It's time VSL offer everyone unlimited free licenses to run its ancient VEP software on as many external machines as they want so that we can put all the VSL stuff on those old Intel computers we have lying around while running native M1 DAW software on our new Mac Studios. 

I'm about done with VSL. Mac users couldn't care less about new products like MIR Pro 3D when you can't run VEP natively on M1. Whoever is setting the priorities at VSL doesn't have a clue about their users. In the future, a little customer research would go a long way. 

The iPad interface app has changed the way I work with VSL overnight. I no longer have to remember which keyswitch goes with which articulation while recording in real time. I no longer have to use any kind of controller (which once again requires remembering what slider goes to what). Switching between matrices, and A/Bs! And it all seems to work flawlessly. Quite brilliant! Thank you, VSL.

Hello,

As of this update, I am unable to even open VEP5 or VIP2 (64 or 32) in standalone. Everything was working fine with the most recent previous update, but now this one won't even get past the startup screens without a crash. Nothing else in my system has changed. I'm on Mac 10.6.8. Seems to work within my DAW (Digital Performer), but not standalone.

Anyone else having this issue or any suggestions?

Remote app is awesome, BTW!

Thanks.

[SOLVED] 

OK, so if you happen to run into this problem, here's what I found...

I had my VE Pro instance in a v-rack in DP, which I had imported from another project file. When I removed that v-rack and created a new v-rack with a new instance of VE Pro and new Event Inputs, everything worked fine. So for DP users, it doesn't work to import (load) a v-rack with a VE Pro instance and Event Inputs. Instead, create a new v-rack setup and simply load the vframe settings into it.

I'm having trouble with VEP dropping notes, both playing in real time and playing back recorded MIDI when those tracks are going through an Event Input aux channel in DP 7.24 routed to VI instruments in the VEP instance. It is not a problem on the main VE instance channel, only on the Event Input channels.

Any suggestions?

VE Pro 5.0.10068

DP 7.24 Mac Pro 8-core with 14G RAM, OS 10.6.8

Thanks for the reply. I had seen that post, but all my plug-ins are running in real time. Pre-gen is off. Any other ideas? I'm running the latest versions of everything.

Hello all,

VE5 is working great with VIs. Instances of Kontakt 4 or Ivory via Event Inputs, however, are giving me stuck notes all over the place. Anyone had this issue and have you solved it? 

MacPro 10.6.8, 8-core, 16G RAM, DP 7.24, two cores assigned to VE.

Thanks.

I'm running DP6 on an 8GB Mac Pro, but what I've found to work well is to open multiple, stand-alone instances of VE and then feed the audio back to DP. You can open multiple stand-alone instances of VE by duplicating the application with a different name, e.g. VE-1, VE-2, etc. Each instance runs in its own RAM space, so you are much less likely to have RAM-related crashes like you would get running from within DP as plug-in. Of course, it means you have to save your VE configurations separately from your DP file, which is a hassle, but it's a small price to pay for a lot more RAM access.

Hello Christian,

Thanks for your reply. How can I get the Performance Tool for Mac? I have a working configuration that allows me to use at least some of my Pro Edition performance samples via the Mac but I don't have the Performance Tool for the Mac that I need to do the routings. I don't care that it is not a supported configuration.

Any help in getting it would be much appreciated.

Dear VSL,

Now that Gigastudio is officially dead, won't you please give us Pro Edition users the Performance Tool for Mac? The PC .pal files we own work on the Mac version of the Performance Tool--all we need is the tool. Or, better yet, give us the Kontakt scripts that you created for Opus 1/2 so we can use our performance set within Kontakt without a performance tool. Is that too much too ask? Some of us, having purchased your "top of the line" product at the time never bought an "Opus" or "Horizon" product. Why would we? We had the best and most expensive thing you made at the time.

Come on VSL, do the right thing and throw those of us that put you on the map a life preserver.

My main issue here is this: I see VI like an upgrade to the "operating system." Yes, there's a lot of new sample content, but there's also a lot of old sample content in the Standard Version, probably a lot of what's in my Pro Edition. The Performance Tool is a pain to work with compared to VI. It would have been nice to have a way to upgrade my sample content to the new, superior VI "operating system" without having to spend another $6K for content that I don't necessarily need. Is that too much to ask for? I'm not looking for handouts. I would gladly pay for a crossgrade to a comparable sample set that used the VI interface, but that was never an option, and it could have been. It was a choice VSL made.

To say you can't get the Horizon solo strings for the same reason you can't get Windows95 is not true. Gigastudio is still out there and still working. Libraries written 10 years ago for Gigastudio are still available even though new ones have come out. VSL simply decided to take it off the market. Why? It was done, it worked. Do you stop selling old movies when new ones come out? There's zero-maintainence on existing sample libraries. The only reason to take working libraries off the market is to force people to buy something else. Sure, when Gigastudio is on version 5 and no longer reads the libraries you'll stop selling it, but that's not the case here.

Enough said. I think VSL has been a great product, but it would be even better if there was a modest upgrade path that allowed users to take advantage of the improved operating system (VI) without having to shell out $6,000+ to get it.

Hello VSL,

I'm a V.I.P. I own the full Pro Orchestral Package for Giga. I’m one of the ones who bought your products in the early days and helped put you on the map.

I spent thousands of dollars on your products and told people what a great company you were because you were really paying attention to the customers.
I swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

If I were really a V.I.P, I would still be able to buy the products that support my substantial investment. Thanks to the discontinuation of things like Solo Strings, I now have no way to purchase a solo viola and bass that will work within my Giga setup. You seem to think that, as a V.I.P., I would rather buy the VI version (for much more money) and disrupt my workflow by having to use that tool in addition to my giga setup. Continuing to sell those now discontinued products was the decent thing to do, even if it had to be done through a third-party. Instead, you’ve left me and others high and dry, hoping we'll spend thousands of more dollars on your new libraries.

If we were really V.I.P.s, you would have given Giga users the Performance Tool for Mac when they asked for it, instead of making them buy a Horizon product to get it.

If we were really V.I.P.s, you would have made the pricing on side licenses a percentage of the current pricing as it dropped, not the original pricing.

If we were really V.I.P.s, you would have given us a substantial discount on buying the VI Standard Library that has now essentially replaced our investment. Instead, you chose to allow us to buy only the Extended Library at a discount. What a deal: forced to buy either something I don’t necessarily need (the extended library) in order to get something that I already have (much of the standard library), or to buy again a substantial number of samples that I already purchased with the Pro Edition. It’s the sort of twisted marketing strategy that might have been written by Karl Rove had he been in the sample business.

If this is the V.I.P. treatment, I’d hate to see how you treat your enemies.

R.I.P. is now apparently a better label for us.

Alex--

First of all, I think VSL is a great product, in general, and I don't think that it is overpriced. It's worth every penny, and I have said that in many posts as well.

However, I still believe, as a matter of principle, not cost, that VSL should make some pricing consession to those people who simply want to move over to the Standard VI Library. The pricing at the Extended level is great, and just what I expect from VSL. And for myself, I will almost certainly buy the whole thing. But there are a lot of loyal users out there with limited financial means. Is it too much to ask that they be given some break on the next incarnation? Afterall, it was VSL that said you wouldn't have to repurchase the same content when future releases came out. And in this case, that's simply not true.

DN

I just copied this from the VI FAQ page that was just posted, straight out of the horse's mouth (VSL)...

Q: Are all the Pro Edition sounds included in Vienna Instruments?

A: The Standard Library contains much of the Pro Edition sounds and some new stuff,while the Extended Library includes all of the Pro Edition – and lots of new stuff.

So WHY are we paying for all of those Pro Edition samples all over again when moving to the Standard VI Library?! The point of the VIP program was that you should "never have to pay for the same samples twice." It is simply wrong and indefensible.

DN

Excellent point!

If this is not an upgrade, are they saying this is an entirely new library? So none of the sample content from the Pro Editions is being re-used? Yeah, sure!

And I've got an ADAT I'd like to sell you for 5K too!

They're right--it's not an upgrade. It's a side-grade for Pro users, with a new interface and added content. And it should be priced accordingly.

Just want to echo the general sentiment here and vote for that "mp-mf, silky, warm, romantic, legato, round, expressive, real string sound."

As someone who has done a lot of live string work, I can tell you it is the one orchestral quality I have not been able to successfully replace. And almost every score calls for it somewhere.

One more thought: this should be made available to Pro Edition users (for a fee if necessary) even if they don't upgrade to VI. It is a missing componant of a "pro" library, and should not be considered solely an upgrade perk.

DN

To clarify, I don't mean that I am paying twice as much, I mean that I would be paying for samples that I already purchased in the Pro Edition, which was supposed to be the point of the VIP program--that you would never have to pay for the same samples twice.

Let me also say that I don't think VSL, in general, is too expensive for what it is. I just don't think that one should have to repurchase samples that you have already purchased. Under the current plan, if you own the Pro Edition and you want to move to the Standard Edition of VI, you're re-purchasing SOME samples you already own.

I own the complete Pro Edition.

Much has been written here about the pricing issues related to VI. Many have defended VSL's justification for the pricing structure on the basis that VI is 24-bit and includes many more samples for each instrument. This is no doubt true, but I would like to point out that it was VSL, not the VIPs that extolled the notion that "you should never have to pay for the same sample twice." And it was VSL not the VIPs that limited the Pro Edition to 16-bit, even though the original sampling was done in 24-bit. Even if we assume that there are now twice as many samples in the new standard edition VI as there were in the Pro Edition (although I doubt it), it still means that we are "paying twice" for at least 50% of the samples in the standard edition. And I seriously doubt that 100% of the extended edition samples are new. In the end, not only will it cost me an additional $1,000 US to get to the full VI upgrade than if I started fresh today with VI, there is no question that I will be "paying twice" for many of the same samples.

VSL is a great product, but I have lost a measure of respect for the company and the people who made promises about how it would be run.

YES, absolutely there should be an downgrade price for VIPs.

It's great that VSL is releasing a free update for First Edition users. But the reward for being one of the early supporters of the company and products should be that you continue to get treated like a VIP, regardless of what new products come out, and that means extending those priviledges to Opus 1.

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I'll give them a try--especially Craig's spiral technique and the time stretching.

It is certainly fine to have them, I suppose. But I would have traded them any day for, say, a bass clarinet, solo violin, solo cello, english horn or piccolo in the first edition!

--DN

I'm new the complete Orchestral Cube, so maybe I'm missing something here, but it seems to me that most of the "Run" samples are useless unless you happen to be scoring something in the exact tempo that they were recorded at.

Even though they're fast, the tempo is unavoidable. Or is there some other way to use these? The alternation tool seems to be much more versatile at achieving a similar effect.

In general, I'm thrilled with the library, but these are a mystery.