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8dio English Horn (on sale) - your thoughts?

Don't have the Claire English Horn, but from my experience with 8dio they usually have some very nice sounding samples, and really terrible quality control. Sloppy programming, samples jump around in the stereo field (very much audible in the demos and walkthrough of the english horn as well), inconsistent timbre etc. etc. If you are willing to write specifically for these samples and can live with the sometimes severe limitations these will force upon you, you can get very good results. If you are not 8dios libraries often are extremely annoying and frustrating to work with in my opinion.

If I had to characterise a typical 8dio library in one sentence I would say lots of potential in the samples, but let down by inconsistent recording, sloppy programming, and outright terrible quality control. Your mileage may vary.
 
I think what happens with 8Dio is that their older libraries are not updated for the latest Kontakt. So they worked better with the older version, and then some of their libraries were also updated with slightly different GUIs, and this too, caused some issues with the new Kontakt. I have the Claire bundle, and while I haven't used it extensively yet, I didn't find any issues that would prevent me from getting solid results (at least not yet). I love the sound, and with so many different types of legatos, you can really get a nice performance. What I think is particularly cool about the Claire solos, is that the wide and Decca tree mic positions, offer a very ambient perspective, which will set it back into a mix, and they also have a button for a slightly different tone, so if you layer both, along with the tree mic, you can get a convincing a2 patch. For the price, it's worth it...if you don't need it, that's different...even if it was free why get it if that the case..LOL I have a ton of free things (because they we free) and in the end, just eats up RAM. :)
 
Actually I have to amend that, as the EWH English Horn is a point of contention here; I have been in love with that solo horn since I first heard it, but it has its vehement detractors.

I'd walk all over the 8dio for the Hein, personally.
 
Hein and Claire are two very different things I think. In any event my question is how much would claire add SSW. I would never trade SSW for Claire, but after some trial and error (emphasis on the latter) I'm staring to find interesting ways in which Claire some nice touches as a solo layer on SSW.
 
I have the Claire English Horn - or as we in the UK call it, the Cor Anglais!

I love it. It is very expressive and extremely playable to get the feel you want. I also have EWQLSO and I would say that the Claire is so much better than the horn in EW.

As it's currently on offer for $28 - it's a no-brainer I would say.
 
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It is a no brainer and if only to have a sonic alternative. I use the Berlin English Horn in 50% of my tunes as soloist. It is very present and bright, a real solo player. I bought the claire yesterday and tried it out in my actual existing piece: no solo player for me, much more mids and a lot less bright. Even a bit dull in direct comparison. But very natural in tone with a nice legato (I turned it to fully "fast") and very playable. I could add some nice touches of "2nd chair english horn" to the existing piece. They fulfill different tasks and in a full blown orchestral arrangement the Claire will drown. The Berlin is still present and I sometimes still cut the highs :laugh: I am glad that I own both.
 
A Further experiment ... adding the Claire EH (which of course I broke down and bought, I mean who was I kidding).

I've panned the Claire instruments to the left and SSW to the right.


Again, the mix is mostly close mics, with lots of Valhalla room. So you're throwing away a lot of the benefit of the spitfire room and basically mixing on 8dio turf, so I wouldn't call this an orchestral mix. But as soloists, they do mix well.

And again, the main riff is on the oboes, so the EH only comes in for bit of counter point.





Pondering the outcomes of this experiment now ... (and critique welcome).
 
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It is a no brainer and if only to have a sonic alternative. I use the Berlin English Horn in 50% of my tunes as soloist. It is very present and bright, a real solo player. I bought the claire yesterday and tried it out in my actual existing piece: no solo player for me, much more mids and a lot less bright. Even a bit dull in direct comparison. But very natural in tone with a nice legato (I turned it to fully "fast") and very playable. I could add some nice touches of "2nd chair english horn" to the existing piece. They fulfill different tasks and in a full blown orchestral arrangement the Claire will drown. The Berlin is still present and I sometimes still cut the highs :laugh: I am glad that I own both.

I own the Claire, but haven't used them in an orchestral score yet...but how would they drown? If it sounds like the instrument it's sampled after, then it will fit. Unless it sounds unnatural, then that's a different story, but you said it was very good, just a tad dark...nothing a little EQ couldn't fix. But isn't the English Horn supposed to be warmer than the Oboe? So if you wanted something to cut, the Oboe would take the lead, and E.H. would add weight...am I wrong here?
 
I decided to get it because I don't have anything to replace the free English horn that came with Kontakt. I'm still figuring out how it works, specifically the expression and legato, so here's a quick comparison of the two.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/english_horn_kontakt-mp3.18731/][/AUDIOPLUS]

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/english_horn_claire-mp3.18732/][/AUDIOPLUS]
 

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  • english_horn_kontakt.mp3
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  • english_horn_claire.mp3
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I decided to get it because I don't have anything to replace the free English horn that came with Kontakt. I'm still figuring out how it works, specifically the expression and legato, so here's a quick comparison of the two.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/english_horn_kontakt-mp3.18731/][/AUDIOPLUS]

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/english_horn_claire-mp3.18732/][/AUDIOPLUS]

Are you using KS or changing articulations to shorter notes? use the natural patch along with the lyrical? if you are just using one articulation, it's not going to sound as good as it could...need to spend a bit of time seeing where it really shines for you.
 
Anyone have examples sans the excess reverb / competing with synths like in the 8dio demos?
Here's a sample, first time around is decca tree, second time is close mics.
No processing or reverb. Lyrical legato patch on medium setting.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/8dio-english-horn-test-01-mp3.18734/][/AUDIOPLUS]
 

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  • 8dio English Horn Test 01.mp3
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