Vienna Symphonic Library Forum
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  4. First VI Purchase

  • First VI Purchase

    P
    P
    Hi - I am trying to make a decision on a VI purchase and I was hoping that I could get some advice.

    I currently own Konkakt 2 which has a sub-set of the VI instrument library. (I do not actually know what exact VI libraries this sub-set came from). The Kontakt 2 VI library does not have any solo string instruments and I now want to supplement this. I am looking at two options. One is to purchase the VI solo strings. The other that has recently caught my eye is the Special Edition (SE). I do have limited 'funds' and would likely purchase the standard SE library.

    In purchasing the SE, I would get some solo instruments along with a number of other instruments as part of the set. Would the additional instruments just end up being duplicates of those found on the Kontakt 2 library?

    If you were in my position, which purchase would you make. Solos Strings or SE.

    Thanks
  • D
    D
    Hi,

    since I'm not familiar with what's contained in your Kontakt package, I can't really advise you on which edition to get ... One thing I can say though is that it doesn't contain a subset of the VI library but of our former products. For VI all samples were reprocessed, so they're certainly not duplicates, and in my opinion they sound much clearer and better than the old ones. Apart from that, VI is much easier to handle since you can have all articulations for an instrument on a single MIDI track, and handle your articulation changes with keyswitches and modwheel (or any other controllers, if you like).

    Kind regards,
    David
    VSL manuals
  • P
    P
    Hi David -

    Thank you for responding.

    And thanks for clarifying the Kontakt/VI instrument set. Based on your comments, I am now leaning towards the SE collection.

    Patrick
  • S
    S
    Patrick:

    The other question is how extensive a set of articulations for the solo strings you want. the Solo String Library is comprehensive in this regard with things like sampled crescendos and diminuendos of various lengths, pFps of different lengths, multiple kinds of legato and repetition patches, etc. Recently, in making a mockup of a string quartet I used matrices of 24-32 different articulations for each instrument. The SE library has a limited number of articulations in comparison, but of course, many more instruments.
  • P
    P
    Thanks very much for your comments Steven.

    I have not made use of the sophisticated instrument articulations you have described. The sustain and legato instruments have served me well up until now and will likely continue to do so. I am now thinking that the solo strings may contain more than I need and the SE will give me basic solo strings along with very good additional instruments.

    Patrick
  • N
    N
    last edited
    last edited

    @pbourke said:

    Thanks very much for your comments Steven.

    I have not made use of the sophisticated instrument articulations you have described. The sustain and legato instruments have served me well up until now and will likely continue to do so. I am now thinking that the solo strings may contain more than I need and the SE will give me basic solo strings along with very good additional instruments.

    Patrick


    Hi Patrick,
    I don't own SE yet but by listening to the demos of SE as well as the cube it seems that one can achieve very good results by layering different types of string samples on top of each other, so having SE with a little of all (solo, chamber, orchestral and appassianta strings) seems very useful. I have heard only good things about Chamber strings and the Appassionata strings so my impression is that it would be hard to go wrong with a product which includes some of each. I hope this helps.

    Nils
  • P
    P
    Hi Nils - Thanks for responding.

    I do have 'limited funds' so today I purchased the SE Standard library only so I will have to wait for the Chamber strings and the Appassionata strings. I did email a sales person at VSL who said to me that an upgrade path to the extended library was coming so I can add to it in the future.

    Thanks

    Patrick
  • PaulP
    VSL Team
    PaulP
    Hi Patrick,

    you always have the option to upgrade from the Standard Library to the Extended Library within a collection, by design [:)]

    Also, you get a demo license to check out what is in the Extended Library, so that you get an overview within the first 180 starts. This demo license sits on every new Vienna Key!

    Best,

    Paul
    Paul Kopf Head of Product Marketing, Social Media and Support
  • P
    P
    Thanks Paul - I understand what you mean by the upgrade.

    According to UPS, my orchestra left LOUISVILLE, KY at 4:56 this morning. [[:P]]

    They are now stuck in Canadian customs. [:(]

    They should arrive here tomorrow. [[:P]]

    Patrick