# Hollywood Strings Gold for €97. Good deal?



## doctoremmet (Mar 4, 2020)

Hi. Total VI newbie here. Coming from a total hardware studio, now dipping my toes in VI land. Mainly a synth guy but starting to fool around with orchestra libraries now.

I now own:

Arturia Analog Lab
Arturia Pigments 2 (awesome)
UVI Falcon 2 (even more awesome)
NI Komplete 12
8dio Century Strings
8dio Century Brass (Ensemble + Solo)
Musical Sampling Adventure Strings
Aaron Venture Infinite Woodwinds (by all means my current favorite due to the sheer musicality of it, a TRUE instrument)

I am interested in purchasing a deep sampled woodwind ensemble lib, but was hoping for a future 8dio Century Woodwind or something. I will also be getting Aaron’s Infinite Brass when the 1.4 update gets released.

now... ON TOPIC! 









60% off "Hollywood Strings (Gold Edition)" by EastWest/Quantum Leap


“HOLLYWOOD STRINGS GOLD EDITION” is designed to be the most detailed collection of string orchestra instruments ever assembled and offers unprecedented control over sound and performance. Produced by DOUG ROGERS, NICK PHOENIX, and THOMAS BERGERSEN and Sound Engineered by SHAWN MURPHY (ACADEMY...




vstbuzz.com





Would you recommend this one ^ to add to the collection? I am under the impression that this is considered as an “all time classic” somewhat, and the Gold edition has a relatively small SSD footprint, so I figured maybe the 97€ price is a good one? Or have there been better deals?

thx!


----------



## Snarf (Mar 4, 2020)

It's a good price (the best?) for a good library, but keep in mind that it takes some more work than more recent libraries to get good results. You absolutely have to read the manual for this one or you'll get lost in the patch structure for starters.

Is it a good choice for you? It depends on what you find lacking in Century Strings and what you are hoping to get out of HWS.


----------



## Gerbil (Mar 4, 2020)

Century Strings is a small ensemble, very different to Hollywood Strings. I think it'd be an excellent addition to your collection.


----------



## doctoremmet (Mar 4, 2020)

Gerbil said:


> Century Strings is a small ensemble, very different to Hollywood Strings. I think it'd be an excellent addition to your collection.



Yes I figured as much. I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I’ll make sure to read the manual! Thanks to the both of you!


----------



## PaulieDC (Mar 4, 2020)

60% off is the best deal I've ever seen for an EastWest sale. Plus your library has value for future upgrades if you desire. Just like there are different kinds and sizes of screwdrivers in a toolbox, I've come to find libraries are that way. HS is the goto for big loud passages, the room they used does have that Hollywood pedal-to-the-metal sound. When you need that, whoomp, there it is. It's probably not the goto for a tender emotional scene, something like SpitFire Symphonic Strings might be more suitable. HOWEVER, we all need to build our toolbox, and 97 quid for a classic string library? No brainer!


----------



## José Herring (Mar 4, 2020)

Get it. That's a bargain and it can still do things that other libraries don't seem to be able to pull off. 

Plus it's the right size string section. While I like many other libraries this trend of going down to small orchestral sections is a little weird considering the majority market is film and trailer composers.

The only down side with gold is that you only get one mic position and the one they chose only really starts to come alive until you have a string tutti or partial or full orchestral tuttis. If you just want that solo vln patch, Gold doesn't sound as good with just the one mic, but combined the Gold mic position I really like it, it's full sounding without getting that sample build up. Though each patch by itself can sound a little thin.


----------



## Dex (Mar 4, 2020)

It's a good deal. Sometimes the full gold HO (4 sections - strings, brass, woods, and perc) goes on sale for like $250, but this is as cheap as I've ever seen a single section.


----------



## I like music (Mar 5, 2020)

Absolutely insane that you can get such a quality library for _this_ cheap! Weren't these £1,000+ when they came out? I know there are people on this board who paid that money, and never regretted it. In some contexts, this library will outshine 90% of other string libraries that have been produced since. GET IT!


----------



## FlyingSinger (Mar 5, 2020)

I also bought this yesterday when I saw it, adding it to SF LABS and Originals, SF Albion NEO and Kepler Orchestra (weird starting point there, but... sales!). I also have a couple of perhaps less auspicious early buys, Film Score Companion and PreSonus Symphonic Orchestra [I use Studio One and Notion 6] and a couple of small 8dio things I just picked up (sales again, I'm a sucker for marketing). I will read the HS manual as advised - in first brief experiment it was a bit overwhelming (but sounded ok with some Spitfire tracks). 

This may not be the place to ask (as I have not yet RTFM), but if you are going to use multiple sections and articulations of HS in a piece, do you typically apply a separate instance of the Player plugin to each track? Will that use resources like crazy? Or is there a way to load multiple sample sets in one instance of Player? I notice that some sample sets have key switches but many do not. 

Thanks,
Bruce


----------



## Jeremy Spencer (Mar 5, 2020)

HS Gold is still my staple string library....has been since it's release many-years ago. Steep learning curve, but well worth it if you're willing to put in the time.


----------



## Dex (Mar 5, 2020)

FlyingSinger said:


> This may not be the place to ask (as I have not yet RTFM), but if you are going to use multiple sections and articulations of HS in a piece, do you typically apply a separate instance of the Player plugin to each track? Will that use resources like crazy? Or is there a way to load multiple sample sets in one instance of Player? I notice that some sample sets have key switches but many do not.



Multiple instances should not use more resources than using multiple sample sets within the same instance, which yes, by the way, you can do. The way you do it is you select the patch you want in the browser and click the "Add" button in the bottom right. 

In fact, they recommend you load multiple patches into the same instance because it saves on RAM. Different patches that use the same samples will only load the samples once, as long as those patches are loaded into the same instance.

Once you've loaded a few patches into the same Play instance, you can go into the mixer tab to customize which patch responds to which midi channel. My usual workflow is one instrument per track, and one articulation per midi channel on that track. I have hotkeys set up in my DAW to easily change the midi channel of selected notes.


----------



## Snarf (Mar 5, 2020)

Dex said:


> In fact, they recommend you load multiple patches into the same instance because it saves on RAM. Different patches that use the same samples will only load the samples once, as long as those patches are loaded into the same instance.




Actually, I'm pretty sure that loading a second instance of Play that uses the same samples will not double your RAM footprint. Pretty sure I read somewhere that Play has become smart enough to figure that out


----------



## MisteR (Mar 5, 2020)

The whole orchestra is usually $360 on Black Friday for a month. There are frequent deals on the whole orchestra throughout the year. And I think the gold version is 260.


----------



## gussunkri (Mar 6, 2020)

Because of the sale, I have been eyeing this library. I probably ought to stay away from it even at this price since I already have quite a few other libraries, but I was struck by how deeply sampled the ordinary long and short articulations appear to be. Sure, Spitfire have all the novelty articulations (flautando etc.), but in terms of the basic articulations Hollywood Strings appears to have much more material for the basic stuff. Looking at it from that perspective, is Hollywood strings still the most ambitious library ever recorded? I mean in terms of number of RR, dynamic layers, both up and down bowing, separate samples for each of the four strings.


----------



## Robert_G (Mar 9, 2020)

Problem is thats its strings only. If you want just strings....then great, but if your hoping for a similiar deal on the rest of the HW orchestra....who knows when or even if....and EW upgrade and crossgrade marketing is bar none the worst out there.

If you are looking to get the whole orchestra a some point.... they do put it on occassionally for a similiar discount....so wait for that


----------



## Geomir (Mar 11, 2020)

Robert_G said:


> Problem is thats its strings only. If you want just strings....then great, but if your hoping for a similiar deal on the rest of the HW orchestra....who knows when or even if....and EW upgrade and crossgrade marketing is bar none the worst out there.
> 
> If you are looking to get the whole orchestra a some point.... they do put it on occassionally for a similiar discount....so wait for that


Very good advice! 

And now, since today, you can get the full Hollywood Orchestra Gold at 50%. It can go even lower than that, i.e. at EveryPlugin they sell it for less than 260 EUR.

Strings and brass are among the best (especially if you are ready and willing to put some extra effort because of its steep learning curve), percussion is decent, and woodwinds are the weakest part, but still usable, if you don't plan to over-expose them.


----------



## cloudbuster (Mar 11, 2020)

Regarding the current offer on VSTbuzz, I'm not aware of any other deal that delivers more serious orchestral bang for the buck than HS or Brass. YMMV.


----------



## I like music (Mar 11, 2020)

cloudbuster said:


> Regarding the current offer on VSTbuzz, I'm not aware of any other deal that delivers more serious orchestral bang for the buck than HS or Brass. YMMV.



Yep. I don't think anything comes close (at least for price/quality). Other things like Play (for some), or the way that the patches are done (for others) or like some of the solo brass (for some) could present nitpicky problems, overall this is a fucking bomb of an orchestra.

That said I didn't like the woodwinds, though I do remember doing some basic comparisons with my Berlin Woodwinds and some of the instruments were matching pretty well (tonewise I mean). The legatos were a bit iffy, but that was years ago.


----------



## bosone (Mar 12, 2020)

I must admit i don't understand how Play works. I see you can load different patches, but then can you keyswitch between them or are they assigned to different midi channels??

if i load 2 articulations (i.e. different patches) in a single play instance, how can address them? i don't want to handle them as separate tracks in my daw...

thanks!


----------



## Robert_G (Mar 12, 2020)

bosone said:


> I must admit i don't understand how Play works. I see you can load different patches, but then can you keyswitch between them or are they assigned to different midi channels??
> 
> if i load 2 articulations (i.e. different patches) in a single play instance, how can address them? i don't want to handle them as separate tracks in my daw...
> 
> thanks!


After using Kontakt easy KS libs, its not uncommon to stand their scratching your head at the 'Play' engine.
Just wait until you try putting a multi together.


----------



## bosone (Mar 12, 2020)

Robert_G said:


> After using Kontakt easy KS libs, its not uncommon to stand their scratching your head at the 'Play' engine.
> Just until you try putting a multi together.




... honestly i did not understood what you meant...


----------



## Robert_G (Mar 12, 2020)

bosone said:


> ... honestly i did not understood what you meant...



Play is tedious and frustrating after youve used Kontakt.


----------



## Jeremy Spencer (Mar 12, 2020)

Robert_G said:


> Play is tedious and frustrating after youve used Kontakt.



I actually prefer Play over Kontakt, any day.


----------



## Technostica (Mar 13, 2020)

$279 Hollywood Orchestra Gold:





everyPlugin.com


Tons of Plugins, Hundreds of Bundles, We carry a Huge variety of Music and Audio software tools from the main brands in the industry.




everyplugin.com




$391 - http://everyplugin.com/hollywood-orchestra-diamond.html

Legit seller.


----------



## Geomir (Mar 13, 2020)

Technostica said:


> $279 Hollywood Orchestra Gold:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


+1


----------



## I like music (Mar 13, 2020)

Geomir said:


> +1


I have this orchestra and always when I see a deal on it, I want to buy it again. Even though I don't use it as much due to having csb, infinite and sm stuff, a deal on this still excites me.


----------



## Geomir (Mar 13, 2020)

I like music said:


> I have this orchestra and always when I see a deal on it, I want to buy it again. Even though I don't use it as much due to having csb, infinite and sm stuff, a deal on this still excites me.


Hahaha same here! I remember my happiness when I bought it on sale, and I want to relive that happiness!


----------

