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Cinematic Studio Woodwinds

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btparic said:
OMG SAME. I dunno what it is about the oboe that makes it so hard to capture its sweet, plaintive tone (especially in lower dynamics). Most of the sampled oboes I've heard have been rather quacky and obnoxious, so far away from the pure sound you ever hear in live recordings. English horn has a similar problem.
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Yes, english horn! I'd love to have that one, beautifully captured!!
 
Maybe this is the right thread for this question: take a listen to the "Ringworld" demo for CSS. Doesn't that sound like CSB to you all?

Perhaps there's a chance that the samples for CSB have been recorded quite a while ago, and it just takes a long time to edit and perfect them (and also go back to the studio for follow up recording sessions).

Now listen to the "The Long Road" demo for CSB. Hmm, could that be CSW? ;)
 
rottoy said:
I'm just hoping Alex will sample a really great oboist.
Apart from the Berlin Woodwinds Exp B oboe and the 8Dio Claire Oboe,
there isn't a single sampled oboe that I've taken a liking to.
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Thanks for the tip, just bought the 8Dio Claire Oboe and it's really quite good, much better than any other that I own (and it's on sale now!).
 
What is anyone hoping for in CSW that isn’t already there in Spitfire, Berlin, Fluffy, Claire etc winds?
 
rottoy said:
I'm just hoping Alex will sample a really great oboist.
Apart from the Berlin Woodwinds Exp B oboe and the 8Dio Claire Oboe,
there isn't a single sampled oboe that I've taken a liking to.
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Have to agree.

Have you heard embertones Herring Clarinet?
It really sounds great and makes me wish they'd do a Oboe too.
 
ism said:
What is anyone hoping for in CSW that isn’t already there in Spitfire, Berlin, Fluffy, Claire etc winds?
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Honestly, just ease-of-use.

Not to say any of the products mentioned are incredibly hard to use or anything, it's just that CSS kinda made all string libraries before it feel like operating a Boeing 747. I love how neat and tidy my strings template is now compared to what it was previously with Hollywood Strings.

In terms of instrumentation and articulations, I'm expecting just the essentials with a few pieces of flair thrown in. CSS wasn't about having ALL the string articulations, just making the most common ones incredibly fast and easy to access. So I'm expecting about the same from CSB and CSW.
 
ism said:
What is anyone hoping for in CSW that isn’t already there in Spitfire, Berlin, Fluffy, Claire etc winds?
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A no frills woodwinds library with essential articulations for solo flute, piccolo, (perhaps alto flute too?), oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clar, bassoon and contrabassoon, all recorded with CONSISTENCY across the ensemble. That's where CSS excels. Spitfire and Berlin feel very modular. Some parts are great (the alto & bass flutes from Spitfire are fantastic) others aren't. Berlin WW "Revive" doesn't even have consistent mics across the entire ensemble IIRC.
 
ism said:
What is anyone hoping for in CSW that isn’t already there in Spitfire, Berlin, Fluffy, Claire etc winds?
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There's a lot of options to cover lyrical solo playing. Less so that cover ensembles and soloists, as well as less for when you also need agile playing and non-cookie cutter runs.
 
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rottoy said:
Fluffy Audio John Diamanti Fox Clarinet and the Herring Clarinet are tied for me when it comes to terrific clarinet libraries.
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How would you compare them or when do you choose one over the other? I'm interested in both of them, but not sure which to choose yet.
 
btparic said:
Honestly, just ease-of-use.

Not to say any of the products mentioned are incredibly hard to use or anything, it's just that CSS kinda made all string libraries before it feel like operating a Boeing 747
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This makes sense for strings, which on the whole seem to be a lot harder to work with. I guess the context of my question is that I’d really love to be excited about a new wood library, but I’m so happy with spitfire winds, that although I have the fluffy clarinet with in some cases is incrementally better for exposed passages , and similarly for the Claire oboe, I’m almost always enormously content with the spitfire instruments. So I’m not sure how what it would mean for a winds library to be significantly easier to use.

Maybe this will change as I get more ambitious in my wind writing.

NoamL said:
A no frills woodwinds library with essential articulations for solo flute, piccolo, (perhaps alto flute too?), oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clar, bassoon and contrabassoon, all recorded with CONSISTENCY across the ensemble
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That’s interesting, and I’d Love to be excited about this also, but I find winds in general (and SSW in particular) the instruments that cause me the absolute least amount of headaches in the mixing. Maybe i’ll develop a better sense of this in time.


Land of Missing Parts said:
There's a lot of options to cover lyrical solo playing. Less so that cover ensembles and soloists, as well as less for when you also need agile playing and non-cookie cutter runs. Timbres change quite a lot in winds, so more dynamic layers and smooth transitions between those.
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Yes, more dynamic layers for certain instruments is something I could get excited about, altough only occasionally. But again, winds seem to be technically simpler than solo strings - specifically conventional cros fade technique seems to work much better in winds than on, for instance solo strings. And in general, I find the dynamic cross fade on what I have to be already very good as it is (very, very good for the fluffy Clarinet). Not that I wouldn’t like more dynamic layers, just that I think it would be, in practice, a very incremental improvement.


So it’s not that I’m not excited about a new woodwind library, exactly, it’s just, I guess for one thing it’s hard to imagine a wind library that sounds better that existing Spitfire / Fluffy instruments (thought I’m complete confident that CSW will sound fantastic), and also hard to imagine anything more that a few more incremental improvements. (I am excited for the rumored update to SSW).

Hopefully - almost certainly - this is just a limitation on my own imagination. But I do appreciate the enthusiasm here for this library, and hope I’ll come to share it.
 
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I'm also hoping for a good oboe in CSW - only BWW has come close to getting the oboe right IMO
 
Jokes aside, what's your guys' best guess for when this lib is coming out? IIRC originally the winds were supposed to come out right on the heels of the brass, though I'm not sure if that's still the plan.
 
Gerbil said:
I don't know...I've not really come across any library that comes close to catching the real diverse character of woodwinds and I have nearly all of them except the Fluffyaudio set. Cinewinds are much improved but still limited, Berlin and Spitfire I've been quite disappointed with given the price they cost (not that they're bad but they are quite stunted in terms of flexibility). Eastwest's Hollywood Winds aren't really any worse so I don't really get why they're considered a step down; they have their good and bad points just like the others. VSL remain the best in terms of flexibility although I find them a chore to mix so don't use them very much. Audio Modeling and Wallander are brilliantly playable with the aid of a breath controller (and inspiring to use as a result) but I think lack the sound for exposed parts.

Nobody, not one developer, has really managed to capture a fully flexible decent oboe. Berlin have done ok with their Exp B but it's very limited. The clarinet as an instrument has a fantastic dynamic range but there's nothing out there that goes from hollow whisper to raucous scream with all the beauty in between from any developer. It's usually a case of stiching bits of this and that together. Flutes and bassoons have fared a bit better but there's still massive room for improvement.

I'm not quite convined that Cinematic Samples will be the answer as they are, by nature, bare bones libraries. Great sound but basic by design. I would love for someone to come out with the mother of all woodwind libraries!
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What are your thoughts on the Hein offering, which sounds great to me? I haven't played it myself however.
 
Casiquire said:
What are your thoughts on the Hein offering, which sounds great to me? I haven't played it myself however.
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I really like playing his libraries. I have the classical woodwinds, the solo violin and that sopranino sax that was sold for peanuts a few years ago and they are all very responsive and very flexible. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the sound (except the sop sax) so I never use them in recordings. But I do improvise with them for inspiration which makes them worth the purchase.

If you like the sound then you'll probably really enjoy them as they are cleverly designed for realtime performance.
 
I'd like to CS-Bump this thread by asking about what instruments do you think will be included.

Do you think there will be only principals or also the auxiliary?

Do you think there is hope to have a bass oboe, for example, or a bass flute?
 
Gerbil said:
I don't know...I've not really come across any library that comes close to catching the real diverse character of woodwinds and I have nearly all of them except the Fluffyaudio set. Cinewinds are much improved but still limited, Berlin and Spitfire I've been quite disappointed with given the price they cost (not that they're bad but they are quite stunted in terms of flexibility). Eastwest's Hollywood Winds aren't really any worse so I don't really get why they're considered a step down; they have their good and bad points just like the others. VSL remain the best in terms of flexibility although I find them a chore to mix so don't use them very much. Audio Modeling and Wallander are brilliantly playable with the aid of a breath controller (and inspiring to use as a result) but I think lack the sound for exposed parts.

Nobody, not one developer, has really managed to capture a fully flexible decent oboe. Berlin have done ok with their Exp B but it's very limited. The clarinet as an instrument has a fantastic dynamic range but there's nothing out there that goes from hollow whisper to raucous scream with all the beauty in between from any developer. It's usually a case of stiching bits of this and that together. Flutes and bassoons have fared a bit better but there's still massive room for improvement.

I'm not quite convinced that Cinematic Samples will be the answer as they are, by nature, bare bones libraries. Great sound but basic by design. I would love for someone to come out with the mother of all woodwind libraries!
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I'm curious to hear how the BWW Revive Oboe sounds like... I have a selection of oboes that comes close to your selection (and I agree with you regarding Exp B). My hunch was that the new woodwinds in the updated Revive could possibly surpass Exp. B... and would consider purchasing an upgrade to Revive since I own BWW and Exp A, B and C but alas, I missed the window and OT isn't interested in giving me that upgrade price for the time being...
 
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