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  • Looped Harmonics in VI

    M
    M
    Hi:

    Why was the decision made to not loop the sustained harmonics in the VI solo strings? (unless I am missing something). This places a severe limitation on their use.

    Michael Matthews
  • D
    D
    last edited
    last edited

    @michael.matthews said:

    Hi:

    Why was the decision made to not loop the sustained harmonics in the VI solo strings? (unless I am missing something). This places a severe limitation on their use.

    Michael Matthews

    Probably because a bow is only a certain length.

    DG
  • M
    M
    Well, of course, as it is for all of the stringed instruments, and yet the sustained ordinario note are looped, reflecting the fact that string players may discreetly change bows, creating the illusion of a sustained note.

    M.
  • M
    M
    Any response from the VI team on this?

    Thanks,

    Michael
  • G
    G
    last edited
    last edited

    @michael.matthews said:

    Well, of course, as it is for all of the stringed instruments, and yet the sustained ordinario note are looped, reflecting the fact that string players may discreetly change bows, creating the illusion of a sustained note.

    M.

    .... or subtly change bow direction .... [[;)]]
  • S
    S
    If you play repeated notes, for the duration required, so that they end just before the sample terminates, then "butt" the notes up against each other, and insert pedal sustains where appropriate, that will give you a satifactory end result. A bit tedious, but it works.
  • M
    M
    Thank you, Strawinsky. I understand that work-arounds are possible. This is not my point. My question is, why are the sustained "normal" string sounds looped and not the harmonics?

    For those of us who drive VSL with notation software, we want to be able to write tied notes in our scores (e.g. several bars of a sustained harmonic pitch) without having to come up with a notational cludge to circumvent a non-looped sample.

    I am still hoping for a comment from the VSL team on this one.

    Thanks,

    Michael
  • M
    M
    last edited
    last edited

    @michael.matthews said:

    Well, of course, as it is for all of the stringed instruments, and yet the sustained ordinario note are looped, reflecting the fact that string players may discreetly change bows, creating the illusion of a sustained note.

    M.

    .... or subtly change bow direction .... [[;)]]

    Excellent. I am conjuring up the image of an entire string section discreetly "changing bows" during a sustained passage. The subtleties of language are wonderful.

    Best,

    Michael
  • M
    M
    last edited
    last edited

    @michael.matthews said:

    Hi:

    Why was the decision made to not loop the sustained harmonics in the VI solo strings? (unless I am missing something). This places a severe limitation on their use.

    Michael Matthews


    To the VI team:

    I am still waiting, and hoping, for an answer to this question.

    Best,

    Michael
  • H
    H
    Most of all sustain patches of the solostrings are not looped. (except the tremoli).

    best
    Herb
  • M
    M
    Thanks, Herb. Since there are a lot of notated long sustained pitches, both normal and harmonic, in much of the, say string quartet literature, where the players change bow direction ad lib., why did VSL decide to do it this way?

    Best,

    Michael
  • H
    H
    Generally I don't like the sound aesthetics of looped solostrings.

    For normal sustains you have the option of manually triggering bowchanges if you need long sustains.

    An option for the harmonics is layering the harmonics perf-repetitions with the harmonic sustains. Maybe you have to setup the attack and start delay of the sustain patch, so that the sustains crossfades smooth with the repetition samples.

    What you get is a natural performance with bowchanges for long notes (you just have to trigger in time before the sustain is over)

    To get realistic performances playing repetitions (to simulate bowchanges) is to keep the gap between the two note as short as possible. Using a pedal is very helpful. With the right pedalling it's also possible to achieve the bowchange effect even without using repetition samples. At least this works for me with the harmonics.

    best
    Herb
  • M
    M
    Thank you very much for the suggestions, Herb.

    Michael
  • C
    C
    Can someone give me a rundown of this whole pedal thing - its new to me.
  • H
    H
    If you perform a repetition on a keyboard you naturally get a little gap between two repeated notes (the better you can play the shorter this gap could be) This sounds OK for any keyboard instrument (piano, organ celeste etc) but sounds fake for any string or wind instrument, which performs legato repetitions.
    So before you lift a key you can hold it with a suspedal, and at the moment you perform the repetition note on the keyboard you lift off the pedal.

    The other option you have, is to raise up the RDEL slider (Release delay) which you can find at the Edit Cell box. With this slider you can set a NOTE OFF offset, which also helps avoiding gaps between repetition notes.

    best
    Herb