Thank you for the update Paul.
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Thought I would chime in as I've seen some interesting perspectives. I'll add mine. I'm a professional user doing full pop production and light scoring. I also private tech for a few known composers and studios in nashville. I'm just gonna say it. Any professional user of Vienna Ensemble Pro needs to purchase the upgrade.
Paul and the team have provided free patch maintainence for years and has provided personal and most excellent customer support to the highest extend a small dev team can provide. There is a trust relationship over many years. I'm going to give VSL the benefit of the doubt when they price new product and provide an upgrade path. I don't have time to nitpick personally. However, maybe a few helpful notes for those feeling a bit burned:
- Pro Audio Software is a VERY small market
- We do not get any support from main OS companies, and computer hardware manufacturers are even less concerned with our specific needs as time goes on. Apple discontinued its pro lineup spawning entire grey market resellers of modified apple hardware JUST to meet specific needs in the pro audio market. OS Platform upgrades are RELENTLESS (especially Mac) and it is VERY difficult for small pro audio developers to keep compatible with an ever diminishing set of standards and SDK's that make our careers possible.
- Vienna as a company could BE FAR WORSE. Ever used "Software-as-a-service"? Mandatory $50/ month seat licenses for Adobe, an ever growing list of software you cannot even purchase (Slate DIgital I'm looking at you) and companies that desire to NICKEL AND DIME you to absolute death.
- VSL is the only software package that performs the task of VST load management for large scaled music production workstations. Someone said monopoly... but really... we are LUCKY to have this software. This helps smaller studios compete with larger (custom designed) studios and is an absolute game changer for composers and a boon for track producers.
- VSL does NOT complain and post sob stories about the cost of business or the shifting economy to make excuses for changing a payment arrangement. They could EASILY stop all development of older platforms and sell a smarmy, scammy, temporary seat license for "access" to their software or any number of predatory monetization schemes that would increase margins considerably. They have chosen instead, to provide the most ACCESSIBLE upgrade path yet... with the ability to upgrade a single seat just for single workstation implementation (testing) and very reasonable additional licenses....
- VSL is very much in line with other niche pro audio software packages. Check out ReVoice, Celemony Melodyne, UAD DSP, Breakaway VST, Soundminer, NI Machine and you will find a range of pricing far higher than VSL is charging. They could easily go into $500+ territory for these releases like ReVoice or Melodyne Studio Editor but they choose to price their software in a much lower tier.
- It is in our best interest to keep VSL in business. It is common in this industry for niche developers to shut down (even Steinberg was sold to Yamaha and Didgidesign to Avid back in the day) due to unsustainability. It should be every professional user's concern to help support the dev team that is providing the software we depend so heavily on. I understand if some of you are not as dependent on the software I'm just speaking from my personal perspective.
- I bought the upgrade license as soon as it was available. I don't know what features are coming. I don't know what is changed or improved and it is likely I won't even be upgrading for a long time but it is my priority to keep supporting devs of the software that is most critical to running my studio.
I understand there are many types of users and I think they are trying to find a balance here but I just wanted to add my thoughts on here because I don't think VSL is going to be able to say the things I did with the same perspective or potential impact.
Happy producing guys and looking forward to Vienna Powered Production for many years to come. Cheers!
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Jesse, I generally agree with the sentiment, except one glaring perspective. As a good old fashioned red blooded ignorant American, capitalism is a good thing, and with capitalism comes competition. Right now, there isnt another product on the market that does what Ensemble does as a whole. There are programs that do bits and pieces of what Ensemble does, sure, but not as an entire package. If Vienna had some competition with respect to Ensemble, it would be a positive thing. Competition drives competitive pricing and an improved featureset.
Also, it is not the customers job to keep Vienna in business. If Vienna makes a product that is wanted / needed in the market place, people will buy it.
I guess lastly, I am no fanboy of Vienna. I love their products but they are very pricey, depending on what you are looking for. You must admit that for users of a dozen licenses for Ensemble, that is a hard pill to swallow, although, depending on country of origin, in the states, this purchase is a complete tax write-off so, while it will hurt initially, next year, it will come back (sorry non-Americans :( ). Also, Id have to go back and re-read your post to remember why I wanted to mention the licensing dongle and more importantly, the fact that users have to pay to have licenses backed up / restored. As I recall, it had something to do with a comment you made about Vienna making it as easy as possible, and that isnt exactly the case.
That being said, I am looking forward to playing with Ensemble 7, it sounds like it will come out right around the end of my school semester and we are going into summer break, so Ill have some time to dig into it. Im taking music classes this summer, taking a break from Physics, Math, and Chemistry until August, which will give me time to really write some music.
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Okay. What is it? VEP 7 page says 195 list, 145 intro for new purchase. 75 for upgrade. Is that a promo upgrade price, or standard upgrade price? If it’s promo, what is the upgrade price after the promo ends?
95. It's written.
"Upgrade Offer
The upgrade price to Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 is currently €75 (reg. €95) for the first license, and it includes Epic Orchestra 2.0, free of charge. Additional Vienna Ensemble Pro 7 upgrade licenses are offered at €45 (reg. €65) each. When you're logged in, the reduced price is automatically shown as “Your Price” if you’ve already registered Vienna Ensemble Pro 4, 5 or 6."
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Paul
Will the data loss bug after using the right-delete key (in a text field, plugin, or channel) be fixed in VEPRO 7?
++Christian
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Who's going to be the first to get it? How stable are initial releases of Vienna s/w? I ask because I came in well after VEPro 6 was released so missed the initial release. Combine that with having been burned on initial releases of other s/w so you can understand why I'm wary.Hi Christian,
This should be fixed with VE Pro 7, which is available NOW!
Best,
Paul
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No doubt you are confident but I'd like to hear from those who weren't on the beta test team. There's often problems in usability of regular features that end users find that the beta testers didn't simply because of the many differences in computer systems.We've had a quite extensive beta testing period of this release - so we feel confident.
