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VSL Synchron Strings I Announced (Nov. Release)

It's getting harder, and harder to trust Paul's statements regarding when they will finally release the Synchron Strings 1 Player.

Here we go again, Next Week another time around, and around, and around we go. I'm getting very dizzy ... :shocked:
 
I've certainly lost a great deal of faith in VSL over this debacle, and won't ever pre-order any of their products again. VSL admitting the library isn't up to their usual standards and going back to the drawing board would go a long way toward repairing the damage, but I'd be very surprised if this actually happened.

If that's how you're feeling, my advice is to never preorder any software, ever. This is seriously not uncommon anymore and we shouldn't keep encouraging the behavior by buying in every time.
 
Damn, still checking everyday for updates ....
I did not loose faith in VSL or their products, but I am still absolutely unhappy with the communication strategy, and anything about motivating early adopters. What about "10% discount for every month the player is not out for a synchron lib?")
For a complete "not saying anything" strategy they say too much ("Just one bug we discovered when we wanted to distribute it", or "Software is ready, we are just translating the sample format to a new format now", ...)

Or the legato part, no real staement here It could be:
-) We think this is exactly how legato should sound. But future extensions might add additional samples like super-slurred, portamento, ...
-) We anticipated the feedback from the community, and are going to release new legato samples (however this still can take time)
-) The player is going to be a step forward and will definitely improve legato through super advanced scripting. We aim for being the best legato library in the world, what the player won't fix will be added with additional samples
 
Unforseen circumstances does often have people to see us in a different light, and is a major course of disharmony, and break ups.
Especially when we can not explain the circumstances,

This often happens in marriage, friendship,
And more so in business.
 
If that's how you're feeling, my advice is to never preorder any software, ever. This is seriously not uncommon anymore and we shouldn't keep encouraging the behavior by buying in every time.

I rarely pre-order anything. But there are a few companies who have built up enough trust that I've made exceptions. It gives me no pleasure to say that VSL is no longer on that very short list.
 
I rarely pre-order anything. But there are a few companies who have built up enough trust that I've made exceptions. It gives me no pleasure to say that VSL is no longer on that very short list.

Forget just pre-ordering from VSL again, i likely just won't buy anything from them again, ever.

False advertising*
*Library only fully out 4-5 months after they said it would be
*Legato isn't re-invented at all, it is worse than most other string libraries.
Poor promotion execution during the pre-order (ie the voucher debacle)
Player still nowhere to be seen even though they have released two other libraries in the meantime with the new player
Very little in the way of apology or acknowledgment of how rubbish A. they have been and B. the library is.
 
Does anyone remember when Fable Sounds was going to release the update to Broadway Big Band last year? And they reset their homepage to a countdown clock? And when 0:00:00 hit, nothing happened, and the owner had to say "it's not ready yet, sorry", and it was a few more weeks?

Thinking back, that was pretty funny. I think this will be funny next year. Actually, I already think it's pretty funny. "Synchron next week" has been a humorous catchphrase around the studio for a few months.
 
I rarely pre-order anything. But there are a few companies who have built up enough trust that I've made exceptions. It gives me no pleasure to say that VSL is no longer on that very short list.

That's just it though, VSL has had delays before with Dimension which took still longer to release than Synchron has so far, and DS is one of my favorite string products. This isn't a new thing even with VSL. Nobody has my trust, and I think that's just the way to be.
 
Hi,

VSL should release their Synchron Player for Synchron Strings 1 when it is finally ready, I don't think the next week promises from Paul are going to be taken seriously at this point (at least I'm not taking any of his promises seriously).

Here is what I would expect to see from Synchron Strings 1's Synchron Player when it is finally released :

1. It runs very efficiently, bug free, and is super stable.

2. It offers a major improvement to the Legato functionality compared to the way it worked in VI-Pro2. (If this is not offered by the new Synchron Player, there will be a lot of unhappy VSL customers).

3. It offers major workflow improvements, that will speed up production, and customization of this library.

4. I expect VSL to post new Video Tutorials showing how the new Legato Functionality that the Synchron Player offers sound, and how to use it properly.

5. I expect VSL to post a healthy number of new, and diverse style audio demos of Synchron Strings 1 done using the new Synchron Player.

Again, I think the bottom line is that we have been waiting far too long, and I personally don't mind waiting as long as it takes for all of the above points to be fulfilled by VSL.

imho. Rushing the release at this point makes no sense. Having lots of Patience, and the super long waiting time is part of the process. Unfortunately, this is all due to VSL releasing a product before it is ready. I hope they learned a good lesson from this experience, I also feel this is a good lesson for us, to think twice, and three times, before purchasing a product from VSL if it is not yet ready, and finally released, and delivers what it promises.

Cheers,
Muziksculp
 
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2. It offers a major improvement to the Legato functionality compared to the way it worked in VI-Pro2. (If this is not offered by the new Synchron Player, there will be a lot of unhappy VSL customers).

Still not sure what exactly everyone's expecting here.

The Synchron Player couldn't possibly improve the legato so extensively. In which way could some clever scripting help in this case? There's a reason why people place so much value in "true legato". Generally people prefer recorded transitions to scripted legato. There are reasons for that. From that perspective, it seems odd to me that a piece of software is now supposed to salvage what is supposed to be VSLs new flagship string product.

Even if the Player does something to the legato - would it be just scripting trickery and ultimately a band-aid solution?

I'm also still not quite sure why everyone made up their minds that this is the worst legato since WW2. Compare the Synchron Strings soft legato with the Orchestral Strings legato. It's very similar. The SyS one is a little bit nicer - in a similar way the Appassionata legato was a bit better than the Orchestral Strings one. I don't have Dimension Strings - perhaps their legato was on a whole different level and this is where the disappointment over SyS comes from. But as a user of previous VSL String libraries (Chamber, Orchestral, Appassionata), I can't really tell why the SyS one is suddenly the worst thing that could have possibly happened when in fact it's actually quite similar to what VSL was always doing. Maybe expectations have just shifted since the old VSL times?

If VSL was really to do something about the legato in its current form, I believe re-editing or possibly re-recording would have to be done. I'm not an expert when it comes to editing or scripting by no means, but to my ears it sounds as if they cut into the transition samples quite aggresively, compared to legato patches of some other companies' libraries, and the sustain part is kind of tacked onto that, and the attack is very immediate.

When I compare SyS legato to some of the other string libraries I have - for example Cinematic Studio Strings - then what I'm noticing is that the latter for example doesn't even really have a "standard" legato patch. Every and any legato in CSS is actually VERY slurred, with a very noticeable delay, even with the "classic" patch. And maybe this is what a lot of people kind of came to expect from string libraries - super-slurred playing that's almost portamento.

Hollywood Strings is much more comparable to VSL legato and functions in a similar fashion - the transition samples are separate from the sustain portion - but the transition just seems to be longer, and the crossfade is smoother, so that it doesn't produce that weird bump that SyS has that feels and sounds a little bit like playing some synth keyboard patch.

Spitfire Chamber Strings don't have that excessive slur built in, but the transition is audibly delayed and not that immediate as in SyS, and the sustaining note has a nice smoth arc to it, which is why it feels smoother and natural when playing. I'm not even sure if it's really been performed that way or if the Performance Legato patch was scripted in way that the followup note comes with a slight delay and some kind of smooth crossfade.

But anyways, that's what I'm hearing. Maybe this is something VSL could re-script in the Synchron Player - leave a bit more of the legato transition in, delay or crossfade into the sustain portion a little more laid back. Don't know. But I wouldn't expect wonders. If the recordings are already the way they are, I'm not sure if there's a way for VSL to make people happy without recording stuff again and mimicking what other popular string libraries are doing because apparently that's what people want.
 
I'm not an expert when it comes to editing or scripting by no means, but to my ears it sounds as if they cut into the transition samples quite aggresively, compared to legato patches of some other companies' libraries, and the sustain part is kind of tacked onto that, and the attack is very immediate.
Yes, this. This is fixable depending on how much of the transition remains in the data set. They could add a legato sample start slider like Jaeger has, which lets the user set the sample starting point.
 
One thing is the legato scripting and another is the player. I wouldn't expect the new player to effect how the legato sounds, unless there's some funky voodoo going on...
 
One thing is the legato scripting and another is the player. I wouldn't expect the new player to effect how the legato sounds, unless there's some funky voodoo going on...

I have a feeling that VSL are doing more than just trying to fix a few last bugs they encountered, as far as the new Synchron Strings 1 Player is concerned. Again, I'm just guessing.
 
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