“For users needing the most different articulations, VSL Solo Strings I (Full Library) remains the default recommendation eight years after its initial release and has definitely been helped by the many updates to the Vienna Instruments player during that time. It’s got a massive amount of content, is organized clearly and the player makes it very quick to change the way you work articulations [...]. VSL Solo Strings I remains the standard by which other solo strings are judged. It doesn’t do everything, but it sure gets closer than anything else I’ve tried. [...] in my own experience, VSL has done the most consistent quality control of their libraries of any company I’ve purchased from. [...] Basically, if I buy a VSL library, I don’t worry about being surprised – I tend to know exactly what I’m getting in terms of quality, consistency and ease of use because they’ve been hitting their targets regularly for so many years.”
Per Lichtman, SoundBytesMag, September 2014
soundbytesmag.net/vslsolostringsifull/
“[…] its completeness in terms of provided articulations is the one thing that really makes VSL Solo Strings a mandatory part of your template.”
“There plain and simple is nothing out there that can compete with VSL Solo Strings in terms of sheer completeness.”
“The fact that the library sounds great, is reasonably easy to use […] and is light enough on resources to comfortably fit into almost any technical environment, only confirms its place as a serious library to consider when looking for solo strings samples.”
www.scorecastonline.com/2012/03/21/review-vsl-solo-strings/
Tobias Escher, SCOREcast, March 2012
Future Music Platinum Award
Vienna Instruments win comparative string test
Regarded as the most complete orchestral solution on offer, Vienna Symphonic Library offers such a wide range of instruments, your jaw will go slack. [...] If you perform a phrase with a Vienna Instrument, your performance is ‘assessed’ and appropriate programs are loaded automatically to play it back. Bends, portamento sweeps, falls... you name it, VSL will find it, load it, and play it. Awesome. [...] the closest thing to having a string orchestra at your beck and call.
Future Music, # 179 – 09/06
Nie war eine Orchester-Library so gut wie der aktuelle Symphonic Cube, nie gab es so viele, qualitativ höchstwertige Samples in Verbindung mit einem intelligent gemachten Sampleplayer. Gerade letzterer stellt nicht nur für alle Computer-Orchestratoren einen großen Sprung nach vorne dar, sondern er festigt auch die Positionierung von VSL als Speerspitze technischer Innovation gepaart mit orchestraler Authentizität gegenüber der Konkurrenz. [...] Der Symphonic Cube hat für sich selbst und für alle anderen Libraries die Messlatte ein gutes Stück höher gelegt.
Martin Gerke, Sound & Recording, März 2007
I'd just like to take a moment to say how happy I am at how all my VSL VI stuff has been working. I've got it installed over six machines, Mac and PC, and to date there have been no hassles. (...) It's great that the largest, most extensively installed collection of software I own is also the simplest to install and maintain. Keep it up!
Lee Blaske in Vienna’s user forum, June 2007
Vienna Instruments is groundbreaking, that’s for sure. Limited space prevents me from describing the sounds in much detail; suffice it to say that without exception they are extremely good. Symphonic Cube is remarkably complete, furnishing practically every articulation and orchestral instrument you could ever want – hats off to Vienna Symphonic Library for such a monumental achievement.
Geary Yelton, Electronic Musician, February 2007
I've had the solo strings for a couple of weeks and found the VI software an absolute joy and it's wonderfull not to have to use Gigastudio. I host mine in V-stack on a single PC and send the midi via Sibelius software. I haven't learnt half of it yet but it's looks like it will be possible to use all the VI functionality with Sibelius. [...] The VSL sound is the best overall bar none IMHO.
[...] Exciting times (but expensive times) ahead.
Dave (Tubaking) Carter
VSL poursuit son œuvre de titan, dont les Vienna Instruments marquent une étape décisive. Pour l’utilisateur d’orchestre symphonique virtuel que la barrière financiére et le temps d’apprentissage ne rebutent pas, le Symphonic Cube n’a, à ce jour, aucun challenger. Un plaisir rare.
[...] Comme on le sait, la qualité sonore est un des atouts majeurs de VSL. Pour chacun des 10 VI, les nouvelles articulations ne dément pas cette réputation! [...] Pensés par des musiciens pour des musiciens, les VI se positionnent toujours comme la « Rolls » des orchestres virtuels. Régulièrement la banque évolue en tenant compte de ses utilisateurs, tan d’un point de vue musical que financier.
Pierre Esteve, Keyboards Recording, Septembre 2006
Es ist schon unglaublich, wie VSL es geschafft hat, eine Bedienoberfläche auf die Beine zu stellen, welche im Grunde die Quadratur des Kreises vollführt: eine unfassbare Fülle von Möglichkeiten UND ergonomische Simplizität. Ein weiteres kleines Wunder ist die Velocity-X-Fade-Funktion, welche beliebige Multi-Layer-Patches (also mit mehreren gesampelten Dynamikstufen) mit einem Klick in Multi-Layer Crossfade-Patches verwandelt. Maximale Rauschfreiheit, große Dynamik, gute Balance, klangliche Konsistenz und ein perfektes Mapping sind nur einige Stichworte zu einem nahezu konkurrenzlosen Sample-Pool und dessen professioneller Aufbereitung in 24 Bit/44,1 kHz. Die Sample-Engine toppt mit einer Fülle von innovativen Konzepten selbst die geheimsten Wünsche ausgefuchster Power-User. Die Messlatte für Orchester-Samples hat VSL jedenfalls mal wieder ganz hoch gehängt. Um diese zu toppen, nützen der Konkurrenz weder Geld noch gute Ideen, hier hilft nur eins: noch ein Wunder. Oder besser gleich zwei.
Roman Beilharz, PC & Musik, Aug./Sept. 2006
It’s fair to say that Vienna Instruments are pushing the boundaries of how sampled instruments sound and play. Offering unprecedented control over articulations and expression, VSL’s Vienna Instruments afford professional composers and mockup masters with one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated instruments on the market. The recording quality is uniformly excellent, the performances are consistently superb, and the range of articulations is exhaustively comprehensive.
John Krogh, Keyboard, August 2006
The Vienna Instruments combine full instrumentation with the greatest musical depth of any orchestral sound library. The Vienna Instruments Player has the power to make orchestral samples sound more realistic than ever before, and its highly flexible switching system reduces the strain of setting up arrangements.
Dave Stewart, Sound on Sound, July 2006
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that you’re actually playing what you hear – the transitions are that smooth. Nothing else can do that. [The player’s] interface is very clear, and it takes no time to learn your way around it. I was able to load 1.745 GB of samples into the 2GB installed on the Windows machine, which is absolutely phenomenal – over half a gig more than anything else has ever loaded on that computer. Still subjectively, VSL’s greatest strength – apart from the subtlety of expression you’re able to achieve with such a vast selection of articulations – is somewhat intangible: the notes all have a meaning. This especially true for the short woodwinds; rather than just going “toot”, their possibilities are immediately obvious. All the major software samplers have improved by leaps and bounds in many important areas, but they haven’t necessarily focused their efforts on making the wonderful new libraries they spawned easy to manage. The Vienna Instruments player sets new standards in that category, and also in its memory access performance. That, combined with the incredible breadth of the library itself, allows you to do some things nothing else can do.
Nick Batzdorf, Virtual Instruments Magazine June/July 2006
I simply couldn’t believe that a handful of people beavering away had come up with such a slick user interface that even a software dunce such as myself hardly needed to glance at the manual. In a nutshell, Vienna Instruments take VSL’s trademark crisp sound to a new level. Rarely have I encountered such a complex, powerful tool that’s so instantly accessible, transparent and quick to use. For once, an instrument interface feels like something that wasn’t designed by a committee, but by a group of like-minded musicians and composers who understand what we want.
VI Second Opinions – Hilgrove Kenrick, Sound on Sound, July 2006
Vienna Instruments has revolutionized my approach to orchestral demos. We've bought 8 computers exclusively to host VI so that we can fully exploit each collection. In conjunction with a Lemur control surface, I can now create demos with a level of expression and detail that was simply impossible with my previous set-up. There are no creative stumbling blocks when all articulations and techniques are immediately available. The Vienna Instrument library is wonderfully balanced and has been programmed with great musicality and an understanding of the needs of the modern composer. VI is un-matched in power, fluidity and flexibility; I look forward to using it as my principal compositional tool for many years to come.
Ed Shearmur (Miss Congeniality, Johhny English, Charlie's Angels etc.)
Just finished a hour long film using primarily your library (Symphonic Cube) and I must say given that I only had eight days to write 35 minutes of music - I don't think I could have completed this task on time without the new VI. Setting controllers to handle everything from breath, expression, vel xfade, release, etc really has been terrific. Thanks for such a wonderful product.
Rob Elliott in Vienna’s user forum, August 2006
I know I've said it before but thank you VSL for the careers you enabling us to go after!
Rob Pottorf in Vienna’s user forum, June 2006
Marvellous, marvellous software & library, changed my life.
Ray Harman in Vienna’s user forum, May 2006
There's nothing like VI out there - not even close.
Dave Connor in Vienna’s user forum, May 2006
This is the future of sample playback. All other samplers seem primitive now and I've only had this one day!
Kudos to VSL for this instrument. It's a whole new animal. And it's playing very nice in a Mac environment using the latest updates. I didn't even have to run the Directory Manager as it already knew where the samples were.
So far...2 thumbs up on this!
Jamie Haggerty in the v.i. control forum
I really can´t say enough good things about Vienna Instruments. [...] It´s very enjoyable. Just with the Violins and Violas, you can sit for hours going through the Patches and hearing the amazing tonal palette at your disposal. That’s a good thing! [...] There´s so much within the Vienna Instrument itself, it´s hard not to foam at the mouth. [...] This is a career library. You can create custom programs in a few minutes without having to acquire a degree in engineering.
Peter Alexander, www.soniccontrol.tv
www.soniccontrol.tv/
I certainly haven't heard any other string patches that can compare with these, so thanks again, and I am looking forward to playing with them.
DG, in Vienna’s user forum, May 2006
Firma: Vienna Symphonic Library