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Most Disappointing Library Purchase?

Oh boy.

I don't want to answer the question as I have so many misses and so many libraries I'll probably never use but want to offer a view that might help some in their frustration:

As long as you have decent income from your music it doesn't really matter what your total sound library expenses are. Any library has potential magic and wonder that comes with it and only way to make it happen is to own it and try it on your own. It's a bit like gambling. If you don't play at all, you don't lose, but you don't win either. It doesn't really make sense to get too deep into the frustration and "why did I buy this crap" kind of thinking because that is just something that will happen every now and then.

I think that libraries are potential that you eventually turn into actual value and in retrospect it didn't really matter too much which libraries played a big part and which didn't. The only meaningful thing is that value was generated (music) and tools were used (libraries).

Also for me one of the best ways to have fun when producing is the experience that I have so many tools at hand that I almost never get into situation where I'm thinking "I'd like to do this kind of stuff but I don't have the means". It's way much better to be in situation where you can practically try and do whatever you fancy, even if it means that you are sitting on libraries collecting dust. It's the potential that matters and hence any dollars you invest in libraries is always inherently meaningful even it doesn't really turn into actual use ever.

I might be a bit of an oddball with my attitude but then again I have always enjoyed reading Zen literature :D
 
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Art Vista Virtual Grand 3. It produces a metallic sound in the high and medium high ranges of the keyboard. Yet I was told he was great ! ?
 
EVERY sample company has “hit or miss” products to someone.
I am very well aware. As I stated before though, this company is the worst offender (and of course this is all my personal opinion, though I know I’m not alone... I used to see everyone kind of give this company a bad rap and I never understood why, until I delved deeper into the products that they offer and ran into the same problems others commented about. Trust me, I give every company a fair chance). It’s the inconsistency that gets me. Century strings and brass are impeccably sampled and some of my favorite sounds I currently use (in the top 3), and then they also have cash-grab or “rehashed” products that make me truly wonder what they were thinking. For all the other companies I know of, the standards of quality are always met, even if the product may not be right up my alley, I still respect the company for not half assing anything. That’s why I state this company is the ultimate “hit or miss” company. Not just because I don’t see a need to use the sounds, but because they don’t consistently meet the standard of quality anyone should expect from a very large and well known sampling company.
 
Art Vista Virtual Grand 3. It produces a metallic sound in the high and medium high ranges of the keyboard. Yet I was told he was great ! ?
This is typical of a 60's era Steinway which has 'seen some miles'. I've played a number of old Steinways manufactured in this era (including Model B's like the ArtVista) and they can really 'bite'!

You can tame those metallic qualities by firstly selecting a different keyboard velocity profile from the built in drop down menu (makes a big difference) and also trying the various presets and rolling off the top end (treble attenuation). Personally, I love this sampled piano, and I prefer an organic sounding, bright, resonant & lively tone I can tame, rather than trying to EQ brightness into a dull/lifeless artificially smooth piano tone.
 
8dio Agitato Legato strings. I bought them to fill a specific need of playing convincing fast legato lines. I downloaded it and immediately tried to use it in a project that I was working on it. Once I started working with it, I was disappointed to find that no amount of finagling could get my melodic lines to sound good. I opened a support ticket and sent the midi file but they were unable to help get a better result and said that real strings don’t really play that fast. I’m an experience arranger and happen to know that they can. They had marketed their library as a library that can play very fast legato got a lines. I don’t know if they are still marketing it that way but I had a terrible results with it. I later bought Spitfire chamber strings and haven’t looked back. I wish I could’ve got my money back for the agitato legato strings though. If they had given me a refund, they would have built trust and I would be open to purchasing more of their libraries.
 
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You can tame those metallic qualities by firstly selecting a different keyboard velocity profile from the built in drop down menu (makes a big difference) and also trying the various presets and rolling off the top end (treble attenuation). Personally, I love this sampled piano, and I prefer an organic sounding, bright, resonant & lively tone I can tame, rather than trying to EQ brightness into a dull/lifeless artificially smooth piano tone.
This is not the side busted that annoys me, on the contrary, no, it is the strident side as if the sampling frequency (problem with my sound card? I do not believe it) was insufficient or that certain frequencies came into resonance, like a Larsen effect. This happens on the decay of the sound. If we filter a little treble, we risk losing the brilliant attack of a sound more rock. Too bad.
 
Embarrassed to admit I bought it, but Sampletank 3 and the lower end Miro 2. I had picked up a ton of ST2 / Miro 1 stuff dirt cheap years ago and had fun with it. Thought ST3 / M2 would be on par with say mid tier modern stuff. Boy was I wrong. Terrible sound, terrible interface.

I have ST3, and it has been crashing PT for over 2 years now, and there is no fix. It's completely useless.
 
Suprised to see some of the libraries mentioned in this thread. Goes to show that you'll never make everyone happy if you're a developer as some people just never read the manual ha
 
Exactly.



And some libraries just plain suck.
Yeah, most libraries don't require a manual to know whether or not it's been over-hyped, or doesn't deliver. Most libraries are instantly playable and you know how it behaves and sounds. In rare cases is it due to a lack of manual reading.
And I think most people aren't going to trash a library if they know they haven't learned how to use it properly.
 
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