I'm a long-time user of the old Brass & Woodwinds Pro Edition samples (the ones that ran off of Kontakt or Giga, predating the Vienna Ensemble), and I'm considering upgrading. I compose almost entirely for wind ensemble, so I don't need strings, but I do need saxes (but not bass sax), standard winds and brass, and also contrabass clarinet and euphonium. I'm trying to decide how much of this to purchase on DVD, and how much I can really just purchase as individually downloaded instruments. The problem is I can't find any chart that shows the differences between the standard, extended, and downloaded versions of an instrument.
I've already decided that I'll probably purchase the Percussion DVD. What I'm trying to determine is if there is enough difference between the extended Flute 1 and the downloaded Flute 1 to not just individually download each instrument I really need. Even Winds 1 has things I won't use, like Flute Ensemble and Oboe Ensemble. "Winds 2" has 4 instruments that I need (piccolo, Eb clarinet, bass clarinet, and contrabassoon), but should I buy the whole DVD and possibly upgrade the library to Extended (depending on the cost), or just download those 4 instruments and save several hundred dollars?
Sort of unrelated, but as an owner of an old large collection (as well as the old Horizon Saxophones I library), I figured I would be eligible for some discounts, but no discounts are applied. (My "your price" is the same as the full price.) Is that a bug (it shows a big list of eligible discounts, but none are applied -- why show them if I'm not actually eligible for them?), or are legacy products afforded no discounts towards the new libraries? My old libraries are showing up as registered products, so I'm guessing VSL just doesn't offer any discounts for older libraries, but offering ZERO discount seems more than a little harsh. The Horizon Saxophones 1 set wasn't very expensive, but the Brass & Woodwinds Pro Edition certainly was.
Thanks in advance for your advice!