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The Orchestral Sample Library Thread


Drew

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25 minutes ago, Michael G. said:

Might not be entirely appropriate for this thread, but what is the best DAW for orchestral and film music? There are so many, I really have no idea which one to get, currently I still have Cakewalk but want to switch. What experience do you have with your DAWs? I've heard of FL Studio, for example, that it's more made for beats, especially since the Producer Edition doesn't even have a player for videos integrated, which is completely stupid for film music. If I have a tendency at all, then PreSonus Studio One, but no idea.

 

In my experience, which ever one works on your PC the best without crashing like crazy. :lol:

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Cubase and Logic Pro are both industry standard and are both really good, both having some pros and cons, mostly depending on workflow. I am a Logic user myself and am very satisfied with the DAW. You get constant updates as well which are sometimes rather significant, such as the articulation maps feature that they released a few years back in an update.

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2 hours ago, Michael G. said:

Might not be entirely appropriate for this thread, but what is the best DAW for orchestral and film music? There are so many, I really have no idea which one to get, currently I still have Cakewalk but want to switch. What experience do you have with your DAWs? I've heard of FL Studio, for example, that it's more made for beats, especially since the Producer Edition doesn't even have a player for videos integrated, which is completely stupid for film music. If I have a tendency at all, then PreSonus Studio One, but no idea.

I mostly used Cakewalk but switched recently to Cubase which is superior.  They all have pros and cons and switching is a big decision so you might want to test the others out to see if they solve your issues with cakewalk or might end up being worse.

 

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Everything on Cinesamples is 40 percent off until the 23rd. Use the code "40off" at checkout.

 

On 17/02/2022 at 6:19 PM, Michael G. said:

Might not be entirely appropriate for this thread, but what is the best DAW for orchestral and film music? There are so many, I really have no idea which one to get, currently I still have Cakewalk but want to switch. What experience do you have with your DAWs? I've heard of FL Studio, for example, that it's more made for beats, especially since the Producer Edition doesn't even have a player for videos integrated, which is completely stupid for film music. If I have a tendency at all, then PreSonus Studio One, but no idea.

 

Studio One might be a good choice since it supposedly has good notation support and some integration with their notation software, Notion 6.

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On 18/02/2022 at 12:19 AM, Michael G. said:

Might not be entirely appropriate for this thread, but what is the best DAW for orchestral and film music? There are so many, I really have no idea which one to get, currently I still have Cakewalk but want to switch. What experience do you have with your DAWs? I've heard of FL Studio, for example, that it's more made for beats, especially since the Producer Edition doesn't even have a player for videos integrated, which is completely stupid for film music. If I have a tendency at all, then PreSonus Studio One, but no idea.

I have been making my stuff with Cubase since 2011 and it has always worked pretty well, can recommend. But a good CPU and at least 16GB RAM is a must. Steinberg also offers EDU Discounts. Upgrades to the newer versions are pretty reasonable priced as well. Video import also works well, but at least in my experience a low-res version of the video is best for that, because it seems to be pretty resource-heavy. What I would not recommend is FL Studio for the reason you mentioned.

1 hour ago, Drew said:

Everything on Cinesamples is 40 percent off until the 23rd. Use the code "40off" at checkout.

 

 

Studio One might be a good choice since it supposedly has good notation support and some integration with their notation software, Notion 6.

I wish developers would implement a better interface between their DAW and notation software. So far I have Cubase and Dorico open at the same time to transcribe. Would be nicer to just have the sheet music open in the DAW.

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On 21/02/2022 at 2:34 PM, MaxTheHouseelf said:

I wish developers would implement a better interface between their DAW and notation software. So far I have Cubase and Dorico open at the same time to transcribe. Would be nicer to just have the sheet music open in the DAW.

 

Yes! This has been the bane of my existence for the past year. I just can't get into DAW composing the same way as notation, and most sample libraries do not work well with notation software. The only compromise so far is using NotePerformer on Finale and exporting the MIDI do be done with better samples.

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If you need a drum set library, the new Spitfire Originals library has you covered. If you buy it before the end of March, Spitfire will give you a 10 dollar gift card toward your account!

 

 

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I have a question. What synths/VSTs were in use by RCP in the 90s, in particular for percussion? I read recently about how Zimmer used synths to produce all of the percussion for The Lion King, and it's obvious those same synths saw some pretty extensive use throughout the 90s.

 

I've identified Edirol as a candidate for one of the synth libraries used but I'm having trouble identifying the others.

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So, my latest purchase was East West Opus in the Composer Cloud that they offer. And I have to say, that's pretty good! Here's what I just played in quickly, just chords really, but that's what it made of it. Very impressive. Of course it's repetitive, but definitely an incredibly good source of inspiration!!! What are your thoughts / experiences with East West Opus?  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13EaDOnSYEmQKd1Fd4RU6F6V81K-kg6Pr/view?usp=sharing

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Huge news: Cinesamples just announced a subscription service featuring (scaled down versions of) their libraries called Musio! It will compete with EastWest Composer Cloud and has a monthly subscription fee of 20 dollars and a yearly fee of 150 dollars. There is a two week free trial automatically given to you at signup. The Musio player takes the Orchestral Tools SINE Player approach and lets you download just the patches that you want instead of entire libraries at a time.

 

https://www.musio.com/ 

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That's cool, it will give me a chance to test out some of their products. I only have the Randy celeste and CineBrass Sonore from them. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I thought more people that are into midi mock-ups with sample libraries will see it.

I am about to purchase a new desktop (my old one is too old) and I've found this affordable one right now:

 

Intel Core i7 12700K, 12 cores, 3.60 GHz
32GB RAM, DDR5, 5200 MHz
2 Hard discs:SSD NVMe 500 GB, HDD 2TB
Graphics Card: nVidia RTX 3080 10 GB GDDR6
Windows 11 Home

 

Is this enough to use with sample libraries? I don't know much about computers, and the thing I know is that you have to have enough RAM. Well, I cannot afford a 64GB RAM now.

Also, I already have this sound card:

https://focusrite.com/en/audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-solo

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the biggest mistake is that you buy an assembled pc. just order all the parts and you will save a lot of money. so much that you can easily build a 64gb in it.

And if possible you should not use HDDs anymore, only SSDs (best Nvme)

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Michael G. said:

just order all the parts and you will save a lot of money

The thing is that I don't know about computers like I said, so i cannot order the different parts mysef.

For the record, this will cost me 2740 euros.

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31 minutes ago, Drew said:

Spitfire's spring sale just started.

 

I know, I got the email. Dangerous times for my wallet. :folder:

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On 19/05/2022 at 6:07 PM, filmmusic said:

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I thought more people that are into midi mock-ups with sample libraries will see it.

I am about to purchase a new desktop (my old one is too old) and I've found this affordable one right now:

 

Intel Core i7 12700K, 12 cores, 3.60 GHz
32GB RAM, DDR5, 5200 MHz
2 Hard discs:SSD NVMe 500 GB, HDD 2TB
Graphics Card: nVidia RTX 3080 10 GB GDDR6
Windows 11 Home

 

Is this enough to use with sample libraries? I don't know much about computers, and the thing I know is that you have to have enough RAM. Well, I cannot afford a 64GB RAM now.

Also, I already have this sound card:

https://focusrite.com/en/audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-solo

 

I assume you chose this graphics card on purpose? Because if you're not into gaming, this thing is huge overkill, you're not going to need it. And prices for these cards are still pretty high. I'd take a RTX 3060 (or even 3050) instead, costs less than half (~500€).

 

Fast SSD, RAM and CPU power is much more important and with the specs you showed it will be totally enough. I personally have my sample libraries on a dedicated, normal 500GB SSD, not even a NVMe.

 

I have 32 GB RAM and use libraries like Cinebrass, Albion, Damage, Soundiron Choir, some 8DIO strings and Berlin Woodwinds all in one template and it uses maybe about 70% of RAM. I have an 8-core CPU and if I have really a lot of FX plugins loaded I think it can struggle, because audio processing is too much. But for the most part this is not a problem.

 

I wouldn't recommend Windows 11 Home, go for the 'Pro' version instead.

 

Hope this helps.

On 19/05/2022 at 6:34 PM, filmmusic said:

The thing is that I don't know about computers like I said, so i cannot order the different parts mysef.

For the record, this will cost me 2740 euros.

That is a shit ton of money for a PC.  Looks to me like a gaming configuration. The RAM is brand new DDR5 technology. Again, I'd save some money by downgrading the graphics card if you're not doing excessive video editing / rendering or gaming.

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Thanks for your reply @MaxTheHouseelf.

I chose eventually to make a pc from scratch (well, a shop will do that for me) and some of the specs they proposed to me with the characteristics I told them, are:

 

Intel Core i9-10900K 3.70GHz

64GB RAM DDR4 (with the capability of upgrading up to 128)

2 TB ssd, 3 TB hdd

Nvidia PNY Quadro T600 4GB GDDR6 ( i just need to play 4K BLurays, i already have a 4K monitor and a UHD player)
WIndows 10 pro 64bit.

 

This will cost me 2250 euros.

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12 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Thanks for your reply @MaxTheHouseelf.

I chose eventually to make a pc from scratch (well, a shop will do that for me) and some of the specs they proposed to me with the characteristics I told them, are:

 

Intel Core i9-10900K 3.70GHz

64GB RAM DDR4 (with the capability of upgrading up to 128)

2 TB ssd, 3 TB hdd

Nvidia PNY Quadro T600 4GB GDDR6 ( i just need to play 4K BLurays, i already have a 4K monitor and a UHD player)
WIndows 10 pro 64bit.

 

This will cost me 2250 euros.

Nice, this is definitely a very good - and long lasting - configuration!

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2 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Thanks for your reply @MaxTheHouseelf.

I chose eventually to make a pc from scratch (well, a shop will do that for me) and some of the specs they proposed to me with the characteristics I told them, are:

 

Intel Core i9-10900K 3.70GHz

64GB RAM DDR4 (with the capability of upgrading up to 128)

2 TB ssd, 3 TB hdd

Nvidia PNY Quadro T600 4GB GDDR6 ( i just need to play 4K BLurays, i already have a 4K monitor and a UHD player)
WIndows 10 pro 64bit.

 

This will cost me 2250 euros.

This basically very good! Is it a SATA or NVMe SSD? Is there a option to directly install windows 11?

 

I have a SATA SSD (512 gb) and an NVMe (2 TB) and you can definitely see a difference when loading sample libraries. NVMe is by far better. But since you have 64 gb ram a SATA should be enough, because the missing speed in the ssd is compensated by the ram.

 

 

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I'm still using a 2013 iMac, upgraded to 32GB RAM, samples always streamed from SSDs... and I do completely fine, even with heavy sessions of 200+ tracks.

 

As long as you efficiently bus your reverbs and effects, purge samples when desperately pushed for RAM, bounce when super-desperate, you're laughing.

 

 

Out of interest, can I ask what libraries you all use in your templates?

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4 hours ago, Michael G. said:

This basically very good! Is it a SATA or NVMe SSD? Is there a option to directly install windows 11?

It's this: Samsung 980 Pro 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4.

NVMe from what I see.

Well, I know Windows 10 and didn't want to change. I feared also that I would have any compatibility issues.

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11 hours ago, Michael G. said:

But since you have 64 gb ram a SATA should be enough, because the missing speed in the ssd is compensated by the ram.

Not sure what you mean. I think NVMe just saves time when you start up your template and samples are loaded into RAM initially, because of the larger bandwidth. Not sure if there's a significant difference when you do the playback within the DAW, because I thought >90% of samples are accessed from RAM anyways and not from SSD? So that at this stage, NVMe or SSD shouldn't make a difference, I think. But I'm not exactly sure, never had a problem with this, RAM was always the limiting factor for me.

 

7 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Well, I know Windows 10 and didn't want to change. I feared also that I would have any compatibility issues.

I have Win 11 for a few months now and it works fine for me. Not saying it is better though. Still a lot of stupid duplicated / hidden menus.

 

10 hours ago, LSH said:

I'm still using a 2013 iMac, upgraded to 32GB RAM, samples always streamed from SSDs... and I do completely fine, even with heavy sessions of 200+ tracks.

 

As long as you efficiently bus your reverbs and effects, purge samples when desperately pushed for RAM, bounce when super-desperate, you're laughing.

 

 

Out of interest, can I ask what libraries you all use in your templates?

I always thought having 200 tracks in one session is insane ;) Never used that much (maybe 100 tracks max.). Mostly I make the mistake to throw reverb on new instruments, instead of routing them to one Reverb channel instead, because I want full control, haha. This leads to cracks sometimes.

 

Libraries I use in almost every template are: Spitfire Audio Albion (still the original one, not the refresh), Cinesamples Cinebrass Core, Audiobro LASS Lite 2.0, Orchestral Tools Berlin Woodwinds, 8DIO Adagio Violas / Agitato Cellos, Heavyocity DAMAGE.

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I want to get an external hard drive for samples because SSDs are too expensive right now. Would that be a big mistake? I don't mind the longer loading times as long as everything works.

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External HDD's I would absolutely no recommend, if you can get an external SSD that would be the way to go. Luckily I got a free one from EastWest many years ago and I just recently started using that. Way faster than my previous external HDD.

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Hm, you might want to save your money then, or at least save as much as possible and get a temporary external HDD. It's not just slowness being a factor (at least not in my experience) but also tons of dropouts and crashing, mostly the former.

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Do you know if Kontakt libraries perform better on hard drives than the players from EastWest, Spitfire, Orchestral Tools, etc.?

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2 hours ago, Drew said:

Do you know if Kontakt libraries perform better on hard drives than the players from EastWest, Spitfire, Orchestral Tools, etc.?

 

I have all my Kontakt libraries still on an external HDD and they work fine. EW's PLAY and OPUS are practically unusable on my HDD though. I don't really have any Spitfire products aside from LABS so I'm not sure how well they work on an HDD vs SSD.

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2 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

I have all my Kontakt libraries still on an external HDD and they work fine.

 

Good news for getting a hard drive then. Most of the stuff I want or have to download is on Kontakt.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I got CineBrass Pro this week. Although it's old and the articulations can be sluggish, sometimes it just totally nails the sound. This example of a horn solo sounds shockingly close to the real thing! Not a surprise given that both CineBrass and this score were recorded in the same room.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Berlin Muted Brass has come to SINE and is on sale until August 3 or something. It is probably the most comprehensive muted brass library ever made. Expect this SINE port to be the only sale it ever gets.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have CC+ and first of all you won't need all products: If you have Hollywood Orchestra you won't need the old one. If you are writing orchestral music you won't need all that old synth and rock and pop stuff they did (which is bad btw) -- except maybe the new forbidden planet which is quite cool.

image.png

These are all the products I installed and pretty much all that are good and usable, IMHO. (I tested every of their products.)

 

This is how much space they need.

image.png

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I have use for quite a few of the libraries you don't have. Personal preferences aside: I want to know if that's the right type of hard drive.

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1 hour ago, Giftheck said:

I have use for quite a few of the libraries you don't have. Personal preferences aside: I want to know if that's the right type of hard drive.

 

That could work fine, but being an HDD it will be a bit slow. They typically recommend an SSD; I have my libraries split between a 1TB SSD and a much larger HDD, and the samples on the SSD load much faster, and I don't experience any dropped notes on them during playback, etc.

 

1 hour ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

you won't need all that old synth and rock and pop stuff they did (which is bad btw)

 

monophy.gif

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