Which orchestral library?

djanogil · 30th June 2005

Hi,

I need to get an orchestral library, hesitating between;

-Garritan personal Orchestra

-East West Symphonic Orchestra Silver.

Has anyone compared these?
GPO is supposed to be very good, any views welcome.

THX

goldphinga · 30th June 2005

Check out the demos on the garritan site, they sound amazing to me. have heard more about the garritan library being the one to get, but i'm about to invest as well so would be good to hear from anyone who has experienced both, or others.

Darius van H · 30th June 2005

The Ilio Vienna library is very good but would benefit from being re-amped thru a Marshall stack.....not cheap either

natpub · 1st July 2005

Garritan personal orch sounds really hokey to me. We did some pretty close analyses and did not like it compared to most anything out there---nope, we did not like it one bit :-)

Their more expensive individual strings, brass, etc, however, are quite good, and we bought them. The Vienna stuff is excellent, as you might expect, and the Miroslav is ok if you like that really hyped kind thing.

Anyway, most the cheaper titles sound exactly as you might expect---cheap. If you are needing very serious orchestral work, and are a pro, then expect to spend a bit of cash on your library.

Most $3-4k orchestral cube type collections are well worth it. If you only need strings, you might look at Garritan Orch Strings, Lite, which blows the personal orchestra away. Then pick up something like Bigga Brass, and a decene woodwing and percussion collection. At the end you may have $1-2k into it, but it will be much better than the cheaper personal orchestra collections.

Kubilay · 1st July 2005

Currently they are selling the EWSO Gold for 50% off. (Silver as well, but get the Gold, it's worth it.) Highly recommended. Platinum is even better, since you get the close-miced option, but even at half off still a considerable chunk of change. I demoed the Garritan and was quite underwhelmed. Just my opinion.

Go to www.soundsonline.com for details.

µ¿ z3®ø™ · 1st July 2005

EWQLSO is by far better than garritan.
it's the keith johnson factor.
me?
VSL all the way.
fanfrickintabulous!!!

natpub · 1st July 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by µ¿ z3®ø™

EWQLSO is by far better than garritan.
it's the keith johnson factor.
me?
VSL all the way.
fanfrickintabulous!!!

yup, if you got the bucks, I gotta 2nd the VSL full Giga versions, esp the newest stuff, really powerful.

Moze · 1st July 2005

I really like a combo of VSL and EastWest. They compliment and double each other nicely.

-moze

cultureofgreed · 1st July 2005

Garritan

MrChang · 1st July 2005

djanogil,

From the two titles you mentioned, I'm guessing that your budget for samples is limited... at least at the beginning of the journey.

If you're looking for instant Hans Zimmer grab EWQLSO, load up a bunch of instruments, assign them to the same midi channel, and hit your hands on your controller in some synchopated 7/8 fashion. Works even better with the Platinum "far" samples!

Joking aside, the East West stuff really is good for great, big orchestral motifs. There's a huge jump in sonics (due to the inclusion of release samples and chromatic sampling) from Silver to Gold, so if you go East West, save up your pennies and start there. East West is also great if mixing realistic midi orchestra mock-ups isn't a strength. Quick and dirty still sounds good.

Garritan's Strings were wonderful in the day and still have some relevant sample content. Better "strings only" packages have come along since, though. Skip the GPO thing. As natpub said, honky is one word to describe it. Something has to be lost for things to be affordable...

If you're looking to write music (without having your samples dictate, to a great extent, the possibilties in your musical lines/phrases), there's nothing remotely close to VSL, save hiring live, warm bodies. The legato programming Herb's done is simply outstanding.

If you need something to get your feet wet and like the idea of instant,"out of the box" sound, EW Gold is a wonderful place to start. It has one sound: big! So take that into consideration, too. That will play nicely with your next purchase, VSL Performance Set. Really. You'll end up there eventually.

You may look into the more affordable VSL Opus 1 (more afforadable than VSL full 1st edition or pro ed. packages), though I have not heard first-hand the whole tone sampling method used in here.

Cheers!

gtruno · 3rd August 2005

I hear GP is great, you might also wait to try the new miro philharmonic from ik

Stoneface · 3rd August 2005

I know this isn't technically a "library" but Motu has just released a symphonic instrument that sounds amazing. Under $300 bucks. Don't know if this will help you any but I was pretty impressed. Worth a listen...

Good luck!

Ruudman · 3rd August 2005

GPO's woodys sound like pooooh

Looking forward to test the new one from Miroslav; just hope it isn't all
about combo patches..

ruudman

dolo · 3rd August 2005

what about the sonic implant library? have anyone heard or used it?

Youn · 3rd August 2005

I have both, as well as some more expensive libraries.

Using GPO is easier and more fun, because you can actually play each instrument on your keyboard and is responds much better to your performance. With EWQLSO it requires lots of tedious editing and a number of tracks for each individual instrument. Both GPO and Silver can result in a realistic sound, but only in some instances. GPO is soft and warm in comparison to EWQLSO, which is more 'produced' sounding. For GPO, check out "Clarinet Concerto in A Major" and "Giliw Ko ('My Beloved')", they sound pretty real to me. For EWQLSO, just goto SoundsOnline.com and check out those demos (they only post the good demos, btw, there are just as many horrid demos as there are for GPO IMO)

Now, if you want to step up the realism, and don't mind editing, then definately check out EWQLSO Gold. It's really stunning out of the box because it's got the hall reverb tails on all the samples, and because of this it lacks some flexibility in the sound it'll result in. EWQLSO Platinum has close samples which are much dryer, and obviously that's more flexible, but costs thousand+

VSL probably have the largest, most flexible, libraries out there, with some being offered on hard drives because it whould just be an insane amount of DVDs. It's also recorded dry, much like GPO, so it will require a good reverb and some mixing. The only downside is that it also requires lots of editing and searching through the hundreds of articulations to find a single note that sounds right. Though there are tools to use to ease the burden, it's all still going to be overly complex to someone with no experience.

Some people like spending hours doing this kinda stuff, but some hate it and would still rather use GPO because it's faster and 'good enough' sounding to get their idea across - and that's really the key issue here, do you want things to sound completely realistic to everyone? You won't likely be able to please ANY experienced sample library user, but even with GPO and Silver you can pull off fooling the casual listener - they won't know it's fake until you tell them.

The new Miro Philharmonic from IK is along the same lines as GPO, it's very easy and fast to create a mock up that get's your idea across. The demos to me don't sound as good as GPO, but it looks like it might be easier to use, I don't know. I think it's 500 bucks, in which case, you'd be a fool not get EWQLSO Gold! Again, you're method of working and your desired final result is what matters here. All of these different libraries aren't trying to compete with each other for realism in sound, some of them like GPO and Synful are trying to make it easier to produce/compose music.

Youn · 3rd August 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by dolo

what about the sonic implant library? have anyone heard or used it?

For the bigger libraries, I would choose SI over EWQLSO in a heart beat, much easier to use IME and it has a nice round tone that I prefer.

Curtis Franklin · 3rd August 2005

invest in vienna, it is still cheaper than hiring an orchestra for an hour.

cheers

dolo · 3rd August 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Youn

For the bigger libraries, I would choose SI over EWQLSO in a heart beat, much easier to use IME and it has a nice round tone that I prefer.

is the sounds recorded more dry or can you hear the hall?

kenny_popper · 3rd August 2005

Hi dolo,

Very happy with East West Symphonic Orchestra Platinium Version. I bought this at a "group buy" deal back in April for $1199.00 US. The software sampler East West uses is NI Kompakt, and it is very easy to use. The Library is HUGE, so be prepared to get adequate storage. I went with a couple of 160 GB SATA's. These samples are very good.

I would suggest,(as a previous poster stated), to check out www.soundsonline.com

They are always running specials, as a matter of fact, there is a special running now.

Best,

Kenny

wolfhound · 4th August 2005

The GPO is quite bad....really. Get the East West, or the VSL Opus 1. With the East West there's also an upgrade path i think...

µ¿ z3®ø™ · 4th August 2005

i must say.....
i bought the EWQLSO platinum 'cuz of the great price. i am super impressed. if U are familiar with the musical terms employed it's actually quite quick to use, altho' U will be limited sometimes because U only have a certain amount of articulations to choose from. in this regard VSL wins hands down. but the sounds in EWQLSO are stunning. i'm totally hooked and am getting the update along wwith ra and the symphonic choirs.

30th June 2005	#1
djanogil Lives for gear Join Date: May 2005 Location: Paris Posts: 929 Thread Starter	Which orchestral library? Hi, I need to get an orchestral library, hesitating between; -Garritan personal Orchestra -East West Symphonic Orchestra Silver. Has anyone compared these? GPO is supposed to be very good, any views welcome. THX

30th June 2005	#3
Darius van H Lives for gear Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Amsterdam Posts: 1,716	The Ilio Vienna library is very good but would benefit from being re-amped thru a Marshall stack.....not cheap either __________________ www.amsterdammastering.com

1st July 2005	#4
natpub More cowbell! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 2,084 1 Review written	Garritan personal orch sounds really hokey to me. We did some pretty close analyses and did not like it compared to most anything out there---nope, we did not like it one bit :-) Their more expensive individual strings, brass, etc, however, are quite good, and we bought them. The Vienna stuff is excellent, as you might expect, and the Miroslav is ok if you like that really hyped kind thing. Anyway, most the cheaper titles sound exactly as you might expect---cheap. If you are needing very serious orchestral work, and are a pro, then expect to spend a bit of cash on your library. Most $3-4k orchestral cube type collections are well worth it. If you only need strings, you might look at Garritan Orch Strings, Lite, which blows the personal orchestra away. Then pick up something like Bigga Brass, and a decene woodwing and percussion collection. At the end you may have $1-2k into it, but it will be much better than the cheaper personal orchestra collections. __________________ Sonic Sorcery Austin, Texas

1st July 2005	#5
Kubilay Gear addict Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 303	Currently they are selling the EWSO Gold for 50% off. (Silver as well, but get the Gold, it's worth it.) Highly recommended. Platinum is even better, since you get the close-miced option, but even at half off still a considerable chunk of change. I demoed the Garritan and was quite underwhelmed. Just my opinion. Go to www.soundsonline.com for details. __________________ Kubi

1st July 2005	#8
Moze Gear nut Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 84	I really like a combo of VSL and EastWest. They compliment and double each other nicely. -moze __________________ De omnibus dubitandum

30th June 2005	#2
goldphinga Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,328	Check out the demos on the garritan site, they sound amazing to me. have heard more about the garritan library being the one to get, but i'm about to invest as well so would be good to hear from anyone who has experienced both, or others.

1st July 2005	#6
µ¿ z3®ø™ Gear maniac Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: t-dot Posts: 288	EWQLSO is by far better than garritan. it's the keith johnson factor. me? VSL all the way. fanfrickintabulous!!!

1st July 2005	#9
cultureofgreed Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Interzone Posts: 292	Garritan

1st July 2005	#10
MrChang Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 270	djanogil, From the two titles you mentioned, I'm guessing that your budget for samples is limited... at least at the beginning of the journey. If you're looking for instant Hans Zimmer grab EWQLSO, load up a bunch of instruments, assign them to the same midi channel, and hit your hands on your controller in some synchopated 7/8 fashion. Works even better with the Platinum "far" samples! Joking aside, the East West stuff really is good for great, big orchestral motifs. There's a huge jump in sonics (due to the inclusion of release samples and chromatic sampling) from Silver to Gold, so if you go East West, save up your pennies and start there. East West is also great if mixing realistic midi orchestra mock-ups isn't a strength. Quick and dirty still sounds good. Garritan's Strings were wonderful in the day and still have some relevant sample content. Better "strings only" packages have come along since, though. Skip the GPO thing. As natpub said, honky is one word to describe it. Something has to be lost for things to be affordable... If you're looking to write music (without having your samples dictate, to a great extent, the possibilties in your musical lines/phrases), there's nothing remotely close to VSL, save hiring live, warm bodies. The legato programming Herb's done is simply outstanding. If you need something to get your feet wet and like the idea of instant,"out of the box" sound, EW Gold is a wonderful place to start. It has one sound: big! So take that into consideration, too. That will play nicely with your next purchase, VSL Performance Set. Really. You'll end up there eventually. You may look into the more affordable VSL Opus 1 (more afforadable than VSL full 1st edition or pro ed. packages), though I have not heard first-hand the whole tone sampling method used in here. Cheers!

3rd August 2005	#11
gtruno Gear interested Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4	I hear GP is great, you might also wait to try the new miro philharmonic from ik

3rd August 2005	#12
Stoneface 3 + infractions, forum membership suspended. Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: South Florida Posts: 1,050	I know this isn't technically a "library" but Motu has just released a symphonic instrument that sounds amazing. Under $300 bucks. Don't know if this will help you any but I was pretty impressed. Worth a listen... Good luck!

3rd August 2005	#13
Ruudman Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norway Posts: 3,079	GPO's woodys sound like pooooh Looking forward to test the new one from Miroslav; just hope it isn't all about combo patches.. ruudman __________________ Working Class Hero Visit this website of Noma Children Hospital Sokoto

3rd August 2005	#14
dolo Gear addict Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Weehawken, NJ Posts: 497	what about the sonic implant library? have anyone heard or used it?

3rd August 2005	#15
Youn Gear addict Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 375	I have both, as well as some more expensive libraries. Using GPO is easier and more fun, because you can actually play each instrument on your keyboard and is responds much better to your performance. With EWQLSO it requires lots of tedious editing and a number of tracks for each individual instrument. Both GPO and Silver can result in a realistic sound, but only in some instances. GPO is soft and warm in comparison to EWQLSO, which is more 'produced' sounding. For GPO, check out "Clarinet Concerto in A Major" and "Giliw Ko ('My Beloved')", they sound pretty real to me. For EWQLSO, just goto SoundsOnline.com and check out those demos (they only post the good demos, btw, there are just as many horrid demos as there are for GPO IMO) Now, if you want to step up the realism, and don't mind editing, then definately check out EWQLSO Gold. It's really stunning out of the box because it's got the hall reverb tails on all the samples, and because of this it lacks some flexibility in the sound it'll result in. EWQLSO Platinum has close samples which are much dryer, and obviously that's more flexible, but costs thousand+ VSL probably have the largest, most flexible, libraries out there, with some being offered on hard drives because it whould just be an insane amount of DVDs. It's also recorded dry, much like GPO, so it will require a good reverb and some mixing. The only downside is that it also requires lots of editing and searching through the hundreds of articulations to find a single note that sounds right. Though there are tools to use to ease the burden, it's all still going to be overly complex to someone with no experience. Some people like spending hours doing this kinda stuff, but some hate it and would still rather use GPO because it's faster and 'good enough' sounding to get their idea across - and that's really the key issue here, do you want things to sound completely realistic to everyone? You won't likely be able to please ANY experienced sample library user, but even with GPO and Silver you can pull off fooling the casual listener - they won't know it's fake until you tell them. The new Miro Philharmonic from IK is along the same lines as GPO, it's very easy and fast to create a mock up that get's your idea across. The demos to me don't sound as good as GPO, but it looks like it might be easier to use, I don't know. I think it's 500 bucks, in which case, you'd be a fool not get EWQLSO Gold! Again, you're method of working and your desired final result is what matters here. All of these different libraries aren't trying to compete with each other for realism in sound, some of them like GPO and Synful are trying to make it easier to produce/compose music.

3rd August 2005	#17
Curtis Franklin Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 579	invest in vienna, it is still cheaper than hiring an orchestra for an hour. cheers __________________ --------------------------------------------------- Curtis Franklin - Owner www.phantom48.com - proudly sells: Antares, Blackout Effectors, Brainworx, Flux, Hosa, iZoptope, On-Stage, Presonus, Softube, Sonnox, SoundToys, SPL, Suhr, TC Electronic, Waves, and more. A better deal is only a pm away.

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3rd August 2005	#19
kenny_popper Gear nut Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Boca Raton, Florida Posts: 88	Hi dolo, Very happy with East West Symphonic Orchestra Platinium Version. I bought this at a "group buy" deal back in April for $1199.00 US. The software sampler East West uses is NI Kompakt, and it is very easy to use. The Library is HUGE, so be prepared to get adequate storage. I went with a couple of 160 GB SATA's. These samples are very good. I would suggest,(as a previous poster stated), to check out www.soundsonline.com They are always running specials, as a matter of fact, there is a special running now. Best, Kenny

4th August 2005	#20
wolfhound Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: nyc Posts: 220	The GPO is quite bad....really. Get the East West, or the VSL Opus 1. With the East West there's also an upgrade path i think...