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Alrighty, I took the plunge and bought Symphobia and all I can say is WOW!!!! This is the BEST purchase (aside from DP) that I have made in years, maybe EVER! I LOVE this thing! If you do any kind of orchestral writing, do yourself a huge favor and GET THIS! Even just playing the multis will give you inspiration to write new stuff! This is now my go to orchestral library!

My 2 cents!

Peace

rikp

with you on that one. got it 3 weeks ago.
already slotted it into 4 soundtracks i'm working on. and you know what? it's just how software should be. it just "works" straight out of the box. easy to use, mindblowing sounds. (check out the strings cluster crescendos in the fx department. the cluster basses are mind-blowing.) and the strings/brass multi is a great start for composing.

i've got the full extended Vienna library, and have been using this tracked over the strings. really nice and rich.

i actually sent them an email to say thankyou!!!

$1499 USD. Wow!!!!!!

monkey man wrote:$1499 USD. Wow!!!!!!

Worth EVERY penny! And I don't say that about many things


Peace

rikp

monkey man wrote:$1499 USD. Wow!!!!!!

Yeah - but in the UK it's 899GBP! That's about 1700USD!

I received my copy a few weeks ago, direct from Project Sam and with 30% education discount.

Haven't had much time to use with it yet, but I have to say that so far it is the single most inspirational orch library I have played.

I've been looking at it on their site, and listening to their very impressive demos. Having trouble wrapping my mind around how you use it. I see glisses and strikes and octave runs and various other things; do these act on their own when you press a key? Or are you actually playing individual notes, and it orchestrates each note with the right balance and harmony? Not sure what's up here. I'm so accustomed to playing individual instruments to build up a section. Someone fill me in on how you work with Symphobia. Not that I could afford it right now if I wanted it.

Secondly, is it a complete package? Or is this something you'd want to use in addition to some other package, like Vienna?

Shooshie

Shooshie wrote:I've been looking at it on their site, and listening to their very impressive demos. Having trouble wrapping my mind around how you use it. I see glisses and strikes and octave runs and various other things; do these act on their own when you press a key? Or are you actually playing individual notes, and it orchestrates each note with the right balance and harmony? Not sure what's up here. I'm so accustomed to playing individual instruments to build up a section. Someone fill me in on how you work with Symphobia. Not that I could afford it right now if I wanted it.

Secondly, is it a complete package? Or is this something you'd want to use in addition to some other package, like Vienna?

Shooshie

Hey Shooshie!

To sort of answer your question, the program does the orchestration for you by combining groups of instruments in various settings. If you play a line it may be orchestrated by bassoon, cello, piano, double bass etc. The higher you go pitch wise, the orchestration changes to reflect the ranges of the instruments. They are all very playable! I would spend hours stacking instruments and panning etc to get a full ensemble sound. With Symphobia it is already done for you. It sounds so realistic it is scary! I am combing this with EWQLS and Vienna and getting some interesting results. I am working on a cue for a chase scene right now for a client. When I finish I will post. My goal is to do most of it in Symphopia... a great way to learn a program!

Hey! Who turned you on to Wallander? I really believe that if you do any orchestral writing you REALLY should get this program. It will make your life so much easier. This thing actually inspires me! I know that the price is not cheap, but when you compare it to Vienna and EWQLS you are getting a lot of bang for your buck!

How are you liking Wallander 2? I have not had much time to mess with it because I have been knee deep in Symphobia!

Peace

rikp

The website demos are impressive certainly. But can any of you Symphobia users let us know how it stacks up to EWQL Symphonic Orchestra please?

Kind regards.

Dave Bourke wrote:The website demos are impressive certainly. But can any of you Symphobia users let us know how it stacks up to EWQL Symphonic Orchestra please?

Kind regards.

Hi

It’s a very different kind of library from “traditional” libraries such as VSL and EWQL Symphonic Orchestra. As rikp said, you don’t really have control over the individual instruments; they are mapped over the keyboard for you.

Now I know that sounds ridiculous and old-fashioned, but it makes it very easy to put down an orchestra line without having to worry about, say, all the individual string instruments. Just load one patch and they are all there – and they sound fantastic. Larger than life and in your face, especially made for TV/Film/Game.

There are lighter patches too for more subtle work, as you can hear in the demos. I don’t see it as the ONLY library you’d ever use. Certainly it could well be the only library used for certain cues, but I think you’ll still need the flexibility and delicacy of another library (VSL’s legato come to mind).

But for creating and inspiration it’s very useful. I fully expect a number of composers will only need to use this library for their “fuller” cues.

Simply put, it is a very easy library to use and it sounds great.

rikp wrote:

monkey man wrote:$1499 USD. Wow!!!!!!

Worth EVERY penny! And I don't say that about many things
Peace
rikp

I've no doubt it is, rikp, and thank you for the assurance. I s'pose I'm still coming to terms with having to operate in a different league financially speaking (it'd take me 2 years to save for this VI exclusively).

May I second Shooshie's request for an explanation on how this thing works? I do appreciate the info already offered by Tyrone and rikp; thanks guys.

Hi

No probs.

It is simply a bunch of Kontakt instruments. KontaktPlayer2 is included, but Kontakt will work as well. Normal NI copy protection.

About half the library is effects (very useful for those dramatic cues, and virtually impossible to get using normal Orchestral samples), the other half being the Orchestral library.

The library part is in 4 sections:
1 Stage
2 Close
3 Full Orchestra – Orchestral Effects
4 Dystopia II – Orchestra synthed up effects

The first two sections contain the same 6 subsections, sampled either Stage or Close (as you probably realised!):

1 String Section
2 Brass Section
3 Woodwind Section
4 Strings and Brass Section
5 Solo String Ensemble
6 Additional Content

Under the each of these first 4 sub-sections are:
1 Ensemble
2 Effects
3 Keyswitch

Then finally under the Ensemble you have various articulations .NKI files. Each articulation is spread across the keyboard automatically. For example, the String Ensemble Staccato articulation is spread over 5 and a half octaves, with basses being sampled for the bottom octave or so, cellos for the next octave or so … and so on. So when you play a four or five part chord with the correct spacing, you are hearing the correct instruments being played together. I’m not explaining very well, but it’s very effective.

Other enhancements, for example, are the top velocity layer adding a timpani for extra emphasis on some articulations. Very effective, and makes it extremely easy to play.

Here is the full articulation list:

http://www.projectsam.com/files/documen ... n_List.pdf

Here is the full program list:

http://www.projectsam.com/files/documen ... m_List.pdf

You can try it yourself online for free here (sorry Nicky, I imagine your connection will be too slow):

http://www.try-sound.com/

All the best!

Thanks for the nitty-gritty, Tyrone. Appreciated.

I think I'm gonna have to get this because doing orchestral stuff in EWQLSO is just taking too much time to get it sounding right...

Kind regards.

Got it with the presale order and I've been using it for scoring mock ups ever since. Sounds really great.
Takes some work to blend with other libs. I had to set up eq's and rooms to get a match with it and VSL.
If your doing scores, it's well worth the investment.

definitely not a replacement for the big libraries - not nearly enough velocity layers and articulations, compared to VE - but a great tool to have. either to double up and make the strings richer, or for quick mock-ups. But most importantly (and what i bought it for) for the orchestral fx. orchestral clusters, string glisses. etc.

Well, I had kind of guessed at how it works, then. And I do think it sounds great. I know the feel of having a massive sound at your fingertips and feeling suddenly inspired by the power you wield. But seeing as how it limits you to certain inspirations at certain levels and ranges, it seems a little overpriced. What happens when we're all using it, and it takes about 3 seconds into a clip to say "aha... Symphobia!" And like Monkey Man, I have to watch pennies, so I guess I'm going to have to take a pass on this unless they drop it down into the $200 range. I might be willing to try it for that. Heck... if I get the right gig I might buy it for that, but I'm not going to right now. But I encourage you guys to drop some clips in here for us to hear. I'm actually excited to hear what it inspires in everyone.

As for Wallander... I don't remember at the moment who turned me on to that. It might have been you, Rick. (maybe that's your point!) And I still haven't bought all his instruments, but I'm working on it! I don't know if I'll ever be in the Vienna League. If I can't build it in Wallander, GPO and the like, I may have to take a pass. That leaves me out of the big leagues, I guess, but I'm really unsure of what direction I'm going in right now, so I need to keep my nest egg until my compass gets oriented again.

This Symphobia sounds fun, for sure!

Shooshie