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Budget Woodwinds Shootout!

jimjazzuk

Active Member
Hi everyone,

I can't wait any longer for Cinematic Studio Woodwinds so I'm going to bite the bullet and buy some 'temporary' woodwinds this week! I know this has kind of been covered with various other threads, but always good to hear any more opinions on these....

Having gone around in circles in my search, it's come down to:

- Spitfire Studio Woodwinds

- VSL woodwinds vol 1 SE

- Cinesamples Woodwinds

As I have educational discount they all come in at around the same price (£100 + a bit)

Which would you go for for a classic John Williams sound?

Thanks,

J
 
Hi everyone,

I can't wait any longer for Cinematic Studio Woodwinds so I'm going to bite the bullet and buy some 'temporary' woodwinds this week! I know this has kind of been covered with various other threads, but always good to hear any more opinions on these....

Having gone around in circles in my search, it's come down to:

- Spitfire Studio Woodwinds

- VSL woodwinds vol 1 SE

- Cinesamples Woodwinds

As I have educational discount they all come in at around the same price (£100 + a bit)

Which would you go for for a classic John Williams sound?

Thanks,

J

Probably spitfire studio woodwinds.
 
Hi everyone,

I can't wait any longer for Cinematic Studio Woodwinds so I'm going to bite the bullet and buy some 'temporary' woodwinds this week! I know this has kind of been covered with various other threads, but always good to hear any more opinions on these....

Having gone around in circles in my search, it's come down to:

- Spitfire Studio Woodwinds

- VSL woodwinds vol 1 SE

- Cinesamples Woodwinds

As I have educational discount they all come in at around the same price (£100 + a bit)

Which would you go for for a classic John Williams sound?

Thanks,

J

Don't you have a full version of Kontakt for the Woodwinds from their factory library? That's probably pretty cheap as a crossgrade in the next sale if you have any qualifying products to crossgrade from.
 
For John Williams sound, I would go with VSL definitely. If you want to write parts like that, you are gonna need fast legato and clean sound. I would also buy the expansion for it, so you get the trills, etc as well. Cinesamples are my second choice, because it's recorded in the same place where Williams has recorded some of his scores. But I don't know how it will keep up with the fast lines, someone who owns it can maybe chime in? Spitfire Studio Woodwinds would be my last choice, because I have heard that it's not good with fast short notes or emotional legato lines.

-Hannes
 
For John Williams sound, I would go with VSL definitely. If you want to write parts like that, you are gonna need fast legato and clean sound. I would also buy the expansion for it, so you get the trills, etc as well. Cinesamples are my second choice, because it's recorded in the same place where Williams has recorded some of his scores. But I don't know how it will keep up with the fast lines, someone who owns it can maybe chime in? Spitfire Studio Woodwinds would be my last choice, because I have heard that it's not good with fast short notes or emotional legato lines.

-Hannes

Depends on which score you're referring to. The earlier days are recorded at Sony stage but his latest works for Star Wars aren't recorded there anymore right ? To get his latest works like recordings, spitfire symphonic series would be the best bet.
 
Cinesamples are my second choice, because it's recorded in the same place where Williams has recorded some of his scores. But I don't know how it will keep up with the fast lines, someone who owns it can maybe chime in?

I think the CineWinds legato is really good, especially since the last updates. It should handle fast passages very well and you can further control the speed and the transitions of the legato to fine tune the behavior.
 
Depends on which score you're referring to. The earlier days are recorded at Sony stage but his latest works for Star Wars aren't recorded there anymore right ? To get his latest works like recordings, spitfire symphonic series would be the best bet.
I am pretty sure that anyone who talks about sounding like John Williams is not talking about his latest scores but the iconic scores he is famous for. But I could be wrong of course. Also thinking about the sound of the hall is not important in this kind of thing, because it doesn't work the same way with samples as with the real recordings. I am sensing that he is using Cinematic Studio Strings and Brass, and it would be hard to make Spitfire Symphonic series to play well with those. This kind of task is extremely difficult, probably the hardest one for woodwinds. This might be just me, but I would want maximum control over the space and with a big hall in the samples, it would be difficult to write lines like you hear in the JW scores.
 
For classic John Williams type stuff? Most certainly NOT the Spitfire Studio Woodwinds. Even if you like the library, the space these instruments live in, is just wrong for what you're after. (Search for a demo in which these winds pose successfully as orchestral woodwinds, and you won't find any.)

Of the three you listed, I would, without hesitation, opt for the Cinesamples set. Never thought I would ever suggest to someone to buy the Cinesamples woodwinds because there's lots of things I don't like about this library, but given the circumstances and what you're looking for, they are very much the wisest choice here. In my opinion.

There are good arguments for choosing the VSL winds, I suppose, but as most VSL libraries always give me the feeling that I'm working in the morgue rather than making music, I can't think of any.

_
 
As an owner of VSL SE and Spitfire Studio Woodwinds, I'd say go for VSL. I like spitfire studio woodwinds, but their longs and legatos are clumsy and uninspiring. VSL still holds up. Can't speak for Cinesamples but I'd definitely go VSL over Spitfire
 
I'm also waiting for the release of Cinematic Studio Woodwinds. In the meantime, I'm using Fluffy Audio Solo Woodwinds. I think they work well with the VSL woodwinds included in the Kontakt factory library.
 
For classic John Williams type stuff? Most certainly NOT the Spitfire Studio Woodwinds. Even if you like the library, the space these instruments live in, is just wrong for what you're after. (Search for a demo in which these winds pose successfully as orchestral woodwinds, and you won't find any.)

Of the three you listed, I would, without hesitation, opt for the Cinesamples set. Never thought I would ever suggest to someone to buy the Cinesamples woodwinds because there's lots of things I don't like about this library, but given the circumstances and what you're looking for, they are very much the wisest choice here. In my opinion.

There are good arguments for choosing the VSL winds, I suppose, but as most VSL libraries always give me the feeling that I'm working in the morgue rather than making music, I can't think of any.

_

Agree with all above

If someone like JWs sound - for brass Cinebrass is a way to go and for WW - Cinewinds are good option too.

VSL is dead sounding - but WW actually do not suffer from the dry samples as much as Strings and Brass...
 
Hollywood Winds.
Do you mean EW Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds? Or Cinesamples' Hollywoodwinds?
---
To be a contrarian regarding the last few recent posts about the East West library, I'm going to say do not buy Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds. It's the weakest entry in East West's Hollywood series by far. It's not good. Don't do it.

If you want a John Williams-esque sound, there is no doubt in my mind that you'll like CineWinds. Problem is, you really have to get both Core and Pro in order to get all the instruments you'll likely need.
 
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