hammersmith, the upgrade policy is more or less recognizable with the current update (and has been announced by martin tichy somewhere deep in the older threads of the forum) - this is the VIP-program
the first edition plus the price of the upgrade is less than the pro edition fullprice - means: you don't pay a sample twice. additionally you have the option to crossgrade to another platform when upgrading and keep the previous edition from the first platform - a really generous offer as i feel.

future editions will be available in the same way, as a registered user of the pro edition you're entitled to upgrade to the symphonic cube for the difference between both editions.
it looks like after the third upgrade the amount of data will easily exceed the terabyte-barrier (not talking about the extensive number of instruments) so you will have to decide by your own if it's worth the price (whatever it may be then) - but you would still not have to pay a sample from a formerly released edition for a second time.

christian

Thank you both for the information; sounds great. What is slated for the symphonic cube? Is that the product that will also include choir, ethnic instruments, etc. etc.? Will the saxophones and MIR be ready by then and included? Thanks again; looks like I need to begin counting all the pennies I've saved for a sample library!

-Dave

(To paraphrase Herb[:)]

My private opinion as the Project Leader of our MIR-developement [;)] :

In Phase 1, the MIR will be available as a highly specialized "Front End", working in close conjunction with our Library. Quite obviously, our main interest is to give _our_ customers a competetive advantage first. It's not decided yet if native CPU's will be powerfull enough for the task, or if there has to be dedicated hardware. - We hope to hit the market in 2004, but I don't dare to predict that it will be ready when the Symphonic Cube is shipping.

In Phase 2, we will most certainly consider to release our engine as a stand-alone version, be it as a (possibly) cut-down native plugin, or relying on dedicated, hardware-based DSP.

For Phase 3, we have still more plans for higher integration of all our products, but it's much too early to talk about.

... hope this answers some of your questions.


/Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library

The Symphonic Cube will be focused on common orchestral instruments.
Choir and ethnic instruments are planned as individual releases.

best wishes
Herb

Hey Herb, have you decided what will be released first out of the choir, ethic instruments etc.? I think I remember the possibility of you guys releasing modern techniques and effects, I really want those. Choir and effects are the two i'd like to see first. I know theres all kinds of other stuff being recorded, hope we have a vsl choir before 2030.

When will the solo viola and contrabass be released? I hope that we can still buy those soon. The solo violin and cello are wonderful, but as I work, I have discovered that I cannot live withouth the viola and bass.

Viola and bass should be finished in 8 weeks.
There will be several other releases at this time.
Detailed infos coming soon.

best wishes
Herb

@esperlad said:

as I work, I have discovered that I cannot live without the viola and bass.

Not to take away from VSL, but some days I feel the same way, except about donuts... [[:|]]

Crossgrade?? is there an option to crossgrade from say the perfomance set to the orchestral cubes etc if so where is this stated.

cheers

digi882, you're entitled to either upgrade or crossgrade for the respective product - eg. strings first to strings pro, perfset first to perfset pro, ect.
if you own the cube first edition and intend to get the complete orchestral package pro edition you can upgrade (or crossgrade) the cube, but have to purchase the performance set for the fullprice
chrisitian

I think you should do more individual instrument releases. It makes it much more difficult to purchase an upgrade if you really only need say 50% of it. And yet right now it's the only way to get certain instruments.