Saddened by the news

[littlewierdo]

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.

[Andreas8420]

Hi @littlewierdo,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. While maybe not the right product for you, the dry samples of Vienna do live on in the SYNCHRON-ized Series. While we understand that we can not make everyone happy, we want to give everyone a heads-up and a grand opportunity to stock up before the VI Series leave the webshop.

Best regards,
Andreas

[Louis C]

Yeah right - but it's not a 'grand opportunity' is it.

It's a deadline of two months at the height of Summer.

I love what the company does but this is a huge mis-step in terms of offering your existing 'loyal' customers a way to plan ahead.

You've had a meeting, written the web page and posted it without regard for the real world and people's financial investment and workflows.

Very poor.

[fridh]

@Andreas8420 said:

Hi @littlewierdo,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. While maybe not the right product for you, the dry samples of Vienna do live on in the SYNCHRON-ized Series. While we understand that we can not make everyone happy, we want to give everyone a heads-up and a grand opportunity to stock up before the VI Series leave the webshop.

Best regards,
Andreas

Hello, What is so grand about it? I too, prefer the VI to Synchron. And why should we stock up if You don't support VI after 2025...? I have tried to upgrade what I can to Synchron, but I can't get the solo flute, for example. I have many VI instruments where there is no clear and affordable upgrade path. If You end supporting the VI-series, we, the VI owners, should get a free upgrade to Synchron - or at least to a VERY reduced price. Best / Jonas

[fridh]

@littlewierdo said:

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.

Thank You! I totally agree. I feel cheated by this "opportunity". It is only an opportunity for VSL to squeeze the last Euro from its VI customers and then drop them in the virtual desert, with no support and an outdated library that will crash on next gen. computers.

[saxmand]

I agree with all you points @littlewierdo. I also have always liked the VI player more, as it resembles how you would build an articulation map much more logically, and its setup is simpler for dry samples etc.

The whole situation is just quite discouraging, especially when you've invested beyond 10k in the VI series, and not knowing if it will stop working in 5 years. And the crossgrade to the synchronized version are so steep (considering you've already spend so much money on the samples already, and when you have no interest in that player).
Up till now we have been given the choice to not buy in to the crossgrade, but at some point, if you want to keep using the samples you paid for, you will be forced to do it. And then on top of that forced to redo your entire template of instruments and articulation maps 😞

[jermuz]

I’m with you @littleweirdo. Although I wouldn’t mind switching to the Synchron versions, the costs are high. I would have to pay more than €1000. And then I would be paying, as I understand, not for new samples, but rather for revisions of the old ones with a reverb. The sheer amount I would have to pay to switch to something I never asked for is shocking and unheard of.

VSL makes a big deal about the ability to stock up on VI series before switching. Yeah, hurray.

I’m so disappointed in this company. Now it’s my turn to say, after many years: goodbye VSL.

[faucetmusic]

@jermuz said:

I’m with you @littleweirdo. Although I wouldn’t mind switching to the Synchron versions, the costs are high. I would have to pay more than €1000. And then I would be paying, as I understand, not for new samples, but rather for revisions of the old ones with a reverb. The sheer amount I would have to pay to switch to something I never asked for is shocking and unheard of.

VSL makes a big deal about the ability to stock up on VI series before switching. Yeah, hurray.

I’m so disappointed in this company. Now it’s my turn to say, after many years: goodbye VSL.

[faucetmusic]

This has really affected me emotionally. I bought the Pro Edition Giga and I had to beg, borrow and steal to come up with the $10k for that, then VI came along and did the crossgrade which wasnt cheap. And now this! Ive never felt so screwed over by a company that I've supported and yet they make it sound so positive and "grand". I cant just keep on giving this company thousands of $$. They say DONT WORRY, if u love VI you're ok for YEARS TO COME. Really? How many years? And their responses are infuriating: "we understand that you're unhappy but we're still going to screw you over after years of support." Bye VSL. Im happy there are a lot of other orch libraries on the market now.

[Firefrost]

This post is deleted!

[Firefrost]

I too am disappointed by the disappearance of the VI series which, dry, are more suited to the commercial work I do. Like littlewier I spent rather a lot of money on what I have. It was some learning process too. I don't relish the idea of another one!

I suppose I have to do a complete download of all content to make a back up. It isn't as simple as copying my existing drive to a new one - or is it?

[Ben]

@Firefrost said:
I suppose I have to do a complete download of all content to make a back up. It isn't as simple as copying my existing drive to a new one - or is it?

Donwloads will still be available for the forseeable future.

[treef]

As well, quite disappointed with the discontinuation of the outstanding VI Pro instruments, although the crossgrade prices are certainly interesting and fair. Yet we may emphatically suggest that the VI Pro software shall be maintained in a way that it runs flawlessly on future OS updates, hence without necessarily adding features etc. By the way, just a little thing would be awesome, i.e. to have more scale options, not just 200%, but e.g. 120% and 150% as well, thank you.

[Ben]

@treef said:
By the way, just a little thing would be awesome, i.e. to have more scale options, not just 200%, but e.g. 120% and 150% as well, thank you.

We tried that back when we implemented scaling, and it caused a lot of issues due to the old graphics stack used in VI Pro.

[treef]

@Ben said:

@treef said:
By the way, just a little thing would be awesome, i.e. to have more scale options, not just 200%, but e.g. 120% and 150% as well, thank you.

We tried that back when we implemented scaling, and it caused a lot of issues due to the old graphics stack used in VI Pro.

Thanks

[PauloRego]

Fellow hobbyist here and I absolutely agree - super disappointed. I love the VI collection and the VI Pro player. Gorgeous sounding virtual instruments and super user-friendly. I can't imagine switching. I'm not going to risk upgrading to the SYNCHRON-ized libraries and then have to deal with them being discontinued/unsupported further down the line as well. VSL instruments are not cheap compared to the competition and that's fine as the quality speaks for itself but to just stop completely supporting a product line is not cool.

To be honest, I'm happy not to update my Mac (which always causes issues anyway).

Good luck all.

[Jason Archibald]

I too want to say that I am extremely disappointed that the VI series is being discontinued. It is so much more versatile than the alternatives... and maybe that is VSL's own fault for making such a great product, and adding to it the MIR3D which is amazing.

If VSL has no confidence in its ability to demonstrate the value of the VI series... put the updates to kickstarter... I'm sure current users will continue to pay for the updates ...

Truly, if you imagine what the new synchron solo violin would sound like if it was recorded on the silent stage for VI series! It would be incredible! I think it's such a mistake to think that new libraries couldn't be effectively made for this ...