One Orchestral Library recommendation

Best options are probably EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus (on sale right now for $299 down from $995), Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra Core ($449), or Audio Imperia's Nucleus ($449). HOPUS is probably (definitely) the best value, but research each of these to find which you personally like best. And hold out for a sale on the latter two options as well if you can wait.




EDIT: If you decide to go with HOPUS you can purchase it through JRRshop and they'll throw in the reverb plugin Spaces II as well if you like: https://www.jrrshop.com/eastwest-hollywood-orchestra-opus-edition-diamond

Sean Linge said:

Best options are probably EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus (on sale right now for $299 down from $995), Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra Core ($449), or Audio Imperia's Nucleus ($449). HOPUS is probably (definitely) the best value, but research each of these to find which you personally like best. And hold out for a sale on the latter two options as well if you can wait.

Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition VST Plugin | EastWest

Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition VST plugin is an award winning virtual orchestra. Includes Orchestrator for creating blockbuster soundtracks in seconds.

www.soundsonline.com

BBC Symphony Orchestra Core — Spitfire Audio

BBC Symphony Orchestra Core is the gold standard in orchestral sampling, featuring essential instruments, one mix signal and the full range of articulations.

www.spitfireaudio.com

Nucleus | Audio Imperia

Nucleus | The Orchestral Core - An orchestra at your fingertips. The definitive collection of Strings, Wind, Brass, Percussion, Choir and Sound Design.

www.audioimperia.com

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As @Sean Linge mentioned, make sure you like the tone/articulations, and workflow.
Each sound differently, works differently. Look for walkthroughs on them, to see how they sound in isolation for the included instruments.

Keep in mind, the type of music you want to make. Since some libraries might be easier to pull certain music easier than the other (the other needs more works e.g.): read below about tone.

Please note, what follows is of course my opinion (and subjective), so take that in mind.

I have (besides many other libraries) Hollywoord Orchestral Opus (diamond) and BBC SO core, which i will likely upgrade to pro very soon.

Tone:
i like the Brass from Hollywood Orchestra better for the louder dynamics, but for lower dynamics BBC SO is my preference out of the two.
As for the woodwinds: BBC SO blows (pun intended) the Hollywood Orchestra woodwinds out of the water. Strings i find the BBC SO for many occassions better sounding, more cohesive nature (like a group playing together). Percussion is better sounding too, in BBC SO.
Overall Winner (for me): BBC SO.


Character of each orchestra (purpose/geared towards):
BBC is more sounding like a classical performance in a concert hall/stage.
Hollywood Orchestra sounds more studio like (in a good way), focussed.
Nucleus, i do not have, but from what i've heard so far, it's more hyped in nature (some call it "Epic").

You may have guessed: i'm not so much into Epic/bold sounding music.

@Joe K
Spitfire has a sale going on for the majority of their products, including the BBC SO line.
E.g. BBC SO Core for 314 EUR/USD, instead of 449

RogiervG said:

@Joe K
Spitfire has a sale going on on the majority of their products including the BBC SO line.

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Alright thanks, I couldn't see the current price on it as an owner.

Sean Linge said:

Alright thanks, I couldn't see the current price on it as an owner.

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i logged out from the site, and saw the sale price

For questions like this, everybody always gives you the same answer : He suggests the library he owns ! I prefer to only give you my very summerized feedback on libraries I currently own :
- Vienna Synchron : I use a lot of because the sound is good but the player is also very good. It offers a wide list of features to control your sound. It is my favorite one.
- Orchestral Tools : I only use Brasses and WW (and First chairs). For me the sound is very nice too but the player is not optimized. We can't acceed to some parameters by Midi CC... And the same Midi CC is used for several parameters, depending the articulation you use (as Spitfire). For me, it is a bad option. But I use alot too for the qualmity of sounds.
- Chris Hein : very sophisticated libraries (I own strings and Horns). The learning curve to cover all possibilities is not easy but the result is very interesting with some exclusive features (as Hot key which gives you the possibility to merge two articulations one one note, one at the beginning and one after... very usefull to simulate some playong technics). I love a lot of the sound of solo strings (for me better than First chairs of Orchestral tools) . The limitation is the fact it uses Kontakt which is a good player but with a 20 years old GUI (now too small)
- 8 dio : I use WW clair and I mainly love the vibratos... very nice recording. But as Chris Hein, it uses Kontakt with the same limitations.
- East West : I only use old Orchestral libraries. The sounds are also very good (That sounds wide !) but the midi implementation is totally crazy..; It is possible that this difficulty is canceled with Opus..; But I don't like subscription principle... I consequently don't own OPUS..
- Spitfire : I only have old Strings libraries and Albion 1. Albion 1 is very good, easy to use but limited to ensemble. I use a lot of for first Mock up. Others Strings libraries sound good too but with the same problem as Orchestral tools... Midi implementation is far from Vienna Synchron one and Kontakt GUI is too old..
I hope it will be usefull for you...

Joe K said:

Hi Guys,

If I'm looking for a comprehensive orchestral library that sounds perfect out-of-the-box for scoring and demo purposes, which one would you recommend? Maximum budget is 500$.
Thanks

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Check also Winter Classic Bundle on Spitfire Audio.

500 doughnuts ?

BBC

No Brainer

Best

ed

For those of you recommending HOOPUS, does it still have the high learning curve and high system requirements that once upon a time made it less than optimal as an introductory library? It’s clearly an excellent value but I’ve long wondered if the Opus version solved many of the other issues with the original version that made it more difficult than it needed to be for those learning how to use a virtual orchestra.

jbuhler said:

For those of you recommending HOOPUS, does it still have the high learning curve and high system requirements that once upon a time made it less than optimal as an introductory library? It’s clearly an excellent value but I’ve long wondered if the Opus version solved many of the other issues with the original version that made it more difficult than it needed to be for those learning how to use a virtual orchestra.

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If you used only the KS (keyswitch) patches for each instrument and chose between the three sonic flavors as necessary, you co probably achieve 90 percent of what you want to.

OPUS has a bit of its own unique learning curve, but there are some good video resources from EastWest and 2nd Tier Sound that help explain it. It comes with some easy to use presets for sonic quality, but takes a little more work to set up your CC’s.

Also take note that you only have to download the mics or articulations you want - so the whole 900gb size “problem” is overblown.

For the number of instruments, articulations, and mics you get it is a solid value bundled with Spaces II. If you buy from JRR Shop, throw the FORUM or GROUP code in for an additional discount.

That said, BBCSO and Nucleus are also great places to start, as well. They each have their own tonal qualities that you’ll need to watch some walkthroughs to hear what’s best for you. These libraries are also like Lays Potato chips in that it may be hard to stop at having just one!

Always wait for a sale, and with the current deal, HOOPUS is the best value if you were to buy today (before the current holiday deal ends.

Ashermusic said:

If you used only the KS (keyswitch) patches for each instrument and chose between the three sonic flavors as necessary, you co probably achieve 90 percent of what you want to.

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This is good to know!

Myself, I already have several complete virtual orchestras, but I've wondered about this for advice to those acquiring their first library. HOOPUS is really an amazing value, enough of a value that I've come close to picking it up even though I don't feel I especially need it given everything else I already have. But still it's hard to state just how much you get with HOOPUS compared to anything else at that price, even twice the price. BBCSO core is probably the only thing even remotely comparable, and the comparison is still very distant.

But the old knock on Hollywood Orchestra was that it was a challenge to use (both because it required a fairly advanced system—especially lots of RAM—when it was released and because it had a very large set of articulations that were not always organized in an intuitive way). I know the OPUS player has done a lot in terms of stability (the reason I never invested in the old Hollywood Orchestra was because Play was so unstable for me, and by the time that had been fixed I'd already acquired other virtual orchestras so I never felt compelled to get HO). Currently all my East West libraries (and I have quite a few older ones) appear to be Play libraries that run inside OPUS rather than specifically designed for OPUS, so I've wondered if HOOPUS has been reorganized in a more elaborate way. It often sounds like it has, especially given that East West charges an upgrade fee from HO to HOOPUS. But I've never been clear about the changes.

jbuhler said:

For those of you recommending HOOPUS, does it still have the high learning curve and high system requirements that once upon a time made it less than optimal as an introductory library? It’s clearly an excellent value but I’ve long wondered if the Opus version solved many of the other issues with the original version that made it more difficult than it needed to be for those learning how to use a virtual orchestra.

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HOOPUS is great, but did not address most of the issues that make it less than ideal for someone starting out.

For beginners and anyone on a budget, Musio 1 is the obvious choice. I vastly prefer it to BBCSO and it's much more streamlined (in a good way) compared to HOOPUS.

For a classical sounding orchestra. Spitfire BBC Discover, and if you like the workflow, upgrade to PRO. Skip Core. I've not tried Nucleus, but as I understand that is more of an epic sound.

brek said:

HOOPUS is great, but did not address most of the issues that make it less than ideal for someone starting out.

For beginners and anyone on a budget, Musio 1 is the obvious choice. I vastly prefer it to BBCSO and it's much more streamlined (in a good way) compared to HOOPUS.

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If I was starting out, I think Musio would drive me nuts for a lot of reasons, but that likely has more to do with me. Of the options, BBCSO core would likely have been the best option for me. But that's hindsight, and of course I also don't have BBCSO, and it's not like BBCSO core doesn't present its own set of very real challenges, so between the various options it likely comes down to which problems beginners feel most comfortable with, also with the sort of music they are wanting to write.

jbuhler said:

This is good to know!

But the old knock on Hollywood Orchestra was that it was a challenge to use (both because it required a fairly advanced system—especially lots of RAM—when it was released and because it had a very large set of articulations that were not always organized in an intuitive way). I know the OPUS player has done a lot in terms of stability (the reason I never invested in the old Hollywood Orchestra was because Play was so unstable for me, and by the time that had been fixed I'd already acquired other virtual orchestras so I never felt compelled to get HO). Currently all my East West libraries (and I have quite a few older ones) appear to be Play libraries that run inside OPUS rather than specifically designed for OPUS, so I've wondered if HOOPUS has been reorganized in a more elaborate way. It often sounds like it has, especially given that East West charges an upgrade fee from HO to HOOPUS. But I've never been clear about the changes.

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They also reworked the woodwinds content and added new instrument patches and the Orchestrator, as well. It’s not perfect, but for an all in one package it’s very thorough.

OPUS also has a purge function for RAM management, too. I can’t remember which Wolfgang it is, but EW hired two well known industry vets away from other companies to build it.

jbuhler said:

If I was starting out, I think Musio would drive me nuts for a lot of reasons, but that likely has more to do with me. Of the options, BBCSO core would likely have been the best option for me. But that's hindsight, and of course I also don't have BBCSO, and it's not like BBCSO core doesn't present its own set of very real challenges, so between the various options it likely comes down to which problems beginners feel most comfortable with, also with the sort of music they are wanting to write.

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Agree that Musio is a great supplementary option for color rather than a primary one based on my own experience.

For a beginner, it requires cobbling together a lot of instrument choices from the range of multiple Musio libraries rather than picking from sections in a more comprehensive one.

jbuhler said:

If I was starting out, I think Musio would drive me nuts for a lot of reasons, but that likely has more to do with me. Of the options, BBCSO core would likely have been the best option for me. But that's hindsight, and of course I also don't have BBCSO, and it's not like BBCSO core doesn't present its own set of very real challenges, so between the various options it likely comes down to which problems beginners feel most comfortable with, also with the sort of music they are wanting to write.

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Interesting... what are the issues you have with it?

At our school we have provided Amadeus, Composer Cloud, and now Musio for students. I easily saw the best results and the least issues by starting them out with Musio. There are also students who come in already using BBCSO - it's fine, but I think Musio has more consistent dynamics and editing (something I think is important at this stage).

One issue I have, as mentioned above, is needing to steer towards the more cohesive patches/libraries. Like, for example, how the differences and applications between Cinebrass Core and Pro are not readily apparent or clearly articulated.

brek said:

Interesting... what are the issues you have with it?

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If Musio follows the layout of CineSamples' orchestral libraries, the articulations aren't laid out the way I would want (I have CineBrass and CineWinds). Maybe they addressed those shortcomings in the Musio implementation—I haven't yet looked at Musio—but since Musio only recently got key switching, I can't imagine that they have. I still find the Kontakt versions of CineBrass and CineWinds a chore to work with, and I've now been doing this for a reasonably long time.

Vice versa, I know how SF libraries work, having many of them, and one reason I have many of them is because they work more or less the way I expect. So my guess is that BBCSO would have been a natural fit for me if I was starting out. (But who knows. Hindsight is certainly a distortion field.) I suspect I'd get along reasonably well with Nucleus as well, though I'm not fond of Audio Imperia's sound, so I would be disinclined to go that route for that reason.

brek said:

At our school we have provided Amadeus, Composer Cloud, and now Musio for students. I easily saw the best results and the least issues by starting them out with Musio. There are also students who come in already using BBCSO - it's fine, but I think Musio has more consistent dynamics and editing (something I think is important at this stage).

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This is good to know, and some real data, if still preliminary.

I have BBCSO Core and really like it, but remember, you will be writing parts for every instrument of the orchestra. I recommend pairing it with something like Albion 1 Legacy or a library that has full sections, like high and low brass. Sometimes, you just want to get your ideas out, or create shortcuts by writing for sections and some solo instruments when required. Others can comment about if BBCSO Core and Albion 1 Legacy can be blended together easily.

Of course, another option is to go the Symphobia route, which doesn't give you every articulation for every instrument, but is easy to use and sounds great.

Scarlet Jerry