Setup advice for someone new to scoring

[chadd]

My G4 Digital Performer setup has been serving me well for several years, mostly doing singer-songwriter stuff (vocals, guitar, bass) in a bedroom studio as a hobbyist. It could probably continue to work for me for a couple more years. But I've recently taken on a project scoring a no-budget short film. At first it seemed like it was going to be piano only, which my Yamaha S90 and DP have been able to do satisfactorily, at least for the sake of composing and presenting mock-ups to the filmmakers. But now it looks like there will need to be more orchestration, or at least some strings to start with, and the string samples in the S90 seem unusable to me.

I started looking into the Garriton Libraries, but it would seem that my current machine probably isn't powerful enough to run it. Does anyone have suggestions for getting better orchestral sounds without having to spend several thousand dollars for a new Mac and interface? Perhaps a cheap Windows machine to run VIs, or a hardware sampler?

Here is my current setup:
PowerMac MDD G4 dual 1Ghz, 1.25 GB RAM, OS 10.3.9, DP 4.5, 2408mk1, PCI-324

[nickysnd]

Here is one option:
http://www.soundsonline.com/EWQLSO-Gold ... PROB1.html
It is a great library and if you hurry up you can have it at almost half the price.

I have used it in DP on an iMac configuration less resourceful than yours (I have recently upgraded). So I guess it will run pretty well on your G4.

[chadd]

Thanks for the suggestion!
Would I also need to buy something like Kontakt in order to use the library as a VI, or is that included with EWQLSO?
Any idea how long that price will last?

[Frodo]

Sale ends Monday, July 9th-- three days from now...

http://www.soundsonline.com/4th-Of-July ... p-198.html

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I won't 'discount' the other suggestions, but for one, I wouldn't use Garritan for a primary string sound. You'd be way better off with even a used Korg Wavestation and a EMU Proteus 2 if you can find them on Craig's list or eBay, you might also look at a used PC88 (Kurzweil).

These instruments are not only fairly high quality, they are inexpensive (being considered obsolete) and will also give you (generally) a wider pallet of sounds for orchestral writing.

Just my opinion... GPO strings are not, IMO, all that great. The solos are OK, and the winds... well, in a word; suck (so to speak).

[monkey man]

`
I'd suggest MSI for the following reasons:

1) MSI should "play nice" with DP.
2) It's dirt cheap.
3) It's sounds are well integrated, gelling to convey a rather convincing orchestra, from what I've heard.
4) The range of instruments on offer would surely surpass the Kurzweil and the Wavestation, wonderful as those beasties are.
5) It's processor-efficient, probably straining your HD more than anything else.
6) It's... an orchestra, and it's... from MOTU.

[emulatorloo]

Thanks for the suggestion!
Would I also need to buy something like Kontakt in order to use the library as a VI, or is that included with EWQLSO?

No you do not need anything else -- it comes with Kontakt player.

That sale will not last long -- frodo gave you the end date.

If you can afford Gold it is great.

If not, Silver is pretty damn good:

http://www.soundsonline.com/EWQLSO-Silv ... PROB1.html

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[SixStringGeek]

[quote="MIDI Life Crisis"You'd be way better off with even a used Korg Wavestation...[/quote]

Which is now available as a software only VI.

http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=KLC1D

I have it and it seems like a faithful reproduction.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

[quote="MIDI Life Crisis"You'd be way better off with even a used Korg Wavestation...

Which is now available as a software only VI.

http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=KLC1D

I have it and it seems like a faithful reproduction.[/quote]

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out for sure.

[emulatorloo]

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out for sure.

The Wavestation VI is everything the wavestation was except it sounds better, and is more fun to program than my "real" wavestationSR.

A "hidden link" from the prior configuration of LEGACY Collection has some great screendumps of the Wavestation VI as:

http://www.korg.com/legacy/breakout/wavestation.htm

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[chadd]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I ordered the EWQLSO Gold bundle at the sale price last night. I'm sure that Motu SI would have been adequate for composing, but I liked the sound of the EWQLSO examples better and thought it seemed worth the extra $230, especially considering that the MIDI mock-up will likely be the final product. My G4 may be short on CPU power (by today's standards), but it has no shortage of drive bays, so I also ordered a dedicated hard drive for the sample library.

[emulatorloo]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I ordered the EWQLSO Gold bundle at the sale price last night

Gold is really nice -- congrats.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

This page at Korg UK has a downloadable demo (I "think" -- at least it used to) (note that this is the demo download of the original legacy collection, which has now been reconfigured/added onto/and split up)

http://www.korg.co.uk/download_list/dow ... =sc_legacy

The Wavestation VI is everything the wavestation was except it sounds better, and is more fun to program than my wavestationSR.

Thanks. The demo is no longer available, but I will probably go ahead and buy the package anyway. My WSSR is still ticking. I sold the WSAD years ago and also had the original WS keyboard. But having a user friendly programmable version is... well, you know! The SR packs a lot of punch but sucks in the interface dept.

[emulatorloo]

Thanks. The demo is no longer available, but I will probably go ahead and buy the package anyway. .

Damn I just figured that out -- but take a look at this "hidden link" from the prior configuration of Korg legacy (before they split analog and digital into 2 packages) to see some screendumps of the Wavestation VI:

http://www.korg.com/legacy/breakout/wavestation.htm

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[MIDI Life Crisis]

Thanks. The demo is no longer available, but I will probably go ahead and buy the package anyway. .

Damn I just figured that out -- but take a look at this "hidden link" from the prior configuration of Korg legacy (before they split analog and digital into 2 packages) to see some screendumps of the Wavestation VI:

http://www.korg.com/legacy/breakout/wavestation.htm

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Very nice interface, especially for those of us who actually bothered to program this machine. I am guessing there is no vocorder...