Sonuscore's "The Orchestra Complete" and new "Strings of Winter" library

[TigerTheFrog]

Recently there was a 25% off Superbooth sale at Best Service, but it didn't include The Orchestra or Dark Era. Now we know the reason. The former is now 50% off! That's the lowest price yet, as it was 40% off on BF.

It's $199 at Best Service and
199 € on the Sonuscore site

Edit: extended to June 2

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[Zoot_Rollo]

any user comments?

i still have so much to go through from all the sales over the last 6 months.

horrifying situation to be in, eh?

 

[StillLife]

Oh my.

 

[Michel Simons]

The walkthrough sounds pretty good. Almost too good to be true.

 

[Zoot_Rollo]

The walkthrough sounds pretty good. Almost too good to be true.

i know.

i resisted the Spitfire sale, only to succumb to Cubase and Toontrack Orchestral.

never ends.

 

[jbuhler]

The walkthrough sounds pretty good. Almost too good to be true.

I think "Stealing the Medallion," the demo by Steffen Brinkmann, does a good job of illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of the library in terms of the sample content. The arpeggiator engine is pretty remarkable though as a tool to play around with for making textures and interlocking ostinati.

 

[Zoot_Rollo]

I think "Stealing the Medallion," the demo by Steffen Brinkmann, does a good job of illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of the library in terms of the sample content. The arpeggiator engine is pretty remarkable though as a tool to play around with for making textures and interlocking ostinati.

i was gonna comment on the arp.

looks good.

is their a similar stand alone arpeggiator on the market?

i use Blue Arp from time to time, it's ok.

 

[Michel Simons]

I think "Stealing the Medallion," the demo by Steffen Brinkmann, does a good job of illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of the library in terms of the sample content. The arpeggiator engine is pretty remarkable though as a tool to play around with for making textures and interlocking ostinati.

What do you consider to be the weaknesses of the library?

 

[dzilizzi]

The Orchestra instruments didn't really impress me that much. I got it right before buying the SSO but didn't have time to listen to it until after I was playing around with SSO. I was regretting my purchase until I found the engine. The presets are great and you can set up your own. Yes, it is just arpeggiated instruments but it is really cool sounding and very easy to use, unlike some of the other arps I've tried. It makes great pads for your other sounds and blends decently with everything else I use.

And? It you already have a bunch of similar stuff, you may never use it.

Edit: I should also mention one of the first orchestral libraries I bought years ago was Solid State Symphony - very fun to play, but definitely on the synth sounding side. At the time I was mostly doing pop music, so this didn't bother me. The Orchestra is made with the same guy who made Solid State Symphony. So fun to work with and sounds good for what it is, but I wouldn't look to it as your basic orchestra, if that makes sense.

 

[stfciu]

So...time to get through all the reviews and walkthroughs once again

 

[StillLife]

The Orchestra instruments didn't really impress me that much. I got it right before buying the SSO but didn't have time to listen to it until after I was playing around with SSO. I was regretting my purchase until I found the engine. The presets are great and you can set up your own. Yes, it is just arpeggiated instruments but it is really cool sounding and very easy to use, unlike some of the other arps I've tried. It makes great pads for your other sounds and blends decently with everything else I use.

And? It you already have a bunch of similar stuff, you may never use it.

So even with SSO, you find a place for The Orchestra?

 

[Michel Simons]

The Orchestra instruments didn't really impress me that much. I got it right before buying the SSO but didn't have time to listen to it until after I was playing around with SSO. I was regretting my purchase until I found the engine. The presets are great and you can set up your own. Yes, it is just arpeggiated instruments but it is really cool sounding and very easy to use, unlike some of the other arps I've tried. It makes great pads for your other sounds and blends decently with everything else I use.

And? It you already have a bunch of similar stuff, you may never use it.

So even with SSO, you find a place for The Orchestra?

What StillLife said. Your reply kinda sorta gives mixed messages.

 

[dzilizzi]

Sorry, went back and edited it. I think yes, it could be useful. The sound is actually good for ambient music and pads. Just maybe not for classical music?

 

[jbuhler]

What do you consider to be the weaknesses of the library?

The library lacks solo instruments. And there are places in that demo that sound very samply to my ear. Overall, though, I think "Stealing the Medallion" is an excellent demo and shows the library to good effect. If you are happy with the sound of that demo, you will be happy with the library for that kind of music. But I also think that demo runs firmly up against the limitations of the library. I know that demo set my expectations well.

The Orchestra is a quite small library in terms of drive and RAM space, so it's very friendly for laptops and smaller systems. It's more than usable for sketching and basic composition, and I've found that the strings in particular layer pretty well with other libraries in chug-a-chug accompaniment patterns.

 

[TigerTheFrog]

My impression is that Sonuscore is "All About the Arps" with their non-phrase libraries. Creating textural underbeds with a lot of movement.

That's the way it is with the Origins series. You wouldn't purchase one to get the best 12-string or Oud library. It's the arp engine that is appealing.

Same thing with Mallet Flux. There are better glockenspiels, celesta, xylophone libraries, etc out there. But they have an interesting take on combining arps of mallet instruments.

I enjoy making textures in the Origins instruments, so I'm similarly interested in the rhythms and orchestral colors of The Orchestra. But I'm sure not giving up CSS, CSB, and Spitfire Studio Woodwinds for the separate ensembles.

 

[dzilizzi]

My impression is that Sonuscore is "All About the Arps" with their non-phrase libraries. Creating textural underbeds with a lot of movement.

That's the way it is with the Origins series. You wouldn't purchase one to get the best 12-string or Oud library. It's the arp engine that is appealing.

Same thing with Mallet Flux. There are better glockenspiels, celesta, xylophone libraries, etc out there. But they have an interesting take on combining arps of mallet instruments.

I enjoy making textures in the Origins instruments, so I'm similarly interested in the rhythms and orchestral colors of The Orchestra. But I'm sure not giving up CSS, CSB, and Spitfire Studio Woodwinds for the separate ensembles.

You will probably really like this one then. As I said, it is fun to play with and the sounds of the presets are great. I haven't tried making any of my own, but I'm sure if you are into that, you can come up with some really cool sounds. Add some effects and you're done!

I think it is worth the 50% off price. Maybe not the full price, but definitely the sale price.

 

[Owen Smith]

As a beginner in orchestrating and programming arps and ostinatos, I find the Orchestra helps me a lot to add more intricacy and complexity to my compositions. As others have mentioned, I haven't used any of the solo sections (except for the percussion) on their own because I have other libraries that I think sound better. That's not to say they sound bad on their own, just nothing out of the ordinary. However, the engine is very fun and I think sounds very good with the instruments combined together (though I am an amateur and as skilled as many here in distinguishing authentic sounding from not). I have found that it gives me new ideas and helps me create arps and rhythms in other libraries based of the patterns that are easier to generate in The Orchestra. I think if you are already good at creating rhythms and writing complex patterns for a variety of instruments, then you may not need the Orchestra (except to save time while sketching). However, if you're like me and don't have much time to write and need inspiration and help making your music come alive with movement, then The Orchestra is an awesome product and I think a good deal at $199. I would definitely recommend.

 

[TigerTheFrog]

You will probably really like this one then. As I said, it is fun to play with and the sounds of the presets are great. I haven't tried making any of my own, but I'm sure if you are into that, you can come up with some really cool sounds. Add some effects and you're done!

I think it is worth the 50% off price. Maybe not the full price, but definitely the sale price.

I know that, but I worry that I am too attracted by toys, when I know all I need is a piano and CSS to write music that gives me satisfaction. Where will it end with all these gizmos? All my life I've written music on a piano, but a few weeks ago I found out I need a Particles Engine, for some reason.

Of course, I am the frog who is always posting the deals!

 

[jbuhler]

You will probably really like this one then. As I said, it is fun to play with and the sounds of the presets are great. I haven't tried making any of my own, but I'm sure if you are into that, you can come up with some really cool sounds. Add some effects and you're done!

I think it is worth the 50% off price. Maybe not the full price, but definitely the sale price.

The one real drawback to the engine is that there is no easy way to export its midi if you want to layer or replace with a different library.

 

[Satorious]

I find it quite an inspiring tool. If you are looking at using it for the instruments themselves, then you can definitely do better elsewhere (that isn't the main selling point of the library). What I love are the animated/colour arp patterns - I love these textures (they are fantastic for adding a bit of momentum or character to an orchestral piece - and you can make your own presets which I frequently do). It seems a lot more versatile than something like Action Strings and it is so much fun just noodling around. Here's a little track where I did just that: