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Hi Guys,

I'd like to ask the community about your experience with large sample libraries for orchestra, special FX for film scores, and such.
I am about to start a big project and can't figure out a few things:

1. Is it easy to handle the Vienna libraries within DP?
2. Are there other top notch orchestra libraries that you would recommend instead?
3. Is Kontakt absolutely necessary, or can I get similar results with Machfive?
(many film composers who work with lots of libraries seem to prefer Kontakt)

Any advice and suggestion will be most welcome.
Thank you as always,
A presto
Enrico

Hi Enrico,

Although I do have DP on both the PC and Mac, most of my work is on the Mac. But because DP works the same way on both platforms (mostly, anyway), I think I can offer you some advice.

The Vienna libraries should work fine, as long as they and your other libraries are installed correctly. You ask if they are easy to handle. I would say yes, as long as you learn how to use Vienna's sampler (all samplers have a bit of a learning curve). One plug for Vienna's products is Vienna MIR Pro, which I use exclusively for positioning the instruments in the sound field and for reverb. It's not cheap, but it's great for simulating the sound of a stage or a studio.

Other library companies: A big plug for Cinesamples. I think I own 16 of their libraries. Great sound and interface, and they're right here in the US.

Other notable companies are Orchestral Tools in Berlin, Spitfire Audio in England, Project Sam in Amsterdam (if you like working with ensembles), and Audiobro's L.A.S.S. for Strings (they also have choir, percussion, and brass libraries). All of these companies have great sounding libraries.

All of the libraries I mentioned run on Kontact (not Vienna). I think Kontact runs well, and I use it almost exclusively. Machfive will not work with these libraries. In fact, Machfive seems like a dead sampler at this point. MOTU hasn't upgraded it in years. Machfive only runs MOTU's libraries, which are kind of dated now.

Good luck with your music.

Mike in Boston

To clarify what Mike said, Virtual Instruments require players and will not work without them. Some will only work with one—the manufacturer will tell you which. Likewise, some players are included with VI libraries while others are not. The VIs you want will determine the players you need and not the other way around.

Kontakt can be confusing. Kontakt Player is free but cannot run libraries not registered with Native Instruments for use with it. Kontakt is a paid sampler and player—if a VI maker requires Kontakt, then Kontakt Player will run it only in demo mode for a few minutes.

MachFive3 is MOTU’s custom version of an old UVI sampler/synth/player. It will load a number of old VI types but newer UVI and Kontakt libraries will not work in it. Buy it if you want the instrument but not as a VI player — too old and obsolete. The latest version of that instrument is UVI’s Falcon but it won’t load many of the old VI types that MachFive could. No matter, there is no VI that MV3 can load that nothing else can. In fact, with DP 10, MV3’s old VI library is available to for use in the free UVI player (you don’t get the sampling synth, just the included VIs).

Slightly o/t ? for the o/p: is the final product going to be VIs or will you be hiring real musicians to play it?

Thanx guys for the precious info, as usual.
I did get the sense that MachFive has become pretty useless, unless I tweak some of its texture sounds to make them as personalized as possible, but no real use for realistic pianos, strings, woodwinds, etc.

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Slightly o/t ? for the o/p: is the final product going to be VIs or will you be hiring real musicians to play it?

The final project will have some live players soloing above textures and backing orchestrations, so the idea is not to mock a full orchestra as much, but to create some interesting landscapes for the soloists to play over.

Thanx again,
Enrico

Simple: Get Kontakt.