Hi there!
It's about three years ago that I purchased VSL products but, due to different reasons and circumstances, both personal and professional (some call it fate ^_^), I couldn't start enjoying them fully till recently. Now, the joy and fun I can derive from these incredible "toys" have exceeded all my expectations.
In this my first post here, I'd like to express my sincere gratitud and admiration for the people who made this possible, to every member of the VSL team, for those impeccable samples, astonishingly functional interface, and a "MIRacle" of room simulator that is simply unbelievable. I guess I can only imagine the amount of work and talent behind all this. For somebody like me, who is much more a musician than a technology guy, to look at my computer and feel it like a classical musical instrument is just a source of future excitement and challenge. For sure, there's room for further improvement, but that is the only thing I saw at VSL in these last three years: improvement. So, I will let myself be surprised in the future while I learn to use your instruments.
In the meantime, I'd like to share with you my first tries. The first thing I wanted to make use of was MIR audio input, so I asked my partner to help me record something from the Vienna masters to honour your classical tradition. We chose to dedicate this rendition of Mozart's flute concerto in D major, K. 314 - I. Allegro Aperto to you guys at VSL. She's still practicing the solo part, as I am still practicing the orchestral part, so be benevolent (^_^). We have also recorded Haydn's London Trío in C Hob. IV 3 - III. Vivace in admiration for Jay Bacal, whose musicianship and mockup standards I'll try to emulate in my future posts. I honestly think I wouldn't have bought VSL products if I hadn't heard his demos (btw, Haydn has a curious connection with the city in which I was born, Cádiz, for he composed the Seven Last Words for a masonic lodge of the city). I hope Mr. Bacal gifts us with one of his demos soon. And the last one, is basically me speaking XVIIIth century german (^_^), of course with an spanish-italian accent, like in this post (^_-), to close my tribute to you. Dedicated to Guy Bacos, for I have learned much from his works and videos (btw, congratulations for your Chopin's etudes; just superb!!)
I am afraid I can not deliver yet the quality you all deserve, but I am still learning and trying different articulations and mixes, and also configuring my studio (yes, you hear a dog barking in Mozart, and yes, it's not your neighbour's...^_^) Any suggestions about the mix are more than welcome, for I have to work yet with a pair of headphones I can't trust.
In short, meine Damen und Herren, herzlichen Dank für Ihre wunderschönen Produkte. [Y]