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Buyer's Basic Guide to Orchestral Sample Libraries

ericboehme said:
For some of us, money is not a block. I have an IT job that pays really well, and so I have more discretionary funds. Everyone is in a different place. I would assume pros can buy what they want if they are successful. That is the minority.
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True money income is so limited and i cannot change thing.
ps. to me i like miroslav sound much woodwinds,strings and string sections for example maybe brass is worst area but looks is almost always worst.
 
prodigalson said:
FWIW, I recently upgraded to Play 4.3.0 and it solved many debilitating issues I was having with the Hollywood Orchestra.

Using Logic Pro X on an iMac 27-inch quad-core i7 with 32 GB RAM streaming from SSD I had loading times of upwards of 10 mins.

Now, my patches load in seconds and I have yet to experience any major glitches or hanging notes etc. with HS or HB.

I would encourage anyone with issues with Play currently to upgrade to 4.3.0
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Good to know. I have ordered the same computer that you have; however, I just got my OWC memory today and will initially bump memory up to 40 GB, eventually 64 GB. (late 2015 model on order)
 
ericboehme said:
Good to know. I have ordered the same computer that you have; however, I just got my OWC memory today and will initially bump memory up to 40 GB, eventually 64 GB. (late 2015 model on order)
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I'm sorry, are you saying the 2015 model of iMac can be configured to take 64 GB Ram??
 
Yes they I think sell 128 gig package for the 2013 mac pro, and now 64 for the late 2015 iMac. I think on the Apple site its just 64 and 32 respectively, but the OWC is 'apple approved' or something, enough to have me thinking about it for sure.
 
Zhao Shen said:
BRASS


Symphony Series: Brass Collection - Native Instruments - Kontakt Player Library
Ensemble $400 / Solo $300 / FULL BUNDLE $500
--> http://www.native-instruments.com/e...l-cinematic/symphony-series-brass-collection/

STRENGTHS: Includes a comprehensive set of articulations and has a great sound. Fantastic-looking interface with lots of control over microphone mixing.

WEAKNESSES: The Symphony Series is not as cohesive as many had hoped - recorded by different companies in different halls in different seating positions. Despite this, the series seems to blend together fairly well.

OTHER: Section sizes are very large - 8 trumpets/8 trombones/8 horns/8 low brass (4 EUPHONIUMS??) - which can be good or bad depending on the sound you want.
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This is a little technicality, but I am betting the tuba ensemble is a mixture of 2 bass tubas in either BBb or CC and the 2 tubas in either Eb or F, next 2 or 3 Euphoniums, and 1 or 2 Eb tenor horns which are also called alto horns. If they sampled flugelhorn We could've had a tuba ensemble that went as high as the trumpets! If I sampled this ensemble, I would've selected this instrumentation for tuba ensemble: 2 bass tubas in BBb, 2 euphoniums, 2 tenor horns, and 2 flugelhorns, but then again this is just a dream because I don't know anything about sampling just coming up with ideas.
 
Rodney Money said:
This is a little technicality, but I am betting the tuba ensemble is a mixture of 2 bass tubas in either BBb or CC and the 2 tubas in either Eb or F, next 2 or 3 Euphoniums, and 1 or 2 Eb tenor horns which are also called alto horns. If they sampled flugelhorn We could've had a tuba ensemble that went as high as the trumpets! If I sampled this ensemble, I would've selected this instrumentation for tuba ensemble: 2 bass tubas in BBb, 2 euphoniums, 2 tenor horns, and 2 flugelhorns, but then again this is just a dream because I don't know anything about sampling just coming up with ideas.
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From the NI site:
1 contrabass tuba
3 bass tubas
4 tenor tubas (euphonium)
 
Zhao Shen said:
From the NI site:
1 contrabass tuba
3 bass tubas
4 tenor tubas (euphonium)
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Not according to their behind the scenes video at 1:30. The instrument to the right looks like a small alto horn and then there is an empty chair beside him. Plus the range, I believe Daniel James said it goes to a high E. A euphonium's tone should max out around a Bb unless they stretched the notes to reach the E.
 
Rodney Money said:
Not according to their behind the scenes video at 1:30. The instrument to the right looks like a small alto horn and then there is an empty chair beside him. Plus the range, I believe Daniel James said it goes to a high E. A euphonium's tone should max out around a Bb unless they stretched the notes to reach the E.
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Hm... Interesting that there would be a discrepancy there, you'd think that they know what instruments they sampled.
 
This is great stuff. Even though I know most of it I come back to this all the time to organize my thoughts and double check if I forgot something.

I think it would be really helpful to also have one for CHOIR. Are you planning on adding it?
 
I'm probably...

1. Late to the party and...
2. More pop oriented.

I have LASS (primary go-to library), Session Strings, GPO, Albion and EWQLSO Gold which can generally handle what I need with some (or lots!) of effort.

However, I'm looking for some library that might get me closer to these, for instance...

Sinatra...
Streisand...
George Jones...
Ray Price...
Christopher Cross...

This is just a quick sampling, but one can probably get what I'm looking for. Lush pop/country string sections that have that "sweetness". I do know 4 part writing and voicings, so I don't think it's me that's the issue here! I'm also quite comfortable with DAW based EQ, 'verbs, etc. Been engineering for many years.

Considering Cinematic Strings 2 and, perhaps, SS-SE, but I always feel like I'm having to "dumb down" these libraries since they seem to be targeted for cinema scoring.

Thanks a lot!

Buzzy
 
@BuzzySmith - VSL Appassionata Strings can do that kind of thing well. For something that has that sweet lushness, but also a slight bite (like the Ray Price song), I would layer something very lush and big sounding like Appassionatas or Cinematic Strings 2 with a smaller and/or more direct sounding library. From your collection, LASS or Session Strings could do.
 
Jimmy Hellfire said:
@BuzzySmith - VSL Appassionata Strings can do that kind of thing well. For something that has that sweet lushness, but also a slight bite (like the Ray Price song), I would layer something very lush and big sounding like Appassionatas or Cinematic Strings 2 with a smaller and/or more direct sounding library. From your collection, LASS or Session Strings could do.
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Thanks, Jimmy!
(I have been known to layer, too.)

I notice on the website that there are a few options. Appassionata Strings 1 Standard Library or Full Library and another option for Appassionata Strings 2. Thoughts? Start with AS1?

Thanks!

Buzzy
 
Appassionata 1 Standard covers the essential articulations. The "full" library includes a bunch of additional stuff, which is really cool to have and adds to the expressiveness (even more types of legato, runs, fast repetitions etc). The standard library already covers quite some ground on its own, so it's certainly a good start. One can always expand to the full library later on.

Appassionata 2 Standard/Full is the same deal, but everything con sordino.
 
I often layer Lass with CS2 if I want more lushness. Lass gives me the soaring violins and the bite when needed and CS adds some warmth.
The lack of portamento in CS I find a bit of a shortcoming.
 
Well, this is annoying!

I'm ordering both Appassionata 1 and CS2.

• Cinematic Strings was first. I get the confirmation email with the serial # and the link to the "Advanced Download Manager". It's a Zip file and when unzipped and opened, it does nothing. It appears in the menu bar but with no options other than the standard "About" and "Services...No Services Apply". No window to enter the #. I've emailed [email protected] and used their "Contact" link on the website.

• Appassionata 1. Was getting ready to pull the trigger at Sweetwater and noticed that the software required the Vienna Symphonic Library ViennaKey USB eLicenser Key. So, I ordered that and later today will order the library as my wife drove off with my billfold!

No real rush, but I was looking forward to spending some of Sunday exploring the new strings.

Just whining...

Buzzy
 
I'm looking for a good (not too expensive) string library. Currently my favourite is CinematicStrings 2 (EUR 300). Anyone compared this to the new NI library Symphony Series String Ensemble (Crossgrade possible, also EUR 300)?
Would there be alternatives in the same price class? Which one would you choose as a "beginner" library?
 
Cram said:
I'm looking for a good (not too expensive) string library. Currently my favourite is CinematicStrings 2 (EUR 300). Anyone compared this to the new NI library Symphony Series String Ensemble (Crossgrade possible, also EUR 300)?
Would there be alternatives in the same price class? Which one would you choose as a "beginner" library?
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You can't go wrong with CS2. Around the same price range are 8Dio Adagietto and CineStrings CORE, so give those a listen too. CS2 was my only dedicated orchestral strings library for about a year and a half, and I am very fond of it :)
 
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