# Review: Native Instruments Symphony Series - Woodwinds



## bfreepro (Dec 31, 2018)

This is a pretty short review but... sadly I couldn't find much to like about this collection :/. Going to be doing a few more quick reviews in the coming weeks, as I continue to work on writing a big one for Genesis Choir by Audiobro, per request from my last poll 

"5.5/10 - Unfortunately, this collection falls far short of the quality standards expected from modern orchestral sample libraries. While it does offer a very good price and lots of content, I feel the samples themselves are of very poor quality, sounding overly processed and they never once were truly convincing. There is also the issue of having so much room ambiance and reverb baked into the samples themselves, which does not enhance this collection in any way. Sadly I feel this product was a waste of money, and while I only paid $150, please be warned for those looking for a 'bread and butter' woodwind collection, it would be wise to invest in a library of higher quality from a more reputable company."

https://www.bfreemusic.com/news/2018/12/31/review-native-instruments-symphony-series-woodwinds


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## MillsMixx (Jan 1, 2019)

I have to agree with your review. 

I too paid only $150.00 for it during the NI summer sale and feel it falls short of anything I would ever use (especially the solo woodwinds) except maybe for layering. It's frustrating the spend the money and realize the value isn't there. There are a few good articulations that might come in handy that you won't find in other libraries but I doubt if I would ever use them as there's not enough expression and don't care for the heavy baked in room mic mixes. 

I'm also not overly fond of Sonokinetic's Woodwind Ensembles which I picked up at discount a couple weeks ago as I feel it too is not that expressive. I finally splurged and got Spitfire WW at 40% off just minutes before the new year and I'm really quite happy with it. I'm discovering there's actually a lot of overlap with some of the Metropolis Ark series on WW with it but no complaint. I wish I hadn't bought the others but glad they were at the lowest price point. 

I just came across your website reviews yesterday and feel you were spot on with 8Dio choir review as well (I own Insolidus) and have sort of a love/hate with 8Dio libraries regarding functionality and their lack of making an all around 'GREAT' product because of that. 

Keep the reviews coming and thanks!


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## bfreepro (Jan 2, 2019)

MillsMixx said:


> I have to agree with your review.
> 
> I too paid only $150.00 for it during the NI summer sale and feel it falls short of anything I would ever use (especially the solo woodwinds) except maybe for layering. It's frustrating the spend the money and realize the value isn't there. There are a few good articulations that might come in handy that you won't find in other libraries but I doubt if I would ever use them as there's not enough expression and don't care for the heavy baked in room mic mixes.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your comments ! That’s so funny, as I also got Spitfire WW from their wishlist sale haha. I felt it was only fair to come to a final verdict on the NI collection now that I finally had another full on woodwind library to compare it to. Spitfire’s WW library really is fantastic so far, as expected .

Regarding 8dio, I got on board with them with their Century Strings and brass, which I do believe are both fantastic sounding products and I use them all the time. Their Claire woodwinds also sound very nice, as do the percussion and choirs, but the ease of use generally never matches the high quality sounds which is a major bummer, and they are usually quite overpriced, especially not even being compatible with kontakt player and NEVER registering as full libraries in Native Access. In fact, one of the producers of Silka actually saw my YouTube review and emailed me personally and explained that all the features I was missing with Silka were all featured in Insolidus, and that Silka was just a “sister library” or basically, an expansion. The email was professional and kind, so I don’t want to imply he emailed me out of anger for not liking the product so much, but it did confirm my suspicion... Silka is an expansion library sold for $600, the same price as the “core” library... with only a fraction of the features... which to me is simply inexcusable.


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