How does Miroslav compare to EWSO Gold ?

[nexussynth]

Threads like this are common, particularily with these orchestral libs. "Which is better: **** or ----"

I've 'participated' in far to many of those!



For an actual comparison I'll say there IS no comparing anymore.

Each library brings something different to the table. VSL has a certain character and realism. EWQLSO has it's own too and this Philharmonik will also.

So just from my experience with the original Vitous library and with QLSO Gold, I'll tell you that Gold's strings sound more agressive and hard and I want that sometimes. There are times I want the Vitous strings because they are smoother.

I wanted a Vaughn Williams strings sound the other day and could not get it with Gold no matter what I did.

I'm sure that there will be a case where I will want very agressive brass with Philharmonik and will have to use Gold to get it. As squids has said several times lately, it's about choices and the distinctive qualities of each library.

And thats the bottom line. I have always liked this library but now it is mucho expanded and enhanced and just having it in a plugin makes me want it all over again.

And there is a definite misconception about the 'age' of this library as if that makes it inferior. Thats b.s. really. The equipment to make stunning recordings of orchestras exisited 20 years ago. I have many recordings of classical works that are impeccable sounding from the mid eighties and even earlier.

This library is a steal actually, especially at that crossgrade price. whew!

I paid almost this much for my old Edirol HQO three years ago. This is so far beyond that it's in another universe.

That choir sounds beautiful to me (and thats the old demo!) I think the piano will be good for those times when you want piano in the back of the orchestra. For concerti you can go to your supergiga pianos.

I have not heard the organ but i'm sure it will mesh with the orchestra nicely.

As for the demos, the Bach piece just blew me away. I'm sure people will be turning out some terrific demos later on.

Anyone who owns Gold and can possibly afford Philharmonik should NOT let themselves down and just buy it.

It really is that good. I hear so much better stuff than my old Vitous library and it is still excellent.

[Yossarian]

Anyone who owns Gold and can possibly afford Philharmonik should NOT let themselves down and just buy it.

Hi nexussynth,

I'm a Gold owner who's seriously looking at Miroslav. Can you tell us something about how well these two libraries blend? Any problems with the ambience?

Cheers,

/Yoss

[brotherone]

I just wanted to ask you something about the ST2-related products - as you would know this very well.

If you want to put together a live setup using items like SS2 and Philharmonik and ST2 extenstively what setup do you use?

I've never been game to go on the road in the past - especially as the only thing I like to do in performance is sing. Means I have to find a number of people to do the rest.

But I still toy with the idea of performing live and I'm imagining those 3 IK/SR products getting a real work out so I wouldn't mind reading about what you use and how effective it is, what latency problems you've found --- all that sort of thing.

It's a clear invitation for a "Squids Post" too.

Caleb

Yes, this would be very good to know!!!
USB, firewire or pcmcia soundcard?
More RAM or faster processors?
Please let us know!!!

Best regards

[Joseph Burrell]

Caleb, the Miroslav demo I witnessed at Summer NAMM consisted of a keyboard and a laptop. And it was wild. If you want to use Mod Wheel for expression, that's included, or if you'd rather use the Expression pedal, that's there too. Then you have velocity for attack, etc. So I don't see an issue with playing live for the Philharmonik at any rate. This is only based off info posted at NorthernSounds.

The guitar/drum demos at NAMM featured live guitars through amplitude and a guy playing the drums in on the keyboard and it was freaking awesome to behold.

[Markleford]

The guitar/drum demos at NAMM featured live guitars through amplitude and a guy playing the drums in on the keyboard and it was freaking awesome to behold.

And Victor Wooten stopped by to give the rig a spin!

- m

[nexussynth]

Anyone who owns Gold and can possibly afford Philharmonik should NOT let themselves down and just buy it.

Hi nexussynth,

I'm a Gold owner who's seriously looking at Miroslav. Can you tell us something about how well these two libraries blend? Any problems with the ambience?

Cheers,

/Yoss

Well I've been vocal about this topic before on NS forums and elsewhere.

I think having some hall ambience built-in is what helps make orchestral instruments come alive. Unless you just compose lite chamber music, you'll appreciate hearing the way orchestral instruments were mean't to be heard..in large concert halls

But the Vitous samples I have aren't as ambient as EWQLSO Gold, so they will be very nice for chamber music.

I have been saying even before Philharmonik, that the Vitous library goes quite nicely with Gold, much much better than dry libraries like GPO or especially VSL. To my way of thinking (hearing?) GPO and VSL are a great match and Gold and Miro are for opposite reasons. Both approaches have their fans and detractors. (guess which camp I'm in? ).

That's not to say you can't mix the two (you can) but it is alot more work to get them to sound as if they are in the same hall with Gold.

Gold has release trails. Miroslav does not. The CSR reverb is so good sounding you will be able to get a match with Gold's release ambience.

I have been using a few instruments from the Vitous that I made for Kontakt and found the old Waves Rverb could be made into a nice reverb for use with Gold.

CSR can only be better! (thanks to squids for including it. It will add to the value in a very big way).

I somtimes eq the sounds I want to mix with Gold from Vitous but really you won't have to.

People have said that Philharmonik doesn't have all the dynamic layers that Gold has. Check the Gold patches in Kontakt. Many of the woods don't and other sounds. This will not hurt Philharmonik with proper programming. Philhamonik has them where they would benefit most I understand.

It all depends on the samples themselves and the nature of the Miroslav samples are nice so don't worry.

Another thing is what people remember about the original Vitous library (I got it when the ads first appeared in early '94) They remember the 'slow' (read expressive ) attacks on the strings and most brass. The english horn and a few other instruments with tuning problems, etc.

A couple years after it debuted, Miroslav Vitous released the version 2 set which fixed these problems.

S there is no need to think it can't do fast music. The expressive swells were great imo and I would compose with them instead of against them.

Anyway, those too were tamed down in version 2.

This new version with the ST2.1 engine (ST3?)and special features fix very nearly all the problems and makes it sound so musical (it is still the most musical sounding even by today's standards).

Bottom line: I can't think of a library which matches GOLD better than the Philharmonik. Buy it!

Hope that answers your questions.

[Yossarian]

Bottom line: I can't think of a library which matches GOLD better than the Philharmonik. Buy it!

Hope that answers your questions.

That answers my questions very nicely, thanks!

I have another one for you (or anyone else who would care to answer). Would it be possible to record e.g. a Gold snare hit and use that in a convolution reverb to put another sample set "in the same room"?

/Yoss

[dougsyo]

I think having some hall ambience built-in is what helps make orchestral instruments come alive. Unless you just compose lite chamber music, you'll appreciate hearing the way orchestral instruments were mean't to be heard..in large concert halls
...
I have been saying even before Philharmonik, that the Vitous library goes quite nicely with Gold, much much better than dry libraries like GPO or especially VSL. To my way of thinking (hearing?) GPO and VSL are a great match and Gold and Miro are for opposite reasons. Both approaches have their fans and detractors. (guess which camp I'm in? ).

OK, I have GPO (and also Symphonic Strings for ST2, Dimension, other sample libraries, and a few soundfonts whose origin I question). For the most part I just want an orchestral instrument for color or a specific purpose, but I'm not writing orchestral or chamber music. I'm not looking for hall ambience. In this setting, would Philharmonik be overkill?

Doug

[Frunobulax]

OK, I have GPO (and also Symphonic Strings for ST2, Dimension, other sample libraries, and a few soundfonts whose origin I question). For the most part I just want an orchestral instrument for color or a specific purpose, but I'm not writing orchestral or chamber music. I'm not looking for hall ambience. In this setting, would Philharmonik be overkill?

This may be a question that only you can answer. How satisfied are you with the orchestral sounds in the things you have?

I also have GPO, Symphony Strings, Dimension, and some other things. I don't do a lot of straight orchestral music, although I do some (albeit rather crudely to date). But like you, for the most part I generally mix orchestral textures into other styles of music.

Yet I find myself lusting after more and better orchestral sounds, and I like the real time playing possibilities with Philharmonik, so I decided to take the plunge. Of course part of the equation is disposable income and whether there are other potential purchases that are higher priority for you.

That's my take. Perhaps nexussynth or someone else can offer a different perspective.

[Kim Lajoie]

I have another one for you (or anyone else who would care to answer). Would it be possible to record e.g. a Gold snare hit and use that in a convolution reverb to put another sample set "in the same room"?

You can try it. A problem might be that a snare drum only excites the hall on a limited frequency band (mainly upper mids), so the reverb from such a snare may have very weak lower frequencies. That might not be a problem though, because sometimes too much low can make a reverb sound muddy. Try it out, let us know how well it works.

-Kim.

[Kim Lajoie]

OK, I have GPO (and also Symphonic Strings for ST2, Dimension, other sample libraries, and a few soundfonts whose origin I question). For the most part I just want an orchestral instrument for color or a specific purpose, but I'm not writing orchestral or chamber music. I'm not looking for hall ambience. In this setting, would Philharmonik be overkill?

Doug

It sounds to me like you'll really enjoy working with Philharmonik. One of its greatest strengths is the expression and emotion captured in the samples. Miroslav specifically aimed to capture the emotional and suggestive qualities of the orchestra.

If you're looking for a sample library to add orchestral colour and depth to your (non-orchestral) music, then I think you'll get a lot out of Philharmonik.

Is it overkill? I don't think so. Philharmonik will be excellent for adding orchestral qualities to typically non-orchestral music.

-Kim.

[nexussynth]

Bottom line: I can't think of a library which matches GOLD better than the Philharmonik. Buy it!

Hope that answers your questions.

That answers my questions very nicely, thanks!

I have another one for you (or anyone else who would care to answer). Would it be possible to record e.g. a Gold snare hit and use that in a convolution reverb to put another sample set "in the same room"?

/Yoss

It's been tried. Not with much success I'm afraid. You should just get the CSR reverb full version and tweak that until you get a good match.

Should be entirely possible to get a nice animate tail like Gold's Benaroya Hall.

[nexussynth]

I think having some hall ambience built-in is what helps make orchestral instruments come alive. Unless you just compose lite chamber music, you'll appreciate hearing the way orchestral instruments were mean't to be heard..in large concert halls
...
I have been saying even before Philharmonik, that the Vitous library goes quite nicely with Gold, much much better than dry libraries like GPO or especially VSL. To my way of thinking (hearing?) GPO and VSL are a great match and Gold and Miro are for opposite reasons. Both approaches have their fans and detractors. (guess which camp I'm in? ).

OK, I have GPO (and also Symphonic Strings for ST2, Dimension, other sample libraries, and a few soundfonts whose origin I question). For the most part I just want an orchestral instrument for color or a specific purpose, but I'm not writing orchestral or chamber music. I'm not looking for hall ambience. In this setting, would Philharmonik be overkill?

Doug

I don't think so.

I mean, Philharmonik is definetly a lib you can grow into.

You may eventually find yourself composing music you would never have considered doing before. It might turn out to be very rewarding for you!