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I have not upgraded sample libraries in too long, recs?

davidnaroth

davidnaroth

Naroth Audio
Hey! So yeah, I have been complacent with all my sample libraries for too long and would love love love some recommendations on orchestral libraries. Right now Im tied between Spitfire's stuff and OT, which do you think is worth it? As for traditional orch stuff, I have Cinematic Strings 2, CSS, Ark 1-2, Cinebrass, and Berlin WW.
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davidnaroth said:
Hey! So yeah, I have been complacent with all my sample libraries for too long and would love love love some recommendations on orchestral libraries. Right now Im tied between Spitfire's stuff and OT, which do you think is worth it? As for traditional orch stuff, I have Cinematic Strings 2, CSS, Ark 1-2, Cinebrass, and Berlin WW.
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Seems you are still good. Any reason specific to change?
 
gsilbers said:
Seems you are still good. Any reason specific to change?
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I guess just everything I have is old, also, nothing I have I like for realism, I can do it and have, but it takes so much more effort to massage the samples I currently have to achieve a realistic sound. Its great for what I do now on TV, but I want some libraries I can have fun with working more orchestra focused.
 
Well, if you want to supplement your “normal orchestra” resources, you could do a few fill-ins and overlays with these (all Spitfire):

1. Hans Zimmer Strings — amazing shorts, though limited to violins and cellos; huge, creamy low end as well; subtle cellos sul tasto. The latter is worth the price of the library.

2. Abbey Road One — drums and brass alone make this a winner for me (I have just the original release).

3. Iceni (used to be Albion III) — excellent low-end enunciations and punctuation.

4. Eric Whitacre Choir — A bit unusual and lovely. Many unexpected, musical gems.

5. (Not Spitfire!) Any of the vocal / choir libraries by Strezov Sampling. I have most of them and they are wonderful.

If you want ethic / non-Western, non-traditional orchestra, let us know. Many wonderful choices there.

[note: I have received free products from Strezov Sampling and Spitfire Audio]
 
JohnG said:
Well, if you want to supplement your “normal orchestra” resources, you could do a few fill-ins and overlays with these (all Spitfire):

1. Hans Zimmer Strings — amazing shorts, though limited to violins and cellos; huge, creamy low end as well; subtle cellos sul tasto. The latter is worth the price of the library.

2. Abbey Road One — drums and brass alone make this a winner for me (I have just the original release).

3. Iceni (used to be Albion III) — excellent low-end enunciations and punctuation.

4. Eric Whitacre Choir — A bit unusual and lovely. Many unexpected, musical gems.

5. (Not Spitfire!) Any of the vocal / choir libraries by Strezov Sampling. I have most of them and they are wonderful.

If you want ethic / non-Western, non-traditional orchestra, let us know. Many wonderful choices there.

[note: I have received free products from Strezov Sampling and Spitfire Audio]
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Have you tried out the BBC orchestra?
 
davidnaroth said:
I guess just everything I have is old, also, nothing I have I like for realism, I can do it and have, but it takes so much more effort to massage the samples I currently have to achieve a realistic sound. Its great for what I do now on TV, but I want some libraries I can have fun with working more orchestra focused.
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EW Hollywood Orchestra Opus?
You could try one month of Composer Cloud to see, if it fits your needs.
 
davidnaroth said:
Have you tried out the BBC orchestra?
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No, actually. I do like what I've heard just fine but I already have about 10 of everything "regular," so I'm not in the market for any more of that.

It's always tempting because every library has its own sound and its own special zingers, but for now I'm kind of set.
 
I'm interested in how long your contentment has lasted? We like to think old is more of a bad thing. People never treat traditional instruments that way.
 
Hollywood Orchestra is a decade old yet still one of the best. John Powell uses Cinebrass as far as I know. Berlin Woodwinds and CSS are among the best.

Are you sure this is not just G.A.S. talking? Unless you're looking for some very specific sounds that your current libraries don't offer then I don't see a real need for you to "upgrade". There hasn't been any major breakthroughs in sampling since your libraries were created, although Aaron Venture's libraries offer a very different approach to sampling (not necessarily better or worse) if you're interested in new technologies
 
If you would have said you’re still on Miroslav Vitous and Kirk Hunter, I would have said go for it, but the libraries you have are not that old, still considered some of the best, and constantly get recommended. I don’t think there’s much point in upgrading if it’s just for the sake of wanting something newer. But if there are more specific things you’re looking you’ll probably get better recommendations!
 
How did this become a developer support thread? He's asking about updating his tools to support his music. :rolleyes: So you couldn't go wrong with Spitfire Chamber strings.. looks like your orchestral stuff is larger ensemble at the moment, esp. with the Arks. Or you could stay with consistency and get CS Solo Strings.
 
The libraries you have are still excellent, and widely used. But if you're looking to expand your timbral palette, that's completely understandable. There's all kinds of cool libraries out there, such as Genesis, OACE, Abbey Road, BHCT, Talinn, and many others.
 
This thread might be useful for narrowing it down. I'm at 194 libraries after only 1 year of interest, and only have about a dozen or so left on the list waiting for sales. 90% of the lot are older than four years. I do agree with the notion it's better to pay more for a higher quality product, rather than buy many limited ones. GAS(or is it SAS?) is easy to circumvent with a little common sense and a little more time spent staying off the web.
 
Given the amount of renewed love for VSL around here of late, would it be a good time to try out their Synchron Player and BBO offerings? And with ProjectSAM's upcoming updates it might also be a good time to give their products another look.
 
I'm a spitfire fan, but I bought LSS strings or something about a month ago (for the Chelo), was not good, I went through (for hours) fixing clicks, noises from noise control in recording room and on and on... And its not too bad now... I love a Chelo, hate the violin (irony some would say). But I'm a little fresh to the scene, so I still kinda like NI 13s KCU full versions and a few others.

Was not a fan of EastWest...
 
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