# Most under-appreciated VI / library



## Guy Rowland (Jul 14, 2015)

Come on now, nothing that is already had plenty of love round these parts. I'll kick off with two from Native Instruments:

*Action Strikes*

Kinda got overlooked with all the other big names around. Staggeringly good programming, amazingly diverse range of sounds that are in the main very good. Honestly if I only had this for the big / epic stuff, I'd be perfectly happy.

*Session Horns Pro*

The more I've used it, the more I've liked it - except for solo instruments, I tend to reach for it now ahead of Broadway Big Band and CHH. Just avoid the default poly mode - Smart Voice Split and Legato modes are both excellent.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Jul 14, 2015)

I think *Padshop Pro* and *Retrologue* tend to get a little bit underestimated/overlooked because they come with Cubase, but they're actually really fun, good sounding and pretty capable synths.

I also think that the *VSL Special Editions* often get a somewhat of a "beginners/tryout" library rep, while they're actually probably the best bang-for-buck package out there and offer an impressive range of great sounding instruments with all important articulations.


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## chillbot (Jul 14, 2015)

These are loops but *Cinesamples Deep Percussion Beds 2*. Deep Percussion Beds 1 was nothing to write home about but 2 is incredible and eminently useful. Well worth the $199 if you use any sort of epic percussion loops.

Also, both loops and hits (and both are great), *Evolution World Percussion 2.0*. A little more pricey (though I think a lot cheaper now than when I bought it) but well worth it. I use it somewhere in almost every track even non-ethnic stuff.

I own most every percussion library out there and definitely anything with loops... these two stand apart. For example, I've been deeply disappointed with LADD... it sounds great, I mean it sounds amazeballs you listen to LADD and you're like that's a cue done right there I don't even have to do anything. But in dozens and dozens of attempts I've struggled with LADD and never used it once in any track. Most likely user error but I can't get it to jive with anything else or sit in a mix. The above two libraries are the exact opposite of this, they just have a way of blending in to my samples and to my mix. Not sure if that makes sense... anyway just my .02 cents.


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## Richard Wilkinson (Jul 14, 2015)

8dio dobro lead, realibanjo and Ilya efimov balalaika make it onto about half of my tracks. All brilliant and versatile.


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## stonzthro (Jul 14, 2015)

+1 for *Actions Strikes* and *Rise and Hit* - both very useful! Also several of the Spitfire LABS, particularly *Dulcimer* and *Felt Piano* get a vote here.


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## ysnyvz (Jul 14, 2015)

chillbot said:


> Also, both loops and hits (and both are great), *Evolution World Percussion 2.0*. A little more pricey (though I think a lot cheaper now than when I bought it) but well worth it. I use it somewhere in almost every track even non-ethnic stuff.


Hi. Thanks for nice feedback. 
Just a little correction. World Percussion 2 doesn't actually contain any loop. We make midi grooves and techniques from deeply sampled individual hits. We did same for Taiko but with more advanced script functions. We also plan to update World Percussion with new script


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## kurtvanzo (Jul 14, 2015)

Cthulu works great for quicker lines and it does things other ARPs don't. Being able to recorded/tweak the arp and send it to any instrument is ideal once it's set-up, and there are lots of presets to start from. Great for string, brass, perc ostinatos- better and more useable than loops IMHO- more customizable. The Chord library is also useful for discovering new progressions. At $39 it's def an amazing deal and valuable tool. Their video on the site runs through it all...

https://www.xferrecords.com/products/cthulhu


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## synthpunk (Jul 14, 2015)

Five12 Numerology
Twisted Tools


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## Rodney Money (Jul 14, 2015)

You know, I'm just going to throw this out there, CineWinds Pro especially the Irish samples like the Uilleann Pipes.


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## chillbot (Jul 14, 2015)

ysnyvz said:


> Hi. Thanks for nice feedback.
> Just a little correction. World Percussion 2 doesn't actually contain any loop. We make midi grooves and techniques from deeply sampled individual hits. We did same for Taiko but with more advanced script functions. We also plan to update World Percussion with new script



Hi, sorry for the confusion... though I think I'm actually more confused. And sorry to hijack the thread momentarily. I'm aware all of your percussion is multi-sampled hits and quite playable, as I said I use constantly it's one of my favorite libraries. I especially love your huge variety of sudanese gamelan. I think saying "midi grooves" is a bit misleading... it makes you think more of stylus. I'm using it on a separate computer via VE Pro so there are no "midi grooves" per se just me pressing a note down and getting an audio loop in return. If you're saying you programmed all these loops via midi then congrats and well done, I thought they were actual audio recordings. Either way they sound great.


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## Integ (Jul 14, 2015)

+1 for *Rise and Hit. *One of the most useful libraries ever for my line of work. I find myself reaching for it quite often. 

Surprisingly, *Cinesamples CineOrch* has turned out to be money well spent for a lot of my projects. It doesn't do a lot, but what it does do, it does very well. I'd love to see them expand this title and make it more versatile. Break out just winds, or just brass, or just string ensembles with the same sort of chordal flexibility the original has. 

Spitfire's *Orchestral Piano* is also great for that soundstage piano vibe. I use it in a lot of mixes.


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## Sid Francis (Jul 14, 2015)

Rodney Money said:


> You know, I'm just going to throw this out there, CineWinds Pro especially the Irish samples like the Uilleann Pipes.



Same for me: the Uillean Pipes and the Renaissance Flute made it into several tunes of my last CD and I love the sound.


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## zacnelson (Jul 14, 2015)

stonzthro said:


> +1 for *Actions Strikes* and *Rise and Hit* - both very useful! Also several of the Spitfire LABS, particularly *Dulcimer* and *Felt Piano* get a vote here.


I was going to nominate Felt Piano too! Awesome! Glad I'm not the only one :D


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## Rodney Money (Jul 14, 2015)

Sid Francis said:


> Same for me: the Uillean Pipes and the Renaissance Flute made it into several tunes of my last CD and I love the sound.


Absolutely! I have the most people come into my studio and ask what piper did I hire?


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## Lawson. (Jul 14, 2015)

Most Spitfire LABS products are amazing. Since I've gotten them, I've used them (especially the dulcimer and soft piano) in almost all of my tracks.


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## Andrew Aversa (Jul 14, 2015)

Does the original East West RA count? It was quite popular when it first came out, but while the sampling world has advanced considerably with true legato etc... I still use that santoor ALL the time.


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## KEnK (Jul 14, 2015)

I still use the old Tone Hammer Creative Junk Lib.
I like a lot of those wacky packages they came up with.

I also like the Vir2 World Impact perc lib.
It seems to do the trick for me more often than any other perc lib.
Could be because it's dry- I just never warm up to reverb libs,

k


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## anp27 (Jul 14, 2015)

I like the Atom Hub stuff a lot. I also like the M Tron Pro from G Force Software.


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## evilantal (Jul 14, 2015)

I'm thinking of Impact Soundworks' Celestia, Force Sampling's Afterlife and Subsonic Artz' Ethereal


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Jul 15, 2015)

zircon_st said:


> I still use that santoor ALL the time.



Aaah, which leads me to: the new *8Dio Santur*. It's great! Very playable and has some coole features like note-repeat on release and different microtunings that really help idiomatic playing.


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## muk (Jul 15, 2015)

Are effects allowed? Then I'd throw in Independence Origami. My favourite reverb. Eventhough it's old and has a dated interface, it's still holding up very well. It has stage placement, lets you load custom IRs, and it sounds pretty darn good.


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## Resoded (Jul 15, 2015)

Spitfire Enigma. I don't hear much about it here on vi-control but the sounds are very inspirational. Wish Spitfire would go further and fully sample that guitar sound, picked and fingered.


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## Jaap (Jul 15, 2015)

For me the early libraries from Eduardo Tarilonte like Forest Kingdom, Epic World and Desert Winds and Era (though that one got some praise) because they where plagued by the Engine sampler, but some true gems in those libraries and a lot of stuff still sits in my template


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## rocking.xmas.man (Jul 15, 2015)

I actually think Sonokinetics Sleigh Bells are just awesome. Also Orchestraltools Symphonic sphere is very under-appreciated by being reduced to its Harp very often. But these strings are just sounding sooo beautiful...


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## ysnyvz (Jul 15, 2015)

chillbot said:


> Hi, sorry for the confusion... though I think I'm actually more confused. And sorry to hijack the thread momentarily. I'm aware all of your percussion is multi-sampled hits and quite playable, as I said I use constantly it's one of my favorite libraries. I especially love your huge variety of sudanese gamelan. I think saying "midi grooves" is a bit misleading... it makes you think more of stylus. I'm using it on a separate computer via VE Pro so there are no "midi grooves" per se just me pressing a note down and getting an audio loop in return. If you're saying you programmed all these loops via midi then congrats and well done, I thought they were actual audio recordings. Either way they sound great.


I know it looks a bit confusing at first, because it's a unique feature. Yes, those midis are programmed and mapped to keys. They are not audio loops, so you can use them at any tempo. You can find them (midi grooves folder) in your library folder, drag & drop to your daw. You can also make your own midis like this:


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## Blake Ewing (Jul 15, 2015)

Atom Hub - Lost Horizon and The Planet
Dream Audio Tools stuff
Impact Soundworks - Rhapsody Perc, Pearl Grand Piano and Archtop
FrozenPlain - Colourform
Soundiron - Montclarion Hall Piano
Bolder Sounds stuff
Fluffy Audio - My Piano and Aurora
Orangetree Samples - Rosewood Grand
SoundDust stuff
Cinematique Instruments stuff


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## Chris Hurst (Jul 15, 2015)

I'd echo a few already mentioned.

Spitfire Enigma is a regular feature in my tracks and sounds great.

Spitfire LABS Felt Piano - great sounding little piano. (I'd also include the Peel Guitar whilst talking about the LABS stuff)

Action Strikes - sounds great. Easy to use. Lots of options and easily tweak-able.


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## Vin (Jul 15, 2015)

Spitfire Ollie Waton drums & Sennheiser Drummica. Better than many commercial drum libraries that I heard/own.

Also Headroom piano by Bengt Nilsson - great sounding piano.


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## williemyers (Jul 15, 2015)

I'll throw in a vote for pretty much anything released by *Bolder Sounds* (http://boldersounds.com/). Excellent little libraries and excellent value for money! And, the only developer that's ever written me after I made a purchase and asked, "what would YOU like to see as our next library?!"


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## sinkd (Jul 15, 2015)

+1 for Bolder and older Tonehammer stuff. I am finding myself very distracted now exploring Blake's list.....

DS


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## stonzthro (Jul 15, 2015)

Oh yeah, and *Kong Audio* for Chinese instruments - not as deep as some libraries, but very useful (win only tho).


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## Blake Ewing (Jul 15, 2015)

sinkd said:


> I am finding myself very distracted now exploring Blake's list.....


Should I say I'm sorry or you're welcome?


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## dpasdernick (Jul 15, 2015)

Nostalgia by Zero-G and the late great Steve Howell. I spend hours layering pads and voices, pads and bells, pads and strings, pads and pads, pads and shrimp... oh crap... I Forrest Gumped it... anyway Nostalgia is beautiful... oh and Colourform by Frozen Plain is a little gem...

and+1 on Vienna Special Editions and Padshop Pro...


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## dpasdernick (Jul 15, 2015)

Blake Ewing said:


> Atom Hub - Lost Horizon and The Planet
> Dream Audio Tools stuff
> Impact Soundworks - Rhapsody Perc, Pearl Grand Piano and Archtop
> FrozenPlain - Colourform
> ...



Blake,

Thank you for the link to Atom Hub. How these guys weren't on my radar is unimaginable. I must be getting old. 

All the very best,

Darren


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## gsilbers (Jul 15, 2015)

Afterlife


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## anp27 (Jul 15, 2015)

dpasdernick said:


> Blake,
> 
> Thank you for the link to Atom Hub. How these guys weren't on my radar is unimaginable. I must be getting old.
> 
> ...


I mentioned Atom Hub first!!


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## R. Soul (Jul 16, 2015)

I'm a big fan of Wavesfactory - loads of quality libraries for next to nothing. 

This is a good list of smaller, relatively unknown developers:
http://filmandgamecomposers.com/gui...robably-never-heard-of-and-need-to-check-out/


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## chillbot (Jul 16, 2015)

Resoded said:


> Spitfire Enigma. I don't hear much about it here on vi-control but the sounds are very inspirational. Wish Spitfire would go further and fully sample that guitar sound, picked and fingered.



Went and checked out Engima... listened to the demos, sounds great... price is reasonable... add to cart, log in... error message "you can not purchase Engima because you already own it." I do? Looks on hard drive.... oh hey I do! I don't think I've ever fooled around with it and I must have bought it a year ago. It's nice thanks for the find on my own hard drive.


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## Resoded (Jul 16, 2015)

chillbot said:


> Went and checked out Engima... listened to the demos, sounds great... price is reasonable... add to cart, log in... error message "you can not purchase Engima because you already own it." I do? Looks on hard drive.... oh hey I do! I don't think I've ever fooled around with it and I must have bought it a year ago. It's nice thanks for the find on my own hard drive.



 Yeah it was sort of just lying around on my harddrive aswell and then a couple of weeks ago I gave it another run and was reminded how much useful patches it has. Angelic Chords (I think it's called) is a favorite.


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## sleepy hollow (Jul 16, 2015)

chillbot said:


> "you can not purchase Engima because you already own it." I do? Looks on hard drive.... oh hey I do!


You indecently wealthy 1%er!
Bernie Sanders will come to your house and take away all your spitfire sound audio plugin thingies!!1!1


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## chillbot (Jul 16, 2015)

Resoded said:


> Angelic Chords (I think it's called) is a favorite.



Oh yeah Angelic Chords is the perfect patch for this thread:

http://vi-control.net/community/ind...-cinematic-sounding-chord-progressions.46651/

I feel like a film scorerer!


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## drumman (Jul 16, 2015)

http://www.thelooploft.com/products/flutes-of-fire

Just not appreciated by the masses as it ought to be.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Jul 16, 2015)

drumman said:


> http://www.thelooploft.com/products/flutes-of-fire
> 
> Just not appreciated by the masses as it ought to be.



I bought two. It just felt right.


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## synthpunk (Jul 16, 2015)

+1



Blake Ewing said:


> Atom Hub - Lost Horizon and The Planet
> SoundDust stuff
> Cinematique Instruments stuff


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## apessino (Jul 16, 2015)

chillbot said:


> Oh yeah Angelic Chords is the perfect patch for this thread:
> 
> http://vi-control.net/community/ind...-cinematic-sounding-chord-progressions.46651/
> 
> I feel like a film scorerer!



Yes, Angelic Chords go perfectly with the Brown Chords...


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## catsass (Jul 16, 2015)

drumman said:


> http://www.thelooploft.com/products/flutes-of-fire
> Just not appreciated by the masses as it ought to be.



I made the mistake of purchasing the SNIFTI version. $10,000 for the library seemed fair in light of the amount of content included (9 loops!), not to mention the world class flautist involved. But the damned SNIFTI connector has been on backorder for 4 years.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 16, 2015)

Under-appreciated who knows, but there are some great libraries that people don't talk about much. Most are old, but so what.

A few off the top of my head:

Flying Hand Percussion
Shreddage
Wavelore pedal steel
Cool Vibes
Notre Dame de Budapest pipe organ
Larry Seyer Acoustic Bass


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## apessino (Jul 16, 2015)

I am not sure how "under-appreciated" it is (being from Steinberg and all..) but I find *Groove Agent 4* to be one of the most rewarding VSTs to use. Great usability (and seriously awesome Cubase integration), great sound and huuuuuge depth. I like it much better than any other drum library I have tried.


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## MisteR (Jul 16, 2015)

Precision Sound has some very nice libraries. Swedish keyharp and Moldova Concert Cimbalom are a couple favorites. I also hear good things about the accordions.

http://store.precisionsound.net/


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## Guy Rowland (Jul 16, 2015)

apessino said:


> I am not sure how "under-appreciated" it is (being from Steinberg and all..) but I find *Groove Agent 4* to be one of the most rewarding VSTs to use. Great usability (and seriously awesome Cubase integration), great sound and huuuuuge depth. I like it much better than any other drum library I have tried.



That's very interesting. I spent a while with it initially and so couldn't get on with it - I found it impenetrable. But you've persuaded me to give it another try, because the Cubase integration is very attractive.

Oh, and yes if it's good I definitely think it would count as "under-appreciated" - I rarely hear anyone talk about it. Actually I'm especially interested in hearing about some of the bigger name products that seem always below the radar somehow.


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## stonzthro (Jul 16, 2015)

How about this Guy - much of 8W has made it into my template, but no one ever talks about it. It isn't cheap and some of the library is pretty much unusable, BUT much of it is fantastic sounding for huge brass/strings/percussion. The different mic positions make it a very flexible library too (though you won't get 'intimate' from it at all).


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## sleepy hollow (Jul 16, 2015)

Guy Rowland said:


> because the Cubase integration is very attractive


What is this Cubase integration about? You two made me curious, but a quick Google search didn't help.
Does it have to do with automation or the drum map?

Would appreciate a quick explanation!


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## Mystic (Jul 16, 2015)

I'm going to have to go with Oracle. Very well balanced synth with some great sound. It's a pleasure using it.


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## Guy Rowland (Jul 16, 2015)

sleepy hollow said:


> What is this Cubase integration about? You two made me curious, but a quick Google search didn't help.
> Does it have to do with automation or the drum map?
> 
> Would appreciate a quick explanation!



Uhhhhh.... scratches head trying to remember - ok, the website says "Advanced Cubase integration with drag and drop, full automation and automatic drum map exchange". I think it was the latter that looked good, if memory serves when you drag to the DAW it has all the drum names automatically assigned. Or something. Appessino will no doubt know more than me...


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## apessino (Jul 16, 2015)

Hey Guy!

Yeah, GA4 is really big and deep and not the easiest thing to get into. Took me a read of the manual (which is really dry and actually not detailed enough), a few videos and a few hours of just playing with to get to where I felt I was ready to use it effectively. Also, the UI is in places crowded and really damn tiny (seriously, some things are like... 6 pixels?). Still, those are very minor gripes...

It is much more than just a library (even if the kits it comes with are excellent and superbly recorded); it is at least 3 instruments in 1. Beat Agent is a fully featured sampler (in fact it IS the core sampler from Halion), the Acoustic and Percussion agents are also "virtual" drummers with great live playback features. The mixing and effect environments are just nuts - you can literally edit/replace every little detail, every mic position - the amount of control (if you are into it) is insane. The you get to layer up to four "agents" per instance, so you can make some pretty crazy combinations of sounds easily.

The integration I mentioned is the best part because it makes the "open" features of GA4 immediately accessible. You can drag-drop almost anything into (and out of) the pads - depending on how you drag samples (audio clips, files, etc.) onto GA4 they can be automatically assigned to multiple pads, or stacked onto the same pad (and then it takes seconds to have them velocity layered, etc.) or you can have them randomized, round-robin-ed, etc. You have sample level control of fades, tuning, and so much more. In a matter of seconds you can have any recording into pads, cross faded, mixed, scripted, blah blah...  I have never done that stuff more quickly.

The AI players are also great, with real time controls and the ability to drag and drop performances onto your project, or render the MIDI into any other track and drive other instruments, and so much more... Good stuff to get you going, and then you can edit the crap out of the baseline until you are happy.

Integration with Cubase also means that you click one button and your instrument track gets the full drum track, including the pad names (for both patterns and instruments) and you can use Cubase's Drum Editor instead of the built in one in GA4 (which again, is so tiny it makes for a very frustrating experience).

Finally, at $180 it is a steal... 

Here is a quick example on a track I just started - IT IS JUST A SKETCH, JUST GETTING STARTED, NOT AT ALL DONE, ONLY HEARD IT IN MY HEADPHONES, I WAS DEAD AT THE TIME! Anyhow... please don't judge me.  The drum part took all of 10 minutes to get started, then I started editing some of the patterns and sounds. There is processing at all - just a master limiter, the drum is the "rock kit" the way it sound sout of the box, pretty much.

https://soundcloud.com/andrea-pessino/f-020-8/s-hIRmt


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## TheUnfinished (Jul 16, 2015)

I pretty much love everything that Cinematique Instruments do, and they hardly ever seem to get any love.

They do some of the best demo tracks out there too. Fabulous libraries.


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## sleepy hollow (Jul 16, 2015)

Thanks to Guy and double-thanks to apessino! Will give a good look at GA 4 soon.



TheUnfinished said:


> I pretty much love everything that Cinematique Instruments do, and they hardly ever seem to get any love.
> 
> They do some of the best demo tracks out there too. Fabulous libraries.


I did a forum search a few days ago and found a thread where they got bashed like... uh, I don't know what to say. It's been an ugly read, oh boy....


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## Zhao Shen (Jul 16, 2015)

Under-appreciated? Honestly, Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds. Always overshadowed by its Brass and String counterparts, but a great WW library in its own right.

Also 8Dio Epic Dhol. Has a great tone and IMO it's much more versatile and useful than its more well-known sibling, Epic Toms.


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## EastWest Lurker (Jul 16, 2015)

EW Silk. Not a ton of content, but beautiful.


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## synthpunk (Jul 16, 2015)

Was it regarding Ensemblia ? Perhaps important to preface that. Not there finest hour there, but most of the rest of there stuff is great.



sleepy hollow said:


> Thanks to Guy and double-thanks to apessino! Will give a good look at GA 4 soon.
> 
> 
> I did a forum search a few days ago and found a thread where they got bashed like... uh, I don't know what to say. It's been an ugly read, oh boy....


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## sleepy hollow (Jul 16, 2015)

aesthete said:


> Was it regarding Ensemblia ? Perhaps important to preface that. Not there finest hour there, but most of the rest of there stuff is great


No, it wasn't about a particular instrument. People were saying CI would be a rip-off/clone of another company. It started with their website design, then someone pointed out that this is normal, since lots of smaller companies use Wordpress and therefore many websites look the same. But that didn't help - things just got out of hand.

It was an old thread, I think.


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## zacnelson (Jul 16, 2015)

I thought of another little gem…. Dream Audio Tools `Dream Keys'


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## TomNoyd (Jul 17, 2015)

Hopefully I won't get laughed at for some on my nominations for underrated VI's/sample libraries but here goes nothing:

-*Frank The Smith's FTS Edge Bass*[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.792969)]- Electric DI bass intended for metal, hardcore, "metalcore" (ugh, how that term makes me cringe). It has that nice grimy, punchy sound I look for in metal and punk. Those fast and slow up and down slides sometimes make all the difference. A minor gripe but I sometimes wish it had automatic release samples though.

-*Hephaestus Sounds' The Clarinet and Honky Tonk Piano*- Cheap (or free) and simple to use. I love the detuned, rough, clanky sound of the piano....just wished the Kontakt script didn't take up to 50% of my CPU. Obviously, the Clarinet doesn't have the most pristine sound out there but I somehow end up still using it to this day (it was free when it was first released).

-*Embertone's Sensual Saxophone- *I'm not sure if this counts as being underrated as I seen some love for this before but hot damn, I just love it. The "sensual legato" makes me smile every time I play it.

-*The factory patches for Battery 4- *Some may disagree (or just wouldn't care to acknowledge it) but I found a lot of kits in NI's Battery 4 to be surprisingly useful (for rock, pop, hip-hop, EDM). With the right tweaking, the LE patches for the Session Drummer (normally Kontakt) can sound surprisingly full with the right amount of in-the-box tweaking.

-*The band factory instruments for Kontakt- *Some people will definitely scoff and roll their their eyes at this one. However, I'm actually surprised by how much use I got out of the pop and jazz drum kits, upright bass, and clavinet (the wah makes all the difference).

And a +1 for Session Horns Pro.[/COLOR]


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## zacnelson (Jul 17, 2015)

Some good nominations Tom! I totally agree about Battery 4, also I make constant use of the Kontakt jazz kit, upright bass and clavinet!


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## synthpunk (Jul 17, 2015)

Guitar Amp Pro. Surprised how little it is talked about. And a secret weapon for deep sound design.


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## Guy Rowland (Jul 17, 2015)

(thanks v much appessino for all those comments on GA4 - I'll definitely have to give it another go at some stage)


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## kitekrazy (Jul 17, 2015)

TomNoyd said:


> Hopefully I won't get laughed at for some on my nominations for underrated VI's/sample libraries but here goes nothing:
> 
> -*Frank The Smith's FTS Edge Bass*[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.792969)]- Electric DI bass intended for metal, hardcore, "metalcore" (ugh, how that term makes me cringe). It has that nice grimy, punchy sound I look for in metal and punk. Those fast and slow up and down slides sometimes make all the difference. A minor gripe but I sometimes wish it had automatic release samples though.
> 
> ...



Kontakt factory library - I didn't know the choir was decent and also some of the synths.


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## catsass (Jul 17, 2015)

aesthete said:


> Was it regarding Ensemblia ? Perhaps important to preface that. Not there finest hour there, but most of the rest of there stuff is great.



Hmmm. I have read a number of glowing Ensemblia reviews, (Sound on Sound, Film and Game Composers). I would be curious to hear some thoughts on their just released 1.5 version. It would appear that much retooling has been done to the original release, as well as a number of instrument and preset additions.

This is not a paid advertisement


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## zacnelson (Jul 17, 2015)

Have you ever read a Sound on Sound review of ANYTHING that wasn't complimentary?! :D


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## Rob Elliott (Jul 17, 2015)

Anything Ilya efimov. I sinply haven't purchased a dog from them - they are sort of due. Love to see more coming from them. Feel the same about anything Tari - top drawer stuff.


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## Brendon Williams (Jul 17, 2015)

Another vote for *FTS Edge Bass* here. I use this ALL the time. It just has that perfect sound for modern metal (and trailers!), and in addition to a great DI, there's a big variety of different pre-processed alternate bass tones. And the price is a steal.

Also, though it's certainly not overlooked, *EWQLSO *is definitely under-appreciated these days. Yes, it has fewer round robins and doesn't have true legato. But it's not "outdated" as I've heard a lot of people say. The sound is fantastic, and it's just as usable as ever, especially for parts that don't need true legato, lots of velocity layers, and round robins. Which is really quite a few things. I recently got Spitfire Percussion, and though I love it, I still use the EWQLSO percussion quite a bit, because some of its contents just sound better to me. There are a lot of hidden gems in there too. I'm just as guilty as anyone else as thinking the next newest library is going to take things to the next level, but that's just not always the case.


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## synthpunk (Jul 17, 2015)

I think 1.5 is much better. 



catsass said:


> Hmmm. I have read a number of glowing Ensemblia reviews, (Sound on Sound, Film and Game Composers). I would be curious to hear some thoughts on their just released 1.5 version. It would appear that much retooling has been done to the original release, as well as a number of instrument and preset additions.
> 
> This is not a paid advertisement


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## David Chappell (Jul 17, 2015)

I think The Giant is quite under appreciated. It's one of my favourite pianos, especially for low dynamic stuff.

Also, there's a freebie called "feroyn's flute" that I think somebody on vi control made and posted. It's a real gem.


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## synthpunk (Jul 17, 2015)

Freebie Blakus Cello. Still in my template.


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## musophrenic (Jul 17, 2015)

zacnelson said:


> Have you ever read a Sound on Sound review of ANYTHING that wasn't complimentary?! :D



Not to derail this excellent thread, but it's not the first time I've heard something like this about SOS reviews, and it's quite interesting (I know you're being light-hearted Zac, but it is indicative of the general response nonetheless). 

Yes, many, if not all, of their reviews are positive, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I personally enjoy the fact that their reviews go into a lot of detail, and I think that's the most important thing to me in a written review. It makes the review that much more useful without hearing or seeing the library in action. Over the years, I've come to discern what aspects of a review are personal opinion and response, and what aspects are likely to be universally appreciated (or not!). 

I tend to react more to the concepts and ideas of the product being reviewed over the reviewer's response, inflated as it may prove to be. When I first read about word builders and phrase builders in choir libraries, for instance, the detail in the SOS reviews of how they worked was far more fascinating to me than whether the reviewer thought the results were stunning. 

And besides, no developer ever sets out to make a bad product, you know? The painstaking amount of meticulous work that goes into sample libraries and synths and what have you ... you'd have to be pretty passionate about the project all throughout. Execution may fall short of the original concept, and that should definitely be highlighted in reviews. But a review that serves to simply tear someone's creative vision to shreds does little good to anyone either, I think.

That's just me, anyway. Lol, maybe I'm just too optimistic about some things


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## anp27 (Jul 17, 2015)

David Chappell said:


> I think The Giant is quite under appreciated. It's one of my favourite pianos, especially for low dynamic stuff.
> 
> Also, there's a freebie called "feroyn's flute" that I think somebody on vi control made and posted. It's a real gem.


Yeah... I actually do use The Giant a lot, it's really great!


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## musophrenic (Jul 17, 2015)

And now to actually contribute to the thread ...

*Dream Audio Tools Indie Guitars Vol. 3* - I know Luca's released several of these along with a bunch of other instruments in the Indie line, but the sheer usefulness of this particular library continues to inspire its use for me.

*Bad Cat Samples* doesn't get nearly enough love at VI-C. I've reviewed a few of their libraries to great satisfaction on my part, especially because these are simple little inexpensive instruments that do exactly what they say on the tin, and are really well recorded. I've since become friends with Marcus the developer, and we're starting to do some work together, but I enjoyed his work way before we'd spoken a word to each other.

*CineSymphony LITE* - I know there's a ton of Cinesamples love here, and perhaps the reason CS Lite doesn't get discussed here is that it just works, does its thing, people are satisfied, and they get on with it. At least it does for me. But I think that it is a very important contender when speaking about Ensemble orchestral libraries, so when people are considering the Symphobias and the Albions on offer, I would recommend CS Lite specifically for its superb tone. Sometimes Symphobia and Albion just didn't do the trick, and CS Lite would swoop in and fit perfectly and beautifully. To me, it's the right sound for many a situation, and sometimes I just don't want to over-complicate things. The sheer flexibility doesn't hurt either. CS Lite is the main reason I'm super tempted to complete my full CineOrchestra line with CineStrings. 

*EW Silk* - I second Jay's response above. As great as many of the new Middle Eastern and Asian sample libraries are, especially with the advanced level of control afforded by modern sampling and programming methods, sometimes the superb tone and the particular expressiveness captured in SILK is the golden ticket. It has its own quirks for sure, but the results are often very beautiful. Play the EW duduk against some of the newer ones, for instance, and it still holds up very well, and is even the more preferable option in many instances. 

That's all I can think of for the moment while away from the studio.


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## RasmusFors (Jul 18, 2015)

Hideawaystudios blue zone bundle is one fantastic sounding and very inspiring collection of sounds that I feel is very underrated. I honestly think that some of the sounds in there are a few of the most beautifull electronic sounds ever created.

EDIT: +1 to "the giant" too, it's a very nice piano


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## cmillar (Jul 18, 2015)

Despite owning some other more expensive items (... many libraries that cost more are just collecting hard drive dust) I'd like to add:

- Kirk Hunter libraries - (they're all excellent, sound great, and are very versatile. His 'Diamond Orchestra' is the best deal around! There's always something in his libraries that I return to for most every project after I've been frustrated with some of my other libraries and can't quite find the right string or brass patch to help bring a sense of realism back to the music.)
- most U.V.I. libraries (the instruments that even come with MOTU's MachFive 3 hold their own.)
- Chris Hein Horns Compact Pro (the little relative, but you can build your own horn sections for any use! Great for layering a trumpet over top of a 'lugubrious' orchestral trumpet patch. You can even adjust the brass tunings by note!)
- Korg Legacy (M1 and Wavestation) - can't live without these classics! The M1 can add character to any mix. Even the old 'orchestral' sounds work when layered underneath some lumbering orchestral library patches... they can help add the 'edge'!


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## AR (Jul 19, 2015)

I throw my hat in the ring. Strezov's Tropar is very underestimated imo. The Basses are killers. Awesome for some Choir Braaaaams!!! Yes, no kidding. Choir Braaaamm. Plus the great legato function. And don't forget, it comes in Surround. Very important for me. So I give it a 1+


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## synthpunk (Jul 29, 2015)

A very good list of stuff here to check out:
http://filmandgamecomposers.com/gui...robably-never-heard-of-and-need-to-check-out/


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## bbunker (Jul 29, 2015)

It's funny, because the first things that come to mind when you ask about under-appreciated libraries are: East West's Symphonic Orchestra and VSL Special Editions.

The thing is that they usually get the kind of backhanded love that isn't love at all: "They'll do the job for you until you can get something better" or "They're the best of dirt cheap libraries that are relatively complete" or some variation on that theme. And I'm not sure, but I'd imagine that if I whispered either of those sweet nothings into my wife's ear that she would feel, perhaps...a touch...under-appreciated.

I suppose the point of this thread is to point out things that nobody knows more than the ones that everyone knows, but for me those two libraries feel like a '92 911 and Testarossa - there are definitely better cars that have come since, there are more bells and whistles and high technology, but there's no denying that they still do (and always will, I'd imagine) provide what they advertise - a rapturous driving...er, symphonicking...experience.


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## Mystic (Aug 9, 2015)

stonzthro said:


> Oh yeah, and *Kong Audio* for Chinese instruments - not as deep as some libraries, but very useful (win only tho).


I just found their site the other day and I'm trying to compare their Erhu to Embertones. You seem to know their products. Any opinion?


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## feck (Aug 9, 2015)

SoundDust stuff is up there for me. I can't believe it took me as long to know about them as it did, but the stuff Pendle is doing is unlike anyone else. Killer. And I just found out about Frozen Plain as well, which looks like some really nice stuff too. The one man shop stuff can be difficult to find out about.


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## InLight-Tone (Aug 9, 2015)

I'll put in a vote for Best Services Ethno World 5 as I'm a sucker for the exotic. It offers a smattering of useful things from all around the world. Lots of loops which I don't care for but are interesting to hear how an instrument is traditionally played...


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## Felipe Opazo (Aug 10, 2015)

- The whole Logic Pro X library, the Rhodes, Organ and synths are pretty great, I use them all the time (the clavinet is also good). Also Logic's Drummer is super useful and rarely mentioned, even the stock drum sounds are pretty nice.
- Addictive Drums 2: particularly the "Reel Machines" and "Vintage Dry" kits sound awesome. Also, great UI.


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## stonzthro (Aug 10, 2015)

Mystic said:


> I just found their site the other day and I'm trying to compare their Erhu to Embertones. You seem to know their products. Any opinion?


Erhu is not bad, but the flutes are well done and the pipa and guzhen are great. The percussion is not very deeply sampled, but it is very usable.


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## Wooloomooloo (Aug 10, 2015)

I don't know if it's already been mentioned, but Embertone's Freidlander Violin is really good, and doesn't cost very much. I've always been surprised they didn't do more.


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## feck (Aug 10, 2015)

Wooloomooloo said:


> I don't know if it's already been mentioned, but Embertone's Freidlander Violin is really good, and doesn't cost very much. I've always been surprised they didn't do more.


What do you mean "more"? They have plenty of instruments available.


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## Udo (Aug 10, 2015)

IRCAM Solo Instruments is a very useful supplementary lib (also for, but not limited to, aleatoric music).

Caveat: Not Kontakt compatible > use UVI Engine or MOTU MachFive 3 (a very good product).


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## maclaine (Aug 11, 2015)

I just bought this the other day.

http://www.sampleism.com/paperstoneinstruments/psi-vibraphone-kontakt?sk=kt

I have a few other vibraphones, but they all had an aggressiveness to the attack that wasn't what I needed for a piece I was working on. After listening to basically every other vibe library out there that I didn't already own, I went for this one and I have no regrets. There's a softness to it that I love, and the real vibrato that is sampled sounds so much more smooth than the simulated vibrato in a lot of other libraries. Hard to beat the price, as well.


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## Raindog (Aug 12, 2015)

Most underrated piano sample library is the Bluethner Model One from ProAudio Vault. The sound is still phantastic, the dynamic range incredible. The concept of soundshaping using impulse responses is very interesting and efficient though it makes finding the right Sound for a specific purpose slightly complicated. If this piano would get a GUI uplift and some bells and whistles like adjustable pedal noises it would be a killer piano.

Most underrated drums are MAD drums from Handheld Sound. Best hihat ever, excellent playability. It has a specific and crisp Sound. I would sometimes like to have another snare but as far as I know they are planning to expand the library with more instruments to come.

Another underrated drum library is Drumasonic. Excellent detailed sounds, great tweakability and playability. Less fancy than the big players such as AD or BFD but one of the best acoustic drum sample libraries out there.

One of most underrated libraries at all are the Chris Hein winds. They are nothing but excellent but never got too much attention. Don´t really know why. Great basic Sound, excellent playability with and without breath Controller.

There are definitely many other underrated libraries from the smaller developers and it´s hard to mention them all.
Best regards
Raindog


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## Guy Rowland (Aug 13, 2015)

bbunker said:


> It's funny, because the first things that come to mind when you ask about under-appreciated libraries are: East West's Symphonic Orchestra and VSL Special Editions.
> 
> The thing is that they usually get the kind of backhanded love that isn't love at all: "They'll do the job for you until you can get something better" or "They're the best of dirt cheap libraries that are relatively complete" or some variation on that theme. And I'm not sure, but I'd imagine that if I whispered either of those sweet nothings into my wife's ear that she would feel, perhaps...a touch...under-appreciated.
> 
> I suppose the point of this thread is to point out things that nobody knows more than the ones that everyone knows, but for me those two libraries feel like a '92 911 and Testarossa - there are definitely better cars that have come since, there are more bells and whistles and high technology, but there's no denying that they still do (and always will, I'd imagine) provide what they advertise - a rapturous driving...er, symphonicking...experience.



I missed this post. Actually my main motivation in starting the thread was exactly your point. There's a lot of received wisdom in these parts, and I got the feeling a lot of gold was getting overlooked in plain sight. Stuff like the Logic stock stuff, stuff in Komplete or your examples is just what I had in mind I guess. Hearing about the smaller or more obscure is important too, but it was the feeling of playing with Session Horns Pro bundled with K10U thinking "why on earth has this been damned with mediocre comments" that set me off.


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## Lode_Runner (Aug 13, 2015)

I don't know about libraries that get unfairly dismissed, but I know a lot of libraries that never seem to get talked about at all.

Ilya Efimov is seriously underrated. The Duduk and the nylon guitar get a lot of recognition (rightly so), but no-one seems to talk about the Bayan and Accordion (best accordions I've come across). I was also really impressed by the Classic and Retro Bass which I've never seen talked about anywhere.

I also feel Sonokinetic has some amazing libraries that never get mentioned: love Celesta, Toll and Hurdy Gurdy.

Other libraries I'm really taken with that I don't see talked about much: Soniccouture's Grand Marimba, Sound Dust's Hammr+, Impact Soundworks' Turkish Oud (except at time of release), Orange Tree Samples' Grand Kalimba, Fluffy Audio's My Piano and Wavesfactory's W-Harpischord.


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## kurtvanzo (Aug 13, 2015)

Guy Rowland said:


> I missed this post. Actually my main motivation in starting the thread was exactly your point. There's a lot of received wisdom in these parts, and I got the feeling a lot of gold was getting overlooked in plain sight. Stuff like the Logic stock stuff, stuff in Komplete or your examples is just what I had in mind I guess. Hearing about the smaller or more obscure is important too, but it was the feeling of playing with Session Horns Pro bundled with K10U thinking "why on earth has this been damned with mediocre comments" that set me off.



Thanks for this Guy. I have the first session horns but don't love it for anything but a funk or R&b horn combo, and even then I combine it with Sample modeling saxes and trumpets. Session horns are bright and punchy, but not so great outside of that pop sound. What is the advantage of the pro version? I know it has solo's but I prefer the sound of SM saxes and trumpets, is there other things the pro version does that makes it worth the extra cost? (No, I don't have komplete since there are too many things I there I don't need). Thanks for the info.


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## bigcat1969 (Aug 13, 2015)

Sampletekk Pianos, older but beautiful
Kirk Hunter, the best of the less expensive full orchestras
Ivy Audio's stuff, amazing for free
Karoryfer, some cool bass and other good stuff free
Forgive me, but bigcat organs, how many 40 stop pipe organs are there for kontakt


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## Guy Rowland (Aug 13, 2015)

kurtvanzo said:


> Thanks for this Guy. I have the first session horns but don't love it for anything but a funk or R&b horn combo, and even then I combine it with Sample modeling saxes and trumpets. Session horns are bright and punchy, but not so great outside of that pop sound. What is the advantage of the pro version? I know it has solo's but I prefer the sound of SM saxes and trumpets, is there other things the pro version does that makes it worth the extra cost? (No, I don't have komplete since there are too many things I there I don't need). Thanks for the info.



Well here's a comparison of instruments - http://www.native-instruments.com/e...matic/session-horns-pro/included-instruments/

And here's a comparison of articulations - http://www.native-instruments.com/e...al-cinematic/session-horns-pro/articulations/

I'm not sure what makes the big difference specifically, it's probably a combination of factors. Some of the available instrument options are pairs, some are solo, making a maximum of 6 - that seems to sound a lot fuller than 4. What I find is that the default polyphonic stuff is pretty rubbish, but the unison legato and smart voice split modes really are extremely good. From the demos I wasn't too thrilled with the basic edition (though it did quite a nice old school ska section) but the Pro version seems immeasurably more versatile while getting away with it. Certainly for quick working, I now choose it over BBB (did I say that already?) Always the problem with pop / big band brass has been ensemble stuff - this does it better than anything else out there that I've yet tried.


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## kurtvanzo (Aug 13, 2015)

Thanks Guy the comparison charts are great. I agree, I think the poly mode is what turns me off to the sound (quickly sounds synthetic) but the smart voice makes the $99 version usable. After watching the videos it looks like a good update price when NI has another half price sale (another $99), but seems crazy that it's almost 10 times the size (3.5GB vs 30GB). More trills, growls, vibrato, and instruments must have really filled it up  One of the videos mention it's not intended as a solo library, but how are the solo instrument patches? The Tuba, Euphonium, Trombone, and trumpet are sounds I sometimes use as solo instruments, are they useable? Or should I stick to Samplemodeling and just plan on this for horn section parts?


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## Guy Rowland (Aug 13, 2015)

kurtvanzo said:


> Thanks Guy the comparison charts are great. I agree, I think the poly mode is what turns me off to the sound (quickly sounds synthetic) but the smart voice makes the $99 version usable. After watching the videos it looks like a good update price when NI has another half price sale (another $99), but seems crazy that it's almost 10 times the size (3.5GB vs 30GB). More trills, growls, vibrato, and instruments must have really filled it up  One of the videos mention it's not intended as a solo library, but how are the solo instrument patches? The Tuba, Euphonium, Trombone, and trumpet are sounds I sometimes use as solo instruments, are they useable? Or should I stick to Samplemodeling and just plan on this for horn section parts?



If you already have samplemodeling, I'd have thought they'd be a better bet for solos - you can't get much better really. I've had a few quick plays with solo stuff in SHP and it isn't bad at all, but clearly ensembles is where the library really earns its keep.


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## mwarsell (Aug 18, 2015)

Soniccouture's "The Attic" doesn't get mentioned much, but it should. Includes some very nice vintage synth instruments. The Philicorda is my favourite.


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## dannthr (Aug 20, 2015)

I think I bought the Manytone Upright Bass for like $15 on sale once. Ridiculous! No frills but strangely usable bass patch.


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## kitekrazy (Aug 20, 2015)

I think GPO is still great for those who don't want to invest a lot of money in a library for occasional use . It's simple to use.


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## R. Soul (Aug 20, 2015)

dannthr said:


> I think I bought the Manytone Upright Bass for like $15 on sale once. Ridiculous! No frills but strangely usable bass patch.


That's funny, it's also my main upright bass. But then again, I don't own any of the upright top dogs libraries.


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## Rodney Money (Aug 20, 2015)

kitekrazy said:


> I think GPO is still great for those who don't want to invest a lot of money in a library for occasional use . It's simple to use.


You know, it's kind of funny you mentioned that. In my "Thank you... and New Toys" thread I needed to just have some rumbling, soft percussion noises in the demo at the start, and Garritan Instant Orchestra had the ambience I needed for that tract of all things. It was one of those things that you don't notice, but you would miss it if it wasn't there.


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## steinmann (Aug 21, 2015)

I've never seen Soniccouture's stuff receive much love. Maybe it has and I missed it, anyway, their Glassworks and Marimba libraries are very good. Konkrete 3 is also a great drum machine.


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## Jdiggity1 (Aug 21, 2015)

Mystic said:


> I just found their site the other day and I'm trying to compare their Erhu to Embertones. You seem to know their products. Any opinion?


Having owned and used East West's, Embertone's, and Kong Audio's Erhus, I prefer embertone's. I recently did a mock up of a cue from Mao's Last Dancer, and I tried all three of them. Embertone's Chang Erhu was the clear winner for me.
However I will happily use Kong Audio's Guzheng and NanXiao (in conjunction with Silk).


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## Mystic (Aug 21, 2015)

Jdiggity1 said:


> Having owned and used East West's, Embertone's, and Kong Audio's Erhus, I prefer embertone's. I recently did a mock up of a cue from Mao's Last Dancer, and I tried all three of them. Embertone's Chang Erhu was the clear winner for me.
> However I will happily use Kong Audio's Guzheng and NanXiao (in conjunction with Silk).



I think I'm eventually going to get Kongs complete series if I get this one gig I'm aiming for because some of their instruments do sound really good but I noticed a lot of their instruments are very old. Been hoping EW does a Silk 2 that can bring some new life to eastern instruments.


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## catsass (Oct 31, 2015)

Apologies for reviving an old thread, but I discovered some real gems here. I'd love to hear more. Post 'em if you got 'em!


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## Brendon Williams (Oct 31, 2015)

Both Photosynthesis volumes from Jeremiah Pena are fantastic. I've found myself going back to Volume 1 in particular for quite a few different projects lately. Not a ton of sounds, but all of them are really useful! Even the Guitar Rig patches that are included are great.


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## GULL (Nov 10, 2015)

Native Instruments : Scarbee Pre Bass


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## kurtvanzo (Sep 5, 2016)

I thought it might be good to revive this for 2016, considering many libraries have been released in the last year or two that could use mentioning. Anyone have something newer that they love?

For me it's...
*Strained Wire* by *Mod wheel*, very cool gritty sounds that are unique.
http://www.modwheel.co.nz/#!blank/n4izn

*Sonic Forest* by *Impact Soundworks*. A decent variety of very playable sounds at a low price.
https://impactsoundworks.com/product/sonic-forest/

*Realidrums* by *Realitone*. Great variety of drums and easy to customize, really saves time swapping through the sounds, I wish more drum libraries were like this. The groove machine is very cool too, the patterns have a lot of feel to them, like a real player. Assembling grooves and fills with drag and drop is easy and changing the complexity of each drum on the fly is such a cool feature.
http://realitone.com/realidrums/


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## evilantal (Sep 6, 2016)

Was Fractured Sounds' (Will Bedford) Granulate 2 mentioned already?

If not.....it should be


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## kurtvanzo (Sep 6, 2016)

evilantal said:


> Was Exotic States' Granulate 2 mentioned already?
> 
> If not.....it should be



Do you mean Fractured Sounds Granulate 2? Searching google I can't find Exotic States G2...
This is why adding a link is soooo helpful. 
http://vi-control.net/community/thr...sed-introducing-fracture-sounds-25-off.53081/
I do like Will's version though!


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## evilantal (Sep 6, 2016)

kurtvanzo said:


> Do you mean Fractured Sounds Granulate 2? Searching google I can't find Exotic States G2...
> This is why adding a link is soooo helpful.
> http://vi-control.net/community/thr...sed-introducing-fracture-sounds-25-off.53081/
> I do like Will's version though!



Ah, yeah oops... that's the one... I got confused after both Will and Jeremiah renamed their companies in a short period. Edited my post...

Sorry guys :/


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## Living Fossil (Sep 6, 2016)

kurtvanzo said:


> I thought it might be good to revive this for 2016, considering many libraries have been released in the last year or two that could use mentioning. Anyone have something newer that they love?
> 
> For me it's...
> *Strained Wire* by *Mod wheel*, very cool gritty sounds that are unique.
> ...




wow, both seem to be amazing...
thanks for mentioning them!


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## Mike Fox (Sep 6, 2016)

Zero G Animato. Its perfect for brutal string rises and textures. There's nothing really "playable" about it though.


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## MA-Simon (Sep 6, 2016)

kurtvanzo said:


> *Strained Wire* by *Mod wheel*, very cool gritty sounds that are unique.
> http://www.modwheel.co.nz/#!blank/n4izn


Never heard of them, nice stuff!


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## AmbientMile (Sep 7, 2016)

MA-Simon said:


> Never heard of them, nice stuff!



Their Biscuit Tin Guitar is loads of fun to play, too.


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## dpasdernick (Sep 7, 2016)

Korg Wavestation. I love those rhythmic sounds. Padshop Pro is also amazing as many have pointed out and UVI's Falcon is another overlooked VST.

Whoops one more. Colorform. Lovely.

Ugh... also anything by Heavyocity. Aeon = yum.


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## David Donaldson (Sep 8, 2016)

MA-Simon said:


> Never heard of them, nice stuff!


Good to see that advertising we take out on VI is really working.


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## kurtvanzo (Sep 8, 2016)

David Donaldson said:


> Good to see that advertising we take out on VI is really working.


It just means the use of blogs and forums has trained users to auto-ignore banner ads and play-walkthroughs while using the shower.


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## MA-Simon (Sep 8, 2016)

David Donaldson said:


> Good to see that advertising we take out on VI is really working.


Well... I notice banners all the time. But seeing for me is not clicking unfortunally, sorry.


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## dpasdernick (Sep 9, 2016)

I forgot to mention Dark Planet by Steinberg... awesome.


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## reutunes (Sep 11, 2016)

It's been really fascinating to read through this revived thread. Thanks for resurrecting it @kurtvanzo - There are certainly a few libraries that I hadn't heard of. It was also interesting to see that names of lots of libraries that I have covered in http://thesamplecast.com/ (The Samplecast) show. I always try and make a point of including smaller developers and unknown gems in the show, as the big boys often have plenty of coverage already.

From the products / companies mentioned in this thread, in the show we've looked at Strained Wire, Granulate, Sonic Forest, Photosynthesis engine, GPO, Embertone, Sound Dust, Sonokinetic, Sampletekk, Fluffy Audio etc. If you're interested in unusual instruments then it's definitely worth subscribing to the show as I do my best to give as much attention to small developers as big ones. Subscribe if you want to keep up to date.


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