noldar12 -
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
I've heard a few orchestral mock-ups using VSL's Special Edition bundles and was quite impressed by the more authentic orchestra sound produced by them. Of course, the composer using those instruments has the "chops" to make a great sound (as well compose great music). Without a doubt, VSL's Special Edition Complete Bundle would be a nice investment and would immediately suit my modest needs.
I guess I am interested in knowing the differences between VSL's "Special Edition" instruments and their more "Pro" instruments. Is it the number of articulations? Is it the number of dynamic "layers" for each note of each instrument? Here is one question that I hope can be answered: Do the "Special Edition" instruments have samples that stretch over two or three notes verses one collection of layers samples per note? I guess I wish to know more precisely what makes the "Special Edition" special and different from VSL's pro-line instruments/bundles.
My computer specs should be seen in my signature (at least, I can see it when viewing my posts). Hopefully my computer can handle the "Cube" version if/when I purchase the bundle. Here is my computer specs:
Early 2009 Mac Pro (2.26 GHz times 8 cores); 32 GB RAM; OS X 10.10.2; NVIDIA Quadro K500 video card; 7 internal SSDs (2 external RAID 0 set-ups for my video projects); 2 of MOTU's 2408 MK3 audio devices; Logic Pro X; MOTU's DP 8; various instrumental libraries housed on two of the internal SSDs.
In addition to the above Early 2009 Mac Pro, I have a Late 2012 Mac Mini (2.6 GHz intel Core i7); 16 GB RAM; OS X 10.10.2; 1 internal SSD and 2 external SSDs via USB 3 ports; MOTU's DP 8 and a modest number of instrumental libraries. So, I do have a nice "Master/Slave" set-up, thanks to VSL's VEPro 5 software.
Hopefully between the two computers I can manage VSL's more pro-line instruments. However, they are expensive and I do not have the financial resources to purchase VSL's Cube Standard Edition and Extended Edition bundles at this time. Instead, I might be able to start out with the Cube Standard Edition and purchase the Extended Edition at a later time. The concern is the number of articulations and instruments that would be missing in purchasing only the the Cube Standard Edition. Maybe VSL's "Special Edition Complete Bundle" has more articulations and instruments? I don't know. . . .