Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
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  • If I purchase Solo Strings, will I also be able to download it?

    Will I be able to download Solo Strings after purchase or will I have to wait everytime for the DVD everytime I purchase a product?

  • If you buy a DVD collection instrument, you have to wait everytime.  Solo Strings is a DVD collection instrument, so you will have to wait.

    Maestro2be


  • Some other vendors have a download option. Might be worth looking into that.

  • How come the strings are the only ones that arent available as a download? By the way, will 16 GB be sufficient to run the entire library?

  • 16 gigs will be more than enough to run solo strings.  However, if you plan on eventually adding more full VSL collections, eventually you will probably need more memory.  For those running several full collections 24-32 gigs is quite common, depending on the processor (32 with the newer quad-channel memory).


  • Maybe because of their massive size.  I searched everywhere and did find ILIO in USA does let you download actually.  But none of the dealers like Sweetwater, or Guitar Center etc allow this.  ILIO is a direct partner with VSL and in fact is where Sweetwater etc gets their supply from is what my sales rep tells me.  So it looks like you do have 1 option of downloading currently in the USA.  Probably in other countries their distributor might offer the same.  You can also buy a hard drive, that has ALL VSL samples on it.  You won't have a license to use them, but when you buy the license you simply copy them to your machine and you are ready to go.  Downloads certainly are becoming more and more available with all the internet bandwidth we have today.  When you look at products on the website, if you click on the "Instrument Collections" tab, those are all DVD products.  The other tabs seem to all be downloads, even from the VSL site.  That's my experience so far.

    It really depends on what you plan to do with your computer if 16GB is enough.  If you plan to run your DAW, all samples and some type of powerful reverb engine like MIR PRO it gets really taxing very fast.  Memory isn't everything though anymore.  If you have fast SSD hard drives, you can raise the load buffers and have VSL use more hard drive reads.  Additionally, everything you do is some type of CPU request so a super fast CPU is also extremely beneficial.  You would really have to list what your intentions are ensemble size wise (5 tracks or 100 tracks).  What instruments you will use (Dimension strings take so much more than anything else I have ever used but they rock).  Almost any sampled orchestra needs EQ etc on all the channels which is more CPU load.  If you try to stream from a slow hard drive, or only one hard drive, this will hammer your hard drive and your CPU once it hits its limit.

    It would be easier to tell you if you fill out your entire profile with exactly what you have and what your goal is template wise.

    Maestro2be


  • I thought that everything could be downloaded now.

    http://www.vsl.co.at/newsletter/167/newsletter167_en_ROW.htm


    Dorico, Notion, Sibelius, StudioOne, Cubase, Staffpad VE Pro, Synchon, VI, Kontakt Win11 x64, 64GB RAM, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, August Forster 190
  • I filled in my details. You think my PC can handle it? I will probably use pretty much most of the articulations and all 4 instruments for string quartets. By the way do you own Solo Strings? Because im wondering if I should get Vienna Instruments Pro. To be honest I dont know if I really need VI Pro for solo strings unless it allows me to create a little ensemble. As for the reverb I will use Trueverb from waves which works good enough and doesnt require crazy amount of resources.

  • Just a correction--Sweetwater DOES allow you to download Solo Strings. I know because I just did a week ago :oP I have a pretty modest laptop setup I use to test libraries out, and Solo Strings works perfectly, very light on resources, on a Windows 7 64-bit computer with 8 gigs of RAM and a much less powerful processor. I can do a full quartet with several types of legato per instrument and reverb and some positioners easily. Your system is more than sufficient!

  • Do they have round robin Casiuire? Some demos sound as if the library suffers from the "machine gun effect"

  • Depends on the articulation. Go into User Area - Instrument Collections - Strings and scroll down. You should be able to download the manual there. Go to page 16 and it gives you a breakdown of all the dynamic layers and round robins. Looks like most shorts have 4 round robins. Also the legatos have same-note legato samples, so if you're playing a note which then repeats, you won't get that same first attack again. The Standard Library has something like three different types of legato, each of which has a different first attack, so you can essentially make your own 3-way round robin out of that as well. Personally I control my legatos by velocity, which is the LASS way of doing things, so if I press the note a bit harder I get a new attack for legato articulations.

  • By the way, I just asked per email and they said that Solo Strings is available as a download.

  • That's good to know, I stand corrected.  I have bought everything from them and never did they let me download anything.  I always got sent a DVD.  I will be sure the next one I buy from them they allow me to download.  Although it only takes 1 day delivery to my home so not much of a problem really for me :).

     If possible, you will also benefit from VI PRO 2.  This can make an enormous difference in your overal authentic sound.  The humanize function really helps to disguise even the same repetitions, due to making the tuning and attack of each note slightly different.

    Your resources on your machine should be just fine for running a string quartet with many samples.

    Maestro2be


  • The download option may be newer since VSL only recently started allowing downloads of the DVD collections. On a side note, I'm curious about VI Pro because people seem to suggest it a lot but I just don't see anything that it can do that would change my workflow. I don't even have a need for humanizing since I play every part in separately so there's a lot of real imperfection already (sometimes too much lol). I've seen all the VI Pro videos and I'm still really wondering what I'm missing.

  • I mean i really doubt the humanizing even sounds realistic enough. Although im not sure, I might even buy pro but just for the humanizing? Do you work with the mouse or keyboard Casiquire? I think if we edit the velocities etc we can achieve pretty much the same thing.

  • I do it all on the keyboard, player by player. Nothing is recorded with the mouse. After recording a few takes until I'm satisfied with one, I'll sometimes tweak some dynamics, velocity, or timing here and there, but I've found that there's just no way to get the same realism from typing the notes in as from playing the notes and dynamics. I don't mean to hijack this thread but I really do want to hear from some people who own VI Pro about what the big benefit is. Rolf_Music--how do you record your samples? Or are you still working on getting started?

  • I actually just use the samples with my sequencer (cubase 6 or FL studio) and do the entire work with my mouse. I dont have any vienna products since I currently use other libraries but im planning on starting with the Solo Strings this week. Im just waiting reply from the support team because I want to know if we as users have any guarantee that we are still able to use the software should under any circumstances their company go out of business. I just dont want to end up with a product if it can stop functioning anytime should I truly depend on it. Forexample Native Instruments states in their terms that they give out permanent unlock codes if they go bankrupt or anything.

  • I don't see any physical way of stopping use of their samples in that situation. You can use the samples on a computer that has no access to the internet, so there's really no way of taking them from you.

  • Ya but how would I get replacement licenses or what happens if I reformat my PC. Things like that pass through my head. It is really a nightmare.

  • That might just be a risk you have to take. Like owning a car--if your manufacturer goes under, they don't have to keep making parts for it or servicing it. Take the best care of it you can, and get insurance. Same applies to samples--if it's for your business, it might be worth getting insurance like others have that I've seen in music forums. I'd be the wrong person to discuss that with, though. I'm far from business-savvy. Or tech-savvy. Or car-savvy, for that matter.