Orchestra that doesn't use NI player?

[Improv]

Are there any 'all in one' Orchestra type packages
that DO NOT use the Kontakt player ?

Both GPO and EW/QL Symphonic Orchestra have nice sounds, but use the Kontakt player.

[x_bruce]

No export? btw, why is Kompakt a problem? Are you on a Mac?

Siedlaczek Orchestra came on AKAI and EMU formats as well as audio. There's a $49 audio that is sampled at a different pitch which came up in another thread.

The AKAI is sometimes available in a library of 5 CDs at $79 a pop or $350. It's not as good as GPO or east/west silver.

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I've looked around for the same thing and haven't found such a creature. I've ended up getting fancy orchestral soundfonts and playing 'em with rgcAudio's sfz soundfont player. It's not as easy to use or fancy as one of the 'orchestra in a box' solutions but I don't have to deal with any registration issues!

sfz is my friend, I think I see sfz+ in mu future!

[DevonB]

If you're not interested in Kontakt, then you're going to need some type of sample playback engine, for sure. sfz+ will do Giga once it's released with Giga support, which is a nice, cheaper alternative that works VERY well with Giga. Actually, I don't think anything comes close to it besides Giga for playing Giga format. What would you like exactly?

Devon

[Improv]

If you're not interested in Kontakt, then you're going to need some type of sample playback engine, for sure. sfz+ will do Giga once it's released with Giga support, which is a nice, cheaper alternative that works VERY well with Giga. Actually, I don't think anything comes close to it besides Giga for playing Giga format. What would you like exactly?

Devon

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I have Halion 2, PC based and Cubase SX2 and Tracktion.

I am aware of the sample only sets such as Sam Horns, Dan Dean Libraries, East West, Garritan Strings, Sonic Implants, and all the goodies at sites such as soundsonline.com etc. I've also been looking at cubase.net Halion forum to see which libraries can be used in Halion. Giga import has improved over H1, but I really don't want a 1/2 assed solution.

It's just that all the talk here recently about problems with copy protection schemes such as c/r and Pace have made me hesitant about even getting near GPO, EW/QL Symphonic Orchestra and others that use the Kompakt player and its NI copy protection. For the hassles involved, read the various recent threads. No thanks.

Devon, I know you are a big fan of the Giga Sampler.
How is their copy protection? Also, do they make a vst version yet? Hmm...time to go do some homework at Giga's site.

Found it at: http://www.tascamgiga.com/intro.php
I see it's called Gigastudio now.

Lot's to ponder.

[DevonB]

Devon, I know you are a big fan of the Giga Sampler.
How is their copy protection? Also, do they make a vst version yet? Hmm...time to go do some homework at Giga's site.

Found it at: http://www.tascamgiga.com/intro.php
I see it's called Gigastudio now.

Lot's to ponder.

I understand your concerns. Maybe HALion 3 has some even bigger improvements for Gig format, you'll ahve to do some research. I'm only a big fan of Gigastudio because it works, and there's basically no CPU hit, even on my 1ghz machine, it performs flawlessly at 96 note poly. sfz+ performs giga flawlessly as well, and I've ran it through the ringer with all the libraries I owned, without a hitch. Very nice. Basically, I hate anything that has to do a conversion, as SOMETHING will get f**ked up. sfz+ loads it like it's native. That's the big difference over HALion, AFAIK. If I'm wrong here, someone correct me please.

Version 3 is not a VST version. Doubt it ever will be. You can load in VST effects though into the new one.

Their copy protection? Web registration bullshit. Least it never changes, and I MADE SURE to write it down on a piece of paper and it's now in the CD sleeve. I've had to call them up and talk with them on the phone to get my registration straightened out though. Pain in the butt, but that's why I wrote it all down. It ports from one system to another, so it's not PACE or machine dependent at all, thank god.

Hope that helps. Ask away if you want to know more.


Devon

[dougsyo]

The Prosonus orchestral Collection (see the front page) uses the UVI engine, rather than the NI engine.

With the exception of Mach 5, every product I can think of (Spectrasonics, Plugsound) that's based on the UVI engine uses C/R. I'm not sure that this is built into the engine, or just the way it's been used so far. And the UVI engine has trouble with LFO syncing to sequencer tempo.

If I remember right, Giga uses C/R too. Giga3 has rewire but not VSTI (although the FXTeleport people are working support for that).

Doug

[xander]

Devon, I know you are a big fan of the Giga Sampler.
How is their copy protection? Also, do they make a vst version yet? Hmm...time to go do some homework at Giga's site.

Found it at: http://www.tascamgiga.com/intro.php
I see it's called Gigastudio now.

Lot's to ponder.

I understand your concerns. Maybe HALion 3 has some even bigger improvements for Gig format, you'll ahve to do some research. I'm only a big fan of Gigastudio because it works, and there's basically no CPU hit, even on my 1ghz machine, it performs flawlessly at 96 note poly. sfz+ performs giga flawlessly as well, and I've ran it through the ringer with all the libraries I owned, without a hitch. Very nice. Basically, I hate anything that has to do a conversion, as SOMETHING will get f**ked up. sfz+ loads it like it's native. That's the big difference over HALion, AFAIK. If I'm wrong here, someone correct me please.

Version 3 is not a VST version. Doubt it ever will be. You can load in VST effects though into the new one.

Their copy protection? Web registration bullshit. Least it never changes, and I MADE SURE to write it down on a piece of paper and it's now in the CD sleeve. I've had to call them up and talk with them on the phone to get my registration straightened out though. Pain in the butt, but that's why I wrote it all down. It ports from one system to another, so it's not PACE or machine dependent at all, thank god.

Hope that helps. Ask away if you want to know more.


Devon

Devon - Don't you have to have a special soundcard to use Gigastudio/Gigasampler? I thought that someone mentioned this before.

[Improv]

I understand your concerns. Maybe HALion 3 has some even bigger improvements for Gig format, you'll ahve to do some research.

Like everything,there is at least some truth to the
problems with some copy protection. It's not all rampant paranoia! I mean, why give yourself unnecessary grief?

As for Halion, I am told by a rep at Steinberg Canada to expect early summer release for H3. I can wait, no hurry. Meanwhile, I can spend the time checking out Gigastudio if I can find a store demo.

I'm only a big fan of Gigastudio because it works, and there's basically no CPU hit, even on my 1ghz machine, it performs flawlessly at 96 note poly.

Sure, go with what you know. Especially when it's a proven entity. Which of the three Gigastudio 3 versions would you recommend? (Solo,Ensemble and Orchestra) .After looking at the site, Solo looks rather basic compared to the others, Orchestra looks great with almost unlimited potential.However I can't help thinking that it's overkill for the near future. At first glance, Ensemble seems the right features/price level with an eye to upgrade later.

sfz+ performs giga flawlessly as well, and I've ran it through the ringer with all the libraries I owned, without a hitch. Very nice.

But only in the beta version for now, right?

Basically, I hate anything that has to do a conversion, as SOMETHING will get f**ked up. sfz+ loads it like it's native. That's the big difference over HALion, AFAIK. If I'm wrong here, someone correct me please.

I know about coversions. Extreme Sample Converter does a reasonable job, but any conversion is limited by the source material quality. Interesting what you said about sfz+. Hmmm... Rene would know...

Version 3 is not a VST version. Doubt it ever will be. You can load in VST effects though into the new one.

I know, I saw that on site. I got all excited and thought that Giga Studio could be loaded in SX2!
Wrongo!

Their copy protection? Web registration bullshit. Least it never changes, and I MADE SURE to write it down on a piece of paper and it's now in the CD sleeve. I've had to call them up and talk with them on the phone to get my registration straightened out though. Pain in the butt, but that's why I wrote it all down. It ports from one system to another, so it's not PACE or machine dependent at all, thank god.

Compared to some other protection schemes, it does seem rather benign. Still and all...

Hope that helps. Ask away if you want to know more.
Devon

Sure does, thanks D.

BTW-is GigaStudio 3 actually shipping? audiomidi.com
says 'not yet released' for all three versions.

Cheers

Doug

[DevonB]

Devon - Don't you have to have a special soundcard to use Gigastudio/Gigasampler? I thought that someone mentioned this before.

Not special card, but you need GSIF drivers, yes. Quite a few cards have GSIF drivers. There's other ways, but I never looked into them since I've never needed it.

Devon

[cold c]

Does anyone know if a Giga version of GPO is planned?

[Improv]

The Prosonus orchestral Collection (see the front page) uses the UVI engine, rather than the NI engine.

If I remember right, Giga uses C/R too. Giga3 has rewire but not VSTI (although the FXTeleport people are working support for that).

Doug

Thanks Doug. For The $300 that Prosonus costs, I'd rather go with GigaStudio 3. They both have C/R, but Giga is industry standard.

[Improv]

Does anyone know if a Giga version of GPO is planned?

You might ask over at northernsounds.com where the GPO home forum is located.

[DevonB]

Does anyone know if a Giga version of GPO is planned?

Considering the player was chosen for copy protection purposes, AND his other lib is in Giga, I doubt it.

Devon

[DevonB]

I'm only a big fan of Gigastudio because it works, and there's basically no CPU hit, even on my 1ghz machine, it performs flawlessly at 96 note poly.

Sure, go with what you know. Especially when it's a proven entity. Which of the three Gigastudio 3 versions would you recommend? (Solo,Ensemble and Orchestra) .After looking at the site, Solo looks rather basic compared to the others, Orchestra looks great with almost unlimited potential.However I can't help thinking that it's overkill for the near future. At first glance, Ensemble seems the right features/price level with an eye to upgrade later.

Still, for me it's not what I know. I would have bought Kontakt awhile ago... if I knew for sure that DFD worked, and worked well. It's also redundant since I already own Giga in the first place. IF all the big libraries were in Kontakt native, I'd be saying the same thing about Giga.

Anyway, Personally, I'm going with Ensemble. It's 160 note poly, and gives you the new piano. $149 for a piano alone is worth it. Solo wouldn't be bad either if you're getting started, that's 96 note poly. BUT, Orchestra isn't overkill. VOTA? I can eat 96 note poly so quick it isn't funny. Also, quite a few libraries play different samples AT THE SAME TIME, and can eat up 8 note poly with one note, so it can fade between sounds seamlessly. Also, my test song, I ate up 96 note poly with 7 instruments only. Somme songs can be better, some can be worse. If you're doing JUST drums, hitting 32 can be difficult. Large orch libraries, it's too easy to hit max poly. I do look forward to 160 note poly though.

I know, I saw that on site. I got all excited and thought that Giga Studio could be loaded in SX2!
Wrongo!

Forgot Giga will be a Rewire client.

BTW-is GigaStudio 3 actually shipping? audiomidi.com
says 'not yet released' for all three versions.

Later this month is my understanding.

Devon