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Seeking views on NI Symphony Series & Brass

Any thoughts on these vs EWQL Symphonic Library or Miroslav Philharmonik 2 ?

I have no love for miroslav these days. I can’t find anywhere to use it. east west is fine but their engine is annoying and their best value is in their composer cloud. If I was to think of some decent alternatives that are not perfect but give a lot, Kirk hunter diamond orchestra goes for $499 and comes with solos, chamber, ensembles, woodwinds, brass and percussion all in the set. If you’re focused on just brass, there are a bunch priced better than NI. Kinda depends on what you’re looking for.
 
Regarding east west, any views on the Hollywood Brass vs the brass in the Symphonic library?
 
I have the series strings. Love the sound! I did not like the brass or winds, but I only have the essentials. Does anyone know if the sound improves if I got the full version? Thanks.
 
Below's an excerpt of what I wrote a few years ago on the subject of NI Symphonic Brass. Keep in mind that this was written before any updates that might have appeared in the meantime. (Something I don't know about because, since writing the review, I have never ever looked at this library again.)

- - - -

(...) Had this library appeared in the late-nineties of the previous century — around the time that Advanced Orchestra was creating a bit of a stir — people might have said: “Hey, this is not all that bad, is it?” and we all would have nodded approvingly, but today, there is simply no excuse in my opinion for the average sound, the generic sounding articulations and the idiotic programming which characterizes this effort.

It’s clear that a lot more time was spent on the Ensemble brass than on the Solo instruments, and if the bundle has one area where something vaguely reminiscent of ‘useful quality’ can be found, it is among the Ensemble patches. Still nothing that I would ever want to go to mock-up war with, but … not entirely revoltingly useless either.

The Solo brass however feels, behaves and sounds like an afterthought that both NI and Soundiron should be ashamed of. Several of the articulations have only one or two velocity layers. (The sustains have three.) If they have two, it's a ‘p’ and and ‘f’ sample, leaving a huge timbral hole in the middle that isn’t and can’t be filled. Moreover, these velocity layers reside under different keyswitches, meaning that if you want to go from the ‘p’ sample to the ‘f’ sample, you have to use a keyswitch.
As with the strings, the Dynamics-knob in the middle of the interface is basically a volume knob (as is cc#11), the ‘Tightness’ parameter does, to my ears, little more than changing the sample start value (usually to ugly effect), and for articulations where the GUI indicates 8 round robins, there are cleary only four, if that. The legato’s aren’t particularly good, the expressive articulations sound artificial, and the tuba sounds like one that Peter Siedlaczek never considered good enough for inclusion in Advanced Orchestra.

The Ensembles fare better: at least here, there are patches where the Dynamics-knob effectively moves between the two or three available velocity layers. (Rarely to good effect though, because you can’t simulate a mezzo timbre by bluntly crossfading between a ‘p’ and a ‘f’ sample, especially if the timbral difference between these two is a big as it is with all brass instruments. And there's nothing less convincing than a ‘p’ sample with a whiff of an ‘f’ sample added to it, posing as a mezzo sample. Ugly.
(I could do examples, but a compassionate and kind-hearted person would know better than to ask.)

I could go on. And maybe find a few good things too, I suppose. A couple of registers of some of the instruments and/or ensembles don’t sound all that bad by themselves, I guess. And if dropped somewhere in the back of a mix, maybe some of these brass might even manage to do some good in an arrangement. But I just can’t be bothered anymore. And it certainly won’t be my arrangements: I’ve already dug this library’s grave, on my Libraries Graveyard HD (which is getting worryingly full) and that’s where I’m now going to put it. (...)

_
 
I like most of Symphony Series, especially the strings & percussion (non-tuned). I've gotten use out of the brass & winds also (both ensemble).

The sound is the same except you get more articulations & mic options with the full series. With strings, brass & winds, I tend to stick with the mid & far mics which is what I think you'd be missing with Essentials.
 
I have the series strings. Love the sound! I did not like the brass or winds, but I only have the essentials. Does anyone know if the sound improves if I got the full version? Thanks.

Only in so far you have the option of closer mic positions which apparently really helps.

I've been waiting for the current sale for a while. My current library collection is pretty basic and the Symphony Series strings, Ensemble and Solo Brass and Percussion are my first higher-end libaries for orchestration after Sonokinetic Ensemble Woodwinds.

I think that in a case like mine, it's an extremely good deal. I don't think there's much point in going for these if you already own such libraries from better sources.

Komplete has always struck me something that is most useful to get while you don't have a lot of stuff yet. Instant-lots-of-mid-quality-stuff. A lot of which I've found quite useful these past few months.
 
I think I'm missing something as my upgrade price is $299 from K12U to CE. Only additional content seems to be the full symphony series compared to the Essentials and a bunch of Macshine expansion packs. Doesn't seem worth it especially on a sale? I have virtually everything in Ultimate so why is the price still so high?
 
I'm not sure about the NI Symphonic Series. I rushed this together, simple, only about 30 secs long.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/nibrass-mp3.20479/][/AUDIOPLUS]
 

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Strings and percussion are quality..
Brass is good..
Winds aren't great..nice tone, but way too much reverb..
 
I think I'm missing something as my upgrade price is $299 from K12U to CE. Only additional content seems to be the full symphony series compared to the Essentials and a bunch of Macshine expansion packs. Doesn't seem worth it especially on a sale? I have virtually everything in Ultimate so why is the price still so high?
The only difference between 12U & 12CE is Symphony Series & 30 more Expansions.

I'm somewhat contemplating an upgrade from 11U to 12U. 12CE is not a consideration for me as I already have Symphony Series & don't use Expansions.

For me, the relative additions would only be: Massive X, Sessions Strings Pro 2, kinetic Toys, Session Strummed Acoustic 2, DS Middle East, Crush Packs Bite, Freak & Dirt. Not as good of a deal as folks coming from earlier versions, but not bad. If not for their recent misleading inclusion of Symphony Series in CE, this might be a definite for me.
 
Only in so far you have the option of closer mic positions which apparently really helps.

I've been waiting for the current sale for a while. My current library collection is pretty basic and the Symphony Series strings, Ensemble and Solo Brass and Percussion are my first higher-end libaries for orchestration after Sonokinetic Ensemble Woodwinds.

I think that in a case like mine, it's an extremely good deal. I don't think there's much point in going for these if you already own such libraries from better sources.

Komplete has always struck me something that is most useful to get while you don't have a lot of stuff yet. Instant-lots-of-mid-quality-stuff. A lot of which I've found quite useful these past few months.

I have Ultimate 11...and what's weird is that to go to 12CE, is $299...to go to 12Ultimate (which is less content), is $499.. LOL. And to buy the entire Symphony Series is also $299...lol

My issue is that I have the full version of Symphony Strings, bought as an upgrade...so I should technically pay $149 to get the complete Series upgrade, since I already paid half.
 
I have Ultimate 11...and what's weird is that to go to 12CE, is $299...to go to 12Ultimate (which is less content), is $499.. LOL. And to buy the entire Symphony Series is also $299...lol...
Same here. Add 12U to your shopping cart (or log out) & you'll see the real update price of $199. Must be a glitch.
 
Same here. Add 12U to your shopping cart (or log out) & you'll see the real update price of $199. Must be a glitch.

Ok probably. I mean I’d rather have the full symphony series anyway. But was a weird pricing. Lol
 
I'm not sure about the NI Symphonic Series. I rushed this together, simple, only about 30 secs long.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/nibrass-mp3.20479/][/AUDIOPLUS]

What's not to like? Sometimes I think we expect stuff we shouldn't from libraries. It is what it is. Of course helps a lot if we know before buying what it is :P
 
What's not to like? Sometimes I think we expect stuff we shouldn't from libraries. It is what it is. Of course helps a lot if we know before buying what it is :P

i don't think sound quality was a main complaint about this series. It's i think more a matter of price and features. For its cost, there are more competitive offerings. It's not that it sounds bad, its just not as versatile as you can get for the same cost. You're limited in how much you can do with what they offer.
 
The only difference between 12U & 12CE is Symphony Series & 30 more Expansions.

I'm somewhat contemplating an upgrade from 11U to 12U. 12CE is not a consideration for me as I already have Symphony Series & don't use Expansions.

For me, the relative additions would only be: Massive X, Sessions Strings Pro 2, kinetic Toys, Session Strummed Acoustic 2, DS Middle East, Crush Packs Bite, Freak & Dirt. Not as good of a deal as folks coming from earlier versions, but not bad. If not for their recent misleading inclusion of Symphony Series in CE, this might be a definite for me.
I’ll go 12CE from 10U. The extra c-note is worth it for the full Symphony Series as I don’t even own Essentials.
 
For me the string sound in the FULL version is fantastic. I just never got that same sound from essentials. The divisi and legatos are truly great. But this is an Audiobro library, so there is a pedigree here. Not so much with the other offerings. Don’t see why Audiobro couldn’t just do the entire series. Would have been awesome.
 
i don't think sound quality was a main complaint about this series. It's i think more a matter of price and features. For its cost, there are more competitive offerings. It's not that it sounds bad, its just not as versatile as you can get for the same cost. You're limited in how much you can do with what they offer.

I agree. The price is too expensive.
 
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