I am a long time user of Vienna Symphonic Products but have never used Vienna Ensemble.  Since I have a Sonar issue that causes me to lose audio or even crash when too many VIs are running—and "too many" is a variable—I started wondering if putting the instruments in Vienna Ensemble would help.  I think this because the issue does not seem to be memory or CPU: it seems to be Sonar itself.
 
Questions:

1. Do I need Vienna Ensemble Pro to do anything useful?  I have the standard version which is free to anyone like me who has spent $785,000 or more on Vienna Products. The Pro version is a paid-for add-on which I will buy if it will help.
2. Are there SIMPLE instructions on setting this up?  Vienna has a short tutorial that sort of shows setting up a 32-bit and a 64-bit server, talks about using a separate remote computer, and then ends.  I get nothing actionable from that.

 
What I want to try is loading 4-6 instances of Vienna Instruments Pro into Ensemble and having the sound magically come out of Sonar.  It would also be good to try this with Kontakt and Berlin First Chairs which I currently cannot use at all.  (Total waste of money so far.)  I *think* that is the purpose of Vienna Ensemble, but I can't seem to get a straightforward explanation.
 
Can anyone help answer the two questions above in a way a 5th-grader could understand?
 
Thanks, --Konrad

Not sure if I can help because I use Vienna Ensemble Pro but I have a dedicated machine that runs only the VSL library using MOL (MIDI over LAN).  It works great.   If you're running VE on the same computer as Sonar, I would treat it like any other VST and make sure you're not running anything in the background that doesn't need to be there.   VE Pro is an excellent mixing tool so yes, I think having instruments run under it rather than as separate VSLs might conserve resources.  I'd call VSL and get a second opinion.
 
Jerry
www.jerrygerber.com

I run VSL on the same computer as Sonar and have to launch the VSL "server" before launching Sonar...I think the new Miroslav Philharmonic from IK Multimedia is comparable...and less daunting if you are not a "serious" symphony user.

The moment when I bought Vienna Ensemble Pro I consider as a best shopping decision what I made. I am using Sonar Platinum and several libraries from EWQL, VSL, Komplete, etc. Without VEPro I had always issue with Sonar, since I use VEPro everything goes nice and smooth. 
You can find a tons of instructions, tutorials, hints how to use VEPro on Youtube. With Sonar there is just a few, but the idea is similar on the other DAW. 
If you are using a lot of libraries especially symphonic libraries I strongly recommend to buy VEPro.
Henryk

I'm in the camp that thinks VEPro is worth every penny. Among other things, it extended the life of my current DAW - I have half a dozen instances of VEPro running, and each has half a dozen instances of Vienna Instruments Pro or Kontakt, and somehow (magic?) it works.

I'm about to invest in a slave machine for VEPro, and I'll be interested to see if it is as easy to move over as I've read.

In the meantime I have my OLD DAW running as a slave for audio - I had a Frontier Dakota/Montana and couldn't reuse them, so I left them in the old DAW and that provides 32 channels of inputs. Next step is to use the 32 outputs to control my analog synths, but that is a ways off...

So yeah, it's worth the money...

To answer your second question - if you find a simple set of instructions please share them here. VEPro is complex, possibly more complex that it needs to be, definitely more complex than I need it to be<G>. That said, one day I may really enjoy all the features.

Honestly I'm still learning! If you are using it on a single machine holler and I an share what has worked for me.

konradh
I am a long time user of Vienna Symphonic Products but have never used Vienna Ensemble.  Since I have a Sonar issue that causes me to lose audio or even crash when too many VIs are running—and "too many" is a variable—I started wondering if putting the instruments in Vienna Ensemble would help.  I think this because the issue does not seem to be memory or CPU: it seems to be Sonar itself.
 
Questions:

1. Do I need Vienna Ensemble Pro to do anything useful?  I have the standard version which is free to anyone like me who has spent $785,000 or more on Vienna Products. The Pro version is a paid-for add-on which I will buy if it will help.
2. Are there SIMPLE instructions on setting this up?  Vienna has a short tutorial that sort of shows setting up a 32-bit and a 64-bit server, talks about using a separate remote computer, and then ends.  I get nothing actionable from that.

 
What I want to try is loading 4-6 instances of Vienna Instruments Pro into Ensemble and having the sound magically come out of Sonar.  It would also be good to try this with Kontakt and Berlin First Chairs which I currently cannot use at all.  (Total waste of money so far.)  I *think* that is the purpose of Vienna Ensemble, but I can't seem to get a straightforward explanation.
 
Can anyone help answer the two questions above in a way a 5th-grader could understand?
 
Thanks, --Konrad

 Groove3 has paid tutorials and they are worth it.  Sonar seems real easy to set up with apps like these.