Ed Wine
Member
Where you from?
Orchestral Tools: Everything You Need to Know
- Thread starter ChrisSiuMusic
- Start date
Chungus
Active Member
Big fan here. In one of the old walkthroughs, Sasha said something along the lines of "these samples are the only ones that consistently make me happy", and while they're not without issue - yeah, same here.
One thing you might be able to clear up though, is that I've been real confused about makes one eligible for their EDU discount. I've come across a bunch of contradictory statements on that (some of them from OT themselves!)
Evans
Senior Member
This includes the support contact form on their web site? I've never gotten a response back later than about a day.
Getsumen
16 > 24
Likewise, OT support has genuinely been very helpful and quick for my inquiries.
(Albeit I haven't sent many so it's not a large sample size)
OT if a favorite for me. Individual instruments were a game-changer that I feel that every dev needs to add. There's nothing stopping them and I'm sure people would love it.
chlady
Active Member
The EDU requirements for students and teachers seems pretty clear on OTs site . As a professor I had no problem getting a discount.
https://orchestraltools.helpscoutdocs.com/article/10-edu-discounts
Last edited:
shropshirelad
Senior Member
Seriously?
hsindermann
Member
Main thing I like about OT is their a la carte system - I think that is quite a unique feature, and I will probably make use of this in the future when I need just one instrument out of a larger collection for some project of mine.
In general I am not a big fan though and prefer to use other libraries (mainly the CS series). I feel the price point of their libraries for me doesn't match the quality and consistency they deliver, and the lack of updates to fix these issues doesn't exactly help either. I do like that there's a bigger choice of articulations compared to my main libraries, but then again the articulations often don't match over the different instruments (I remember seeing this a lot in BWW that i.e. Flute 1 has different articulations from Flutes 2 and 3 - not helpful if you actually want to make use of the articulations as part of a flute choir). I also feel that their instruments are badly volume balanced. I guess I'm a little spoiled by the consistency that I am getting from my main libs - but then again I would expect that same quality and consistency from libraries that cost more than twice that of the CS series.
Their Sine player is not exactly fun for me either. I've tried the newest version 1.1 again to give it a new chance. Within the first few minutes it kept crashing when trying to remove an old BP installation, and I soon gave up again...
In general I am not a big fan though and prefer to use other libraries (mainly the CS series). I feel the price point of their libraries for me doesn't match the quality and consistency they deliver, and the lack of updates to fix these issues doesn't exactly help either. I do like that there's a bigger choice of articulations compared to my main libraries, but then again the articulations often don't match over the different instruments (I remember seeing this a lot in BWW that i.e. Flute 1 has different articulations from Flutes 2 and 3 - not helpful if you actually want to make use of the articulations as part of a flute choir). I also feel that their instruments are badly volume balanced. I guess I'm a little spoiled by the consistency that I am getting from my main libs - but then again I would expect that same quality and consistency from libraries that cost more than twice that of the CS series.
Their Sine player is not exactly fun for me either. I've tried the newest version 1.1 again to give it a new chance. Within the first few minutes it kept crashing when trying to remove an old BP installation, and I soon gave up again...
Ed Wine
Member
Yes. What country do you live in that has removed your freedom of movement and inflicted sanctions on its people? See, I'm from the UK and can go wherever I please. I can also buy from EU without problems. My income, which is low, is my only hurdle. I truly feel for those who can't do what they desire because of repression, war or disease. I would help if I can. So, where are you from?
muk
Senior Member
Neither nor. My experience with Orchestral Tools' libraries has been an unfulfilling one. I generally do like the sound and the quality of their recordings. I think they are between very good and outstanding. However, their libraries often have so many inconsistencies that I can't use them professionally.
I own Berlin Strings, First Chairs, and Symphonic Strings. Out of the three, First Chairs has the most gorgeous recordings, and also the most outrageous inconsistencies. The pizzicati of the first violin, for example, are several db quieter than the ones of Vl 2. What is called 'staccato' in the viola would classify as a portato in the second violins. Just a very simple line, staccato patches, BST First Chairs v2 (the Kontakt version) out of the box - Vl 1, Vl 2, Vla, Vlc, Kb:
BST FC 2 Staccato.mp3 | Powered by Box
app.box.com
Try mocking up a staccato passage with these patches. It should be a simple excercise really. But with Berlin Strings First Chairs, instead of recording the passage and cleaning it up, you now have to start fiddling with volume automation, try to abuse the time stretch feature in Kontakt to create a crisper version of the viola articulation, adjust mic settings. And on and on. It's just a huge workflow- and time-killer. Much as I like the sound, when working on a deadline, it's simply not possible to use these samples for me.
Another example is the niente switch in First Chairs Kontakt. It is there, but it doesn't work. Toggle it on or off, it makes no difference. I wrote to support about it. They acknowledged the bug, and wrote that they'll look into it. One year later, there was a huge update, the BST v2 update. The niente switch still doesn't work. I wrote to support again. Now they told me that solo strings can not play to niente anyway, and that they would not bother fixing it. So there is a nice little switch on the interface that does nothing, and OT can't be bothered to fix or remove it.
Berlin Strings is a bit better in that regard. But still, it has enough inconsistencies and inconveniences that I rarely use it. Berlin Symphonic Strings is pretty good and works decently well for me.
The Sine player, unfortunately, hasn't improved the workflow deficits for me. Quite the opposite. There are polymaps, which is a really good idea. But you can not lock them. So you can spend an hour setting up a polymap. Press the wrong keyswitch, and it is gone. Irretrievably. To make things worse, keyswitches don't always trigger correctly for Sine on my system. So even if I press the right keyswitch, the polymap might be gone. This makes the feature basically useless for me.
Overall I can say that I really like the sound and recording quality of the samples. But huge workflow pains make the libraries slow and tedious to use for me. At the price point Orchestral Tools are asking - and especially with their no demos, no refunds, no resales policy - it has made OT a company that I avoid. When working on a deadline, I need libraries that are much more consistent. Also, with the price point and sales policies, I expect a lot more and much faster bug fixing.
Zedcars
Klaatu barada nikto
Strange. Isn’t it obvious from his post and his username where he’s from?
I’m also from the UK. He’s described exactly what 52% of voters who wanted this foley has imposed on the rest of us. I don’t blame them as they were lied to. But the least they can do now is not burry their heads in the sand about the economic and social damage this has inflicted upon us.
"I'm from the UK and can go wherever I please"? Really? You can somehow evade the 90 day limit on travel inside the Schengen Zone, work and live in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Finland, Slovenia, Czechia etc. indefinitely? Please tell me how you managed to swing that one past the immigration authorities I'd really like to know. Because I'm a UK Citizen whose freedom of movement has in fact been restricted in this regard thanks to 52% of the country (many of whom actually expressly wanted to keep freedom of movement)
andyhy
Active Member
The OT Store does indicate prices "+VAT". Of course many potential buyers like myself are buying from outside the EU so we don't pay the tax on top. The net figure is the only practical way to show prices given the global market OT is selling to.
shropshirelad
Senior Member
UK buyers, although no longer in the EU, somehow still have to pay VAT.
andyhy
Active Member
That's tough! I'm resident in the Philippines so completely outside the EU.
Futchibon
A spaced oddity
Which OT products do you own? Your YT channel doesn't seem to feature any, so if you don't have any or only one or two it would seem a little unfair to criticise them?
holywilly
Senior Member
I think SINE is a great player to house every OT library in one place, can be use on 3 machines simultaneously, also very easy to recall all libraries when moving libraries to a new drive.
I have invested every SINE catalogue, so far no regret at all. Besides Berlin series, all other libraries are true gems when needed.
SINE isn’t perfect yet, and none of the sample players are, all we can do is to use them at its maximum potential, and make more music.
I have invested every SINE catalogue, so far no regret at all. Besides Berlin series, all other libraries are true gems when needed.
SINE isn’t perfect yet, and none of the sample players are, all we can do is to use them at its maximum potential, and make more music.
Evans
Senior Member
Maybe we need a SINE thread like your Synchron Player thread. I'd legit pay for an update that allowed me to re-order my libraries.
