UVI World Suite 2 - 40% off

[Amicus717]

Info here: https://www.uvi.net/world-suite-2

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has this. I bought the original World Instruments library from UVI a few years ago, and it was a complete disaster (maybe the worst library I ever bought), and I've not bought a single UVI product since.

But I have heard rumours that World Suite 2 is pretty good...

[LAGinz]

Had a similarly bad experience with 1. Absolutely terrible quality. It’s the only “functioning” software I ever asked for my money back on. They offered me a credit, which expired because I was so disillusioned with the original product.

Edited September 16, 2021 by LAGinz

[Zolton]

I'm also interested to hear about WS2. I use (well, fiddle with, as a learning hobbyist) a lot of the world music packages from EW (Ra, Silk, Gypsy), but I'd like to eventually wean myself from Composer Cloud with a couple of strategic replacements.

In the interest of trying to offer something useful to the conversation, keep an eye on this similar thread over at VI-Control:

https://vi-control.net/community/threads/uvi-world-suite-2-40-off.114531/ 

Only one opinion on WS2 itself so far, but it's another pool of people who may have relevant experience.

[Joakim Lundberg]

I have it but mostly use it to spice up pop/rock music track so I can´t say how it would work in a more exposed setting. 

Some sounds are very good (sounds "expensive") while others are pretty standard (re-used from other materials etc).  There´s a very long thread about this product on UVI which is very informative: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/uvi-release-world-suite-2-with-introductory-and-upgrade-offers.97671/

The only thing I will say is that it relies on keyswitches and doesn´t have fancy things like scripting or legato etc.  It´s comparable to something like Sampletank from a playability perspective. Most instruments have a handful of articulations so you would have to buy a specialized library if your looking for deep sounds. 

I do like the GUI (most of the UVI products look great), and it´s dead simple to use. I´m not a huge fan of the UVI workstation workflow though. 

The traveler feature is actually good, but slightly gimmicky.  

I usually reach for World Suite 2 first if I need something unusual, and I would probably buy it again at this price.

 

 

 

[Reid Rosefelt]

The original UVI World Library was not supposed to be very good.  I believe it was ported from MOTU.

When they made it into World Suite they added a ton of new instruments.  I think all of them were from Precision Sound.  If you look at Precision Sound, you'll see that the stuff added is the same.  There are some super gems in there.   I love the accordions.  If you were to buy them at the Precision Sound half price sale, it would cost you a lot.  Of course, the PS instruments are Kontakt.

The same thing happened with World Suite 2. They added a lot more new instruments.  I'm not sure from where.  Maybe their own?

If you look at EthnoWorld it's very similar.  The stuff from EthnoWorld 1 is not as good as the stuff from the newer versions.  There is a variability in quality with libraries as huge as these.

I'm pretty familiar with both and I think EthnoWorld 6 is MUCH better, both in quality of sound  and features.   I don't know what the price is for you to upgrade, but if anybody is deciding between one and the other, EthnoWorld 6 (instruments only) will be cheaper on Black Friday.   It lists at $259 and with 40% off it's about $155. 

The only issue I can thing of with EthnoWorld is that 6 came out 4 years ago and I wouldn't be too surprised if version 7 would turn up before too long.  Currently, upgrading for 4 or 5  to 6 is $159, which is more than 6 costs new during the sale.  Every now and then they have sales on upgrades.

I like having both.  Each has instruments the other one doesn't have.  Also World Suite was my first one, and it started my exploration of world music. 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Reid Rosefelt

[shawker]

Is there any advantage buying this directly from UVI?  Audio Deluxe has it for the same price, $179, with $9 in Deluxe bucks.

[Amicus717]

4 hours ago, Reid Rosefelt said:

The original UVI World Library was not supposed to be very good.  I believe it was ported from MOTU.

When they made it into World Suite they added a ton of new instruments.  I think all of them were from Precision Sound.  If you look at Precision Sound, you'll see that the stuff added is the same.  There are some super gems in there.   I love the accordions.  If you were to buy them at the Precision Sound half price sale, it would cost you a lot.  Of course, the PS instruments are Kontakt.

The same thing happened with World Suite 2. They added a lot more new instruments.  I'm not sure from where.  Maybe their own?

If you look at EthnoWorld it's very similar.  The stuff from EthnoWorld 1 is not as good as the stuff from the newer versions.  There is a variability in quality with libraries as huge as these.

I'm pretty familiar with both and I think EthnoWorld 6 is MUCH better, both in quality of sound  and features.   I don't know what the price is for you to upgrade, but if anybody is deciding between one and the other, EthnoWorld 6 (instruments only) will be cheaper on Black Friday.   It lists at $259 and with 40% off it's about $155. 

The only issue I can thing of with EthnoWorld is that 6 came out 4 years ago and I wouldn't be too surprised if version 7 would turn up before too long.  Currently, upgrading for 4 or 5  to 6 is $159, which is more than 6 costs new during the sale.  Every now and then they have sales on upgrades.

I like having both.  Each has instruments the other one doesn't have.  Also World Suite was my first one, and it started my exploration of world music. 

Thanks, Reid. 

UVI World Traditions (I think was the name...) was so comically bad it was in a class by itself when it came to buyer's regret: there were samples with loop points so close together and artlessly done that the looping went full machine-gun after maybe a second or two; misspelled headings and instrument names scattered throughout the various menus; and my personal favorite, under Balkan Instruments they had an Alto Sax - a very vanilla set of soundfont-worthy alto sax samples, with no explanation as to how exactly the alto sax was considered a Eastern European classic. The entire package was seriously bush-league.

There was literally one or two patches in the entire library that were actually useable, and "useable" in this context is a very generous assessment. I didn't pay a lot for it ($39 bucks on sale, I believe) but I was very unhappy that they still offered a product so obviously out-of-date and unsuitable even as an entry-level library.  Judging by the tech and programming used to create it, World Traditions should have been removed from their catalog around, oh, say 1995.   

I haven't touched their stuff since, and it sounds to me like I have no real reason to change that. Even minus the World Traditions fiasco, I have never been overly keen on the UVI Player and it's workflow, and all things being equal, I'd rather have EthnoWorld 6 anyway. 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Amicus717

[Yan Filiatrault]

6 hours ago, shawker said:

Is there any advantage buying this directly from UVI?  Audio Deluxe has it for the same price, $179, with $9 in Deluxe bucks.

If you buy directly from UVI, they will send you a voucher in 2022 based on this year’s purchases on their website 

[Reid Rosefelt]

9 hours ago, Yan Filiatrault said:

If you buy directly from UVI, they will send you a voucher in 2022 based on this year’s purchases on their website 

But you have only a month to spend it!  ?

[Reid Rosefelt]

14 hours ago, Amicus717 said:

Thanks, Reid. 

UVI World Traditions (I think was the name...) was so comically bad it was in a class by itself when it came to buyer's regret: there were samples with loop points so close together and artlessly done that the looping went full machine-gun after maybe a second or two; misspelled headings and instrument names scattered throughout the various menus; and my personal favorite, under Balkan Instruments they had an Alto Sax - a very vanilla set of soundfont-worthy alto sax samples, with no explanation as to how exactly the alto sax was considered a Eastern European classic. The entire package was seriously bush-league.

There was literally one or two patches in the entire library that were actually useable, and "useable" in this context is a very generous assessment. I didn't pay a lot for it ($39 bucks on sale, I believe) but I was very unhappy that they still offered a product so obviously out-of-date and unsuitable even as an entry-level library.  Judging by the tech and programming used to create it, World Traditions should have been removed from their catalog around, oh, say 1995.   

I haven't touched their stuff since, and it sounds to me like I have no real reason to change that. Even minus the World Traditions fiasco, I have never been overly keen on the UVI Player and it's workflow, and all things being equal, I'd rather have EthnoWorld 6 anyway. 

I can understand why a bad experience like that would make you feel that way.  Most people, including most UVI fans, consider World Traditions to be awful.  Apparently UVI just bought a really old library from MOTU and put it up there.  Not smart.  But to their credit, they went back and fixed it up for World Suite, which has been as well-reviewed as World Traditions was critiqued. And WS2 is better still. 

My favorite purchase from UVI is Falcon. Everything they sell can be loaded in there and taken to a new level.   I also love all their synths and synth collections.