Update: Added software packages and make a few small tweaks to the notes section at the bottom to make note of the cheaper piano that Vienna does NOT include in the Super package because they already include their bigger Vienna Imperial piano as well as added the software packages to the total price list at the bottom (over 10,000 Euros for everything 😊. This now contains every Vienna product and its associated pricing for quick reference.
I still have to figure out a way to represent articulations so until I can figure out a clean way to do that, this is probably the near final version.
Original description follows:
I made a little diddly to help me understand Vienna's crazy package system for soundfonts and it wasnt until I got about halfway through that I understood what they were doing and had done. Here it is in a nutshell.
(The diddly will be linked in a sec...)
If you break down the packages into categories 8 categories:
Special Editions (which should be called starter editions)
Strings
Woodwinds & Brass (ALMOST 2 separate categories)
Percussion
Keyboards & Organs
Choirs
Plucked Instruments (Excluding Harp)
Software
All packages consist of either a single instrument or can consist of a group of instruments, but NEVER overlap into another category. For example, all packages in the strings, woodwinds & brass, percussion, keyboards, choirs, or plucked instruments do not contain anything from the special edition packages. Buying anything in the strings packages will not overlap into the special edition packages, these are all separate categories of packages. This will become apparent when you look at the breakdown of all 150 instrument packages Vienna offers.
Here is a link to the spreadsheet I created:
Click Me -->> Vienna Instrument Packages <<--Click Me
Packages that are not coloured (ie have a white background) are standalone packages, they contain no other packages.
Coloured backgrounds show packages that are a group of other packages contained in that package. IE. Buying the 'Harps' package will give you both Harps 1 & 2 (duh!).
Where the confusion can be an issue is the woodwinds and brass sections as there are several packages within packages that can be purchased.
Hopefully this spreadsheet can help.
If you look in the left 6 columns, you will see blank coloured squares that show what you get when you purchase a package that contains other packages. Lets look at a few examples...
Special Edition Volume 1 extends upwards to show that you get "SE 1 Strings", "SE 1 woodwinds", "SE 1 brass", and "SE 1 percussion & More" - Look at the coloured blue sqaure that extends upwards next to each package that is contained in this package.
Now look at the next coloured package, Special Edition Vol 1 Bundle and you'll see the coloured bar that matches the colour of this package extends all the way to the top, it includes everything listed in Vol 1 and Vol 1 +.
Now if you look at Special Edition Vol 1-4 core, you'll notice breaks in the coloured bar, this is because this package does not contain anything in the plus packages, hence the reason there are no colours by any of the plus packages, these arent included.
Anyway, I hope this helps sort out what exactly Vienna is doing, as best as I can tell, my advice is to start by buying the Special Edition packages, these 6 package bundles (1,2,3,4,1+,2+) offer much of what you need to start with some fundamental orchestral sounds. Then, if you need more, start looking at the other categories.
A couple of notes, the number in the upper left at the top of the spreadsheet is the conversion rate from Euro to Dollars at the time I put the sheet together, you can make a copy of the spreadsheet (File -> Make a Copy) and change this number to whatever conversion rate you need for your country, you also need to change the format for these cells, click on the J at the top to select the entire J column, keep the left mouse button selected and drag over to the K column, this should select both columns (release the mouse button). Now go to Format -> Number -> More Formats -> More Currencies to find the currency for your country, this will change these two columns to match your currency. Now, do a google search for "Euro to (your currency) exchange rate" (for example, "Euro to Rubles exchange rate") to find the conversion rate, put this number in the G1 cell and the spreadsheet will do the conversion in the J and K coluimns for you.
Another note, the prices listed are the normal prices, this spreadsheet does not take into account sales or specials, the prices listed are normal prices and will NOT show sale prices.
Also, do note, each of these packages is further broken down into basic articulations (standard library) and advanced articulations (full library).
Note, I do not own anything yet from Vienna, cant afford anything right now, just finished upgrading my Motif XF8 (2 gb of sotrage and firewire for $900 total) keyboard so money is a bit tight at the moment. This all came from their product description pages. (I dont make a ton of money and music writing is a hobby for me, this Yamaha keyboard is the product of saving for a year, the expansions took another 3 months of saving) so when I do get around to buying, it will be in small bundles).
I will be adding links to each package so that clicking on a package name will open your browser to that package on Viennas site.
I will also add what each package has in the way of different articulations for each edition, standard and full at a later time so that this can be used as a way of comparing different packages without having 150 tabs open in your browser, assuming I finish the project 😊.