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Are orchestral libraries ever used professionaly?

Strings are wonderful and limitless, but when touching specifically on orchestral ensmeble libraries it's hard to say, ''No I don't want Albion, Ark, or Symphobia etc.'' as there aren't a lot of other options that do what I want from those. Once we are talking about endles spossibilieties with strings then it will require other libraries that are focuses on just strings as an orch. ensemble can only do so much.
 
Strings are wonderful and limitless, but when touching specifically on orchestral ensmeble libraries it's hard to say, ''No I don't want Albion, Ark, or Symphobia etc.'' as there aren't a lot of other options that do what I want from those. Once we are talking about endles spossibilieties with strings then it will require other libraries that are focuses on just strings as an orch. ensemble can only do so much.

Good points, but I honestly think if just one, go for the East West Hollywood. It's hard to go wrong, unless you simply want instant gratification with less flexibility. It's my desert island string ensemble (I would hope I could bring my QL Spaces reverb with me on the desert island, as I make amazing string symphony sounds when combined with my Hollywood Strings! :) ).

Too bad my actual music sucks lol!
 
I were at the cinema two weeks ago to see Ghost in the shell, and it showed all those big hollywood movie trailers for upcoming films before. In one those name I don't remember, but some middle age fantasy setting, I am pretty sure to have recognized the $99 vocalize library by heavyocity. So nothing is impossible :D I think that there are lot of films that have orchestra library soundtracks, Junkie XL does for example. (If he doesn't just compose on the computer to give it to a real orchestra afterwards, but I don't think so)
 
@thousandfold - I should note that I do not have Lumina, just Symphob 1&2. Nothing against Lumina - It just didn't interest me at the time when it came out because of what I already had (a ton of stuff). But, it does have a much better list of solo instruments, etc and it seems to be a more recent approach to the orchestral sample game (re my comment about I and II having been out of a long time).

If you're just starting out, know that you'll be adding tools as you go. There are lots of decent tools out there to get you started, and you'll come to use them less as you add more things to you arsenal. But, don't let that deter you from diving in. The Symphobias do sound good and are incredibly quick and easy to work with (which is a great plus). Just don't expect them to do everything under the sun - nothing can. I have probably gotten more use out of the symphobias than Albion One (narrowly), but you can't go wrong with either to start out. That is a tough call, as they're both good and useful.

My earlier comments were more addressing your specific question of why people don't use them for 80% of a piece in final product. I think that is just the ensemble approach. I have certainly done entire cues/pieces with both/either of them independently. It's just that as I've added more libraries I've found betters ways of doing things to my liking. You work with what you have and you want to learn what it does and doesn't do well.

EW composer cloud is just a different animal, as that is more of the usual/non-ensemble type of orchestral library (individual instruments or groups). Personally, I hate their software. Others are fine with it. If I were just starting out I would probably be willing to overlook it at those prices. I did use a lot of EW products on projects when I was more willing to put up with their software. There are just better things these days in my book.

Regarding the wind patches for ensemble libraries - that's a personal thing for me, but winds are the most individual of instruments. They're pretty much all different. It isn't like the strings where they just have variations of range and size. The winds all have different dynamic contours, different sound production techniques, different overtones - doubling them all the time sounds like an organ. That said, Lumina looks to have a nice list of better options for winds and solo instruments.

In short - ensemble orchestral libraries aren't the only approach, but Symphobia and Albion One are well worth getting if you want to go that route (and it is a good place to get started, for sure), and also for getting started in general.
 
I were at the cinema two weeks ago to see Ghost in the shell, and it showed all those big hollywood movie trailers for upcoming films before. In one those name I don't remember, but some middle age fantasy setting, I am pretty sure to have recognized the $99 vocalize library by heavyocity. So nothing is impossible :D I think that there are lot of films that have orchestra library soundtracks, Junkie XL does for example. (If he doesn't just compose on the computer to give it to a real orchestra afterwards, but I don't think so)
The Wonder Woman trailer is filled with Vocalise :)
 
Trailer music is an excellent example where the vast majority are exclusively made by VIs. It's more or less expected by the companies nowadays. I write and sell trailer music myself and 90% of the orchestral stuff is Ark 1 til the very end.
 
So, the answer to my original question as I accidently created a Virtual versus Real discussion which is partly my fault due wording basicly is. Albion, Symphobia, Metropolis and other orchestral ensembles are useful, but since they've been around a long time they're not that interesting for a lot of use to seasoned composers, but for beginning composers it's something worth to put your money in if you don't have a whole lot yet and to get your use out of it until you are moving on to more complicated libraries.

And aslong as you can stand that some of them have been used a million times. Although I think that's something composers will hear, but your average listeener doesn't.
 
M Ark 1 only came out last year and the Albion One reboot (with completely newly recorded samples) also came out last year. They are brand new libraries.

I knew Ark 2 was very recent, but I didn't know Ark 1 was that recent aswell. For Albion wasn't it more of a software/interface revamp and better programming? Aswell as something Symphobia does (which also rolls out updates) for their stuff, but less widescale.
 
All new recordings according to Spitfire. That's why there are legacy patches in the Library.

In regards to usage, even if you move on to more detailed libraries you can still use the ensemble libraries for layering (especially the sound of Air studios with the Albion range).
 
I knew Ark 2 was very recent, but I didn't know Ark 1 was that recent aswell. For Albion wasn't it more of a software/interface revamp and better programming? Aswell as something Symphobia does (which also rolls out updates) for their stuff, but less widescale.

I think M Ark 1 is actually just over a year but it's a very new library. It's not like comparing the age of EWQLSO or something. Albion One was completely re recorded with the exception of some of the legacy patches that are labelled in a Legacy folder.
 
I'm pretty sure there was some True Strike samples in the latest Silvestri soundtrack, Allied.
It was a bit disturbing and sounded as it was added by someone else, though.
 
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