The ONLY reason I bought VEP to begin with was in order to run it both together on my DAW machine as well as potentially one more server.  But part of the value to me was that for approximately $250 I knew I could network in my extra laptop in a pinch or whatever...That is part of the value it was sold to me as.  VSL is putting us in a situation now where we have to now choose between downgrading our capability or paying unreasonable amount to continue with the capability we thought we were buying not that long ago.

@Paul said:

Hi, 

The introductory price will be available until the software is released, and we will announce all changes in pricing agead of time. 

45 EUR for an additional upgrade license is the introductory price, like it says on the VE PRO 7 product page: 

Upgrade Offer
The upgrade price to Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 is currently €75 (reg. €95) for the first license, and it includes Epic Orchestra 2.0, free of charge. Additional Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 upgrade licenses are offered at €45 (reg. €65) each. When you're logged in, the reduced price is automatically shown as “Your Price” if you’ve already registered Vienna Ensemble Pro 4, 5 or 6.

Full Purchase
If you’re new to Vienna Ensemble Pro, now is a great time to jump aboard! The introductory price of Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 including Epic Orchestra 2.0 is €145 (reg. €195). To run Vienna Ensemble Pro on more computers, additional licenses are available at €65 (reg. €95) each. You may download and install Vienna Ensemble Pro 6 from MyVSL anytime.

Best,
Paul

IF YOU OWN VEP5 and/or 6 that price on the left is for upgrade!!!! I'm sure those of use who owns VEP5 or 6 gets a discount on each license compared to those who do not own neither...Read it again:

VEP by itself costs around $85 approx. The License is $51 approx. This is IF YOU ALREADY OWN VEP5 or 6. The INTRODUCTORY LICENSE price is $164, basically if you do not own it. So each license is going to cost EVERYBODY $51 approx USD because as of right now they are only giving us who upgrade 1 LICENSE which came with the upgrade and we only paid $85. Understand? $85 is not bad with Orchestra 2, but more patches would have been better LOL....

@McArnes said:

I’d try to treat Paul et al with a little bit more respect.

I have said nothing disrespectful towards anyone here, including Paul.

But doubling the price of my product in a year is not acceptable and I shall definitely voice it.  If VSL wants my business on VEP, they have to be more reasonable about it.  End of story.

And again, I dont understand why you guys are all upset. Do you know how many times over I have paid for Cubase? Its $150 yearly ($100 for the end of year upgrade and $50 for the mid-year upgrade). Having had a license for Cubase for several years now, I have paid once for Cubase Pro initially ($600), and in the four years Ive had the license, another $600.

Just for comparison, VEP6, in case anyone forgot, was released in late 2016.

Maybe you dont need epic orchestra, and I do completely agree, it is disengenuous for VSL to say you are getting it for free. You arent, you are paying a 30 Euro premium for epic orchestra. However, let me get this straight, you are complaining because the purchase price is 30 Euros higher for the first license? Put this in perspective, how many thousands of dollars have you spent on hardware and software? How much of it turned out to be for something you dont ever use? 30 Euros is the least of my concerns honestly.

As was previously stated, this is VSL pushing people to use Synchron. Personally, I hate the layout. I despise it. I think it was a piss poor decision to split their userbase into two groups. Their sounds should be compatible with both engines, allowing users of a more modern UI to use Synchron, while allowing those that like the look and feel of VI to use Instruments Pro. I have plenty of critiques for VSL, Im no fanboy by any stretch.

However, I see no issue with what VSL is doing here, other than forcing users who wish to upgrade to VEP7 to pay extra for EO. However, its only $30 Euros, and I am a bit biased, I love the epic orchestra 2.0 library, even if it is in the terrible Synchron player ui. Considering I have very few libraries that are any good for sketching (my libraries are all hundreds of gigabytes, thus, by the time they load, Ive taken the dog for a walk, taken a shower, and brushed my teeth), EO in combination with Smart Orchestra are alot of fun.

Oh, and as to my comments about free addons, what the heck is wrong with free addons? You dont have to use them.

What time will it be announced in detail about the new features?

@littlewierdo said:

And again, I dont understand why you guys are all upset. Do you know how many times over I have paid for Cubase? Its $150 yearly ($100 for the end of year upgrade and $50 for the mid-year upgrade). Having had a license for Cubase for several years now, I have paid once for Cubase Pro initially ($600), and in the four years Ive had the license, another $600.

Just for comparison, VEP6, in case anyone forgot, was released in late 2016.

Maybe you dont need epic orchestra, and I do completely agree, it is disengenuous for VSL to say you are getting it for free. You arent, you are paying a 30 Euro premium for epic orchestra. However, let me get this straight, you are complaining because the purchase price is 30 Euros higher for the first license? Put this in perspective, how many thousands of dollars have you spent on hardware and software? How much of it turned out to be for something you dont ever use? 30 Euros is the least of my concerns honestly.

As was previously stated, this is VSL pushing people to use Synchron. Personally, I hate the layout. I despise it. I think it was a piss poor decision to split their userbase into two groups. Their sounds should be compatible with both engines, allowing users of a more modern UI to use Synchron, while allowing those that like the look and feel of VI to use Instruments Pro. I have plenty of critiques for VSL, Im no fanboy by any stretch.

However, I see no issue with what VSL is doing here, other than forcing users who wish to upgrade to VEP7 to pay extra for EO. However, its only $30 Euros, and I am a bit biased, I love the epic orchestra 2.0 library, even if it is in the terrible Synchron player ui. Considering I have very few libraries that are any good for sketching (my libraries are all hundreds of gigabytes, thus, by the time they load, Ive taken the dog for a walk, taken a shower, and brushed my teeth), EO in combination with Smart Orchestra are alot of fun.

Oh, and as to my comments about free addons, what the heck is wrong with free addons? You dont have to use them.

Well then of course you should give them your money.  I will not be giving them mine this time.

$500 in one year for VEP is way too much.  sorry.

Dewdman42 has a point in my opinion. With the upgrade to VE Pro 7 you either get downgraded from three licenses to just one, or you have to pay double the price of what the upgrade to VE Pro 6 cost. Advertising this as a new 'feature' feels disingenuous to me (in fact, it is the only 'feature' currently communicated apart from the integrated fx). If you feel you have to double the price of a software, please be upfront about it and explain why you feel it's necessary.

What is happening is that VSL is either downgrading us to one license for VE Pro 7, or asking double the price for three licenses. That is a substantial downgrade, or a hefty price increase. In my opinion, good marketing would have tried to explain it. Instead I feel as being taken for a fool.

@littlewierdo said:

And again, I dont understand why you guys are all upset. Do you know how many times over I have paid for Cubase? Its $150 yearly ($100 for the end of year upgrade and $50 for the mid-year upgrade). Having had a license for Cubase for several years now, I have paid once for Cubase Pro initially ($600), and in the four years Ive had the license, another $600.

Just for comparison, VEP6, in case anyone forgot, was released in late 2016.

Maybe you dont need epic orchestra, and I do completely agree, it is disengenuous for VSL to say you are getting it for free. You arent, you are paying a 30 Euro premium for epic orchestra. However, let me get this straight, you are complaining because the purchase price is 30 Euros higher for the first license? Put this in perspective, how many thousands of dollars have you spent on hardware and software? How much of it turned out to be for something you dont ever use? 30 Euros is the least of my concerns honestly.

As was previously stated, this is VSL pushing people to use Synchron. Personally, I hate the layout. I despise it. I think it was a piss poor decision to split their userbase into two groups. Their sounds should be compatible with both engines, allowing users of a more modern UI to use Synchron, while allowing those that like the look and feel of VI to use Instruments Pro. I have plenty of critiques for VSL, Im no fanboy by any stretch.

However, I see no issue with what VSL is doing here, other than forcing users who wish to upgrade to VEP7 to pay extra for EO. However, its only $30 Euros, and I am a bit biased, I love the epic orchestra 2.0 library, even if it is in the terrible Synchron player ui. Considering I have very few libraries that are any good for sketching (my libraries are all hundreds of gigabytes, thus, by the time they load, Ive taken the dog for a walk, taken a shower, and brushed my teeth), EO in combination with Smart Orchestra are alot of fun.

Oh, and as to my comments about free addons, what the heck is wrong with free addons? You dont have to use them.

1. Cubase doesn´t have a mid year $50 upgrade, is always in December and it is $100 for .0 versions and $50 for .5 versions. So, it is $150 in two years. VSL is asking us a lot more to be able to continue using the three licenses.

2. You are not getting it straight I´m afraid, we are not complaining about paying 30 euros more for EO, we are taking issue with the lack of communication about the licenses downgrade. Now we are facing rebuying the software again every couple of years to stay current because of the new licenses policy. That is not an upgrade policy, if we have to spend more than we payed the first time.

I appreciate that you feel the need to stand up for VSL business decisions but I would like an official response about the licenses downgrade, and why the upgrade now is costing more than what I payed the first time

@littlewierdo said:

And again, I dont understand why you guys are all upset. Do you know how many times over I have paid for Cubase? Its $150 yearly ($100 for the end of year upgrade and $50 for the mid-year upgrade). Having had a license for Cubase for several years now, I have paid once for Cubase Pro initially ($600), and in the four years Ive had the license, another $600.

Just for comparison, VEP6, in case anyone forgot, was released in late 2016.

Maybe you dont need epic orchestra, and I do completely agree, it is disengenuous for VSL to say you are getting it for free. You arent, you are paying a 30 Euro premium for epic orchestra. However, let me get this straight, you are complaining because the purchase price is 30 Euros higher for the first license? Put this in perspective, how many thousands of dollars have you spent on hardware and software? How much of it turned out to be for something you dont ever use? 30 Euros is the least of my concerns honestly.

As was previously stated, this is VSL pushing people to use Synchron. Personally, I hate the layout. I despise it. I think it was a piss poor decision to split their userbase into two groups. Their sounds should be compatible with both engines, allowing users of a more modern UI to use Synchron, while allowing those that like the look and feel of VI to use Instruments Pro. I have plenty of critiques for VSL, Im no fanboy by any stretch.

However, I see no issue with what VSL is doing here, other than forcing users who wish to upgrade to VEP7 to pay extra for EO. However, its only $30 Euros, and I am a bit biased, I love the epic orchestra 2.0 library, even if it is in the terrible Synchron player ui. Considering I have very few libraries that are any good for sketching (my libraries are all hundreds of gigabytes, thus, by the time they load, Ive taken the dog for a walk, taken a shower, and brushed my teeth), EO in combination with Smart Orchestra are alot of fun.

Oh, and as to my comments about free addons, what the heck is wrong with free addons? You dont have to use them.

1. Cubase doesn´t have a mid year $50 upgrade, is always in December and it is $100 for .0 versions and $50 for .5 versions. So, it is $150 in two years. VSL is asking us a lot more to be able to continue using the three licenses.

2. You are not getting it straight I´m afraid, we are not complaining about paying 30 euros more for EO, we are taking issue with the lack of communication about the licenses downgrade. Now we are facing rebuying the software again every couple of years to stay current because of the new licenses policy. That is not an upgrade policy, if we have to spend more than we payed the first time.

I appreciate that you feel the need to stand up for VSL business decisions but I would like an official response about the licenses downgrade, and why the upgrade now is costing more than what I payed the first time

I'm wondering something: where does the 30 euro more for EO come in?

It is all just a big old marketing fumble, period!

If VSL would have announced all the VEP 7 feature candy that was coming, and it was seen as good stuff, noone would be whining about upgrade costs. We'd be whining about how long we have to wait to get our hands on it.

The pitch was misguided to think that most of us would care about EPIC. Like many users of VEP,  I got thousands $$$ tied up in VSL sample libraries. The cost of VEP, or its upgrades, is really trivial by comparison.

I dont care about EPIC update. Sure, it is nice, but I am more interested...like many...as to what VEP 7 brings to the party.

You guys can put this all to bed by just announcing the new features that will be in VEP 7. If you dont know yet, then why even announce it at all? It's like telling the kids we will go to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard...someday. They got some awesome new flavors. Your little kids are like "I wanna go now"..."when can we go"..."what flavors"?

If you dont know the prodcut features of VEP7 at this very moment, it likely means you are probably 12+ months out from a release of VEP 7.  If so, it makes no sense to announce anything. 

Hence...the marketing fumble.

"If VSL would have announced all the VEP 7 feature candy that was coming, and it was seen as good stuff, noone would be whining about upgrade costs."

Remember, whining is your choice.

I brough mine last BKFR, and for shure with no grace period, pay again 120€ for the 2 licence i need is not cheap for a simple hobbist.

But the fact that all the intro price is based on "buy it 'll have great feature" and will expire BEFORE features annoncement is little too much for the average hobbist ... it's a software not a lottery ticket ... 😃

BTW i brought it, internal fx are always a great improvement, and i'm shure it will be a great version despite a bad annoncement !

@Bill said:

Remember, whining is your choice.

Agreed...but I am not whining...I am pointing out the whole basis for the whining many others are doing.

I will upgrade, I always do. I dont worry about the cost. If it has the features I want, and isnt a buggy mess, I will be all over it...no matter what the price point. However...my setup works just fine as it is, so I probably wont be an early adopter. 

Vienna isnt removing a license. You KEEP your 3 VEP6 licenses. By doing the upgrade, each license upgrade ADDS a VEP7 license to your existing VEP6 licenses.

I have 3 VEP6 licenses. I bought 1 upgrade. I now have 3 VEP6 licenses and 1 VEP7 license.

[URL=https://s1177.photobucket.com/user/littlewierdo1979/media/VSL6%20%207.png.html][IMG]https://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x353/littlewierdo1979/VSL6%20%207.png[/IMG][/URL]

As to Cubase, yes, I just looked, I guess they upgrade only yearly, but it certainly feels like twice a year, so thanks for the correction.. It is still an expensive upgrade, Ive had it for 4 years and paid $300 to upgrade it.

@littlewierdo said:

Vienna isnt removing a license. You KEEP your 3 VEP6 licenses. By doing the upgrade, each license upgrade ADDS a VEP7 license to your existing VEP6 licenses.

I have 3 VEP6 licenses. I bought 1 upgrade. I now have 3 VEP6 licenses and 1 VEP7 license.

[URL=https://s1177.photobucket.com/user/littlewierdo1979/media/VSL6%20%207.png.html][IMG]https://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x353/littlewierdo1979/VSL6%20%207.png[/IMG][/URL]

As to Cubase, yes, I just looked, I guess they upgrade only yearly, but it certainly feels like twice a year, so thanks for the correction.. It is still an expensive upgrade, Ive had it for 4 years and paid $300 to upgrade it.

I think VEP6 and VEP7 can´t coexist (correct me if I am wrong) and cannot communicate (Paul said so).

So, again, if you need to work with three computers and want to upgrade to VEP7 to stay current, you are missing two licenses, and you have to buy them

Adding just one VEP7 license to your three VEP6 licenses doesn´t work for people with multisystems, I don´t think is very hard to understand.

As for Cubase, you are correct saying that you paid $300 over 4 years, and with VEP new price policy, people who bought VEP for networking several computers (it´s primary objetive when it was released) would pay almost double than that in four years (about 250 euros per two years)

I understand your wish to stand up for Paul and company, and I have nothing but respect for them. I don´t mind that VSL would like to hike prices, or change policy, also I realize that the company doesn´t owe me an explanation for its business decisions, but I would appreciate one or two lines about it, instead of talking about the Taiko library.

I am not defending VSL, nor am I defending Paul. I am simply explaining, that this is not the world is ending scenario it is being painted out to be.

Is the upgrade expensive? If you are upgrading 3 licenses, sure. To be specific, not referring to special sales, I am going to use the pricing when it goes to a normal price, it will be 95 for the first, and 65 for the 2 subsequent upgrades. That is 225 Euros total. Ensemble 6 is currently 285 euros for the same three licenses. The upgrade is 79% of the cost of 6, if you are upgrading 3 licenses at full price.

However, I am guessing most people dont need to upgrade three licenses.

So yes, the upgrade is expensive, but it isnt the same price as Ensemble 6, and most users are probably not upgrading 3 licenses.

In addition, Vienna is pretty generous about putting their software on sale. My guess is, Ensemble will be made available both on launch and several times throughout the year, so you wont have to wait long to purchase VEP7 at a discount.

If anyone should be upset, it should be me. I literally just purchased VEP6 in December 2018. I get no special discount. Vienna isnt providing any sort of grace period.

The reality however is, Vienna has found themself in an impossible situation because they priced Ensemble 6 in a terrible way by not allowing people to purchase 1 license at a time. They are attempting to fix this. Is the cost too high for new users for a single license for VEP7? In my opinion, yes. Is the non-sale price for the VEP7 upgrade too expensive? It depends on how many licenses you need. For those that only need 1 or 2, its a good deal in my opinion. If you need more, its not so much. However, this is because VEP6 is sold as 3 licenses, so for people like myself, we see the price of VEP6 as $285, because that is how much VEP6 costs, whether you need 1 license, 2 licenses, or 3 licenses. Either way, its $285.

The bottom line is simple. Wait until they announce more details before you buy. And guess what, Id bet my VEP7 license on Vienna putting VEP7 on sale when it launches, and several more times during the course of the year. You wont be paying the standard pricing, unless you arent paying attention to when this thing releases and you cant wait to buy it if you miss the launch.

@Another User said:

The bottom line is simple. Wait until they announce more details before you buy. 

At a bare minimum all upgraders should at least wait to see.  All we konw as of now is that it will have FX added.  Me personally, even to justify $85 for one license I would need to see substantial improvements to the product.  But the simple truth is that I am being asked to pay money for something, that as far as we know has FX added, and we are expected to lose multi-machine networking unless we want to pay kind of a tidy sum...for as yet unannounced features.  As I have said, if VSL comes out with some breakthrough new thing that is so incredibly amazing that I can't imagine not paying another $250 for it... ($500 total in one year's time)...they will probably get my money...but I really am not expecting that.  I am expecting a few little things updated + FX...and unelss I want to pay through the nose.....LOSS of functionality in terms of networking a few extra machines in a pinch.  I will gladly stick with VEP6 and wait for VEP8 someday to reconsider.

@Another User said:

The bottom line is simple. Wait until they announce more details before you buy. 

At a bare minimum all upgraders should at least wait to see.  All we konw as of now is that it will have FX added.  Me personally, even to justify $85 for one license I would need to see substantial improvements to the product.  But the simple truth is that I am being asked to pay money for something, that as far as we know has FX added, and we are expected to lose multi-machine networking unless we want to pay kind of a tidy sum...for as yet unannounced features.  As I have said, if VSL comes out with some breakthrough new thing that is so incredibly amazing that I can't imagine not paying another $250 for it... ($500 total in one year's time)...they will probably get my money...but I really am not expecting that.  I am expecting a few little things updated + FX...and unelss I want to pay through the nose.....LOSS of functionality in terms of networking a few extra machines in a pinch.  I will gladly stick with VEP6 and wait for VEP8 someday to reconsider.

Very well put, @vsl would you care to adress these points?