How does it compare to the others??

BTW, the Prosonus Orchestral Collection is what I'm talking about.

What's to argue about? It's old, very old. I seem to remember it being out when I first starting my hardware days back in 1995. Certainly not something I'd pay $299 for unless I REALLY needed something specific out of it, or had a budget where I buy everything just to give me more material.

Devon

For the lazy, here's the full sample list. Why someone would buy this over Silver or GPO if they were getting start is beyond me.

String Orchestra:
20 Instruments
Forte, Piano
Sustained
Marcato
Pizzicato

String Orchestra FX:
9 Instruments
Pizz
Gliss
Tremolo

Violin Section:
24 Instruments
Forte, Piano, Mute
8 Instruments
Marcato
8 Instruments
Pizzicato
12 Instruments
Col Legno, Harm, Runs

Viola Section:
24 Instruments
8 Instruments
Pizzicato
Viola Section Snapped Pizzicato

Cello Section:
24 Instruments
Forte, Piano, Mute
8 Instruments
Marcato
8 Instruments
Pizzicato
Cello Section Effects
12 Instruments
Snap Pizzicato, Col Legno

Bass Section:
20 Instruments
Forte, Piano
4 Instruments
Pizzicato

Solo Violin:
Sustain, Pizzicato, Dry, Room

Solo Viola:
Sustain, Pizzicato, Dry, Room

Solo Cello:
Sustain, Pizzicato, Dry, Room

Solo Bass:
Sustain, Pizzicato, Dry, Room

Large Brass Ensemble Sustained - 10 Instruments
Large Brass Ensemble Short - 12 Instruments
Large Brass Ensemble Effects - 6 Instruments
Brass Orchestra - 4 Instruments

Trumpet:
Sustain, Mutes, Swells, Stacato

Piccolo Trumpet:
Sustain, Mutes, Trills, Stacato

Flugel Horn:
Sustain, Swells

French Horn:
Sustain, Mutes, Swells, Stop

Trombone:
Sustain, Mutes, Swells, Wah

Bass Trombone:
Sustained

Tuba:
Sustain, Elephant, Stacato, Slap

Flute:
Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo

Clarinet:
Calrinet, Bass Clarinet

Oboe:
Oboe, D'Amore, Bass Oboe

English Horn:
Sustained

Bassoon:

Harp Single Notes
Harp Major Chord Gliss Up & Down
Harp Diminished Chord Gliss Up & Down
Harp Whole Tone Gliss Up & Down

Timpani:
Hit, Roll, Crescendo Roll

Crash Cymbals:
Crash, Choke, Crescendo

Orchestral Snare Drum:
Hits, Rolls, Dead

Gong:
Large Gong, Small Gong

Tubular Bells:
Hard, Soft, Metal Mallets

Celesta
Glockenspiel
Marimba
Xylophone
Antique Cymbals
Bowed Cymbals
Chinese Cymbals
Marktree
Temple Block
Belltree
Ratchet
Tambourine
Misc. Percussion


Devon

It seems a strange decision to package up the Prosonus Collection in this way (i.e. as a plugin), given it's age, and that the basic raw material is vastly inferior to it's direct competitors GPO & QLSO Silver et al.

No innovative programming, no meticulous sound engineering - just old, old, samples shoved into a rompler.... Hard to see the point, apart from trying to squeeze a little more cash out of an old investment....

Oh well, not much of an argument.

Considering the content it's certainly competent. It's that whole discussion about sound quality. I mentioned enjoying the Siedlaczek Orchestra Collection which is old and not anywhere as versitile. It was also way cheaper to get (a free EMU ROM) than GPO or other orchestral sets.

I also have the old EMU Proteus 2 sample set. It sucks, right? It's almost 15 years old in Proteus form, let alone the actual sample library. And listening to a Proteus 2 you'd convince me over my gritting teeth that it was closer sounding to a church organ than a orchestral session, but I have it in the UltraProteus and to be blunt, a lot of samples I loathed in the old EMUs came to life with the z-plane filters. If you can't breath life into it you aren't trying very hard. Especially with the UltraProteus as there are some very specific filters perfect for orchestral sounds out of the 288. Between it and Siedlaczek I can create decent orchestrations, decent meaning not embarassing to listen to.

Would I be using GPO if it was at my disposal? In a heartbeat. I'm considering selling a guitar to buy GPO and try and listen to East/West Silver.

Many times, and Devon, you strike me as a chap that's familiar with this principle, you need to pay more attention to technique of the sampled isntrument before keyboard technique. Perhaps it's because I've never had use except a brief time of high definition orchestral libraries but I've always written and played with the intent of the composition. Most people get the cues and gestures implied.

I do this with synth sounds in classical idioms adn traditional electronic music, or with rock using guitars and bass, etc. Even with high quality samples I don't want to hear one more over quantized, played back from notation recording versus a bunch of 4 OP FM synths doing the same but with feeling.

chagzuki wrote:

Oh well, not much of an argument.

Bingo.

Devon

Not only does the Prosonus Orchestral Collection use older samples than GPO and other competition, I hear that the Prosonus Orchestral Collection was recorded using older instruments. Who wants to listen to an old violin? And they also used old microphones to when recording older musicians in an old concert hall rather than a new studio. What can they be thinking?

By the way, does anyone know of a DAW that will automatically replace tracks when new VSTi’s and samples hit the market? Some of my songs still use last year’s sounds and that really sucks.

No way, man! It can't be any good unless it's old! Old instruments, old mics, old preamps, old ears, old chairs, old fingers, old food, old software. Old rulez!

AnotherBob wrote:

Not only does the Prosonus Orchestral Collection use older samples than GPO and other competition, I hear that the Prosonus Orchestral Collection was recorded using older instruments. Who wants to listen to an old violin? And they also used old microphones to when recording older musicians in an old concert hall rather than a new studio. What can they be thinking? By the way, does anyone know of a DAW that will automatically replace tracks when new VSTi’s and samples hit the market? Some of my songs still use last year’s sounds and that really sucks.

Oh I know! Who needs sample sets for extremely dynamic instruments that are larger than 16 megs!? Who needs more than sustain for an articulation either? I wonder if it's even more than 650 megs in size total. Anyone know?

Devon

Why would anyone buy an orchestra sample set. Do like others here have suggested in the past. If you want to use an instrument in your song, learn how to play that instrument. Really. How long should it take to learn how to play an orchestra? 6 months at most? Just go buy an orchestra and learn to play it yourself.

No, samples are better. Sure, when they're young, an orchestra looks cute. But they grow older, start to smell, loose hair, etc. I've seen many neglected orchestra's in peoples backyards. Not a pretty sight I can tell you.

amoebe wrote:

... I've seen many neglected orchestra's in peoples backyards. Not a pretty sight I can tell you.

amoebe wrote:

No, samples are better. Sure, when they're young, an orchestra looks cute. But they grow older, start to smell, loose hair, etc. I've seen many neglected orchestra's in peoples backyards. Not a pretty sight I can tell you.

Indeed. Seeing a discarded tuba section sitting on cinder blocks just makes a musician cry.

Doug