Hey,
  I'm hopefully going to be getting VDL:2 here pretty soon, but I've got some questions first.

How well is velocity supported?
For battery, what is the range like for say a marching snare? shot, gawk, rim, half way, edge
What about Tenors? shots, rims....
Basses? Muffling, isolated muffled notes, personalize tuning...

It would be awsome to know. I don't doubt tapspace at all, just wondering to what level they went.

Thanks in advance!

In a word. Yes. Everything you listed is in there.

The only thing that is debateable is the personal tuning. There are 6 tonal basses. Each has regular, muffled, strokes and more. Also unisons with those effects.

They went all out to make this. (Almost) Every conceivable way to strike the drums. With all kinds of mallets/sticks. Not to mention the tons of Pit and Aux. instruments.

The sounds are not the only reaon to get VDL. Used in conjunction with a keyboard (or Corey's MIDI app.) this program, once it's familiar to you, WILL help you write faster.


Hope this helps.

So it's going to have a sound for dreads and rutes even for something as far out as on bass? And if there's not a sound for it on finale do you simple assign the midi playback number in finale to what it already is in VDL. And can you customize what sounds are played on what midi number? I guess I'm wondering how in depth, and maybe the question should be... what doesn't it do that someone might do? Thanks again in advance!

Each instrument is different, but for snares you change the velocity setting to go from edge to center, for bass/tenors it will let you change to rim, shots, dreads, and rods, for marimba you can roll, use dead strokes... this is an addition to 7+ octaves worth of samples for each instrument.  The bottom line is you get A LOT for your money, especially when compared to other percussion libraries that cost hundreds more and have only a fraction of the sounds. 

Jesse's right about the various Mod-Wheel controller changes. This offers some powerful, in-house access to various other sounds.

In regard to velocity however, the mod-wheel doesn't control that. Velocities are variable and strickly based on what your playback program is delivering. Lower velocities will trigger recordings of softer samples, while higher velocities will trigger recordings (samples) of louder notes being struck. The velocity depth differs from instrument to instrument but you'll find an amazing amount of detail throughout. Note velocity is one of the most crucial aspects to achieving a realistic playback from VDL2. Fortunately, both Finale and Sibelius handle most of this for you automatically by increasing velocity on accents, and adjusting proportionally when dynamic changes (mp, mf, ff) are encountered.

In regard to personal tuning - while there are indeed only certain tuning schemes that were recorded, there is a bit of ";fake"; adjustability with the simple turn of the ";tune"; knob on each instrument. Sounds a bit simple I know, but you'd be amazed at how effective this can be if you want to tweak the tuning of your drumline sections.

Oh, and you get support from the guy who made it!

This may sound stupid, but I don't have VDL yet, so is the mod-wheel what you would use to change implements or stroke (for mallets)?

And if so would you be able to write the part as if it were on the head with stick and simply write above it in Finale Text that it's played with dreads, then in VDL set that portion of the comp to the different implement being used?

And would you have to do this every time even for your standard presets in finale that you've set up for different MIDI numbers already?

Or is there a preset template set up in VDL for Finales predifined sounds?

Thanks again for all the input!

Oh, and is there any talk of a VDL:3. It would just really suck to get it as a gift for x-mas and have VDL:3 come out in Jan.

For snares, the dread lock is it's own note.  When you switch to dreads, a different note head will be placed.  You just need to set up a legend so your players know what is what.

[quote author=TuoPohc link=topic=877.msg3508#msg3508 date=1132614549]
This may sound stupid, but I don't have VDL yet, so is the mod-wheel what you would use to change implements or stroke (for mallets)?

And if so would you be able to write the part as if it were on the head with stick and simply write above it in Finale Text that it's played with dreads, then in VDL set that portion of the comp to the different implement being used?

And would you have to do this every time even for your standard presets in finale that you've set up for different MIDI numbers already?

Or is there a preset template set up in VDL for Finales predifined sounds?

Thanks again for all the input!
[/quote]

These are good questions. Here are the answers...

1) The mod-wheel affects different things depending on what instrument you're using. For example, on marimbas the mod-wheel can control whether your using regular strokes, dead strokes, mallet shaft strokes, or rolls.

For tenors, it can affect the sound being called up - such as short/med/long buzz rolls, or shot/dread/rim/rods. Switching to puffy mallets is done with a keyswitch (a predefined note that when struck, will switch everything to puffs). Basses work in a similar way. There are so many sounds in those instruments, that using the mod-wheel as well as some keyswitching will make all these sounds available from within one instrument for better convenience.

You'll want to use the Tapspace VDL2 Finale template. It's downloadable for free at:
https://www.tapspace.com/updates

This template contains percussion mapping for most of the more complex percussion mappings in VDL2. Unless you upgrade to using (full) Kontakt with VDL2, you won't have to worry about midi program numbers with these sounds.

[quote author=drumcorpbc link=topic=877.msg3515#msg3515 date=1132620949]
For snares, the dread lock is it's own note.�� When you switch to dreads, a different note head will be placed.�� You just need to set up a legend so your players know what is what.
[/quote]

Being that Finale doesn't have a dread note, do you set it up how you would like it to look... then set the Finale MIDI number to line up with VDL. And if so is there a list of some of the standard VDL MIDI notes to use in order to line everything up as close as possible before the point of using the mod-wheel or keyswitch.

And does auto alternating in VDL really make the recording sound that much more real. Using the R and L hand notes for Finale just makes it sound worse useing their sounds. Thanks again.

Edit: What about a matched line, is it still effective to use the RH and LH. Thanks again

[quote author=Jim Casella link=topic=877.msg3517#msg3517 date=1132621665]
You'll want to use the Tapspace VDL2 Finale template. It's downloadable for free at:
https://www.tapspace.com/updates

This template contains percussion mapping for most of the more complex percussion mappings in VDL2. Unless you upgrade to using (full) Kontakt with VDL2, you won't have to worry about midi program numbers with these sounds.
[/quote]

This is the important part. The templates contain all of the needed information for Finale to tell VDL which sounds to play. The key maps for most of the sounds are in the VDL manual.

Ted

There's no such thing as a designated ";dread"; note head.  Off the top of my head I can't remember what notehead we assigned for dreadlocks, but yes, the notehead will look different in Finale automatically when using dreads.  Same with a rim shot vs. a regular note, you will see and X for a rimshot and a regular notehead for a regular note.  The templates are already set up to change noteheads automatically for you.  Now, on tenors for example, a rim shot/dread/rod/rim is all going to have an x notehead since they are all on the same note.  To get the correct sound, you would do a controller (or mod-wheel) change.  You would have to make a note in the score so the player knows what sound you are wanting there.

Yes, absolutely alternating hands makes a huge difference.  If you were to enter it all using say just the right hand, you'd get a machine gun sound after a while.  Even for a matched line.

So I've downloaded the template and checked out the maps (Awsome by the way, I now know what you mean by covering all the bases), but I do have one more question... If you write a note in Finale as a normal snare hit, then change it in VDL to a ";dread"; using the mod-wheel it will change the notehead automatically in Finale? If so... wow... you guys rock and I wish I could have had this years ago. Not only for the sounds but the ease of use.

Thanks again for all the info and putting up with the questions.

Basically, I think you need to try it out.  You're asking questions that are hard to answer if you don't have it, but very easily answered if you have it installed.  It's almost like baseball.  If you read the rules to baseball, you wouldn't have a good idea about what happens, but if you see a game, it all makes sense.

It has what you've asked for; I think you're gonna just have to wait till Santa shows up.  ;)