Guys thanks again for the comments, with each one I learn something new so keep em coming, as far as affording it yes I am a student in my 3rd year of a music composition degree however when I was offered a car by my parents I decided id rather spend the money on music hardware software and as my parents live out with the armed forces in Germany I get VAT off. so all in all I spent about 14.000£ saving about 6000£ on a new studio running just about everything, its v nice but as you guys know the Vienna series is the last piece in the puzzle for me as I cant afford to hire out full symphony orchestra over and over again. I’m actually basing my dissertation on the Vienna series and whether or not modern day samples can compete and win against live instruments, of course at the moment I think we would all know the answer to that but maybe in time…… HOWEVER, this is the wrong place for this discussion......So again thanks for all your comments. For PaulR “The App Strings are like all the VI's - you can buy them independently and they come with the interface” And….David "Sounds Like a top result to me - and similar to what I did except I think you got pro ed cube cheaper than i did and I am upgrading to the full VI cube gradually” Reading these two comments made me thing of my next question, that is which ones do I get, in order of importance? What do I need to replace? i.e is the price for the whole VI cube a deal or just the price of all the individual components put together? Like you guys said I’m a student and need to start thinking about how to afford 3K over time…. For FCW I do have the performance set and they are extremely good!!!, but take for example the Solo Violin, (VI_perf-leg_f_porta) this is a wonderful sample for pitch and interval changes but when I want to play long notes followed by a quick scale on the same midi part I cant as the sample bends all the notes, which a real player wouldnt do. As far as I understand it the new VI Cube has what’s called a matrix interface where it changes the technique of note played the slower or faster you play on the piano? Or have a got that completely wrong? So yes the performance set is amazing in areas, but for the rest of it (brass and woodwind, and especially the strings) it still sounds a little too false, i.e. the String ensemble when moving chords (strings_sus), if you have any hints or tips to get rid of that or make it sound better please let me know. Thanks. For DG “Using the PT for repetitions was/is a PITA. Who has time for that?” I’m sorry but I don’t know what PITA means, I’m gathering that PT is performance tool? Would love to understand it if you have a second to explain it? Again it all comes in useful. To finish off as you guys seem to have had the time to talk back to me I want to say thanks again and to ask you to keep them coming, maybe someone with a problem like mine will read this and wont have to ask the same stupid question I asked. Sorry to have made this comment so long but I wanted to respond to all of your comments. If my film kicks off properly and my line of work as a composer hits stardom I’ll find you all and buy you a lifetime’s supply of beer! DGS

Pain In The A s s. Yes - the repetition technique the old way of doing it was totally cumbersome for me and like Daryl I never used it, which was a bit of a shame because repetition is useful and you don't want the machine gun effect just hammering one sample. Apparently, the VI make this whole repetition thing very easy.-----------------Re: which ones do you get? Well, that's difficult for anyone to answer, but obviously if you're going to write orchestral type things then Strings may be quite important. I would certainly look at the App Strings. It depends a lot on the type of music you write and how you write. A good discipline for anyone, never mind a student is to force oneself to have a very sparse pallet to start from.

When Pro Edition first came out a few years ago now ---the advice to new and potential VSL customers from the VSL staff was to start off small and work your way up. A large amount of orchestral sample libraries can be a bit of a mental overload. So this way of buying the VSL instruments today is better than it was a couple of years ago. ---------So just go to the shop area -or give Time & Space a ring -----tell them what you've got and what you require---and they will tell you the price.

full price is what new users will have to spend, your price reflects the discounts on extended libraries for already registered products which relate to the respective collection.

 

the example shows the pricing for Vienna Instruments solo strings with your discount for an already registered complete orchestral package pro edition

 

standard libraries of a collection (including the media for all) are not discounted at all - although if you purchase the symphonic cube the price is ~ 5% lower compared to purchasing the 10 included collections seperately..

 

hth, christian

 

edit: almost every collection consists of a standard and an extended library

Hi Dan, I agree that the way to start is with the Appasionnatta Strings, as they're separate from the Symphonic Cube anyway. The main thing is to make sure your computer has plenty of RAM. I'm fairly new to VSL, had trouble getting going cause the RAM in my MacBookPro was defective. Now I've got 3 gigs and things are going reasonably smooth. But I've seen a fair number of threads from newcomers who thought they could get by with the minimum RAM requirments as stated on the VSL boxes. Nope. Besides that, go for it. When it's up and running, VSL is a dream come true. Best, Tom