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What orchestral percussion library would you recommend ?

ManicMiner said:
I have about $150. I'm divided between NI Symphony Percussion, True Strike and Hollywood Perc Gold. NI have some great demo videos.
One of the main things I am after is a realistic timpani roll / epic orchestral music perc. ProjectSam told me they have a sale soon... NI sale is still on now and thats available for $149.
NI does seem to have some nice roll articulations.

I want to make the right decision... :thumbsdown:
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It's a real shame that Cinesamples don't offer the separate percussion packs like they use to. I bought the basic orchestral cineperc for barely any more than your budget and it's such a great sounding library. The price for the full library is very high if you don't need all the other stuff.

I do wonder why more companies don't split their libraries up more as I'm sure they'd bring in more money that way. But I'm no businessman....
 
I have both True Strike and NI Percussion and I like the Timpani rolls in both libs, they sound great and are very natural to play with the modwheel.

The good thing about NI Perc is that they have a kind of membrane resonance system which makes the timpani sound much more realistic if you play several notes on the same key: then the timpani reacts like you play on a real membrane. Don't ask me how this works exactly :D - but it sounds really cool!

For the rolls, I couldn't decide myself which one I prefer...
 
ManicMiner said:
I have about $150. I'm divided between NI Symphony Percussion, True Strike and Hollywood Perc Gold. NI have some great demo videos.
One of the main things I am after is a realistic timpani roll / epic orchestral music perc. ProjectSam told me they have a sale soon... NI sale is still on now and thats available for $149.
NI does seem to have some nice roll articulations.

I want to make the right decision... :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

There is no “right decision”, just good choices that sound different.
 
I own the full version of Kontakt (5). Does this in theory quality me for the Crossgrade price for NI Symphony Percussion ?

There is no indication in my account when I go to buy Symphony Percussion. I wonder if the BlackFriday sales is overriding that? I'll have to call them.
 
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Hey @ManicMiner , I'm in exactly the same position. The dated interface and having to use Play have put me off Hollywood perc Diamond (Gold has only one mic position - not so useful). NI SP seems to have some fans, but some of the library seems to be not so good - mainly tuned percussion. It doesn't seem universally loved! So I'm left with True Strike. Not a bad word has been said about it on these forums. It's a little old, but seems to hold its own against most of the more recent libraries.
 
Add Audiobro LADD to the discussion. It's a terrific library.

Also, there's some good stuff in Vir2 Elite Orchestral Percussion. Not all of it, but some is very good.

jimjazzuk said:
The dated interface and having to use Play have put me off Hollywood perc Diamond (Gold has only one mic position - not so useful)
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Opinions are just that, but it's important for ones other than mine not to be taken as articles of faith!

So let me ask: does anyone else still have a problem with Play after all this time? I've found it absolutely fine for years.

And as to interfaces, my dated one is the keyboard, KAT pads, or the Boppad I just ordered (and am really looking forward to). I just load percussion and play!
 
jimjazzuk said:
Hey @ManicMiner some of the library seems to be not so good - mainly tuned percussion. It doesn't seem universally loved! So I'm left with True Strike. Not a bad word has been said about it on these forums. It's a little old, but seems to hold its own against most of the more recent libraries.
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I've looked at some videos on NI, a good one by Geoff Manchester and a 40m one by Composing Gloves. The bass drums and the Timpani seem to be excellent, and thats my main concern. Some of the others like the Celeste and chimes are not very good. But those are of little interest to me anyway.
True Strike has got some good feedback, but there are very few videos on it, and the audio demos don't do much for me.
 
ManicMiner said:
I've looked at some videos on NI, a good one by Geoff Manchester and a 40m one by Composing Gloves. The bass drums and the Timpani seem to be excellent, and thats my main concern. Some of the others like the Celeste and chimes are not very good. But those are of little interest to me anyway.
True Strike has got some good feedback, but there are very few videos on it, and the audio demos don't do much for me.
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The timpani are good, yes, and I like them, but they sound a lot different to other timpani I have. They don't achieve the same brightness in tone at top dynamics. If you want timpani with plenty of presence, these aren't them.

Edit: I'm talking here about NI Percussion.
 
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I think essentially True Strike is like a tried and tested library that many people seem to go back to as a kind of 'old faithful'. I'm with you on the lack of videos/samples/demos, very frustrating. NI looks more flash and is much newer, but no one seems to be raving about it.
 
markleake said:
The timpani are good, yes, and I like them, but they sound a lot different to other timpani I have. They don't achieve the same brightness in tone at top dynamics. If you want timpani with plenty of presence, these aren't them.
Edit: I'm talking here about NI Percussion.
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In his video , Manchester compared the NI timpani rolls against OT and actually said OT was a bit brighter as you say, but he made a good case for NI being the way it was too, that when you go to a live performance, there is a drum resonance that more resembles NI. To my ears, I actually prefer the lack of intrusive higher freqs.
 
ManicMiner said:
In his video , Manchester compared the NI timpani rolls against OT and actually said OT was a bit brighter as you say, but he made a good case for NI being the way it was too, that when you go to a live performance, there is a drum resonance that more resembles NI. To my ears, I actually prefer the lack of intrusive higher freqs.
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Yes, but in practice you need the brighter sound to be able to hear them in a heavy mix.

I'm not saying the NI timpani are bad, just that all these libraries you need to be aware of what scenarios they work better for and what their limitations are.
 
markleake said:
Yes, but in practice you need the brighter sound to be able to hear them in a heavy mix.

I'm not saying the NI timpani are bad, just that all these libraries you need to be aware of what scenarios they work better for and what their limitations are.
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I know what you mean and I had to find "my" personal timpani mix there as well. I'm not a big fan of NIs stereo default mix, instead I normally chose close+spot+a bit of far mic position. This is sounding great to me then. I've made the same experience with the tonal percussion: the stereo mix didn't sound really convincing, but the mix with close, spot and far did the job.
 
I am possibly thinking of putting a post in Classifieds soon asking if anyone wants to sell their NI Symphony Percussion. Maybe someone wants to replenish their funds after their BF spend.
Someone over at KVR was selling it last week, but it was a Crossgrade license.
 
jimjazzuk said:
I think essentially True Strike is like a tried and tested library that many people seem to go back to as a kind of 'old faithful'. I'm with you on the lack of videos/samples/demos, very frustrating. NI looks more flash and is much newer, but no one seems to be raving about it.
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Cory Pelizzari posted a great demo of True Strike here
 
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