Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
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  • VI Great!

    With even the small investigation I've done of VI (Strings I+II) it's completely obvious to me that it is a vast improvement in not only sample playing, but also organization and effeciency. For example the Articulation Combi Preset. With one click of the mouse, 20 (twenty!) different articulations are loaded in a single matrix (10 each horizontally on 2 verticle planes.) The H span is Keyswitched and the V span with Modwheel. If you know how to hit one key at a time and know how to use a modwheel you already know how to reap major benefits from VI. I am not tech savy at all but easily assigned Velocity crossfade and the ability to toggle it on or off. I could easily customize the articulations in the preset by simply dragging whatever patch I want either replacing or adding another horizontal cell or both - easy!

    Because it runs AU my new G5 (Digital Performer) is now a sort of super VSL dedicated Gigastudio without having to hunt for articulations constantly, worry about ram conservation as much, and stare all day long at little midi tracks trying to find the 'whole step trill' track or 'short this' or 'long that' or 'alt this' and then deal with a performance tool on top of it.

    I don't doubt that things could get a little complicated with multiple matrixes on a single channel of say Violins but if you approach it simply and turn what use to be twenty steps (or tracks) into one you will notice it in your work flow right away. Keep in mind I've spent very little time learning the thing because I'm too busy. I did watch the tutorials several time before I purchased them which I highly suggest.

    The samples are smooth and great sounding (yes there is a bug or two which I will report) but even a superficial application of the VI's innovations allows one to think about music more of the time and mouses less. My hat is off to the VSL team.

  • Dave, I agree with you the new VI is a great thing. A few of us here use Digital Performer with the new VI and would be most interested in what kind of performance you'll be getting out of your newMac. Is it the Quad?

    So far I am maxing out my G5 Dual 2.5 3.5 Gig Ram with 5 VI loaded VI's and about 12 Kontakt 2 tracks with 1 Altiverb Hall playing about 40 Midi Tracks. Performance increase quite a bit if you go up to 512 buffer but I need to stay at 256 k buffer. I will have to add more Ram to increase headroom performance.

  • Glad to see other DP users here. I'm catching up with you guys quickly and am making great progress. We're going to have to get a DP-VI section rolling here pretty soon.

    Dave, I have to agree with you and Bruce. Part of it was simply not having to deal with the speed bumps of Logic and EXS (with all due respect), but DP has been my "home" for years. The joy of seeing VI open in DP incited an audible gasp--!!

    It really is clever in so many ways that almost too numerous to count. Click here, drag there, badda-boom, badda-bing-- we've got serious orchestra up and running in no time-!!

    Bruce, I've not done a stress test just yet, but I've got five instances of strings loaded with at least two large matrices each, two instances of Altiverb 5, and some UAD-1 plugs. My CPU is hardly hitting 10%. The matrices have enabled me to cut way back on the numbers of tracks I've used in the past, and I've yet to require more than one per instrument section. Usually, I start with about 8 tracks of first violins and go up from there, but it's nice to be able do so much inside once instance.

    Stacking Chamber String patches with Orch. String patches is my favorite little trick so far. Can't wait to dial in some Solo Strings to as well for greater complexity.

    We finally have an orchestra that doesn't argue with the conductor--!! [:P]

  • Bruce,

    Haven't tested the loading aspects (in the middle of a project) but some people have reported over 5 gigs of samples loaded. I have a Dual 2.7 with 4.5 gigs of RAM. If it's true that much ram is being accessed we'll all be bumping up the ram. VSL's test show 2.8 gigs and 47000 samples loaded I believe.

    K2 and Altiverb love chewing up processors so everyone will have different results depending on their setup. However the handwriting is on the wall with Quad Macs and their 16 gigs of Ram availability not too mention 64 bit apps., OS's and Intel chips on the horizon.

    I'll post when I have a chance to load it up but it may be old news by then since I'm midstream with this project.

    JWL, I hear you. Just loaded up all the dynamic VI-4 patches on one matrix. Much, much easier to explore the library and audition this way