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  • Artifical harmonics on the violin

    J
    J
    I am really having difficulty figuring out how to use the artificial harmonics with the Solo Strings. I would appreciate your feedback. Thank you.

    (1) If I apply “02 VI_har-art_sus” to a line of violin music in Digital Performer, it sounds to me that VI plays one octave higher than written. Is this correct?

    (2) I have a line beginning at C6 and rising to Ab7 (so it is probably playing C7 to Ab[H]. None of the written notes above D7 are played with the harmonic patch yet if I substitute another one like the tasto sustained, it plays every note (although in the C6 to Ab7 range). Why is the harmonic patch out of range above the written note of D7 and is there a way to get around this?

    (3) What is the practical (sounding) range to use artificial harmonics?

    Perhaps I found the answer: do not use harmonics above the sounding note of D8 but would never-the-less like to hear your take on this subject.

    Thanks again.
  • D
    D
    PM sent.

    DG
  • M
    M
    Yes, the artificial harmonics are, for some reason, mapped an octave higher than they should be. For those of us that play back from notation software, this is a problem. VSL team, why did you chose to do it this way, and how can we as usere fix it?

    Michael Matthews
  • H
    H
    Aren't the artificial harmonics notated transposed?
    From my experience with cello notation the artificial harmonics are notated similiar to "double stops".
    However, Vienna Instruments version 1.1 offers semitone and octave transposition inside the cell settings. So you can transpose the patches as you like matching to your notation needs.

    best
    Herb
  • M
    M
    Hi Herb:

    Artificial harmonics are notated two octaves below the sounding pitch. When one uses Finale, the playback features will:

    1) turn off playback of the diamond pitch (the one notated a perfect 4th above the fingered fundamental, and used only to show finger placement).

    2) transpose the playback of the fundamental two octaves above the notated pitch.

    The problem is, that VI harmonics play back an octave above the pitch that you assign to them, which adds an additional octave to the playback. This octave transposition does not make any sense to me. If you were going to build the transposition into the harmonic, you should have put it two octaves up. Having said that, I think that VI should play back harmonics without transposition, since to do otherwise messes up those of us who use notation software (and I, for one, already feel like an ignored/oppressed minority). Those who use sequencers as their primary playback tool can easily do the transposition.

    With regard to the octave transposition inside the cell settings. It works, but for some reason it affects the cut offs of notes. When I transpose the harmonics an octave lower, suddenly they do not always obey note off command, and seem to sustain at random. I have double checked this by making midi files from Finale and importing them into Logic. The midi data is correct, but the transposed harmonics do not cut off properly ; it does not matter if I play back from Finale or Logic. When I return the VI cell octave transposition to 0, everything works fine.

    I am not sure what this problem is, but it seems to be in the VI instrument when the octave transoposition is changed.

    Thanks,

    Michael
  • H
    H
    So far I cannot reproduce any Note OFF problems with octace or semitone transposition.
    What you can't do is to changing the transposition during playback (the note performed during the change would miss the Note OFF)

    We'll check if we can reproduce any transposition flaws in Logic.

    best
    Herb
  • M
    M
    Hi Herb:

    Thanks for checking on this in Logic. I am not changing the transposition during playback.

    Michael
  • M
    M
    last edited
    last edited

    @michael.matthews said:

    Hi Herb:

    Thanks for checking on this in Logic. I am not changing the transposition during playback.

    Michael


    Hi Michael,

    I loaded the patch 02 VI_Harm-art_sus into VI in Logic Pro Version 7.2.3 and used the octave transposition tool in VI to transpose it up and down but didn´t encounter any of the problems you described. Could you please send me a MP3 where the errors are hearable and possibly also screenshots of your VI settings? You`ll find my mail addy in a PM.

    Best,

    M a y a
  • M
    M
    Hi Maya:

    I have been doing a bit of digging into that file, and I believe that I have found the problem. Somehow there was an extra controller message getting into the Logic file that changed the staccato harmonic patch in VI to a legato patch before the note off of the final staccato note. This was causing the note to stick on.

    Thanks for your help in this.

    MIchael