The Vienna Suite is looking great, Team VSL.  I am very excited to try it out.

Nice suite with a set of often used plugins on a daw. But, because many people still own good EQ, Comp, Limiter etc. plugins, it would be nice if VSL will offer these as seperate plugins too.

It seems VSL spent some significant time to develop them as 64-bit plugins with best precision for ears that hear noises from outer space. But on the other hand, they've no time or they're not able to develop their plugins to the widely common native ProTools RTAS format for PC platform.

Bad.

Instead of develop the millionst eq on this planet, they should better take a look in their current products to make them more compatible for really all major platforms.

@Another User said:

With the power panning Dietz - what does one do? Just use it on a track by track basis?

Dear VSL Team,

If I loaded the Vienna Suite Power Panning plug-in on a track in the VE host on my slave computer, is it possible to adjust the parameters of that plug-in through the track automation on my master computer's DAW?

Currently I don't use VE and use the Waves S1 Stereo Imager on the tracks in my DAW.  I find that when the brass get really loud I like to bypass the S1 stereo imager and let the full stereo image of the brass instruments ring out.  I think this sounds more realistic and really gets more punch when you need it on big brass sounds.  I am hoping to be able to do something like this on a VE setup with the Vienna Suite power panning on my slave computer, but of coures I would need it to be automated so that I could adjust the paramaters at the right time in the music.

Thanks, Brian

Wow! I was caught by surprise when the demo finally showed up on the downloads page this evening, and installed immediately. I was in the midst of evaluating some other plug-ins that expire tomorrow, so couldn't devote much time to Vienna Suite, but already my first impression is that these are the most transparent native plug-ins I've ever used.

I don't normally use presets, but the ones provided are excellent, and given my limited experience with mixing orchestral content, I may well find them superior to my own experimenting -- at least as a starting point. I haven't been using much EQ with VSL yet, or much processing other than convolution reverb to be frank. Just panning, levels, and occasional EQ for specific instruments. That could change!

The Master EQ, which adds the shelving controls to the regular EQ, gave a Synchrosoft error as being unavailable on the license. Not sure if this was intentional or not, but I will have little trouble making my final evaluations based on just a few of the plugs (I have tried the multi-band and EQ so far and have been blown away by both, to the point that I may find I no longer need outboard gear!).

When I have more time and energy (hopefully tomorrow night), I will do a direct shootout of the EQ vs. MOTU's MasterWorks EQ, which believe it or not, even though it's free with Digital Performer, has continued to win hands-down in every shootout I've ever done of even the "best" boutique EQ's, in terms of transparency. Only the similar Sonnox Equaliser pips it out, and only in the higher frequencies.

Some serious mangling for pop productions is possible with these plug-ins as well, but the important thing is that the basic timbre doesn;t change. This is how I define transparency. I can even see using these plugs for special effect type processing for spoken word and even audio restoration nit-picking where standard audio cleanup plugs need to be augmented now and then. Great telephone preset BTW! 

I'll definitely be buying this. My timing will be based not on when the demo expires, but when the Jazz Drums become available. I'm hoping soon, because as soon as I became aware of this new library, I put on hold the completion of a revision to a jazz soundtrack I did a couple of years back (I'm hoping to formalise it finally into a release, as the original was done as a favour for a friend's student film project). 

Hi mhschmieder,

thanks a lot for your great feedback! [:)]

I just wanted to inform, that the Jazz Drumset is available for download in our User Area, when you have registered the Vienna Suite.

At the moment we are working on video tutorials for the Vienna Suite and the Jazz Drums, further more Factory Presets for the Vienna Suite, and at least a bundle of midifiles for the Jazz Drums.

best

Herb

 Hi mhschmieder,

great to hear you like it  [:)]

Just did some more tests with the Demo licenses for Vienna Suite and Syncrosoft LCC 5.4.10.4 - no troubles in any way.

I believe that the Syncrosoft Error has just been a glitch - please contact support@vsl.co.at if the error does not vanis!

Best, 

Paul

Sorry, a typo.

I meant "when you've registered your Vienna Suite"

best

Herb

I had the same problem, simply move your clock an hour ahead.

There probably has been some confusion due to the US changing its Daylight Savings Time changeover dates in 2007, and the fact they have generally been different from when Europe turns the clocks back or forward anyway.

My guess is certain OS versions and/or hardware combinations aren't aware of the chgange.

We had this problem at work with a server that hasn't been updated in three years. It messed up some authorisations and repository checkins.

Okay..so i tried the plugs for some time this evening.

And well, i think the winning formula here is the extremely low cpu usage.

I like the exciter and compressor alot,in perticular - the panner im not sure about yet, and the eq as well, but all in all...this is a very good tool for everyday DAW work, and is sure very easy on the eye.

Now, the reason for me saying im not sure about the panner, is becouse it sounds somewhat different to the waves panner iv been using, and im not sure why and wich is more "accurate" so i need to try it more realy. Might be the Pan law setting, but it sounds different in some way.

Wich might be a good thing, or not. But im not sure what advantage it has over the panners in cubase or the mentioned waves panner.

The eq, well...is better sounding then the one in Cubase, but in all fairness..it doesnt come close to the character and warmth of Waves API, SSL etc. But that is also reflected in the pricerange offcourse. I would use it for basic tasks, then pull out the big guns for more delicate matters.

Its not very intrusive or doesnt colour the sound much, but sounds maybe a bit to clinical for my tastes. But , i think i will end up using this alot just becouse of the low cpu usages compared to more "hi-end" eqs.

But i love the design and ease of use, and this is a good set of tools for alot of different things i think, even if judging by the presets they are very much intended for VSl instruments.

But again the low cpu usage makes it a very attractive bundle. The Exciter is very kool, not exactly subtle, but still works very well.

The same for the compressor, multiband comp and master eq.

Conclusion: Im gonna buy this. 

...the combination of VERY low cpu usage, ease of use, custom presets, and value for money makes this a good buy . 

Iv been looking to get the Appassionata strings anyways, so now might be a good time, if i could only find a dealer in this silly old country..

 Hello hose,

Vienna Suite will be available as a bundle only. 

Regarding MIR: We are working on it, it will be announced as soon as it has been thoroughly tested. 

Thanks for your patience - it will be worth it [:)]

Best, 

Paul

A good and useful review, but do bear in mind that comparing to Waves is apples and oranges, since coloured EQ's have a different purpose from transparent EQ's.

I personally rarely have a use for the former category, except for occasional use of Pultec-style EQ's when doing rock guitar and the like. I can't think of any reason to use an API or SSL style EQ on classical/orchestral instruments, but maybe in the context of cinema work or background for pop recordings.

I have't had enough time with Vienna Suite yet to see if it can be pushed into coloured territory, as can MOTU's MasterWorks EQ and Sonnox EQ when using Types III or IV (which emulate API and SSL somewhat).

I did notice, however, that the multi-band plug-ins in Vienna Suite seem quite capable of either staying neutral or pushing a mix into extreme sonic manipulation categories. So much so, that I may even consider this suite for mastering work and not just tracking and mixing.