Velocity XFade? -- do you use it?

[winknotes]

Just wondering if anyone here uses this in Finale. I've read several threads lately on the VSL site with regard to SE stating that you should use it. However when I've tried it I don't really hear any difference between that and just using CC#11. Plus the way I understand I don't see how it could be beneficial since most of the samples only have 2 or 3 layers at the most.

Am I missing something?

[David Gaines]

Have you gleaned any insights on VXF since you posted this?

[winknotes]

I have not. The experimenting I did early on when I purchased VSL didn't yield pleasing results. I simply use CC#11 as defined in my HP settings.

[winknotes]

So the last couple of nights I've been working on a brass quintet piece and decided to experiment a bit with VXfade. It does make a difference really but I don't have a good handle on when to turn it on and when to leave it off. I had a section at the end of this short piece where the group is doing a decresc. and it does change the timbre as well as get softer.

I use it the way A.S. on the MM forum describes. That is I use a hidden expression to turn it on/off (CC#3 I believe) and I set CC#11 as the controller for the values. So it mirrors expression. I'm not sure that's the best way to use it, but inside Finale I'm not sure how else one might use it. I suppose you could create some hidden line shapes that controlled say CC#2 but it seems simpler just to use the CC#11 data that's already present for dynamics.

And with the new VI player, it's easier to change CC assignments. I'll try to post a file this evening if anyone's interested.

[bill]

What's the downside of just leaving it on?

[David Gaines]

The whole thing about turning it on and off inside Finale is what I haven't been able to latch onto. Isn't it turned on if you click on the radio button next to it inside Vienna Instruments and move the VXF slider there all the way up, and then assign None for a controller of Expression (as Andi @ VSL recommends) and CC#11 as a controller of VXF? With Human Playback set to control dynamics via CC#11 and Velocity, why wouldn't that setup utilize VXF automatically? I can't believe you actually have to create text expressions and manually insert them into your score to utilize VXF.

[David Gaines]

Can you post an example .MUS file and perhaps a screen shot of how your Vienna Instruments parameters are setup for this purpose? That would be super helpful.

thanks,
dg

[winknotes]

I'll do that this weekend (hopefully this evening). The text expressions are simply to turn VXF on and off. So you can assign a controller to turn it on/off (value of 0 to turn off and value of 127 to turn on). I think it's actually CC28 by default. Then with Finale I would simply set the Xfade values to change via CC#11 which of course would be controlling expression and Xfade when Xfade is on.

I'll post a little tut very soon. A picture is better than my 1,000 words

[winknotes]

Here's a link to the brass quintet Finale file I alluded to.

And here's a link to an mp3 of about measure 26 to the end. The first part is NO velocity Xfade and the second excerpt is identical but with velocity Xfade turned on at measure 31 for all the parts except trumpet 1. It's a pretty exaggerated example but you'll hear a difference in timbre for sure.

I've got all my screenshots captured as well to put together a step by step tutorial for this. I'll try to get that posted to youtube sometime tomorrow.

[winknotes]

Here's the link to the tutorial. I hope you find it helpful.

EDIT: I uploaded this last night, but modified it this morning. I included the audio excerpt at the end demonstrating without and with Xfade on.

[David Gaines]

Thank you for doing this.........your instructions are clear but for some reason, and I'm not sure whether it's at my end or in the way you put the video together, the screen shots are significantly reduced in size and only take up about a quarter of the video space. Most of the space (about 75%) is just empty white space. The images are quite tiny and it's impossible to see what you've highlighted. Also, the wipes and fades are very slick but are a bit distracting in terms of trying to see what's going on. Just my $0.02 for next time. That said, well worth posting to the VSL forum and/or sending over to Andi.

[winknotes]

Jul 30, 2012 7:41:57 GMT -5 David Gaines said:

Thank you for doing this.........your instructions are clear but for some reason, and I'm not sure whether it's at my end or in the way you put the video together, the screen shots are significantly reduced in size and only take up about a quarter of the video space. Most of the space (about 75%) is just empty white space. The images are quite tiny and it's impossible to see what you've highlighted. Also, the wipes and fades are very slick but are a bit distracting in terms of trying to see what's going on. Just my $0.02 for next time. That said, well worth posting to the VSL forum and/or sending over to Andi.

Thanks for the feedback. For now I'm using windows movie maker which I find extremely limited. I'm trying to learn how to use a piece of software for screen captures (camstudio) which I think will make demos clearer. I'll work on updating the images and presentation.

[winknotes]

I updated the link in my post for the X-Fade tutorial. I think it's much better.

[David Gaines]

Much better, thanks………and BTW your Vienna Instruments interface looks a whole lot different than mine….are you using VI Pro? Did they just come out with another new version number that I missed?

[winknotes]

Jul 30, 2012 15:14:19 GMT -5 David Gaines said:

Much better, thanks………and BTW your Vienna Instruments interface looks a whole lot different than mine….are you using VI Pro? Did they just come out with another new version number that I missed?

Just Vienna Instruments. They came out with an update just last week. Be sure to get it. To me the samples all load a bit faster and I just like the interface better. Mostly because I can see the entire matrix at once.