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Which Celesta?

Kurosawa

Active Member
I'm currently on the search for a good celesta with a soft "magical" melancholic sound to it.

I was looking at Spitfire Percussion, but the sale is over. That is why I am looking for a standalone celesta now.

At the moment I have an eye on Cinesamples Randy's Celeste and Sonokinetic's Celesta.

The VSL one is also great, but I am not willing to purchase and use a USB stick for it.

Any experiences and/or recommendations?

Greetings

Kuro
 
I have got both - the Sonokinetic´s and Randy´s. Personally I prefer Randy´s because of it´s magical sound. The instrument and player which has been recorded seem to be the ones John Williams used for his Harry Potter score if I remember correctly. The Sonokinetic´s isnt bad and also can shine in many situations. But like I said: For me Randy´s exactly nails that "signature" cinematic / Tschaikowsky-Style Celesta sound. And it is the softest and most melancholic vst of that instrument that I have heared so far.
 
Oddly enough I find the Sonokinetic one to be super noisy on certain notes. It hasn't been a huge issue in context of the mix, but overall I like the tone. The one in CinePerc PRO is also pretty nice!
 
The new library by Chocolate Audio is very nice indeed.
I also love the free https://blog.noiiz.com/celesta/ (Celesta by Noiiz) , used it on an entire Elfman inspired album and it worked very well.
 
Spitfire Perc has the best one, imo. It certainly has that "magic" going on (i think it was actually used in Harry Potter?).

But that library is overpriced. I'd wait for a sale.
 
I have got both - the Sonokinetic´s and Randy´s. Personally I prefer Randy´s because of it´s magical sound. The instrument and player which has been recorded seem to be the ones John Williams used for his Harry Potter score if I remember correctly. The Sonokinetic´s isnt bad and also can shine in many situations. But like I said: For me Randy´s exactly nails that "signature" cinematic / Tschaikowsky-Style Celesta sound. And it is the softest and most melancholic vst of that instrument that I have heared so far.
Randy's Celeste is a celesta mixed with a custom DX7 sine wave patch, isn't it?
 
Which one - Vienna Instruments or Synchron Instruments? The latter sounds nicely rounded, to my ears. (... and before you ask: No, I didn't record it ;) ...)

I haven't heard the latter, but the VI one is fabulous. (The one from the Special Edition.)

Celeste from EW Hollywood Percussion sounds very nice, worth check it out.

The one in EastWest Goliath, which I believe is also in the old EWQLSO library, is very good too. Totally different from the VSL one, though.
 
I gotta say that the celeste that comes with the UVI Keyboard Suite is very usable. I found the Sonokinetic celeste to have way too much hiss.
 
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