Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
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  • How about this?

    Okay, I just thought up a marketing idea that would make me and ten million other destitute composers soooooo happy. (Maybe I'll have to store this away with my other brilliant, but previously ignored ideas, like The VSL Sample Store and "VSL Records", not to mention sliced bread, and what I like to call "the wheel", but oh welll... [;)])

    How about VSL Horizon Solo Singles!?

    These would be Pro Edition single instruments, bundled with all articulations and performance instruments, and priced according to sample content. Yeah! What an awesome idea! Holy crap, we've got to get on this one right now! The clock is ticking! There's millions to made! Act now, offer valid only while supplies last!...

    Okay, I'll calm down now.

    But on the serious side. What makes the VSL absolutely unique are the performance instruments. That's what sets them apart. So, as a composer trying to build up to the Pro Edition, it's extremely difficult to convince myself that it's really worth buying the Brass and Woodwinds set (for example) when it doesn't have any performance instruments. What it boils down to is that, in order to get a true representation of VSL winds, for example, I really have to buy *both* Brass and Woodwinds AND the Performance Set. This is really quite frustrating. Does anybody see the sense in what I'm saying? VSL is just not complete without performance articulations, so it really doesn't make sense to sell these libraries without them. I know this seems like a criticism, but it's not. Looking at all the Horizon products, it's clear that VSL realize what I'm saying is true: they've consistently bundled the Horizon Series products *with* performance instruments, so that users could have a complete experience of what makes VSL unique. Perhaps this was not the case when VSL started, but it is now. Is there any chance of the original product-line being re-vamped? Perhaps after the Symphonic Cube is released?

    J.

  • I completely agree that it does not make much sense to have the performance libs separate from the rest. For me the cardinal point of VSL is the performance stuff. This is where noone else comes near.

  • I know that this subject has come up before, and from what I can remember the response from VSL was that restructuring the product line would bring too much other additional costs (new manuals, packaging material).

    I agree though that in my opinion it would have been a better idea to feature separate strings/brass/wood/percussion boxes with inclusion of the performance elements instead of selling the performance elements for all instrument groups separately in one box. Maybe an idea for the VSL team to take into consideration, it would make the Pro product line more consistent with the current Horizon releases which also contain performance elements.

    And of course the idea of selling separate instruments would be great as well, but of course there would be much more additional costs for printing new manuals/packaging material.

  • Yeah, quite right about the extra cost -- packaging, manuals, and all. Mind you, there must be creative ways around that problem. I mean, they would obviously be only single-DVD releases, and could easily have some toned-down covers -- something very understated. The main thing is that they would probably pay for themselves pretty quickly, since they'd be accessible to so many more people. Also, they woudn't very likely cover *all* the instruments in the Pro Edition, but rather just the "staples"...

    Anyway, this wasn't really a serious request, I must admit. But I'll keep throwing things out there, as I do honestly think they're making their lives more difficult than necessary by having such a costly product. And I'm *not* saying that the product itself is over-priced. I don't think it is. It's just the manner of distribution that makes it too difficult for many of us to manage. Opus 1 was obviously a step in the right direction, as is the entire Horizon series, and I'm sure their cash-flow changed dramatically with the release of these products. It would just be great if we could gain access to the full Pro Edition, or "Cube" even, over time.
    I, for one, am dying to give them my money, but my real need right now is for the primary Brass & Woodwinds *with* performance instruments. And as I said, there's no way for me to do that without spending something like $2500 in one go (which become $3000 + for me in Canada). If they could divide that up, they'd be seeing income from me on a regular basis, very likely until I had the entire Pro Edition. But as it is, they're not likely to see anything from me (and I'm just a single example of a whole class of composers) for a long time... It's a cash-flow thing. VSL, please help us give you our money! [;)]

    J.