KVR Audio

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Fri Jan 08, 2021 4:34 pm

I sold Halion Symphonic Orchestra alongside my Wavelab Elements a few months ago, and somehow miss a good complete symphonic orchestra library now, so, I was wondering if someone knows a decent to good free or low cost library. Preferrably for Kontakt. It doesn't have to be the best. I'm rather looking for decent bang for the buck. 100 € is the upper limit, I would say.

Actually, I've had my eye on Symphonic Essentials from NI for while, but, even on sale for 50% off, that's still 199 €...

P.S.: I just found this: https://shop.presonus.com/PreSonus-Symphonic-Orchestra Got quite decent reviews. Anyone using it?

Scarlet Pumpernickel · Fri Jan 08, 2021 5:04 pm

Maybe, Audio Imperia's Nucleus on a sale. Still not that cheap. There's also Nucleus Lite, but I don't remember how lite it is, so I'm hesitant to recommend it.

v1o · Post by **v1o** » Fri Jan 08, 2021 5:17 pm

The Spitfire BBC core library is free.

j_e_g · Post by **j_e_g** » Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:33 pm

Free: http://www.bandshed.net/sounds/sfz/nbo_2.zip

This is SFZ format, so you can use Sforzando, or Linuxsampler, to play it.

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:36 pm

v1o wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 5:17 pm The Spitfire BBC core library is free.

You mean BBCSO Discover. Core is cheap but not free.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:47 pm

Discover costs 49 €. And Core 449 €... that's definitely out of my budget. Thanks for the suggestion though.

So far, the Presonus one I linked to in the first post looks the most interesting for my budget. I might wait for a sale and get it then. I hope the limitations of Presence XT compared to Presence XT Editor are not substantial for the use of the library.

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Sat Jan 09, 2021 12:21 am

chk071 wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:47 pm Discover costs 49 €. And Core 449 €... that's definitely out of my budget. Thanks for the suggestion though.

You can get BBCSO Discover for free by filling in a survey (you have to wait up to 14 days for delivery), so that's definitely in budget. Look just below the price tab for the link to the free version.

Once this is in your account the price to Core or Pro is an upgrade price, not full price. So with the Black Friday sale for instance, plus the difference in upgrade from Discover, I got Core for £190, which is an unbelievable price for what you get.

DSmolken · Post by **DSmolken** » Sat Jan 09, 2021 6:42 am

NBO, VSCO Community and also VSCL. Grab some solo instrument freebies like Ivy Audio's piano, and you can get pretty far.

At that point, you can see whether you want to upgrade the full orchestra, or maybe use the free stuff for the bulk of it and spend your budget on a dedicated string library.

Indiginus' Solid State Symphony is probably not really what you want, but mentioning it here just in case.

risome · Post by **risome** » Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:08 am

Bunker Samples are great value for money and recommended by Spitfire Audio's C Henson.They are a bit left field in the techniques but good quality. Made for Kontakt

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:36 am

risome wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 8:08 am Bunker Samples are great value for money and recommended by Spitfire Audio's C Henson.They are a bit left field in the techniques but good quality. Made for Kontakt

As much as I love Bunker Strings, I would hardly recommended it as orchestral (it's only strings) or covering basic techniques. It is great for atonal or horror sounds though.

evilantal · Post by **evilantal** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:27 pm

Some of the best for free:
ProjectSAM The Free Orchestra https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra/
The Alpine Project https://alpineproject.wixsite.com/main (under construction atm)
Sonuscore freebies https://sonuscore.com/
bigcat's Kontakt version of VSCO2 CE http://bigcatinstruments.blogspot.com/2 ... estra.html
Spitfire LABS Strings, Strings 2, Choir etc
Spitfire BBCSO Discover (free if you fill in a questionnaire) https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/ ... -discover/

bosone · Post by **bosone** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:44 pm

I have NI symphony (the full version) and definitely i would not recommend it. too heavy and some instruments are very poorly usable.

Have a look also to garritan personal orchestra. i still find it useful after 15 years, cheap, light and effective once you learn how to use it.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:35 pm

Thanks guys, I'll check those out.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:36 pm

After some consideration, and looking at the current sales price of 50 €, I decided to get Halion Symphonic Orchestra again. Might use the soft eLicenser option now, to not have to plug in the dongle every time. Might not be the best sounding option, but, it's cheap, and it will definitely do for me. And, unlike the Presonus one I linked to above, I can use it in any DAW, not just Studio One, which might be a plus in the future as well.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Some decent low cost or free symphonic orchestra libraries?