FAQ: Technical

The fastest hard drive will not help your performance if you are using the wrong connection (with a low data throughput). The diagram below shows the theoretical connection speeds of the available connection standards.

In general, you will benefit from the standard formats that are used on the supported OS's.

• On macOS, the standard is APFS or MacOS (Journaled)
• On Windows, you should stick to NTFS formats.

Formatting your hard drive can be done in DiskUtility (macOS) or Disk Management (Windows) applications, respectively.

The Preload Size defines the size of the sample that is loaded into RAM, to compensate the access time of your hard drive. The faster your hard drive, the lower you can set this setting.

In our Synchron Player, Synchron Pianos Player, Synchron Harp Player and the Great Rieger Organ, we have implemented an automatic access-speed measurement that picks the best value for each hard drive that holds your samples. You can of course overrule these settings manually in the Preferences > Database of each player software (those are shared settings). In Vienna Instruments / Vienna Instruments Pro, this is a manual setting in your Directory Manager.

Our download rates are usually exceptionally high - so, if you are experiencing a slow download, please check that:

• Your anti-virus software is not blocking the download
• Your firewall is not in the way
• You are not connecting from behind a proxy server

If you are downloading in a university or at a company, chances are that your system administrator does not allow torrent-based downloads. You can:

• Ask your system administrator for an exception
• Download your sample content on a different internet access
• Contact support@vsl.co.at and ask for an alternative download

For software (!) downloads we can offer alternative download options

For diagnostic purposes, you can create a zip file that contains useful information about your system, your installed products, and your VSL applications. To create a support file, follow these steps:

1. Open the Vienna Assistant application on your Mac or PC.
2. From the menu in the top left corner, select "Create Support File".
3. Depending on the number of products you have registered and the size of your log files, creating the zip file can take up to a minute.
4. Once the zip file is created, it will be placed directly on your desktop.
5. You can send the zip file to our support team as it is.

Before submitting a report, it’s important to distinguish between a crash or an app hanging/freezing.

To submit log files for VSL software, we recommend creating a VSL Support File via the Vienna Assistant menu. Additionally, provide files depending on the situation.

For macOS:

If you experience a crash, a Crash Report is always generated at the moment of the crash and can later be found in the macOS Console app. Please include this report in your submission.

In the event of a freeze/hang, please provide us with a Process Sample of either the standalone application or when working with plug-ins, the host application and/or the server (VE Pro Server, MIR Pro 3D Server). To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the macOS Activity Monitor app.
2. Select the hanging process.
3. Press the "i" button.
4. Click the "Sample" button.

For Windows:

If you experience a crash, most of our apps will show a pop-up that allows you to send your crash report directly to our team. Please add useful details (e.g. reproduction steps) and add your email address. Further, the pop will display your computer’s System ID. Please note it down for our support team when you get in touch with us. When using plug-ins in a host, there will be no such report pop-up - but instead the host application will generate a crash dump file. Unfortunately, various host handles this differently - but here is a list of the most used DAWs and notation programs and their dump file folders: Ableton Live: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live x.x.x\CrashDumps
Bitwig: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Bitwig\Bitwig Studio\CrashDumps
Cakewalk: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\CrashDumps
Cubase: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Steinberg\CrashDumps
Dorico: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Dorico\CrashDumps
FL Studio: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Image-Line\FL Studio\CrashLogs
Notion: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Presonus\Notion\CrashDumps
Nuendo: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Steinberg\CrashDumps
Pro Tools: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Avid\Logs\Crashlog
Reaper: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\CrashDumps
Reason Studio: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Propellerhead Software\Reason\CrashDumps
Samplitude: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\MAGIX\Samplitude\CrashDumps
Sequoia: C:\Users\<username>\ProgramData\MAGIX\Sequuoia x\ExceptionHandlerDll
Studio One: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\PreSonus
In the event of a freeze/hang, please provide us with a Minidump file of either the standalone application or when working with plug-ins, the host application and/or the server (VE Pro Server, MIR Pro 3D Server). To do this, follow these steps:

1. Download the Process Explorer application from Microsoft. (This app is freely accessible for all Windows users)
2. Select the hanging process.
3. Right-click and from the context menu, choose "Create Dump" > "Create Minidump..."

We're always happy about input from our users. If you are experiencing an issue please include steps to reproduce.

Example:

1. Launch application
2. Insert Bus channel
3. Press "Mute" button on the inserted Bus channel

Expected results: Bus Channel is muted

Actual results: Application crashes

For more details about where to localize a log or crash file - or how to report a hang/freeze, please check the corresponding FAQ.