Kirk Hunter Diamond Symphony Orchestra Support

[tdm]

I am trying to get my head around the Diamond documentation. I have the following questions:
1) Which folders does the "04 Brass User Guide" PDF refer to? It looks like the folder numbers contained within it are wrong. For example, the documentation indicates that Concert Trumpets are in folder #31, but they are actually in folder #47 in Diamond.
2) It appears that the "Brass_Diamond_Emerald" PDF refers to folders #61 to #78; true?
3) I assume that the "05 Woodwind User Guide" refers to folders #79 to #88; true? If so, which folders does the "Woodwinds_Emerald" PDF refer to?

Also, I've noticed that some of the instrument panels appear to be missing their decorative graphic background. For example, the 01_ConcertFHorns_k.nki has an all white background, but the 01_Concert_French_Horns.nki. These are from different folders within the 45_Concert_French_Horns top level folder. This same thing is true for most of the instruments contained within the 89_Harp, 90_Tympani, 92_Hits_and_Cymbals, 93_Xylophone, 94_Glockenspiel, 95_Harpsichord, 96_Tubular_Bells, and 97_Celesta folders. Some are a mixed bag. The Tymp_hits_and_rolls.nki is the only instrument in the 90_Tympani folder that has a background graphic. Is this OK, or are some graphic files missing?

[nousndthem]

My guess on the background graphics is that are the more colorful ones are newer instruments that are scripted and have more complicated programming.
The 'normal' looking ones, without the graphics are older and more simple programming, and nothing is missing.
When I say 'normal looking' I mean that the front panel looks like any instrument that a user, like you or I, might create from scratch.

Can't even guess on the documentation. Sorry to say I gave up trying on that long ago. Good news is Kirk is very articulate and helpful.

[tdm]

Hi nousndthem,

My question about the graphics is more about making sure that "things" are as they should be. I like to check software out when I first buy it to avoid finding problems when I'm actually trying to get something done with it. I also like to have my documentation as organized as possible for the same reason.

Thanks for the reply.
tdm

[DarkStar]

Probably, nothing's missing - if you have all the folders (listed in some installation notes / guide?).
Diamond contains instruments of several generations of programming:
TVEC 4
TVEC 3,1
TVEC
VPro
VPro (earlier)
and no special GUI

And some of the documentation is from earlier products (Ruby and Emerald) that were used to build Diamond, so the file and folder names may well be wrong. I asked in a separate thread several days ago about the documentation for the various generations of instruments but no-one has yet replied.

As for the French Horns GUI I think that that was just missed. Open the Instrument Editor / Instrument Options and navigator to
...Diamond Orchestra\45_Concert_French_Horns\ConcertFrenchHorns3_Samples\Wallpaper
and select the VPRoSkin file.

[tdm]

Thanks, Darkstar. I check into the GUI thing tonight.

[DarkStar]

Ooops. Here is the file:
http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/fh_fix ... Horn_k.nki

My Diamond instruments all load in Kontakt 4. Can you do a Kontakt 4 version of that fix?

----------------------
Also, which new feature of Kontakt5 does the current version of Diamond use?

I will look into it, but it's unlikely.

I hope that you can as there must be lots of users of the "pre-Kontakt 5" version who would like this fix.

Or can you tell me what to do and I'll fix it here?

[songshark]

I used FireFox / DownThemAll when I downloaded Diamond a few years ago. I set DTA to do one file at a time

Thanks to you and Kirk for the suggestions.

I neglected to specify that I was hoping to use Safari and not have to install a new browser (Chrome or Firefox) on my Mac. I wonder if anyone has any Safari suggestions?

[tdm]

Probably, nothing's missing - if you have all the folders (listed in some installation notes / guide?).
Diamond contains instruments of several generations of programming:
TVEC 4
TVEC 3,1
TVEC
VPro
VPro (earlier)
and no special GUI

And some of the documentation is from earlier products (Ruby and Emerald) that were used to build Diamond, so the file and folder names may well be wrong. I asked in a separate thread several days ago about the documentation for the various generations of instruments but no-one has yet replied.

As for the French Horns GUI I think that that was just missed. Open the Instrument Editor / Instrument Options and navigator to
...Diamond Orchestra\45_Concert_French_Horns\ConcertFrenchHorns3_Samples\Wallpaper
and select the VPRoSkin file.

For some strange reason, quotes have never worked for me on KVR. If anybody has any idea as to how to fix this, let me know.

Hi DarkStar,

I found the VProSkin.tga file, but it is grayed out and it won't let me select it, nor any of the other tga files. Weird!

Any ideas?
tdm

[tdm]

I'm on a Mac and found that if I Control-Click on the tga file, it gives me a "Quick Look" option. If I open the quick look, see the graphic, and then close it, it is now selected, and I can click Open at the bottom of the window. It is now in the selection box in the Instrument Options window, and when I close that, the graphic is now on the front panel. I save it, and now it's fixed.

Thanks, DarkStar. You taught me something new. :^)

[tdm]

I used FireFox / DownThemAll when I downloaded Diamond a few years ago. I set DTA to do one file at a time

Thanks to you and Kirk for the suggestions.

I neglected to specify that I was hoping to use Safari and not have to install a new browser (Chrome or Firefox) on my Mac. I wonder if anyone has any Safari suggestions?

For what it's worth, I have never been able to download more than six files at the same time. When I purchased this library, I tried uSelect iDownload, but it wouldn't do anymore than six at a time, either. It also wouldn't keep downloading; once the six that were downloading completed, it would hang. There was one other downloader that VSTBuzz suggested (can't remember the name), but after researching it, it sounded like it had malware in it. I didn't try DTA, as I didn't know about it.

So, I just did it the old fashioned way. The manual download sucked, but it's a hell of a great library for €100.

[tdm]

I think the Harp in this library sounds great, with a lot of useful variations. But, I have found a few problems in a few of the instruments. Here's the list:

1) Harp, 01_gliss_down_fast_maj.nki – The lowest sample on C5 is HpDnSmallMaj_087.wav. It should be HpDnSmallMaj_084.wav. You can correct this by selecting “Exchange Sample” in the Edit pulldown within the Mapping Editor. Don't forget to save the altered instrument over the old one.

2) Harp, 02_gliss_up_fast_min.nki – This instrument sounds muffled because there is an LP 4 filter sitting in the first Group Insert Fx slot. Delete this filter to correct the problem.

3) Harp, 06_gliss_up_long_aug.nki – This instrument is screwed up in an interesting way. Its range is from C1 to C3, and C1 to E1 play correctly. But, the sample was missed for F1, so they are all off by one key. So F1 uses the sample intended for F#1, F#1 uses the sample intended for G1, etc. The reason for this appears to be that the samples are all named HpUpLongAug_nn.nki, where the nn is a two digit number, starting with 36 on C1. Unfortunately, the sample intended for F1 is called HpUpLongAugF2.nki. It should have been named HpUpLongAug_41.nki, which is missing. So, to fix this every sample starting at C3 must be replaced with the one below it. Yikes! I corrected this manually using Exchange Sample. There is probably a more automatic way to do this if you rename the file to HpUpLongAug_41.nki, but I was afraid of some sort of unintended consequences by renaming it.

4) Harp, 11_harpRollUpLong_k_c0_c#0.nki – This is the only instrument in the KEYSWITCHED category. The HpUpLongMinC3.wav sample has a glitch in both channels (these are stereo samples) about 190.ms from their start. This instrument uses keyswitching to change the chord used for it’s upward arpeggiation. With the C#0 keyswitch selected, this sample is stretched over the bottom six notes of its 18 note range. This sample is also used for the topmost note. Hey Kirk, any chance of fixing this sample?

I will let you know if I find anything else.

[DarkStar]

Probably,
<<snipped>>
and select the VPRoSkin file.

For some strange reason, quotes have never worked for me on KVR. If anybody has any idea as to how to fix this, let me know.

Hi DarkStar,

I found the VProSkin.tga file, but it is grayed out and it won't let me select it, nor any of the other tga files. Weird!

Any ideas?
tdm

Well, your posts are formatted OK - as you can see above. But, yes, your own reply seemed to drop the trailing /quote

Greyed-out files: Protected folder? Repair file permissions (on OSX)? What is the exact full path name? {Edit: Ah, you've already resolved it.]

[nousndthem]

I think the Harp in this library sounds great, with a lot of useful variations. But, I have found a few problems in a few of the instruments. Here's the list:
...snip
I will let you know if I find anything else.

Excellent! Great work tdm!
But I can't keep up with making the repairs.
I now think we definitely need a ../diamond_repairs directory somewhere that has continued access for us that need to get these fixes.

[tdm]

Excellent! Great work tdm!
But I can't keep up with making the repairs.
I now think we definitely need a ../diamond_repairs directory somewhere that has continued access for us that need to get these fixes.

[/quote]

I will try to get through the rest of the library as I have time, but there's a lot to look through. I hate dealing with stuff like this, but in the grand scheme of things, it could be a lot worse.

I will probably fix the bad sample if Kirk doesn't, but I wouldn't be able to send it to anyone, as I'm sure that would violate the user agreement (the data doesn't belong to me).

But, all of this aside, the instruments sound great!

[nousndthem]

Thanks tdm ...
Instructions on the sample fix would work if Kirk can't do it.
Also, if you don't have a place to host the fixes I can create a browsable directory on my site.