# It's high time, my first newbie question.



## DoFuzz (Nov 17, 2020)

Hi,

Guitar (bass every now and then especially with the pandemic) player, back to recording on my own stuff on Logic Pro after a long hiatus. I downloaded the free SINE/Spitfire BBC Orchestral and I'm now looking for some recommendations on what would be a good allround orchestral library with more articulations (I guess semi-pro would be the right term) Mac/AU/Logic Pro.

I'm on a limited budget (like so many musicians atm I guess) so please leave out the real expensive and pro libraries - self-preservation I guess ... and btw I'd also appreciate some hints on making trumpet samples sounding more like a mellow fluegelhorn since searching for fluegelhorn sounds is what found me this place.

Cheers, DoFuzz

P.S. I have done my basic search for different alternatives but would appreciate any thoughts.


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## Laurin Lenschow (Nov 17, 2020)

I was just writing a long text about all my full orchestral libraries until I realized you will not get much use out of me listing orchestral libraries and explaining to you why they don´t fit your needs. So here is the short version:
- Based on what you have asked for you should not buy Majestica, Jaeger, Metropolis Ark 1 or Metropolis Ark 2. 
- You might like Albion One (Spitfire Audio) or The Orchestra (Sonuscore).
- My recommendation is Nucleus. Nucleus comes with two mic mixes that both sound great and are perfectly usable. The library includes almost every instrument you would expect in a standard orchestra (exceptions are Harp and 2nd Violins) and even comes with some soloists and a choir. It covers all the basic articulations, is very well recorded and offers a feature that lets you extend the ranges of the instruments (which can be very handy).

If you would like me to elaborate on one or several of the libraries I mentioned (for example why I would choose Nucleus over Albion One or The Orchestra), feel free to ask 

(I only mentioned libraries I own - that´s why Berlin Inspire 1, Abbey Road ONE, BBCSO Core or EastWest-libraries are not on the list.)


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## Trash Panda (Nov 17, 2020)

Second Nucleus. You can even try the lite version for $99 and get that discounted towards the full version if you decide to upgrade.

It doesn’t have a ton of articulations, but it has enough that you can get a lot of mileage by stacking them cleverly (such as combining stacatissimo and sustain to simulate marcatos or sforzando).

If budget is a bigger concern than user friendliness, East West Composer Cloud will give you every tool you could possibly need for $30/mo. Just be ready to spend a lot of time learning how to use it.


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## DoFuzz (Nov 18, 2020)

Hi many thx for your replies Laurin and The Serinator,

Nucleus is definitely one that I've missed but will also take a closer look at the other libraries you mentioned Laurin - and as a newbie on orchestral plugins ) I'd appreciate if you can elaborate a
little on Nucleus over Albion.

I've realised that Kontakt is the major player for most - and my history with them is not good but that said I probably should spend some more time on the Kontakt Player. Again your info is much 
appreciated and helpful. Kudos. On to the research....

Cheers, DoFuzz


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## Laurin Lenschow (Nov 18, 2020)

Nucleus comes with split sections while Albion One has prebaked ensembles which makes Albion only good for sketching because you can´t voice e.g. Violins and Violas differently. 
Albion One includes some synth/sound design patches that use the orchestral recordings as source material - if you want to write orchestral music (no hybrid filmscores) you don´t need these patches.
Nucleus on the other hand comes with soloists (Violin, Cello, Flute, Oboe, Trumpet, Horn), tonal percussion (Timpani, Marimba, Glockenspiel, Xylophone) and a choir - Albion One has neither of those.
That said, Albion One lets you choose between three to four microphone positions while Nucleus offers two prebaked microphone mixes which makes it slightly less flexible. On the other hand these mixes are pretty dry once you turn off the on board reverb, so that is not really an issue.
Overall Nucleus gives you more control over what the individual sections do and it comes with more instruments which makes it simply superior to Albion One unless you are looking specifically for a sketching tool.


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## Laurin Lenschow (Nov 18, 2020)

The Audio Imperia Black Friday Sale just started btw., so you could get Nucleus for 300$ instead of 450$.


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## JCarlsen (Nov 18, 2020)

Pulled the trigger on Nucleus today. Im super happy with it from what i have been able to test so far.  Its on sale now for 299$ which is a steal


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## RogiervG (Nov 18, 2020)

ok, there was also the option for Hollywood orchestra diamond (not too expensive now with the discount).


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## DoFuzz (Nov 18, 2020)

Thx again for the additional info on your suggestions Laurin Lenschow I really appreciate it!

Cheers, 
DoFuzz


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## DoFuzz (Nov 18, 2020)

JCarlsen said:


> Pulled the trigger on Nucleus today. Im super happy with it from what i have been able to test so far.  Its on sale now for 299$ which is a steal



Hi 

I noticed that you are online JCarlsen so any more thoughts or impressions already and btw are you on a Mac or PC?

Cheers, DoFuzz


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## Laurin Lenschow (Nov 18, 2020)

@DoFuzz you're welcome


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## PaulieDC (Nov 18, 2020)

Right now orchestral tools has the bundle of Berlin Orchestra Inspire 1 and 2 on sale. Also, SpitFire Audio’s Labs are free libraries, donate if possible.

Given the rooms and the techniques of recording these two companies do, I think this offer the best tone for the price. Just my two cents.


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## JCarlsen (Nov 19, 2020)

DoFuzz said:


> Hi
> 
> I noticed that you are online JCarlsen so any more thoughts or impressions already and btw are you on a Mac or PC?
> 
> Cheers, DoFuzz



Hey! Im on PC and i use FL Studio for my DAW. So far: The UI is intuitive, install is easy, manual explains what you need to know about the library, and most importantly it explains sample start times(how to set it up correctly) and that is one of the strengths of this lib. All the patches work well. Now im a beginner so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Sound:
Love the strings, all of them are great. The different mix options lets you simply choose between a modern style or classic style. I have enough articulations to create what i want(im one of those who didnt think about legatos until i read about them on this forum).

Brass is good but the high-end sound a tiny bit synthy to me but i havent tested it extensively yet so my opinion might change.

Havent tested other woodwinds than the flute but its fantastic!

I was considering getting damage 2 for a perc lib but honestly i think im fine with the Nucleus perc lib for a while. Like you im a guitarist who recently got into this and i find that having one UI to work with and understand is enough for now. It has everything i need and i dont want to rush into buying a whole lot of libs before i feel i need them. Its simple to use and makes great sounds, is versatile(from epic to classic to metal, jazz). I've tested so far with epic heroic tunes, christmas jazz and rock. The dynamic range is enough so that you can use it in a multitude of genres.

I could ramble on here but the in short. This lib got me everything i need for now and i would recommend it to any other beginner who needs a solid start that doesnt break the bank. If you have any questions feel free to ask and i'll try to answer as best i can


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## DoFuzz (Nov 19, 2020)

JCarlsen,

Good to hear from a fellow guitar player! 

Thanks for your reply to my question and I think I get what you describe actually having listened to a lot of demos and reading some more info from several libraries. Atm I'm a bit unsure if I want to commit to the more orchestral route (as opposed to a more cinematic approach which I think might be more useful for me). 

I only want to use it for my own compositions/music and maybe I should get a 2nd-hand Spectrasonics Omnisphere instead? I really appreciate all of the info you and Laurin Lenschow provided (and others too). Sadly I'm making very little money at te moment and that's a factor. 

Cheers, DoFuzz


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## PaulieDC (Nov 19, 2020)

BTW, Orchestral Tools' Layers is another freebie with decent articulations: Layers


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## DoFuzz (Nov 20, 2020)

HI PaulieDC 

Thx I just happened to come across OT but thanks! It's a very nice forum here and I'll have to do more research to find what will be OK for me. Nice car btw and the Rembrandt words!

Cheers, DoFuzz


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## DoFuzz (Nov 20, 2020)

I've decided to try to sell some guitar stuff I rarely use and wait for a while and see what I can do with the free BBC Orch Discover and Orchestral Tools plugins and learn what I can do with them plus the Logic DAW. That said and after some research I've decided that more "cinematic" and modern sounding libraries might be the way to go for me - but later - since I mainly like more modern classical composers and music.

Again many thx for your help and info!

Cheers, DoFuzz


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## DoFuzz (Nov 25, 2020)

Hi

So BF sale is on and I was lucky to sell some unused/rarley used gear - with the current sale, BBC Orch Core or Nucleus? Anyone using of both libraries how tough are they on the CPU... iMac i5/2.8 Gz 16 MBRAM at the moment. Cheers, DoFuzz


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## JCarlsen (Nov 26, 2020)

Nucleus is smaller sample size and works with Kontakt player which then allows you to have multiple instances of the same instrument without it using double the memory. For Core the sample size is larger and you need one instance per instrument which is alot more taxing. Depends on how you use it but you will be fine with Nucleus atleast(i have 16 gb of ram aswell and my full Nucleus orchestral template is around 6gb). 2.11 ghz and it works ok. The purge function in Kontakt is very useful in low ram scenarios. I've only used the discover version of bbcso and they run at about the same but obviously the core version is a whole different beast so im sorry i cant give you any information on how that might work.


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## DoFuzz (Nov 26, 2020)

JCarlsen

Again thx for taking the time to give some more info. I'm not that familiar with the Kontakt setup and did find it cumbersome to work with the few times I've used it - I much prefer the BBC SA plugin for ease of use but I've got a day or two to think and decide. Maybe I'll just put myself on hold atm and see what I can do with the BBCSO Discover... and see if my financial situation improves. 

Cheers, DoFuzz


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## ngineer (Nov 26, 2020)

DoFuzz said:


> JCarlsen
> I much prefer the BBC SA plugin for ease of use but I've got a day or two to think and decide. Maybe I'll just put myself on hold atm and see what I can do with the BBCSO Discover... and see if my financial situation improves.
> 
> Cheers, DoFuzz



If you haven’t already, check out videos by Guy Michelmore and Christian Henson on the sonic differences of playing the same piece of music between BBCSO Discover, Core, and Pro.
For me, at the BF/December price ($220 w/ Discover), Core is proving hard to pass up.


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## DoFuzz (Nov 26, 2020)

Hi

no I'd missed that and will watch it later today and decide this weekend. Thx ngineer. 

Cheers, DoFuzz


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## DoFuzz (Nov 30, 2020)

Hi,

still a bit unsure about BBCSO Core - as my economy is going downhill - I did buy SA's Intimate strings as a complement to BBCSO Discover and experimented for a couple of hours... but couldn't do it without adding some lap steel.... 




Cheers,
DoFuzz


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