Someone understands!!! Yay! lol

nunoise, I'm glad you can see why I feel like it is only appropriate that VSL have some of these offerings. The other libraries mentioned are... workable? But my biggest complaint is that none of these instruments have been sampled with the versatility and quality standards that VSL maintains. RA is by East West. Search "EWQL RA" and you'll find it. The demo's will sound decent, but I should warn that they are not flexible at all. They don't sound bad, but RA is nearly unusable (imo) because of how many errors exist in the library. After using VSL, one would quickly find that RA lacks articulations completely and some of the articulations (bagpipes) aren't even usable as a plausible instrument.

All the more reason why we need this from VSL.

-Sean

I'd love to have VSL recorders and medieval/ancient instruments.   I just had to use another company's recorders on a track and they were o.k., but not as good as VSL instruments.  Also, it would be very good to be able to totally integrate them into Vienna Ensemble.  Though with MIR Pro, it is easy to use an external sound source and place it right on stage next to the VSL instruments - amazing!

I don't agree that these are really unusual sounds to use.  In film scoring and other use, it is fairly common to use ancient or "rare" instruments  like the recorder or lute or others.   For example, remember the great score to the 70s Three Musketeers by Michel Legrand  - that  integrated recorders into the score itself, not just onscreen "period" music.  

I finally got around to comparing all 20 or so of my harpsichord sound sources last night, and VSL's harpsichord came out the clear winner by a country mile; albeit with fewer choices than other libraries in terms of stops, registers, etc.

It is shameful how bad most of the others are -- especially the Realsamples historic libraries. I wish I hadn't wasted my money on those. They are almost completely unusable. The idea behind them is interesting and should provide a LOT of variety, but the execution is sloppy, and scripting is almost non-existant.

The next-best source is Soniccouture's recent Conservatoire Collection (which also includes a Theorbo and a Baroque Guitar). The output is insanely low, and this is coming from someone who generally records at -24 dBFS! That's my main complaint, aside from it being a somewhat limited collection (yet well-recorded and pretty good scripting). It offers a French and Flemish Harpsichord (I generally detest the latter).

Surprisingly, after last week's Version 4 update, Pianoteq is now in the race finally, but for some reason their Grimaldi emulation sounds more like a Blanchet model than the one labeled Blanchet! In some ways this is the most playable one out there, and the timbre is fairly convincing finally. But it offers no variation on 2 x 8', 8' + 4', etc. (unless I missed that on a deeper editing page).

Precisionsound's Blanchet library is also quite good, but closer listening revealed some phasing issues and inconsistencies that ultimately put it a bit behind Soniccouture and Pianoteq. It's a perfectly usable library though, if not soloed (for which purpose I will now use VSL).

Everything else trails FAR FAR behind! That includes the Realsamples collections (English, Spinet, Lute-Harpsichord, Italian, French, Dutch, Dulcitone), EWQLSO, Bolder Sounds (ancient, so no surprise, and their newer libraries are wonderful and even some of their older/smaller ones, so I wouldn't rule them out for future releases), and MachFive (from Acoustisamples, I think). Also even my earlier favourite years ago, which was MOTU Symphonic Instrument. It sounds a bit compressed and phasey compared to newer offerings.

Up until a few years back, I owned a Roland C-80 Digital Harpsichord. It was fun for a few years, but ultimately disappointing as it sounds phasey and compressed as well as a bit baked-in even when "dry", which is typical of Roland. The newer C-30 is a big improvement but I can't see spending $4000 for it, and also only one or two of its models sound good. Maybe the next rev will be "the one".

Anyway, this is all just meant to point towards why I would like to see VSL go for some of the other ancient instruments, as even the somewhat limited Harpsichord library shows that anything they come out with will be miles ahead of anything else currently available.

mhschmieder,

For me, VSL's harpsichord and Spitfire's are the only two I've ever liked. Neither are QUITE to my liking, but everything else out there is subpar (imo).

-Sean

Thanks for mentioning Spitfire -- I've been meaning to get around to buying some of their libraries, but didn't even know they had covered the harpsichord! presumably not a standalone library like the harp. I'll look into it shortly.

Oh, I see -- it's brand new, and for some reason wasn't announced anywhere but their own website. No wonder I didn't see it.

Wow, this sounds fabulous, and I like all the mic choices (including Decca-tree)! This is a no-brainer. I need several haprsichord and church organ choices, so as wonderful as the ones from VSL are, they will never be quite enough.

Warning to those who visit the Spitfire Harpsichord video demo: the voice-over is so soft you'll need to remove all trim from your active monitors, but then be prepared to turn it down once the musical content starts!

Also, I see the discount on their news page, but it doesn't show up when I try to purchase. Maybe it expired already? I don't understand these vendors that have so many "secret releases" and sales that people on their mailing list don't even hear about! Who has time to visit a bunch of vendors' websites now and then just to see what's up? I go to Sonic State and KVR News to see what's coming out.

Dear Forum Members,

Just a friendly reminder - please restrict the amount of discussions concerning 3rd-party products to an inevitable minimum. Thanks for your understanding!

Sorry; it was why I initially didn't say much and didn't mention the vendor. After the additional responses I figured I had misjudged in my caution. I didn't see a way to delete posts but can go back and just delete the content so they're all blank, if that is preferred.

with no disrespect to anyone, i'll just quote from my previous post:

"seems ironic to be discussing these instruments from third party developers on the VSL forum."

perhaps some good can come from all of this.

No need to change anything in previous posts - it was just a friendly reminder, to keep things in perspective. ;-)

Like I wrote in another post in a similar thread: "Never say never". Let's see what new (or actually "old"?) VSL instruments the future will bring.

Dietz,

I state this with the utmost respect in mind. The thing is... I realized that it might just be easier to avoid talking about other companies on here... if... VSL actually sampled recorders.. a lute, etc. I realize the talk has lately been harpsichords but I thought the point was humerous, slightly valid, and worth stating. [;)]

-Sean

P.S. Hint hint, wink wink, what users want, cough cough...