A Question About Sound Variations

[Olorin]

Hi there,
My first experience with Sound Variations was interesting. I was using them on VSL's Synchron Player. I noted that, when Flow mode was engaged, the nested variations were not accessible. Only with Flow off, Precision on, did the nested Variations show up.
That is an impressive trick that Logic Articulation Manager can't do.
My question is, how would I do that myself? I've watched a couple of vids about setting the basic SVs up. Seems very simple.
Something like Hollywood Orchestra could benefit from something like this, as many instruments have 10+ articulations in various forms of longs and shorts. That is basically the other Orchestra library that I use, and I'd like to set it up as efficiently as possible.
Any thoughts/experiences?
Thanks!

 

[Lukas]

Hi Olorin,

on short notice: You've watched my videos about creating SVs, I guess?

Sound Variation Tutorials | Studio One / Fender Studio Pro

Discover Studio One & Fender Studio Pro tutorials tailored to Sound Variations. Explore our extensive collection of tutorials by product experts like Gregor Beyerle, Joe Gilder, Lukas Ruschitzka and many more!

s1toolbox.com

Especially this one might be helpful:

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[Olorin]

Yes, the longer one. I‘ll check this out, thanks.
EDIT: I watched Mike‘s video last night, and another of your‘s the other day.

 

[Olorin]

Ok. At the 2:55 point, I get lost. I don‘t think HOOPUS uses midi CCs to switch articulations, so I don‘t see the relevance to my issue. For the Synchron Player, there are drop down menus for the various longs, shorts, cresc/diminu, etc. I‘m not seeing that here.
Please bear in mind I am far from a midi expert (I‘d say I‘m barely competent). I get that ‚0‘ is one thing and ‚127‘ is another, seems a binary on/off switch. I just don‘t see how this works with, say, ‚sus‘ and ‚legato‘ under the term ‚longs.‘
Thank you for your time, Lucas.

 

[Olorin]

Again, a problem. I found the Spitfire Audio Chamber Strings variations under 'Other.'
They do not download and integrate, even though google said just 'double click and it will be in the DAW.
So, I don't think I'm doing anything overtly stupid, but these things are not working.

 

[Olorin]

nevermind...

 

[lokeyfly]

I just saw Lukas's video on this subject out of curiosity. Perhaps he had a more streamlined way of acquiring his sound variations. Actually, it was no different than how I acquire them. Its a manual thing, yet the beauty is once saved, that's it! So even if an instrument (in my case, numerous NI sampled instruments of Kontakt using Komplete Ultimate) had ten variations and that took ten minutes, then so be it. Save the variations map. Works for so many similar sampled instruments. Of course, Studio One/Pro's own instruments off of Presence will be instant. Some third party instruments even provide a good baseline mapping system to speed things up. Like Lukas, I just type the descriptions in, but others may copy and paste. Particularly if the names are very long.
A little bookkeeping by putting the work in, goes far though.
Hope this helps as I have found the video (only seeing it now) is exactly how I do that, and is well described.

 

[Olorin]

The thing is, I have enough orchestral instruments to make that very tedious. So, I took a suggestion from one of Lukas‘ videos and bought the BabylonWaves package. The Opus presets do not load properly, even after following his instructions meticulously…a number of times. He has a video of VSL‘s Vienna Instruments Pro, and Google AI says that these presets are still current, as of June, 2026. Yet, they are not there! Only Synchron and Studio (on the Synchron Player) library presets are there.
I sent a messge asking about this yesterday, but received no answer.
EDIT: Again, the 3VdG preset.

 

[Lukas]

Again, a problem. I found the Spitfire Audio Chamber Strings variations under 'Other.'
They do not download and integrate, even though google said just 'double click and it will be in the DAW.
So, I don't think I'm doing anything overtly stupid, but these things are not working.

Sorry, I cannot follow. There is an “Install” button right below the list of Sound Variation presets. This is the button you need to click to install a preset.

I wonder whether this button does not appear for you, or why you did not consider it the button you needed to use.

 

[Olorin]

No. This is what I see:

 

[Olorin]

Ok, the above pic was from trying to load BabylonWaves version in its folder.

When I loaded it from the Cloud, I got the 'Install' message. Installed. When I go to select it for a given midi region with SPCS Violin 1, I get this pop up:
It then works, but....wtf is going on?

 

[Lukas]

wtf is going on?

It was made for Kontakt 6 or Kontakt 8 and you're using Kontakt 7. Just click yes and everything will be fine.

 

[Olorin]

Ok. I got the same message for OPUS from Babylon Waves. In that case, after following the instructions perfectly, I’d get the same popup.
In this case, pressing yes yields the sound variations, but there is no sound. I can play from the keyboard in the GUI, but I can’t enter notes from my Novation Launchkey.
Also, it doesn’t sound on the midi input (4), but sounds when I switch it to Omni.
EDIT: This is the 3 Viola da Gamba preset.

 

[Olorin]

Sigh. Seems I may not have been following the OPUS instructions exactly. They seem to be working now.
So, it seems my remaining issue is the VSL VIP presets.

EDIT: From the Fantasy Orchestra, the 3 Viola Da Gamba preset doesn't work. This was one of the first I tried, so no wonder it wouldn't work. Also, I occasionally have to change the inputs.