EastWest subscription

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by roboman01

The couple of instruments I have from Vienna are full length of the keyboard not just two or three keys. This is the only downfall so far of EW but I am still downloading their stuff as I write.

Well it depends if that is because they include a lot of the articulations on all the keys. But if for an example, you got a viola that goes through all your keyboard keys (assuming 61 to 88 keys there) then that is going over the actual playing abilities of a real viola. Some instruments have a greater playing range, and some (like bells) have a very short playing abilities where you can only do so much with them in an orchestral playing ability, which is what most of the EW were made for.

[cmbourget]

Info on Vienna


The Next Generation of Orchestral Brillance

Vienna Instruments PRO will improve your workflow dramatically. Our proprietary sample player software comes with a host of outstanding innovations that will not only make your creative process faster and easier, but also add human behavior to your music. Customize all presets and articulations to your preferred way of creating music, stack multiple instruments in a single instance of Vienna Instruments PRO, play them with polyphonic legato, and breathe even more life into the samples by controlling the performance accuracy of your virtual musicians in real-time, at the touch of a single fader.
Super fast loading-times, auto humanization, polyphonic legato, enveloped time stretching, adjustable tuning scales, built-in reverb and EQ, and a straight user interface with basic and advanced views – among so many other cool features – come together to create a powerhouse of orchestral production that will add life to your music in ways you never imagined.
Watch the video tutorials to see and hear what Vienna Instruments PRO has in store for you!
While the current Vienna Instruments Player is still available as free software when purchasing any Vienna Symphonic Library product, the optional Vienna Instruments PRO with a wealth of additional features loads all of your existing and future Vienna Instruments sample collections.*

Features

• Sample player software with intelligent Performance Detection for all Vienna Instruments.*
• Human Performance Control for adjusting the timing and intonation of your virtual musicians. Assign appropriate performance accuracy settings to all of your loaded articulations at once with Auto Humanization
• APP Sequencer – The internal Auto-Playback and Pattern Sequencer offers a vast variety of presets with chord voicings and phrases. Trigger rhythmic patterns, runs and accompanying arrangements of the whole orchestra at the touch of a single key! **
• Enveloped time stretching – Determine which part of an articulation should be manipulated and adjust the speed of a portamento or the attack of a staccato.
• Polyphonic legato when playing chords using Legato Performance Patches
• Slot rack for up to 16 articulations per cell with volume slider and power panning for each patch. Stack your own powerful multi-instruments using auto voicing.
• Auto voicing for stacked multi-instruments.
• Super-fast loading times, even after cold starting. Load progress bar. You can even play the sounds while the sample patches are still loading!
• New GUI design: Basic View for an easy overview. Advanced View displays all of the important parameters in the same window.
• Adjustable tuning scales – Choose from several Arabic and Turkish scales, Chinese Lu, just intonation, equal temperament, Werckmeister, etc., or customize your microtunings by changing specific notes of a scale. You can even switch scales using controllers while you’re playing!
• Time stretching – works great on staccatos, runs, crescendos, etc.
• Built-in reverb (algorithmic for low latency).
• MIRx Reverb Mixing Extensions (sold separately) – Choose from three optional convolution reverb extensions based on our revolutionary MIR (Multi Impulse Response) technology, derived from Vienna MIR PRO and the Vienna MIR RoomPacks!
• Various options for switching articulations, e.g., sequence map and interval map.
• Separate volume control and EQ for each matrix.
• Customize your patches and articulations for your personal work-flow.
• Enabling/Disabling of Cells – Load huge presets with hundreds of articulations in no time, and without taxing your RAM. Specific articulations get loaded only when you “enable” their cells with a simple double-click. Disable cells to clear samples from RAM, while keeping all patch settings intact.
• Auto Cell Naming – Easily identify all loaded articulations by their cell names.
• Browser with search function.
• Keyboard display with 128 keys, showing all key switches, with adjustable volume zones and instrument ranges for stacked instruments.
• Extended Instrument Ranges – Extend the range of each articulation up to two whole tones (both in the high and low register) by simply grabbing the handles on the virtual keyboard.
• Free Remote App for Apple iOS and Android Tablet PCs included – Use your tablet as a convenient external real-time MIDI controller for Articulation switches, Velocity Crossfade, Expression, Tuning Master Volume, etc.
• SSD ready – Load 10 times more samples into your RAM, 10 times faster, by reducing the sample preload buffer size when using Solid State Drives!
• 3 licenses included for running the software on up to 3 computers at the same time.
• AU/VST/VST3/AAX Native/RTAS plug-in or stand-alone.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Wall2Wall

Years ago I was one of the biggest EW fans....then came the awful PLAY transition. Caused myself and every other colleague of mine to find alternatives quickly. None of us have even given EW a peek since.

I bought into the Play engine stuff and for the most part I wonder why I did that. I find the engine less sophisticated than the Kontakt version. No output routing capabilities like in K5 either.

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

Same here. EWQLSO got a lot of use even in its early days, but things have changed quite a lot since then. And the company is just atrocious. Oh the stories I've heard (and read)...

You want stories - where do I begin?
For the longest time Doug said he'd never go iLok for authorization. Guess what - he did and until this last change in the Play engine they messed directly with your iLok. And the latest Play engine has it's own new problems.

Here's another. EWQLSO came out in a basic version, especially if you had the Gold version. Then it was announced there would be a new version called EWQLSO Pro Gold (if you had the Gold library but the Silver & Platinum libs also got the 'Pro' treatment). They started taking pre-orders and charged your credit card in advance of product shipment. 6 months go by and nothing for anyone. Doug says on the forum to be patient. 12 months go by and still nothing and it gets really heated on the forums. Finally it gets bad enough that we're given options. The first is we can cancel out and get our money back but then we lose our place in line. The second is we can purchase another library at half price and keep our place in line. I went with the latter and got Stormdrum. Finally after almost 18 months the Pro Gold update is released. I dared to question Doug about this on the forum and got blocked from posting on the forum. In some cases people had $4000 US that was charged to their credit card that was sitting in EW's coffers earning them interest.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I bought into the Play engine stuff and for the most part I wonder why I did that. I find the engine less sophisticated than the Kontakt version. No output routing capabilities like in K5 either.
.

What do you mean no routing capabilities? You can have multiple parts in one instance of Play each responding to a separate MIDI channel and then route the audio for each part to a separate audio out to an AUX or AUDIO track in PT for further processing/mixing. I just did it.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

One ongoing problem with EW (one amongst several) is that there isn't a single library in their catalog which isn't trumped by another product. Products often less expensive and almost certainly with better support. So... although I might be able to rent a Dodge Stratus for only $75/month I'd still be driving a Dodge Stratus.

I have to respectfully disagree. Granted there are many great libraries out there that sound different...but "better" is relative in so many ways. Personally I find their RA, Silk and Voices of Passion libraries outstanding and gorgeous sounding. So far, I've had no problems using the Play engine either. EW sounds great, and are easy to use, in my opinion. I just started out with it a month ago when the cloud plan started. I went with the less expensive $29 per month plan starting with just 7 of their libraries and I can add a new one every 3 months. But that is WAY more than I need for what I do. But I found the learning curve fairly simple and I was up and running with it in no time.

I never expect one VI to "have it all", and EW is no different. But for what I wanted and needed it is perfect and I really am quite satisfied. And I know a lot others are too!

I'm sure that VEPro or 8dio and those like them are excellent. In fact, I know they are, because I've explored all of them. But for what I need and want, EW was just the ticket...and the new cloud subscription made entry a snap!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

What do you mean no routing capabilities? You can have multiple parts in one instance of Play each responding to a separate MIDI channel and then route the audio for each part to a separate audio out to an AUX or AUDIO track in PT for further processing/mixing. I just did it.

That's not the kind of routing I was talking about. In Play the routing is not as flexible as it is in Kontakt; you can't have groups of instruments going to the same output and share fx in Play like you can in Kontakt. That and the fx available in Play are limited and that's only if you have the SSL emulations paid for in Play. The mixer in Play is extremely limited. You don't have sends in Play like in Kontakt.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by musicman691

That's not the kind of routing I was talking about. In Play the routing is not as flexible as it is in Kontakt; you can't have groups of instruments going to the same output and share fx in Play like you can in Kontakt. That and the fx available in Play are limited and that's only if you have the SSL emulations paid for in Play. The mixer in Play is extremely limited. You don't have sends in Play like in Kontakt.

I'm still not following you, Jack. I understand that the SSL emulations are a separate feature you can buy. But I don't know what you mean by the routing to the same output? You can certainly route multiple instruments from an instance of Play to one PT AUX or instrument track and add whatever fx you want.

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

I'm still not following you, Jack. I understand that the SSL emulations are a separate feature you can buy. But I don't know what you mean by the routing to the same output? You can certainly route multiple instruments from an instance of Play to one PT AUX or instrument track and add whatever fx you want.

Indeed been doing that for sometime now. That's how I actually do my pianos when I use the EW pianos

Instrument mic I set to output 1&2, Player mics (stage) 3&4, room 5&6 of the play plugin, so I can then process and mix at my leisure in pro tools with all the other instruments.

Other time I have routed all my strings to one output, then separated them by stage and room (again to mix later in pro tools) My brasses to an other set of output etc.

[philip888]

Originally Posted by Eric Lambert

One ongoing problem with EW (one amongst several) is that there isn't a single library in their catalog which isn't trumped by another product. Products often less expensive and almost certainly with better support. So... although I might be able to rent a Dodge Stratus for only $75/month I'd still be driving a Dodge Stratus.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

I'm still not following you, Jack. I understand that the SSL emulations are a separate feature you can buy. But I don't know what you mean by the routing to the same output? You can certainly route multiple instruments from an instance of Play to one PT AUX or instrument track and add whatever fx you want.

I'm talking routing INSIDE the plugin and using the fx that are in Kontakt. Apparently you've not dealt too deep into Kontakt to see what's available in there. For instance Kontakt has a convolution reverb that's very light on the cpu. Sure Play has a reverb but you can't use your own ir's.

Back to my point and that is the Play engine is nowheres near as flexible as Kontakt. Can't fly in your own samples in Play. Third party developers for Play? I don't think there are any.