bosey separated sections thing pretty accurately, and has enough chiaroscuro murk for my moody improvs, and plenty of articulate detail vs most other sampled pianos.

I think this piano would be more popular if the initial preset it opens with wasn't off to the left and distant. They call it "concert" setting but it ain't for concertos, I would call it "Symphonic" setting. But what most average people want is an improved piano sample vs what they are already used to. This preset gives you a tone very similar to mainstream piano samples you're familiar with. I have upped the body, the width, given a player perspective, it's more mainstream than even their Player preset which is still quite thin compared to typical pianos.

Now if you're a virtuosic who prefers showing off fancy footwork and wants to hear every detail, you might prefer VSL's patches to avoid mud a real piano (unless juiced) would give you, but I think this is a good balance between that and the moodier sampled pianos most of us are familiar with. (I have dozens of them to compare, and also owned high-end grands and made contest-winning and major label recordings of other pianists with them, so I have a vague idea what a piano recording is supposed to do.) This is one of the best sampled pianos out there, cost about as much as one day of my tuner did (and tuning for every session was mandatory), and this preset lets you directly compare to others. Adjust the volume and dynamics dials to match the dynamics of the sample you are comparing to.

Install in the Vienna Synchron Pianos/Presets directory, you can make a new user preset with an odd name and right-click "Show in Finder" or search for it to find where to install this preset file.

Download "Imperial Std.vsynpreset"

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Oh I realized this is a subforum for the old player format? These are all modern Synchron Player/Pianos patches and I got confused because of the generic name "Vienna Instruments" so admins can move this thread if there's a better spot for it.