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Best choice for epic Orchestra and one with more individual instruments (i.e. strings)

Hi all,

I am quite a newbie to all things orchestra and am in the process of researching before getting one.

I am looking to get a decent Orchestra, but do have some questions over strings and individual instruments etc.

Have done a lot of research (including on this forum) so know the merits of all the epic orchestras (Met Ark 1, Albion One, Jaeger etc) and from what I have read, looks like Ark 1 comes strongly recommended (though have heard great things about the others) so will probably get that.

My question though is this - all these orchestras look to have all the string sections as combined patches (i.e. high strings, low strings etc), which is great (as I am by no means that well versed in music theory etc), but does this mean you cannot split out individual instruments (i.e violins, cellos etc) and instead all strings are just included in combined patches.

If this is the case, I am looking for recommendations for maybe an second orchestra to purchase (or maybe just the string section even) where they are split down a bit more, so you can just use violins for example, just to counterbalance the full patches etc.

I of course may be completely wrong in the above, and Ark etc might be able to do this, so please correct me if this is incorrect.

Any advise most gratefully appreciated.

Thanks,
Richard
Nucleus and Jaeger have strings divided by section in addition to ensemble patches.

I have all of the arks and both Nucleus and jaeger, Audio Imperia's are my favorite by far (substantially so). I do love the arks, but in a desert Island scenario I'd choose AI's libraries in a nanosecond.

The arks are great, but the articulations aren't nearly as consistent (tonally) as they are in the Audio Imperia libraries. The arks also that have the odd patch where a few articulations feel a touch out of tune, or are lacking the oomph you get in Nucleus/Jaeger. (Audio Imperia's brass is particularly *awesome*)...

Their tone out of the box is dialed in for bigger/bolder/more epic music, and ultimately are less muddy and easier to get to sit together in a mix compared to the Arks... You could basically say they are mostly premixed for you, allowing you to focus on balancing levels where needed...

In terms of just strings, honestly Areia is one of the nicest sounding string libraries I own. It's my primary string library, (and I have a few others - various Spitfire, some OT, Cinematic Strings 2, etc)... Not only does it blend seemlessly with Nucleus/Jaeger, it's quite thorough in its articulations. It also has the best short articulations I have by far... two spicattos and a stacatto, the attacks sound incredibly natural with lots of pre-transient, etc. This is actually really advantageous as you can switch between them, or layer in a Stacatto patch in bigger sections which adds a real sense of a shift in dynamics and intensity...

Some People criticize the Audio Imperia stuff, saying it's hyped. These people tend to prefer a more traditional sound, for the genres you've indicated it's dialed in for that tone out of the box... (Although it can also be dialed back for a traditional sound by either switching to classic mix, or by manually making custom mic settings... I honestly don't know why people complain, I kind of wonder if many of these same people use the tight patches which are only intended for sketching out ideas quickly, and aren't supposed to sound "natural" at all. The idea is you'd sketch with them, then move the midi to tracks using patches with the default pre-delay).

Areia's pre-mixed beautifully. And for the record I write for a higher-profile trailer library who sometimes does live orchestra recordings. They are incredibly fussy when it comes to orchestral albums that aren't going to be tracked live. If something sounds even slightly artificial/hyped/etc I'd hear about it... I've never once received notes back about their tone being an issue... Just saying try and not give too much emphasis to criticisms of the tone... It's dialed in for a modern punchy sound which doesn't appeal to people who prefer a darker underscore tone.

The other bonus is that they should give you a discount on Areia if you own either Nucleus or Jaeger, and if you wait for a BF sale you should be able to get a combination of either two for a nice discount...

Like Nucleus/Jaeger, Areia is divided by sections, in addition to having ensemble patches...

I've attached a few screenshots of Nucleus/Jaeger so you can see they do in fact have the strings divided up...



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I think I'm with you on that. When i first started researching, Albion and spitfire came up so much that I was almost convinced they were the main guys. Then I saw a video one day making direct comparisons (as much as you can with two different libraries) and Albion came across actually sounding dull (not boring, just a duller sound) whereas Ark sounded far more dynamic, and dare i say, epic. I know one video doesn't count for everything, but did sway me off Albion a little bit. Think Ark is definately a good first Orchestra to get. Though Jaeger and Nucleus also looking good.

Good to hear all the info on Jaeger and Nucleus (especially the overlapping of instruments).

Haven't seen Ark appear on any sale yet (nothing in the summer) so hopefully they might have a black Friday deal. If not, well then, 549 euros it is. And that's ok.
Oh yeah, the thing with Ark is it is really overpriced until on sale. And their sales are a bit random. The last sale was when they converted it to their own sampler. They do have 40% EDU discounts though, so you could find an educational online course that you might like anyway that gives you student status. They also sell a la carte which may be useful.
 
I think it was on 50% off sales the last two or three Black Fridays. Generally I would advise you to not buy any library that is not on sale (unless you absoulutely have to, for an upcoming project for example). Almost all libraries are discounted by 30-70% at least once a year.


Thank you so much! :)
50% - wow, that's some serious saving ! I will definately wait for Black Friday in case they have a similar deal (or even 30% off). I have no upcoming projects lol, i'm barely getting to grips with it all :) But am enjoying the learning immensely (and the mass of info and tutorials around). So yes, more than ok to wait a month or so.
 
Everyone can make suggestions until we're blue in the face...fingers...keyboard?

What type of epic are you looking for? There's a big difference between John Williams epic, Metropolis epic, Two Steps From Hell epic, JRPG epic, etc. ad nauseam.

How much control over the sound do you want?

If you prefer a dryer library that you can add your own reverb to or a more modern epic sound, Metropolis Ark 1 may not be the best bet since it has a lot of that Teldex stage reverb built into the sound. That baked in reverb sounds lovely and huge, but you can't remove it if you want to make the sound smaller and more intimate. You can make it sound more modern by using EQ, compression, exciters, etc. if you are comfortable with audio mixing.

Do you want the ability to control individual recording microphone levels to dial in your own size and depth of sound? If so, Nucleus may be a bad option because you only get two mix mic choices (Modern mix with a bright, hyped sound and Classic Mix for a more traditional sound). Jaeger/Areia/Talos/Cerberus/SOLO offer microphone level in addition to the Modern/Classic mixes. Metropolis Ark 1 offers numerous microphone options.

Are you looking for the Hollywood epic sound and have a beefy computer? EW Hollywood Orchestra Opus edition can easily do that right out of the box. It will give you everything but a choir with excellent sound, tons of dynamic range and expression options, multiple microphone positions, The Orchestrator for idea generation/starting points. It requires a lot of RAM, disk space and CPU power though, so if you're not running serious hardware, you'll be freezing tracks a lot in a big song.

Here's how I personally break down "epic" libraries for my own usage:
  • Modern/Japanese epic (think FF7 Remake)/symphonic metal - Audio Imperia Nucleus for woodwinds, Jaeger/Talos for Brass, Areia for strings and CinePerc for percussion, SOLO for lyrical soloists. Choir is typically Freyja/Wotan or Oceania 1 or 2. Heavyocity anything or Zero G Ethera series for hybrid/trailer style stuff.
  • Hollywood Epic/God of War 1-3 style epic - EW Hollywood Orchestra, Cinematic Studio Series, Spitfire Abbey Road One Orchestral Foundations, maybe 8dio Majestica to add a layer of hugeness.
 
I guess most things have already been said but I can add my quick thoughts too.

Metropolis. Old school epic. Very wet. Might pair well with CSS for more detailed string writing. Or Berlin strings but that’s expensive.

Nucleus/Jaeger etc. Modern epic. Much drier. Already has separate string sections, and can also be expanded with Areia.

Albion. Not really epic in the sense of loud or aggressive but rather in the sense of big. Generally most spitfire libraries work better for slower softer writing, than loud or aggressive. :)
 
You could also consider VSL BBO when It's on sale but it isn't exactly cheap. But it's quite comprehensive.
 
One that has not been mentioned so far is Red Room Audio's Palette: Melodics, which has a 70% off sale--time is of the essence, however, as I believe the deal expires tonight or tomorrow. Code is PAL70
For $59.70, it's worth taking a few minutes to look at the list of articulations and view a couple of walk-throughs.
Good luck in your search!

 
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