# Metropolis Ark 1 2 & 3 Differences



## Vdub (Jul 8, 2018)

I want one of these big Beasts and i'm itching towards 3.. But does it make sense to have all 3? Or are they just different shades of the same color.


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## Rap-sody (Jul 8, 2018)

I have 1 and 3. They are quite different, but they blend together very well. Both are excellent and worth getting.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Jul 8, 2018)

They are all different.

Ark 1 is big boombastic loud (with the usual artics)
Ark 2 is DEEP and quiet
Ark 3 is Percussive (even the winds, brass & strings)

3 leans towards atonality fyi. If you need more bread and butter, 1 is your better option.


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## Vdub (Jul 8, 2018)

Ok, that makes sense.. Yea i guess ill have to get 1 and 3. I love the epic crunch of 3, but i definitely need the bread and butter along with that. Thanks guys!! The Choirs in 1 sound amazing. And to know that's right out of the box, i need that.


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 8, 2018)

I have all of them. 3 compliments 1 quite well. 3 is really cool but I would feel moderately cornered using it alone. It's mostly rhythmic gestures and various swells, crescendos, decrescendos, etc. 

Ark 1 is somewhat lacking in depth of percussion, and Ark 3 makes up for it in spades. 

Ark 2 is capable of some amazing sounds. It can be used for soft passages whereas Ark 1&3 are pretty exclusively quite loud. Particularly Ark 1. It's just balls to the walls loud. 

But 2 has very different ensembles than 1/3. Also, many consider the noise floor to be unacceptable, and there are some issues with the mid strings release. Also, all of the string tremolo have bad loop points. Still, if you can find a workaround on those issues you can make some really amazing delicate sounds with it. Orchestral Tools claims they are working on the known issues with the library.

I would personally do Ark 1, then 3, and then 2. Between the two you can make some super raucous pieces.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Jul 8, 2018)

Vdub said:


> Ok, that makes sense.. Yea i guess ill have to get 1 and 3. I love the epic crunch of 3, but i definitely need the bread and butter along with that. Thanks guys!! The Choirs in 1 sound amazing. And to know that's right out of the box, i need that.


The choir is worth the at least half the cost alone. It is so easy to use!

the downside for me is the forced 8ve. I just cant stand that!!!

I personally love Ark 2 (everything has legato). It sounds so unique and dark


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 8, 2018)

Oh yeah and the choirs in 2 are also girls.


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## Vdub (Jul 8, 2018)

Come on guys ya killin me lol.. I got 1 and 3 downloading now. But I don't want to miss out on the gems in 2 lol.. I have Albion III, Albion One, Cinematic Strings and LASS. I might be able to squeeze some change for 2 if it's definitely worth it though.


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 8, 2018)

I just got cinematic strings to pair up with the arks. It blends quite well. Gives me the option to save the Ark 1 strings to layer in extreme moments. 

To me Ark 2 has this kind of mystical Schwantner/Elfman vibe. There's a lot of good there but the library is not without issues. If you enjoy the sounds of the demos you won't be badly disappointed in the library. Just keep in mind certain instruments, when exposed, will have a fair amount of noise floor.


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## Emmanuel Rousseau (Jul 9, 2018)

A note about Ark 2 :

Many (if not all) patches have their volume modified to match the other collections.

Let's take the Weddigen High Strings as an exemple :
Go to *Options*, *Group Editor*, "*Edit All Groups*" and you'll see a "_Stereo Mod_" insert, which does nothing except adding 11db on the ouput.

If you take these volume changes in consideration (I just deleted them in my Template), and don't try to use a _mezzo-piano_ sample like a _fortissimo_... You'll find the noise floor a lot more acceptable 

Not saying there isn't any issue with this library, @Brian Nowak perfectly summed it up. But there was a lot of bashing on Vi-Control about this "noise floor issue" on Ark 2 like it makes the whole library unusable and... Let's just say I'd like to hear the music these people are making !


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## Parsifal666 (Jul 9, 2018)

Vdub said:


> I have Albion III



I made the mistake of purchasing Ark 1 after already owning Albion III (and a whole ton of other good sample libraries). I found I could replicate much of Ark 1's string and brass sound with Iceni and some engineering dashes, so all I use Ark for is the choirs (though again I could have produced similar results with a little work in EWSCP).

Yes, the choirs are really good for out of the box huge. But overall, I regret buying Ark 1, because I already had the above. It's a situation where I wish OT had resale, because I'd sell Ark 1 in a heartbeat if I could.

Not to bum any buyers out, and please understand that this is just from my experience and my own musical needs.

Ark 1 remains my biggest source of buyer's regret, not because it isn't excellent (it is, though the strings are arguably not) but because I already had all the means to produce those sounds.

Okay, enough of the voice of bumming


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## Satorious (Jul 9, 2018)

Just to provide a counter-point, I'd take Ark 1 over Albion III: icini in a heartbeat. I feel there is a lot more variety in Ark 1 than A3 - although I consider both niche (ie. Icini is low-end, Ark 1 is immense power). I rarely find myself using icini now aside from the string shorts (which I do still adore) and some of the quirky extra content. 

For me - Ark1 is about orchestral brute force, Ark2 is more reflective - works particularly well for malevolence/darkness (think the baddies revealing nefarious plans), Ark3 is a mix of percussion, driving rhythm and atonal clusters. To be honest, whilst I love the first two Arks, I haven't really got into Ark3 (yet). That isn't a slur on Ark3 being as I have nothing else quite like it - it just doesn't fit my natural composing style as well - so I need a bit more time with it.

For anyone just starting out, I'd suggest also considering the excellent Berlin Inspire library (this is an underrated gem). It has fantastic tone out the box, low memory usage and comes in at a fair price - the only downside is the lack of mic positions (which I can live with).


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Jul 9, 2018)

Vdub said:


> I want one of these big Beasts and i'm itching towards 3.. But does it make sense to have all 3? Or are they just different shades of the same color.



MA1 = Loud, MA2 = Quite, MA3 = Aleatoric/Cluster + Loud + special Patches.


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 9, 2018)

I think, when there's disappointment with libraries like the Arks, it's usually because people have misunderstood the intention of the library or have unrealistic expectations about it. As I've said before: if you like the sounds of the demos you hear, you're going to like using the library - because that's the sound you're going to get, more or less.

I'm not saying they're completely inflexible, but that they are made with specific interests in mind. As I'm in the practice of making epic trailer-type tracks at the moment I'm having a lot of fun with them. They've got a lot of character and in my opinion nothing else quite captures the sounds they make. @Parsifal666 I'd be interested to hear your comparisons if you had the time. You were so excited when you first got Ark 1 and now you seem to be quite down about it. 

Overall I'd say these are FUN libraries. And they're quite serious about being FUN. And if you decide to have FUN with them you can churn out some really top work.

Did I mention FUUUUUUUUUUUN!?


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## dcoscina (Jul 9, 2018)

Parsifal666 said:


> I made the mistake of purchasing Ark 1 after already owning Albion III (and a whole ton of other good sample libraries). I found I could replicate much of Ark 1's string and brass sound with Iceni and some engineering dashes, so all I use Ark for is the choirs (though again I could have produced similar results with a little work in EWSCP).
> 
> Yes, the choirs are really good for out of the box huge. But overall, I regret buying Ark 1, because I already had the above. It's a situation where I wish OT had resale, because I'd sell Ark 1 in a heartbeat if I could.
> 
> ...


Interesting. I've barely used Albion 3 since getting the Ark range. I use the low strings once in a while but I rely on OT Ark for so much more. Ark 2 has been getting a lot of workout these days as well, something I was pleasantly surprised at since I initially didn't use it much.

I guess it's really what kind of music you are looking to compose and what you already have. I've jumped on the OT bandwagon pretty hard and own quite a few of their products though I still use SF Brass, Winds, Albion (the original, I don;t like ONE very much), Percussion, Harp, etc.


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## Motr3b (Jul 9, 2018)

Parsifal666 said:


> though the strings are arguably not


Hi
What's wrong with strings ???


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 9, 2018)

whitewasteland said:


> A note about Ark 2 :
> 
> Many (if not all) patches have their volume modified to match the other collections.
> 
> ...



I agree for the most part, though I will counter with the fact that if I take out that 11 db increase I eventually have to add a fair amount of gain somewhere along the line as they are otherwise absurdly quiet for any production work. 

The noise floor only becomes a problem in exposed parts, as the tails are what suffer the most. I wouldn't say it's a game ender. But it definitely limits certain uses, which is a shame. 

As far as the strings in Ark One - I wouldn't say they're bad at all, but that it would have been nice if they included legato on at least unison strings in addition to the octave ones. It would have made it a lot better to layer with. Other than that I will say they are somewhat limited as they are pretty much meant only for loud playing. They can also be a bit roomy which is not to everybody's liking. But I still find plenty of use for them.


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## Emmanuel Rousseau (Jul 9, 2018)

@Brian Nowak : I was just saying it's easy to be fooled by the volume of the recordings. If you really want to see how noisy it is, you have to put Ark2 next to another "standard" library, and match the volumes accordingly. Balance is really important here, we're talking about pp to mp


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 9, 2018)

@whitewasteland that's a fair assessment. In the context of being truly quiet the noise floor is quite appropriate. I was just using it this morning for a f-p transition this morning (between Ark 3 and 2) and it works quite well within that setting. 

But.... you know the young guys these days. Everything's gotta be loud and ridiculous...


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## Motr3b (Jul 9, 2018)

Brian Nowak said:


> it would have been nice if they included legato on at least unison strings in addition to the octave ones.


Hi
as far as i know, the library has the option you said.


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Jul 9, 2018)

Motr3b said:


> Hi
> as far as i know, the library has the option you said.


High strings, but not low strings I think


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## Motr3b (Jul 9, 2018)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> High strings, but not low strings I think


you are right, there is no such thing for low strings.


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## Vdub (Jul 9, 2018)

Parsifal666 said:


> I made the mistake of purchasing Ark 1 after already owning Albion III (and a whole ton of other good sample libraries). I found I could replicate much of Ark 1's string and brass sound with Iceni and some engineering dashes, so all I use Ark for is the choirs (though again I could have produced similar results with a little work in EWSCP).



I definitely get what you're saying. They're very similar. But i think i'll be using Ark 1 more than Albion III. This library is just as huge as the demos projected. My room sounds like an IMAX theater right out of the box lol. Definitely going to grab Ark 2 as well. And the choirs are just epic. Not to mention I could always layer Ark 1 with ICENI III, just to have a different texture of the same energy


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## Vdub (Jul 9, 2018)

Brian Nowak said:


> Overall I'd say these are FUN libraries. And they're quite serious about being FUN. And if you decide to have FUN with them you can churn out some really top work.
> 
> Did I mention FUUUUUUUUUUUN!?



These are definitely fun, i was just sitting here goofing off for a few hours scrolling through ARK 1 and 3 just getting familiar with them. I live for this ish lol


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 10, 2018)

Motr3b said:


> Hi
> as far as i know, the library has the option you said.



There is a high strings sustains unison patch that can be forced legato. It's not true legato scripting, though. The only unisons are sustains. You can "force" any articulation to play like "legato" in a multi instance of Capsule, but the only actual legato scripting for the strings is legato octave. 

Interestingly, this can cause some really odd things to happen, as when I first got the library and didn't know what I was doing with it, I was playing around with all the articulations as legato. And you'll notice on some of them it will show "no transition" in the editor menu. On others, it will show "legato octaves" and you can hear it actually try to force octaves out of, for example, the portatos - but only at the transition. So you get these weird little artifacts that come out and make it sound as though your players are making errors. Whoops!

Had just a teeny bit more work gone into them it would have made working with them a lot more functional. I'm not saying they're trash, mind you. Only that even for trailer track type writing I'm much more satisfied having CSS for the bulk of my string work and layering in Ark 1/3 when I need to bring "the pain". lol


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## Emmanuel Rousseau (Jul 10, 2018)

@Zoot_Rollo : You can also try do do some research before jumping on a library and see if it really suits your needs  I'm sure you'll have less regrets.


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## Emmanuel Rousseau (Jul 10, 2018)

Oops. And I should do more research before answering a post and try to be a smart ass.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jul 10, 2018)

whitewasteland said:


> Oops. And I should do more research before answering a post and try to be a smart ass.



hehe, i have to remind myself that every day.


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 10, 2018)

Ha! I think the strings in Ark 1 are perfect for certain situations, great for others, and then it kind of trails off when you're going for other things. BUT! I also accept that this is the nature of the library, the scope within how it was intended to be used, and that's why I want everything under the sun, like the true addict that I am.


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## Zoot_Rollo (Jul 10, 2018)

Brian Nowak said:


> Ha! I think the strings in Ark 1 are perfect for certain situations, great for others, and then it kind of trails off when you're going for other things. BUT! I also accept that this is the nature of the library, the scope within how it was intended to be used, and that's why I want everything under the sun, like the true addict that I am.



Funny, i was just thinking about how seductive these libraries can be.

We want new, better, epic, intimate, realistic...

Now

We're lucky to have companies that try to oblige our appetites.


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## Brian Nowak (Jul 10, 2018)

I've said this before. But I only recently got into sampled instruments (around February last year, and the time between March and June was spent moving from Idaho to Illinois). The last time I was really aware of it was in college, early 2000s. My roommate and I were both studying composition but he was much more into the midi side of things. He would spend quite a lot of time making mockups of his pieces. He was very interested in cinematic music and spent lots of cash and hours on getting the "Gladiator sound".

For many of the young people just getting in they may be only vaguely aware of just how good libraries sound by comparison to twenty years ago. And they definitely don't get how much more affordable it is, either.

Considering that something like the Arks would have been pure fantasy back then, I'm always using them with a smile on my face.


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