@Guy said:
Not to take any sides here and it's my personal opinion, but after listening to a couple of demos, I'm not impressed, it hardly sounds like real brass... Hello expression? This is probably good for quick mock ups, one day job, but not good refined big band arrangements.
All demos should be taken with a grain of salt-- and not all VI demos are as refined as ones which appear here on the VSL forum-- that includes your own great tracks, Guy, if I might say so.
However, while the drum programming is pretty good, I'm less impressed with the bass sound and programming. But BBB offers some characteristics that other sample libraries do not. I believe that much is in the hands of the user as far as programming and feel are concerned, and BBB could really shine in the hands of someone who really knows the style and how to use it. It's not VSL and is not meant to address what VSL addresses. I wouldn't want to use VSL Cube with the intent of rendering the same result of a big band mock up. Besides, the drum and bass tracks are hardly the deal breaker here.
With that said, I would also add that there is little else out there which addresses this gaping hole in VIs. There is GPO Jazz and Big Band, but that offers 2.5 GB of samples. It's not a bad collection for $250 USD, but BBB's 100GB for 9 times the price at least implies that there is more to it than even the demos would indicate.
If one listens to a lot of big band and jazz, it becomes clear that there is a certain "lack of" refinement that is typical and, in an odd sort of way, desired. I appreciate certain aspects of imperfection with this style of music because it's not always "perfection" that is the goal when "excellence" is what is most desired.
Clearly, there is a point where the nature of the samples themselves will part ways with the likes of VSL. But then again, there's nothing out there which has quite done on the whole what VSL has. One day in the future we might be able to compare a 500+ GB big band library with the Cube-- but by then the Cube will have also matured across more hard drives than it does now.
And as we take care with the spec, we can at least embrace the notion that VIs in general have come a very long way and are making new strides. If BBB doesn't go far enough, it certainly goes further than other VIs addressing a similar musical intent. I think it's a very exciting landmark in VI history. No doubt, someone else will come along (if not the Fable people themselves) and take this whole concept a step or two further.
As for AI, I agree with the person who cited a certain sense of redundancy for VSL Cube owners. AI so far is strings only-- and that's not spec... and yes, the hardware liabilities are the real horror since AI states that nothing else can be run concurrently with AI (except for the DAW) for the CPU power it requires.
And a side note to Mac users from AI's FAQs:
No, you can’t use the Mac for the control or sample player functions just yet. Ai is initially releasing our DVZ RT core technology software and sampler communications for PC platforms. Internally, however, our software coding is being done with an eye toward eventual integration with Apple’s Mac OS-X™ operating system, and the libraries themselves are operating system neutral; they work either way; you simply can’t use them on the Mac for now...That takes some of us off the hook right away!
Dunno chaps-- for me, just keeping tabs with VI development is becoming a very exciting spectator sport. What better season could there be for such a thing as NAMM season?
