Suggest me an orchestra please

[Jesse Gorter]

Hi guys,

I was thinking about projectsam essention orchestra. However, I am not sure if I want everything to sound Hollywood. I just like everything to sound real good ( )

I would like to write music like the music for Little Big Adventure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBD1y7BXflk
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX2sS1wCSsQ

What do you guys think? Is projectsam to bombastic to write something like this? Or is this music also 'Hollywood'??

I was also considering Albion ONE. But as far as I can see it doesn't have glockenspiel, piano and harp.
If I fork out that kind of money, I like to be sure I got almost everything in the package.

[blortblort]

not sure if it would be as easy for you to "tailor" your sound with it, but- for the money, its well worth it for you to look at Solid State Symphony
it really is a brilliant tool set.

[Sequent]

Solid State Symphony is excellent! However, I am not 100% sure that is what the original poster is really looking for. SSS uses samples of an analog synth to approximate the sounds and I believe what they are looking for is realistic samples.

For a sampled orchestra, you have many choices these days, also depending on your budget. Project Sam Orchestral Essentials is a good place to start and does not necessarily have to sound bombastic. If you were to get both volumes that puts you in the same price range as Lumina, so you may want to look at that as well.

Albion1 is great. You can always get additional libraries to supplement whatever instruments you need... really... once you get deeply into this you will probably wind up getting multiple libraries anyway.

[lingyai]

Solid State Symphony is excellent! However, I am not 100% sure that is what the original poster is really looking for. ...

Albion1 is great. You can always get additional libraries to supplement whatever instruments you need... really... once you get deeply into this you will probably wind up getting multiple libraries anyway.

I have the old Albion I (note the roman numeral) and yeah, sonically it's lovely, and it, like its successor, has an ostinatum feature -- think of it like an orchestral arp or step sequencer -- which the OP should definitely google because it animates a performance in way similar to what I heard in the OP's first linked video. Very cool -- it makes it easy make a nice chord progression come to life, without having to play or program every little thing. Great idea generator too.

However -- well, this is true of my old Albion I, maybe those who have Albion 1 can say whether this is still the case --

a) There aren't individual instruments; you don't get solo instruments, but rather pre-mixed sections. Not sure that's the way to go if the OP really wants to learn orcehstration in a deep way.

b) the reverb of the (lovely ) space where the samples were recorded is baked in. In some mixes I've found them unusuable for this reason, as they stick out like a sore thumb. I don't always feel like writing the rest of the track around Albion's reverb, it's letting the tail wag the dog.

Two sample libraries which are not best-in-class, but affordable and certainly more than just OK for someone who wants to learn orchestration in detail (i.e. at the instrument level) are Kirk Hunter's Diamond Orchestra and this

http://www.bestservice.de/en/complete_o ... ction.html

UVI has a nonexpensive orchestral library which has a pretty complete patch list, although after listening to a lot of demos for it, I decided against it.

The old Miroslav for SampleTank has been around forever for a reason, and so might also be worth checking out -- although the OP should take care -- I've heard fans complain a lot about the new Miroslav.

VSL libraries are great, and recorded dry, but not all that cheap, and deep deep deep -- hell of a learning curve I find. Plus -- pet peeve -- if you lose or damage the e-licenser dongle, VSL will not just make you buy a new dongle -- you lose all your libraries. Astounding but true.

One last thing for the OP to think about -- it probably is a good idea to be looking for something comprehensive, rather than cherry picking, say, strings from one developer, brass from another etc because, as I have found, this can lead to post-spending spree indigestion (guess that's why they call it GAS?) when you realize they do not always blend together.

[FLWrd]

Use the search function. There's a thread that was active until last week or so, and then there are multiple threads before that.

[DSmolken]

This recent thread from instruments had some recomemdations.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 1&t=453038

Another recent thread there had recommendations for VSL Special Edition 1 and either the cheaper EastWest stuff or Composer Cloud subscription. Garritan is supposed to release GPO 5 this month, that might be worth waiting for and considering.

Miroslav Philharmonik 2 is an odd one - like an old-school rompler, but very huge and full of very nice sounds.

[Jesse Gorter]

Thanks guys. I wonder what sound modules the guy used for LBA ( see video ). I am now considering project sam and diamond orchestra. But I hope the woodwinds are good.