Which orchestral/other instruments plugin to get for movie soundtrack

[mikek1357]

Hi Folks,

Man, what an abundance of choices in instrument plugins.

I'm looking for an orchestral plugin for making movie score/soundtrack type of music.

Since I'm new to this and not sure if I'm actually good at it, I don't want to break the bank. Let's say 200-300 dollars is a max. I'm a hobbyist and won't use it commercially. Unless I get as good as Hans Zimmer

First I want to get into

Plugins on the list:

- Garritan GPO4/IO
- EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Silver
- EWQL Goliath
- MOTU Symphonic Instrument
- VSL Special Edition Volume 1

Any other suggestions are welcome. As for as sounds go, I've heard music made with EWQL SO Platinum that sound terrible and Garritan GPO4 that sound great.

[V0RT3X]

https://www.projectsam.com/Products/Ess ... eries/1406

It's $349.00 but it's a super sounding library.

Blurb from the site below.

" ProjectSAM has carefully selected the essentials from each of their products, including the highly praised Symphobia series, True Strike series and Orchestral Brass Classic, and bundled them into one effective, incredibly versatile package.
Covering full orchestra, string, brass and woodwind ensembles, classical and world percussion, Orchestral Essentials gives you the right ammo to start scoring for film, games or pop with the acclaimed cinematic SAM sound. For each of the orchestral sections, an essential list of articulations is available, as well as one expressive legato instrument and an inspiring set of clusters, textures and effects. Apart from these orchestral elements, you will also find a concert harp, church organ, ProjectSAM's renowned Dystopia sound design, and, exclusive to Orchestral Essentials, an enchanting grand piano and harpsichord.

All samples have been reprogrammed for the newly designed and intuitive Orchestral Essentials interface. All Multis are completely new and, because of the inclusion of piano, harpsichord and harp, are more inspiring than ever before. This makes Orchestral Essentials a fantastic library for first-time SAM users and existing SAM owners alike.

Orchestral Essentials follows ProjectSAM's ensemble recording philosophy. Strings, brass and woodwinds were sampled as sections, as nothing beats the authentic blend of orchestral instruments in a concert hall. ProjectSAM captures this magic in various orchestrations; for example, imagine the noble sound of horns and trombones performing together naturally."

You could save yourself a lot of trouble and just stick to Project Sam & Heavyocity stuff for doing cinema style stuff. They are both top notch sample library developers!

[arkmabat]

The Wavestation!

[V0RT3X]

The Wavestation!

Totally! especially if you want to make a nice cheesy sounding 80s soundtrack

[mikek1357]

Is it right Project Sam works with patterns/loops?

I've also looked at Sonokinetic plugins, anyone who has any experience with one of their plugins?

[arkmabat]

Also, Miroslav is a good, cheap orchestra. Should be a used listing here for a copy $50 to $70.

[arkmabat]

It's bundled here with other freebies:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 3&t=406089

[arkmabat]

Is it right Project Sam works with patterns/loops?

I've also looked at Sonokinetic plugins, anyone who has any experience with one of their plugins?

I don't have either but I'm familiar. What do you mean by "work with patterns/loops" ?
Compatible with or capable of being?

[Tonberry]

Is it right Project Sam works with patterns/loops?

You can make it work with anything, but basically it works by making sounds that you order it to make. Maybe they have some patches with recorded longer fx parts but given that it's the basic package, I doubt it.

It's probably a great recommendation, Project Sam libraries have a really stunning sound, I doubt there is anything sub $400 on the market that comes close to it sonically. Many folks here consider Symphobia (of which some patches you have in that package) to be the best sounding string section VI on the market.

I've also looked at Sonokinetic plugins, anyone who has any experience with one of their plugins?

I had an opportunity to play with Sonokinetic Da Capo (which is an all-round budget package, just what you're looking for) but wouldn't recommend it.

It sound very nice and even has 4 (I think) microphone positions (probably not a common feature in budget products), but It's extremely taxing on the system because it loads the whole section with all available articulations. Even if you want to use 1 articulation of 2 instruments from that section, you have to load the whole damn thing.

Guys at Sonokinetic know that it may be an issue for some and have created "light" patches that have their limitations but even then everything takes 2-3gb of ram and the flexibility is close to zero because you have to add more instances if you want to have any diversity inside a section. And each new instance is a big fat pig

Maybe I didn't know about some script that this library has that lets it somehow bypass this limitation, but even then having to load everything every time is a drag.

I'd definitely look at that Project Sam package though, it seems like a great starting point.

Good luck with your music!

[dsan@mail.com]

The trick to using large Kontakt libraries is to use the "Purge" function.

This will release from RAM those samples not needed in your production.

Of course you will need enough RAM to load the entire library, when these libraries load in full on start, but then purge all samples afterwards. This basically unloads the samples and then reloads those you need in the production as you play it. One time through and the samples you need are in RAM - those you don't, gone.

Obviously this function is not great for live performance but for DAW work it is fantastic.

Sonokinetic produces some wonderful libraries, IMHO. Da Capo is an ensemble library so you will need to program notes, or play it.
Their other libraries (Cappricio, Minimal, Tutti,Grosso, Vivace) are phrases with the ability to play in key. There are tons of phrases in these libraries. You will find your favorites within and end up using them too often - if that's possible

It is my opinion that each and every library out there has a place in your arsenal. When it comes to these types of libraries you will find one insufficient and want the next. At least that's how it is for me

Cheers!
dsan

[PWOfficial]

I'm a professional orchestral percussionist, and I personally think Native Instruments Damage is fantastic if you're going for that epic Zimmer style cinematic percussive impacts, look into it bro

[mikek1357]

Thanks for all advice!

It'll be either Orchestral Essentials or Cinesymphony Lite. Both seem very capable from a beginner's standpoint.

Anyone with experience on the latter?

[simon.a.billington]

A big part of that sound isn't unjust how "big" those sample libraries are, but its in the arrangement and articulations and the way the instruments can be used to compliment each other.

[Aryaroman]

Those are all good suggestions. I suggest the ProjectSam libraries for a starter, though those are used quite a lot in soundtracks nowadays. I compiled a list of all available complete orchestral libraries like ProjectSam and Da Capo, you can find it in the sampling forum here on KVR. For electronic I suggest Zebra or Omnisphere. Hans Zimmer uses Zebra, but personally I have tried Zebra and it had a lovely smooth and warm sound but I couldn't find myself digging into it. I own Omnisphere and it has however improved my work tremendously. It really is a great synthesizer/multi-tool to have in addition to sample libraries and acoustic stuff. Especially great for soundtrack and ambient work.

[neverenoughfunk]

HEAVYOCITY!!!