I had, at some point, hoped to complete my VI collection. Orchestral music is a hobby for me, I dont make money from it, I just enjoy writing orchestral music. Sadly, the price was always a bit out of my price range, until now, but with only 1-2 months, I just cant afford this right now. I have a wedding to plan for and am in the process of arranging finances to purchase my first home.
I have spent considerable money (for me) on Vienna products in the past, including the complete Special Editions for both VI and Synchron, as well as having licenses for the entire software suite (MIRx, MIR Pro (have not yet upgraded to the 3d version) with one roompack, VI instruments pro, Ensemble Pro, and VI Suite Pro) as well as the Big Bang collection A-M (with potential interest in the rest at some point).
The Synchron libraries, no offense, just do not appeal to me. The VI interface does. It is extremely powerful and flexible, and it connected with me immediately. The sound design of the VI libraries also appeals to me, no coloration of the original instrument, no prebaked verb, which gave me the ability to warp and twist orchestral instruments to my liking. VI is truly unique in this regard, albeit, they do not sound "studio" or "epic" out of the box, they offer something truly unique in the industry that no other company has ever or currently offers.
So, while no one else seems to be bothered by this news, I am. Unfortunately, I dont have any options as spending money on a hobby is not an option right now and by the time it is, my hopes of completing my VI collection are shattered.
Even more disappointing is, this amazing concept, all the time and work to record flat, uncolored orchestral instruments will disappear, not available to anyone ever again, even to purchase.
A novel idea, since Vienna plans on discontinuing this product, never to make money on the product, ever again, would be to put this out as a free download on something like archive.org. Would it undermine the Synchron products? I don't think so, VI is something wholly unique that still could generate considerable revenue via the software suites that are designed to work with VI instruments. Perhaps this is too bold a move, but this could be something that could be a huge boon to people just getting into orchestral writing.
Instead, a more favorable option to Vienna might be to take the EastWest approach, well, a modified approach, a rent to own approach on the VI library, whereby a monthly payment is made for several years and after the predetermined total amount of money is paid, the user has a license to the product with no further license fees required.
If I were to suggest one thing, why stop selling it? You could continue to sell it on an "as is" basis, that is, no longer a product that is actively supported, of course, discounted for this inconvenience.
A minor update to the special editions to provide control over vibrato would be something I would love, at least that would give some life to the SE VI instruments, but alas, I feel as tho everyone has moved on to the Synchron editions and likely has no interest in anything VI anymore, sadly.
