VSL Versions and Notion

[pcartwright]

I'm thinking of buying VSL (or some version of VSL) to use in my compositions; however, as I view the product sites, it seems that there is a wide variety of products to choose from. Which program(s) can be utiltized in Notion with the built in rules files? I see VSL Ensemble, Ensemble Pro, and Instruments in the rules folder for Notion, but I'm a little confused. I see that VSL Ensemble and Ensemble Pro are their own player, so do they also have a VST to select in Notion for playback? Also, I was under the impression that individual instruments were in the Giga format. Can Notion use it's rules files for the Giga samples? I see that you can buy VSL instruments one at a time; will those instruments fit into the Notion templates?

Again, I know that you can use virtually any 32bit VSTi with Notion, but I'm trying to figure out which products will take advantage of Notion's presets.

I realize this is the Notion forum and that these are specifically questions about VSL, but considering that I want to get VSL to work specifically with Notion, I thought I'd pose the question here first.

[Novatlan]

Actually it is pretty easy:
VSL Instruments is the VST plugin for loading instruments.
VSL Ensemble can load multiple instances of VSL Instruments outside your host software (this circumvents the 32 bit memory limit).
VSL Ensemble Pro does the same as VSL Ensemble, but can also load third-party plugins.
So you need VSL Instruments. The built-in presets work with the VSL Special Edition (and its extension).

The VSL once used Giga files, but that was some time before the world begun - nowadays they have their own player (VSL Instruments)

Hope this helps

[dgriffee]

...suggest starting with VSL Special Edition. That will get you the core functionality you desire, it fits the Notion presets right out of the box, and gives ear joy with a great sound library for minimal $. It may be all you need and you can do great stuff with just that, or if in future you want/need more you can grow it later with additional expanded sounds or a bigger setup multiple servers etc.

I too was at first daunted by the obvious upsell of the whole VSL product line, but I have found that "SE" is great just in itself without necessarily having to get more&more. I've been very happy with using VSL-Spec-Ed in Notion. Hope that gives you some indication.