Orchestral samples, which library is best?

[alphabetgreen]

Originally Posted by GOSPEEDRACER

Heard strings from a company, Audio Impressions? I think was the name at a namm show a few years ago, Absolutely MIND BLOWING!!!!

They sampled using great vintage mics,

I would throw myself at someones feet to prevent them from buying Audio Impressions. There's a guy I spoke to in LA who was begged to go and work for Audio Impressions and he declined because he had the ultimate strings package in the making. It's called Los Angeles Scoring Strings (LASS for short). There is no better strings package on the planet. And unlike Audio Impressions, you don't have to spend an unnecessary fortune on extra computers to carry the samples off. Both packages have the same selling point, and that is that you can construct your own amount of musicians sitting where you want them to be. But LASS have it pinpoint perfect. Listen to the demos and tell me I'm a liar.

[alphabetgreen]

Originally Posted by kittyboy

I have the library and have to agree. Unfortunately most of the strings I "hear" in my music are solo or very small sections. I don't need super-fancy articulations , just natural sound in single strings and small sections.

What do you recommend?

I've heard all the sample solo strings, and the good news is that the best ones are also pretty cheap. Because I can honestly say that the IK Multimedia Miroslav Orchestral and Choir Workstation has the most expressive and natural sounding solo strings I have ever heard. Their string sections sound nice as well, but they are extremely lacking in versatility. I use HALion for orchestral strings because of their X-fade dynamics syndrome and Miroslav (and sometimes Notion 2) for everything else.

[natpub]

the solo violin from EW "Gypsy" is my best...it is beautifully expressive

[Slipperman]

Miroslav is pretty cool.

SM.

[Karahashianders]

LA Scoring Strings - it won a 2011 MIPA award for sound libraries and for good reason....with only a basic understanding of modulation you can make these strings sound amazing. On sale for $1000 right now, regular price is 1300.

Westgate Studios doesn't get mentioned very often. All of their samples are 24-bit and the legato on their woodwind instruments sound quite realistic - I own the Basoons and Clarinets. I also have their Celtic Harp, which is EXCELLENT and probably the best harp I've heard so far and the Westgate Timpani is very nice. Some libraries come in wet/dry, and again, a basic understanding of modulation will get you excellent sounds for reasonable prices (about $200 per library).

Dan Dean is another company that doesn't get mentioned very often and also creates 24-bit samples that are very easy to work with and also very reasonable - the woodwind library is $100 and the flutes are particularly great.

Project Sam - Truestrike 2, Orchestral Brass are the ones I own and I'm quite satisfied with both. Truestrike 2 is best as a supplement to other orchestral percussion, because it has lots of ethnic instruments that are not common in other libraries. Orchestral Brass has excellent solo sounds, but the multis are not very impressive.

Cinesamples!! Great company to buy samples from - CineHarp, CineBrass (probably the best individual brass library), VOXOS, Hollywoodwinds, Drums of War, etc. Fairly pricey but very high quality sounds.

Vir2 is one of the best sample companies out there and one of the most expensive. Elite Orchestral Percussion is absolutely amazing though....

In my opinion, there are so many people who buy the Vienna Libraries and especially EWQL Orchestra, that the lack of diversity in the sound of amateur composing is beginning to become apparent. You may end up spending more money going the individual sample route, but by customizing your library, you're going to have a distinctive sound as a composer that can't really be achieved by those who buy the huge bundles.