Website- http://vsl.co.at/

Price- €395

In a slightly surprising move, Vienna Symphonic Library recently released a collection of effect plugins designed with ease of use and CPU in mind. Normally purveyors of the finest orchestral libraries available, this suite is targeted at the mixing needs of Vienna library users. That being said, these are general, familiar effects that can be used in any project with any style. 

Protection

The Vienna Suite requires either a ViennaKey or a Syncrosoft Key to work (demo or licensed). Because I already had a Syncrosoft Key, I chose this route, and as usual, licensing is fast and painless. The manual also clearly instructs users on the registration process. The only problem I have here is the curious fact that Syncrosoft-protected plug-ins take a rather annoyingly long time to open the first time, then they open instantly after that. A little strange, but hardly a deal breaker. I'd like to see that improve someday, Mr. Syncrosoft!

The Vienna Way

A nice thing about the Vienna Suite is that they have included their own internal preset system, which is always a bonus and may be more immediate than your host-of-choice. Something else to note here is how attractive and elegant the preset menus are, complete with animation, alpha-fades, and transparencies (very “next-gen”!). Plus, the high contrast text makes it easy to read.

For some reason–perhaps because this is a full suite of editing tools up to and including mastering–I really expected to see A/B switches on these plug-ins to compare settings at crucial stages. But to my disappointment, they weren't there. Perhaps VSL might consider this in the future to maximize flexibility.

Now, let’s break down the individual effects and see how they fare.

Compressor

I’ll take on the compressor first, as it’s such a stock track effect and usually a good measure of a bundle’s quality. Immediately upon inserting it, I’m struck by the clear and simple controls. Very easy to focus on in the well-designed, slightly futuristic interface. Right away, I can definitely understand how everything works. Another good sign is that I see meters for input, output, and gain reduction levels, which will make the job of judging the effects of the compression even easier. And if that’s not enough, there is a graphical waveform representation of input/output levels, plus a line that show exactly where, when, and how gain reduction is applied. This is a very useful tool for those who struggle to understand how compression works.

So this simple layout and the stated ethos has me anticipating a relatively hassle-free, transparent compressor. And that is certainly what I hear once I start lowering the threshold. Despite dragging the threshold way down, with a 5:1 ratio, the snare drum on my source material remains strong while the attack and grace notes become more prevalent. Now there is automatic gain make-up on this (a feature I always love to see), so I turn that off and adjust the output gain to better hear the effects of the compression. And indeed I can hear a more prominent attack and reduced dynamic range. The snare is not thinned-out, and I would use these settings easily in a mix to get a snappier, less plosive snare.

The VSL Compressor also features “Opto” and “Fat” modes, presumably to emulate the desired characteristics of much vaunted vintage compressors. Switching on Opto seemed to result in a stronger attack character with a softer release, and “FAT” mode indeed resulted in a “thicker” compression sound, and I noted another dB of compression in the gain reduction readout (another convenient feature!). These two additional character-shaping techniques provide plenty of options for sound shaping on tracks.

 Also worth mentioning is the internal side-chain filter. This is an oft-heard request, and is a great option for extra control over sounds. By applying a filter before the compressor stage, you can create a more transparent compression by allowing low or high frequencies to pass through to the compressor stage. There is a preview switch, so you can hear what frequencies will be affected. It would’ve been nice to be able to set where the filters start acting. But the fixed frequencies VSL have chosen are very common, and it was very effective in my tests at restoring the kick drum in a pumping setting, allowing cymbals through, or conversely, de-essing.

One last note: I found the VSL Compressor to be excellent at compressing vocals, and I had difficulty matching its transparency and ease of use with any other compressor, and had to go with it for a voiceover track. I think a star is born here.

Equalizer:

Moving on to the next common track effect, EQ, we find the VSL Equalizer. Again, no mysteries here with the clear and concise interface, and it’s easy to dive in and get going. The EQ features 5 parametric bands, plus low cut and high cut filters at the ends of the chain. I personally would’ve liked to have seen switchable high and low shelves on this, and the cut filters don’t go as low as -6dB, which I often use for a gentler sound. But as you'll see in a moment, this may not be a big deal after all.

The controls are very intuitive, and there are nice guidelines that appear to give you a more precise impression of where you are in the frequency range. You can also use modifier keys (shift, ctrl/cmd) to adjust Q and constrain direction. I was quickly able to dial in a lower sound for my snare, while adding some high end to the top to compensate. And by switching on the handy analyzer, I instantly found an annoying ring and tuned it out quickly by pulling a narrow band down over the analyzer spike. While I always try to use my ears, analyzers can really help out in those tricky spots, and it’s great that you don’t have to load up another plugin just to get the spectral display of the instrument in question!

Another unique feature worth mentioning here is that Equalizer ships with a large number of presets arranged into categories. These are divided by instrument, and one will notice that they are mainly orchestral instruments. This reminds us that Vienna Suite was designed to work alongside the VSL collections, and the presets are designed specifically to help reduce or attenuate resonant frequencies in their instruments, or to affect them in a specific way, such as brightening strings or bringing out percussion.

I tried some of the presets on some of my Vienna Instruments, and I found the presets extremely handy for mixing. I think composers will find it easier to get a “smooth Hollywood sound” with the presets, and they at least provide a good starting point for effective equalization in a mix. I think this was a really considerate idea on behalf of VSL, and library users will find this a highly attractive feature.

All-in-all, this equalizer sounds great, and is so low on CPU as to not even merit consideration. Use it on every track as needed.

Master Equalizer

So I mentioned above that I was disappointed that VSL hadn't included shelving filters in the track EQ, but what VSL had in fact done was to add another EQ–the Master Equalizer. This one comes with more controls, filters, and internal precision for mastering, or for when you just want more than the common EQ.

Right away you can see more options on this one, including those precious shelf filters I mentioned. So now you can have broad boosts or more gentle cuts, plus cut filters too for catching those ultrasonics. Good stuff. I notice on the high shelf that if I switch from “A” to “B” in the filter type box, the display changes, indicating a dip right before the start of the shelf. This is reminiscent of certain analog filters, sought after for their “musical” behavior. Indeed, I tend to prefer this type myself, and the results sound good here. All the remaining peak filters have the ability to switch types, and the manual explains the differences. For my purposes, I didn't hear a big difference between the types, and I found the default “A” mode quite satisfactory. But I really liked the choice on the shelving filters.

At this point, I have to wonder out loud: with this EQ offering a full-size display, a full range of filters, the same analyzer, and better oversampling, yet with no appreciable CPU difference; why did VSL supply two seperate EQ's? Why not just make this the only EQ? I could see splitting them up if Equalizer was that much lighter than Master Equalizer, but my old single-core PC didn't register any CPU difference, and my Mac Pro certainly doesn't at all! I see myself using this EQ exclusively, and I wish they'd included the handy VSL setup presets with the Master EQ as well.

Other than that, I'd rate this as one of the best EQ's on the market. A real joy to use.

Analyzer

As seen above, the Equalizers feature their own analyzers. But what about if you need more detail, or don’t want to worry about EQ? Well, VSL was kind enough to include a dedicated analyzer, chock full of standard and not-so standard–features.

Analyzer sports a similar look to the EQ’s analyzer, but that’s where the similarities end. Analyzer defaults to a bar mode, which displays the frequencies in separate vertical bands (this can be switched to the EQ’s Graph mode via a button on the right). The bottom of the chart is dotted with frequency labels to help the user keep a close eye on where they are in the spectrum. I really like the clear and snappy response of the GUI, and so far this seems like a rather ideal analyzer.

As I dig a little deeper, I find there are parameters for obtaining deeper control over the analysis. For instance, you can modify the maximum and minimum range (or height) off the display. Also, you can choose from several speeds for the attack and release of the frequency displays, including a rather unique setting called “Newton”, which (I should’ve guessed) emulates the speed of gravity on Earth! I found this to be similar to the “Medium” setting, but it did feel more “natural”, so perhaps I was picking up on something there...

Another unique mode is the “Note” mode, which will show the equivalent musical note for peak frequencies. Not only is this very useful for determining things like resonant note problems or deciding where to cut frequencies to accent other instruments, but it looks really cool! The dancing notes, combined with the sexy GUI, could be a good item to bring up during a mix to get “oohs” from clients, and look like you know what you’re doing. But a man can dream...

Closing off the feature list are features like Peak Hold and L+R toggle, which allow you to display left and right sum, left-minus-right sum, and individual left or right channels. And finally, the “Auto” mode, which will automatically provide visual gain compensation for weak signals in case you can’t see what’s going on at the bottom of a quiet signal.

With all these features and a neat display, this analyzer gets my vote for best analyzer of 2008, and will get used heavily when I need to reach for one.

Limiter

A limiter can help contain unruly peaks or get your tracks up to a louder volume, and it’s good to see one added here. For anyone familiar with modern software limiters, this should be a fairly straightforward effect. The VSL Limiter is similar to the popular Waves L2, but with a graphical display of the gain changes (more on that in a sec).

Basically, you lower the threshold and the limiter will automatically raise the loudness of the material, while allowing nothing to exceed the desired limit (usually -0dB or so). With my test material, Limiter did an exemplary job of raising loudness while not mushing up the transients or creating obvious pumping or artifacts. Excessive settings did result in pumping, but I was really leaning on it. And VSL warns the reader right there in the manual that this can occur. Now, like me, you may want this for instruments as an “effect compressor”, and Limiter had some uses as such. But I found its strength is for maximizing tracks and full mixes, and it does this quite well. As with some other limiters, it allows you to switch off its automatic release function, but I found it best to leave this on and let VSL’s auto-algorithm do its thing. Who wants to fiddle with release settings all day on a simple maximizer? Limiter does this and does it well; again, a solid offering from this bundle.

Exciter

Here’s an entry I was definitely a little surprised to see. We often tend to associate exciters with rock and pop records. But come to think of it, often those sampled strings need a boost in the highs, so this does make some sense coming from VSL. However, “exciters” are not often very impressive and can do more harm then good, so I must admit I’m a touch skeptical about this one.

I load the Exciter up first on a rather moribund piano track that I can’t sit in the mix quite right. After a little adjusting, I find it much easier to pick the piano out of the mix, add a little compression, and go! Next, I tried the Exciter on the drum buss, and its effect was immediately more prominent, lifting the cymbals with a rather soft, pleasant boost.

The first slider moves between even and odd harmonics (the top being odd, the bottom, even), and I usually left this in the “odd” range, as these tend to be more conducive to high end boosting. But I had good results in obtaining a little more warmth by moving down towards the even range. The Drive slider pushes more distortion into the signal for a more aggressive sound, although I found it hard to get an unpleasant sound at all from this unit. Of course, the excitement sounds more artificial as you drive it up, so tasteful use is encouraged. You can control the overall effect level with the “amount” slider, and I never had this much over the 20% mark to get the effect I wanted. Finally, there is once again the ubiquitous spectral display, which proves useful for pinpointing the starting frequency you want excitement to take place at, You set this frequency with the slider below the display. Excitement will not affect frequencies below that cutoff.

I have to say, the effect reminds me of a high end analog exciter chain, seeming to soften the signal a bit somehow. Analog signal fans may find the sound of this particularly rewarding, and I could see myself being tempted to use this a little too often!  It sounds quite good, without being harsh, brittle, or grainy. Definitely a secret weapon here, and one of the best software exciters I’ve heard. Will be a boon to beginners and experts alike!

Multiband Limiter

Ok, so I know what you’re saying: what’s a tracking and mastering bundle without a multi-band compressor? Well, not much! And apparently VSL agrees, throwing one into this bundle. Let’s see how it fares.

Those already familiar with multi-band compressors will find most of the controls here relatively self-explanatory. You have your 4 bands with assignable crossovers (which are not linear phase, although VSL stresses that they are well-designed in the manual),  solo and bypass on each band, threshold, gain, attack, and release for each band (with global adjustment). There's also a brickwall limiter at the output to catch overs.

Overall I found this to be a sturdy and easy to use multi-band compressor. For my experimental purposes, I over-boosted the main bus with the Exciter and tried to correct the overly sibilant mix with the Multi-band Limiter. By starting with the “De-Esser” preset, adjusting crossovers and levels, I found this rather easy to do. I really liked having the global controls, which is something I really appreciate with a multi-band compressor. And I especially liked the “Inverse Threshold/Gain Box” box, an interesting addition that allows you to essentially put auto-gain compensation in your hands. As you mouse-down and raise this box, all the thresholds will raise, and the gains will lower, and vice-versa for pulling down. This made it quite easy to slide around until things sounded good, and is recommendable to beginners as the fastest way to get something out of a multi-band compressor. An Opto mode is included for those who want more of a pumping, obvious effect. I didn’t find it useful for my purposes, but you can get some neat effects from this setting for instruments when transparency isn’t such a concern.

Powerpan

The last entry here is Powerpan. And although it may not be the most exciting, it is a welcome addition, especially for those trying to properly balance things like stereo orchestral samples. And this could be handy for mastering as well.

I inserted Powerpan on a Vienna string section track. Indeed, as I shrunk the stereo field and used the “center” dial to pan the instrument's image, I noticed that in mono, the strings sounded the same. I found this different than using Cubase's panner, where I could hear changes in the strings' gain and timbre (this reminds me to be more careful with my panning!). This is great, as it means I can, for instance, hard-pan something if I want to without losing precious information.

Most of the controls are self-explanatory from here on. You can control the pre and post-balance of the signal, invert the phase of either side, swap channels, and select from all the standard different types of pan law. For those familiar with panning plugins, there isn't anything revolutionary here. And I was surprised to find that there was no stereo expansion on this, i.e. you can't make your signal more than 100%. But for day-to-day stereo panning duties, this is a great plug-in, bolstered by VSL's clear and concise interface design. I will be reaching for this when panning stereo tracks in the future.

Conclusions

Whether or not you own any VSL collections, you'll find this to be a well-rounded, easy to use bundle of high-quality plug-ins. If you do own VSL instruments, you'll be delighted at their integration with the instruments with features like the resonance presets that help clean things up, and better panning tools for stereo instruments. If you don't own any VSL stuff, all of these plugins are first-rate mixing tools, with the Compressor and Mastering Equalizer being real stand-outs. For me, the compressor alone could cinch the deal, with its transparent and versatile compression, but the price tag could prove to be too much for your average home user. This could be a shame, but probably makes sense when you consider VSL's usual consumer base who don't balk as much at higher prices.

Personally, if they were going to go with two EQ's, I'd rather have seen perhaps a “vintage” EQ, or something substantially different. But slower computer owners might appreciate the lighter EQ, although I didn't see much performance difference, if any. Also, I would've loved to see a reverb, considering the target content and price tag. But as of this writing, VSL has just announced a separate convolution reverb, and there is word of a possible reverb plug-in addition to the Vienna Suite. So I'll withhold that criticism for now.

Bottom line: if you've got the cash to spare, this is an excellent suite of plug-ins that will get the job done, and done well, with virtually no CPU hit. Good job, Vienna!