Where would you use Philharmonik?

[Squids]

We're so sorry...Uncle Albert.

Hmmm - it seems that comment is not transcultural understandable - at least to me. Who is Uncle Albert?

tele

It is a Paul McCartney song.

[telebunke]

It is a Paul McCartney song.

You're faster than the devil with your answers.
Interesting survey result so far, isn't it?

tele

[Kim Lajoie]

Definitely interesting results. I know I'll be doing some contemporary demos once I get my hands on Philharmonik. I'm especially looking forward to doing "modern film score" -type demos with grand strings and dramatic brass, coupled with synthesisers and drum machines.

-Kim.

[telebunke]

The count for (A) Mainly in symphonic music like classical or film scoring styles is still zero.

That's really a surprise. I would like to see some more people giving their vote, please.

tele

[james0tucson]

The result is very interesting so far.
So far we got ZERO votes for mainly orchestral
usage.

This is KVR. Most people seem to be making tarnce and dance music, judging from the posts and the kinds of things that are popular.

I record piano and flute, but I use a real piano and a real flute to do it. If I use a string synth, all I ever want is a trio pad, and I'm sure I've never heard a solo violin or cello that's so good I wouldn't want to re-do it with a real violin or cello at some point in the production.

Maybe the MIDI-opera guy will chime in, or somebody who's doing production work in a Broadway show or a ballet or something.

[telebunke]

From what's being posted in the music cafe, I don't have the impression that most people do trance and dance. Lots of ballades and rock there, too.
Although it might be that the typical classical music writer doesn't tend to hang around in the web.
SR could, if they wanted, easily do a survey by email, cause they got a customer base to mail to

tele

[Kim Lajoie]

I think a lot of classical and screen composers will be using this. When I was at NAMM earlier this year, I spoke to a number of composers who had been using the original Miroslav libraries in Akai or GS. To them, buying Philharmonik is worth it just to have it as a VST plugin, or as a SampleTank expander.

-Kim.

[No name]

Where would you use Philharmonik? On a plane, in a train? In a house? with a mouse? Reminded me of Green eggs and ham.

I voted for contemporary music, mainly for me it would be Hip hop, nothing spices up beats like orchestral samples.

[nexussynth]

I guess the actual observation here might be that KVR people are doing music that is more mainstream than say the folks at Northern Sounds Forum where they are all mostly film scoring pros and many game composers who do both.

They also exhibit a certain 'snob factor' when it comes to orchestral libraries, particularily if you even mention the name "Sampletank".

I have been talking the Miroslav up at the forum like NS and even at SOL.

Now THERE's where the overpriced orchestral libraries are. Doug and Nick need a wake-up call!

But really, it costs a bundle to record the orchestral libraries (but not as much anymore as one might think!).

So this thread isn't about price, anyway.

So what am I going to use it for? Well I already have the QLSO Gold and SAM brass as well as GPO and the old AO amd ProSonus stuff, and...gee I really don't have much from the original Vitous library. I put what I was going to forsee using from it into Kontakt and gave away the CD-ROM discs to my brother.

I like options. All orchestras don't sound alike and so I sometimes don't want the aggressive sound of the EWQLSO and GPO does NOT work at all for large orchestra (anything written after 1820!).

I am just a hobbyist, now. I only compose for myself these days and I do music that might be considered somewhere between modern classical and film scoring.

[nexussynth]

I think a lot of classical and screen composers will be using this. When I was at NAMM earlier this year, I spoke to a number of composers who had been using the original Miroslav libraries in Akai or GS. To them, buying Philharmonik is worth it just to have it as a VST plugin, or as a SampleTank expander.

-Kim.

And that is the point, too. I would buy it just to have it VSTi.

I still hear the Vitous sounds in many t.v. shows.

Some of the composers do not care for the QLSO 'sound' being aggressive. If I were going for a LOTR coverscore I would use Philharmonik. If I was going for something like Spiderman I'd use QLSO. Just my opinion.

I think VSL users might like this library to get something easier to use and more ambient.

Another thing is it's use as a sketchpad on a laptop.
The footprint is much smaller I'm sure than VSL!

[Squids]

If I was scoring LOTR I would use a real orchestra. But, if I had to choose between the libraries you mentioned then I agree Philharmonik is maybe going to be more lush. The 23 violins are pretty powerful. They sound better to me than some other high end libraries that have 18 violins or less.

[Rellik]

I'll be using Philharmonik for everything if/when I get it EVERYTHING! Probably every single track I do. That means mostly electronica and orchestral - a little bit of both, and a lot of whatever's in between.

Quick question: a "combi" in Philharmonik means the same thing as a "combi" in SampleTank, right? As in you can make your own and modify the stock ones?

I was disappointed that the largest sections of any brass instrument would be 3 (enough for many applications, of course... but come on, why not like 9? ) so I thought maybe I could do some trickery and make a combi that contains 2 Marcato 3xTrumpets and 2 Marcato 3xTrombones for some huge brass when I really need it for that "Spiderman 2 Batman" sound. What could I do to get the two instances of 3xTrumpets to layer well together? I could detune them... I'm not sure that would work. Hmm...

[telebunke]

Quick question: a "combi" in Philharmonik means the same thing as a "combi" in SampleTank, right? As in you can make your own and modify the stock ones?

I don't know what features will be included in Philharmonik, but one thing for sure. The samples can be used in Sampletank and there, you got the sky wide open to do what you like. Many users will prefer to have it all in one interface anyway, meaning Philharmonik sounds plus sounds from ST2 or SS2.

tele

[nexussynth]

If I was scoring LOTR I would use a real orchestra. But, if I had to choose between the libraries you mentioned then I agree Philharmonik is maybe going to be more lush. The 23 violins are pretty powerful. They sound better to me than some other high end libraries that have 18 violins or less.

Oh absolutely use a REAL orchestra! I was referring to what they term a 'coverscore' in low budget Hollywood circles (like a straight-to-video movie:D). There you might be asked to give them something like LOTR. There is really no budget for a real orchestra in those productions (never was!). I have an old aquaintance who does a lot of that sort of scoring for New Concord and other low budget producers. He was a big user of the original Vitous library.

The strings of the Miroslav do sound more lush to my ears than the aggressive strings of QLSO (which still like too!).

[Squids]

Oh, you meant "Lord of the Rangs". Yes, this is very true. In fact, this is one of the main driving motivators for the creation of this as a sound module plug-in as well as Studiophonik (and SS2 as well). We would have done an orchestral workstation at some point anyway even without Miroslav. But, the decision to do it with the Miroslav material was because the opportunity came up and I liked the challenge of taking that material to another level. We've also learned a lot from doing this.

Anyway, the ability for anyone, regardless of project budget, to create the sound of an orchestra with Philharmonik or anyone to create the sound of a band recording in a studio with Studiophonik is one of the main purposes of them. I've been in those situations as a composer myself and it's tough because you want to produce something that sounds great. But, if it eats into your budget and subtracts from YOUR pay to do it then you find yourself having to make compromises. At least with these two you can compromise but not much on the sound side.

In fact, in some ways you have more variety and top recording quality to choose from that you may not even get from a real instrument session. Let me explain that. I am always one to say that if you can record live musicians with great instruments in a great studio then that has the potential to outdo samples in so many ways. But, not necessarily. Musicianship has to be good because you don't have the same flexibility as you would with midi sequencing (apart from tricks with DAWS for editing which is nice). You definitely don't have the same VARIETY of choices of sounds in the studio (unless you're Jack Joseph Puig! ) and if you aren't in a studio that has plenty of tube and class A analog gear with good acoustics and an engineer who knows how to capture a great sound then your recordings may not come out as good as the ones done for modules such as these. Does it need to be always? That depends. Sometimes no. But, a lot of times yes! The more "pro" it sounds the better usually, especially if it is work for hire.