I am certainly not putting down the Synchron series which is a great addition.  I am just hoping that VSL will continue with two basic product lines that include Synchron as well as VI which I hope will continue to be added to. 

I was thinking about why the basic Vienna Instruments design is so tremendously appealing, and it is because of   a number of things that are fundamentally different from all other sample libraries:

1) the basis of each instrument is as "raw" and direct and pristine a recording as can be done with samples - unlike other libraries that are heavily processed -  and done with scrupulous care taken to keep the authentic pure timbral characteristics of the instrument with no alteration of basic tonal quality. This is tremendously facillitated by the Silent Stage.

2) the interface has all needed controls instantly accessible without wading through menus

3) the user can create his own instrument out of any articulation group down to the single patch level, and control how they are played with every possible parameter of MIDI.  

4) most remarkably of all - and this is what makes me never want to use other libraries anywhere near as much as VSL - one can create an instrument that is as simple as ONE articulation, or as complex as dozens or more.  This allows instruments that only have the samples that are needed for a particular musical performance.  For example, one often finds in a certain line that no articulations are needed other than legato, sustain, and staccato.  Or on some lyrical melodic pieces I have even had only two articulations - legato and sustain.  And yet they sound fully expressed within the musical requirements of the composition.  I love that possibility of simplicity and directness and don't find it with other software - you have total direct control over the original recordings.

5) and I have to add the presence of MIR which is so tremendous for musicians, who like me are not engineers or geeks but are trying to get a good mix themselves.  MIR was designed so brilliantly to be understandable to  musicians right down to having the players on stage where one places them, and default settings that are incredibly beautiful.  

So I am a VI fanboy from way back.  But this is not about being negative about Synchron, which is a super-impressive library, just a positive statement about the previous ones!  

@Another User said:

So I am a VI fanboy from way back.  But this is not about being negative about Synchron, which is a super-impressive library, just a positive statement about the previous ones!  

😃👍

I think thats what we all consent in this point.

@William said:

What would be beyond awesome is another set of Dimension Strings samples to add less used but important articulations - yes I know that was grueling to create, but it is the most remarkable sample library ever created and worth it!

I'm also in full agreement on the flexibility, versatility, and endless possibilities the dry samples/Mir provide to sculpt and shape the sound you need for a wide variety of genres/styles.  I do have the Synchron Strings, but as of yet, have not found them to be more useable than the dry libraries.  There are idiosyncrasies, owing primarily to the way the extra velocity layers seem to affect the ease/playability of the Synchron Strings, that in no way improve my workflow, but rather hinder it.  My interest in the Synchron Strings when they were first advertised, was the ease of use; my hope was that they would enable me to realise my musical ideas more quickly.  Instead, I find that they have the opposite effect, requiring significantly more time to shape/sculpt a convincing performance, and one that still does not give me the same aesthetic satisfaction that VSL's original libraries do.  

In my opinion, VSL could borrow from the slogan of a breakfast cereal:  Kelogg's Corn Flakes was marketed as "the original and best" despite dozens of flashy/sugary/fun-shaped cereals that looked more appealing on the box.  It's what's inside that counts, and VSL's dry samples, as William and others have stated, just "work."

Dave

Count me in👍😃👍😃

Still waiting for that Boys choir 😴 for starters.

@jasensmith said:

Count me in Still waiting for that Boys choir for starters.

@jasensmith said:

Count me in Still waiting for that Boys choir for starters.

more important is the full palette of vowels for the existing singers, while I of course will wellcome all sampled "Wiener Sängerknaben" but please not again only with "Ah" and "Uh".

@jasensmith said:

Count me in Still waiting for that Boys choir for starters.

@LAJ said:

I agree that Ahs and Uhs are not enough in these days when you look to the latest competitors products. BTW, the Genesis Children‘s choir from audiobro seems to be interesting. But I did not have the time for an intense listening yet.

Yes I also noticed that they seem to be more serious than the average of Choir-sampleproducers, but currently it is still not more than the boys available yet. Might become interesting if they ever provide also a normal Choir and soloists in that quality (since Singing is such a matter of personal character you realy cant have enough different solosinger-Libraries). Currently I dont have enough occasion for a Boy choir, but will keep an eye on it. (unless our VSL Choir and soloists will finally provide the missing vowels 😛)

@jasensmith said:

Count me in👍😃👍😃

Still waiting for that Boys choir 😴 for starters.

I and others have been asking for a Boys choir going on ten years now and still no joy.  I don't know.  I'm thinking maybe Austria has some strict child labor laws that are throwing up obstacles to this project.  Then again, the Vienna Boys Choir is undoubtedly the most famous boys choir in the world so they're probably pretty busy.

Although, I should be careful what I ask for because if VSL releases the Boys Choir next month or something I'm going to be obligated to whip out the credit card and pay up since I've been bitching for this for so long.

@jasensmith said:

Although, I should be careful what I ask for because if VSL releases the Boys Choir next month or something I'm going to be obligated to whip out the credit card and pay up since I've been bitching for this for so long.

I fear, your credit card should be ready in any way from the moment on you discovered VSL, ....

....they are stil busy😛

@Casiquire said:

For people like me who prefer dry and aren't crazy about the sound of the strings, it would be sad to see the greatest creator of libraries that perfectly fit my workflow abandon it.

That the Synchron-Series realises a completly new acoustic concept, will allow to keep the (most) previous VI products still available. That's why I dont see any reasons to fear that they abandon it if that should mean stop selling and supporting those products.

But the Synchron Series as it started is obviously a huge Project with a lot of stuff already still in the pipeline to complete the whole. Since those are much more basic and necessary Things to complete the Synchron orchestra than some additional historic instruments or additional dimensionstring patches, I just expect that it is much more realistic and reasonable, that the Synchron-Series Project will have a priority in the next time over any further silentstage library to be developed and recorded.

Nevertheless, if ever they still have any unpublished Silentstage recordings trhan more VI-Products are much more realistic to be published sooner or later.

Btw: The synchron-series is in my humble by far not just a "wet" library. It is nearly completly up to the user how wet or how dry he makes his mix. As already diescussed inanother thread it is no problem to handle them as dry only instruments for your own way to create the ambiance you are looking for.

The only difference is that you also can ad the original real ambiance of a realy nice Orchestral Recording studio in a very detailed way and are not completly dependend from additional synthetic reverbration, which you nevertheless can ad as every studio recording engineer is always free to ad to his studiorecordings.

In short I still believe the Synchron player aswell as the synchron series is a huge step ahaed and is just starting to be released. I personally can't see any advantages of the VI-Player over the Synchron player and would even wellcome to finally have the whole VSL-World in the Synchron, or at least as much as possible. And I also believe that the Synchron-Series as a whole will raise the quality of orchestral-samples in so many aspects that it is worth to wait for the whole thing.

+1

The specific additional VI I feel need to be sampled and programmed consistently with the previous VI series are:

Dimension Stings III with ponticello sustain and tremolo, glissandi, spiccato, sampled trills like the Orchestral strings extending beyond half and whole tone intervals (performance trills are no substitute for sampled trills most of the time) and ideally a series of unusual string effects. Having FX on Dimension strings would be mind-blowing. 

Historic winds - SACKBUTTS!  Absolutely essential for so many historic era performances. 

Historic Percussion - the only option now is to use modern percussion instruments - like modern mechanical timpani etc. - a very lame compromise for totally different sounding authentic historical drums and cymbals.

Historic Strings such as Viola de gamba, rebec, theorbo etc. etc. - tons of possibilities there.

It would be completely wrong to do these important additions with a system that did not fit into the previous vast body of samples, so it is essential to produce these first as additional VI.    

YES!!! In a heartbeat. And a Dimension Strings IV with all this played sordino.

"Dimension Stings III with ponticello sustain and tremolo, glissandi, spiccato, sampled trills like the Orchestral strings extending beyond half and whole tone intervals (performance trills are no substitute for sampled trills most of the time) and ideally a series of unusual string effects. Having FX on Dimension strings would be mind-blowing."

@Casiquire said:

There are people who don't want to get into VSL because they don't like dry libraries,

And, you know, that's a crying shame because IMHO the "wetness" of the library doesn't matter all that much..  It's the flexibility that dry samples provide not to mention the user friendly player which was carefully designed with intuitiveness in mind.  Well, if these people don't want to "get into VSL" that just means more VSL for me but I'm sure VSL would appreciate the extra business. 

I simply do not understand this obsession some people have with wet libraries.  They've erroneously convinced themselves that samples smothered in reverb are more realistic and sonically superior.  I don't buy that for a minute.

So VSL, I prevail upon you, do not retire the Silent Stage.  Thank you.