What's new

Looking for Small Ensemble Orchestra

JohnLange

New Member
Hi there everyone !

I'm looking for a Small Ensemble Orchestral Library for adventurous video game music ! For sound references, I really like the sound of the "Ni No Kuni II : Revenant Kingdom" OST (Link) (BTS video with Joe Hisaishi (Link)) or some of the Hollow Knight soundtrack (Link)
I was really thrilled when I discovered "Indie" by Sonokinetic (which sound like That) but totally bummed when I found out it was a phrases only library :sad: But the size of the ensemble : Strings (13 players) / Woodwinds (7 players) /Brass (5 players) is perfect !
The best would be to have a all in one library but I searched for a long time without finding a good one without wrecking my bank account (I can go around 500€ max, would prefer to go around 300€ tho)
Do anyone know something that could fit ?

Thanks and have a good day !
 
8Dio Century Strings?
6/4/6/4/4

Currently on sale, 50% off if you use the coupon. If you’re not an 8Dio customer, use the online chat and ask for the 50% discount coupon.

8Dio Century Brass, 50% off too
Maybe add Cinewinds Core for some cool woodwinds
 
Maybe Spitfire Albion NEO? Small ensemble, with divisi string patches. Maybe a bit on the quiet side for game music?
 
8Dio Century Strings?
6/4/6/4/4

Currently on sale, 50% off if you use the coupon. If you’re not an 8Dio customer, use the online chat and ask for the 50% discount coupon.

8Dio Century Brass, 50% off too
Maybe add Cinewinds Core for some cool woodwinds
Thank for the fast reply !
I previously looked at the Century Strings but the big let down was no pizzicato at all :( Century Brass is nice, still have to compare with others but I'll keep it in mind ! For Cinewinds Core, I really love how it sounds, thanks for letting me know about it :) !
Maybe Spitfire Albion NEO? Small ensemble, with divisi string patches. Maybe a bit on the quiet side for game music?
Thank for the reply too !
Sadly I also thing Neo is a bit quiet and soft for game music :/ It sounds too cold, which could be nice for other applications but for adventurous music, I don't think it fits !
 
My bad, I've looked at the "Century Ostinato Strings" (with only has Bartok) and not the "Century Strings v.2" which has Pizzicato !
To be fair, too many of their product have "Century" in their names haha !
It stills bugs me to put almost 500€ (no discount here it seems) in a sample library with strings only but I have to say it sounds pretty good
 
It stills bugs me to put almost 500€ (no discount here it seems) in a sample library with strings only but I have to say it sounds pretty good
All 8Dio products are 50% off, using the coupon they give you. You could opt for Normale only.
 
So, strings for $224. Not half bad. For that amount of money you can also get the excellent Spitfire Audio Studio Strings core version on a sale. Unfortunately their sale ended past sunday.

3E5CB692-2FE9-487A-A831-898A1FACED43.jpeg
 
Alternative: Audio Imperia Nucleus? Jaeger? The latter seems to have a good fit with your requirements and budgetary restrictions. (EDIT; no they don’t - for a moment there I was just thinking “games music” and forgot about “small ensembles” - my bad)

 
Last edited:
have you checked out this little odd gem? https://vis.versilstudios.com/vsco-pro.html
I checked it out and read alot about this, seems some instruments are really good while some are pretty bad, the sound is uneven through the whole library =/ I have not checked it by myself tho

All 8Dio products are 50% off, using the coupon they give you. You could opt for Normale only.
I don't have any online chat option for now, but it opens at 6am PST (it's 5:50am PST at the moment)

Alternative: Audio Imperia Nucleus?
Another option: Spitfire Audio Bernard Herrmann Composer Toolkit. Or Albion ONE.
Nucleus & Albion ONE are pretty big libraries (Albion ONE has 109 players & Nuclus around 80), I'm looking for a "Small Ensemble" so it's a bit too epic for what I'm looking for !
But I never noticed the Bernard Herrmann Composer Toolkit, it's a pretty good one :o ! Thanks for that !
Okay. But that’s an ostinato only library. So it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to get that first.
I agree, I just typed "century strings" and I clicked the 1st link without seeing how many of those libraries have "century" in their names, I actually would get the normal edition if I chose to go for that one. For now I also look at "Adventure Strings & Brass" by MusicalSampling, pretty good too.

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone !
 
Hi there everyone !

I'm looking for a Small Ensemble Orchestral Library for adventurous video game music ! For sound references, I really like the sound of the "Ni No Kuni II : Revenant Kingdom" OST (Link) (BTS video with Joe Hisaishi (Link)) or some of the Hollow Knight soundtrack (Link)
I was really thrilled when I discovered "Indie" by Sonokinetic (which sound like That) but totally bummed when I found out it was a phrases only library :sad: But the size of the ensemble : Strings (13 players) / Woodwinds (7 players) /Brass (5 players) is perfect !
The best would be to have a all in one library but I searched for a long time without finding a good one without wrecking my bank account (I can go around 500€ max, would prefer to go around 300€ tho)
Do anyone know something that could fit ?

Thanks and have a good day !
Hmm you'll have a tough time finding an all in one library for 500
You might have a chance buying a full orchestral lib and supplementing the strings with a different lib?


Brass and woodwinds are usually soloists or small ensembles in those all in one libs.


BBCso Core and Sonuscores orchestra are some of the full orchestras I can think of off the top of my head, although those both only have one mic position and are rather wet so they might not sound small.

You can give them a look though and see if you like them or not. The string sections are full sized so you might want to look into alternate libs.
 
For now I also look at "Adventure Strings & Brass" by MusicalSampling, pretty good too.
Their sale just ended. Plus these are hardly subtle haha, and don’t have a lot of articulations. Very suited for epic stuff. But one trick ponies. I have and love all of their orchestral libraries but do not recommend them as your “first bread and butter” orchestra.
 
I checked it out and read alot about this, seems some instruments are really good while some are pretty bad, the sound is uneven through the whole library =/ I have not checked it by myself tho
There are definitely some issues with it, but nothing else really fills that space except for (I would guess) some custom/bespoke libraries (that are not available to peons like you or me). It's cheap enough, too, that you could get it, figure out what you want other options for, and still be able to afford those!
 
Top Bottom