E.T. through Vienna Symphonic Library -- can you tell the difference?

[Thor 9,362]

Someone just alerted me to this over on maintitles:

It's almost impossible to believe those are samples and not acoustic instruments played LIVE!

[indy4 160]

Those sound very good for samples, but the brass is a little iffy when muted, like the first variation of Key's theme.

[Thor 9,362]

Those sound very good for samples, but the brass is a little iffy when muted, like the first variation of Key's theme.

True, but this might very well be the damn closest I've ever heard samples come to the real deal.

[Marc 1,071]

This is the famous mockup done by Jay Bacal a few years ago with (only) VSL samples and MIR.

Astounding work like everything he's done !

[Not Mr. Big 5,011]

Sounds fake to me.

[Datameister 2,586]

I definitely wouldn't mistake it for a real orchestra, but it's very good for what it is.

[Marc 1,071]

Trumpets, trombones and horns are always a giveaway.

Especially when playing ff !

VSL woodwinds on the other hand sound very real, particularly the clarinet !

[Marian Schedenig 11,694]

It certainly sounds impressive. I might mistake it for a real orchestra if I don't listen very closely. But if I do, it would still sound like a poor orchestra. There's no life in this performance, and I don't mean that in any spiritual kind of way - I'm not saying a purely electronic (or even hybrid, as in this case) musical performance must by definition lack life. But this one just sounds like an orchestra that's not up to the task and directed by an uninspired conductor.

[Jilal 681]

Everything sounds great, except the brass.

[filmmusic 3,269]

Everything sounds great, except the brass.

and the strings.. these are always the hardest to mock up..

[Thor 9,362]

The brass I bought easily. I thought the strings were fairly impressive too (although not quite to the same standard). Traditionally, the most difficult instrument to sample is the woodwind(s). But I thought these were done impressively well too. So although I can spot the difference, it would probably have taken me a while to do so if I didn't know beforehand that they were from a library.

[indy4 160]

I disagree, brass always sounds the worst.

[KK 3,313]

Woodwinds have almost been nailed by today's samples. But brass is easily still the big giveaway, followed by strings. And as impressive as this mockup is, the synths are given away by its strings and brass.

[Thor 9,362]

I disagree, brass always sounds the worst.

Not to me. For me, it's usually woodwinds and strings that are the giveaways.

In this clip, though, nothing really sounds 'worst'....just 'least impressive'. It's all brilliant.

[Laserschwert 676]

Hollywood Brass sounds very convincing to me though: http://soundcloud.com/alexander-temple/storming-the-gates-east-west

[SF1_freeze 138]

It sounds fake to me, especially the synth brass... The best fake brass i know of is in Sean Callery's 24 music.

[Cantus Venti 13]

Good mock-up, bad actual orchestra