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  • Vienna Imperial Users: Questions before buying

    M
    M
    One of my clients is interested in Vienna Imperial but still has questions/concerns regarding sound quality, latency, stability of Mac system, etc. Personally, I use VE Pro and Mir Pro, but don't have any experience with Imperial. My client is interested in using Imperial to reproduce classical piano works (via intense micro-editing), so Imperial seems the most appropriate with its detailed sampling, deep editing capabilities, etc. No other libraries will be used/installed... just Vienna Imperial and DAW. Currently, client is on a Mac running DP 7.4 (will upgrade to 64-bit version 8 when it launches in the next month or so), and expect to have Imperial running inside the DAW (not in VE Pro/Server). Also getting him into a new iMac or Macbook Pro with maxed out RAM and SSD for internal... possibly external SSD for Imperial (if thats recommend). Audio interface is still being considered (all depending on the latency factors regarding Imperial). Can any Imperial users chime in on real-world use, sound-quality, stability on Mac, etc? Much appreciated.
  • J
    J

    If you are looking for a dedicated solo piano virtual instrument then the Vienna Imperial would certainly be worthy of consideration.

    A couple of observations.....

    In film soundtrack work or other productions the Bosendorfer piano virtual instrument from VSL sometimes delivers a more "dramatic" or even sound straight out of the box, but the Imperial may resemble the sound you would get if you were working with a piano/pianist in the studio. You might have to tweak more to get what you want but the tools are there and the results are most impressive.

    The other is CPU requirement. This may be particular to Logic on a Mac: The Imperial  works very well but when the channel or track is selected in Logic (for playing or reviewing the track) the resources are channeled differently to prioritise the "active" instrument. With the usual Vienna Instruments or VI Pro this has little or no effect on performance but with the Vienna Imperial plug-in there is a massive drain on CPU resource the moment it is selected - which may come into play if you want to play it live.

    I can be playing back a VSL/Logic session that is way below the CPU headroom of the computer then just by selecting the Imperial channel everything grinds to a halt and CPU errors abound.

    So I guess if you have a fast computer and are just using piano then you should be OK.

    Julian
  • D
    D

    I've got all of my other VSL samples on a slave PC, but I'm still on a 2008 Mac Pro, HDDs and lots o' RAM with DP 7.4 as my DAW, and I use Imperial on there and have no problems. Sound quality is up to your own ears, but technically, I have no problems and love the simple interface that still provides flexibility. 

    The current project I've got open right now has a Imperial, a bunch of Omnisphere patches and several live audio tracks with effects and I have no problem at all. If you're talking about DP and only Imperial, it'll be a breeze for any half decent Mac.
  • M
    M
    Thanks to everyone for the insight. Much appreciated.