Vienna SD900KY, Ensemble 5 Owner's Manual

USER MANUAL 3.0

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Vienna Symphonic Library's Vienna Ensemble 5!

Vienna Ensemble is automatically installed with Vienna Instruments and lets you load multiple instances of Vienna Instruments, Vienna Instruments PRO and Vienna Imperial!

It allows you to configure audio busses as well as insert and send effects ( AU/OS X and VST/WIN) for each loaded instrument. You can save your custom Projects for complete orchestral setups, making it much easier to configure your virtual orchestra.

Many great improvements and new features have been added to this new version:

> Full Backward Compatibility with Vienna Ensemble 4 > Full Plug-in Latency Compensation > Transport Play/Stop button, which is transmitted to the master host as well (Space key) > Now you can start and stop your playback from within Vienna Ensemble! > Utilize Vienna Ensemble as 32-bit and 64-bit application simultaneously > Automatic Update Check > Full Time Information and Synchronization from the master host (SMTP, cycling, time signature,

PPQ)

> Re-arrange and docking/undocking of all windows > Ability to move mixer strips by dragging (was previously only possible with channel strips) > Ability to drag multiple channel or mixer strips at the same time > Ability to undo/redo virtually everything (including 3rd party plugin parameter changes) > Vienna Ensemble interface element can be (un)docked and tabbed freely now > Ready for Vienna MIR PRO and MIR PRO 24!

The difference between Vienna Ensemble and Vienna Ensemble PRO Vienna Ensemble is designed for local use on one machine. Vienna Ensemble PRO incorporates the first all-in-one MIDI and audio LAN solution that works universally on

Macs and PCs and lets you integrate third-party plug-ins. To integrate your Slave Computer in your network, all you need is a working Gigabit connection. No soundcard or MIDI Interface is needed on your Vienna Ensemble PRO Slave Computer!

The transition from Vienna Ensemble to Vienna Ensemble PRO is very smooth. You can order a free Demo

License of Vienna Ensemble PRO to find out more from www.vsl.co.at. OVERVIEW: Main advantages of Vienna Ensemble PRO over Vienna Ensemble:

– Preserve keeps your samples loaded while switching between different sequencer projects – MIDI and Audio is sent over LAN, no additional interfaces necessary – You can integrate RAM hungry 3rd party plug-ins like Kontakt, Spectrasonics Omnisphere or East

West’s PLAY and benefit from the Preserve feature, even on multiple computers!

– EPIC ORCHESTRA: Vienna Ensemble PRO comes with a hand-picked selection of instruments and

articulations from our famous Vienna Instruments Collections.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Vienna Ensemble 5 runs on PC Intel Core 2 Duo/AMD Athlon 64 X2 machines with Windows 7, 32 and 64-bit

versions, and Intel Core2Duo machines with Mac OS X 10.7 (latest update) or higher. Best of all, you can run the 32-bit version and the 64-bit version of Vienna Ensemble 5 simultaneously, so that you can make use of all your plug-ins!

VIDEO TUTORIALS

As with all our software products, you can find many video tutorials showing the different features discussed in this manual!

REGISTRATION

You have received Vienna Ensemble together with Vienna Instruments. Both software products are FREE and accompany each of our Vienna Instruments Products (Instruments Collections, Special Editions and Single Instruments). When purchasing online, you are automatically provided with a license and we will send the corresponding

Activation Codes to download your license.

If you purchased your product from one of our dealer, please register your products at

www.vsl.co.at, and you will receive your Activation Codes immediately via email.

UPGRADING FROM VIENNA ENSEMBLE 4

As Vienna Ensemble 5 is fully backward-compatible with version 4, you can load your existing projects and keep working on your music right after installation.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

ELICENSER CONTROL CENTER

The eLicenser Control Center manages your licenses. Please make sure that you are using the latest version, available at www.elicenser.net. Remember that you need a ViennaKey (or a Steinberg or Arturia eLicenser) to store your licenses on. You can register your key with us, so that you are safe in case of damage (the first 6 or 7 digits of the key are important, as shown on the screenshot).

Downloading your license is simple: Make sure your ViennaKey is inserted, launch eLicenser Control Center, click on Enter Activation Code and paste your Activation Code into the respective field. You will be guided through the rest of the procedure. An Internet connection has to be available for this process. You can of course download your license on any Internet computer, in case your music computer is not connected to the Internet.

If your license download was interrupted for any reason, please click Maintenance (in the upper right corner) – this will complete your license download automatically!

Please remember that you will need the content and the licenses of the given Vienna Instruments Collections as well as the Vienna Instruments software installed alongside with a ViennaKey on your computer!

Vienna Ensemble is automatically installed with Vienna Instruments.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

CONTENTS

Introduction........................................................................................................................................................ 2

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Video Tutorials ............................................................................................................................................................... 3

Registration...................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Upgrading from Vienna Ensemble 4 ....................................................................................................................... 3

eLicenser Control Center ............................................................................................................................................. 4

Setup ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7

1 Computer Setup: ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Using Slave machines (with Vienna Ensemble Stand-alone): .................................................................................... 7

Quick Start ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Vienna Ensemble Installed Files ............................................................................................................................................ 9

Vienna Ensemble Service ............................................................................................................................ 10

Service Preferences .................................................................................................................................................... 11

General Preferences .................................................................................................................................................................. 11

Instances Preferences: ............................................................................................................................................................. 12

A Note on Multiprocessing ..................................................................................................................................................... 13

Plug-ins Preferences: ................................................................................................................................................................ 14

Vienna MIR PRO Preferences: ............................................................................................................................................... 15

Vienna Ensemble Service Interface ...................................................................................................................... 16

General Information .................................................................................................................................................................. 16

Latency Settings .......................................................................................................................................................................... 18

64-bit and 32-bit support ....................................................................................................................................................... 19

Switching between 32-bit and 64-bit ................................................................................................................................ 19

File Formats and information display ............................................................................................................................... 20

Navigation / The Mixer ............................................................................................................................................................ 21

Re-arranging Windows ............................................................................................................................................. 23

Channel Options .......................................................................................................................................................... 24

Post Effect Plug-in Rack ............................................................................................................................................ 26

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR Logic USERS ................................................................................................................. 27

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR DIGITAL PERFORMER USERS ................................................................................ 28

Channel Overview ....................................................................................................................................................... 29

MIDI Ports ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 29

Plug-in effects .............................................................................................................................................................................. 30

Power panning/Secondary FX Rack ................................................................................................................................... 31

Outputs ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 32

Vienna Instruments PRO in Vienna Ensemble PRO ..................................................................................................... 33

Vienna Ensemble Stand-alone ................................................................................................................... 36

Preferences ................................................................................................................................................................................... 36

Shortcuts and Special Features ................................................................................................................. 40

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

Shortcut List for Windows ....................................................................................................................................... 40

Shortcut List for OS X ................................................................................................................................................. 40

Special Features Channel Pane .............................................................................................................................. 41

Special Features Mixer .............................................................................................................................................. 41

Vienna Instruments (PRO) ......................................................................................................................... 42

Vienna Ensemble Routing ........................................................................................................................... 43

Logic X ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 43

Digital Performer ....................................................................................................................................................................... 46

Pro Tools ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 51

Cubase ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 55

Cakewalk SONAR X3 ................................................................................................................................................................. 58

Presonus Studio One ................................................................................................................................................................. 63

Glossary ............................................................................................................................................................. 68

Support, Questions, Videos, Forum … ..................................................................................................... 69

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

SETUP

1 Computer Setup:

Of course this is the easiest way to use Vienna Ensemble. Simply install Vienna Instruments, make sure your ViennaKey with your license(s) is connected and instantiate Vienna Ensemble as a VST/VST3/AU/RTAS/AAX plug-in in your sequencer - done!

Using Slave machines (with Vienna Ensemble Stand-alone):

Each computer that runs Vienna Ensemble needs to have a ViennaKey containing the licenses for the given Vienna Instruments Collections connected. Don’t forget that you will also need the content of your Vienna Instruments Collections available and assigned in your Directory Manager (simply drag and drop the sample

content folders into the Directory Manager!)

TIP: If you’d like to send your MIDI and audio signals over LAN, check out Vienna Ensemble PRO!

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

Quick Start

Make sure that a ViennaKey with a Vienna Instruments Collection license is connected to your computer and that your sample content is installed and correctly assigned in the Directory Manager! Then follow these steps:

If you’d like to use Vienna Ensemble as a plug-in with your sequencer:

1) Insert Vienna Ensemble as a VST/VST3/AU/AAX/RTAS instrument in your sequencer.

2) The Service Interface will open. In the background, the Vienna Ensemble Servive will launch automatically and you can start exploring right away.

On a 64-bit OS, the Vienna Ensemble Service will open as a 64-bit application by default.

If you’d like to use your 32-bit FX plug-ins, click Connect-32 bit, and a 32 bit Vienna Ensemble Service will open in the background.

You can run 32-bit and 64-bit Vienna Ensemble Services simultaneously.

Used as stand-alone application (most probably on a slave computer):

1) Start Vienna Ensemble or Vienna Ensemble (64 bit).

2) Set your preferences to work with your setup in the Vienna Ensemble Preferences (see below).

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Setup

Vienna Ensemble Installed Files

The latest version of Vienna Ensemble is available in your Vienna Instruments User Area and is installed automatically with the Vienna Instruments Sample Player Software.

Vienna Instruments comes with quite a few additional files that will be installed in the Programs/Applications Folder. Vienna Instruments is explained in a separate manual, the Vienna Instruments Uninstaller on OS X can be used if you’d like to roll back to an earlier version (also for Vienna Ensemble).

OS X: WIN:

OS X: Additionally, the plug-ins for VST/AU/RTAS/AAX will be installed in /Library/Audio/Plug-ins. Win: Additionally, VST/RTAS/AAX Plug-ins will be installed in a location of your choice.

Directory Manager: Links your sample content with your Vienna Instruments. Library Installer: Guides you through the installation process of your Vienna Instruments Collections. Uninstall Vienna Instruments (OS X only): Uninstalls Vienna Instruments / Vienna Ensemble Software. Vienna Ensemble: Stand-Alone 32-bit Software Vienna Ensemble (64-bit): Stand-Alone 64-bit Software Vienna Ensemble Service: You will be connected to this 32-bit service from within your sequencer. Vienna Ensemble Service (64-bit): You will be connected to this 64-bit service from within your sequencer. Vienna Instruments Standalone: Stand-alone version of Vienna Instruments.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

VIENNA ENSEMBLE SERVICE

The Vienna Ensemble Service is a separate application that runs in the background alongside your sequencer. It is started automatically when you insert Vienna Ensemble as a plug-in in your sequencer.

You can shut down all running instances of Vienna Ensemble with EXIT.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

SERVICE PREFERENCES

Click Preferences in the Vienna Ensemble Service to get access to many options:

General Preferences

Enable or disable the automatic update check in the General Preferences. Default: Enabled

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

Instances Preferences:

Set the Default Pan Law for all new instances here. You can also enable/disable Plug-in Latency Compensation.

You may change the number of used threads in the Multiprocessing drop-down menu in real-time, and each Vienna Ensemble instance will use the specified number of process threads. So 1 instance on an 8-core computer should use 8 threads, 2 instances should use 4 threads, and so forth.

Ideally you should have as few threads as possible while still using all your cores. If you're also running your host sequencer on the same system as the running instances, it might be wise to reserve a core for it. To keep it simple, set the amount of threads to your amount of cores. If you run into performance issues, lower the amount of threads.

You can change the number of used MIDI Ports and Audio outputs per instance.

Audio Units by design do not offer more than 1 MIDI Port per instance.

GUI Behaviour lets you optimize some basic settings for your workflow.

 Enable parameter tweaking with mouse wheel: Disabling this feature will avoid changing any settings

when using the mouse wheel to scroll through the GUI.

 Show channel editor when clicking its channel strip: When disabled, the channel strips behave like

mixer strips in terms of showing the editor. So rather than having the instrument editor automatically showing when clicking a channel strip, you need a double click on the colored label explicitly to show the editor.

 Automatically edit selected channels as a group: When activated, all selected channels will respond to

changes like volume changes as a selection group. Use “Alt” to edit a single track within a selection. More information can be found here!

 The Meter Peak Hold Time can also be adjusted here. Default Value = 1200 ms

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

A Note on Multiprocessing

 There are some general guidelines to follow when using Vienna Ensemble on a system with multiple

cores. The general rule to follow is that the optimal number of threads on a system should be equal to the number of virtual cores present.

 Vienna Ensemble, like most other hosts today, offers multi-threading. This means that it runs instruments

and plug-ins in parallel using several different threads, which allows to utilize several cores on the system. Vienna Ensemble Service will generally perform best when running as few instances as possible. With the VST3 / RTAS /AAX Service Interface plug-in, this is possible to achieve by increasing the number of midi ports per instance (see below).

 Using the AU or VST2 plug-ins, you might be required to run several instances to work around the 16-

MIDI-channel limitation of these standards.

  As you are running a sequencer on the same machine as Vienna Ensemble, you could lower the number

of threads for Vienna Ensemble, to represent the estimated load of Vienna Ensemble versus the load of your sequencer. In a system with 8 virtual cores and an estimated even load between sequencer and Vienna Ensemble, a good starting point would be to set Vienna Ensemble to 4 threads (if running a single instance).

 When running more than one instance of Vienna Ensemble, the number of threads per instance should

be lowered accordingly.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

Plug-ins Preferences:

All available Plug-ins are listed in the Plug-ins Section of the Service Preferences. On Windows systems, you may also set your VST Settings here. Some plug-in hosts may require a rescan/revalidation of the Vienna Ensemble plug-in to apply any MIDI/audio port changes.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

Vienna MIR PRO Preferences:

Only available if you have a valid Vienna MIR PRO / MIR PRO 24 license available. For further details, please refer to the separate MIR PRO Manual in your User Area.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

VIENNA ENSEMBLE SERVICE INTERFACE

General Information

Vienna Ensemble Service Interface is a plug-in that communicates with the Vienna Ensemble Service. Instantiating Vienna Ensemble as a plug-in in your sequencer opens the Vienna Ensemble Service Interface:

 Each Service Interface can connect to one instance of Vienna Ensemble, and of course you can utilize

multiple Service Interfaces and instances!

 If you’d like to use your 32 bit FX plug-ins, click CONNECT 32 bit, and a 32 bit Vienna Ensemble Service

will open in the background (and vice versa with 64 bit).

 You can run 32-bit and 64-bit Vienna Ensemble Services simultaneously.  Click RAISE to see the connected Vienna Ensemble instance.

Additionally, you can set the Preferences per instance (Audio Outputs, MIDI Inputs).

 Note that these Preferences are system wide settings that will not be saved with your project.  Actual latency is displayed on the Service Interface plug-in in both samples and milliseconds, allowing for

manual latency compensation for hosts that are unable to perform dynamic latency compensation for instruments (like Digital Performer 7).

 Note that the displayed latency can depend on multiple factors and is not just a reflection of the latency

buffers setting.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

Attention LOGIC users: To guarantee optimum performance of Vienna Ensemble it is essential to set the Process Buffer Size under “Preferences/Audio/Devices/Core Audio” to SMALL.



Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

Latency Settings

In the Vienna Ensemble Service Interface you will also find the Latency settings. This value ONLY affects the latency added over network when you are playing live.

The Vienna Ensemble Service Interface plug-in automatically compensates the latency in playback – even if you have set the Latency to different settings for different instances of Vienna Ensemble.

We have applied dynamic latency compensation to Vienna Ensemble. This means that your sequencer will automatically adapt to the chosen buffer settings of your Vienna Ensemble Service Interface plug-in.

ATTENTION: RTAS does not support real-time dynamic latency compensation at the moment; the plug-in has to be reloaded for changes to become effective. Disabling Delay Compensation and enabling it again is also known to work.

Setting the Latency to “none” will synchronize Vienna Ensemble with your soundcard, so that no latency is added – while very good for recording percussive sounds, this also adds a lot of strain to the CPU. Setting the Latency to “1 buffer” will add one buffer to your soundcard latency. If your soundcard latency is, e.g., 256 Samples, your latency when playing live will be 512 samples. Setting the Latency to “2 buffers” will add 2 buffers to your soundcard latency. If your soundcard latency is, e.g., 256 Samples, your latency when playing live will be 768 samples.

And so forth … Generally speaking: The faster your CPU and the better your soundcard, the more you can expect from your system!

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

VIENNA ENSEMBLE OVERVIEW

64-bit and 32-bit support

Vienna Ensemble supports hosting of 32-bit VSTi/AU effect plug-ins in a 32-bit Service and hosting of 64-bit

VSTi/AU effect plug-ins in a 64-bit Service.

You may run Vienna Ensemble 32-bit and 64-bit instances (as a stand-alone or as a plug-in) side by side. This way you can host old "legacy" 32-bit effect plug-ins in a 32-bit Vienna Ensemble, while hosting Vienna Instruments, Vienna Instruments PRO, Vienna Imperial, Vienna Suite, as well as any other 64-bit capable AU(OS X) / VST (WIN) effects in your 64-bit Vienna Ensemble.

When Vienna Ensemble plug-ins are loaded with a master host project, they will always connect to the Vienna Ensemble Service with the architecture (32-bit/64-bit) they were connected to when the master host project was saved.

The most obvious advantage of 64-bit plug-ins when it comes to RAM-intensive applications is of course that you can utilize as much RAM as available in your 64-bit OS.

Switching between 32-bit and 64-bit

To switch from a 32-bit to a 64-bit Service or the other way around, use the buttons in your Service Interface.

As soon as you click Connect 32 bit / Connect 64 bit, you will be connected to the corresponding Vienna Ensemble Service.

It is recommended to save Vienna Ensemble projects (viframes) of each Vienna Ensemble instance, as some 3rd party effect plug-ins only come as 32-bit plug-ins.

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

File Formats and information display

You can save separate Vienna Ensemble Projects using the file menu or the icon in the task bar. The saved files are called *.viframe32 and *.viframe64, depending on the version (32/64 bit) of the Vienna Ensemble Service. They contain all information saved in a single Vienna Ensemble instance!

When loading a *.viframe, the file name will be displayed in [ ], amongst other information

1) in your Vienna Ensemble Instance Window Title (in this case: “Paul_Basic_01”):

2) and in the Vienna Ensemble Service Window

Vienna Ensemble – User Manual

Vienna Ensemble Service

Navigation / The Mixer

The Vienna Ensemble GUI will open in the background of your sequencer. Hover with your mouse over each icon and you will see a description in the lower left corner, as well as a “mouse-over” description (with the corresponding shortcut, if available)!

The taskbar in the upper left corner contains the following icons:

1) Start/Stop Engine

2) Start/Stop Transport

3) New Project: Create a new project from scratch

4) Open Project: Open your saved projects: *.viframe32 or *.viframe64

5) Save Project: Save your projects as *viframe32 or *.viframe64 files

6) Preferences

7) Auto-Add MIR PRO will automatically add MIR PRO to each new channel (only visible if a MIR PRO license is available).

8) MIRx Mode opens MIRx Settings

+ 48 hidden pages

Vienna SD900KY, Ensemble 5 Owner's Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual