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Spitfire Hans Zimmer Percussion HZ01

Levon

Active Member
Hi Folks,

I've just purchased Ark 1 and Ark 2 (haven't had a chance to play with them yet) and I'm considering buying Albion One as well. These are my first orchestral purchases.

Would all my percussion needs be covered with these 3 libraries or would buying a dedicated percussion library such as HZ01 complement the percussion in Ark 1, Ark 2 and Albion One?

Initially I'll be concentrating on trailer style music but I also plan on writing ambient instrument music as well.

Cheers,
Levon
 
Slow down Levon

I'll quote a memorable line I recall from a "magazine" from my youth:

"Do load your shooter. Don't shoot your load."
 
I think I'd have to agree with mc_deli here -- take your time and get to know what you've bought already. Then see what you still need. Those other libraries are excellent in their way and you may well decide to buy them, but take a few weeks with what you have and go through each patch first.

It's easy to burn a lot of money otherwise; one still needs good speakers / amplifier(s) / and all the other stuff.

Kind regards,

John
 
I have to agree with john and mc deli, but to help u a little bit: i was kind of disappointed from HZ01. I feel its overprized and altough everybod says its great for trailer drum layering purposes i find it really hard to use. The mic faders are cool but i think there are missing some drums like snares, etc. Maybe its just because i dont know how to use it properly,but in my oppinion it should not be your basic drum library.
 
I have to agree with john and mc deli, but to help u a little bit: i was kind of disappointed from HZ01. I feel its overprized and altough everybod says its great for trailer drum layering purposes i find it really hard to use. The mic faders are cool but i think there are missing some drums like snares, etc. Maybe its just because i dont know how to use it properly,but in my oppinion it should not be your basic drum library.

Agree, not that I'm disappointed, but it should not be your basic drum library. That being said, I think HZ01 is absolutely awesome,for what it is. There isn't so much variety and not too many articulations, but what is there is very good. Also; GF mixes integrate nicely to more traditional orchestral sound and JXL and HZ mixes are in your face pounding trailer-type of stuff.
 
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So, as an owner of Stormdrum3, Action Strikes, Damage, APE, CinePerc core, who also got a 25% off voucher for HZ01 and HZ03 for Xmas.... This thread is reinforcing what I know in my heart.. I don't need HZ01... But do I want it?
 
It's so easy to dig that rabbit hole. I've been in that got-to-buy froth too many times. Learn what you have inside and out, and marvel at how much that helps inform your decisions.

Either get Albion One and learn the living yee-haw out of it or...wonder of wonders, SAVE MONEY and buy the measly 30 US dollars a month subscription to Composer Cloud and have access to the outstanding Stormdrum 2 and 3, not to mention Symphonic Percussion.

Being that I have all the abovementioned, plus Damage, APE, Evolve(s), Battery, Geist, Polyplex, Nerve, and Spark, it's really hard for me to justify the HZ01. Someday I'll get the latter, but NEED it? See the above again. No.
 
+1 not ideal for first percussion library.

I would eventually suggest Apocalypse Percussion Elements together what he has already?
I got it a couple of months ago with discount and I was impressed for what you get for that price.

HZP01 is very expensive and honestly I am disappointed by its Timpani: not for the sound but for the lacking of smooth passages from lower dynamic to medium... it jumps out to a so much different timbre.
Not sure if I'm the only one noticed that.

The rest of HZP01 is a must if you are really picking to want the exact sounds (absolutely love for some of them) of his soundtracks, otherwise other cheaper options are very good for trailer genre.

ISW Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion is another cheaper (in sale till end of december) alternative for the pure orchestral section with some ethnic plus coming with it.
 
Ark 1 and Ark 2 wont cover all your percussion needs. They're amazing, but limited. I would argue that Albion One could cover most of what you need though. To an extent, It has both epic and conventional percussion.
 
I didn't see that the OP has a soon-to-expire discount -- Levon, do you? If so I would change my advice.
 
Thanks for everyone's input! It has certainly given me food for thought :)

John, yes I have a discount (Xmas Wishlist) for the Spitfire Hybrid bundle (Albion One, eDNA Earth and HZ01) which expires on 31st Dec. In hindsight maybe I should have just added Albion One to my wishlist but I had been interested in Earth and possibly HZ01 as well.

The original plan was Ark 1 and Albion One to get me started but then Ark 2 came along at too good a pre-order price to walk away from! :) And then I spotted the Spitfire Hybrid bundle and their Xmas Wishlist discount. Ideally as people have mentioned I would prefer to buy a few libraries to begin with and spend time learning them inside out first, but the discounts have got me thinking longer term.
 
HZ01 does what it's meant to do very well. The more time you spend with the library, the more proficient you get at understanding the mic mixes, and that makes it more versatile than any other "epic percussion" library in the market. It's pretty useful in trailer music but most of the time you need to layer it with other more aggressive libraries, so if you only own the Arks and A1 than I wouldn't recommend it.
 
HZ01 is exactly what it's supposed to be: an epic percussion library to get you the sound made popular by Hans Zimmer. That includes the drums and articulations he uses and the sonic flexibility he prizes. And it does that really, really well. It sounds, IMO, so f***ing good.

That said, Albion ONE also includes some similar drums (taikos, toms etc) recorded in the same hall. Though with less flexibility than HZ01. I would take the next few days to really explore the percussion in Albion, then watch the walk through for HZ01. If you feel like hz01 gives you more of what YOU want in percussion then go for it.
 
I bought HZ01 solely for the Timpani (Hans' mix.) It is probably the best sampled instrument in my entire library - no kidding. Whatever it cost for that single instrument was worth it. If you don't think that way it will have a cumulative effect on your sound: all your instruments sound good to some extant but nothing stellar that just brings a great sound to your palette that you can't duplicate with anything else. I'm not saying to spend your money foolishly or criticizing anyone for being on a budget. I'm saying that having exactly the right piece of gear for a specific sound has been the name of the game for musicians from Bach to the Beatles to Black Hawk Down.
 
What would be a good complimentary library for someone who owns HZ01, Albion ONE? For orchestral and trailer stuff. I'm finding those heavy processed snares and impacts used in trailers hard to get out of HZ01 and Albion ONE alone.
 
Jumping in here to state, aside from the OP's specific situation, I read so many posts that HZ01 wasn't that good or failed to meet expectations etc. so I avoided picking it up for a long time- I regret that.

I bought HZ01 and LOVE it. It's an amazing library for hi, med, low, and sub drums. I have all of CinePerc, and SF Percussion and would reach for HZ timp, taikos, and low booms any day over the other libraries.

Now if you need a perc library that has a Celeste, tubular, glock, and all that HZ doesn't do that. But I am so glad I picked up HZ, it's great.
 
There's some good stuff in HZ01, but I agree with some of the other posters. You would think that with the huge amount of space it consumes on your HD or SSD, that there would be more to it. HZ01 really goes overboard with numbers of mic positions. A decent variety of mic positions is good, but you can always create different spaces with reverb (and there are a LOT of great reverbs out there these days).
 
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