Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
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  • Vienna Instruments Upgrade - Is it Worth It?

    Back in May or June I shelled out somewhere in the region of £600 for the Horizon Series Opus 1 & 2 collection. I am really pleased with the famous VSL quality but I do have a gripe. A few weeks later and VSL were sending me emails urging me to buy up what was left of their Horizon and Pro libraries. This meant I had just bought what was now a legacy product a matter of weeks before it was discontinued and hugely discounted in price. Had I known I would certainly have held off this purchase and bought into the Special Edition. I had also missed out on buying into the VI collection with its own player which seems a far more stream lined way of working than loads of multi-samples in Kontakt 2. So I decided to look into upgrading given I get some discount for being a registered Opus user. Well, sadly I can't afford the Cube or super packages so that leaves me the Special Edition. On closer inspection it really doesn't sound very 'Special' if you already own Opus. Ok, I get a discount of £280 but then I'm mostly buying what I've already got except in 24bit instead of 16 - and who's going to notice that out in the big wide world? My complaint is that what I would like is to get the library working with the performance detection features of the Vienna Ensemble etc. Can anyone out there convince me that this is worth paying £260 for? I hardly consider it to be free when so much of the Special Edition is in fact Opus 1 & 2. Finally, after I have been convinced to replicate my VSL library I then have to buy a new hard drive to accommodate this replication. Or can I then delete the Opus 1 & 2 collection from my drive. And then I have to buy a dongle. I can't help feeling that despite VSL's claims that there are substantial discounts for Horizon users they could have been a bit more generous. I am looking forward to being persuaded that I am being miserly and unjustifiably disgruntled by thise who may know better.

  • I have Opus 1 & 2 (and most other Horizon libraries), and also the Special Edition Extended, and it was worth it for me. 

    The VI user interface is substantially slicker (read: less time-consuming) than either HALion or Kontakt, and with the free Vienna Ensemble, stretches to many more available instruments than a sampler can offer on a single 64-bit Windows XP PC.

    You get some things that aren't in Opus, such as edited highlights of Solo, Chamber and Appassionata strings, Oboe d'Amore, Saxophones, guitars, a piano and an organ. But you also lose some things, such as muted strings and runs, which you might still want to use your sampler for.

    I currently use VI for most instruments, but still use Kontakt for things that either aren't in SE, such as the full Solo Strings, Mallets and Vienna Harps libraries that I have, as well as muted strings.

    I suggest you look closely at what you use in Opus 1 and 2, see if it is present in SE, and see if the extra instruments and flexibility could be worth it.


  • Thanks for your considerd response. That was exactly the sort of feedback I was looking for to help me weigh up the options. It's a shame there isn't a downloadable demo version of the VI interface that times out just so you could see what you're getting. But you certainly put up a compelling case for its consideration.

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    @Another User said:

    It's a shame there isn't a downloadable demo version of the VI interface that times out just so you could see what you're getting.
     

    There isn't a downloadable demo, in part I suspect because it would have to come with some humungous pile of sample data to be any use as a demo.  But there are tutorial videos you can download, which show you the interface in use.  (Although some of the features, such as Universal Mode, don't work with the Special Edition because it doesn't have all the articulations needed; search the forums for 'universal mode' to see the specifics.)


  • However, I have the whole Cube, and then some, and I've never yet used Universal Mode. Much better to create your own presets IMO.


  • I gotta say that the difference in the sound of the instruments between the First Edition and the Special Edition (Or VI Samples), is incredible. You have to hear it to believe it .. but the VI's sound much better .. which is saying something as the First Edition was also impressive. I'd get the new cube in a heartbeat if I had so much as a penny to scratch my ass with. ..... It's is of course upto you, but the difference is amazing. IF you don't feel you need it .. then don't worry.

  • So the general impression is that the VI is a sonic winner. My wrankle is more to do with the VSL marketing strategy. Most leading software manufacturers will offer customers a free upgrade path to systems that have become legacy if purchased within six months or so. If I purchase the Special Edition with my discount rate of £260 and then factor in £600 it cost for the Horizon Opus 1& 2 and that means I pay £860 for the SE against a newcomer paying £540 for the same collection. If you've had the Opus for a while that seems fair enough but I think customer loyalty might be better fostered by throwing in something more meaningful either in the form of a free upgrade path as mentioned or an extra VI. I can't get the idea that I'm being sold the same thing twice out of my head.

  • You do get an almost free upgrade; it is just that this is on the Extended content, not the Standard. There can be no direct comparison in cost, as the Standard is not exactly equal what you already have.

    You may think that you are losing out compared with a newcomer, but this is not true, for two reasons:

    1) You have already had use of the samples; the newcomer has not

    2) You still have the Opus samples; the newcomer does not.

    Just suck it up and spend your money. You are only cutting off your nose to spite your face it you don't.

    DG


  • That's telling me! You're not related to my wife are you? Yes, when you put it like that I take your point. Thanks DG

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    @shrootyruss said:

    That's telling me! You're not related to my wife are you? Yes, when you put it like that I take your point. Thanks DG

    Sorry, I didn't mean to be snippy, but getting bitter about a possible rip-off, that isn't, is only going to shorten your life. Nobody likes to feel cheated, but you have to look to the future. Good for your health too. Let it all hang out [:)]

    DG


  • Don't fret, you didn't come across as snippy really. I was just having a bit of fun at my wife's expense. Not that she reads these kind of forums of course. I didn't mean to sound bitter either. But in a world where there are so many products, so many upgrades, and so much money to spend I was interested to know what other people thought. I'm always happy to shell out good money for good value and good product and its testimony to VSL's quality that you feel its worth every penny. I'm bound to make the leap into the world of VI sooner rather than later. Now when is that new credit card arriving....

  • Hi, all.. I'm grateful for this thread. 

    Because I thought I was crazy, or going crazy soon. 

    Here's my story: I purchased Opus1 and 2 a year ago along with Gigastudio 3.  After what seemed like days of effort I was not able to do anything with it.  And since all this music stuff was not my day job, I just didn't have the bandwidth to figure it out. I tried training videos, perusing these forums, but somehow I just couldn't get it.  The training stuff I had for Gigastudio was for version 2.5. Just three days ago I ordered a new set of videos that are finally out for version  3. Then I find out that there is version 4!  And now I'm on here, and I'm thinking, can this really be true? Apparently my year of frustration is over if I switch to the VI or the VE (or whatever acronym)..

    So, just so I'm clear, as I understand it, I can switch over to this new VI thing and run it from my Sonar and never have to touch Gigastudio again..??

    OK, so I lost countless hours of struggling with the previous iteration of the technology, but if relief is in sight, well then, time to celebrate. I just want to be sure I'm getting the right message.  Ken Elias - Three Rivers, CA


  • Hello Ken and welcome to the VSL forum. 'Just didn't have the bandwidth' - hehe - you Yanks certainly have a way with words. Must remember that one. Anyway - In a way I feel a little sorry for you regarding gigastudio because for the larger sample libraries, especially orchestral, indigeonous players now seem to be the norm, mainly due to protection I'm assuming. ---VI and VE are two seperate things. You can run it from Sonar and never touch giga again -unless you have libraries you want to run from giga again. Yes - it may be time to celebrate and then again, it may be time to look at your bank balance and start looking at costs and how much computer power you may need.

  • Thanks, PaulR.  I'm fortunate to not worry about the cost to make the change.  That "bandwidth" thing, yep, I wasn't aware that it was a Yank thing, but I used to work for AT&T and IBM, where that sort of metaphor is endemic.  And a euphemism as well.. Hey, I really didn't want to say "I didn't have the INTELLIGENCE to figure it out.."  [:O]  Now that I'm retired I'm hoping I'll be able to make more progress with all this incredible technology that is available to us music lovers. Thanks again.  Ken Elias


  • Oh, and I forgot to mention, I can still use the GigaStudio for my Voices of the Apocalypse (another program I'm struggling with) for a choral composition project.  So, all is not lost.  About the time I figure out how to use the Gigastudio for VOTA there will no doubt be a new version of some choral sample program with it's own player, or there probably is right now and I haven't stumbled into it yet.. :-)

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    @kelias_23778 said:

    Thanks, PaulR.  I'm fortunate to not worry about the cost to make the change.  That "bandwidth" thing, yep, I wasn't aware that it was a Yank thing, but I used to work for AT&T and IBM, where that sort of metaphor is endemic.  And a euphemism as well.
    Goodness! :))))---Yeah I thought I was retired too.