OT - How is Soundsonline "ULTIMATE STRINGS Roland?"

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Fri May 26, 2006 12:11 pm

I picked up a few other of their sale titles, but did not get that, and now I am regretting. . .

Since Roland S7xx samplers were limited to 32 megs, I was concerned that maybe it was set up for multitimbral use and the the patches might be too small (that is, 2 meg, 4 meg, 8 meg, etc) to be any good for a modern sample

Is that the case or are they all around 32 megs each?

--

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Wed May 31, 2006 8:00 am

Kicking because several of you bought it -- anybody spare a quick review?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!!

Link to product:

http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/det ... sku=EW-094

--

billf · Post by **billf** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:29 am

I picked up the Roland Ultimate Strings. I haven't had a chance to do more than just pick through some of the sounds, but here's my initital thoughts:

1. Import into MachFive: seamless.

2. Variety of sounds: string types are sorted by instrument, and further delinated by style (pizz, legato, arco, tremelo, marcato. There are also a few combos thrown in for good measure.

3. Quality of sounds: I haven't used these in a song yet, but what I've heard so far sound excellent.

Overall: well worth the cost, which in my case was $19.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed May 31, 2006 1:54 pm

Yes-- the price alone is amazing... so much more cost effective than buying the same sounds on the Roland JV5080 series expansion cards (which I'd done some time ago, darn it!). But, it will be nice to use these sounds outside of the 5080 and save its resources for other things.

The sounds are really of considerable quality and not to be underrated. I suspect that some additional mapping and functionality might be possible with M5 using these beyond what the JV units might have been capable of. Just having a software interface alone simplifies the process.

I sort of wish Roland hadn't cluttered their mp3 demo with a narrator, though.

billf · Post by **billf** » Wed May 31, 2006 2:03 pm

Frodo wrote:The sounds are really of considerable quality and not to be underrated. I suspect that some additional mapping and functionality might be possible with M5 using these beyond what the JV units might have been capable of. Just having a software interface alone simplifies the process.

Yep! And the layering possibilities in M5 bring a whole new level of exploration.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Wed May 31, 2006 2:04 pm

Excellent, Bill.

$19? Heck. That's a no-brainer!!

emulatorloo · Post by **emulatorloo** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:55 pm

thnks to you two -- dunno why I didn't order in the first place -- I limited myself to 5 of the clearance titles and that one somehow didn't make the cut. Of course two of the ones I got were somehow less than what I expected!

So where is that damn credit card again?

----

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:32 am

Bill--- e'loo:

Let me know how the native M5 orchestral samples (strings epsecially) or MSI samples-- if you have it-- compare to the Roland set.

Thanks.

This is pretty cool-- how to go broke on the cheap!

billf · Post by **billf** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 9:26 am

Frodo wrote:Bill--- e'loo:

Let me know how the native M5 orchestral samples (strings epsecially) or MSI samples-- if you have it-- compare to the Roland set.

Thanks.

This is pretty cool-- how to go broke on the cheap!

Hi Guys,

I don't have MSI, so I can't make a comparison. I haven't had a chance to use the Roland set yet in a mix, but in terms of quality this set is very good. I know that there won't be a better string library out there at this price, so I'm glad I picked this up.

I also bought the Quantum Leap Brass, which sounds excellent, but has a bit of a quirk in the import process. Basically anything that is out of an instruments range, M5 sticks a placeholder called "In-Rom" for each preset, and I have to manually remove them. Not a big deal, but it does take a bit of time because that library is huge.

The other titles I picked up are Quantum Leap Guitar and Bass, which imported over perfectly. And Percussive Adventures, which imported perfectly, and has some really wild stuff on it.

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:04 pm

I just ordered the Roland strings for $20. Actually, for $32.95 after shipping was added, but that still beats the original price of $200. This set was recorded, apparently, in 2000. That means it's probably 16 bit, 44.1K, but they still sound a lot better than the first genration Miroslav--which now sounds terrible by comparison to even the lower priced sets. I'm anxious to give them a try. I've got a lot of cheap string sets, but I don't like any of them. I'd really like to buy East West or Vienna, but I just can't cough up the dough for that right now. Thanks for pointing us in the direction of this greatly reduced price, loo, and others...

Shooshie

mwalthius · Post by **mwalthius** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:19 am

I just ordered the Roland strings, as well as the Quantum Leap guitar/bass collection. I just got Mach 5 and am totally new to sampling, but these sound like a great value. Thanks for the tip!

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:25 pm

Shooshie wrote:I just ordered the Roland strings for $20. Actually, for $32.95 after shipping was added...

Shooshie

I know. That caught my eye, too! Makes you wonder what all is involved with shipping and handling-- Don't know who did the shipping, but if Kate Beckinsale handled this at all-- I'm in hog heaven!

But, even if they had charged $29 for the disc and $3.95 for shipping it remains one of the best bang(s) for the buck(s) to date.

We'll have to keep each other posted on how we're putting these sounds to work once they arrive. I can't wait to start layering!!

RCory · Post by **RCory** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 1:53 pm

I bought one too.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 4:24 pm

Yeah, RCory! Wayda go!

This is going to be fun...

azusa749a · Post by **azusa749a** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 7:19 pm

My opinion I'd say they sound fine for working on pop music but not orchestra type.
Some of the sounds I really like: you can hear screeching of rosin and some ambience.

Most of them sound similar to Roland sound modules which I have.

First thing is don't forget to set the volume to the velocity level of your playing in each patch, otherwise the sound just static.