@William said:
I find it amusing that people are under orders to keep quiet about a sample library.
With software, a beta tester is a kind of "second engineer" who is participating in the R&D of a product. While developing that library, or software program, you're under non-disclosure until the final product is released and on the market. And those non-disclosure terms vary from one company to the next. There are also written agreements that the OEM may require signing before work begins. In this case, the beta tester has a contractual obligation to say nothing.
At this level, beta testing has nothing to do with national security, but it has everything to do with corporate security. Millions are being invested in these libraries. And a beta tester, whether under written contract or personal guarantee, is there to help make the library a success, not to sink it.
Additionally, beta testers come with all levels of background.
On our LA team for VSL, half the team was balanced with programmers/instrumentalists/composers who could read music, and knew the orchestral literature. The other half were composers who were under deadline and knew little about programming, and so needed to rely on the final result without being pushed to have to know how to work the GS Edit.
Was it that they weren't smart enough to figure out GS Edit or to lazy to do it (as some have suggested)? No, it's that a large part of professional composers who use these libraries put their emphasis on music and composition first and bring in a tech to help with the rest.
And so half our team represented that market position.
Another consideration was that everyone on our LA team had scoring stage experience and knew what it meant to be under fire and to get the job done. Anyone of the team who was a programmer, understood how to program under those conditions. We didn't look for what would be "cool" but what would be effective for the library under "on demand" expectations.
Additionally, the kind of projects our team did varied greatly. They ranged from weekly TV to Warner Bros. cartoons, to Biblical epics. And so the library was tested at a variety of levels.
However, our input was directed to THE team leader - Herb. Herb is a concert cellist with plenty of onstage experience. He's a composer and a programmer. So when Herb first presented his vision to us, we knew what he was trying to accomplish and how to support him in it. When we didn't understand, we wrote and asked questions.
Do I as one of the beta testers really need to comment on it? In VSL's case, no, not really. The primary demos are done by Herb, the Captain of the ship. The Captain has taken prime responsibility for the success of the mission. And the Captain has executed that responsibility by creating demos that show off the individual instruments, individual ensemble groups, etc., so you can clearly hear for yourself what the library is capable of doing.
Finally, I want to make this point, which several of us on our team have spoken about individually. Many of us because of expertise at a variety of levels, are asked to beta test other libraries. It's therefore necessary for we as individuals to maintain some level of confidentiality, especially on a public forum. We call this trust.
In the end, however, a beta tester in music is akin to the composer creating for the director. We work to support a vision that has capital investment behind it. Our duty and our job is to support that vision and as best as possible make it successful.
In the end, what matters is whether or not the library stands on its strength.
Two weeks ago, my wife Caroline and I were coming home from church one evening. On the classical station was a piece by Mozart written for flute, solo violin and solo cello. In listening, we both realized (Caroline's an excellent composer, too) what a great blessing it was to have a library like VSL where if we wanted, we could create our own works for flute, solo violin and solo cello because of the broad level of articulations available to us from one library which also sounds fantastic!
So, William, please don't take this as any kind of assault on your post. I appreciated all your good words. But because this theme has come up on two different forums, I wanted to clearly set forth the philosophy that many us have who help contribute to wonderful libraries like VSL.
