Two days with the Miroslav Philharmonik...

[Joseph Burrell]

Two days with Miroslav...

Now that I've been given the okay to post my thoughts about Miro, I will share with you all my opinion of this set so far.

First off, I will say that this is perhaps the most comprehensive orchestral library under 1,000 dollars. Its amazing the amount of instruments and articulations covered in this collection. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of articulations provided. Some products costing quite a bit more don't have some of these sounds in the box. Some of the instruments included you expect to find, others you do not. Like the classical guitar, the flugelhorn, a lot of the miscellanious percussion. And all of these unexpected instruments are just as wonderfully sampled as the orchestral staples.

There's ample programming here. You have multiple versions of each instrument with each having some alternate control over the timbre/volume of the instrument. Some patches made for use with the stretch engine (where applicable) for lengthening or shortening the samples to taste. You also have patches that apply 'dark' or 'bright' EQ with the Mod Wheel.

The combi's included are very inclusive and diverse. Some allow you to velocity switch between instrument articulations, some are of the 'instant orchestra' variety, some merge various instruments together for great effects-type sounds, while others are multi's that load various intrument articulations into seperate channels for when you're really going at it.

I want to state this here (I know its repeated several times throughout my mini-review) since its very important. This library is especially lyrical and expressive. I can't say it enough because of how important it is. The sound is never clinical. This product is in another league here. There are some downsides to this I guess, but its so refreshing to play a library that has a soul. It has a sound its own. I don't know if its the players that were sampled, the equipment, or Miroslav's direction, but these sounds are timeless.

I'll break the rest of this down into sections:

The brass...

The ensemble and solo brass covers most everything you could possibly need. The french horn patches can be lyrical or explosive. The trombones can be soft or growlish. The trumpets regal. Never is the sound clinical. The staccatos are as sharp and tight as I'd expect them to be. The solo brass is phenomenal. The solo french horn is perhaps the most beautiful sampled french horn I've ever used. The bass trombone is absolutely fierce when you need it to be. I can uses for the trumpet broader than just in an orchestral context, its that versatile. The solo flugelhorn, while an unexpected addition, is just as useful and carefully programmed as the rest of the brass. The FF layers of the brass will find themselves into many 'hollywood' type works.

The strings...

You have the 3 violin section sizes to choose from here (11, 23, and 4.) This allows you to orchestrate anything from large orchestra to chamber pieces. Each contains multiple articulations. I'm very fond of the 4 violin patches since I've always wanted some chamber sized samples. Again here, the sustained patches are lyrical and expressive and the staccato patches are tight and snappy. I love the staccato double bass ensemble patches here. They just floored me when I heard them. This is the one library that does them right in my opinion. In the others I've encounted its either not crunchy enough or its too muddy to use in fast passages. Not here. The violas are some of the most beautiful I've come across. It can't be repeated too often that the sampling method used by Miroslav when creating the source samples was genius and resulted in highly expressive patches. I will also take a moment to fawn over the solo strings. The bass pizzicato will put a smile on your face (if you're anything like myself) and the solo violin and viola will bring a tear to your eye. They are just so expressive and lyrical. The vibrato patches are unmatched in their quality. There are some very useful performance patches included with the solos as well. These will come in very handy when doing realistic mockups.

The woodwinds...

Contained here is some of the most wonderfully sampled woodwinds. You have ensembles for the flute, oboe, bassoon, and clarinet. Solo flute, piccolo, oboe, english horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, and contrabassoon. The solo flute is just gorgeous as is the oboe. I love the deep tones of the bassoon and contrabasson. The staccato bassoon patches had me dying. The flutter-tounged samples are exquisitely done. The programming here comes in very handy for those people using breath controllers as mapping for those comes right out of the box. Using the AMV patches one can make some extremely impressive solo woodwind lines. Again, you won't find samples this lyrical and expressive for the money. I've been dissapointed in some of the sample libraries I've come across as it pertains to woodwinds. Not here. These are just fabulous.

The percussion...

Man is this an in depth part of the Miroslav library. There are the standard GM patches which use the exquisite Miroslav sounds mapped to the GM percussion standard. This makes it so easy to place this library in standard midi files that you may have. You also have another set of Orchestra patches that only include standard orchestral percussion which makes it easier to find exaclty what you need when doing classical oriented pieces. However, it doesn't end there. You have a TON of chromatic and non-chromatic percussion at your disposal. The timpani is to die for. The glockenspiel in the upper ranges is piercing but oh so beautiful. The orchestral chimes, excellent. There's so much here its crazy. And to top it all off, you have studio and hall samples for a lot of it. This lends itself well to all scenarious. The studio samples lend themselves especially well to post processing either via the included effects or through your favorite plugins. I'm particularly fond of the snare drum here. Some of the included rolls are just downright lovely. I don't think it would be hard for anyone to pull off realistic drumlines with these. Again, this section of the library is unexpectedly large and comprehensive. It even has cuica and a damn fine one at that!!!

The vocals...

An absolute treasure! Used in their proper context these are very versatile patches. You have ample sets to choose from. When I hit the first note in the female 'ahh' patch I was ready to pop out a movie trailer. These could essentially cover your basic choir needs for a long, long time. A dedicated choir product would get you more aticulations perhaps, but the sound of these will probably keep you loyal. The men's choir is just crazy in the lower notes. You have most needs covered here as far as I'm concerned. There are staccato and sustained sounds here and you have split choir patches as well that will give you easy access to the mens and womens voices during your sequencing.

Others...

The classical guitar - divine for its intended use. Unfortunately its only single notes, but I think with some time you could get some convincing performances out of it.

The organ - oh my lord. The lower registers of this thing are outstanding.

The piano - unexpectedly beautiful. It has a nice mid and lower range sound. There are multiple versions of this, 'hall' being the most useful in an orchestral context, in my opinion. However, the others could be used more for a more 'present' sound or could be reverberated to your needs.

The harp - another treasure. Listen to Fluffy's Harp from the Harry Potter Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack and I think you have the sound of this harp. Its beautiful. There are some very nice performance patches included here as well. I just love the upper range of this harp. Its not clunky like some harps I've used. The lower range is very bassy which is nice.

The auxillary stuff included is just crazy. You've got player noises, breaths, orchestra warm ups right in the box. These are nice finishing touches on a midi performance and if you want realism will be important in creating the proper atmosphere in your midi mockups.

All in all, my two days with the Miroslav Philharmonik have been thoroughly enjoyable. I won't deny that I was skeptical at the usefulness of this library years after its release, but the timelessness of this collection is undeniable. Dave and the team at Sonic Reality knew a classic when they saw it and did everyone a favor when they scooped it up and reprogrammed it for the next generation. It excels in its sound and programming. The programming is consistently done and never leaves you wondering what a patch does. Everything is intelligently laid out. However, I can see someone spending weeks with it and still coming across unexpected and useful patches. You could spend days just wandering through the 'combi' patches.

There are many orchestral libaries on the market today and they all serve their purpose and fit their users needs. However, I think it bears mentioning again that this library has its own sound. I just can't describe to you the feeling each instrument evokes on your senses. It may limit itself by having such a lively sound, I can't say. However, I think it give your works a vitality it may not have otherwise. If you can afford this product and are in need of orchestral sounds, then it is in your best interests to investigate this product fully. Merely discounting it due to the age of the samples is doing it an injustice. Through expert programming Dave and team have breathed new life into these beautiful samples and they stand shoulder to shoulder with the best orchestral sample libraries on the market today. And for the price, its unmatched in its sound and comprehensiveness.

If there's a product on the market worth putting up with a dongle with, this is the one.

I'll note that authorization and installing the dongle and its drivers is painless.

[Caleb]

Thanks very much for that review Joseph.

God - I cannot wait for this to arrive in my mailbox!
I'll probably post my feedback in this forum as well once I get it. However, my review will be completely plebeian in comparison.

Caleb

[harmony gardens]

Thanks for the excellent review JB. I'm more excited than ever to get this one!

[Rellik]

Thanks for all the great info, Joseph Burrell

I think I picked the right orchestral library!

[Rellik]

I've got a question, if you don't mind being asked a question (EDIT: from the size of this post, it seems I have a MULTITUDE of questions... )

We know now that key-switching is NOT in Philharmonik (or at least I think we know) - but we do know that there are supposed to be some things in there that make working with articulations easier. I'm wondering what these are, specifically - could you tell us? Also, you mentioned that Mod-Wheel controlled Dark/Bright on some patches - is this the "Push" control that we've been hearing about (I guess it must have been changed from aftertouch since not too many people have access to aftertouch anyway)?

And Squids mentioned that even though there was no Round-Robin or Repitching mechanism in place to prevent the machine-gun effect from occuring, there were other things going on that helped keep it from happening - curious as to what that is (I guess it could be the velocity macro thing). Also, if you've used an IK/SampleTank-based product in the past - could you tell us if STretch has been improved? I would hesitate to use it as it is now even in a non-high-fidelity context, even with optimal content for STretching - does the new algorithm work/sound better, or are there noticable artifacts?

Don't feel compelled to answer these questions if you don't want, I'm just curious I don't even know the context under which you got your copy in the first place - for demo-making, promotional, review copy, just for fun? Again, thanks for taking the time away from playing with Philharmonik to let us know your opinions

[Joseph Burrell]

Keyswitching - My experience so far has shown me that rather than keyswitching, Miroslav uses velocity switching for changing articulations when loading the right 'combi'. I have not found articulation switching when using the standard patches. This is okay by me since I've never been a proponent of keyswitching and would rather change channels than use keyswitches. I will add that it is easy to create your own velocity switch articulation combi's by loading two instruments setting them to the same channel and defining the velocity range for each. Its super easy to do. Frighteningly so, actually.

Mod control - Throughout the various patches the mod-wheel controls various things. In the Dark or Bright patches it controls the filter or EQ controlling the instrument sounds darkness/brightness. This has nothing to do with the 'Push' control you're asking about. These are the AMV patches (the go to in my opinion.) These patches use a combination of Aftertouch and Mod Wheel to control the instruments volume/timbre and dark/bright EQ. Mod Wheel controlling continuous volume/timbre changes during a sustain and the After Touch controlling the initial 'push' volume and bright/dark EQ. The 'V' standing for velocity and controlling the instruments attack or VSpeed/VStart.

Round Robin - You are correct. There is none that I could find. However, through correct midi programming with the VStart and VSpeed you could easily prevent this from happening. I typically use the humanize feature in my notation program to prevent this from occuring anyway.

I currently haven't tried any of the Stretch features, so I can't comment on those.

I don't know how much I can say about why I have a copy at this point. I'm such a cool guy I guess. We'll call it 'for informational/research purposes.'

[Mr. Tunes]

great review joe! i'm really excited to hear how this one turned out for myself. it's ironic that the product is being released just as i am graduating from film school - i was scoring all year without this thing! at least the future looks bright, when it counts the most- working with real paying directors.

the main thing i got from your review was something that was discussed for the past few months here. these samples have life, and emotion. you can have a huge library with tons of articulations and mic placements etc, but if the samples dont breath they arent worth a darn thing. it seems like here you can have your cake and eat it too with all the variations.

thanks for your review keep us posted if you come across some new gems

[Rellik]

Ah, I see, I didn't realize what AMV stood for before. Now I get it thanks for all the info!

[Sequent]

excellent to read your review, joe. Thanks!

[Yossarian]

We know now that key-switching is NOT in Philharmonik (or at least I think we know)

I've mentioned this elsewhere but in case anyone's missed it, there is a way to use key-switching in Philharmonik (and any other multi-timbral plugin). It's a freeware utility called KeySwitch which can be downloaded from www.yellowtools.com . I've just started a separate thread about it:

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1328473


/Yoss

[zai]

So...does this mean that it's "almost" shipping? :p

Zai

[Squids]

Yeah, shipping starts on the 18th.

Wow, that was an incredible review. I was not expecting that but I am very impressed. I cannot tell you how good it feels to read someone fully getting the product, why we did it, what's good about it etc. So, often reviewers are looking for things to just bash it on. But, the funny thing is that most people want to know all the good things it has to offer. Sure, if there is anything bad people want to know, especially a show stopper but if there really isn't one (especially relative to all the good things) then why dwell on it? Okay, it is easy for me to say I like the review because it is gushing but that's not what I mean. Of course we like that part but the way Joseph describes it is exciting and has depth of understanding and appreciation. Bravo! And thank you.

Just to let anyone know, the rare early copy was not given to Joseph for promotional purposes although if I knew he could write like that then... sure! Need a job Joseph? Wow. It wasn't a review copy but one sent out for a kind of testing/compatibility-ish type of thing. As far as I am concerned you could say more about what you're up to Joseph but that's just from my end. Your activities are your own to discuss or not discuss when you or others you work with want.

So, let's dig in shall we? I can answer a few questions here. AMV patches are "aftertouch, modwheel, velocity" deluxe programmed patches that have variation in the attack, volume and timbre in interactive ways from those three controllers. Basically, Vspeed and VStart are up, Modwheel is controlling swell in volume and Push is up (controlling subtle volume and filter/timbre from aftertouch). The original prefix for these patches was going to be "EXP" for "expressive" but I didn't want that to be confused with the orchestral term "expressivo" (which the lib also has) so we just called it AMV, more directly what is going on.

VSpeed is a macro that controls a complex velocity to amp attack scheme that gives you one knob to control the AMOUNT of this effect... a range of how much velocity on the keyboard goes from slow to fast attack. That can help you play slow and fast passages with the same sound and the more you turn that macro knob up the more diverse it is.

VStart is a macro that controls the velocity to sample start internally. This is one of the ways you avoid hearing the same exact attack (or machine gun effect) but there are also velocity switches and other variances not to mention the WAY you program your parts that can be more realistic if you use accents and volume control right.

Stretch is the new stretch engine. It DOES sound better but it is still the same type of technology. There are trade-offs just like there are in cool products like Melodyne. We only made Stretch patches on sounds it was appropriate on "prefix STCH". Each sound is different as far as how well stretch works for it, it's tempo or bending range and even the amount of CPU it takes sometimes (or that really has more to how you play it and how many notes you use etc.). Let's put it this way. There are things you can do with Philharmonik because of Stretch that you cannot do with any other orchestral product and they can be VERY useful. That said, it doesn't mean it does everything you ever wanted it to do. I look at it as an awesome tool to have and can save a track in some cases.

As to the key switching. You're right there aren't any. I like it too for messing around live but actually when you are sequencing it is a lot easier to use them on separate channels (or groups of them with velocity or modulation switching for a mix of performance oriented and programmed results). So, there are MUL (multi) set ups with up to 8 different articulations of each instrument section. That will get you where you want to go for this.

However, there is a little trick I will show you guys on how to somewhat get the keyswitching thing to work even within these MUL patches. I'll just say that the solo and mutes are now destination in the midi control window. Say no more. But, it's tricky to do it that way so we didn't put anything about that in the manual for now.

I appreciate the props by the way but it was really a close collaboration between Sonic Reality and IK (not just SR or IK on their own) that has made this product what it is. The two teams have worked together very hard on it and that cooperative effort shows. If you take the combined effort of what Miroslav captured originally, what IK has done with the engine and their help with the programming features and what SR has done with the sample editing and patch programming it should theoritically cost more than the original did! So, imagine if this was $5,000! It could have been, although you have products like Vienna and others that have larger gigabytes of material on the market for that price and besides that we just wanted to make it a phenominal deal and a powerful product that could be within reach of any pro or aspiring pro musician/composer/producer.

Anyway, good thread. I hope you can post this review on Northern Sounds too. I am curious to see what people's reaction would be there. For one thing, they know you there and certainly know for sure that you never worked with SR! (one could almost think that from the extreme positive angle of your review so lucky for us that you have been around and no one is skeptical!). The more people that see that review the better I think (in fact, we're going to put that on esoundz in the product reviews if that's ok). As long as people know that it is isn't us just hyping it (which we don't do covertly by the way... just Squids doing his thing is all).

Hey, Joseph, would YOU give it a Key/Best Buy award? I am just curious. I am going to watch the magazines and see how they receive it. I hope it does but I am not expecting anything. I don't know if every reviewer will appreciate it the same way Joseph does. I certainly hope so of course.

[Sepheritoh]

Good to read some good reviews. I have a specific question, which I don't know if I'd get a true and honest answer, but I'll try anyway. At least, your best opinion would be appreciated.

The one area where the all-in-one-orchestral libraries are always a little less-than-perfect is in the percusion sections.

In my view the SAM truestrike is probably the benchmark library in this area and I would like to hear your opiion how this one shape up against it.

[Squids]

Good to read some good reviews. I have a specific question, which I don't know if I'd get a true and honest answer, but I'll try anyway. At least, your best opinion would be appreciated.

The one area where the all-in-one-orchestral libraries are always a little less-than-perfect is in the percusion sections.

In my view the SAM truestrike is probably the benchmark library in this area and I would like to hear your opiion how this one shape up against it.

I assume you meant Joseph's opinion. So, I'll leave that to him. But, I will comment a little on that. I have the True Strike library. I haven't gone through it completely but it is a very nice collection. I think SAM does very good work. In terms of variety of percussion instruments and quality of recording it is going to be on par. In terms of number of samples and performance variations I think that True Strike, as one might expect given its price, has more.

I think we're going to start selling the SAM stuff on esoundz because I think its very good and a nice addition when it comes to adding more sounds from different sources to your collection. In terms of comparing Miroslav Philharmonik which covers a much wider ground to a specialized percussion library though... its not apples and apples is it?

There are a ton of things we did with the percussion for use as an orchestral workstation that no other percussion library was programmed in the same way. We have a percussion elements section that has individual percussion samples stretched across the entire keyboard and then has a macro that allows for positive and negative scaling for either the SAME pitch on every key or various pitch scaling up to positive or reverse chromatic tuning. We haven't even scratched the surface on how that can be used in Combis but then just like our other workstation plug-ins Philharmonik is meant to be used creatively by the people that have it as well as expanded upon in programming by Sonic Reality over time to give you even more added value even after the purchase.

[Sepheritoh]

Squids thank you very much for the honest opinion. I am seriosly thinking about extending my libraries and Miro is on my short list, but my current percs library is lacking far and that is why I ask the question. I almost want to say that it is not a question of if I will get SAM, but rather when. The next question is then to balance the budget. This is just a matter of spreading it over the time-line and decide in wich order to buy the things I want, e.g. Miro, amplitube 2, etc.