It's taken Premier Sound Factory a loooong time to recover from the attack on their servers in 2017, but it seems they're finally ready to re-release some of their libraries, starting with, in my opinion, one of their best: the Acoustic Bass Premier G.
And more than simply re-releasing what was there before, they've fitted the instrument with a whole new GUI and a new legato script. And sell it for half the price I bought it for in 2014: it's now only $75.
I received a mail that included a $30 coupon code. I suppose all existing and registered users have received or will receive such a mail?
I'm not going to upgrade though. Apart from the fact that I can do everything I want to do with my current version of the Acoustic Premier Bass, I also feel there's something slightly off-putting about having to pay another $35, after already having payed $150 for the library, just to end up with a product that is now sold for $75. No?
This is a different product from the Acoustic Premier Bass, yes? Arco, gliss, multi mics etc? How’s the arco in particular, Piet? (No need for a demo unless you’re of a mind to do so, just curious about your opinion.)
So here I am, agreeing with Piet - suppose it had to happen some day?
$35 is not going to break the bank, and I suppose if folks come back and report that it is the "best bass ever" I will have to reconsider, but I am not inclined, today, to pay (effectively) $185 for a $75 library.
And I feel bad about that. I thought the original library was worth whatever I paid for it (was there a sale? I don't remember), but by the same token if they can sell enough copies to offset the new price than more power to them, and I am grateful, every dang day, that I don't have to set prices for software. It's really hard!
And I feel bad that I am penalizing the company for something that may well be unavoidable.
But, with the new pricing I do think it would have been wise to make the upgrade free to existing customers.
Then again, I don't work there, and have no business telling them how to run their business.
Yes, I'm torn between upgrading to "G" or staying with version 2 as well. It's not so much the $45 US, it's the fact that I feel the upgrade should be less for those who have already spent a considerable amount on the previous version. Soundiron has been doing major updates for $5-$15 lately, and some of the changes have been major, so that's more in line with what I might consider to be acceptable in this instance. And, as Piet said, one can pretty much do what one wishes with version 2, so that too provides less incentive to upgrade. As Bill suggested, Premier can do what they wish and as they see fit, and as customers we can then respond in a way we consider appropriate.
Stonzthro, are we talking about the same library? I'm not aware that there is, or ever was an EXS-version of the Premier Bass. (Or maybe you did convert it yourself? Like I have an EXS-version of the Larry Seyer bass.)
Larry, sorry for the late reply: the Arco patch is negligible. Just the one articulation (a lacklustre sustain), one velocity-layer, artificial vibrato, very unappealing sound. Any half-decent solo strings library that includes the bass, will serve you much better if you need a bowed upright.
Umm, some here have math issues? $75 minus $30 coupon is $45, not $35. And even though I bought the original at half price ($75), paying another $45 for a gui and scripted legato that honestly should have been there in the first place (I sent many emails letting him know how easy a GUI would be and even offered my own version for free 2 years ago) is a tough pill to swallow. In general PSF has been way behind the pack, and I don’t want to encourage their idea of an “upgrade”. This version catches them up to where we were 8 years ago. Crazy.
@Peit I most definitely have an EXS version and I'm sure I didn't convert it myself. I started using it when the Kontakt version broke a few updates back. They must have released it after you purchased yours - I bought my copy on your recommendation.
The only reason I was a tiny bit surprised, Stonzthro, is because I honestly can't recall Premier ever having released anything at all formatted the EXS. But it appears they have. Although I still suspect that this EXS-version is not their own work. (But that's not important.)
By the way, are those the default settings of the EXS patch? It looks as if there's hardly any 'velocity-controlling-volume' going on (that's the vertical slider to the left of the volume dial), which can't but result in a rather undynamic patch. It's a bit similar in the factory Kontakt patches, and I never understood why they, or anyone else for that matter, would want it like that. The first thing I did when I came across it, was to increase that value to almost the maximum, which makes the instrument, to my mind, *much* more playable and expressive.
(The Bolder bass requires the exact same adjustment, I find: its default velocity-controlling-volume setting is also set rather unmusically, in my opinion.)
In my edited Kontakt patch of the Premier, velocity also controls the speed of the attack -- something which you can do in the EXS as well -- so that the lowest velocities produce plucks with slightly softer attacks. It something that needs to be set very carefully, but when done right, it makes for another nice improvement, I find.
And a third important edit I made — and this is one that's beyond the EXS's capabilities, I fear — is to have Kontakt generate additional round robins from neighbouring notes. And this makes a very big difference. At least, I think so.
Usually when I have the choice between the EXS-version or the Kontakt-version of the same patch, I will *always* go with the former, but in the case of the Premier, there's a few performance options which Kontakt offers (such as those additional round robins) and which aren't available in the EXS, that I find indispensable. All the demo's I ever posted of the Premier, were made with my edited patch. If, for whatever reason (say, a locked library), I couldn't have done those edits, I would never have posted a single thing and my enthusaism for the library would be nowhere near as great as it is.
