So is this going to be like a Garritan Personal Orchestra or like the new MOTU Symphonic Instrument? I know GPO is so highly rated, especially considering the price compared to something like East West's monster collections. Wondering where Miroslav Philharmonik fits in against those products.
Thanks,
Pete
Miroslav Philharmonik...what will it be comparable to?
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- Sonic Reality Head Chef
- 8566 posts since 11 Mar, 2002 from Florida
Well, of course, it's not made to be like any of them. It's ironically the only plug-in out of those that LOOKS like it was designed for classical music and film composition (the other ones kind of resemble Kontakt 
).
Also if anything is like anything you can pretty much say that all of the orchestral libraries are copying Miroslav who was really the first to do a high end orchestral library for a lot of money. It's come full circle now that we've got hold of it. Not only is it thousands of dollars less and comes with the sample player but it also includes many gigbytes of unreleased material or more samples across the keyboard from the original instruments as well. More articulations and other great additions that are worth a lot to composers (especially those that liked the beautiful sound of the original).
I have GPO. I think it is easy enough to afford and get. Why not? In terms of the sounds, they are real hit and miss. Some sounds are really very nice, some are not. I suppose that would be the case with any library but for as much hype surrounding GPO I wasn't blown away to be honest. I simply think it's a cheap price for an orchestra library. I much prefer Garritan's pro string library.
I also have the GLSO Gold and I haven't gone through it completely but I think it's good. At the show I got to hear the Symphonic Choirs and that too was impressive. Those are little higher in price but, again, composers who are working can afford ALL of these if they want to. Relative to hiring an orchestra for 3 hours it's nothing.
But, even if one likes any or all of those libraries, Miroslav Philharmonik is the only one that has the particular sounds that Miroslav captured. They have a certain feeling to them that is very playable and very musical.
I think you can think of it more as an orchestral flavored workstation in a line of workstation plug-ins with a focus. It's the orchestral equivalent to Sonik Synth 2 in terms of tons of patches and bang for the buck. Studiophonik will be the same way. Basically, a really great deal for an all inclusive, multi-timbral self-contained module complete what would otherwise be thousands of dollars of sample collections included.
). Also if anything is like anything you can pretty much say that all of the orchestral libraries are copying Miroslav who was really the first to do a high end orchestral library for a lot of money. It's come full circle now that we've got hold of it. Not only is it thousands of dollars less and comes with the sample player but it also includes many gigbytes of unreleased material or more samples across the keyboard from the original instruments as well. More articulations and other great additions that are worth a lot to composers (especially those that liked the beautiful sound of the original).
I have GPO. I think it is easy enough to afford and get. Why not? In terms of the sounds, they are real hit and miss. Some sounds are really very nice, some are not. I suppose that would be the case with any library but for as much hype surrounding GPO I wasn't blown away to be honest. I simply think it's a cheap price for an orchestra library. I much prefer Garritan's pro string library.
I also have the GLSO Gold and I haven't gone through it completely but I think it's good. At the show I got to hear the Symphonic Choirs and that too was impressive. Those are little higher in price but, again, composers who are working can afford ALL of these if they want to. Relative to hiring an orchestra for 3 hours it's nothing.
But, even if one likes any or all of those libraries, Miroslav Philharmonik is the only one that has the particular sounds that Miroslav captured. They have a certain feeling to them that is very playable and very musical.
I think you can think of it more as an orchestral flavored workstation in a line of workstation plug-ins with a focus. It's the orchestral equivalent to Sonik Synth 2 in terms of tons of patches and bang for the buck. Studiophonik will be the same way. Basically, a really great deal for an all inclusive, multi-timbral self-contained module complete what would otherwise be thousands of dollars of sample collections included.
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- KVRAF
- 4143 posts since 7 Sep, 2001 from Melbourne, Australia
Personally I would put GPO, MOTU and Philharmonik on a similar playing field (in terms of competition anyway).
But I think some more experienced sample library users I have noticed are tending to write off Philharmonik based on the fact that the Miroslav samples are so old. I'm sure they'll change their minds when they realise what's actually going on with Philharmonik.
For me - the two things that sway me towards Philharmonik over the other two similar concept products are the engine and the people doing the programming.
I really like the ST playback engine. It's simple to use and has features like STRETCH which is quite impressive for melodic notes. I haven't heard anything that suddenly makes me want a UVI engine even though it's probably quite good and I really just don't give a crap about Kontakt full-stop - never have.
If Sonic Reality has anything to do with the programming of this baby - then I'm in. I'm a big fan of the SR team and they will immediately get my attention with a product like this.
As for the sounds themselves. The Miroslav name isn't the clincher for me. It could have been a brand new library from some unknown orchestra and it wouldn't make a difference to me. The other two factors are what gets me excited.
Oh shit! I forgot to add.....THE PRICE!!!!!
Caleb
But I think some more experienced sample library users I have noticed are tending to write off Philharmonik based on the fact that the Miroslav samples are so old. I'm sure they'll change their minds when they realise what's actually going on with Philharmonik.
For me - the two things that sway me towards Philharmonik over the other two similar concept products are the engine and the people doing the programming.
I really like the ST playback engine. It's simple to use and has features like STRETCH which is quite impressive for melodic notes. I haven't heard anything that suddenly makes me want a UVI engine even though it's probably quite good and I really just don't give a crap about Kontakt full-stop - never have.
If Sonic Reality has anything to do with the programming of this baby - then I'm in. I'm a big fan of the SR team and they will immediately get my attention with a product like this.
As for the sounds themselves. The Miroslav name isn't the clincher for me. It could have been a brand new library from some unknown orchestra and it wouldn't make a difference to me. The other two factors are what gets me excited.
Oh shit! I forgot to add.....THE PRICE!!!!!
Caleb
Happiness is the hidden behind the obvious.
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- KVRian
- 1256 posts since 22 Aug, 2003
Related question:
Will Philharmonik have enough variety and distribution of samples to make for a complete, realistic-sounding orchestra, without any holes needed to be filled with other libraries? Will it have all the requisite articulations, and will they all be good, or will some of them just be patently crappy. Will its brass pack enough punch to really be put front and center. Will all of its sections pack enough punch (or sweetness as required) to really stand up under pressure.
If so, then there's a chance (possibly) that I might be able to spare that kind of money for a one-stop-orchestral-ultimate-package. If I will not find any limitations, and be happy with it, and only have to be interested in other libraries out of curiosity and general taste for their sound and not because I need them to supplement Philharmonik so that I can make the high quality orchestral pieces I'd like to with relatively little pain of trying to cover up for bad samples, then I'm all over this product, if I have the money
. It would have to be significantly better than EWQLSO Gold, but hey, it seems like this is going to be really amazing, so I expect it will beat it out easily, but I just need to be sure before I can even think about this kind of product.
Will Philharmonik have enough variety and distribution of samples to make for a complete, realistic-sounding orchestra, without any holes needed to be filled with other libraries? Will it have all the requisite articulations, and will they all be good, or will some of them just be patently crappy. Will its brass pack enough punch to really be put front and center. Will all of its sections pack enough punch (or sweetness as required) to really stand up under pressure.
If so, then there's a chance (possibly) that I might be able to spare that kind of money for a one-stop-orchestral-ultimate-package. If I will not find any limitations, and be happy with it, and only have to be interested in other libraries out of curiosity and general taste for their sound and not because I need them to supplement Philharmonik so that I can make the high quality orchestral pieces I'd like to with relatively little pain of trying to cover up for bad samples, then I'm all over this product, if I have the money
. It would have to be significantly better than EWQLSO Gold, but hey, it seems like this is going to be really amazing, so I expect it will beat it out easily, but I just need to be sure before I can even think about this kind of product.