David Coscina 3 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 I know there's been a lot of talk about Garritan's Personal Orchestra. Me, I'm not too impressed by the sounds. Very thin and flat. His strings from the big set are pretty good although I've heard better...such as the Vienna Symphonic Collection. Wow, just listening to their Opus 1 (which runs about $1000) I'm impressed with the woodwinds and brass in particular. They also have release a Solo Strings edition and that has some great sounds too.For those who don't know, East West/Quantum Leap has released a Silver Edition of their acclaimed Symphonic Orchestra series. This runs about $265 and would be the most appropriate contender with Personal Orchestra. To my ears, the strings sound fuller, and edgier, the horns are big, and some of the articulations are quite expressive. Like GPO, the Symphonic Orchestra comes with a version of Kompakt to play the sounds.Has anyone used this to compose on? The ads say it's perfect for laptop use because the entire set is only 2.5 gigs. Still sounds bloody impressive to me.Oh, for the most awesome horns, trombones and trumpets, check out Project Sam. They have the best libraries of brass sounds for cheap. The SAM Horn library which I own for Gigastudio only cost me $129 (US). Real steal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry B 49 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Garritan Personal Orchestra works for me, although I don't have the most critical of ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeshopk 8 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Because I orchestrate my own stuff, and am very particular about number of instruments, I like Garritan Personal Orchestra. I will post something for you here when I get a new server. I made it sound pretty real on an original composition without much effort. The point is to write for real orchestra, and I think GPO is pretty good at handling most of the possible combinations. I even did a "Let there be light" (CE3K) mockup with the strings divided 10 per section. GPO lets you make any subdivisions you want pretty much. Besides, anything bigger than GPO and you need more than one computer to run it. I don't like bulky setups because that means twice the crashes.I also found Quantum Leap Brass to be pretty good for basic big band jazz, but I know there is better out these days. I think its best to get cheaper things, because the point is to spend your money on eastern european orchestras and develop a demo of real music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC1 3,565 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 You could also go for both libraries, Garritan and Silver Edition. Then you have best of both worlds and you get all the bonus features too. The added samples are great for people who are starting out, and like Jeshopk says, you can get by with one PC. The SAM libraries are super, but you also need a room stacked with super computers if they are going to be a part of your virtual orchestra.That said, I would go for OPUS 1 or even higher. The legato tool from the VSL Performance instruments is simply flabbergasting.----------------Alex Cremers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis 125 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Jeshopk,Could you send me a mp3 file of a composition you made with yout sound library? I'm really interrested how it sounds.I do also compose but don't have any music library. Because of that I only compose for Wind orchestra, so I have the chance to hear it live. But I would love to compose also for Big orchstra andhave no idea which library I should buy.imperialsound@bluemail.chunfortunately I only have 5MB space:(Nemesis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Coscina 3 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Share Posted June 7, 2004 Alex, that's a good point. I do find the SAM libraries suck up polyphony like there's no tomorrow, especially on the cross-faded samples. But they are the best brass samples I've heard. The trombones are awesome- and I ought to know as I played that instrument for 15 years.I read somewhere that the Silver edition can only have eight insutrments. This was in a post on another board. I don't think that's accurate though because all of the Kontakt screens show 8 instruments at once. I'm more interested in the Silver Edition than GPO because my Emu Proteus 2 has better woodwind sounds..or my ES8 which has a great bassoon sound. To me, the GPO is really underwhelming either in the context of solo passages or tutti. The Quantum Leap Orchestra Silver Edition doesn't suffer from this. Oh yeah, there are some weaker samples but all in all, it's pretty great.As for the full blown orchestral cube from Vienna Libraries...OH MY GOD. The winds are bloody exceptional. Outstanding. I guess the cube is for Gigastudio. I think one would need a couple computers running Giga 160 or the new Orchestra version of GS3 since the samples are huuuuge. But they sound completely awesome.I don't mean to run down GPO. For those who are just getting into composing, it's a great tool to hear an approximation of one's work without spending a million bucks (like the Vienna libraries). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeshopk 8 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Jeshopk,Could you send me a mp3 file of a composition you made with yout sound library? I'm really interrested how it sounds.I do also compose but don't have any music library. Â Because of that I only compose for Wind orchestra, so I have the chance to hear it live. But I would love to compose also for Big orchstra andhave no idea which library I should buy.imperialsound@bluemail.chunfortunately I only have 5MB space:(Nemesis 8OHere is a link for it. It is kind of a Harry Potter piece, but I wrote it before the PoA music came out.http://66.194.41.112/~compose/plot032.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeshopk 8 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 I'm more interested in the Silver Edition than GPO because my Emu Proteus 2 has better woodwind soundsMaybe you should listen to the demos again, especially the Mozart clarinet concerto on the garritan website.Having used both extensively, GPO woodwinds are far more advanced and realistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis 125 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Thanks for the link Jeshopk!I think it represents very good what would come out with a real orchestra.Do you need a very special soundcard for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon R. 10 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Get as many libraries as possible:) Vienna Symphonic Library is unique in the way they have sampled intervals for all instruments. This means when you play an A, and go down to an E for instance, it will play a sample where the musicians actually go from an A to an E. This makes for very realistic legato possibilities, and you can hear valves etc. on woodwinds! Then there's the Project SAM libraries (only brass so far) which are all a steal. Sonic Implants also made some great libraries. I use their string library all the time and they just released a brass library which is also very good. QLSO is another choice - I don't use it too much, mainly because it runs in Kompakt and not GigaStudio, which I find inconvenient. Also, I am not really happy about much of the material. I really dislike the horn ensembles, and the woodwinds are not that great either. I use the percussion from it all the time though. The library is just not very consistent in its choice of articulations - seems pretty messy... I haven't tried GPO, but if you need to make your stuff sound as real as possible, I will say GPO is not gonna do it for you. It has some OK strings and such, but the brass in particular sounds very weak.I would try to avoid the old libraries like Advanced Orchestra and Miroslav, since everything has been done better (and mostly, cheaper too) in the new generation of libraries for software samplers like GigaStudio, Kontakt and EXS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeshopk 8 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Thanks for the link Jeshopk! Â I think it represents very good what would come out with a real orchestra. Â Do you need a very special soundcard for it? I just have a dell pc, with an Audigy 2 soundcard. A soundcard with ASIO is recommended (Audigy2 has this). I have 2Gig of Ram, so that helps in loading up pretty much a full orchestra. GPO comes with Overture. Overture is a notation program that also acts as a sequencer, if that is how you're used to working. I find it very easy to work with. For now, I'm not interested in shocking the world with the best of sampled music. I really want to write for real orchestra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis 125 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 thanks for the info. I understand your argument about writing for orchestras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Coscina 3 Posted June 8, 2004 Author Share Posted June 8, 2004 I guess if I'm just sketching out a piece on Finale, I use my Motif ES GM set to approximate the orchestra and don't really worry about sonic realism. If I'm doing a score for a film and I'm on a tight budget, then I'll turn to Gigastudio with SAM Horns, Trps, Trombones along with some other great libraries. I'd love to get my grubby hands on that Vienna Opus set. Alas I don't have a full blown Gigastudio nor a DVDrom (or a honking huge amount of RAM..just 512 megs).Eventually though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC1 3,565 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 And then there's also this:http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/sbw.html , I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.----------------Alex Cremers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeshopk 8 Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 If I had enough money for that, I'd probably just record an album in Czech Republic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC1 3,565 Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 If I had enough money for that, I'd probably just record an album in Czech Republic.What do you mean, Jeskhop? That's a 350 Gigabyte orchestra for $995! That's hardly what I call expensive. Ten years ago we had to pay $5000 for Miroslav Vitous which is only 1 Gigabyte. I think this is quite revolutionary. I can't wait to hear the demos! 995 Dollars? You can't record a complete score with a Czech orchestra for that kind of money. I really think we're gonna need a bigger boat.----------------Alex Cremers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon R. 10 Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 Unfortunately Kirk Hunter has a track record of creating bad libraries. But maybe this time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC1 3,565 Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 Well, this time it has been recorded in a State-of-the-Art Concert Hall.BTW, judging from the demos, his solo strings are quite usable. I wouldn't mind having them.Here's the Solo Strings demo page for those who are interested: http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/solodemos.html----------------Alex Cremers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeshopk 8 Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 What do you mean, Jeskhop? That's a 350 Gigabyte orchestra for $995! That's hardly what I call expensive. Ten years ago we had to pay $5000 for Miroslav Vitous which is only 1 Gigabyte. I think this is quite revolutionary. I can't wait to hear the demos! 995 Dollars? You can't record a complete score with a Czech orchestra for that kind of money. Â I thought that price was for just one section of the library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC1 3,565 Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/sbw.htmlSomehow I don't think these audio demos are entirely convincing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon R. 10 Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 The brass sounds horrible. Sounds mono or something. And the strings sound phasey sometimes... oh well, not a big surprise coming from KH unfortunately...Listen to this one: http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/SchmaltzW...tzStrChmMtM.mp3This is dry. If this is how it sounds out of the box.... oh my god. Can't he hear the phasing? It sounds like samples of the same sounds layered on top of each other. Horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC1 3,565 Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Is it the quality of the samples or is it because this guy can't do a serious MIDI-job? This doesn't sound like one would expect from a 350GB orchestral library.----------------Alex Cremers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon R. 10 Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Well he has a record of doing both bad recordings and bad demos... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AC1 3,565 Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Well, don't rent that bigger boat just yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeshopk 8 Posted June 16, 2004 Share Posted June 16, 2004 Wow. I hope he does not find this thread, but that was not a good demo. Simon, haven't you had some good luck with his brass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon R. 10 Posted June 16, 2004 Share Posted June 16, 2004 Â Wow. I hope he does not find this thread, but that was not a good demo. Simon, haven't you had some good luck with his brass?No, I don't want any of his new libraries. It all sounds bad so I can't find any reason to get them:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now