orchestral setup with kontakt

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Hi,
I've posted here a while back about an orchestral setup, and different libraries people would recommend. I haven't had a chance to actually get any of those, but I am finding myself with some money I can spend on the orchestral libraries (finally), and was wondering were people would recommend I go for orchestral kontakt libraries.
Let me just say I plan to buy komplete 10 ultimate, and that will obviously get me kontakt, but after that I'm really torn as to what libraries to get. I have about 3000 dollars after buying komplete 10 ultimate that I can spend on orchestral instruments (although I wouldn't mind going under :-P).
Any setups people would recommend for the general strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, choirs, etc?
I'm not really looking for a list of libraries (I basically have that already), but more of a full list of libraries you'd purchase if you were in my shoes that would go well together, etc.
Thanks for any responses,
-Michael.

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Best to make that decision after you get Komplete10. You really need Ultimate, that will give you all you need in terms of strings, horns, percussion, more than enough pianos, strikes and builds. You have to look elsewhere for choirs though...even Omnishpere. If you need more percussion you can always get Ensemble drums from Heavyocity which is quite cheap.

Guarantee you'll be impressed with Komplete if you're film/orchestral composer, as a composer of electro I wasn't as much. I hear eastwest are a little overpriced but that will probably be where you'll look if you want to expand. Bear in mind Kontakt does comes with an impressive orchestral library which includes percussion as well (and a really nice tenor sax :) )
Last edited by Kinh on Thu Oct 02, 2014 5:03 am, edited 2 times in total.

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I'm finding CineBrass and CineWinds go well with other things. I'm doing a cross between a big band brass and 'orchestral' and Cine- is sounding really good alongside the jazz bite of WarpIV and The Trombone by SampleModeling. I've been around town trying out various things, and the thing that I would not recommend unless you love this sound so much that every single thing you buy is by them, Spitfire. It doesn't do a lot for me and this brown sort of sound is really baked in, I mean this whole thing towards the bottom end that's drinking everybody else's milkshake. Those guys hear sound very differently than do I.

I like the Tonehammer choirs, the interface suits me. Strings I don't want to go into, I hate everything, strings are hard, fuggit.

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it depends on your experience and how set are you in your ways. I think EWQL is to be avoided because of the interface, it's a wasta space doing very little.
Cine- has a certain way of approaching I don't enjoy, it's all about modwheel; their designer(s) clearly prefer to change articulation through velocity with this tweakoid interface, annoying... but it does have keyswitching. A lot of people really go for the 'playability' of mod wheel dynamics whereas I would rather have dynamic samples. but noooooo... they heavily rely on CC1 in building libraries. It's all so Garritan Personal Orchestra to me. So I chose not to go for the cinestrings, it's just very, very light on articulation for the money. There's a big difference in targeting 'games composers' and 'serious orchestra writing', and strings focus that line for me. I hate working with strings, it's the least realistic thing for me/the most work. Lacking dynamics actually sampled in favor of mod wheel 'velocity crossfade'; the latter seems easier but it isn't fun for me like that.

EWQL is a lot of money for the amount of control it offers, typically, though they get desperate a couple times a year and discount things heavily. if you LIKE that shit, I think the money move could be to wait for a ridic price on complete composter's collection.

I got used to VSL and real power so I hate everything, don't mind me. But those two things from Cine- sound really good and you can get them pretty dry, working in mixes really well here. Their prices aren't the worst, either.

see what you really believe you're lacking from the Kontakt factory library. There is a lot of ever-so-cute marketing for things today that aren't that freaking great IMO.
I used the {Kompakt Library!} EWQL Silver SO I've had for >ten yrs recently after wasting a ton of time in studio with their Cinestrings.
I ended up crafting the attack and release, and vibrato FFS, in the audio editing. If you can demo, DO.

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Try Spitfire. They have got quite a few options, from big sounding ensembles to very detailed small string sections with loads of articulations. The price range is, lets' say, professional.

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Depends on what kind of orchestral score you want to make, but LASS and a couple of the Albion libraries would be a pretty epic starting point.

Nothing that's included in Komplete comes close.

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well, whether one loves the Spitfire ways or not, one thing they do not provide is a lot of articulation, it's just barely more than what you get with the VSL Orchestra demos in Kontakt factory. I tried the Sable V2 at the studio and it was truly underwhelming. It's a supplement to other things and they are pricing it for people bringing in the lucre parsing it this way.

this is typical:

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two 'longs' which I am hard pressed to tell you the difference of; an accented 'quarter' short (I guess standing for a longer portato than the next thing); a portato or tenuto short; staccato, a rip which isn't anything to write home about and a fall which isn't either.
I have more articulation by a lot in a VSL basic library which is comparatively less expensive than these ones.
They're all about this room they cream over, and if you love that room like they do, ok then. NB: "hall trigger". I have to stick to the close mic, I have my own idea of a hall.
I like the sound of this thing a lot and it's not in many libraries. BML Low Brass, specialized, I needed two things kind of bad in it.

If you understand from divisi and who's at what desk doing what and do detailed strings writing, LASS is very well set up for that. If this is new lingo for you it's overkill by a lot.

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Hi,
Thanks for all the recommendations. I think for now I'm going to go with komplete 10 ultimate + some of the cinesamples stuff, although if anyone comes up with a tempting alternative between now and when the money comes in I'm all ears :-).
-Michael.

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jancivil wrote:this is typical:
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Not typical at all. You picked the least-featured instrument from low brass there...

Low Brass Tuba:
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Flute:
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Trumpets:
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Horns:
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Bones:
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First and foremost , what kind of computer are you running and how much RAM do you have? RAM is key for running Orchestral Kontakt libraries. You will need at least 16GB RAM if you do not want to pull your hair out when recording. Secondly , you might want to consider going with one developer's instruments from percussion to strings , brass, etc to keep your sound in the "same room" and reduce on blending libraries with reverb. There are many options out there . Try looking at Cinesamples , Spitfire Audio , 8DIO , Orchestral Tools and Vienna Symphonic Library to name a few . Are you looking for a full orchestra or just certain sections ?

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Hi,
Yes, I actually just upgraded my pc for this purpose. I now have 24 gb of ram available. As for what I'm looking for, probably the full orchestra (I don't really have any good orchestra sections yet, so...) I've looked at cinesamples, and they sound pretty darn good, and on top of that have a student discount. This makes them extremely nice for me.
Thanks,
-Michael.

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I bought the EWQL SO on sale and it is excellent. My only gripe with them is their customer service is a crapshoot. You may get a response in a few minutes or it may be weeks. That being said, the quality of the sounds are top notch.
For streaming and free music downloads visit http://kennethrobertsmusic.com/

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Hm, funny that no one mentioned Berlin Strings and Woodwinds... ;)

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Hey lilmike - welcome back.

I agree with jancivil's assessment....see first what you think you are missing after picking up K10.

To further his argument, or suggestions, I recommend picking up a copy of VSL's Ensemble Pro. It will come with a usable orchestral library, albeit limited, but more importantly, if you do as he does and now as I do, you can run this software on a slave machine opening up all sorts of possibilities for you.

Have a look here:
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/211/497/1685/1990/1680.htm

As for which library do you get....I think you will find many great libraries posted above and in your original thread. You will likely, like most of us, start with one or two and then want another and another and so on and so on....

PaulMatthew has a great idea....start with one developer and stay with them for all the instruments you want....to start. There are certain advantages to this methodology.

You will find with each instrument, or developer, you acquire, they fit a certain area in your mix. I can promise you will always feel like there is something better you are missing. Just how is goes for us software junkies. :hihi:

Take you time and learn the instruments you buy. Don't just go buying because you have 3 grand to spend....determine what you plan to use and buy accordingly. I, for example, own many string libraries and few brass. Strings are what I use in my productions so the instruments in Kontakt are fine to me if I need horns or winds.

HTH

Happy Musiking!
dsan
My DAW System:
W7, i5, x64, 8Gb Ram, Edirol FA-101

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HcDoom wrote:Hm, funny that no one mentioned Berlin Strings and Woodwinds... ;)

Aaahhhh, but you didn't read lilmike's orignal thread to see that ;)

Happy Musiking!
dsan
My DAW System:
W7, i5, x64, 8Gb Ram, Edirol FA-101

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