Considering that GPO includes the library AND the sample player AND a sequencer AND a decent reverb for $249 US, it's going to be hard for VSL to compete on price, unless some other MAJOR event is happening concurrently, e.g. VSL has forged an alliance with NI, VSL is introducing a bundled playback engine of their own design, or VSL has acquired the GigaStudio assets and can bundle it with their samples.

Lee Blaske

dorme1,

I wouldn't be running a dramatic banner such as the one on VSL's main web page if I were merely going to ship a GPO-level product. Such a loss leader would be a desperate act, not a revenue stream.

It seems 99% of music companies in the world are oriented to hobbyists. I hope VSL doesn't become a clone of the pointless companies.

Think happy thoughts -- dot

@dot said:

dorme1,

I wouldn't be running a dramatic banner such as the one on VSL's main web page if I were merely going to ship a GPO-level product. Such a loss leader would be a desperate act, not a revenue stream.

It seems 99% of music companies in the world are oriented to hobbyists. I hope VSL doesn't become a clone of the pointless companies.

Think happy thoughts -- dot

Dear Dietz,

You posted the following over on the Nuendo Forum ( http://forum.nuendo.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/017384.html )

"...while I'm not in a position to talk about details yet, you will most likely see some more specialized, smaller (and therefore cheaper) Editions of the VSL in the not too distant future - so everybody can afford the unheard-of quality and quantity of our instruments"

OK!! SPILL THE BEANS!!! WHAT IS IT!?!?


what's wrong with hobbyist level stuff if you're not a pro?

Look back at this 9/25/03 post from Herb...

@Another User said:

I can't make big announcements at the moment, because this is up to NI. I personally expect a lot with the release version after 1.3.

Note that he says "I can't make big announcements." The original post also ended with a wink.

I think this might cinch it. Kontakt 1.5 was just released the other day, and the Intakt version is due out shortly.

VSL is probably going NI. This would especially make sense if any smaller, cost-effective versions are to be released, because CCP will be needed, and NI has it. Playback software also needs to be bundled, if the price is to be competitive. A Kontakt/Intakt version would significantly expand VSL's potential customer base, because everybody would be able to run it, as opposed to the quite restricted GS and Logic user base.

Lee Blaske

I think I would cry if it's a Kontakt version. I'm using VSL in Kontakt and I don't think i'm using it correctly. Had I known I would have waited for a Kontakt version. Hope that's not what it is!

Chocothrax, a participant on the NS list, just posted that the picture on the teaser is becoming clearer - one big box in the center, and two smaller boxes on either side. Could it be a box for Strings, Brass, Winds and Pecussion, with the center box being the whole shootin' match?

If it is a Kontakt version, I wonder if a cross-grade will be reasonable, or quite expensive (like the GS to EXS24 crossgrade).

At any rate, I'm glad I held up on purchasing the Pro version. I expect this new version will at least be 24 bits.

With that amount of packaging, I don't expect that this is going to be positioned as a GPO competitor.

Lee Blaske

dorme1> what's wrong with hobbyist level stuff if you're not a pro?

You could mean hobbyist as in "price barrier to entry/evaluation/participation" or hobbyist in orientation and quality. I can very much relate to the former, since I wanted to experiment with a couple of performance instruments before going "whole hog" and investing heavily in the company. Hobbyist companies have the habit of promising you the moon, and you find out after investing that you have yet another trinket that just isn't useful for serious work. It adds up over time. I am past the point in my life where I'm willing to be jerked around by companies that sell toys in the place of tools. So if VSL is now willing to sell smaller instrument packages or even a la carte, I think a) hobbyists and pros can now both be happy, and b) VSL's revenue will increase because once composers can get these instruments/samples in-house and beat on them, they'll realize what they've found and will buy as much as then can afford as soon as they can.

As I said before, there's a whole world of hobbyist products. (I'll go further: hobbyist products are responsible for the low quality of music software world-wide.) Nothing is lost if VSL doesn't descend to hobbiest developer-ville. Everything is lost if they do.

Name a historical composer who wouldn't have traded at least one body part to be able to buy VSL as we can. Don't let what VSL has become, become history.

dot

Oh btw I am Chocothrax from NS hehehe.

Very sneaky.

Lee Blaske

FWIW, in anticipation of VSL's announcement, it looks like East-West just did a preemptive strike.

Lots of things are happening very fast now. I expect CNN will start covering the orchestral sample market. [;)]

Lee Blaske

I'm hoping for some sharply priced competitive crossgrades:
- Gos to VSL strings
- LOP to VSL percussion
- Brass... (no, not trading in my SAMmers), maybe DDSB to VSL brass
- DDSW and Westgate WW's to VSL woods

And owners of AO should get additional 20% discount.

j/k

Peter

I think its some sort of seq/notation software to take full advantage of
the VSL library in an easy and intuitive way - now that would be nice [:D]

well, it looks like we'll all find out in about 14 more hours, the can of beans is starting to tip...