In this saga of a thread, I've read some fairly funky statements, and also some smart and educated ones. If you'll all indulge me, I'd like to add my 2 cents as well. You may find them to thoughtful words from experience, or simply a ranting diatribe from a nutcase. (spoiler alert, both are correct!)
Audiobro will be posting a demo from me soon (unless they think it blows), so that will also help you judge whether or not you feel I know what I'm talking about in this post.
MSB is a FANTASTIC brass library, with more real-time playable flexability WHILE still having a good "cleanly recorded" sound than any brass library I've used, and MSB will be the backbone for my brass template going forward. That's not to say that it's a "silver bullet" either. Some of the other libs I've been using will still be there for support, of course, but no other library I know of sounds as close to what I hear in the booth like MSB (read: recorded well and articulate, not polished and mastered). Plenty of libs sound like mix/mastered scores, but now you're "stuck" with that sound, and the seams start to show quickly as you work.
I personally have not found a library with the 'finished mastered' sound that ALSO is a consistantly playable and malleable workhorse from a composition standpoint (such as having musicians is).
I suppose there are two different ways of looking at it:
A - either you want a library where you hit a note and it sounds like soundtrack albums we all know and aspire to, but then when you actually have to write your own music you can't go far with it and it will quickly show it seams.
B - Or you want a library that takes some skill and setup, but can be used for any score in any style, and it's up to YOU to have to chops to know exactly how you want to write and produce it.
For me, MSB kinda strategically strattles the middle, but leans closer to B - Which I love.
I think a common misconception is that when you get a big live orchestra in a nice space, you set some mics up, record the performance, and now you're done! yeah, no.
Even in that ideal situation, there's a TON of really intricate (and interesting!) tricks with routing, side-chaining, stem-swaping, reverb tickling (read: NOT set-and-forget) yada yada, that goes into getting a great 'sound'. ESPECIALLY with scores in the last 15 years.
If you want to midistrate like a beast, it's not going to happen cause you bought ANY specific sample library. I know mockups from 15 years ago done with shit libraries (by today's standards) that still don't have many rivals to this day. The real answer is this: Know what you want to do, and know your shit. Know how to write and arrange EXACTLY how YOU want, and then know how to produce EXACTLY how you want. Trust me, there is no university, academy course, Masterclass, etc, that can do for you what getting in the trenches learning what you want and what process that actually requires will do for you. It's not an easy road, for sure, but it's definitely more rewarding. (And, on deadlines, learn to know instinctively when "90% right" is when it's time to move on to the next cue).
If your a professional composer, or midistrator, whatever, the choice between A and B is easy - buy everything and make your own jambalaya.
If that's not an option for you, then yes, you'll need to make choices that have tradeoffs on your approach/workflow. Both Pizza and Cheeseburgers are awesome, but you won't find them at the same restaurant, and if you do, you know it's going to be SHIT. If you REALLY want both Pizza and Cheeseburgers, and you want it to be really good, then learn your way around a kitchen, cause that's the only way it's gunna happen in a single meal. You dig?
IMO, MSB will require some time and setup to use it to it's potential - It's so flexible that I spent more set-up time implementing it than any other commercial library I've used yet. I spent the time to learn how I would use the lib, and programmed a majority of a Behringer X-touch to control any and all midi CCs for MSB. All attack options are toggled via buttons, and every single anything that is assignable to CC has been assigned so I can touch/perform it in real-time. Every. Single. One.
I set up my template so that MSB is routed through something like 6 different aux's that also have sends to other buses, yada yada. Getting mockups to sound great with any combo of libraries is a whole thing, man. With MSB, once you have it down, it's as fast to work with as any other library, but (IMO) much less frustrating to get it to sound really solid.
At the end of the day, I'll say this: on a action movie, I'll start my brass writing with MSB, on an intimate drama, I'd start my brass writing with MSB.
PS - I think the two demos that Audiobro posted are pretty damn good, while sounding quite a bit different (I think anyway) to what I turned in, both compositionally and sonically. To me, that's a pretty cool strength for a library.
I always find audio demos for sample libraries difficult to evaluate; it can be challenging to know what the skill-set/tool-set ratio is. SO, if any of you hear my demo and want to know anything about it, PM me and I’ll post and answer it publicaly with as specific a answer as possible. Not that I think it would be anything mind-blowing, but then you’ll be able to evaluate what the library IS vs. what I DID with it.
Alternatively, if you think it sucks, feel free to PM and tell me how much I stink. All are welcome! So...there ya go.
Also, I could spend a whole day getting into that Star Wars "demo", and why it's always a terrible idea to do sample demos using iconic scores that cost millions to produce and utilized the talent of only the best of the best on earth, but I don't have the energy to get into that...