Orchestral Libraries Again

[dix]

For a few years now I've been making do with EWQLO Gold and Symphobia 1 for faux orchestral work and mockups. But now I need to bump it up a bit. EW Hollywood Orchestra has received mixed reviews here and on other forums compared to LASS, Vienna etc etc, but is by far the best bang for the buck from what I can see.

Is there anything out there, below $1500 (the price for Hollywood Strings, WW, Perc, Brass Diamond) that comes close?

Probably because I've not tried anything better, I've always been happy with the EW stuff. I'm inclined to remain in blissful ignorance unless there's a full-orchestra option out there I haven't considered.

Thx

[dewdman42]

I rather like Kirk Hunter stuff, it goes on sale occasionally and its good value. Part of the reason I like it is because it does NOT sound like EW. I feel like he is a little more true to the orchestra as opposed to going for the big hollywood sound.

[dix]

Actually, for what I do the "Hollywood" sound is often what is needed. However, the Kirk Hunter stuff sounds quite good and is reasonably priced. They certainly didn't overspend on their website. It's hard to see what's what.

[MikeInBoston]

Check out Cinesamples. With the "40% OFF SALE", which unfortunately ends on Dec. 2nd, you can get the CineSymphony Core Bundle for $899 (strings, winds, brass, percussion). For an extra $480, you can add both the CineWinds Pro and CineBrass Pro libraries, which comes in at a grand total of $1379. Cinesamples is a great company, and their libraries are among the very best.

Mike

[Shooshie]

After using the VSL Dimensions library, I don't know if I'll ever need another string library. All my others are pretty much useless since I've been using Dimensions. I can't tell you how much better it is than ALL my other libraries; it's just VASTLY better.

I'm hoping they come out with a comparable solo string library. I know they already have one, and I have some of it, but I'd like to see one with the approach they used in Dimensions. In fact, I'd like to see Dimensions doubled in size, to include twice as many samples of each note. It rotates through samples for repeated notes to avoid the bane of MIDI VI sounds: machine-gun duplicates. It currently has 4 or 5 of each note. I could stand 10 or 12.

Libraries like Kirk Hunter were once cutting edge, but that was 10 years ago. With dedication, you can make any library useful, but today there are some libraries that simply take the dread out of tracking strings. Dimensions tops the list, IMO.

Shoosh

[tlockett]

+1 for CineSamples, I just bought a couple libraries from them this weekend, and I'm really pleased

[dix]

Thanks for all this great input!

After pouring over these suggestions, at this point, the simplicity of EW's bundling is the main reason why it remains attractive (two versions of their flagship library only). Cobbling together a similar bundle from other companies is pretty complicated. VSL and KH are the worst in this regard. Right now Cinesamples looks like the runner up since, as Mike has kindly outlined, it seems like the best way to up my entire orchestral game.

I'm wondering why Hollywood is so disliked. As I said, I've always been happy with EWQLO. Is it the sound, the programming, the flexibility of the other libraries that give them the edge? I've done a ton of mockups over the years, but I don't have an orchestral background. Ease-of-use is also a key factor for. KH for example, while reasonably priced, seems way over designed for my needs.

Thanks!

[dix]

Starting to go numb from all the research I'm doing…

Again, what's so bad about EW Hollywood? Based on the online marketing from various companies, EWH looks bigger, more versatile and better thought out than anything in the price range. Plus it comes on a hard drive saving me another $50 or so.

Is it the hands on experience that deters people? Because their online demos sound at least as good as anyone else's. Often better.

[doodles]

Again, what's so bad about EW Hollywood? Based on the online marketing from various companies, EWH looks bigger, more versatile and better thought out than anything in the price range. Plus it comes on a hard drive saving me another $50 or so.

I've had the diamond edition of Hollywood strings and brass for a few years and have only ever used 3 of their patches. The quality's pretty good, but PLAY, for me, is just unusable. Utterly horrendous. And takes sooooooo long to load up. Compared to Kontakt, (which loads of libraries use), I just don't have enough hours in the day to spend trying to get PLAY to laod up/play nice. Sure others love it, but for me that's why I wouldn't recommend EW. Nothing to do with the library itself.

[MikeInBoston]

I agree with doodles. The one thing that has kept me away from EastWest is PLAY. I've read nothing but complaints about it online, and it's supposed to be a CPU-pig. And then again, there's that damned dongle (iLok). Kontact libraries don't need a dongle, and it's easier moving back and forth between a desktop computer and a laptop.

Mike

[groove]

I agree with the others, Play is horrendous, the scripting engine feells so limited compare to what Kontakt offers to library makers and programmers. I barely load Play nowadays, only for a Ra instrument here and there that I replace with a Kontakt one when Black Friday events occurs. I'm this close to erase any remnant of a Play library in my set-up.

(EW should have stick with NI instead of doing their own player.)

For what your are looking, Cinesamples, as suggested is excellent. If you only need strings check cinemastrings2. If your mockups don't need to be sent to an orchetrator, the Albions series from Spitfire Audio might be interesting. The sound is amazing -recorded at Air Lyndust- a good list of articulations, multi-mics recordings in place, and an "arranger type" setup for combination (i.e. vl1-vl2 octava, vl1+vl2 unison, the sort of. Its a go to library for game, tv and film trailer and it's pretty easy and straightforward to use in Kontakt. Besides, the price of the bundles will left you with enough money to invest in something else for Christmas!

[dix]

Wow. Hard to find any love for Play anywhere! It's pretty universally reviled - Gearslutz is awash with bad reports. Too bad. I was ready to go for HO, but such bad reviews are hard to ignore.

So, despite what appears to be much less bang-for-buck, CineSamples seems to be the best choice. The Spitfire Albion looks interesting too (thx groove), although it doesn't have much percussion (eg no timpani or glock) I'm not sure why you say it's not good for working with arrangers. I do need to have the option. Is it just the octave pairing that you're referring to? Are other ensembles married to each other ala Symphobia or something? …Spitfire Audio's another example of a badly over designed website. I had to really poke around to find the list of instruments in the respective bundles amidst all the wiz-bang images.

Thanks again.

[groove]

Good moove dix with cinesamples.

I meant "copyist" or simply Sibelius, but wrote orchestrator, stupid me! With Albion you don't get separate sections, instead you get one instrument for hi strings (vl1-2, vla), one for low strings (cl-cba), hi winds, etc. the articulation are recorded in unison and octava , recalled by key switches. That is why I said it is not suited for mockup sent to a "copyist". I'd say it is a cross mixed between a conventional library and something like Symphobia.

Have fun!


Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

[dix]

I've only been messing with CineSamples Core libraries for a few short hours. So far it's pretty damn amazing.

Hey Mike, you suggested getting the Pro wind and brass. I'm a happy camper with what I have, but of course I haven't had time to actually use the library. I'm wondering if I should take advantage of the sale that ends today, or get them as needed. Do you find those pro additions very useful?

[doodles]

Hey Mike, you suggested getting the Pro wind and brass. I'm a happy camper with what I have, but of course I haven't had time to actually use the library. I'm wondering if I should take advantage of the sale that ends today, or get them as needed. Do you find those pro additions very useful?

yep. but be warned, some of the sounds are REALLY noisy. Piccolo is unusable in many areas. They said they're going to look into at some stage...