But I was trying to make the point that there is an artistic process in creating a sonic environment all your own whether you're using MIR, Vienna Suite, or some 3rd party plug ins. This process can be just as involved and require just as much passion as stringing notes together to create a composition and that is why I don't want to see the Silent Stage retired.
That makes a lot of sense. I wasn't looking at it that way. You're right of course that conceiving and sculpting the sonics are a substantial aspect - especially if one uses things like MIR and has fully incorporated it into their process - and I can absolutely see that working on those aspects is enjoyable, important and part of the journey.
From that perspective, it's a legitimate concern that VSL is seemingly contradicting their whole ecosystem so far. On the other side, time is such a problematic factor - it most certainly is for me - and anything that does away with another step of this already often very tedious journey is welcome.
The thing I couldn't relate to as much is the "slippery slope" kind of thinking that seems to imply that VSL is doing "out of the box", idiot composer libraries now because that's what sells today. But there's still a huge difference between a library that simply comes with some already baked-in ambience and offers several mic positions to help you shape the desired sound, and sonic "readymades" that make promises like "sound like XY in under 30 seconds!", box the user into one certain sonic environment, or emit complete phrases by holding down a key.
So far I found that SyS is still very much in line with what VSL was doing previously, in terms of sonics and character, and therefore thought that some of the fears or criticisms expressed in this thread were over the top and perhaps came with somewhat of an ideological background.
Dial in your mics + some EQ if neccessary, and go - that's a new approach for VSL. One that I personally absolutely welcome, but whether it actually pans out is still to be seen (Have I already mentioned that this damn player really needs to be out now? 😊). The "older" approach on the other hand is already tried and tested and I of course understand that users are wondering if what they have become accomplished in using is considered "obsolete" now.