What is Your Experience & Opinion of Vienna Ensemble Pro?

[pacificm]

A little over a year ago I took the plunge and ordered a copy of Vienna Ensemble Pro (VEP). I had been using Digital Performer on a single iMac, adding more virtual instruments (VIs) to my projects and at times crashing due to overloading VIs on my machine. I find recording tracks as I compose to be cumbersome and so avoid it if at all possible.

Then I heard of VEP and how using multiple machines could increase the amount of VIs you could use. So, I now have VEP 6 and am currently running two of the three licenses on two iMacs - one on my "master" and one on my "slave." It's been quite a challenge dealing with all of the configuration issues, but when everything works well it's nice to have access to all of the VIs.

I'm now in the process of adding a third machine to the mix to use the third license. I tried to use a MacBook Pro, but ran into all kinds of issues. So, now I'm thinking of adding a Mac Pro. With the prospect of adding a third machine, reconfiguration is an issue all over again.

I'm curious what the experience and opinions are of others who are using VEP, or have used it, and those who have decided not to use it. What is your opinion of this extraordinary Austrian creation? Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

[labman]

VEP is stinking superb! The MAS version is feature filled, and works daily in my setup. Support is top notch too. I paired down to 2 rigs and run on one slave mac and on the host too. Wouldn't wanna score without it.

[frankf]

My previous studio computer, music only, was a Mac Pro 3,1 with 32gb RAM. When DP was still 32 bit, I used VEP to access the memory DP couldn't. It worked very well. When DP became 64gb, I lost VEP as a test and found I didn't need it with careful processor management-after all it was an early 2008 MP! Last fall I finally upgraded to a 2013 12 core MP 1T SSD, 64GB RAM (Apple refurb) with several external SSDs I salvaged from the 3,1. I've several templates I use, and one large orchestral template. No need for VEP now either. My opinion is if you have a Mac with a lot of memory, at least 8 core (12 is better), SSDs and decent power, try using DP without VEP first. If it doesn't work for you, go the master/slave route with VEP. Look seriously at PCs as slaves and save a bundle.
Another big reason for me to stay ITB is that VEP reminds me of the days I had walls of hardware synths and samplers and my templates needed initialization sysex or patches whenever I opened up my studio each day or changed projects. One of the early advantages of VEP was that if DP crashed or a new project was loaded, VEP was not affected and loading was much faster. Of course, no love if the Mac itself crashed. With modern computers such as I described above, this is no longer a big advantage, as SSDs, faster busses, Thunderbolt, and USB 2 &3 and streamlined DP and plugins give increased performance.


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