Who uses EWQLSO for their orchestra sketches?

[David Coscina 3]

I'm a big advocate of East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra series. I own both Silver and Gold Editions. The latter features built-in hall ambience and release trails that create very convincing orchestral sketches.

East West is also releasing upcoming Pro upgrades that feature additional articulations and some nice modernist effects (col legno, sul ponticello, clusters etc.)

For those who want ultra realism, check out Platinum. The link below is very interesting indeed.

http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/showthr...=7&page=1&pp=10

This is a serious deal. Guys like David Newman use the Platinum Edition which has 3 mic position samples for detailed mixing, 24 bit resolution, and all that.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

So...know a place were you can download all this stuff for free?

[krosstj 0]

So...know a place were you can download all this stuff for free?

LOL! HAHA!

[David Coscina 3]

Nice try Stef.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Steef.

How does EWQLSO compare to Garritan Personal Orchestra in terms of sample quality and user friendliness?

[Simon R. 10]

EWQLSO is much better at realism than Garritan... At least if you go for Gold or Platinum. But then again, Garritan was never meant to compete with the big libraries.

However, EWQLSO has a lot of flaws that makes me stay away from most of it. I only use some of the percussion sometimes. The horns sound pretty strange, the trombones have no ff layer, the woodwinds are generally pretty bad and the choice and lack of consistency throughout the sections is strange.

[David Coscina 3]

I agree that the winds are pretty weak compared to VSL, especially the legato patches. But EWQLSO is coming out with Pro editions that seemingly have a Qlegato feature. I just uprgaded to Kontakt 2 partly because it's a cheaper way of getting legato wind/string patches with the VSL bundled samples. There's something like 7 gigs as opposed to Silver Pro's 2.5 gigs. Also, the way K2 is scripted, you apparently don't need the performance tool to use repetition and legato patches.

As for EWQLSO, I have Gold so I use it a lot. The release trails are great. Are the brass better than Project SAM (which I also have, oyyy my aching wallet)? Hmmm, maybe not. I'm a brass player and I do find SAM to have the best quality brass of the lot. Mind you, I've played VSL brass and frankly I think they suck.

Simon, you are right about GPO. I've honestly not heard a single demo from that which is anywhere near realistic. Some of the presets on my Proteus 2 which is 15 years old sound better or at least on par. that's pathetic. I bought Silver a year ago because I liked the brass and percussion a lot more than GPO. And the strings are a bit better too. EWQLSO has its work to do in the wind section. Oboes and clarinets don't hold a candle to VSL IMO.

[PaulMaul 0]

Just got the silver last week up untill which point had maily used strings as background on electro-funk dance stuff , though i impressed with the sounds so far ,so much in fact i attempted my first real orch-sketch

[Simon R. 10]

No, the SAM brass is much better than QLSO. The SAM horns are a bit "dated" though. Sonic Implants and Dan Dean have better horns - and Epic Horns from VSL sounds pretty good but I don't have them yet.

[SRFan 0]

Fiery Angel your name isn't David Coscina is it? Sure EWQLSO is better than GPO but what isn't? GPO is like general midi deluxe edition. EWQLSO still has some big problems like useless woodwinds and french horns that often don't sound like any real french horns i've heard. It also comes in wretched Kompakt where my sound cuts out all the time if there's too many notes.

[David Coscina 3]

SRFan,

1. Why is my real name important?

2. I'm a trombone player. Hence, a brass player. The horns on EWQLSO aren't crap. They sound pretty realistic. What QLSO edition do you own to make such an assured statement anyhow? Yes, the winds need help. I've already stated that.

3. Check your settings on your Kontakt player. You can increase the polyphony. Also, most individual sections of an orchestra don't warrant heaps of polyphony. If you are writing in a truly contrapuntal idiom, you won't run out of voices unless you're playing block chords which, aside from a piano, is not realistic for orchestra.

[SRFan 0]

I own Silver and Gold. I was wondering about your name because your post reminds me of someone who constantly advertises EWQLSO on other boards, perhaps hoping the developers will give him a free copy Platinum? I dunno.

[David Coscina 3]

OT- SRFan, have you heard about Kontakt 2 with the bundled VSL samples that include some legato and repetition patches? I have Gigastudio 3 with bundled VSL sounds and while some of the winds are pretty darn nice, I'm not especially knocked out by the brass or strings- not enough variations, just staccato, tremolo, and legato.

As for my name, yes, I am Mr. Coscina. But I joined this board before the others and liked the name Fiery Angel because it's one of my favorite Prokofiev pieces. And I don't honestly think I "advertise" for East West. In most cases, I just post pieces that happen to use EWQLSO thus I explain to people what sounds I used and from where. The guys at East West are nice but they wouldn't give customers a $3000 product for free nor would I do anything like that with an ulterior motive in mind.

[jgraves 0]

I've got the Platinum EWQLSO as well as everything else. Here are the strengths/best sounds from any library:

violins/violas (including 3 way bowing, double bowing, slow, fast, legato, etc)

str fx

cb slaps

legato celli

all brass sounds but trumpets and some fhorn stuff

specifically the tbn and tuba sounds are amazing - I've fooled many the low brass player thinking it was live

all perc - best I've ever heard and I'm a classical percussionist

Here are the weaknesses:

most ww, but good solo and legato stuff

trumpets are terrible, stc tpts are passible

low str have no bite - attacks are too slow even with "fast" marcato patches

fhorns have funny "brightness" on some notes but not others

This is all general but what I've come to find in the last 6 months with the library. hope this helps!

Jason

[David Coscina 3]

Jason, you're so right about the low strings. The downbowing is really not aggressive enough. Hence I mix in other libs like Prime Sounds Session Strings which have excellent celli staccato and spiccato.

Tuba on Gold is also excellent and you can hear the brass rattle when you play it fff.

I think the Pro upgrades will improve on the winds, especially with the Qlegato patches. We'll obviously have to see. I'm not a huge fan of VSL because to my ears, their samples sound antiseptic- too clean and no warmth. But some of their solo winds with legato performance built in are amazing.

I don't think there is one be-all end-all orchestral library.

[Jeshopk 8]

Steef.  

How does EWQLSO compare to Garritan Personal Orchestra in terms of sample quality and user friendliness?

I have both. Garritan is a little better for the quick sketch. I am customizing my EWQLSO in Kontakt to have the same type of programming as Garritan, so I can have the best of both worlds. Its taking a while. Kontakt's interface could be a little more streamlined.