The sad end of VI - and the horrible way it is done!

[fridh]

I own quite a lot of Vienna Libraries

and I am especially fond of the VI woodwinds; the warm clarinet, the woody bassoon, the nasal oboe, the breathy flute - they all capture the essence of their instruments.

(I own two Spitfire Symphony Orchestras, but the Vienna woodwinds and the VI harps are still my go-to-instruments.)

Now I am informed that I can buy VI instruments for 50% off, but I cannot anticipate functionality after 2025.

And the Synchron upgrade prices are ridiculously high. And does not match VI libraries, so You can't just choose one of Your VI libraries and click on upgrade.

Besides, I actually prefer the VI to the Synchron! Never liked the Synchron. Love the articulations and the matrix of VI.

This is NOT a "good deal"... (Well, maybe for VSL, but not for us, the customers, and I have been a customer since 2009.)

My investment is no longer safe. I feel cheated...!

Please, fix it somehow!

Best regards / Jonas Fridh, Gothenburg, Sweden

[Andreas8420]

Hi @fridh! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

@fridh said:
My investment is no longer safe. I feel cheated...!

While we understand that the Synchron world is not everyone's cup of tea - and that is perfectly fine - we are committed to offering compatibility updates AT LEAST until the end of 2025. Also, we will NOT deprive anyone of the possibility of downloading and installing your software and samples on any compatible system you own. As for future OS versions of Windows and macOS, we can not look into the future, and neither can our customers. That is true... But if you exercise caution when it comes to future OS updates (e.g., installing on a test partition), nobody will be caught off-guard.

Best, Andreas

[vokars]

I really don't understand why this happening. If someone wants to buy a product that already exists why not let them? Mixing different libraries is always a challenge. So for sure there are many people who need additional instruments when they already have several from the VI series and don't want to mix them with other libraries even if the synchronized series has the same sample base. And what about the libs that don't exist in the synchronized series? Orchestral, ... And upgade to synchronized series difficult because the packages are different. Have to buy solo violin2 too when upgrading solo strings without need.

And it can't be too difficult to make sure the instruments pro player works with the latest OS. At least for windows.

[vokars]

Another note. Customers always become dissatisfied when they have to buy something that they don't actually need except for the reason that what they already have continues to work.

[saxmand]

I must say I share you frustration @fridh. It's quite discouraging having invested beyond 10k in the VI series, and not knowing if it will stop working in 5 years. And sure we can crossgrade to the synchronized version, but I also don't feel it's on the expensive end of the scope, when you've already spend so much money on the samples already.
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 😞

[soter75]

In my opinion, Vienna Instrument Pro (for VI samples) is the best sampler for professional orchestration to date. It would be a shame if it were no longer usable with new hardware or software. My personal opinion. I have invested thousands of Euros in this instrument and continue to use it every day, despite new hyped more recent libraries with ultra-realistic legato and environments, etc.

Best regards

Salvatore Pugliese

[michael diemer]

Just wanted to add my support to the VI Player side of the argument. A real shame this is happening. I have a couple Synchronized libraries, Sp. Edition 1 and Appasionata Strings. I use the original version for SP1, and use the default settings for App. Strings, so I can add my own reverb and panning, to blend with my other libraries.

Synchron is great if you use only Synchron libraries. But most probably mix sounds, and need the default, dry sounds. I just don't understand why the best company in the history of sampled libraries would do this. Why not both? Choice is good. One Size Fits All - not good.

[Andreas8420]

@michael diemer

Hi Michael, The SYNCHRON-ized products all come with unprocessed presets (= default, dry sound). Adding your own reverb and panning to blend with your other libraries is possible at any time.

Have a good Weekend!

[Michael C.]

@fridh said:

I own quite a lot of Vienna Libraries

and I am especially fond of the VI woodwinds; the warm clarinet, the woody bassoon, the nasal oboe, the breathy flute - they all capture the essence of their instruments.

(I own two Spitfire Symphony Orchestras, but the Vienna woodwinds and the VI harps are still my go-to-instruments.)

Now I am informed that I can buy VI instruments for 50% off, but I cannot anticipate functionality after 2025.

And the Synchron upgrade prices are ridiculously high. And does not match VI libraries, so You can't just choose one of Your VI libraries and click on upgrade.

Besides, I actually prefer the VI to the Synchron! Never liked the Synchron. Love the articulations and the matrix of VI.

This is NOT a "good deal"... (Well, maybe for VSL, but not for us, the customers, and I have been a customer since 2009.)

My investment is no longer safe. I feel cheated...!

Please, fix it somehow!

Best regards / Jonas Fridh, Gothenburg, Sweden

I agree. I love the VI instruments, for the most part, and I am not all that into what I have explored in Synchron instruments. It's a strange thing for a company to do to the customers who have spent tens of thousands dollars and whose loyalty helped to make VSL the leader in orchestral samples. That loyalty should be a two-way street.

Michael

[uwemeinz]

A question to VSL. Are there any plans to share the source code of the VI player after the support ends (end of 2025)? That might help to fix any compatibility issues in upcoming years users who want to keep using the VI Series.

[Ben]

@uwemeinz said:

A question to VSL. Are there any plans to share the source code of the VI player after the support ends (end of 2025)? That might help to fix any compatibility issues in upcoming years users who want to keep using the VI Series.

No. This is also not possible due to 3rd party code and component licensing, as well as patents and our own undisclosed algorithms.

[gs.schwarz]

@Andreas8420 said:

@michael diemer

Hi Michael, The SYNCHRON-ized products all come with unprocessed presets (= default, dry sound). Adding your own reverb and panning to blend with your other libraries is possible at any time.

Have a good Weekend!

Unfortunately some unprocessed sounds of the synchronized libraries differ from the original VI sounds. As I had to recognize, the Synchronized Dimension Strings unprocessed sound tight mono and one-dimensional in comparison to the original VI. It seems that the pannings/spreadings of the individual instruments which make a lush and vivid sound are all set to tight mid/mono when "unprocessed". Am I right? At least I am not able to make the synchronized version sound similar to the orgiginal VI. It's a mess.

[Ben]

@gs-schwarz said:
Synchronized Dimension Strings unprocessed sound tight mono and one-dimensional in comparison to the original VI

That's an interesting observation, especially since the Dimension libraries (VI and Studio) only contain mono mics/samples. It was recorded in mono. And it is absolutely possible to make the Studio Dimension Libraries sound like the VI counterpart, I've done it myself in past.

[gs.schwarz]

@Ben said:

@gs-schwarz said:
Synchronized Dimension Strings unprocessed sound tight mono and one-dimensional in comparison to the original VI

That's an interesting observation, especially since the Dimension libraries (VI and Studio) only contain mono mics/samples. It was recorded in mono. And it is absolutely possible to make the Studio Dimension Libraries sound like the VI counterpart, I've done it myself in past.

How did you do that? Do I have to do all the panning of the individual recordings/voices in the Studio Dimension Library manually? Will be some work. Why wasn't it done by the VSL-team?

[Mansardian]

I know this is a rather old thread but I would like to share my thoughts, too.

First, I agree with all peers here that it is a true shame VSL abandoned the VI sampler.

However: I understand the decision from VSL's perspective. Yet, in my opinion, it was poorly executed. Let me tell you why, I hope (even though it may be futile) to inspire future considerations regarding synchron player updates. Perhaps I will end up using Synchron, which refuse atm, even though I bought libraries for it 😉

I met Herb Tucmandl in 2008 in Ebreichsdorf, where the original "Silent Stage" was located, to interview him for my diploma, My topic was "microphone techniques for recording strings" At that time, there was no other company that could reach VSL's level of sampling quality (I still think that's true in 2025. Right now I am composing a piece of film music and the sound of the old VI-libraries, running through a high end reverb is just phenomenal.

Together with the samples themselves, the VI-sampler was unbeatable. On one page you could find every option to tweak the samples, stack samples, blend samples, in a way you could have ver dreamt of. On the second page you had that sequencer where you could trigger different cells and create ready-to-use phrases without the need of using keyswitches (I don't like them). That is what made the VI (Pro) sampler so special, without wasting screen space.

I get it, the trend says give'em multiple mics. They are all doing it. (in fact, that is the only reason I can see to create a new sampler.) However, the truth, even though a possibly unpopular one, is that most composers are distracted by the possibilities you give them, implying they would have to use the possibilities just because they are THERE. Make it sound good out of the box, and let the composer focus on creating music! That is what the VI-Sampler and the VI-libraries were focused on, as processing power wasn't available at the same level as it is today. (That is why Vienna Ensemble was invented.) The libraries, in combination with the MIRx-extensions, delivered perfectly.

Now, how would it have been possible to keep all the functionality of VI Pro while adding the option to tweak the mic mix? Oh dear, sooo easy. You have that mixer in VI-Pro, one channel for each slot, do you remember? And what could have been easier than creating a mulitple mic library from which the user could then drag the needed mic samples into another slot? Just imagine the creative possibilities you would have by doing it that way! Not only could you add dry, AB and Decca, you could also mix the dry samples from a Celesta and mix it with the AB samples from a harp...

All it took was to create additional mic libraries, and perhaps to code in an output selection to the mixer, overhaul the GUI to give it a modern look, done. The synchron player, to be honest, is a step down.