Will MSI be enough for me?

[dcoscina]

Miroslav Philharmonik is really good.
EWQLSO Silver Pro XP is nice.
HALion Symphonic Orchestra is decent if you cross-grade (good string sounds)

I just updated my MSI and I agree with the other posters on the sound quality. MOTU really has to update the samples because the orchestral instruments are pretty average and sub-par in some cases. Even NOTION has better resident samples!

[poshook]

Motu Symphonic Instrument is NOT worth the money.
It's total garbage!
I was SO excited to get it and SO disapointed after going through it.

I have an old AKAI S1100EX sampler probably worth $150.00 on eBay
that I loaded up the CD of Miroslav's Virtual Soloist and it blows that piece of crap that Moto has the ballls to put out there on the market for $300.00 away.

The strings they have tried to pawn off on us is just plain insulting.
Mushy, hissy, weak strings.
Geez, even my old Roland U220 has better orchestral sounds.

I love DP and that is worth every cent.
Even my 828's are strudy work horses but MSI is a slap in the face.

To rectify this, Motu should offer some updates complete with a USEABLE SOUND LIBRARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Theirs is CRAPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

And those Motu techs have a way to block your phone number on the support line if theydon't want to deal with you.

I called the other day and the tech seemed so bored, I found myself apologizing to him for keeping him on the phone while I tried out his suggestion.
I had to call back because I had another related question and the Motu Tech number was busy for the remainder of the day.

Maybe I interupted him from surfing the porn sites, how dare I?

so let us listen to your orchestral projects with U220.... or with MSI. We will decide who is a piece of crappppppp - YOU or MSI

[Rick Averill]

Garritan has some very good libraries at very reasonable prices. They have the Garritan Personal Orchesta (GPO--symphonic sounds), Jazz and Big Band (JABB), a Stradavari violin and a Gofriller cello (both of which are very nice). They are working on a Marching Band library, a General MIDI, a Choral, and a Steinway.

I have compared voices between GPO, MSI, VSL, and PlugSound Pro. In most cases the GPO were the ones I preferred, although each had its own individual strong points. It's kind of like the old hardware MIDI synths. Each did a few things well, but none that I ever found did everything well, which meant buying a whole rack of modules. All in all, however, if you want one good virtual instrument library at a decent price, I'd look into the Garritan GPO.

One caviat: the GPO, Strad, and Gofriller are the only ones that are currently MacIntel compatible. The others should be out soon.

[Mike-t3]

MSI is funny, because actually you can get extremely realistic sounding orchestral music from it.

The problem with MSI is that it forces you to work in a certain way to sound realistic. Its not a particulary flexible sounding instrument.

Having said that, I've used it in both pop music and in TV music and it does sound good, but you cant expect to sit down and guide MSI to the sound you want. You have to compromise and let MSI guide you instead. But thats what you get when you pay £200 for an orchestral sound library.



Mike

[exmachinamusic]

I want to say this in as many places as I can. There are a lot of people who say horrible things about the MSI, specifically that the samples are no good/barely better than general MIDI etc. This is categorically not true. Why someone would say such nasty things I don't know, but do have a theory:

This thing is complicated. It has a lot of different instruments to use in a lot of different situations. If you are using the solo strings when you should be using the ensemble (or vice versa), yes it will sound bad. Also, people come from a lot of different backgrounds, many of which don't equip you to deal with a symphony properly. If all you've done is play guitar and later you got into sequencing, you will have to educate yourself a little (the manual really will help) in order to know where instruments should be panned and their relative loudness to really sound like a symphony (only to name a few). Anyway, buy this thing, learn to use it and sound great.

[Mike-t3]

Yeah i'd agree with that.

Like anything you have to use it properly to get results.

You could have the best guitar synth/samples ever created, but if you dont play it like a guitar, then it'll sound crap.

What I find hard in MSI is switching between the samples and getting to sound like the same instrument is playing them. ie playing a line with the violins ens and switching between marc and sus.

Mike

[jgriff]

Do the East West libraries work with DP? I'm still new to the instrument formats and would hate to buy something that isn't compatible with DP's virtual instrument limitations. Wish I could use VST's...

[papageno]

Wish I could use VST's...

...bidule...

[monkey man]

I want to say this in as many places as I can. There are a lot of people who say horrible things about the MSI, specifically that the samples are no good/barely better than general MIDI etc. This is categorically not true. Why someone would say such nasty things I don't know, but do have a theory:

This thing is complicated. It has a lot of different instruments to use in a lot of different situations. If you are using the solo strings when you should be using the ensemble (or vice versa), yes it will sound bad. Also, people come from a lot of different backgrounds, many of which don't equip you to deal with a symphony properly. If all you've done is play guitar and later you got into sequencing, you will have to educate yourself a little (the manual really will help) in order to know where instruments should be panned and their relative loudness to really sound like a symphony (only to name a few). Anyway, buy this thing, learn to use it and sound great.

Yeah i'd agree with that.
Like anything you have to use it properly to get results.
You could have the best guitar synth/samples ever created, but if you dont play it like a guitar, then it'll sound crap.
What I find hard in MSI is switching between the samples and getting to sound like the same instrument is playing them. ie playing a line with the violins ens and switching between marc and sus.
Mike

I have to agree too, although I haven't yet used MSI so I can't comment on the programming side of things.

Shooshie's rendition of the "Concertino da Camera - II" and "Concertino da Camera pour onze Instruments" prove it's no GM ROMpler.
I've heard a number of gripes, but Shooshie's efforts negate them in no uncertain terms, IMHO.

I'll be buying MSI one day, at version 5 judging by my financial situation!

[jimagine]

Some people are really strange about creative tools, and the peope who've been dissing MSI as unuseable and junk etc. are doing the average musician a disservice IMO.

I'm a composer and producer of music and commercial work and have been for 20 years with a number of studios. I've used some of the best gear throughout the process and just picked up MSI as an addition to my DP setup (where I do all of my production).

It took me 15 minutes to setup without a hitch and I was using all of the features and sounds without cracking the manual immediately.

The sounds are great. Some rival the best out there and some don't. That could be said of virtually every hardware or software instrument I or anyone I'm aware of has ever used.

On balance. between the over all quality of sounds, the very smooth interface, and convolution verbs - for the money, you'd have to be nuts not to have this in your VI library.

If you do pop, with string and/or horn arrangements it might be all you'd need, it's definitely good enough to score broadcast and film, in short, what's not to like?

Unless you've already invested in a bigger library, MSI is a no brainer.

[monkey man]

Some people are really strange about creative tools, and the peope who've been dissing MSI as unuseable and junk etc. are doing the average musician a disservice IMO.

I'm a composer and producer of music and commercial work and have been for 20 years with a number of studios. I've used some of the best gear throughout the process and just picked up MSI as an addition to my DP setup (where I do all of my production).

It took me 15 minutes to setup without a hitch and I was using all of the features and sounds without cracking the manual immediately.

The sounds are great. Some rival the best out there and some don't. That could be said of virtually every hardware or software instrument I or anyone I'm aware of has ever used.

On balance. between the over all quality of sounds, the very smooth interface, and convolution verbs - for the money, you'd have to be nuts not to have this in your VI library.

If you do pop, with string and/or horn arrangements it might be all you'd need, it's definitely good enough to score broadcast and film, in short, what's not to like?

Unless you've already invested in a bigger library, MSI is a no brainer.

That's what we want to hear, jimagine; good stuff!

[charlie_bne]

Some people are really strange about creative tools, and the peope who've been dissing MSI as unuseable and junk etc. are doing the average musician a disservice IMO.

I'm a composer and producer of music and commercial work and have been for 20 years with a number of studios. I've used some of the best gear throughout the process and just picked up MSI as an addition to my DP setup (where I do all of my production).

It took me 15 minutes to setup without a hitch and I was using all of the features and sounds without cracking the manual immediately.

The sounds are great. Some rival the best out there and some don't. That could be said of virtually every hardware or software instrument I or anyone I'm aware of has ever used.

On balance. between the over all quality of sounds, the very smooth interface, and convolution verbs - for the money, you'd have to be nuts not to have this in your VI library.

If you do pop, with string and/or horn arrangements it might be all you'd need, it's definitely good enough to score broadcast and film, in short, what's not to like?

Unless you've already invested in a bigger library, MSI is a no brainer.

Here, I bought MSI yesterday along with Mach 5, and let me tell you that im absolutely pleased with it.

People, get a grip! this software is 300 Dollars! It is great value for the money! and if all you are going to do is complain about it, then you should go and buy the Vienna Symphonic Library and shut up. The same thing happened to Ethno , comparing it to Eastwest's RA. They are very different and combined make amazing sounds.

If you know how to, you can make MSI sound VERY realistic, i spent all night playing with it and absolutely loved it.

Its an A for me.

[monkey man]

If you know how to, you can make MSI sound VERY realistic, i spent all night playing with it and absolutely loved it.

Yay! Another one!

That's great to hear, charlie_bne.
MOTU deserves credit for it's efforts, not heat.

[frederick]

A major part of getting realistic mockups when using symphonic sample libraries is the use of MIDI controller cc7 & cc11 to help the strings to breathe, and cc1 if the sampled instrument has xfade. I'm sure that this applies to MSI although multiple velocity recordings for dynamics help.

I've written a whole series on this at Virtual Instruments Magazine called:

MIDI Mockup Microscope

- where I've talked to MIDI mockup composers and proceed to dissect their mockup and approach. (Disclaimer: I don't work for the magazine but am a regular contributor with this column.)

Best,

Frederick Russ

[hpmusicman]

This is a great program. Top quality sounds. It can be a memory hog sometimes, but besides that. It should do the trick for you.