Sorry... but the search on this thing needs help.
I own CS1 and CS2 libs and VEP5.
1. Do I get a discount for CS1-Extended and/or CS2-Extended?
2. Do I get a discount to upgrade to VIP?
3. Do these things ever go on sale?
TIA,
---JC
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Yet Another Discount Question
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Yeah discounts are not as obvious as they once were on this site. 1) As I understand it you won't get a discount for extending Chamber Strings unless its an upgrade path... In other words if you purchase a Special Edition that happens to have Chamber Strings then you receive a discount when you upgrade to the BIG BOX CHAMBER STRINGS... 2) I don't think there are any discounts that apply to Vienna Instruments Pro. 3) There was a sale on extended download instruments a few months ago. I've heard VSL has an annual sale.
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Suntower, as the standard and extended portion of the libraries consist of different samples, there is no discount. Discounts, as part of an upgrade path from the SE libraries do apply to extended portions of a library, but that is a different situation from what you describe.
As for sales, the libraries do go on sale, but typically only a couple of times a year. Generally, there has been a student discount sale in late summer, and there is normally a holiday sale of some sort, through much of Dec.-Jan. The holiday sale is typically are of the buy "X" number of standard libraries and get one free, or buy "X" number of extended libraries and get one free. Sometimes sales have involved buying different combinations of libraries, or discounts based on the number of libraries purchased. There have also sometimes been some sort of sale in late spring, or early summer, but not always. Overall, VSL's philosophy is very different from a certain other company that shall not be named.
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1. I thought that one got some sort of 'quantity discount' based on how many libs one already owned. IOW: as you buy more DVDs, you get a small % off subsequent libs? N'est pas?
2. OK. I'm sure someone will say RTFM, but do the new/improved Special Editions include any of the Extended aspects in CS? For the -most- part, I'm happy with EWQL for brass, winds in my current project... but the solo instruments kinda blow (there's a joke in there.)
The only reason I'm thinking about VIP or CS Extended is that the 'fakey' quality only comes out when I'm doing long lines with lots of articulation changes. When I demoed the Extended libs, I noticed that the Level2 Legato patch has that 'intelligent-switcher' thingee and it -really- helped! But other than that, I didn't use any of the other articulations. Getting CSExtended1 and CSExtended2 will set me back more than the 'original' CS1 and CS2. OUCH! IOW: I really only need the extended samples that enable the std Level2 Legato patch and if -that- is included in the SE I'd much rather put money towards -that- than towards CS1/CS2 Extended.
Same with VIP... The poly legato... and the time-stretch on repetitions is -really- useful at times, but most of the time---not needed.
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm pretty poor, 30 years from 'student' and need to get the most bang for buck. Any creative suggestion would be much appreciated.
---JC
PS: I do have ONE grouse with CS which is making it EXTRA hard to spend the $ on the CS Extended: NO FRIGGIN' SECOND VIOLINS! WHASSUP WITH -THAT-? It would be about 100% easier to get me to cought up the dough for the Ext Libs if they included a unique 2nd group. I do a -lot- of divisis and this is the one area that makes it impossible to avoid sounding 'synthy'. I didn't think it would be bug me this much but the more I use it the more I hear the 'sameness'... and I keep worrying that everyone else does too.
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Suntower, regarding #1, VSL did have a special sale at one point that worked that way. It was a special sale, not the normal pricing structure.
As for SE, the combined list of articulations would be listed under SE 1 and SE 2. WIthin SE (the old SE standard and SE plus) there are only the two legato patches - basic slow legato and the slow legato repetition.
From what you are describing, perhaps creating alternate legato stretched samples in VI Pro 2 would be sufficient. Another point is that much of the "life" of the sample libraries are found in the dynamics patches in the extended sample content.
As mentioned above, though perhaps too discretely, VSL has a very different marketing approach compared to EW.
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Oh I know there is a different marketing approach. Drives me insane.
The Level2 basic 'Intelligent' Performance patches have this super-nice horizontal switching between portato/marcato... that's the 'magic'. I've spent ages trying to massage the Level 1 included spiccato, detache to get close and it just doesn't work. So the Level2 patch I need is -very- useful. But $600?Tough to swallow.
OK, final (repetitive) grouse: Read through enough posts here and you realise a lot of the same complaints---which I thought was -me- just being a whiner. But you really -need- the Extended Libs to do any kind of 'real-time' performance. IOW: I can get -close- to a decent performance without the Extended libs, but I have to do 3-4 passes... Play the initial notes and then go back 1-3 times to add the various articulations. It's kinda galling to have to spend $1,300 to get such a lib that is -playable-. I just assumed that for my initial $700 I'd be getting not just good sound quality, but also something I could -perform- with. And you can't. You just can't, You gotta get the whole thing to actually -play- the thing. That's why I get frustrated.