paulhenrysmith, that was an exceptional post.
We are in a world of downward affiliation. Logic is forced to the masses (Garageband). Sampler orchestras are being thinned and popularized (Garritan Orchestral Library). Once exclusive equipment is being broadened (Pro Tools HD). This is more than technology -- it is a deliberate market strategy aimed to lower level users, a market not of professional need, but of discretionary income.
And VI is a definitive step away from all of the above.
Trouble is, it's the great unwashed (or perhaps, the less washed) who tend to post here.
I don't imagine many A list composers or production houses are eager to log on to this forum and talk to Plowman. But I do imagine A list composers and production houses will uniformly acquire VI because its ease of use is, for them, a necessity.
And the consequent of these truths is, the hew and cry from the forum is loud but not resonant, obvious but not representative of the core customer. I didn't say the loyal customer, the supportive or vocal customer, the helpful and perceptive customer who contributes so often here. I said the core customers, folks who are generally invisible to our discussions.
For this shining moment, VSL has no peer. VSL knows it, and that's why the price is what it is. paulhenrysmith is absolutely right: this is a business model. And it's a very shrewd model. It would have been shrewd even if the Symphonic Cube was just more samples. Now add to it a proprietary engine that further inhibits the theft of sounds. And tack on an implicit reward for first time users.
What irony. As jbm comments on the obsolescence of samples, we are reminded that we'll never have to pay for the same sample twice. No... I guess we won't.
The technology is the future. The business model is as old as gold.
