What's new

Synchron Strings Pro

To anyone who has purchased this, could you throw up a quick demo of a dry violin and cello legato line? I'm curious how it would sound with no reverb and a close setting.
 
Just spent a little time with it, very nice addition to SYS1 - really enjoying the "feel" of the new legato patches. The longs in general are really lovely and the addition of measured trem is great ;)

As far the the full vs. standard thing, for me the extra mics are a must & I'm glad I went for the full version.

However, some of the shorts are kinda strange, especially 1st violins - the spiccatos and col leg sound like they're in another room, there's an odd volume and spacial discrepancy between the staccatos and spicattos, and same with the pizz vs the Legno.. not sure what's up, almost feel like there are samples missing? I'm gonna write to support now.
Hi...so you have SY 1? My question is what is exactly new in Pro? Falutando is also in SY 1, so they recorded more? What happens to the overlap in articulations in SY 1 and Pro? Are the new recordings meant to replace what overlaps in Sy 1?

Thanks.
 
For legato/longs, basically. (To be ultra specific, the flautando and pp are separate cells.)

The shorts have 6 plus there is a separate "fff" short articulation that resembles the "harsh" (velocity value of 120-127 in the original Synchron Strings).
Are there redundant patches from SY 1 in Pro? Does Pro take over where Sy 1 leaves off on certain articulations? Like Flautando, shorts...longs etc? I know there are new legatos. Also, is it a separate library, or does pro combine with SY 1 all in one player? I would not like having two players open for the same library.. LOL. Thanks man.
 
I'm a SyS-I owner (and fan), and have spent couple of hours now with SyS Pro side-by-side.

These are first impressions.

More repackaging from VSL

This has a substantial amount of content from SyS-I, while being an extremely limited subset as far as dynamics go. In every way SyS-I shorts/longs/legatos are better and more realistic IMO.

shorts: higher dyns of shorts are split off into separate patches, shrug
'agile' is onset trim? not terribly different

longs: nothing but far fewer dyns and much less expressivity, the new soft releases are too long and unnatural.

new 'legatos': drunken section woo woo overlap legato that sounds like minimoog glide, that everyone demanded, ugh

legato 'agile' - even worse

shorter cresc/dims, but starting from zero/max regardless of dyn is not useful - one can perform better dyns with SyS-I

What's really new/useful for SyS-I owners:

detache
legato flautando
portamento (if that's your thing)
better sforzato
measured trem
col legno
harmonic longs and trem
sul pont short, long, legato, trem

You'll have to decide if that's worth the $150 (standard) 'crossgrade'. I'm not upset about purchasing it, but I am sad for the Synchron Series.

Pro?

To be clear there is nothing 'Pro' about this library. 2 dynamic levels is not Pro. It's a tiny articulation increment over SyS-I that couldn't be sold as such, supplemented by crippled subset of SyS-I and packaged as a new 'complete' offering. On its own, it possesses none of the distinctions SyS-I has over other sample libs - huge dynamic range and modeling-like expressivity.

As a complement to SyS-I, I'm concerned there was far less care here over dynamic range matching, which will make switching to/from SyS-I patches and these more of a headache.

Sigh

Playing this back-to-back with SyS-I reveals once again what a great, realistic and groundbreakingly expressive a sample library that is. But everyone complained about it, and VSL clearly has abandoned it's high-fidelity mission. You got what you asked for - IMO, an utter disappointment. I hope you enjoy gliding from one note to another while turning the volume of 2 dyns up and down :)
 
I'm a SyS-I owner (and fan), and have spent couple of hours now with SyS Pro side-by-side.

These are first impressions.

More repackaging from VSL

This has a substantial amount of content from SyS-I, while being an extremely limited subset as far as dynamics go. In every way SyS-I shorts/longs/legatos are better and more realistic IMO.

shorts: higher dyns of shorts are split off into separate patches, shrug
'agile' is onset trim? not terribly different

longs: nothing but far fewer dyns and much less expressivity, the new soft releases are too long and unnatural.

new 'legatos': drunken section woo woo overlap legato that sounds like minimoog glide, that everyone demanded, ugh

legato 'agile' - even worse

shorter cresc/dims, but starting from zero/max regardless of dyn is not useful - one can perform better dyns with SyS-I

What's really new/useful for SyS-I owners:

detache
legato flautando
portamento (if that's your thing)
better sforzato
measured trem
col legno
harmonic longs and trem
sul pont short, long, legato, trem

You'll have to decide if that's worth the $150 (standard) 'crossgrade'. I'm not upset about purchasing it, but I am sad for the Synchron Series.

Pro?

To be clear there is nothing 'Pro' about this library. 2 dynamic levels is not Pro. It's a tiny articulation increment over SyS-I that couldn't be sold as such, supplemented by crippled subset of SyS-I and packaged as a new 'complete' offering. On its own, it possesses none of the distinctions SyS-I has over other sample libs - huge dynamic range and modeling-like expressivity.

As a complement to SyS-I, I'm concerned there was far less care here over dynamic range matching, which will make switching to/from SyS-I patches and these more of a headache.

Sigh

Playing this back-to-back with SyS-I reveals once again what a great, realistic and groundbreakingly expressive a sample library that is. But everyone complained about it, and VSL clearly has abandoned it's high-fidelity mission. You got what you asked for - IMO, an utter disappointment. I hope you enjoy gliding from one note to another while turning the volume of 2 dyns up and down :)
I don't have Pro yet...just going off what is mentioned here: It sounds to me like they should have just gone with an SE version of Synchron Strings instead of calling it "pro".

I have Sy 1, and would rather have replacement patches that are superior to what I currently have. Either articulations are replaced, or make the new recordings on par dynamically with Sy 1...after all this IS Synchron Strings Pro.

Based off what you said, this is a bit disappointing...although I do like the additions: Detache and portamento (I like having it in case).
 
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To anyone who has purchased this, could you throw up a quick demo of a dry violin and cello legato line? I'm curious how it would sound with no reverb and a close setting.

Completely exposed, no frills, no fx. Close mono mic (1st chair) mid/back section mics (a couple feet above the players.

(...and other folks, please note this is not how I would mix this library. This is for demonstration purposes.)
 

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I don't have Pro yet...just going off what is mentioned here: It sounds to me like they should have just gone with an SE version of Synchron Strings instead of calling it "pro".

I have Sy 1, and would rather have replacement patches that are superior to what I currently have. Either articulations are replaced, or make the new recordings on par dynamically with Sy 1...after all this IS Synchron Strings Pro.

Based off what you said, this is a bit disappointing...although I do like the additions: Detache and portamento (I like having it in case).

Have you purchased the Synchron Strings Pro yet? Think after the initial user feedback coming in I might hold of a little longer to see what some others have to say about it.
 
I completely agree. I’m not rushing in.

I was pretty set on it, but I think it probably is a wise decision to hold off for a bit on this one and get some more users feedback from it. Overall I do really like what I hear from it. On paper it sounds great and it seems like they have addressed many issues with Synchron Strings 1, however, I also don't want certain key things compromised or made worse than Synchron Strings 1 such as having limited dynamics to the point of being an issue or any big programming problem. I also think @method1 mentioned some issues with the shorts. I assumed that this would all not be the case as its called pro and is being mentioned as their new flagship strings library.
 
I assumed that this would all not be the case as its called pro and is being mentioned as their new flagship strings library.

Heck, look at BBCSO "Pro." I own that, and can't even knock someone's teeth out with the raw power of a horn ensemble sustaining a chord. I have to do it the old fashioned way.

EDIT: No, but really, sometimes the brass does feel a bit weak.
 
Heck, look at BBCSO "Pro." I own that, and can't even knock someone's teeth out with the raw power of a horn ensemble sustaining a chord. I have to do it the old fashioned way.

EDIT: No, but really, sometimes the brass does feel a bit weak.

I think a lot of BBCSO "pro" has 2 dynamic layers in a lot of instruments as well and yep the horn isn't the best. I think having less dynamic layers does effect certain instruments in the BBCSO. I think Synchron Strings Pro has 2 dynamic layers but also has some of the pianissimo and louder dynamics split into different articulations so their is more dynamics there.
 
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Heck, look at BBCSO "Pro." I own that, and can't even knock someone's teeth out with the raw power of a horn ensemble sustaining a chord. I have to do it the old fashioned way.

EDIT: No, but really, sometimes the brass does feel a bit weak.
Nothing a few other brass instruments can't fix though. :)
 
Synchron Strings Pro has 2 dynamic layers but also has some of the pianissimo and louder dynamics split into different articulations so their is more dynamics there.
True...but why? How can I get a performance if I can't use the entire dynamic range? Although I think you can layer articulations.
 
True...but why? How can I get a performance if I can't use the entire dynamic range? Although I think you can layer articulations.

Very true, I was just thinking all this as well. I was wondering about this for the legatos too, for example, do you need to keyswitch to a the portamento articulation/patch if you want a portamento on a note?
 
Very true, I was just thinking all this as well. I was wondering about this for the legatos too, for example, do you need to keyswitch to a the portamento articulation/patch if you want a portamento on a note?
I believe you do...based off their other libraries. Portamento is its own patch. I think though, you can easily layer them, and create velocity making so that it switches below a certain range.

EDIT: I just tried...can't seem to find where I would select dynamic ranges. Maybe can't be done.
 
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