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  4. As an Amateur -- on a budget -- MIRx is the ultimate add-on.

  • As an Amateur -- on a budget -- MIRx is the ultimate add-on.

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    FOR BUDGET MUSICIANS LOOKING TO MAXIMIZE VALUE:

    I am a string player and not a music engineer. In the past, I have complained that the price to get the sound from the basic features (like the presence that the MIR technology gives even a basic instrument collection) was out of the price range of an academic or enthusiast like me who simply has the dream of having their own "As close to real as you can get" symphony at their hands. I respect the work involved, and despite the magic that MIR PRO could provide it was also much too powerful for my needs.

    VSL DEVELOPED AN ALL-TO-PERFECT SOLUTION FOR US.

    I really have no clue what microphone to use or where or why, nor do I care to spend the time (it is a novelty without the depth of knowledge needed to make the unlimited possibilities valuable). It is simple. VSL Provided a solution at a price that is the best $100 dollar "plug-in" you could ever buy to make your orchestra sound like it was the priceless group of musicians that were used to record these samples and to engineer them for you.

    First, I wanted my oboe to sound like an oboe, but with a low-cost but high-powered MIRx extension added my oboe samples loaded up in Instruments Pro (or even Free edition) and with my keyboard controller I have a real oboe player that I could position 1st or second chair or as a solo performance from their seat position or up in front of the strings like a concerto and with NO TWEAKING of EQ/Dynamics/Etc the sound was rich, human and I felt the sound resonate as if I was in command of a player jumping around in different seats in the most well-known Vienna Konzerthaus... for $100 USD. Everything I wanted in MIR PRO and more, but for less the price. It would be the first plug-in I purchased after my first instrument collection had it existed a few years back.

    The Special Editions were a great first step in providing an excellent way to build up your symphony modularly and allowing you to emphasize the sections you need the most emphasis.

    As a string player, having the PLUS version of all of the strings was manditory, and could put a hold on purchasing the nuanced articulations of all of the woodwinds/brass because the patches in the SE Vol 1 are amazing on their own for my needs. I can not do justice for the extra articulations, but could for the strings and so I purchased to match my strengths and weaknesses. It was a great needs, experience and budget solution.

    It has been a year now, all of my demo licenses expired long ago, and then I purchased the MIRx Konzerthaus Grosser Saal for about $100 USD a few weeks ago and it brought new life to my entire library. 

    The $100 added $1,000 USD of acoustic presence just like the MIR PRO packages offer, but with a simplicity that even with the free player offered a realism and spatial/accoustic presence that defies a simple category like: Reverb or Dynamics.  

    Consequently, my collection sounds like I hired an expensive engineer to place my instruments approriately, correct for volume and equalize the sound for the distance/instrument/room.  

    With VSL offering MIRx even to Free Player, which I used for a week until I realized how much more the PRO player could provide a string musician with humaniazations and polyphonic legatos the upgrade purchase price was now worth the value after hearing how much a single MIRx upgrade could do to all my previous recordings. (Once you go MIR, you will never go back could be the catch phrase after demo'ing all sorts of convolution reverb products.

    I finally invested in the Pro-instrument, and now remember why I loved it so much and missed it so much when the demo was no longer available. You can purchase a bundle this month, and if you where wondering when would be a great time to buy in and sound better than you ever expected it would be now with the Media Composer's bundle.

    I can tell you that it is worth the money to have a permanant license to a single MIRx venue, the PRO instrument (for musicians with an ear or the extra money to spend) and Special Editions (PLUS when warranted) and free Vienna Ensemble 5 Software.

    I am a very satisfied customer with their decision to offer the greatest plug-in value for those looking to hear their work jump from great to WOW with the MIRx plug-ins. 

    - David

    David Kozin
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    To me, since you are a string player, you are not an amateur here - you are the real thing that people here try to emulate.  You are the actual professional. 

    Anyway,  as another orchestral player (on horn), I have to agree with you that the various VSL sounds especially MIR and MIR x are eactly what are needed for musicians to realize their ideas.  Music itself is ten thousand times more complex than any engineering ever invented, and VSL realized this and put it first as their main priority.  They are probably the only sampling company that has really done that as their main goal.   Which is why I am still so enthusastic about the company and what they do!    Of course they are based in Vienna, and so would be inclined toward purely musical expression since it is the center of the musical cosmos.   The combined ghosts of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Mahler, Bruckner etc. etc. would take their revenge otherwise...
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    Hi David,

    I am an old-standing full version MIR user myself, but I completely agree with what you wrote on MIRx - especially for new users with very elementary or no engineering skills, MIRx can be a life saver. I myself always recommend it as a starting point for people who love MIR's incredible "3D" spatial sound qualities and would like to work with MIR,  but are also a bit intimidated by the myriad of options and parameters MIR PRO offers and all of which are coming into play when setting up an acoustic space from scratch.