I am certainly not putting down the Synchron series which is a great addition. I am just hoping that VSL will continue with two basic product lines that include Synchron as well as VI which I hope will continue to be added to.
I was thinking about why the basic Vienna Instruments design is so tremendously appealing, and it is because of a number of things that are fundamentally different from all other sample libraries:
1) the basis of each instrument is as "raw" and direct and pristine a recording as can be done with samples - unlike other libraries that are heavily processed - and done with scrupulous care taken to keep the authentic pure timbral characteristics of the instrument with no alteration of basic tonal quality. This is tremendously facillitated by the Silent Stage.
2) the interface has all needed controls instantly accessible without wading through menus
3) the user can create his own instrument out of any articulation group down to the single patch level, and control how they are played with every possible parameter of MIDI.
4) most remarkably of all - and this is what makes me never want to use other libraries anywhere near as much as VSL - one can create an instrument that is as simple as ONE articulation, or as complex as dozens or more. This allows instruments that only have the samples that are needed for a particular musical performance. For example, one often finds in a certain line that no articulations are needed other than legato, sustain, and staccato. Or on some lyrical melodic pieces I have even had only two articulations - legato and sustain. And yet they sound fully expressed within the musical requirements of the composition. I love that possibility of simplicity and directness and don't find it with other software - you have total direct control over the original recordings.
5) and I have to add the presence of MIR which is so tremendous for musicians, who like me are not engineers or geeks but are trying to get a good mix themselves. MIR was designed so brilliantly to be understandable to musicians right down to having the players on stage where one places them, and default settings that are incredibly beautiful.
So I am a VI fanboy from way back. But this is not about being negative about Synchron, which is a super-impressive library, just a positive statement about the previous ones!