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  4. The sad end of VI - and the horrible way it is done!

  • The sad end of VI - and the horrible way it is done!

    F
    F
    I own quite a lot of Vienna Libraries
    and I am especially fond of the VI woodwinds; the warm clarinet, the woody bassoon, the nasal oboe, the breathy flute - they all capture the essence of their instruments.
    (I own two Spitfire Symphony Orchestras, but the Vienna woodwinds and the VI harps are still my go-to-instruments.)
    Now I am informed that I can buy VI instruments for 50% off, but I cannot anticipate functionality after 2025.
    And the Synchron upgrade prices are ridiculously high. And does not match VI libraries, so You can't just choose one of Your VI libraries and click on upgrade.
    Besides, I actually prefer the VI to the Synchron! Never liked the Synchron. Love the articulations and the matrix of VI.
    This is NOT a "good deal"... (Well, maybe for VSL, but not for us, the customers, and I have been a customer since 2009.)
    My investment is no longer safe. I feel cheated...!
    Please, fix it somehow!
    Best regards / Jonas Fridh, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Andreas8420A
    VSL Team
    Andreas8420A

    Hi @fridh! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

    @fridh said:
    My investment is no longer safe. I feel cheated...!

    While we understand that the Synchron world is not everyone's cup of tea - and that is perfectly fine - we are committed to offering compatibility updates AT LEAST until the end of 2025. Also, we will NOT deprive anyone of the possibility of downloading and installing your software and samples on any compatible system you own. As for future OS versions of Windows and macOS, we can not look into the future, and neither can our customers. That is true... But if you exercise caution when it comes to future OS updates (e.g., installing on a test partition), nobody will be caught off-guard.

    Best, Andreas

    VSL Team | Product Specialist & Media Editing
  • V
    V

    I really don't understand why this happening. If someone wants to buy a product that already exists why not let them? Mixing different libraries is always a challenge. So for sure there are many people who need additional instruments when they already have several from the VI series and don't want to mix them with other libraries even if the synchronized series has the same sample base. And what about the libs that don't exist in the synchronized series? Orchestral, ... And upgade to synchronized series difficult because the packages are different. Have to buy solo violin2 too when upgrading solo strings without need.

    And it can't be too difficult to make sure the instruments pro player works with the latest OS. At least for windows.

  • V
    V

    Another note. Customers always become dissatisfied when they have to buy something that they don't actually need except for the reason that what they already have continues to work.
  • S
    S

    I must say I share you frustration @fridh. It's quite discouraging having invested beyond 10k in the VI series, and not knowing if it will stop working in 5 years. And sure we can crossgrade to the synchronized version, but I also don't feel it's on the expensive end of the scope, when you've already spend so much money on the samples already.
    Up till now we have been given the choice to not buy in to the crossgrade, but at some point, if you want to keep using the samples you paid for, you will be forced to do it. And then on top of that forced to redo your entire template of instruments and articulation maps 😞

  • S
    S

    In my opinion, Vienna Instrument Pro (for VI samples) is the best sampler for professional orchestration to date. It would be a shame if it were no longer usable with new hardware or software. My personal opinion. I have invested thousands of Euros in this instrument and continue to use it every day, despite new hyped more recent libraries with ultra-realistic legato and environments, etc.

    Best regards

    Salvatore Pugliese
  • M
    M

    Just wanted to add my support to the VI Player side of the argument. A real shame this is happening. I have a couple Synchronized libraries, Sp. Edition 1 and Appasionata Strings. I use the original version for SP1, and use the default settings for App. Strings, so I can add my own reverb and panning, to blend with my other libraries.

    Synchron is great if you use only Synchron libraries. But most probably mix sounds, and need the default, dry sounds. I just don't understand why the best company in the history of sampled libraries would do this. Why not both? Choice is good. One Size Fits All - not good.
  • Andreas8420A
    VSL Team
    Andreas8420A

    @michael diemer

    Hi Michael, The SYNCHRON-ized products all come with unprocessed presets (= default, dry sound). Adding your own reverb and panning to blend with your other libraries is possible at any time.

    Have a good Weekend!

    VSL Team | Product Specialist & Media Editing
  • M
    M
    @fridh said:
    I own quite a lot of Vienna Libraries

    and I am especially fond of the VI woodwinds; the warm clarinet, the woody bassoon, the nasal oboe, the breathy flute - they all capture the essence of their instruments.

    (I own two Spitfire Symphony Orchestras, but the Vienna woodwinds and the VI harps are still my go-to-instruments.)


    Now I am informed that I can buy VI instruments for 50% off, but I cannot anticipate functionality after 2025.

    And the Synchron upgrade prices are ridiculously high. And does not match VI libraries, so You can't just choose one of Your VI libraries and click on upgrade.


    Besides, I actually prefer the VI to the Synchron! Never liked the Synchron. Love the articulations and the matrix of VI.


    This is NOT a "good deal"... (Well, maybe for VSL, but not for us, the customers, and I have been a customer since 2009.)

    My investment is no longer safe. I feel cheated...!

    Please, fix it somehow!


    Best regards / Jonas Fridh, Gothenburg, Sweden

    I agree. I love the VI instruments, for the most part, and I am not all that into what I have explored in Synchron instruments. It's a strange thing for a company to do to the customers who have spent tens of thousands dollars and whose loyalty helped to make VSL the leader in orchestral samples. That loyalty should be a two-way street.

    Michael
  • U
    U

    A question to VSL. Are there any plans to share the source code of the VI player after the support ends (end of 2025)? That might help to fix any compatibility issues in upcoming years users who want to keep using the VI Series.
  • BenB
    VSL Team
    BenB
    @uwemeinz said:

    A question to VSL. Are there any plans to share the source code of the VI player after the support ends (end of 2025)? That might help to fix any compatibility issues in upcoming years users who want to keep using the VI Series.

    No. This is also not possible due to 3rd party code and component licensing, as well as patents and our own undisclosed algorithms.

    Ben@VSL | IT & Product Specialist
  • G
    G
    @Andreas8420 said:

    @michael diemer

    Hi Michael, The SYNCHRON-ized products all come with unprocessed presets (= default, dry sound). Adding your own reverb and panning to blend with your other libraries is possible at any time.

    Have a good Weekend!

    Unfortunately some unprocessed sounds of the synchronized libraries differ from the original VI sounds. As I had to recognize, the Synchronized Dimension Strings unprocessed sound tight mono and one-dimensional in comparison to the original VI. It seems that the pannings/spreadings of the individual instruments which make a lush and vivid sound are all set to tight mid/mono when "unprocessed". Am I right? At least I am not able to make the synchronized version sound similar to the orgiginal VI. It's a mess.

  • BenB
    VSL Team
    BenB
    @gs-schwarz said:
    Synchronized Dimension Strings unprocessed sound tight mono and one-dimensional in comparison to the original VI

    That's an interesting observation, especially since the Dimension libraries (VI and Studio) only contain mono mics/samples. It was recorded in mono. And it is absolutely possible to make the Studio Dimension Libraries sound like the VI counterpart, I've done it myself in past.

    Ben@VSL | IT & Product Specialist
  • G
    G
    @Ben said:
    @gs-schwarz said:
    Synchronized Dimension Strings unprocessed sound tight mono and one-dimensional in comparison to the original VI

    That's an interesting observation, especially since the Dimension libraries (VI and Studio) only contain mono mics/samples. It was recorded in mono. And it is absolutely possible to make the Studio Dimension Libraries sound like the VI counterpart, I've done it myself in past.

    How did you do that? Do I have to do all the panning of the individual recordings/voices in the Studio Dimension Library manually? Will be some work. Why wasn't it done by the VSL-team?