Best full orchestra as first library?

[Aryaroman]

Yes I know, but I thought a bit further. (And even with Sennheiser it would be 300€, just to get a 99€ plugin, the crossgrade is 200€).

I don't feel good about buying Kontakt 5 that I don't need or want, just to be eligible to grab my super cheap 99 bucks orchestra. Some people wrote that Kontakt 5 sounds oudated, the demo I tried proved that and what would hurt most is, that at the moment Komplete 10 is on sale for 400 bucks. Why would I pay 200 for kontakt only if I get Komplete 10 for 200 additional euros?

The price of Kontakt is a pain in the ass. One of the most grossly overpriced pieces of musical software. Native Instruments is obviously largely abusing their archi dominant position in the sampling segment.

Well, I suppose if they went the XLN-way of selling a "custom"-version of Kontakt that lets you pick the content you want... Instead of being stuck with pre-picked content you have no use for, more people would find better value for their money. As it is now, it's tipped towards certain genres (funk) and styles of music and lacking in others (quality orchestra, guitars) too much to please everyone.

Although I don't know how this would work with a physical copy, unless it only featured the license to download the content you want. Well, one can hope.

[jancivil]

There is no magic bullet at a bottom dollar price point, all of these are liable to have deficiencies. My recollection of being at this stage, hmmm... I got EWQL SO Silver for 100 bucks at Guitar Center. It's pretty good. When we get to strings, there is a lot of variety from lib. to lib; here, they're very 'woody' and kind of raw, which isn't going to be first call for me, but it can add some grain blended with other things. The other end of the spectrum will be VSL Appassionata (I still use the cut-down vers. of Epic Orch that comes free with Vienna Ensemble Pro.), or isn't there a "Hollywood" type thing out of EWQL... Project Sam Essential will give you full tutti, I mean prefab sections that are placed on teh virtual stage correctly, but that's not going to give you any detail.

This all boils down to how much do you understand about an orchestra.
and what are your actual goals, short and long term... and what will you use orchestra for, musically, etc.

[SciFiArtMan]

Sorry, I haven't read this whole thread, but I'm on a somewhat similar quest, and I'm very impressed with East West Hollywood Orchestra Silver for ~$125. 3 mic positions, and an impressive collection for the money. You may want much more, but worth at least a listen.

[nineofkings]

Silver version has only one mic position. But it seems like a quality library for sure.

[SciFiArtMan]

Silver version has only one mic position. But it seems like a quality library for sure.

Oh, where do you see that specific Silver info? I see mentioned "up to 5 mic positions for every instrument", but doesn't say for Silver, maybe that's for Gold or Platinum or Iridium, or something, but then the OP may be able to spring for that level.

Edit: Looked again, and still can't find Silver specific info. But found this nestled in the Gold manual:
"The Diamond Edition includes samples from 5 independent microphone positions that can be mixed together to achieve control over both acoustic vantage and spaciousness of the sound; the Gold Edition provides a single mic position."

[Aryaroman]

Silver version has only one mic position. But it seems like a quality library for sure.

Oh, where do you see that specific Silver info? I see mentioned "up to 5 mic positions for every instrument", but doesn't say for Silver, maybe that's for Gold or Platinum or Iridium, or something, but then the OP may be able to spring for that level.

Edit: Looked again, and still can't find Silver specific info. But found this nestled in the Gold manual:
"The Diamond Edition includes samples from 5 independent microphone positions that can be mixed together to achieve control over both acoustic vantage and spaciousness of the sound; the Gold Edition provides a single mic position."

Silver

Essential articulations
Stage Mic only
16-bit samples
11GB

Gold

All articulations
Stage Mic only
16-bit samples
33GB

Platinum

All articulations
3 mic positions
24-bit samples
117GB

EWQL is quite old. Released in 2004/2006, I believe. That said, my impression is that, it was the best at the time it was released and the following years and it's still the best to a lot of people. But while that applies to Platinum, I don't know to what degree it does to Silver and Gold.

http://www.soundsonline.com/Symphonic-Orchestra

Sorry, I haven't read this whole thread, but I'm on a somewhat similar quest, and I'm very impressed with East West Hollywood Orchestra Silver for ~$125. 3 mic positions, and an impressive collection for the money. You may want much more, but worth at least a listen.

Note, I kiinda resurrected this thread.
That said, I don't know if OP is still on a quest to find their orchestral package. Although I would be interested in hearing what product he/she settled with in the end.

[nineofkings]

That's the "Symphonic Orchestra." The "Hollywood Orchestra" is a separate package.

[koolkeys]

Honestly, if you need the best orchestra for your money right now, you can go to everyplugin.com and get the EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Gold for $275 right now. You have to sign up to see that price, but well worth it. Amazing value.

Brent

[Fleer]

Hollywood Orchestra Diamond for $450

[koolkeys]

Hollywood Orchestra Diamond for $450

The OP was asking for something under 300 bucks. I know this isn't a brand new thread or anything so other suggestions will be made. I was just keeping within the original price limits

But yes, if you can afford the extra, it is a great deal. Then again, EastWest Composer Cloud is an amazing deal as well and you can get a huge amount of libraries for not much each month. EastWest are certainly finding ways to let everyone access their libraries!

Brent

[jancivil]

A note because I'm one of the ones who has stressed it, the Kontakt Factory library orchestral selections sound dated and not always the best. Of course they are over a decade old and stripped down heavily from a much bigger library so that makes sense. That is what is being talked about here.

Kontakt itself is the best, most configurable and easiest 'sampler' / sample instrument creator on earth IMO and I have tried others. This is why it prospers and so many of us make instruments for it.

The sounds in question are from a VSL demo library that's been with Kontakt since Kontakt 2 (if not K1. I have a separate serial number for 1.5, I bought Kontakt shortly after release, I can't recall if the VSL folders were part of it).
The sound of the samples themselves is what it is, I don't know how fashion enters into it exactly, how they're 'dated'. They are quite good quality. Now, the articulations are not abundant here.
There is a 'legacy' version of these which parsed the library into more useful sets, particularly Modwheel Crossfade, and Legato versions. Seems like that's the original. NB: the legato works via a script; you can try this, save 'legato tool' as a preset and bring it out on the instruments that don't have legato out-of-the-box.)

Personally I consider this part of it added value, YMMV. I don't love all of it but there are particulars I do love, the solo viola is pretty keen.

BUT the lack is the lack of legato, and we could get into ranking quality of legato and realism, so some of this early 2000's stuff which was the bee's knees then don't cut it today.
I have VSL from Gigastudio days and the sound is there, but the Performance Tool doesn't automatically translate to Kontakt.
But wait! here: http://vslkontaktscripts.blogspot.com/

But the OP apparently doesn't know from orchestration anyway, so by this point it's 'let's chat about orchestral libraries' (the strong aversion to Kontakt (& from such a paucity of information) does limit the advice we can offer) .

[Aryaroman]

That's the "Symphonic Orchestra." The "Hollywood Orchestra" is a separate package.

I know, I didn't notice when the discussion suddenly turned to it from SO.

A note because I'm one of the ones who has stressed it, the Kontakt Factory library orchestral selections sound dated and not always the best. Of course they are over a decade old and stripped down heavily from a much bigger library so that makes sense. That is what is being talked about here.

Kontakt itself is the best, most configurable and easiest 'sampler' / sample instrument creator on earth IMO and I have tried others. This is why it prospers and so many of us make instruments for it.

The sounds in question are from a VSL demo library that's been with Kontakt since Kontakt 2 (if not K1. I have a separate serial number for 1.5, I bought Kontakt shortly after release, I can't recall if the VSL folders where part of it).
The sound of the samples themselves is what is, I don't know how fashion enters into it exactly, how they're 'dated'. They are quite good quality. Now, the articulations are not abundant here.
There is a 'legacy' version of these which parsed the library into more useful sets, particularly Modwheel Crossfade, and Legato versions. Seems like that's the original. NB: the legato works via a script; you can try this, save 'legato tool' as a preset and bring it out on the instruments that don't have legato out-of-the-box.)

Personally I consider this part of it added value, YMMV. I don't love all of it but there are particulars I do love, the solo viola is pretty keen.

BUT the lack is the lack of legato, and we could get into ranking quality of legato and realism, so some of this early 2000's stuff which was the bee's knees then don't cut it today.
I have VSL from Gigastudio days and the sound is there, but the Performance Tool doesn't automatically translate to Kontakt.
But wait! here: http://vslkontaktscripts.blogspot.com/

Coo, thanks!

Some of the staccato articulations are nice, as is often the case even with sub-par libraries of course. The overall sound is muddled and not very detailed, especially the sustain, but you don't notice it in the staccato so much. I know a lot of people still check the Factory Selection when they can't find something anywhere else.

[Aryaroman]

(the strong aversion to Kontakt (& from such a paucity of information) does limit the advice we can offer) .

OP hasn't been around this thread for a while, so I'll bring up Versilian Chamber Orchestra 2, despite being Kontakt. It was already mentioned in the thread previously:

Might be of interest to the OP-

Versilian Studios has just released an affordable orchestral sample library called VSCO2. At $99US, it's a suitable price for people who are just beginning to dabble.Note: the full Kontakt version is complete, but VSTi is not yet available. The site promises a VSTi/AU version asap.

http://vis.versilstudios.net/vsco-standard.html

There is also a free, open-source version with SFZ mapping:

http://vis.versilstudios.net/vsco-community.html

Currently at Black Friday-sale, Standard and Pro-editions have probably the best quality-price-ratio at the moment for a full orchestra-package, priced at 89e and 130e, repectively. But as this is a chamber orchestra library, it's not suited for epic/orchestral/hybrid-productions. Instead...

...Orchestral Tools ARK I: Majestica is also discounted at the moment (OT's first ever sale) for 399e. Includes Kontakt Player.

[RichieWitch]

Been previewing the UVI's new Orchestral Suite. Sounds amazing to my ear. Would be very tempted to buy if there's a Black Friday sale!

[Aryaroman]

Been previewing the UVI's new Orchestral Suite. Sounds amazing to my ear. Would be very tempted to buy if there's a Black Friday sale!

I believe it's mostly on par with something like Halion. Someone who owns it knows better, but I can tell you the general consensus doesn't appear to share your enthusiasm, unfortunately.
I recommend setting your sights on something else and keep an eye on the Black Friday-sales. There might very well be a discount on something much more realistic, bang-for-buck, etc.