The “comfort” you take made me chuckle at myself, for those times I felt relieved that a new library didn’t sound better than the one I already owned. Relived, as it were, that my wallet or credit card was spared - at least that week, anyway.
The myth I’ve talked about before is believing in obsolescence: this notion that a new release somehow makes a prior one illegitimate or less effective has never made sense to me. As has been argued numerous times, many great mockups have been made with older and even lesser contenders. Yet, people will still post threads asking if library X is still relevant, right as I’m laying down a part with it.
Now there are new innovations and sonically superior libraries that emerge, as well as advanced workflows, and the appeal of new combinations and articulations. This, while subjective, is at the heart of why any of us would choose to buy or not. Our respective, personal finances are also key, though seldom acknowledged as such. Think about it: if money were no object, we’d invest constantly to get the strong points of each. Some of us do anyway, credit limit be damned!
Many here will talk about templates based around a preferred sound, which also translates into efficiency and investment, professionally. Others focus on hopes of integrating into their workflows a new library that will sound richer and more expressive. But again, I’m not sure we are always having the same discussions, as the range of established professionals, those aspiring to be, and undiscovered genius, all talk about the same release (or rejection of it) from the perspective of very diverse needs and economies.
To me, it’s all one giant sample library now. It goes through periods of shedding, adding, and refining, even as I’ve never bought into the illusion of one library that will be the perfect tool. Shorts from one still routinely blend with others; a dry solo wind from this one will complement the ensemble by its so-called competitive developer, and so forth. I’m a fanboy of all of them all in some way, depending on my project’s needs.
But you are right that yesterday’s track, made with yesterday’s library, is not undone by the new. Tomorrow’s track, however, may contain that inspired melody precisely because the expressive aspects of the new release made it possible. Wait! I think I just contradicted my own argument.