KVR Audio

Edge of Ages · Post by **Edge of Ages** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:56 pm

I'm a small music producer. Right now, I do somewhat orchestral music and I think my music is sounding like videogame soundtrack music. I made a song called "A New Dawn" and I think it sounds like an RPG game track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTt5tesAaqE But truthfully I dream of doing action packed trailer music. I'm working on a project in that genre right now... But it's not working very well because I use Mixcraft 6 and the instruments that come with Mixcraft 6 are alright.. But not even close to great. I want to upgrade to FL someday but right now I am comfortable with the program so I just want some better instruments. I want a VST for Strings... I want a VST for choir (Chants included).. And I want (if there is such a thing) a VST for general orchestral instruments. (Like brass, winds, and percussion) Please leave me suggestions. If you are willing to spend the extra time typing, I would like lists of the higher priced versions of what I want and the lower priced versions of what I want.
Thanks

-Edge of Ages

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:01 pm

might want to look at Kirk Hunter libraries, they're having a group buy right now.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5654593

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:11 pm

Miroslav Philharmonik - $150 is a pretty good deal and will cover a lot of those bases.

For free, there is: http://sso.mattiaswestlund.net - Open Source (Vocals, Strings, etc. )

Cimbasso · Post by **Cimbasso** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:23 pm

http://www.scorecastonline.com/2013/11/ ... ed-today1/

Check this out.

BassMasterK · Post by **BassMasterK** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 3:12 am

EWQL Symphonic Orchestra is great.

jas · Post by **jas** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 3:47 am

You might want to join this forum as it's replete with info right up that alley:

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/index.p ... 0f3002a01a

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 6:15 pm

I own most posted libraries and find Vienna Symphonic Library to be the best, hands down.

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 7:02 pm

PatchAdamz wrote:I own most posted libraries and find Vienna Symphonic Library to be the best, hands down.

And probably the most expensive.

electro · Post by **electro** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 7:27 pm

http://wallanderinstruments.com/

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:06 pm

Miroslav is really great. I also enjoy the sounds of Halion Sonic 2 which really cover a lot more ground than just orchestral for just a little more money.

Kontakt's library is pretty good, but there are tons of great add-ons even if you only go with Native Instruments alone- Action Strikes, Action Strings, Session Strings, Evolve and Mutations, etc. all offer great orchestral elements.

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:04 pm

BBFG# wrote:
PatchAdamz wrote:I own most posted libraries and find Vienna Symphonic Library to be the best, hands down.
And probably the most expensive.

True, they are expensive and have somewhat of a learning curve.

planetearth · Post by **planetearth** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:26 pm

PatchAdamz wrote:
BBFG# wrote:
PatchAdamz wrote:I own most posted libraries and find Vienna Symphonic Library to be the best, hands down.
And probably the most expensive.

True, they are expensive and have somewhat of a learning curve.

They may be both, but they also have the most consistent recordings of the instruments and the most articulations of the instruments, do they not?

Miroslav and EWQL are good, and I bought them both in the hopes of doing orchestral music. What I soon found was that neither had all the articulations for the strings I wanted, let alone some of the more popular articulations for the woodwinds. Also, Miroslav's instruments aren't as consistent as you play different articulations. It sounds as if the instruments were recorded at different times. A new version of Miroslav may be coming with the new version of SampleTank...any year now.

There are free libraries, more or less cobbled together from free samples, but the sounds of the instruments will vary greatly, and you'll be limited in number and type of the articulations you get. Still, they may be good for "filling in" or layering with some of the sounds you get in commercial libraries.

EWQL and Heavyocity offer many more sample libraries geared toward game music producers, and they're not as expensive as Vienna. If you're going more for excitement instead of realism, they might be good places to start. But watch for EWQL's "buy-one, get-one offer", if you can. That could save you a lot of money.

Steve

Cimbasso · Post by **Cimbasso** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 10:42 pm

Heavyocity don't do orchestral libraries, they are more focused on "hybrid" part of the media music (synths and percussion).

VSL is great, but is expensive and it takes a lot, lot time and skill to make it sound "right". Also, you'll probably want to get MIR Pro as well to make the most of it (because it recorded completely dry).

Miroslav Philharmonik is ok, but it's dated and not in the same league as any of the modern libraries.

If you want great sound out of the box with as little effort as possible, focus on libraries from Spitfire Audio, Project SAM, CineSamples and East West (although their engine, PLAY, is a nightmare + you have to have a really powerful system to use them properly - especially Hollywood Strings).

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 11:32 pm

Cimbasso wrote:Heavyocity don't do orchestral libraries, they are more focused on "hybrid" part of the media music (synths and percussion).

VSL is great, but is expensive and it takes a lot, lot time and skill to make it sound "right". Also, you'll probably want to get MIR Pro as well to make the most of it (because it recorded completely dry).

Miroslav Philharmonik is ok, but it's dated and not in the same league as any of the modern libraries.

If you want great sound out of the box with as little effort as possible, focus on libraries from Spitfire Audio, Project SAM, CineSamples and East West (although their engine, PLAY, is a nightmare + you have to have a really powerful system to use them properly - especially Hollywood Strings).

Spitfire is nice also, not as flexible as VSL but has some character of its own.
Miroslav Philharmonik can occasionally be purchased very inexpensively when they have sales.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 12:14 am

Cimbasso wrote:Heavyocity don't do orchestral libraries, they are more focused on "hybrid" part of the media music (synths and percussion).

VSL is great, but is expensive and it takes a lot, lot time and skill to make it sound "right". Also, you'll probably want to get MIR Pro as well to make the most of it (because it recorded completely dry).

Miroslav Philharmonik is ok, but it's dated and not in the same league as any of the modern libraries.

If you want great sound out of the box with as little effort as possible, focus on libraries from Spitfire Audio, Project SAM, CineSamples and East West (although their engine, PLAY, is a nightmare + you have to have a really powerful system to use them properly - especially Hollywood Strings).

MIR Pro costs considerably more than Vienna Suite, which includes Hybrid Reverb which is fantastic, convolutions and algo tails hybrid.

I can't gauge how far someone wants to go by a couple of posts, 'I want to do orchestral music', but orchestral music involves quite some knowledge and achievement in the real world; so your lack of interest and depth is going to show. So it's a matter of your target audience: will they notice? Trailers, well here is some competition.

there are things which can make music really huge by such as Soundiron Venus, and their Mars, and Voice of Rapture: Soprano. the latter has a lot of metal type of effects additionally.

Trailer writing also likes the gigantic percussion, so 'Epic Toms', 'Cinetoms', Drums of War II; and there are a couple new things out now, 'thunder' this and that. But the big sound represents the big bucks.

I don't have issues with Play except it loads slow. I don't like the way they organize and compared with VSL which I am used to, their articulations and particularly the handling of them leaves a lot to be desired, and I don't front for them as I don't like them. Some of their stuff sounds great to me, some sounds crap. I'm not ever hearing crap from VSL. Yeah, if you're going symphonic expect to have some RAM in your box in a big way and a modernish CPU. I don't know how EWQL Play exploits cores (I don't expect much frankly) but Vienna Ensemble Pro does the thing.

If someone is truly interested in orchestral writing, VSL has an interface that is more conducive to that kind of work than Kontakt, and Play is blown out of the water. That said, Berlin Woodwinds I took a real close look at and that's happening, and they have some features VSL has not.

Which VST Plugins Should I Buy For Orchestral Music