Mark Schmieder
Senior Member
I thought this had been discussed recently, but a forum search did not turn up any hits on relevant discussions.
Today I finally got around to doing my most thorough review of Anvil libraries ever (in terms of what I already own), and was a bit surprised by the one shining star, and the long list of disappointments.
Anvils are so important to me that I was almost about to buy one from Grover via Steve Weiss Music. But I was afraid they might be too loud in person, and attract the cops.
I have annotated each library source below, with its peculiarities or special attributes. It was a big shock that EW Symphonic Orchestra came out on top, by a good country mile. I'm also surprised that VSL still only has some random Metals vs. actual Anvils.
I didn't realize how good EWSO's Anvils were until I did my own mic mix and stuck to the All Anvils patch vs. the other two. I am setting Close Mic to 9, Stage Mic to 4, and Surround Mic to 2. This seems to preserve the bell-like timbre, and strong dynamics, without getting muddy or too ambient, while also giving a big sound for a large orchestral context such as the one I just used it in.
Note that I do not own the somewhat recent Strikeforce from Laboratory Audio:
https://laboratoryaudio.com
If someone knows of any Anvil-specific audio demos (I only found three "very Hollywood, big drums" demos at their site), or owns it and has anything to say, I'm sure several people here will appreciate it, as on paper it SHOULD be the best (22 anvils, of different sizes, pitches, and articulations, plus ensembles!).
Anyway, here's my ranked listing. If I missed some parameters that expand what some of these have to offer, feel free to correct me.
Is Hollywood Percussion from EW as good or better as the ancient EQ Symphonic Orchestra Percussion? I know several here have said they don't like the space it was recorded in, in comparison to the older room.
Today I finally got around to doing my most thorough review of Anvil libraries ever (in terms of what I already own), and was a bit surprised by the one shining star, and the long list of disappointments.
Anvils are so important to me that I was almost about to buy one from Grover via Steve Weiss Music. But I was afraid they might be too loud in person, and attract the cops.
I have annotated each library source below, with its peculiarities or special attributes. It was a big shock that EW Symphonic Orchestra came out on top, by a good country mile. I'm also surprised that VSL still only has some random Metals vs. actual Anvils.
I didn't realize how good EWSO's Anvils were until I did my own mic mix and stuck to the All Anvils patch vs. the other two. I am setting Close Mic to 9, Stage Mic to 4, and Surround Mic to 2. This seems to preserve the bell-like timbre, and strong dynamics, without getting muddy or too ambient, while also giving a big sound for a large orchestral context such as the one I just used it in.
Note that I do not own the somewhat recent Strikeforce from Laboratory Audio:
https://laboratoryaudio.com
If someone knows of any Anvil-specific audio demos (I only found three "very Hollywood, big drums" demos at their site), or owns it and has anything to say, I'm sure several people here will appreciate it, as on paper it SHOULD be the best (22 anvils, of different sizes, pitches, and articulations, plus ensembles!).
Anyway, here's my ranked listing. If I missed some parameters that expand what some of these have to offer, feel free to correct me.
- EW Symphonic Orchestra: Percussion: Metals: All Anvils (Play) — many articulations
- Spitfire Percussion: Unpitched - Metal: Anvil (Kontakt) — hit, horn, and pipe
- Vir2 Elite Orchestral Percussion: Accessories and FX: Anvils (Kontakt) — several articulations
- Spitfire Hans Zimmer Percussion: Metal (HZ AE) (Kontakt) — only one (low) articulation
- NI Symphony Series - Percussion: Metal: Anvil (Kontakt) — only one (high) articulation
- Xsample Library: Percussion: Small Anvil (Kontakt) — only one (high) articulation
- Sonokinetic Fe: Anvil (Kontakt) — atypical timbre for anvil and strikers; grainy recording
- ISW Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion: ROP Metals (Kontakt) — no horn articulations
- Post Musical Instruments Anvils (Kontakt) — many articulations; grainy recording
Is Hollywood Percussion from EW as good or better as the ancient EQ Symphonic Orchestra Percussion? I know several here have said they don't like the space it was recorded in, in comparison to the older room.
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