Play 4 is finally on the way, as part of SD3

[mhschmieder]

http://www.soundsonline.com/SD3

It includes effects from SSL. Those can also be purchased separately. My understanding is if you buy SD3, you get the SSL suite to work with ALL of your EWQL libraries.

This is new content, like MOR2, vs. an upgrade. Not sure if SD2 was an upgrade to SD1 as the latter is no longer available.

SD2 is the only EWQL library I use much, so I'm tempted, but so far no audio demos or instruments list.

Although Mickey Hart is one of our clients and a fine person and musician, I find it a bit strange that they state quite explicitly that this library will cost more due to using star talents. It's kind of a weird statement as all of their libraries are played by people who are at the top of their craft, but being a household name counts for more? I dunno.

[Killahurts]

I use SD2 and the expansion a lot. I was looking for an upgrade price, but I think you're right, there isn't one. It's $400 apparently, which is a little too much for my interest. If they're not offering an upgrade path of some kind, I believe I'll pass.

[mhschmieder]

Yeah, they said no upgrade pricing because it's new samples vs. an expanded or improved version of SD2.

I too have the SD2 expansion but feel it was overpriced for what it was; also because those specific additions were handled better (in my view) by fxpansion. But I'm not complaining as I waited for a 50% off price to buy.

I personally think companies should use new names for new products. I accidentally deleted Impact Soundworks Shreddage as I didn't realize Shreddage II was a new product vs. a replacement or enhancement (it even samples a different model of guitar). Fortunately they provided me with a new link to re-download my deleted material.

I didn't buy MOR2 during its initial sale as I didn't realize it was a brand new product with no overlap. They should have called it "Part Two" or maybe an "expansion" to MOR; except that term usually implies you need the "core" product for it to work. I don't regret not buying it though as I feel I've spent FAR too much money on acoustic and electric guitar and bass libraries; it's less work to practice on the real thing even under deadline pressure, but late night work can benefit from initial sample-based mock-ups.

My recollection is that MOR customers got an initial discount on MOR2, so there did seem to be a precedent. Therefore I think the "star" aspect of Mickey Hart and others on SD3, along with development costs for Play 4, contributed heavily to the lack of an incentive discount.

[Julia123]

Thanks for the update!

[mhschmieder]

East/West have confirmed that if you buy SD3 and/or the separate SSL add-on by itself, the SSL suite will work with all your Play libraries, so it isn't a per-library fee or upgrade.

They also confirmed that it won't work outside Play, so it isn't a VST or AU obviously.

[dix]

Play 4 is now available for all EW instruments (http://www.soundsonline.com/Support) It says "All users should update to the latest PLAY software.", but no word as to why we want to do this. Play 3 seems fine. Is there anything worthwhile, or at least new in this update?

[David Polich]

The key question is, will Play actually work now? Looking through the archives, it's been at the top of the "bug-ridden, crash-prone" list for DP users for a long time.

[dix]

It's always been fine for me. No problems. That's why I'm wondering why I should upgrade.

Actually it looks like it does offer some new options over Play 3. Most conspicuously, the option to buy EW plugins that work only within Play 4 …but really, it does have a new mixer page that would be useful. Any DP users installed yet?

[supersonic]

I ordered a few extra play instruments lately and also got download links to the new play engine. Can't say I see a lot of difference...

[Paulformer]

I downloaded and installed Play 4. Loads are much faster. Haven't used it a lot yet but so far works great with DP8 !

[Killahurts]

I installed it on Monday. So far I've only used Symphonic Choir and Stormdrum2.. but it appears to be the exact same, right down to the miserable performance of the choirs/word builder. I have a 12-core machine with SSD drive and I still can't get even one damn soprano line to sing without hiccups and audio snapping. I need another option, but what?

I thought the load times were, at best, marginally faster.

[mhschmieder]

If you want a usable word builder, try out Bela D Media's Vocal Tools and V Alto Choir series. It's all done with Kontakt scripting, so it actually works. Also, it seems to cover more phrases, but of course it so far has the weird complement of solo STB and choir-only Alto.

[Morpheo]

While it's disappointing to see that there may be virtually no improvement for the choirs (I have them but the old Kontakt Player version, which is enough for my needs), I have started a new project heavy on the orchestra, and for now I have three instances of Play 4 (one for Hollywood Strings, one for Woodwinds, and another one for Brasses/Percussions) running within DP 8.04 with absolutely no problem whatsoever. It's the first time since the introduction of Play that I can work directly in DP and in realtime without any playback issue. ........A.T L.A.S.T!!!! wheew! I never thought I would say that, but so far Play 4 is working like a charm.

[vigormusic]

I have been loving Play 4 in 8.04 as well! I haven't done extensive work with it because the tracks I'm currently working on don't needed piano or strings, but I loaded up some older tracks to test it out and everything loaded faster than before and the interface menu's are a little more sexy, which is really a big issue for me.

[Armageddon]

MOR was one of the first VIs I ever purchased (back in 2007 for a tidy $495) when I made the switch over to all-virtual instruments, and while I've used it on a few things, I was almost immediately bummed out to discover it was basically a hi-res version of Nick Phoenix's "Guitar and Bass" sample CD that I'd picked up earlier for fifteen bucks with a few drum kits, some amped-only basses and a really nice Telecaster sample set thrown in. Definitely not worth the money. From what I gather, MOR2 delves a little deeper and is over twice the size of the original library, but I haven't heard anything on their demos that makes me believe it will do something for me that Electri6ity, Scarbee Pre/Jay Bass, Yamaha SR5, RealStrat, RealLPC, RealGuitar 3, Superior Drummer and EZDrummer doesn't do ten times better. Worse still, when I noted a serious glitch in one of MOR's instruments and provided EastWest with extensive MIDI and audio files to demonstrate it, they not only made no move to fix it, they suggested to me that it was a user-side phase issue (bear in mind, I was essentially freezing a VI track in DP and then bouncing it to disk without actually mixing anything) -- not something you want to hear after blowing almost $500 on a VI. Caveat emptor! Again, I still use it on occasion, particularly the Telecaster, but I will never be able to justify spending that kind of money on it.

As for PLAY, I've never had a moment of trouble with it, even on a really slow system, and PLAY 2 actually did improve a few things. This sounds to me a lot like what they originally did when they brought out PLAY 2: they announced that PLAY 2 would actually be PLAY Pro and it would be something akin to Kontakt, with the ability to edit samples and scripting (I just checked their site and there is absolutely zero mention of PLAY Pro anywhere!) and would be a paid upgrade. Then, PLAY 2 just showed up in the download area and everybody was encouraged to upgrade for free. From what little I can discern from the site, it seems like PLAY 3 added a few things, like an actual mixer (?) and some new FX, but I suspect those things will mainly benefit people who already do complete arrangements in PLAY, as in, anyone using the Orchestra, the Choir, Stormdrum, etc.