Life is weird. I have no idea why I have any followers. Everything is midi files to show off public domain instruments with occasional excursions into madness.
Composer Cloud demo is limited to one symphony and a couple drums, so I can't get a really good feel for it. Still hey one orchestra free for a month is cool. You download then to your computer and then it uses an ilok (yuck) software based license manager to make sure you are a member of the composer cloud. The downloader is called EW Installation Center and seems to work well and is easy. You just point it to a harddrive (I chose a 7200 rpm external which it recommends) and it downloads. I did it overnight. The orchestra was 33 gigs and it said it would take about 4 hours on 20 meg DSL.
The deal does seem pretty good. I always wanted to try their stuff but refuse to buy an ilok stick. I'll probably pay for a couple months and try some things. I have a lightly enforced cap of 250 gigs a month on my internet, but overnight only counts half as much, so I'll have to be choosey. I think the instruments stay on your harddrive even when you stop the service but just wont work. So I figure I'll probably start and stop a few times.
On the video, except for the new jazz pop brass and woodwinds all the orchestral stuff in ST3 is based on Miroslav. To be fair this is ST3s biggest weakness and it has some very nice instruments, but I think releasing a fifteen year old orchestral sample set as part of a brand new release is not the best idea. I didn't really mean to make such a deal out of it, I was just stunned that the totally free Sonatina sounded kinda like an orchestra while the 350 buck ST3 sounded like a patch. Again certainly when dropped in a basic midi, but ST3s selling point is that it is a kick it up and its ready to go instrument collection.
I should mention that I kind of have a history with ST3. I was excited about it as it was coming out and made a little fan page pulling together the various screenshots and audio demos that were released. I also made a couple instruments for ST2. I contacted them about making instruments for 3. Everyone was incredibly nice to me. Even a upper level type chap answered my questions. Nice folks and I really wanted ST3 to be good especially since I already preordered it and wanted to make instruments for it.
Sadly it kind of went sour. For some reason making instruments for 3 isn't nearly as easy or complete as in 2 or at least wasn't last time I checked. Also I though the choirs were fun and a little kitschy. So I made some little midi demos as I do and the excrement hit the fan. People thought the choirs didn't sound very good and others probably including IKM thought I was just making trouble. The choirs actually got redone and any relationship with IKM kinda shattered.
I swear I really do want to like ST3, but compared to say the Kirk Hunter stuff it just isn't in the ballpark. I paid about 350 for Kontakt and Kirk Hunter combined both on sale and I can't imagine that admittedly full current price (I did the cheap pre-release upgrade) of 350 for ST3 is reasonable in comparison to those 2. Also I think the free stuff I give away for Kontakt might come close to rivaling ST3 and that is scary. If you include all the great freebie Kontakt stuff from folks like Ivy Audio (brilliant piano), Karoryfer and Sennheiser, Kontakt blows it away for the same basic price.
Sorry for the rant.
List of all multi-sampled orchestral libraries
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- KVRian
- 1367 posts since 30 Jul, 2013
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- KVRAF
- 2991 posts since 13 Apr, 2008 from Charleston, SC
BigCat...your problem is that you are still on Windows 7. When you upgrade to 10 everything sounds realer.
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Ok seriously...the EWQL cloud is pretty awesome. I already own Hollywood Orchestra Diamond, and subscribe to the CCloud. I am tempted to subscribe to the Platinum/Diamond CC for an extra pizza per month. ($20)
But let me add...it is not just about sounds. It is about performance and orchestration. There are several excellent videos (YouTube) out there that have helped me to get better performances and understand the concept of orchestration. Bottom line: it is not about chords and melody. That is keyboarding. It is about understanding the instruments (and you do from what I can tell, but, I don't know you) and manipulating MIDI via keyswitch, modwheel, expression pedal etc. to get the results that make the performance breathe.
You can see my reviews of all of the VSTs I use, but any of them can come to life with a dynamic performance.
I am probably telling you things you know. But for everyone else...
Jon
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Ok seriously...the EWQL cloud is pretty awesome. I already own Hollywood Orchestra Diamond, and subscribe to the CCloud. I am tempted to subscribe to the Platinum/Diamond CC for an extra pizza per month. ($20)
But let me add...it is not just about sounds. It is about performance and orchestration. There are several excellent videos (YouTube) out there that have helped me to get better performances and understand the concept of orchestration. Bottom line: it is not about chords and melody. That is keyboarding. It is about understanding the instruments (and you do from what I can tell, but, I don't know you) and manipulating MIDI via keyswitch, modwheel, expression pedal etc. to get the results that make the performance breathe.
You can see my reviews of all of the VSTs I use, but any of them can come to life with a dynamic performance.
I am probably telling you things you know. But for everyone else...
Jon
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- KVRian
- 1367 posts since 30 Jul, 2013
Thanks. I expect to see "everything sounds realer" in Microsoft ads soon! ;P I love it.
I really know precious little about music. I sometimes compare myself to a blind man trying to understand painting using the touch method. Thanks for the advice. I'll try to find out more about orchestration.
Where are your reviews? I would like to take a look.
I really know precious little about music. I sometimes compare myself to a blind man trying to understand painting using the touch method. Thanks for the advice. I'll try to find out more about orchestration.
Where are your reviews? I would like to take a look.
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- KVRAF
- 2991 posts since 13 Apr, 2008 from Charleston, SC
Page 1 of this thread...just one line reviews, nothing extensive.bigcat1969 wrote:Thanks. I expect to see "everything sounds realer" in Microsoft ads soon! ;P I love it.
I really know precious little about music. I sometimes compare myself to a blind man trying to understand painting using the touch method. Thanks for the advice. I'll try to find out more about orchestration.
Where are your reviews? I would like to take a look.
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- KVRian
- 1367 posts since 30 Jul, 2013
Oh cool gotcha. So when my trial expires if I stay with it I'll get some lesser version of the Hollywood Orchestra?
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 726 posts since 17 Feb, 2015
It's them freebie-consuming folk camping outside your Soundcloud-house to consume more freebies...bigcat1969 wrote:Life is weird. I have no idea why I have any followers.
Jokes aside, You sir, are popular. Wherever you go, there you are and there's your fans.
Unless you use another name.
I was looking at asking my question at the production techniques section, since 95% of the threads in the sound design section reads: "How to make this kick?" But I guess this is an approriate thread.
I've been trying to find out what this powerful brass staccato articulation/movement is called. It's been popping up from time to time on mostly british movie soundtracks and bothered me because i couldn't find what it's called. Appears first time at exactly 00:53 and is played twice in succession on this track:
https://soundcloud.com/peter-conz-conne ... ness-theme
It would also be helpful to know which orchestral libraries have the effect/articulation?
In other news, Frozen Plain just released Arctic Strings-string library. Has anyone else checked that out? I thought the strings sounded quite lush. They've been recorded as an ensemble in a church. They say it's more suited to ambient work. Not many articulations though.
Btw, Everyone of these kick-enthusiasts should just download the free Tube Drum Samples from Samplephonics, pick from the 20+ different kicks ones you like and FX them to your heart's desire until they sound like they came out of the drum machine of mr. Skrillex or this Avizii-chap.
Edit: Link should work now
Last edited by Aryaroman on Sun Aug 09, 2015 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRian
- 1367 posts since 30 Jul, 2013
Somehow that link didn't work. Please give it another go as I'm curious what sound you are talking about.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 726 posts since 17 Feb, 2015
Fixed the link. It's at exactly 00:53. You know it when you hear it. I suppose it's something very simple yet I've never heard any orchestral libraries pull that undescribably epic sound or on any mockup-scores. Only live scores. I didn't notice until now I checked the link that Peter (the composer) had responded to the track comments, makes me feel stupid knowing that I could have hit him up.bigcat1969 wrote:Somehow that link didn't work. Please give it another go as I'm curious what sound you are talking about.
I find myself bashing the edit button here, but I'm planning to include a small review section in the OP,
@Thejonsolo can I include your reviews?
On the other hand, I just checked out one of the poll's underdogs, Sonivox' Orchestral Companion and the individual instrument VSTis and thought the Brass Companion sounded surprisingly good, but the strings awful in one demo, moderate in another. The woodwinds were... nice. The price is however great. 99$ for each component set. Has anyone tried those out next to their other libraries?
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- KVRist
- 492 posts since 5 Sep, 2011 from Sussex, UK
It's a horn rip. Nice explanation here and you'll find it in most top-end libraries, I would think. Certainly it's in the various Spitfire horn libraries.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 726 posts since 17 Feb, 2015
Great, cheers!coincidental wrote:It's a horn rip. Nice explanation here and you'll find it in most top-end libraries, I would think. Certainly it's in the various Spitfire horn libraries.
I wonder why this isn't used more often? It's has great strengthening capabilities for the brass section even sparsely used.-
- KVRAF
- 2991 posts since 13 Apr, 2008 from Charleston, SC
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 726 posts since 17 Feb, 2015
I looked at Sonivox's Film Score Companion. There are some reviews, all praising it, but then on the one Youtube Pro Tools Experts-"review", the comment section is full of comments calling it total bs. I haven't seen so many hate comments on any other Youtube-review. It sounds nice to me. Especially the brass is meaty. And the reviewer obviously seems to know some bit about orchestration.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 726 posts since 17 Feb, 2015
I haven't seen any discussion about what libraries have the best boom-brass, or if any have that out-of-the-box. Sonokinetic's Vivace I believe has a multisampled of that kind-of modern power brass section.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/12/aural-hi ... kness.html
"Technically, the Inception horn is not just one horn — it is the work of five instruments who came together to play one note at top volume in the name of history."
Sound example (Warning: high volume content)
http://inception.davepedu.com/
And here is something epic:
So one of the best (& most overused) "effects" in the modern trailer music-composer's arsenal, right? The "braaam" has become a sort of a cliche in movie trailers.
http://www.vulture.com/2012/12/aural-hi ... kness.html
"Technically, the Inception horn is not just one horn — it is the work of five instruments who came together to play one note at top volume in the name of history."
Sound example (Warning: high volume content)
http://inception.davepedu.com/
And here is something epic:
So one of the best (& most overused) "effects" in the modern trailer music-composer's arsenal, right? The "braaam" has become a sort of a cliche in movie trailers.