Shop Keyboard Deals, Financing, and More

Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition Volume 1: Essential Orchestra

Orchestral Sample Plug-in with Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, and Strings - Mac/PC Standalone, AAX Native, VST, AU
$310.00

Or pay $103.33 for 3 months with Easy Pay

See all payment options
Delivered By Download

Vienna Symphonic Library usually delivers your license code within one business day.

Software Is Not Returnable
Sorry, Software cannot be returned once it has been delivered. Contact your Sales Engineer or give us a call at (800) 222-4700 if you need any help with ensuring compatibility or finding the right version.
Add to Cart
Notify me about deals

Compatible with:

Mac
Windows
Standalone
AAX
VST
AU
iLok Account Required

Software Compatibility

Most software is compatible with both Mac and Windows computers, but check to make sure.

If you're using Pro Tools, AAX plug-ins (or RTAS for older versions) are what you need. Most other Mac DAWs support AU plug-ins. VST is compatible with a number of Mac and Windows programs. Be sure you choose plug-ins that work with your DAW!

To learn more about software compatibility, check out our buying guide.

Ask An Expert

Our expertly trained Sales Engineers are ready to help!

What is a Sales Engineer?

Most Popular Accessories & Related Items

Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition Volume 1: Essential Orchestra
Delivered By Download
$310.00
Add to Cart
Add to list
Back to navigation

This article was Written By

Our Product Research Team

Get to know them!

Vienna Instruments in an Affordable Collection!

The Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition Vol. 1 brings together the complete orchestra - and more - in an affordable Collection. It is the ideal, resource-saving companion for orchestral arrangements on your laptop, or for newcomers to the world of Vienna Instruments, offering a useful cross-section of Vienna Symphonic Library's over one million samples. Special Edition Vol. 1 includes 28 instruments and ensembles, covering large post-romantic instrumentation. It contains solo and ensemble strings, solo instruments and ensembles of the brass section, woodwinds ranging from piccolo flute to contra bassoon, harp, drums and percussion as well as celesta and the Bosendorfer Imperial grand piano. Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition Vol. 1 is the quintessence of the Vienna Symphonic Library in a single, affordable software package!

Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition Vol. 1 Orchestra Library at a Glance:

Performance Detection for creating realistic parts
The Vienna Symphonic Library team not only recorded single notes for all instruments and ensembles, but also comprehensively captured what happened in between the notes, where the real nuances of a live performance occur. When you play a Legato Performance Patch of a solo violin, algorithms that are built into the Patch check for the intervals you're playing and automatically provide you with the proper note transitions - just as a gifted musician would play them. Other built-in algorithms detect your playing speed to trigger the right articulations, or automatically detect repeated notes, and alternate samples so the orchestration doesn't sound mechanical.

Built-in RAM optimization preserves resources

Imagine you're working on an instrument in a song and you're loading various playing techniques for this instrument - say the ensemble violins. For every playing technique, several octaves of chromatically sampled notes are now living in RAM, even though you actually need only a small percentage of them to perform your violin passages. To make the best use of your resources, Vienna implemented a "Learn" button that you can click when you're finished composing with the instrument. Just start your sequencers, and Vienna Instrument flags each sample that's used. After stopping your sequencer, click "optimize" and Vienna kicks the unused samples out of RAM, retaining an average of only 3% of the samples that you originally loaded for the performance.

Supreme-quality samples and amazing ease of use

Vienna Symphonic Library is known for their painstaking, golden-eared approach to recording the superb-sounding samples that comprise their highly regarded library. It's the jaw-dropping sonic quality and the broad selection of virtual instruments that makes Vienna Symphonic Library instruments staples in top studios worldwide, but it's the company's cool software innovations and ease-of-use that'll have you singing their praises next time you're composing to a tight deadline!

VSL Special Edition Vol. 1 Includes:
  • Piccolo
  • Flute 1
  • French oboe
  • English horn (French)
  • Clarinet
  • Bass clarinet
  • Bassoon
  • Contrabassoon
  • Triple horn
  • Trumpet in C
  • Tenor trombone
  • Bass trombone
  • Tuba
  • Horn ensemble (4 players)
  • Trumpet ensemble (3 players)
  • Trombone ensemble (3 players)
  • Solo violin
  • Solo viola
  • Solo cello
  • Solo double bass
  • Violin ensemble (14 players)
  • Viola ensemble (10 players)
  • Cello ensemble (8 players)
  • Double bass ensemble (6 players)
  • Harp
  • Bsendorfer Imperial Grand Piano
  • Celesta
  • Glockenspiel
  • Xylophone
  • Vibraphone
  • Marimba
  • Timpani
  • Taiko drums
  • Bass drum
  • Snare drum
  • Snare drum ensemble
  • Tambourine
  • Concert tom
  • Gongs
  • Suspended cymbals
  • A-due cymbals
  • Tam-tam
  • Thundersheet
  • Rails
  • Metal chimes
  • Table castanets
  • Triangle
  • Tubular Bells
  • Plate Bells
Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition Vol. 1 Orchestra Library Features:
  • Wide range of commonly used orchestral instruments and articulations in one collection
  • Contains 28 instruments and ensembles
  • Performance Detection senses how you're playing and selects the most appropriate articulations and samples
  • RAM optimization only loads required samples into your computer's RAM to conserve resources
  • Amazing sound quality, recorded in the custom-built Silent Stage recording facility
Expand your virtual orchestra with the Vienna Symphonic Library Special Edition Vol. 1!

Additional Media

Back to navigation

Tech Specs

  • Software Type: Symphonic Sample Player
  • Platform: Mac, PC
  • Upgrade/Full: Full
  • Download/Boxed: Download
  • Format: Standalone, AAX Native, VST, AU
  • Authorization Type: iLok Account Required (cloud or iLok USB dongle)
  • Hardware Requirements - Mac: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM
  • Hardware Requirements - PC: Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM
  • OS Requirements - Mac: macOS 10.13 or later
  • OS Requirements - PC: Windows 7 SP1 or later
  • Manufacturer Part Number: VSLV91

What Makes Our Sales Engineers Great?

Sweetwater Sales Engineers are a world-class team of experts dedicated to you. Hand selected from across the globe, each brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the world of music gear to provide you with unparalleled service completely free of charge. Friendly relationships, real trust, and the right gear are only a call or a click away!

Back to navigation

Customer Reviews

Write your review
Rated 5/5

One great & useful product.

What a great product from VSL, an orchestra in the studio. What a great invention.
My sales rep. Michael Quilling, at Sweetwater was very helpful in helping me choose this great product.
Keep up the good work guys.

Tim
Music background: Musician
Rated 5/5

Great samples!

I needed new samples for a set of MIDI tracks to accompany a small band on a national tour. It DID take a few hours to get familiar with the VSL, but wow, talk about time well spent! The sounds and articulations are simply stunning.

If you're looking for a simple "plug-and-play" sample library, this may not be the one for you. But if you have some time to get familiar with the interface, and the willingness to tweak your MIDI files, this is definitely the way to go!
Music background: Pro Musician
Rated 4/5

Incredible with only a few limitations

Coming from using Mini Grand in Pro Tools for several albums, I have enjoyed using this instrument library, and has converted me to a Vienna Instruments fan. The instruments themselves however take a bit of work to sound realistic - you have to know how to play them in a realistic way to really make the notes sound strung together, whether on the cellos or violas or whatever to make them sound realistic. Sometimes it seems it is limited in the amount of samples per key, but it is still a whole step higher in sonic quality than anything basic or free that comes with a DAW.

The best instruments I've found are the trumpets/brass instruments, the basses, and the strings are usually good sounding, except when it comes time to string them together, (no pun intended), the legato blur could use some upgrading, but at that point it is up to the composer/engineer to string notes together in realistic ways.

The bass notes on all instruments in this library are really quite good, and full sounding, especially the Bösendorfer piano, which I believe is one of the best instruments included (a simpler version of the more complex standalone Bösendorfer imperial, but still has great tonality and richness/brightness.)

4/5 Stars for Great quality, good price, but minor limitations in sonic variation.
Music background: Pro
Rated 2.5/5

Painfully Contradictory Product, Great Samples.

The samples in this are fantastic, but for an "essential" orchestra library, it is highly lacking in provided means to actually PRODUCE the samples into a listenable piece of music.

The product in its own nature makes very little sense.
It's meant to be a starter kit, yet, will come with absolutely no means of tuning up the sound to give it a convincing feel. Out of the box, it sounds quite synthetic in comparison to more modern, full, and lush virtual instruments/sound libraries, but this certainly is the problem. It's that it gives you nothing to enhance this synthetic sound with, It's almost REQUIRED to buy the MIR or other effects immediately after getting this.

The contradiction of this product baffles me, to be quite frank.

If someone has means of producing this, they likely already have the proper funds to by a more fuller sound library. (They would have a high end DAW, a hefty sized library of various reverbs, compressors, and EQs.) In causation, they likely won't buy this.

If someone doesn't have the means to produce with this, it likely means they either lack the knowledge or funds (required to buy many of the NEEDED addons to make this even sound 1% convincing, such as MIRx) to really do anything with this library. Yet again, in causation, this product will not appeal to them.


If you feel like taking a leap of faith and are prepared to spend ALOT of money in getting this sound library to sound decent, and later on fantastic (which is possible) then this is a great buy.
If you are looking for a quick fix of good sounds and are hard pressed on time and money, I would highly recommend against getting this library......for now.
It is certainly capable of amazing things, but even a quick google search really shows how either no one cares to share HOW to make this library sound great without spending at least $1,000, or simply doesn't know how.


Final Verdict: Great Samples, but the product, even for a starter kit is missing SO MUCH that you'll be lucky if you can produce anything if you haven't spent at least a good amount of money prior to purchasing this, where at that point, you could've just bought a more modern library for your specific needs.
Music background: Violinist.
Rated 1/5

Vienna Expierence

If you want something easy to use this is not for you is very hard to use
Close Close $2,000 Pick Your PRS Giveaway -- input your email address below to enter or click here to learn more.

See giveaway details & rules or check out our past winners!

Success!

Your email, has been entered to win this giveaway. Good Luck!