VSL (Vienna Symphonic Library) Vienna Suite

The previous opinion of Pat One sums up my opinion on this bundle.

Installation is very simple, with the download of the license on a vienna key or key eLicenser Steinberg.

(I put 8 because of this key to use ...)

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

My PC is 3 years old now (Intel Core 2 Quadcoeurs proc, 4GB Ram, Sound Card RME Fireface 400) and the bundle purchased 1 year ago has always turned out well, no worries (all plugs are arranged in 32-bit and 64 bits).

Consumes little CPU overall.
Easy to use, with relatively few settings, but the settings effective.
Many interesting presets (equations for all orchestral instruments in particular).
Above all, the sound is not distorted, the plugs are very transparent.

In this case I save a lot of acoustic music (jazz, improvised music) and they suit me perfectly for this.

Now if you want to do the trip-hop, hip-hop, dub etc ... it will not necessarily mind (and even why not, if the sources are initially grimey ...)

OVERALL OPINION

So I do it again this choice today.
Following plugs very consistent. Good quality / price ratio.
Nice interface ...

Yes, Vista 64, it went on like velvet. The fact that these plug-ins are written for 64-bit make them start quickly when they are seeking. No conflict or with Sonar, Soundforge or with my two basic tools in Vista 64.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I use a Dual Core 4 latest (as of today), and so on Vista 64 with 4GB of Ram recognized. My motherboard is an Intel chipset and the same. It is perfectly stable

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for a few days. The pros: they are very effective and the setting is very simple although I would have liked a paper with instructions ... pdf rather than those that are a pain to read. I regret, however, a sputtering when changing playing settings. It's been longer than other plug-ins do not have this problem. Otherwise, it is also regrettable that the "suite" lacks a bit of consistency (why two equalizers? Why not continuous on the analyzer and the Peak Hold?). In fact, the real problem is rather with the gift (Librairei Durme Jazz) is a gift stocking. It takes days to download the banks and in the end, here Bugge. I was angry with support for VSL here that just thank me for my not offer me the e.mail moidre solution (send me the DVD burned at a cost, for example). Everything is possible ... But the subject is not there and in regard to the Vienna now, I recommend lea (Izotope suremetn is fine too but I hate those green windows and feel of the interface is more intuitive ... Vieann !)

Trouble free installation. Everything is nickel.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I7920 PC and Cubase 5.

These plug ins are very simple to use and learn, very stable and consumes little CPU. Except for the convolution reverb a bit greedy.

VSL is updates quite regularly (every 3-6 months).

OVERALL OPINION

This bundle of plug ins is excellent. I was looking for a bundle to cover basic needs in the mix. And after weighing the pros and cons I took these plugs and I do not regret it.

The main attributes of these plug ins are their interface, ease of use, low CPU consumption. This bundle is very versatile and covers a lot of aspects of the mixer EQ, dynamics processors, reverb, pan, and stir spectrum analyzer (very beautiful).

At the sound is excellent but it is rather on plugs that claim to transparent, so the plugs do not color the sound, it can be a quality or a defect. But in terms of its strictly speaking they are among the best plug ins on the market. Some people may find too neutral or lacking in character. You can use these plugins in all areas, they are not plug-ins dedicated to composers of soundtrack or those who mix classical music or jazz, but their transparency actually plugs that excel in these genres.

Another highlight is the hundreds of presets that come with these plugs, although these presets have been optimized for bookstores VSL, these are good starting points for other orchestra libraries.

In conclusion, I already thought of parting with this bundle because I do not mix especially classical or symphonic music and sometimes I want a little more color, but there is nothing to do it is so versatile and plugs are so damn good that I know that I miss things if I parted. However I do not use this result only for work, I have a few plugs from UAD, Waves, Nebula when I need to color the sound a bit.

I use all the plugs, the only one I use least is the multiband compressor, although it is well made. For the rest, I use it all the time.

So if you're looking transparent effects in the style or Sonnox Izotope, Vienna Suite is an excellent alternative to standard sound quality and has significant assets in terms of versatility, ergonomics, CPU and value for money . If you are looking for models of analog gear you had better turn to UAD, Softube or the latest bundle from Waves. But this kind of bundle will be less versatile and so much more it will cost only 400 €.

The only small problem I would see is that there is no gate, and the version VST3 dynamic processors does not include the external sidechain Cubase / Nuendo, while all VST3 compressors are supposed to have this feature.