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I'm investing in one or the other and have been looking around here for recommendations, but haven't found a clear winner.Here's what I want:Very authentic-sounding instruments that don't take a lot of tweaking for film/tv in multiple genres. I'd like it to work with my current setup without building a new computer. I have an Intel 6600 quad processor PC with 2 gig of RAM, Vista 32-bit, HD for system, HD for recording, Sonar 7, and a separate eSATA HD for virtual instruments.Here's what I (think I) know:Vienna's player is amazing and Gold needs KontaktVienna has all the stuff between notes to help create realistic performances and realistic legato note movement. Does Gold?Vienna is more versatile and better for traditional classical music, but it takes a good bit more work to make it sound "Hollywood". True?Vienna SE costs more for the full setup, but is it justifiable because of superior sound quality and ease of use? Actually, if I need Kontakt for Gold and not for Vienna, and if Vienna really has a great piano sound (Bösendorfer Imperial Grand Piano), and I don't need to buy Ivory, I would be ahead financially.Another Observation: It seems like more people here use Gold than Vienna SE. Is that because it does the job better, or is Vienna SE just newer, or don't Vienna SE folks like to talk about it?BTW-Gold XP bundle is now $445 and Platinum XP bundle is $895. That raises another question--What about platinum?Thanks

Hey Rayzer -I have to say that I bought Gold because of how much less expensive it is than Vienna. Truthfully, I never tried Vienna directly against EastWest. Somebody out here must have it. Anybody???I eventually bought the XP for Gold too. I'm really happy. I do a ton of music for tv and it works great. There was a learning curve - I had my first few tunes rejected and the critiques said the strings were synthy sounding. I was like "WHAT?? - this is EastWest, how could that happen?? The screeners must s*ck"!! HA!! But truthfully, I had some learning to do - how to make it sound realistic, how to think and play like orchestral players think and phrase. After that though, it's been great - I get placements of my orch stuff on tv now!If you do go with EastWest, I doubt you'd need Platinum right now. Gold will probably be enough until you're scoring feature films - upgrade then. My feeling is, if I ever make it to that level, I'll seriously look at Vienna -vs- Platinum EastWest. For now - it sounds really good, it was less expensive and I'm making money. If you want to hear a few samples of what I've been able to do with EastWest check this link out - it will require broadband. 2 of my 5 samples on his page are orchestral:http://www.chrisballonline.com/production-musicOne caveat - I never use EastWest's piano - I have a Motif which has a decent piano. Someday Ivory, but for now I'll just use the Motif. If you need a good piano too, maybe Vienna is the answer.best of luck!!cb

Quote:... I occasionally turn off the release trails when I want a drier studio sound, adding a little room reverb. It is not a great solution, but works good enough.That is a great idea! I have to try that. I've been trying to tweak them, but I've never tried turning them off altogether. Hmmmm.... Thanks Michael!cb

Quote:Here's what I want:Very authentic-sounding instruments that don't take a lot of tweaking for film/tv in multiple genres. If you want it authentic, you're not gonna get a round a significant amount of tweaking. The Vienna Player is better, so you'll probably get a more authentic sounding performance with less tweaking, but you'll have to do more tweaking to get it to sound "nice".Quote:I'd like it to work with my current setup without building a new computer. I have an Intel 6600 quad processor PC with 2 gig of RAM, Vista 32-bit, HD for system, HD for recording, Sonar 7, and a separate eSATA HD for virtual instruments.Your computer is powerful, you shouldn't have any problems.Quote:Vienna's player is amazing and Gold needs Kontakt. The Vienna player is FAR better than the Gold player (Kompakt). Even if you get Kontakt, the Vienna Player is better since Gold doesn't have any advanced programming for Kontakt. Once Gold is upgraded to use the Play engine this may all change. On the other hand, Kontakt is an excellent sampler and a lot of great sounds are available for it, such as the fantastic Sampletekk pianos which are on sale right now, Bela D's Anthology World Winds etc etc Plus it comes with a pretty decent sound library in it's own right.I don't think you'd regret buying Kontakt.Quote:Vienna has all the stuff between notes to help create realistic performances and realistic legato note movement. Does Gold?No, no "true legato" samples in Gold. It does have round robin repetition samples though, and a simulated legato called Qlegato which can work quite well. If you get contact you could also try scripted legato via freely available scripts. But...these are not the real mc coy.Quote:Vienna is more versatile and better for traditional classical music, but it takes a good bit more work to make it sound "Hollywood". True?Vienna is essentially dry. You'll need a good convolution reverb with quality impulses to get close to the sound that Gold provides out of the box. On the other hand, since it's dry, it's more flexible if you need a sound that's different from the "Hollywood/Film/TV Sound" (such as dry disco strings or a small chamber ensemble). But if you play Vienna "out of the box" you'll be disappointed by the sound. It was designed to be treated with your favorite room/hall/stage sound.Quote:Vienna SE costs more for the full setup, but is it justifiable because of superior sound quality and ease of use? I don't think Vienna has superior sound quality. It's a different sound. Out of the box Gold sounds far superior to Vienna IMHO. Also, keep in mind that the Vienna "Special Edition" is a cut down version of the main Vienna symphonic library with far fewer articulations. Gold on the other hand has the same articulations as Platinum, just 1 instead of 3 mic positions and it's 16 bit vs 24. So Gold will provide you with more articulations than Vienna SE.I think ease of use will be better with the Vienna Player, but as said above you'll need to work to get the sound to be nice and lush.Quote:Actually, if I need Kontakt for Gold and not for Vienna, and if Vienna really has a great piano sound (Bösendorfer Imperial Grand Piano), and I don't need to buy Ivory, I would be ahead financially.I'm sure the Boesendorfer included in the SE is not the full version they sell separately. Either way it's not a versatile enough sound to replace something like Ivory. On the other hand, if you get Kontakt, you won't need Ivory, you could instead get some Sampletekk pianos.Quote:Another Observation: It seems like more people here use Gold than Vienna SE. Is that because it does the job better, or is Vienna SE just newer, or don't Vienna SE folks like to talk about it?SE is really new. Before that VSL had Opus one, but that didn't come with it's own player. EW has had some pretty aggressive marketing with group buys, which made Gold considerably more affordable than anything that Vienna had to offer, until now with SE. So yeah, definitely more Gold users here than SE.Neither does the job better...YOU have to do the job yourself .They are different packages with a different philosophy behind them. it's a tough decision, however it's somewhat mitigated by this simple fact: if you buy either of these packages and can't produce broadcast with them...it won't be the library's fault... Quote: BTW-Gold XP bundle is now $445 and Platinum XP bundle is $895. That raises another question--What about platinum?Plat will give you more versatility dues to the additional mic positions. If you think you need that, you could consider Plat.Finally, if you're in the market for either of these two, you should take a look at Kirk Hunter Ruby as well, that's another viable option.HTH,matto

Michael, Chris and Matto, Thanks for being the voices of wisdom and experience. I’ll probably need more of that after installing my new software. That’s why I decided to go for the Gold bundle and not blaze a new trail by myself right next to the Gold train so many here are riding.Chris, thanks for the samples of your excellent work and proving that you can make money with Gold. BTW, I love your sig. It kinda makes you wonder, doesn’t it?Matto, thank you for such a thorough post. You are truly an ‘Ultimate Member.’ I’m sold on Kontakt and the Sampletekk pianos sound great. How does the Kontakt crossgrade thing work? I noticed that a registered version of Gold would qualify me for the crossgrade price, but then would I have to stop using Gold?I looked at Ruby and the string sounds are really nice, but, like Vienna SE, I wouldn’t have as much help from everyone here.This is probably off-topic for this thread, but I’ll quickly ask--What are the basics for tweaking Gold sounds? I assume it includes adjusting volume during notes to create authentic phrasing. What else? Can you point me to another thread or tutorial to help get me started?Quote:They are different packages with a different philosophy behind them. it's a tough decision, however it's somewhat mitigated by this simple fact: if you buy either of these packages and can't produce broadcast with them...it won't be the library's fault... I’m willing to put in the work and I promise I won’t blame Gold.Thanks,Rayzer

One thing I found out about the Legato scripts for Kontakt: They don't work well with the EW libraries because of the release trails (which is the thing that sold me on EW in the first place, they contribute greatly to the big sound). I'll put in a plug for Platinum here: I've used all 3 mic positions together rarely but do load close and surround mics for certain instruments at times to give a little more presence to a particular part. For simulating a smaller ensemble, the close mics work well by themselves. For a nice, dreamy harp, the surround mic version is awesome. Right now Platinum is selling for almost a third of what I paid for it!! One of the first pieces I finished with it I shared with one of our colleagues here on the forum and he said "how did you get that sound?" and I attribute that partially to the 24bit samples (hopefully my orchestration was partially responsible too!).Good luck,Mazz

Mazz,Thanks for your input. What hardware setup are you using for Platinum and how taxing is it on your system?

I run my strings on my Mac using Kontakt inside Digital Performer. I run everything else on a PC (Kontakt standalone) sending MIDI from the Mac and receiving 24 ADAT (audio, 12 stereo pairs) channels back to the Mac from the PC. I don't run mic positions simultaneously (unless it's a small session), I use the F mics (same as Gold) for my composing and add mic positions later as necessary. I have a large template set up on the Mac and PC and I have three versions of it, one for each mic position. When I do use the other mic positions, I load up the appropriate template and record audio tracks (I always track as audio prior to mixing). I don't need seperate MIDI tracks because the templates are identical (and the mic positions are phase accurate). It took a lot of time to set up but it sure saves a lot of time now!If I was to run all mic positions simultaneously, I'd probably need 4 computers although things will be changing when they come out with Play (not holding my breath but hopefully soon). Also, I run a G5 Mac (dual 2.7, 5G RAM) and a Pentium 4 PC (3.2Ghz, 2G RAM, XP), both machines are around 3 years old and occasionally hiccup but not very often. If I need more CPU, I record audio and turn off VIs and that usually works. If I get that far, I've probably written too many notes anyway!! LOL!Good luck,MazzPS: Platinum just went down to 895!!!!!!!!!! That's a third of what I paid!!!!!

Thanks Mazz,Between your last post, Matto saying I could consider it, and listening to the audio demos on Soundsonline again, I've decided to order Platinum. The bar keeps getting raised, so I want to make sure I jump high enough. I'll install more RAM and hopefully that'll be enough.I'm planning to place my order this weekend, so now is the time for anyone to speak out if it's not realistic to run everything on one computer (hardware stats up above).

You'll be able to run one mic position at a time and a fairly reasonable collection of articulations but not every articulation. This wouldn't be possible even with Gold. You'll do your orchestration and then record to audio and switch mic positions. Apparently with Play coming up that will be easier.You might want to find out if the Kontakt player that ships with the EW libraries is compatible with Vista, otherwise you might have to budget Kontakt in to the equation. I'm not very PC literate so I don't know the state of things on that side of the fence. I'm assuming that Sonar will host the player. I would consider Kontakt as it is more memory effiecent than the players are and you can have 16 MIDI channels per instance instead of 8 with the Kontakt player.There's always a little bump in the road, it seems! Enjoy,MazzBTW: The piano in the EWQLSO is not intended to be a featured instrument. It works well as an orchestral texture, which, I believe, was the reason for including it.