# Epic Music libraries?



## rusturegbe (Jun 10, 2020)

Hi.

Maybe this is asked trilion times, but new day and new libraries are available.

I do not know much about music, nor I am talented to get some ideas, except transcribe what I hear with triads as chords
Considering this, what libraries (kontakt ones and please be specific and count every instrument/s needed to complete ("the package") would you consider me to buy, to be able to create intense music styles, as these....






I was checking many libraries, but one greatest question is which is good out of the box for this style, I mean like... cinematic studio strings, they are not meant to create such style and it would be very difficult to get them sound this way?
I hear css or spitfire stuff more like things to add inside movie scenes with just few instruments than for some massive climax (epic sound!).

_Also someone told me to get css, csb, cinepercs, but whenever I listen to demos, I am not convinced this is for any intense style.
CSS/B does not sound like it is good for this style (its sounds lazy and wanna be put behind speech inside movie) and CinePercs sound more "non-metal", I would say acoustic, but that is not even acoustic, but I hear it as some deep live orchestra instruments.
So probably these libraries will be difficult for me to use, as I am not talented, nor I know music theory well, right?_

*I need something what is easy to use, and what will inspire me to get ideas.*
Please help me to create some all around pack for such style.
Thank you. 

Oh, and, btw, I have i5 processor with 32GB RAM, I know that matters too.


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## Stringtree (Jun 10, 2020)

Wow! 

Welcome, first of all. You've come to the right place. People here speak that language all day. 

You have set a VERY high bar for yourself, as Hans Zimmer, Thomas Bergerson, and Nick Phoenix have been perfecting their craft for an extraordinarily long time. 

What you are probably reacting to is the majesty of the orchestra. That makes me happy to hear. 

You don't need to start from zero and learn flutophone, which is often a kindergarten instrument. It's perfectly acceptable to have a passion and start wherever you feel comfortable. 

But the more you listen to that is like this music you feel drawn to, the more details you'll hear. 

The simple answer is that these creators also are involved in creating sample libraries. Cool! You'll be able to harness the same sort of taste that they've spent so long cultivating. 

On the other hand, you want some fast success. There are libraries that allow someone with no real musical background to experience the joy of participating while not being overwhelming. This is a smart place to start. 

Maybe an "orchestral loop library" will get you started. This is my humble suggestion, friend. The examples you posted are marvelous examples of superstar professionals who took many years to create what they did. You can too! Just not tonight. 

Nice and slow. You can be a part of this awesome thing too. I believe that.


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## MartinH. (Jun 10, 2020)

If you're looking for an easy shortcut and aren't willing to put in a lot of practice, I believe you will likely end up being disappointed by whatever you buy.

Transcribing is great, keep doing that. Once you bought some libraries, try making close copies of tracks that you like, that will teach you a lot about mixing. You'll not get there immediately, but a little closer with each new attempt.




rusturegbe said:


> CSS/B does not sound like it is good for this style (its sounds lazy and wanna be put behind speech inside movie)



Just to clarify, do you think that about the last third of the track "edge of reality" too? 





Cinematic Studio Brass – Cinematic Studio Series







cinematicstudioseries.com


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## roxstar (Jun 10, 2020)

So, you actually asked. 🤭
For start, stop changing wi fi pword. 😛

I have CSS, and I have no idea how to use it except for slow motion things, you can try it in my house.

He is my neighbor guys, so I wrote this above.

For others on this forum...
I would also like to know answer on this, I feel like I wasted money on CSS, I dont know how to use it.
All YouTube tutorials say duplicate spiccatos, more spiccatos, and than more sustains, its easy.
Aha, easy, I get complete mess if I use spiccatos and sustains in same register.
I mean, I am not dumb, i know for strings ranges and when on same range i have spiccatos and sustains, it is such a mess of a sound, I asked this time ago on this forum too.

And I have soundIron apocalypse too, than I add it for great Epic percussion and I get amazing result, like 3y. old kid jump over strings and hits over some metalic percussion.
I agree I might be stupid, but I cant get the atmosphere for track with a lot of sustains, no one ever explained anywhere, I do with CSS exactly what they do on YouTube tutorials, but it simply does not sound good, its poor, it is not filled up (I know I miss brass and uts not about that). 

Check this... 


I know he used something similar or apocalypse too, there is much spiccatos going on too, but that atmosphere, that sustains in his and other tracksdo not Clash with spiccatos, they trnd to sound behind spiccatos, and I dont talk about dynamics.

Btw, I am going to export something and upload here too what i did with CSS.


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## gsilbers (Jun 10, 2020)

music libraries are companies that license epic music styles... or trailer music. 

so the lingo would be more like "epic music SAMPLE libraries..." 


and for that then you need orchestral tools ark1. thats the main one for that stype of music. 
of course... may libraries can do that style.. but ark1 seems to be the consensus on epic. 

others are albion. nucleus, and 8dio stuff. and more. 

there are some tricks also where spicc strings get doubled or tripled by different libraries and few other prodcution techniques that help get a huge sound. 

this genre overlaps a lot with trailer music. so if you check trailer music courses and tutorials youll run into the same info.


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## Ben (Jun 10, 2020)

MartinH. said:


> If you're looking for an easy shortcut and aren't willing to put in a lot of practice, I believe you will likely end up being disappointed by whatever you buy.


That's 100% true.

Warning, self-promotion  : Here are some libraries that you should consider imo:
- Big Bang Orchestra (free) https://www.vsl.co.at/BBO_Map/BBO
- The other BBO installments https://www.vsl.co.at/bbo_map
(especially the four new brass packs)


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## Jacob Fanto (Jun 10, 2020)

Honestly, it all depends. But I do agree with one of the prior comments that you will not be happy with anything you buy unless you put in the time and effort to learn how to compose and/or understand music theory. Sample libraries won’t make you a better musician, they only increase your options, playability, and realism.

That being said, if you want to dish out some money on a good epic orchestral library, go for Metropolis Ark 1. Big brass, great low Strings, meh high Strings, decent winds and percussion, an insane choir, and some misc. instruments that may or may not serve useful. I wouldn’t get anything more than that for the time being.


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## mybadmemory (Jun 10, 2020)

I think you should probably start with Metropolis Ark 1, and check out guys like Alex Moukala on YouTube to learn how to use it for the kind of stuff you want to create. After that you could possibly check out Nucleus / Jaeger as a next step.

Those are only the tools though. You still need to learn the craft! :D


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## agobbett (Jun 10, 2020)

There's no one library that will do EVERYTHING you need, you will find strengths and weaknesses in every choice out there.

That being said, here's a few great library choices for getting started with epic music, there's definitely more but these are the ones I have experience with:

All Round:
Metropolis Ark 1 - Perfect for getting a good all round epic sound
Jaeger - Another great starting library
Albion One - A little older than the others but still a great choice for getting started

Strings:
Cinematic Strings 2 - has a great out of the box sound and is probably a better library for getting that epic sound quicker than CSS (although CSS is my favourite string library!)
Trailer Strings - Might not be perfect out of the box sound, but is a great choice to just load up and play

Brass:
Angry Brass Pro - Perfect out of the box and simple to use
Trailer Brass - Another great 'load up and play' choice but lacks trumpets
Adventure Brass - similar to above but had trumpets if you need them

Percussion:
Apocalypse Percussion - Great starting point for all round epic percussion and has a great sound out of the box
Damage - Classic hybrid percussion library

Choir:
Oceania Choir - Between this and Metropolis Ark 1 and 2 choir you have everything you need for epic choirs

The way I would approach getting these is going for an All Round library first (by listening to the demos on the companies website/youtube tutorials to get a feel for the library), learn its strengths and weaknesses from mocking up some of your favourite pieces, then decide what that library lacks in terms of the style you want to achieve and fill it with other more specific libraries.

Hope this helps


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## Sunny Schramm (Jun 10, 2020)

I would also go for Ark 1 and Ark 3 for this dark gritty epic stuff. Kind of expensive but worth for sure! And remember - right now you can buy individual instruments of ARK1 in the Sine-Store. Maybe a good way to avoid the full price and get only what you need. Also the amazing "Horns a12" from the Junkie XL library can be purchased as a solo-instrument - really big martial sound for just round about 100€ and almost the only brass section you need for some time.

If you want something inspiring right out of the box first to get fast results and want "fun" you should go for ProjectSam´s Orchestral Essentials and the Symphobia Series which gives you the big hollywood/zimmer sound directly in your hand. Perfect for sketching, very inspiring multis imho and you can use them still later when you got other libraries like metropolis ark 1/3 to layer and thick´n up your sound. I still like the stuff from ProjectSam even if they are a little older now - but the price drops also over the years to a very affordable point.

A very good library for epic but not too big sound is Spitfires Albion One which you can get for only 249€ right now - I´ve paid a lot more back then for the original albion/redux. The Low Strings are really impressive - so dark...love it 

If you want next to the bigger sound some more classical detailed sound you can go for OT Berlin Inspire which is now on intro-price for the sine-version for 299€.

The BigBangOrchestra from VSL is also a good way to start. I like their synchron-player and the sound of VSL is very beautiful - maybe too beautiful for what you want?! Also the mixer/room-presets are great. The "processed" presets can make it really sound big. But be careful - it seems to be cheap pricing...but to get "all" of its components...it gets more and more expensive. Otherwise its perfect to get "step by step" what you need.

ALL these named libraries gives you the whole orchestra as ensembles, no solo instruments. Some give you special articulations, clusters, fx, choir, piano, etc. on top. Check out some walkthroughs on youtube and get what you like most. I think thats important to stay motivated. Later on you can buy more specialized stuff to expand your possibilities.

And now you have the pain of choosing :D


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## Sunny Schramm (Jun 10, 2020)

BTW: for percussion I can recommend the SAGA percussion from red room audio. A really fair price (149$), great detailed and playable sound and some really interesting instruments on top next to the standards. It runs mostly under the radar but its really worth a look ❤


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## NormkbPlayer (Jul 5, 2020)

Here's something I did using heavyocity Instruments.


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## ned3000 (Jul 5, 2020)

Just to offer a counterpoint to the Metropolis Ark 1 recommendations, I've had mixed results with that. The strings in particular *sound* exceptionally good but for the kind of rhythmic stuff in the OP there's an inconsistency to the attack lengths that can make things really difficult.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Jul 5, 2020)

I’m surprised no one has mentioned EastWest yet. I use EW library’s for all of my epic tracks....namely Hollywood Strings/Brass Gold and Symphonic Orchestra (the percussion is great). I blend these with other libraries such as Caspian Brass, Oceania, etc. If you want that “Two Steps From Hell” sound, EastWest delivers (Nick Phoenix, the cofounder, is one of main dudes who created those EW libraries). But as others mentioned, no library will give you instant gratification out of the box. It mostly comes down to your MIDI programming/orchestration skills.


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## purple (Jul 5, 2020)

Listen to people you like. Figure out what they use. Start there.


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