NYC Composer
Senior Member
I like the Amadeus idea. Start small with a decent sounding library with Big Bang for the buck.
questions:
1. What type of music are you wanting to write, give some examples .
2. How knowledgeable are you about, music theory and orchestration .
3. can you read and write music
4. what is your DAW of choice and what OS
Then you should start with libraries that have individual sections, […]
Hi! Happy to see another composer diving into the orchestral world!
My very first advice will be this one: Wait until summer for possible sales.
Just a note - you wouldn't need the whole Albion series if you're just getting in orchestrating. Albion II is discontinued, Albion 3-5 are fairly specific in their purpose, and just kind of expand a bit into more niche areas of the orchestra that Albion ONE already covers at a general level. […]
Honestly, if you're just getting into this, I think having a subscription option for a quality product is a smart way to go.
I assume that by "pure symphonic music" you mean pure sounding orchestral music with no sound design sounds, synths, or other hybrid stuff.
My advice :
[…]
One more thing: buy full Kontakt in the NI sale. Once you have this you will be able to get hundreds of great free or cheap instruments. Also a lot of the best paid libraries are only available with full Kontakt.
Hi, lutzek. I was looking very much for the same thing when I started looking into VIs a year ago. [...]
Sometimes the strings are too close miced for my taste, especially the spiccatos. I like a bit of blur on my spiccatos when writing fast lines. You can get them to sound more distant by cranking up the Attack, thus eliminating the transient and leaving the room sound, but that trick will not work on sustains, so the strings will not sound consistent if you do that.Berlin Orchestra Inspire - I don't have an opinion about that one. Is one mic position a big problem?
Ad 1. At the end of the day I would like to write some kind of symphonic… psychedelic… rock :o. I’d like to combine more “classical” sound with rough old guitars, but… There is a long and winding road to do this, so I’d like to be focused on learning for first 8-12. My plan is to try to recreate some movie soundtracks to understand how it works.
Ad 2. My only knowledge from orchestration is what I read in “Principles of Orchestration” by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (by the way – great book… for me).
Ad 3. Yes I can read and write music. I have 24 years of experience in playing on piano.
Ad 4. I’m using Reaper on Win 10. Additional information about my computer: Intel I7 8 gen, 6 cores, 32GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, SSD + HDD
Hollywood Orchestra is still the best library for the price. Quality, quantity, and affordability are all there. Play is the only hangup for some.
There's certanly a learning curve, but there's a learning curve with any software (the legato in CSS is a nightmare to learn, which is probably why they include a basic version?). I just wouldn't let that stop a beginner from using it, escpecially now that there's a ton of youtube tutorials now. After a couple of hours, i think someone could have Play figured out pretty well, no?That's true, but with its complicated setup and inconsistent programming it is not a good choice for beginners. It's complicated and difficult to use well. The Cinematic Studio Series have a much more beginner friendly learning curve.
+1, It's also my main orchestral library. Like all complete libraries, there is a learning curve...all instruments are present. The only negative point of EWQLSO remains the absence of legato / portamento. For Strings, I usually put an 8Dio Adagietto overlay.EWQLSO was actually my first real orchestral library
That's true, but with its complicated setup and inconsistent programming it is not a good choice for beginners. It's complicated and difficult to use well. The Cinematic Studio Series have a much more beginner friendly learning curve.
Just a note - you wouldn't need the whole Albion series if you're just getting in orchestrating. Albion II is discontinued, Albion 3-5 are fairly specific in their purpose, and just kind of expand a bit into more niche areas of the orchestra that Albion ONE already covers at a general level.
Also - you could get the Composer Cloud from East West for like $30 / month, and that gives you every product they have while your subscription is active. It might be safer way to get into learning, since it's a modest investment you can cancel. And plenty of very good composers use East West Hollywood series and get amazing results.
Honestly, if you're just getting into this, I think having a subscription option for a quality product is a smart way to go. If you don't like it, you're not out much money, and you'd still have time before your monthly payment expires to make a decision on something else.
The other two people are suggesting sting libraries only - not sure why, since you're asking about the entire orchestra.
It is as easy to use as any other library.
And BTW I hate the way CSS is made,
that you need to load ALL articulations section and then KS between them instead of having the option for loading specific arts separately.
Also, CSS has super limited articulation option.
For a beginner that is a good thing.
Yes. The same line of argument can be used to suggest why ensemble libraries can be so helpful when getting started, with individual instruments being drawn in initially for detail. Personally I came to VIs with lots of training and experience with live players and traditional orchestration and I found ensemble libraries initially much easier to work with once I got my head around what they were doing. Eventually I had to move away from ensemble libraries to gain more control (though I still find them exceptionally useful for sketching and if I need to work fast). Undoubtedly some of this, probably even a lot of it, is personal preference.Erm, no.
That's personal preference and has nothing to do with the ease of use.
Actually you can do that. Load all the articulations, then deactivate all but one. You can now set it up with individual patches just like Hollywood Orchestra.
For a beginner that is a good thing. It has all the necessary articulations to get you going. But good luck finding the right patch in Hollywood Strings if you don't know exactly what you are looking for.
If you are not sure about the difference between portato and portamento, with Hollywood Strings you are completely lost. And we are not even talking the difference between '1st Violins Leg Slur + Port RR LT 12 Ni', '1st Violins Sus 13 RR KSFP Ni', '1st Violins NV NV VB MV RR Ni', and '1st Violins Marc Sus 9 RR 4th pos Ni'.
If you are a power user it is great to have all these options. If you are just starting, they are unnecessarily confusing. A beginner will not know how fingerings on string instruments work, nor will they know what effect they have. Thus they don't need all these patches.
Compare that to 'Sustain', 'Staccato', 'Tremolo', etc. of Cinematic Studio Strings. Are very precise, all very simple to learn. So yes, it's a quite obvious fact that Cinematic Studio Strings are much easier to learn than Hollywood Strings, and thus, in my opinion, a better choice for any beginner.
For a beginner that is a good thing. It has all the necessary articulations to get you going. But good luck finding the right patch in Hollywood Strings if you don't know exactly what you are looking for.
If you are not sure about the difference between portato and portamento, with Hollywood Strings you are completely lost. And we are not even talking the difference between '1st Violins Leg Slur + Port RR LT 12 Ni', '1st Violins Sus 13 RR KSFP Ni', '1st Violins NV NV VB MV RR Ni', and '1st Violins Marc Sus 9 RR 4th pos Ni'.
If you are a power user it is great to have all these options. If you are just starting, they are unnecessarily confusing. A beginner will not know how fingerings on string instruments work, nor will they know what effect they have. Thus they don't need all these patches.
Compare that to 'Sustain', 'Staccato', 'Tremolo', etc. of Cinematic Studio Strings. Are very precise, all very simple to learn. So yes, it's a quite obvious fact that Cinematic Studio Strings are much easier to learn than Hollywood Strings, and thus, in my opinion, a better choice for any beginner.
Yes. The same line of argument can be used to suggest why ensemble libraries can be so helpful when getting started, with individual instruments being drawn in initially for detail. Personally I came to VIs with lots of training and experience with live players and traditional orchestration and I found ensemble libraries initially much easier to work with once I got my head around what they were doing. Eventually I had to move away from ensemble libraries to gain more control (though I still find them exceptionally useful for sketching and if I need to work fast). Undoubtedly some of this, probably even a lot of it, is personal preference.