# Another what should I buy thread



## Uinen (Nov 30, 2019)

Hi, sorry for asking a question like this even though there are many people who asked the same these past days, I'm a composition undergraduate student studying my last year and I was interested in buying an orchestral library that has sections and solo instruments, I've been reading most of the post relevant here but I still can't decide. I want something that can work in most kind of styles, although my compositional style has impressionistic influences.

I also have Komplete Kontrol and Komplete Select, so something with NKS would be great. I'm interested in spending as much as 400€ and I'm in doubt between Nucleus($379), EWHO(366€) or EWQLSO(366€ or 317€) and maybe also VSL Special Edition v1 and plus (or 2) (around 400€) and their upgrades, although I couldn't find many mock-ups made using VSL or Nucleus. Do VSL and EastWest usually go on sale? If they do it, subscribing for a few months to Composer Cloud would be also an option to help me decide and wait for a moment when I have more budget.

Also another question, what's the difference between EWHO and EWQLSO?


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## KallumS (Nov 30, 2019)

Isn't EWHO $99 at AudioDeluxe? https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/eastwest-hollywood-orchestra-silver-edition

Might be worth seeing how far you get with that and upgrading later on.


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## premjj (Nov 30, 2019)

KallumS said:


> Isn't EWHO $99 at AudioDeluxe?
> 
> Might be worth seeing how far you get with that and upgrading later on.



I believe that's the Silver edition.

EWHO Gold is for sale at $266


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## Zero&One (Nov 30, 2019)

Uinen said:


> although I couldn't find many mock-ups made using VSL or Nucleus.



There's demos on each pruduct under the demo tab. Click the little i next to the name for info what was used etc
Or click this for all in the Special Edition line demos





VIENNA SPECIAL EDITIONS - Vienna Symphonic Library


This Bundle includes all Special Edition Volumes at a reduced price: SE Vol. 1 and 1 PLUS – Essential Orchestra SE Vol. 2 and 2 PLUS – Extended Orchestra SE Vol. 3 – Appassionata & Muted Strings SE Vol. 4 – Special Winds and Choir SE Vol. 5 – Dimension Strings SE Vol. 6 – Dimension Brass SE...




www.vsl.co.at


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## Uinen (Nov 30, 2019)

About EWHO I thought about buying Platinum because it seems they're not making an upgrade deal and I don't know if they'll make one next year, but Gold seems also like a good option. I think Silver would be too limiting because the lack of all the articulations.


James H said:


> There's demos on each pruduct under the demo tab. Click the little i next to the name for info what was used etc
> Or click this for all in the Special Edition line demos
> 
> 
> ...


My bad, I wanted to say that I couldn't find demos outside their website, and a few videos on YouTube


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## Reid Rosefelt (Nov 30, 2019)

Uinen said:


> Hi, sorry for asking a question like this even though there are many people who asked the same these past days, I'm a composition undergraduate student studying my last year and I was interested in buying an orchestral library that has sections and solo instruments, I've been reading most of the post relevant here but I still can't decide. I want something that can work in most kind of styles, although my compositional style has impressionistic influences.
> 
> I also have Komplete Kontrol and Komplete Select, so something with NKS would be great. I'm interested in spending as much as 400€ and I'm in doubt between Nucleus($379), EWHO(366€) or EWQLSO(366€ or 317€) and maybe also VSL Special Edition v1 and plus (or 2) (around 400€) and their upgrades, although I couldn't find many mock-ups made using VSL or Nucleus. Do VSL and EastWest usually go on sale? If they do it, subscribing for a few months to Composer Cloud would be also an option to help me decide and wait for a moment when I have more budget.
> 
> Also another question, what's the difference between EWHO and EWQLSO?



Before buying an East West library, I recommend spending $29.99 and getting Composer Cloud for one month HERE. Make sure you don't get Composer Cloud X, as that will commit you for a year. Even though you are in a rush now, to take advantage of sales, you will see very quickly whether you like the East West Play engine and style of library. I think they sound great and have a tremendous amount of articulations, but I find other libraries much easier to work with. That's my taste--it might not be yours. Or... perhaps you have watched a lot of videos and know how it works and don't need to try it. 

For your budget, there is Nucleus, The Orchestra Complete, and Spitfire Studio Orchestra (now $449, and likely to be cheaper in the December Wish List sale.). But none of these have all the solo instruments, so check out the lists carefully. 

Steinberg's *Iconica Opus*, made with Orchestral Tools, normally sells for $999, but is currently half price with code BLACKDEALS2019. That's worth taking a look at.


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## Uinen (Nov 30, 2019)

TigerTheFrog said:


> Before buying an East West library, I recommend spending $29.99 and getting Composer Cloud for one month HERE. Make sure you don't get Composer Cloud X, as that will commit you for a year. Even though you are in a rush now, to take advantage of sales, you will see very quickly whether you like the East West Play engine and style of library. I think they sound great and have a tremendous amount of articulations, but I find other libraries much easier to work with. That's my taste--it might not be yours. Or... perhaps you have watched a lot of videos and know how it works and don't need to try it.
> 
> For your budget, there is Nucleus, The Orchestra Complete, and Spitfire Studio Orchestra (now $449, and likely to be cheaper in the December Wish List sale.). But none of these have all the solo instruments, so check out the lists carefully.
> 
> Steinberg's *Iconica Opus*, made with Orchestral Tools, normally sells for $999, but is currently half price with code BLACKDEALS2019. That's worth taking a look at.



Thanks for the reply! The problem I find with Spitfire Studio Orchestra is that it doesn't include percussion library and adding a decent one would get expensive. It doesn't need to have all the solo instruments, as long as it's divided by instruments instead of sections or ensembles it's ok for me.

Iconica sounds good! Didn't know about this one, and it also has one month trial!

I might wait for the next sales and in the meanwhile test both Composer Cloud and Iconica in order to have a better idea about what's better for me.


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## Zero&One (Nov 30, 2019)

Nucleus gets some great praise here. I think @Daniel James done a huge review on it. That would get you setup for a good while. I think it's a relatively dry library so shouldn't have much trouble with other products.

Edit, it's here


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## Uinen (Dec 1, 2019)

James H said:


> Nucleus gets some great praise here. I think @Daniel James done a huge review on it. That would get you setup for a good while. I think it's a relatively dry library so shouldn't have much trouble with other products.
> 
> Edit, it's here




It's so hard to decide which one, all of them are nice.

Right now, I'm in doubt between Nucleus and The Orchestra Complete, I've seen the Nucleus review and it sounds really good, I think it's the one which the sound I like the most and it seems it's the most recommended starter library at the moment. But I wish it had more articulations. Otherwise, The Orchestra Complete includes more articulation and it's cheaper, at 298€ with a Best Service Halls of Fame free. So I don't know which one choose, although I think I like more Nucleus because it's solo instruments and how it sounds. If someone that has tried both could help me and tell me his/her opinion between both, I would highly appreciate it.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 1, 2019)

Uinen said:


> It's so hard to decide which one, all of them are nice.
> 
> Right now, I'm in doubt between Nucleus and The Orchestra Complete, I've seen the Nucleus review and it sounds really good, I think it's the one which the sound I like the most and it seems it's the most recommended starter library at the moment. But I wish it had more articulations. Otherwise, The Orchestra Complete includes more articulation and it's cheaper, at 298€ with a Best Service Halls of Fame free. So I don't know which one choose, although I think I like more Nucleus because it's solo instruments and how it sounds. If someone that has tried both could help me and tell me his/her opinion between both, I would highly appreciate it.



I think most people prefer the sound of Nucleus. The Orchestra has an unpolished sound. Sonuscore is very upfront about this. The Orchestra is not intended to be a polished sound. They consider this "more realistic." You can listen to the demos and decide for yourself. 

Based solely on sound, I think Nucleus probably wins the day. But I am saying this just by reputation as I'm not in the market for it and haven't studied it.

If it was me, though, I'd definitely go with The Orchestra, for a few reasons.

ONE - The 5-part engine is endlessly inspiring. So much fun to play. Lots of people with expensive libraries have The Orchestra too because it brings a new approach to composition. And the MIDI you create with it can be dragged into your DAW, so if you ever trade up to a different library, you can still use it.

TWO - They recently updated The Orchestra to The Orchestra complete with The Strings of Winter, which includes the Morin Khuur, a really great new world color. So I think it's almost certain that you will see more $129 updates that add more articulations of the existing library, probably brass and woodwinds, plus more instruments and maybe some more world instruments. There is room to grow with this library.

THREE - I believe there are generally more articulations in TOC than in Nucleus.

FOUR - The Orchestra Complete is part of a family of Sonuscore products that essentially all work with the same engine, including the 5- part Elysion and Mallet Flux plus a whole series of Origin instruments that work the same way. 

Will The Orchestra Complete be the last orchestral library you buy? I doubt it. But I don't think Nucleus will either. But you will have a blast as soon as you download and install The Orchestra Complete.

I hope this helps you somewhat.


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## Uinen (Dec 5, 2019)

Thank you so much for your detailed reply, I've been thinking about this these past days and, in the end, I decided to not rush, although I'm sure that either The Orchestra Complete or Nucleus are a great starting point and TO has a lot of interesting features, the engine is very inspiring and the MIDI Export is very useful. I feel that instead of buying something right now, I need to answer for myself, what specific kind of music I want to make in a DAW during these months and the moment I find the answer it'll be easier for me to decide which library covers the best my needs at this moment, and in the future when I want something different, look for that specific thing, rather than looking now for something that may cover most of my needs in the future.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 5, 2019)

Uinen said:


> Thank you so much for your detailed reply, I've been thinking about this these past days and, in the end, I decided to not rush, although I'm sure that either The Orchestra Complete or Nucleus are a great starting point and TO has a lot of interesting features, the engine is very inspiring and the MIDI Export is very useful. I feel that instead of buying something right now, I need to answer for myself, what specific kind of music I want to make in a DAW during these months and the moment I find the answer it'll be easier for me to decide which library covers the best my needs at this moment, and in the future when I want something different, look for that specific thing, rather than looking now for something that may cover most of my needs in the future.


That seems wise. If you take your time, you'll see that sales come around often.
And it's not a bargain to pay less for something you never end up using. 

If you want to study orchestral composition, you have everything you need in Sonic Scores' Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra. For $100 (now) it has more instruments and articulations than either of the libraries above.

​


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