EastWest Goliath vs Omnisphere vs E6400

[Goodfellow]

I know...apples, oranges, fruit salad, but I want the best and most dynamic/realistic sounding array of acoustic instruments for the least amount of money.

Accepting all reasonable ideas.

Thanks in advance!

[Goodfellow]

And Saturday takers?

[Zombie H]

I don't own any of their stuff but I really like the samples I've heard of the EWQL acoustic stuff - to me omnisphere (I own it) is something I use for making more electronic type patches and very synth sounds

or failing that get a Motif/Kurzweil maybe?

[Goodfellow]

Yeah, the East West stuff sounds great. It's the one that I haven't used either.

Thinking Kurz PC3 as well. Are the Motifs dynamic and responsive in ways that mimic actual instrument play? You know, that's the dream. Instruments that sound realistic, can add fx etc in a mixing context.

[shponglefan]

I have both Omnisphere and Goliath. Goliath is "meh", as least compared to the other EastWest sample libraries. Athough I notice they are running a 50% of sale right now, so I suppose @ 50% off Goliath wouldn't be bad. But I'd go for their other libraries (Symphonic Orchestra, MoR, etc) over Goliath if given a choice.

Omnisphere I wouldn't get for acoustic instruments either. Not that there's anything wrong with Omnisphere (actually, it's incredibly awesome), but it's not meant to be an acoustic instrument sample library.

[Goodfellow]

How is Goliath compared to the acoustic samples in Omnisphere? I have regular access to Omni, so I know the sounds pretty well.

[Mr. Varaldo]

I have the Complete Composers Collection, which includes Goliath.

The samples in Goliath are extremely well-recorded and sound very realistic.

[Beermaster]

Originally Posted by Goodfellow

How is Goliath compared to the acoustic samples in Omnisphere? I have regular access to Omni, so I know the sounds pretty well.

Goliath has bread and butter all round sounds for acoustic and electro-mechanical instruments so it covers a basic orchestral set, Guitars acoustic and electric, organs, electric pianos, Horn Section ( derived from the original East west 'Brass' package which was superb in its day -good for both RnB style horn section as well as orchestral duties ) - it has some synth bass, lead and pads but these are simple fixed preset sounds that offer little to change their preset sound. iF you're trying to write material that uses mainly non synthesized sounds ( so anything from orchestral, ethnic, rock, pop, etc ) then this is a good starting place as it offers a little of everything you need......the down side being that many of these sounds are not as good as other more up to date offerings from East West and others...but you'd be be paying ten to hundred times more for individual libraries rather than the one all singing dancing library.

Omnisphere - is from the ground up designed more as a synthesizer with a true easy to use synthesis engine so you can make traditional sounds from a waveform and build up from there with all of the elements of a real synthesis engine ( and a mind blowing amount more !) Omnisphere's core set of waveform sounds ( from which you build your own patches or use the presets etc ) was added to over the years to include many of the big sample libraries that Spectraonics had previously released as their high end hardware sample products over a decade ago - So aswell as being the best soft synth on the market it also contains as a bonus a big variety of superb sample libraries within its waveform sets:

1. Symphony of Voices - probably the go-to choir package for many pro writers over the years..contains everything from choirs, to soloists, gregorian chants, boys choirs and fx.... this was a 5 CD rom set back in the day

2. Vocal Planet - another five CD rom set that focused on Gospel, Blues, RnB,Jazz and World voice styles.... stunning recordings and as usable now as they ever were.

3. Bizzare Guitar - a big set of mutated guitar stuff

4. Hans Zimmers guitars.....some of the patches from this double CD rom set

- These libraries aren't as diverse as the Goliath so you won't find woodwind and brass in Omnisphere ( traditional true sampled patches that is ) - but Omnisphere isn't really meant to be thought of as bread and butter sample set like Goliath.

Emu E6400 - a EOS hardware sampler with lots of great functions from back in the day but will never pull off any of the stuff that Goliath and Omnisphere can achieve - to get even close you'll need full spec, external scsi CD ROM, external SCSI hard drive - lots of leads and some serious practice in working within the limitations of a memory dependent sampling.

So to conclude:

Goliath - bread an butter bit of everything....master of few

Ominsphere - King Of Softsynths....+ Stunning sample sets + Fleixible beyond belief + Master of many

E6400 - a hardware sampler of old with all the good points of the mid 90's .. and all the hang ups and restrictions of the mid 90's

Beer

[Goodfellow]

Originally Posted by Beermaster

Goliath has bread and butter all round sounds for acoustic and electro-mechanical instruments so it covers a basic orchestral set, Guitars acoustic and electric, organs, electric pianos, Horn Section ( derived from the original East west 'Brass' package which was superb in its day -good for both RnB style horn section as well as orchestral duties ) - it has some synth bass, lead and pads but these are simple fixed preset sounds that offer little to change their preset sound. iF you're trying to write material that uses mainly non synthesized sounds ( so anything from orchestral, ethnic, rock, pop, etc ) then this is a good starting place as it offers a little of everything you need......the down side being that many of these sounds are not as good as other more up to date offerings from East West and others...but you'd be be paying ten to hundred times more for individual libraries rather than the one all singing dancing library.

Omnisphere - is from the ground up designed more as a synthesizer with a true easy to use synthesis engine so you can make traditional sounds from a waveform and build up from there with all of the elements of a real synthesis engine ( and a mind blowing amount more !) Omnisphere's core set of waveform sounds ( from which you build your own patches or use the presets etc ) was added to over the years to include many of the big sample libraries that Spectraonics had previously released as their high end hardware sample products over a decade ago - So aswell as being the best soft synth on the market it also contains as a bonus a big variety of superb sample libraries within its waveform sets:

1. Symphony of Voices - probably the go-to choir package for many pro writers over the years..contains everything from choirs, to soloists, gregorian chants, boys choirs and fx.... this was a 5 CD rom set back in the day

2. Vocal Planet - another five CD rom set that focused on Gospel, Blues, RnB,Jazz and World voice styles.... stunning recordings and as usable now as they ever were.

3. Bizzare Guitar - a big set of mutated guitar stuff

4. Hans Zimmers guitars.....some of the patches from this double CD rom set

- These libraries aren't as diverse as the Goliath so you won't find woodwind and brass in Omnisphere ( traditional true sampled patches that is ) - but Omnisphere isn't really meant to be thought of as bread and butter sample set like Goliath.

Emu E6400 - a EOS hardware sampler with lots of great functions from back in the day but will never pull off any of the stuff that Goliath and Omnisphere can achieve - to get even close you'll need full spec, external scsi CD ROM, external SCSI hard drive - lots of leads and some serious practice in working within the limitations of a memory dependent sampling.

So to conclude:

Goliath - bread an butter bit of everything....master of few

Ominsphere - King Of Softsynths....+ Stunning sample sets + Fleixible beyond belief + Master of many

E6400 - a hardware sampler of old with all the good points of the mid 90's .. and all the hang ups and restrictions of the mid 90's

Beer

Much thanks for this response. As usual, your information is quite useful.

Omnisphere is a terrific softy, and I've been really impressed with the quality of its samples. I'm currently using it in the studio for a project I'm working on. At home, I have my subtractive/granular/wavetable bases covered (insofar as my current budget goes), and I can imagine spending $500ish, but only really for getting those bread and butter sounds. I may wait a bit and go for the complete composers collection though, while I'm at it.

Anyway, you basically confirmed what I believed to be true. Was kind of hoping that you'd tell me that there are freeware samples that sound exactly like acoustic instruments that you can load via wireless to your E6400 Ultra. Alas, a lack.

[Mr. Varaldo]

I think BeerMaster gave you an accurate analysis of the three products.

How about some actual individual AUDIO DEMOS of Goliath?

I played these in one shot in real time, with just my fingers, and using only the included Goliath FX in some of the demos

56 Guitar: realistic electric guitar with finger noise built in
Acoustic Guitar: nice, big size acoustic gutar
Altos OHs: realistic choir
Bosendorfer: beautifully sampled grand piano. Reverb also is from Goliath
Celesta: very cinematic sound
Drums: studio kit, there are several types available
Duduk: haunting
Ethnic Percussion: one of EastWest's strong points - percussive elements
Ukulele: not always easy to find on libraries. This is sampled nicely.
Upright Bass: realistic and with plenty of string / slide noises.

[Goodfellow]

Originally Posted by Mr. Varaldo

I think BeerMaster gave you an accurate analysis of the three products.

How about some actual individual AUDIO DEMOS of Goliath?

I played these in one shot in real time, with just my fingers, and using only the included Goliath FX in some of the demos

56 Guitar: realistic electric guitar with finger noise built in
Acoustic Guitar: nice, big size acoustic gutar
Altos OHs: realistic choir
Bosendorfer: beautifully sampled grand piano. Reverb also is from Goliath
Celesta: very cinematic sound
Drums: studio kit, there are several types available
Duduk: haunting
Ethnic Percussion: one of EastWest's strong points - percussive elements
Ukulele: not always easy to find on libraries. This is sampled nicely.
Upright Bass: realistic and with plenty of string / slide noises.

Great! Thanks so much for that! Sounds seem solid enough. Think I'm going to try to creep on the Complete Composers though. Ultimately, seems worth having all of that for only twice as much.

[shponglefan]

Originally Posted by Goodfellow

Great! Thanks so much for that! Sounds seem solid enough. Think I'm going to try to creep on the Complete Composers though. Ultimately, seems worth having all of that for only twice as much.

The CCC is pretty sweet deal, highly recommended. Just make sure to factor in the cost of another HD for doing a backup!

[Mr. Varaldo]

Originally Posted by Goodfellow

Think I'm going to try to creep on the Complete Composers though. Ultimately, seems worth having all of that for only twice as much.

That was my reasoning as well when I bought the Complete Composers Collection. But basically these days any library is of outstanding quality... as long as one knows how to play the keyboard to emulate different instruments, you can use anything that's new and sample-based

Originally Posted by shponglefan

The CCC is pretty sweet deal, highly recommended. Just make sure to factor in the cost of another HD for doing a backup!

That's true. The company says they would replace the data any time (you are paying for the license basically) but at the time I got a Green Caviar 1TB and backed it up anyway, just in case... Also, these days a 1TB drive doesn't cost too much.