@Banquo said:

 Ok, I think I get it now.

1) There are 54 packages

2) you 'subscribe'  to one package a month [for example]

3) For the first month you get Package A01

4) The next month you, as well as keeping package A01, recieve package A02 for download. 

5) And so on.

...

6) That's really cool. 

BUT: It's not possible to download say, "1st violins, flute and trumpet" together, no? It has to be in the listed order? I.e. A01, A02, etc...?

Of course the one package a month option is pretty silly (if you don't add aditional packages each month) because with 54/56 packages it would take 4 years and 6/8 months to get the entire collection which I'm sure would be outdated by that time as VSL will probably have moved on to another product line.

well, i'd say the packages are configured in a well considered order to allow you doing *something* from the first package on.

moving to the new product line (Vienna Instruments) was compelling from my point of view, because the samplers and further options for the (midi based) performance tool have reached a certain limit (especially if features should be the same for all platforms).

eg. the opus bundle still allows good work to be done, but extending it to the functionality of say the special edition is not realistic.

some of you have been not too enthusiastic to see a proprietary format arriving with the new prduct line, but this allows further development based on controllable conditions without dependencies on third party engines/samplers/features. means i'm pretty confident we will see the Vienna Instruments format at least as long as the formats for the *old* sample libraries.

so time will tell if the 1 package subscription is useful for someone or not - imagine pupils or students who often have to be careful spending their money ....

christian

Hi Christian,

I apologize if my previous post insulted VSL.  I did not mean to make your 1 package a month subscription service seem like an unusable option.  I love all my VSL purchases and recommend them to all who ask me about sampling products! I completely agree with your comment on the VI interface.  It is so well designed, easy to use, and geared for composers who want beautiful playback without having to fool around with less intuitive 3rd party samplers that I can easily see how VI has a longevity to it.

I'm foremost a composer rather than an engineer, and to me the SOUND is CRITICAL.  By today's standards VSL has some of the most sonicly compelling samples available (of course, only if you have a decent convolution reverb).  However, I do not for a moment think that VSL will still be releasing 44.1kHz/24-bit samples 5 years from now, regardless of the interface.  I can't image what computer technology is going to be like in 5 years, but the current restrictions in ram, processing, and disk streaming that limits your sample library resolution to 44.1kHz/24-bit I'm sure will not be a problem in the future.  If VSL hasn't upgraded the resolution of their library by then they will probably be well behind their competitors.  Furthermore, any person with ears that decides to purchase a 1 package a month subscription this year of 44.1kHz/24-bit samples will no doubt notice a dramatic difference in sound quality when compared to the newer libraries of 2012. I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like to still be excited about getting 44.1kHz/24-bit "Tuba Performance-Repetition" samples in 2012. 

Brian

P.S. VSL IS STILL THE BEST! 

no insult at all ... you're right, computer technology is evolving, sometimes incredibly fast.

i remember some years ago there have been long discussions about the question if one can *hear* the difference between 16 and 24 bit and i often hear statements like *sampler A sounds better than sampler B*, even with identical source of data. so there is clearly more involved than bits and kHz ...

currently it seems the efforts are mostly related to get all instruments into a single computer rather than to use farms, but who knows ... the next (at least fo me) logical step to 24/96 would increase data to more than twice the amount, maybe we don't care about it in a few years ...

christian

WHEN?! 

SOON!

@herb said:

I haven't any VSL libraries yet. I'm interested in buying the 17 first packages (strings). After that, maybe I'd like the rest, but I'm not sure. Is this possible?

This should be possible .

best

Herb

Ha~!

I too would like to do something like that. Only, in my case already own VI SE, VI Solo string and VI Orchestral strings and obviously the later pakages (the woods and the brass) is what i'm looking for. So unlike that lucky guy who need the first 17 (and might drop out the subscription after, saving money) I'll have to pay and download my monthly ratio of stuff I already own and paid for before (the first 24 packages, 228 ero) , until I reach the needed pakages. This "in order and no skipping" policy clearly advantage the one's that seeks the strings. That VI SE+ chopped and priced by chunk could have been a good opportunuity for VSL to offer their regular faithfull costumers a logical upgrade path.

Ha well.

severe misunderstanding - if you have already licensed (!) the SE standard, than there is no advantage to add the SE standard subscription, because it is identical with SE standard.

what you might be interested in to license is the SE standard plus - which adds content - either to SE standard *boxed* or SE standard subscription.

christian

Yes,sure.  I have No plan on Downloading SE standard, I have the Box as mentionned.

I'm reafering here to a partial downloading of SE PLUS. By also owning Vi Solo strings and Vi orchestral String the first 24 packages are samples I already have, isn't not?

Herb was replying a question from a user potentially planning on downloading the strings then stopping his subscription. Paying, then, only for what he need. An opportunuity i cannot take advantage of since what i'll want (SE+ packages 25 to 56) come after paying and downloading the unsefull (for me at least) previous 24 SE+ packages.

That's why, in my case, the "in order and no skipping" sadden me.

Is that clearer?

understand - sorry, seems i've misread it ...

there has already been an internal discussion if *instrument group packages* would make sense .... so we notice your request for the moment.

i personally wouldn't find it very comfortable *as it is* because although purchasing the whole group, you will need to install the single packages seperately ... on the other hand it helps if one of the downloads is corrupted ....

allow us some more time to think about it ... december seems to keep us too busy for such a decision.

christian

Hi. This was talked about in an ealrier post, but I just wanted to clarify please:

Can you 'cancel' your subscription at any time (or after a certain time), or are you comitted to buying ALL packages. eg. I subscribe for 3 a month, and after 3 months I want to stop. So I cancel the subcription and keep the 9 packages already downloaded?

Cheers.

basically a subscription is *paying by installments* and the respective agreement is not intended to be canceled before it ends.

i personally cannot imagine VSL will sue you to fullfill the contract, but stopping a subscription is not the idea behind such a kind of purchase.

however such an occurrance would shed the respective light on your reliability or honesty as customer (note: i did not word it user here)

christian

basically a subscription is *paying by installments* and the respective agreement is not intended to be canceled before it ends.

Are you sure about that? A subscription to a magazine doesn't mean you have to take it for life. Anyway, if it is the case, I have no intention of cancelling out and 'shedding light on my reliability or honesty', I just want to know if it's an option. If not, fine.

S

usually you subscribe to a magazine say for a year - and it is per se a continous subscription which can be terminated at certain dates with a certain deadline.

the subscription of our special edition packages is limited to a certain period / number of volumes from start.

maybe we will offer something like *the new articulation of the month* to which you can subscribe like to a magazine ... i think there would be packages for a few hundred years .. such a subscription can be terminated every year one month in advance.

christian

I have to second what someone else has already said :

as a registered user of SE Ext and Solo Strings, I'm quite reluctant -after a lot of thinking those last days-  to buy the downloadable SE Standard + as is.... 

There are 12 Solo Strings packages, which means almost 120€ of pure waste for the Solo Strings VI owners.

I really believe that VSL should really see how unfair it would be to make some people buy so obviously the same samples twice, and take those situations into account, and offer some kind of VIP price for Standard + according to a user's registered products.

And I can't buy the "it would be a hell to set up", because this system works very well for all other products, and the "special cases" related to this specific package are not too many.... And anyway, once it's done, it's done forever.

To finish, I'm a bit sad to see that the "holiday special" is aimed at "high end" buyers only.

I was hoping some kind of time limited special offer for more modest VSL users, which might consider a smaller purchase, or the downloadable product, but it appears that only people able to invest a lot right now are taken care of. 

I've had the same thought.

Having lost a lot of articulations by moving from Opus1 to VI SE, I was hoping VSL would make such SE+ for sometime now. Having to GigaTeleport a missing trills here and there in my former scores was just a pain. I was only looking foward to get back my Opus 1 fonctionnality...

But this outragous price tag, (plus my previous problem mentionned earlier by having to get and pay all package including samples i already have thru other VI library), I sadly thinks i'll have to pass this one.

I understand the need of protecting the vsl's distributors interest that could arise by having downloadable products like SE. But in order to save the VSL-distributor relationshipis is it realy wise to downgrade the VSL-supportive costumers one. hEy, i would pay illo a more decent price to sent it to me if a SE+ box ever existed, I don't live on some deserted island (Look like a some of us are, wich justify they have to pay 40% more to get online what others could from a distributor (if that justification given earlier still stand))

I've always supported VSL, and they deserve my money which i'm willing to give them! Still, for saling a product that does'nt require shipping, packaging and midleman distributor, this is pushing a little i'm afraid....

hum.....:-(

y-

If VSL let me skip all solo strings in SE+, I can save 114

And VSL collect the rest from me

If not, I spend $0 and VSL collect $0

:)

Dowload products should be that way...let user decide what to download and what to pay.

Sonny