@littlewierdo said:

Where does it say that if you upgrade one VEP7 license that suddenly VEP6 will not work?

It isnt much of a stretch. Go to MyVSL download archive and download Ensemble 5.4 and Ensemble 4 and install them. They should be installed to completely different directories. VEP4, VEP5, and VEP6 all work just fine if installed on the same machine. No, they cant communicate with instances that are a different version number, but they can be installed on the same machine and all run independently of each other. It isnt much of a stretch to imagine that VEP7 will work the same as every previous release of VEP has worked, and more importantly, how nearly all software works. Very few pieces of software prevent you from having multiple versions installed side by side and I doubt VEP7 will be any different.

I concede that you may not be able to have two versions installed. It doesnt change anything I stated, you still can continue to use VEP6 until you have purchased all the licenses you need for VEP7. Since you are able to continue to use VEP6, it is not a downgrade.

@littlewierdo said:

Ok, I concede that you may not be able to have two versions installed. It doesnt change anything I stated, you still can continue to use VEP6 until you have purchased all the licenses you need for VEP7. Since you are able to continue to use what you already have, it is not a downgrade.

@littlewierdo said:

Ok, I concede that you may not be able to have two versions installed. It doesnt change anything I stated, you still can continue to use VEP6 until you have purchased all the licenses you need for VEP7. Since you are able to continue to use what you already have, it is not a downgrade.

What do you mean? Im able to admit when Im wrong, but this doesnt change anything I said with regards to this being a downgrade. Im not sure why it was important to install VEP7 before you had all the licenses purchased for VEP7 anyway. The only thing that changes is, you should wait to install VEP7 until you have all the licenses for it.

This downgrade nonsense is the dumbest thing. Its unbelievable some of you cant understand this. By your logic, any persons who choose not to upgrade any licenses to VEP7 are also being downgraded. In fact, its like me handing Vienna a $20 payment and saying Im being downgraded becuase I cant download their entire library. "But I paid for part of the library cost"... Right, but you didnt pay for the entire cost of the library, hence, you cannot download the library. "But I bought one upgrade license..." Right, but you didnt pay for every license you are wanting to use, thus, you cannot use the new version, you must continue to use the version you are on until... and this is the part about licensing that is a bitch, you buy a license for every machine you want to run it on. You arent being downgraded, you are unable to upgrade until you buy all the licenses. WTF is so hard to understand about this?

@littlewierdo said:

This downgrade nonsense is the dumbest thing. Its unbelievable some of you cant understand this. By your logic, any persons who choose not to upgrade any licenses to VEP7 are also being downgraded. In fact, its like me handing Vienna a $20 payment and saying Im being downgraded becuase I cant download their entire library. "But I paid for part of the library cost"... Right, but you didnt pay for the entire cost of the library, hence, you cannot download the library. "But I bought one upgrade license..." Right, but you didnt pay for every license you are wanting to use, thus, you cannot use the new version, you must continue to use the version you are on until... and this is the part about licensing that is a bitch, you buy a license for every machine you want to run it on. You arent being downgraded, you are unable to upgrade until you buy all the licenses. WTF is so hard to understand about this?

Lately it almost feels as if VSL are brainstorming marketing ideas to push away their long term customers. I have certainly spent well upwards of $10K on VSL libraries and software in the 8 years or so that I have been a user. I am definitely a fan (especially of  their classic VI & MIR products), and a massive part of my workflow is based around VSL products.

Recent marketing strategies (sys preorder, synchronised libs, now this) however are leaving me disillusioned and increasingly tentative about purchasing new VSL products. I bought VEP6 under then impression that it would always include enough licenses to enable networking - that was part of the deal - networking is THE major feature of VEP. Had I been aware that VEP7 would be a functional downgrade - there is no way I would have bought VEP6.

It seems as if the synchronised libs were like VSL testing the waters to see how many old users would buy something that they alread have, again. Obviously that worked (I fell into the trap unfortunately - mostly out of fear that the superior VI Pro Player will eventually stop being supported), and now they have learned that they can make their old users re-buy things, presumably because it worked the first few times.

I'm not going to play this game anymore. As it stands, I will not be buying VEP7 unless the new features (that are not FX) are good enough to SIGNIFICANTLY improve my workflow (and my expectations for VEP7 are low - how good could it be if you don't even know what the features are). If it incuded 3 licenses, as I was under the impression that it would when I bought VEP6, I would most likely have bought it once the features become available. It is unlikely that I'll ever preorder anything from VSL ever again - DS3 would be the only exeption to this, as long as it wasn't a synchronised version.

Don't push away customers. That doesn't make sense.

@littlewierdo said:

I concede that you may not be able to have two versions installed. It doesnt change anything I stated, you still can continue to use VEP6 until you have purchased all the licenses you need for VEP7. Since you are able to continue to use VEP6, it is not a downgrade.

@antcarrier said:

...Obviously that worked (I fell into the trap unfortunately - mostly out of fear that the superior VI Pro Player will eventually stop being supported), and now ...

Well, only DM Brass. I really like that library and the crossgrade wasn't that expensive. I wouldn't touch the synchronised string crossgrades though - far too expensive for an inferior product.

@Dewdman42 said:

Dollar for dollar it most definitely is a downgrade. Let it go littleweirdo, you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing.

@littlewierdo said:

You arent being downgraded, you are unable to upgrade until you buy all the licenses. WTF is so hard to understand about this?

Why don't you calm down first.  It is my/our right to be unhappy with this new licensing decision.  I paid for VEP because it had 3 licenses, I would never have bought it if it only had one and I'm definitely not upgrading to 7 with the current price plan. 

I have been following this discussion, and as a new Vepro user who is a hobbyist, I must admit I'm somewhat confused. The general consensus seems to be that this VEP7 offer is not very welcome, as it seems that people will have to pay more for what they already had in VEP6, in terms of licenses. And for networkers, I can definitely see how this is a problem. For me, I just use one computer. I bought Special Edition 1 a few years back, and thought that by accepting this offer I would gain perhaps some usable new sounds in Epic Orch. 2, while also getting the upgrade from the free Vienna ensemble to Vepro. And eventually get a free upgrade to VEP7.

My experience so far is that Vepro gives me faster load times than I had with the free player. Plus, the ability to host other libraries, including EO, GPO and EWSO (I have not succeeded in getting Cinematic Strings, which uses the free Kontakt Player, to be recognized). but I ran into a problem, due to how I use reverb. I like to put Lexicon Pantheon on my synths, and turn off any native reverb in the library. I send them all to Spaces so they are all in the same space. By using Pantheon, all the different libraries have the same algo reverb, in varying amounts, before they go to Spaces. This works for me. but I have not found a way yet to do this while hosting the synth in Vepro. So I have gone back to the old way, just using Vepro for SP1, and using sonar's mixer for the others, so I can add Pantheon to them.

Thus, I am using Vepro exactly as I used the free player. I am not sure there is much benefit in this, but perhaps when VEP7 comes out there will be other benefits. As for EO, so far I am using violin and bass sounds. I also get a cornet, something I didn't have, as well as a nice oboe d'amore, which who knows someday I may use. That's pretty much it. However, having better violins and basses than I had before is a big improvement, as these instruments have always been problematic. And I get an intro to the Synchron series, so I can evaluate whether this is something I would want to explore further, or just stay with the conventional Vienna libraries.

All in all, I think I got my money's worth. I'm sure I would feel differently if I were a long time user, and especially if I networked. I'm putting this out there mostly for the sake of others like me who are thinking of getting Vepro on this introductory offer. It's probably worth it. For the rest of you folks, I can understand your problems with this offer. It reminds me of when Sonar went to a subscription model, then offered lifetime updates for a onetime fee, then went out of business. (Fortunately, Sonar was revived by a company called Bandlab, who now offer Cakewalk By Bandlab for free, which initially caused a huge up-swelling of anger from those who paid their dues all along, and now anyone can have what they paid for for free (minus the plugins, so they did get something for their money).

We have to remember that this is a business. sometimes companies are going to do things we don't like. That's just the way it is. The consumers didn't own sonar, just as Vienna's consumers don't own Vienna. That doesn't mean they have no right to express their outrage if they feel they have been taken advantage of. It's healthy to fo so, and may cause the company to change their plans.

So I think this is a very healthy discussion which hopefully will improve how VSL treats its customers. Companies need feedback like this. The only thing negative about it is the occasional ad hominum attacks. that does nobody any good.

I'm getting a weird feeling about this VE Pro 7 product launch / pre-order ...

I participated in a VSL pre-order process before (Dimension Strings) , and despite it taking quite some time before the library was complete (sept 2012-august 2014 ...), at least you had a pretty good idea about what to expect.

The info we are getting now doesn't say anything about the expected functionality of the product, which is very disappointing, especially since VE Pro is not just another library, but rather an essential infrastructural part of our setups - something you want to plan ahead for.

It's a bit like a car salesman wanting you to sign up for a new car, while only able to tell you something about the great entertainement system that will be included for free. Nothing about the engine, the gearbox, the looks, the safety system - but "the kids will have a great time in the backseat" ...

So, please, give us some serious info asap ...

PS : adding a bonus almost as an afterthought, and only for 4 days - it only gets weirder 😕

I think it was good to make the announcement so soon: If you were planning to buy VEPro you will get the new version but can use v6 today. If you bought version 6 30 days ago you can refund and buy v7. This is the same as a grace period. And as Paul confirmed: The price will stay until after more infos are available. It's a good thing for the customer.

So why complaining? Just be a little more patient. Nobody forces anyone to buy until we get more information...