VSL Free Soft Imperial

HZPiano

Thanks to "Tozen" at PW:

Tozen wrote
Today, VSL has released a free "Soft Imperial" piano for people to download. I'm at work and haven't tried it yet, but it sounds great! I'm pretty impressed that they would offer an instrument of this caliber for free.

Here is a link to the product page: https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Soft_Imperial

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/ADzyR0GUFS0[/video]

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/S8EZhkTHJYE[/video]

Cheers and happy exploring,

vagfilm

I haven't installed it yet, but from the description it seems that the ilok activation in this case is "machine-based" rather than on the ilok cloud... It uses the general synchron player rather than the synchron piano player. And if I understood correctly, once a machine-based activation is used, the e-licenser stops functioning. Since I want to maintain the offline e-licenser, I am on the fence of this freebie.
I am tempted to install it on a second laptop, if that does not void the e-licenser in the main laptop...

Edit: Paul Kopf (VSL) confirmed through VSL support that I can have machine activation in one laptop and maintain the elicenser dongle on a separate machine. The only limitation is to have ilok and elicenser versions of the players in the same machine.

Frédéric L

We have to verify if the iLok general player can be used at the same time as the eLicensor piano player…

When I have switched my piano player to iLok, the Vienna Imperial player has not moved (fortunately : VSL has no iLok VI player).

Pete14

When I hear things like iLok, I envision and old, rusty lock 🔐 requiring an even older key (that doesn’t work half the time).

I thought by now we’d have software that was more immediate and ready to use sans an old rusty lock.

Do we have state-of-the-art software that can bypass the old, rusty lock?

Please do not lock me out for my well-intended criticism.😇

David B

It's one microphone position (Main Decca Tree) from the Bosendorfer Imperial sample library. You also have to download the Vienna Player to use it. I downloaded it out of curiosity and almost deleted it immediately (I have the BI full version).

I can't complain because it's free, but it didn't sound good to me.

God Bless,
David

HZPiano

Wow, David B and dore_m , thank you a lot (seriously!) for your remarks and saving me a lot of time and hassle -- I can now easily and comfortably abandon the inclination to try it.

Thanks!

dore_m

I spent too much time getting that running. Sounds like playing a Bose Imperial with earmuffs on.

I suppose it's not bad for free and for some specific types of production, but not great for dynamic piano playing. Any free sample library of a concert grand is nice because of the bass notes. Most soft piano libraries are felt uprights.

MacMacMac

HZPiano I can now easily and comfortably abandon the inclination to try it.

Me too!

Ralphiano

Yesterday, when this "news" broke, I was immediately turned off when I read on their site that this requires 'two Ilok" registrations', or something like that. Given VSL's propensity for burdensome and intrusive security measures, and the vague language used regarding what exactly the 'two iloks' requirements mean, I steered as far away as I could. It didn't sound 'free' at all.

HZPiano

Ralphiano two Ilok" registrations

I also read that bit. My guess is, that they'll allow you an iLok registration on two computers, if you like. Running it on one computer, you'd need one of the two.

Cynically remarkable is, that they actually allow the iLok machine registration variant for these freebies that many people want, hoped for, yet are refused, for the regular VSL libraries. All in all very, very strange.

Long story short, if a free instrument is free, why would you even need a license to begin with. That would only come from a marketing/sales agenda I assume: every new account is a sales lead for paid instruments.

Cheers and happy steering clear (if it isn't one's cup of tea),

EB5AGV

Clearly they want everyone on iLok ASAP. This is a subtle way to get users into it…

All in all, free VSTs are always nice 👍🏻

Jose

MacMacMac

EB5AGV All in all, free VSTs are always nice

My experience has been quite the opposite. Free VSTs are usually poorly done.

EB5AGV

MacMacMac My experience has been quite the opposite. Free VSTs are usually poorly done

I should have said "Free VSTs are always a nice gesture by their producers". I appreciate the effort put on them. Of course quality varies quite a lot among them, ranging from useless to very good, as @dore_m ones

Jose

QuasiUnaFantasia

Whereas to me it at least sounds interesting when VSL offers something for free, the word "soft" scares me far away.

Pete14

HZPiano every new account is a sales lead for paid instruments.

This.

These VSL-type people never give anything -of true value- for free.

dore_m

EB5AGV I should have said "Free VSTs are always a nice gesture by their producers"

I was wondering about this today - I think there are some sales going on right now, is it normal for this time of year? Or are the big names lowering their prices because there are more decent quality pianos available for cheaper (or free)? Has the market become saturated?

Frédéric L

I guess that the soft Bösendorfer will contain only ppp-mp samples which make it softer than a full product (Addictive Keys can map velocity to samples and make the piano softer or harder). Having many VSL pianos, I don’t think it will please me since I like to use the full dynamic of their products which are quite good.

The weight of the soft VSL is 2.5GB… I usually have 5GB mini (Galaxy typically)… then the free product comes with more compromises.

HZPiano

From PW:

HZPiano wrote
Deltajockey wrote
on initial running, it wanted to go through and scan all of my plugins from every other company [...] What business does a VSL plugin have with my Korg stuff?!

Maybe there is a technical reason (that would seem totally unnecessary and inappropriate to me!!) yet I can't help other thoughts popping up, like:

"Scanning all your virtual instruments/software and then stealthily send a report to a market survey database?"

Again, this is a thought popping up, not a fact that I have actual knowledge of.

Cheers and take lots of care,

HZ

vagfilm

HZPiano Deltajockey wrote:on initial running, it wanted to go through and scan all of my plugins from every other company [...]

I guess some people are never happy: if a software does not "auto-scan" it is "stupid and badly designed"; if it auto-scans, it is a "devious spying tool"... Am I alone and naïve in not wasting my mind looking for endless conspiracies? Any piece of software can be written to communicate back whatever it wants and easily do it in a stealth way, and so I never mind about things that may look suspicious. The truly bad ones are done without leaving a trace or raising a suspicion (wow... this last sentence does sound like coming from a conspiracy theorist...😀).

I agree that this "soft BI" is a bit useless because it is very muted in the treble section. If you use the "dry player" vs conductor preset (or whatever the names were...) and play around with the attack-release and dynamic range sliders, it gets acceptable, but nothing that is useful. To my non-educated ears it does sound to be only one layer. But at least it sounds nice and in tune, which cannot be said of many free or paid pianos.

Pete14

vagfilm The truly bad ones are done without leaving a trace or raising a suspicion (wow... this last sentence does sound like coming from a conspiracy theorist...😀).

I don’t click on anything that says “free” because there’s always something attached at the end of that string; now, it might not necessarily be a ‘tracking device’ at the end of that string, but trust me, there’s always something attached to that string (passing for free); at the very least, a sales pitch.

I like to pay for my stuff the old-fashioned way, “stinky, wrinkled, untraceable cash.”

I paid for Pianoteq in cash, and had them mail it to an abandoned house 🏚. I’m not letting them know where I live!

Good luck bugging “my house”, Modartt, ‘cause I’m already two steps ahead of you!🤣

HZPiano

vagfilm looking for endless conspiracies

Indeed I shouldn't, I'm sorry.

Cheers and happy playing,

vagfilm

Pete14 I don’t click on anything that says “free” because there’s always something attached at the end of that string

I assume this to be true of both paid and free... Why make the effort only on the free products?