Modelling is the future of sample libraries. I think sample libraries should be going smaller in terms of size, not bigger. I've slimmed down to a laptop-based setup, running Audio Imperia Nucleus for traditional samples, with Aaron Venture brass and winds and Pianoteq for keys. My template takes up only a third of the RAM on my 16 GB machine and sounds better than anything I had achieved with other sample libraries previously. I'll be investing in only modelled libraries (Sample Modelling, V-Winds/Horns, Aaron Venture), sound design plugins or budgeting to record real players going forward (with this being the end-game goal), but my days of buying traditionally-sampled orchestral (or other) libraries have definitely come to an end. Why do I need 230 GB of drums (Superior Drummer 3), or 200+ GB of just strings with 26 mic positions (Spitfire HZ Strings)? It's not justifiable for me personally, and really isn't pushing the industry forward in terms of technology, or supporting those who are trying to do new things with sampling.

As hobbyist composer, I admire anyone who can make a living at it. Before retiring from my non-music job 14 months ago, I went crazy buying sample libraries, and other virtual instruments in anticipation of a big drop of income. I spent a lot of money on orchestral libraries from Spitfire and the NI Komplete collection. If I could do it over, I would buy a Musio perpetual license instead, for the price of one or two expensive Spitfire or Cinesample libraries. I got Musio recently to fill in some of the gaps in my instrument collection. There is a huge number of libraries included. It seems that it doesn't have the full controls to create the highest level of convincing and nuanced mockups for professional composers, but I don't have the skill or desire to do so, now that I understand a little about how much work and knowledge is involved. I should have realized that all I really want is to arrange the songs I write with some beautiful orchestral elements that sound not obviously fake. Of course, since I already own the lovely Spitfire stuff, I will use it, but much of the Musio collection is damn nice too, such as the Tina Guo cellos and the Gina Luciani flutes.

As hobbyist composer, I have spent way too much money on libraries myself. In my possession I have (amongst others) VSL (which tend to be very 'dry' and upclose sounds), Komplete 13 Ultimate, and 2 orchestra from East West. While I am like yourself, I usually stick with that one library (from East West) because it suits my needs. And sometimes I like to go for a different vibe so I come back to Komplete 13 and their string sessions. The only issue I am currently having, with especially that many sounds to choose from, I totally get lost from time to time to figure out which sounds to use. Back in the days when I was limited with a single daw, and only a few plugins, I tend to be more 'creative' with the sounds that I have. But today, I feel like wandering around a dense forest... and I am totally lost

I agree with the sentiment here. My gripe currently, is that some library brands consider themselves composers first. This isn't acceptable anymore and no-one is falling for that boutique artisan rhetoric. You are a SOFTWARE COMPANY. Ensure you're working on latest OS updates, patches etc. Don't leave your libraries to fester. Anyone remember the last update to BBC Symphonic Orchestra? It's still not even fully signed off on operating systems two years old. With the playing-field so level in terms of quality and realism, you'll stand out more by being known for stability, compatibility and excellent support. I'm leaning more and more towards Kontakt libraries as I know NI will regularly be working on this platform.

I mostly agree. There are tons of small indie devs out there committed to creating quality libraries, but of course only a few of us can afford to get into the orchestral game. Jasper and Aron have that area pretty well covered from an indie perspective, but the rest of us try to push the envelope in other ways, it’s just hard to break through the noise from the big devs.

This video explains why I absolutely respect Jasper Blunk and Performance Samples. Really innovative sampling and just hard work and commitment to quality :)

Good points Brian. Still amazed that barely any devs really update their existing products. Yes you cannot capitalize on updates as much as on new releases, but still leaving users with broken products should not be an option.

Great video! Spitfire is now beginning to flirt with the subscription model. However, since Christian’s departure from the company it feels like their heart and soul has diminished, if not completely disappeared. You make many valid points here… thank you for your willingness to speak out! Cheers!

Really great breakdown. I didn't consider competition would lead to products being not as good. I use Native Instruments collection of strings and brass. I really love the sound for what I do. I make music for sync licensing and the brass hits sound so good to me.

So true, I've been saying this for years. In fact it's always surprised me how developers have managed to stay afloat for so long without selling anything better. And don't get me wrong, they've been selling new interesting stuff too. But these libraries aren't usually traditional orchestral libraries and aren't definitely the 'big name/big release' they try to build hype about - those big names are ALWAYS traditional orchestral libraries.

Thanks for taking time to make this, it's stopping buying more libraries I really don't 'need' just because they're on sale. I have subscribed to EW to try HD2 and so far have had big problems with Violins 1 legato doing some very weird things, for example playing two notes together a semi tone apart 😮. Tech support did respond very quickly but not solved. So far glad i haven't bought it. A review of HS2 would be great.

For us music producers in hip hop, the libraries were just WAY too expensive. I understand quality costs but when each library costs more than the DAW, it’s a hard decision to make. Maybe for you guys getting $2,000+ sync fees, it’s pennies lol but to most music producers not in sync, the prices were the hard obstacle.

Also, on the topic of Try Before You Buy, 8Dio used to do something interesting: release a limited-scale version of a library for a fraction of the price, just so users could get a feel for what it could do. It was fully functional, but with fewer samples (and a range of one octave). Great video btw, I agree with what you are saying and I've noticed the same thing in recent years. I too still get excited when I read about the upcoming BEST THING EVER library, only to find that it's a 60GB legato-only module with 30 mic positions or something of that sort. Companies seem to be putting more effort into putting out more libraries than putting out good-sounding and well-scripted ones.

I’ve only been doing composing/producing for a hobby for about 3 years. I already have more libraries than I can keep up with. And I definitely don’t need anymore ensemble or “toolkit” libraries. I find myself gravitating towards phrase libraries with midis drag and drop or sound design libraries with very unique tool sets. These help my workflow and keep me feeling inspired and productive.

So I recently got just the Male and Female Choir part of Orchestral Tools's Tallinn. I got it for a very specific project and because it had a very specific characteristic that I knew was perfect for what I was doing, which was having the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, who has often premiered Arvo Pärt's compositions. I am very pleased with it and it will serve me very well for this particular purpose. I agree with a lot of what you put forth. I think it's recognizing that there is such a thing as diminishing returns when it comes to products available. I also think it's important to practice due diligence on a product before committing to it, so yes having trial periods and the like. In my aforementioned case, I liked that I could pay for a portion of a library, rather than the entire thing. That way, I am only paying for what I really need and I can pay for the rest of it if needed at a pro-rated price. There's probably more but that's enough for now =]

"We can tell when the product is great - and when it's not" Amen, brother. So many companies in so many different fields just seem to... not understand this. Beats me.

Just wondering how and where you store the libraries? Especially libraries that have VSTi front ends to access the files, SampleScience comes to mind?

This is why Jasper Blunk and Aaron Sapp are my two favorite devs. They both genuinely care about pushing the art of sampling forward. And their products are really incredible

My current favourites are the Virharmonic Bohemian series solo instruments. The 'AI' assisted articulation switching and style modes is where all of these libraries and sample players should be headed. So much faster work flow.

What I want to see much more often in libraries are patches that recognize my playing style and determine which articulation is most appropriate at the moment, resembling the lively playing of a real musician. There's nothing worse than trying to mimic an organic playing style using key switches or many different tracks.

Please don’t stop making these vids!

I think it depends on what sort of music you want to make. If I want to mock-up a piece that will ultimately be performed by a real orchestra then I'll always use VSL. They seem to be the closest to what you'll hear in a recording studio. If your music is solely studio based and unlikely to be performed by a live ensemble, then use whatever library sounds good to you! Also, and this applies to all libraries, find out what your samples can do - it will save you money!

Very well put. Thanks for sharing! 👍 I feel quite the same way about Hollywood Strings, although nowadays I'm adding quite a bit of colors from ProjectSAM Symphobias and Spitfire Chamber Strings among some other select libraries. ✨ Legato patches are, indeed, a revealing element in how well many of these things have been thought out. Bohemian violin is, so far, the only dedicated solo violin vsti I have been able to tolerate, having grown up close to the real deal. 😅 - Eero

I stopped buying orchestral libraries years ago. I used to be on the hunt for the best, greatest, most realistic and expressive, etc., and I wish I could get the money I spent while on this quest, haha. After acquiring enough of these things, I realized that they all sound good. As long as you know what you're doing, there's a certain level of quality you can achieve in your mockups and any "major" library can get you there. There is no need for more libraries until some real quantum leap happens that redefines the whole idea of sampling and/or modelling. And I don't see that happening any time soon.

I really dont think that modelling is THE future. It probably has a place in a full orchestral template. But the sound of sampled instruments is just so extremley realistic that I personally don't need anything more versatile than that. At some point the amount of work you need to adjust every single parameter in the modelled instrument becomes so time consuming that it's not worth it. It sound worse and it's more work. I don't get it. AI is different in that case because it could make things faster, better and more versitile at the same time. The only problem with ai is that you need so much training data that it becomes almost impossible to make an ultimate scoring ai. All the big companys would have to combine and make one epic product for this to work. Otherwise it will take a pretty long time for ai to have a place in samples libraries. And for most instruments ai will probably not be better. It will just be different. With things like choir this is a different story I think. Because everyone needs voices and voices are so unique that ai will probably play a big role in that regard. People are happy with what they have and it's already extremley easy to make music with all of the librarys we have that ai will just not be a very big market in music.

Thank you! You reminded me of the libraries I bought and forgot about and also showed me new ones to try! Thank you!🔥❤️🙏

Omg Thankyou for saying this out!

There's pros and cons to all the libraries. I prefer to use libraries that offer control with a UI that I can cope with, even if it requires a bit of time to learn. LASS and MSS are more complicated than most other libraries imo, but that's basically all I use for the majority of all the string work I do and I love them to bits. As long as you're ok with creating a bunch of automation lanes, they do exactly what I need and I think they can sound very convincing. I've also had happy feedback from music supervisors who are extremely critical about things like realism for orchestral work, so to me at least, this is a good sign. A cute feature of going to study orchestration at a formal institution is having libraries to mess about with before deciding to purchase one, as many music schools have a bunch of libraries already installed, and often the teachers will bring a dedicated HD+license key with them to use when giving a class. But obviously the cost of the education like that far outweighs the cost of most libraries...😂 I waited a couple of years before buying any specific libraries, and really "spammed" my teachers and friends beforehand to make sure I knew all about them/try them out at their studios etc. before dropping my cash on anything. Thanks for the video! Really interesting topic, and I definitely agree that orchestral libraries have basically plateaued in the last few years.

New products by Performance Samples still impress me after all these years. I also love how imperfect they sound.

So what are your 3 main libraries, and what are your other 2-3 that you use to layer or fill in? Maybe consider making a video giving your recommendations while discussing some more nuance. Which ones do you think play well together? Which increase or improve your workflow? Which sound good to you? What do you consider to be quality libraries and/or synths/instruments? Personally, I'm still a huge fan of Omnisphere, Zebra2/Diva, Albion One, Cinebrass, Cineperc, Tina Guo Cello, OT Berlin Woodwinds, Cinematic Studio Series, The Etheras, Oceania Choir, Abbey Road One Foundations (as a supplementary library), BBC Core ($240 on sale was a pretty good deal for an entire orchestra in a box), Albion Solstice, and some of the NI Komplete stuff like Damage, The Giant/Alicia's Keys/Una Corda pianos, Thrill for more aleatoric stuff, and Mysteria. I stopped buying stuff once I got these and a few niche things. Haven't bought a string library in years. The only thing I still want to get at some point is E/W Hollywood Opus, just so I can check out the strings and play with the orchestrator. It's a lot cheaper now compared to what it was at release, and still a lot of value. On a side note, AI companies such as OpenAI or ElevenLabs and Udio or Suno will probably make Sample libraries, and sample library developers who don't integrate AI, obsolete. Maybe not yet, but in 2-3 years or so, its going to happen because this stuff is moving at an incredible pace. I won't need a sample library when I will be able to tell some AI to add some violins or a chamber orchestra or some choir to the score I wrote, or the melody I hummed. Some companies like Cinesamples are jumping on the AI bandwagon, but guys like Spitfire are still stuck in the past believing that people are going to be spending 2k on some bs overpriced modular Abbey Road library that nobody actually asked for, or needs, that they claim is the next best thing since slice bread. Spitfire makes some great things, but it also makes complete garbage, and are sometimes completely out of touch. For example, find me a single use case for their Cassette Orchestra. I can't. I haven't seen a single review or a single person who actually made anything with that library. I learned to not buy into any more marketing bs or gas.

Kinda curious, by the way... how did you land your first composing job with that TV show?

What all-in-one orchestral library solution do you guys suggest? I have kontakt but i work with individual samples most of the time (hiphop producer). I feel like i'm missing a good library that lets me create hq orchestral samples on my own.

Actually VSL ticks a lot of points : you can try libraries, you can resell them, they are useful and not niche at all and they stand time very well (Dimension Strings for example) Only complaints : they are quite expensive and yes, keyswitches (I’m fond of KS but not everyone’s cup of tea). Besides, how’s your Open Stage Control project?

I couldn't agree more, and not just about orchestral libraries or movie genre. The same is true all across the board. I limited myself to Omnisphere(+trillian), Falcon, Komplete, Dune3, and EZ Drummer. No more GAS (gear acquisition syndrome),

10:56. Essential comment ! Myself- I pretty much got everything I needed libraries wise around about 2 years ago. That was the last time I purchased anything (filling in the last gaps in all orchestral sections). The sounds, articulations, realism got pretty much so perfect that IMHO they already reached an apogee of design and sonic demands in the hands of a skilled composer/orchestrator. There’s not much (if anything) one can add to what already existed 2 years ago, so buying “new” products makes zero sense if you’re satisfied with the results you can achieve with what you already have. All it takes now is your own creativity, amount of time (oh yes, it does take time !) you can devote to perfect each and every every line… Careful Hybriding is the key if you want to achieve “your” timber. I doubt if I will ever purchase anything anymore, unless someone creates the way to do your own portamentos between any combination of strings notes (YOUR combinations, with your starting and ending notes, with your tempo etc. NOT the pre-recorded ones with fixed duration and notes).

Great analysis! Did you try the new Soundiron strings? I guess they tried exactly this, to solve some problems other devs still didn’t

A question: There’s a lot of focus on large “Hollywood’y” solutions - and several great ones. However, my productions are within “popular music” (not actually pop), typically where string sections would range from a quartet to like 4-3-2-2. I’ve used partials from an old LASS version, but the mastering of this old product is _very_ bright, showing its age. Could someone suggest a newer’ish library covering smaller sections well? I arrange “old school” from scratch, so I’m fine without ‘phrases’, combos and the likes. Divisi, good legatos, dynamic control, senz. vib. etc are crucial, though… Thanks for inputs… 😊

Great Video! Very Concise and to the point!

I got spitfire BBC Core but I find the reverb to wet so one day i'll Upgrade to BBC Professional and I think that will be enough to hold me for a bit.

Excellent video congrats on this, subscribed :)

I was so dissapointed by Spitfire’s BBCSO that I decided that enough is enough: I’m not buying another orchestral library unless it’s based on both physical modelling and intelligent lookahead (which twenty years ago was a thing)

I think orchestral tools always pushes the boundaries. I can't think of a single library I bought from OT that didn't blow my mind.

I totally agree with you that being able to try a library before buying it would be a game changer. My very first Spitfire library was ... unfortunately ... the Olafur Arnalds library because I had no clue what I was doing. It was a pricey library and certainly for someone out there the exact right library but it was not so for me. I was beyond disappointed and used it only one or two times in my life. This experience kept me from buying any other product from Spitfire again because I am too afraid of spending money on the wrong product.

I dream of having the tools to make music just for myself, without any professional concerns. But there are so many options. I'm undecided about which ones are the most accurate. The tools I want to use are seaboart rise2, Pa5x korg, some libraries I chose from Global Sound sweden as backing sound, and strings, wind instruments, drums and guitar from the swam sound library. Eastern sounds (Indian, Arabic, Turkish instruments) from the contact library, I think that's enough. However, I could not make a decision about the program. I want your suggestion. There will either be programs related to the Mac system or Windows. Studio One seems to be the most advanced. But it only works with subscription. I don't want such a thing. It would be nice if its own sound library was also sufficient. Although Cubase is very advanced, it is said that it is not very user-friendly. Frankly, I don't need that much professionalism. Which one do you recommend?

Hi Brian. This might be off-topic here, but since you know a lot about strings libraries, I thought I would ask my question Anyway. Do you know about a library that would feature full strings patches for live playing, but with a special articulation I’ve been unable to find so far, fast attackss with sustains. Something like what we had on our good old Kurtzweil K1000 if you remember, only with round Robbins more samples and so on. It’s easy to find marcattos and spicattos, but nothing actually gives you this type of attack with infinite sustains. Thanks for coming back to me if you know any. Best regards

I relate to your situation 100% coming from around 2010 as well and I hate it lol great video though man! I think Spitfire were the last group I was impressed by.

For me personally, as someone who has limited time and limited funds, and who isn't even ready to release anything yet, much less make a profit or anything, I think that while getting a library that is "just right" could help boost my track by 1 or 2 percent to the finish line, I have to realize that that 1 or 2 percent might just not be in the budget, time or money wise. I would much rather just buy one or two libraries I am confident in and I feel will work for most of what I want to attempt and then pour my time, money, and soul into that remaining 98% to make it as good as possible. Especially considering the fact that if I spend too much time and effort on finding the perfect sound or patch, it will actually hurt that remaining 98%, the composition, what I actually like and care about, since I won't have any time or energy left for it. That's just my perspective though.

My go-to is Spitfire: Epic Strings with my modification (of Ostinato) I have called Radio Strings. It simulates a martelè sound that also keeps the iconic reverb of the AIR hall. I'm the kind of guy that sacrifices realism for aggression. Less is more

Check the Swam modeling instruments. Physical modeling is getting really good, we may be able to leave the samples soon.

VSL offer demo/trials, you can sell them, and their support is excellent. Hence I only buy their stuff now. I still use the older VI Cube libs, as they dry as a bone and detailed beyond most modern offerings. Oh, and their Player doesn't have a GIANT knob in the middle or look like a 90's sampler :)

Great points altogether. My go-to orchestral library is still EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold which I licensed in 2011. With its wide selection of articulations, a realistic score is very doable. In this brave new world of AI, I, too believe that modeling will replace sampling. Combined with MPE, I'm optimistic about the potential.

Last string library that completely impressed me to buy it without hesitation was Spitfire Appassionata Strings. Yeah, it doesn't have shorts or tremelo, but it didn't stop me from improvising with other libraries that I already had to compliment SA like Albion One.

Great video here!!

Pacific Ensemble Strings is what blew me way most recently. It just sounds like that sound and in a mix, it sounds sooooo good.

Great topic! Great video! Do more in this format👏🏻

In terms of orchestral libraries, I believe all you truly need is a solid work horse set of libraries or a singular library. I think what interest me is niche sampling of rare and personal instruments. Experimental hybrid ambient samples. I’ve really been liking what the crow hill company has done so far. Probably my favorite sample library company right now.

At the end of the day, the very best libraries/instruments for composing with or making music with, are the ones that you HAVE, not the ones you wish you had. I have Spitfire BBCSO Core. A very good all round library, which I love, and has absolutely made me as a composer. The next logical step for me would be BBCSO Professional, but that will have to wait until the pocket is ready. In the meantime, I will continue to compose and record using BBCSO Core and my MIDI hardware instruments, because those are what I have.

I wonder how the strings built into Logic Pro X compare with Hollywood Strings 1? Has anyone done a side by side comparison? Logic seems to have most of the articulations covered: so I don't see why I should buy another strings library?

Man, especially for someone that is beginning in this world, the idea of trying out a library is the best! Like, for someone starting, spending 300, 400, 500€ into a library + Kontakt is a big no no. Thank god for free libraries

Congratulations for this video!!!!

I just got into collecting orchestral plugins. It goes deeeeeeeeeep 🤯

Incredibly expensive indeed. Most libraries cost more than what they are actually worth, and the fact that i can't ask for a refund most of the time is just another kick in the nuts. Just download vital and make all the sounds yourself. Best alternative.

The last orchestra that really surprised me was NotePerformer. It's a synth.

I didn't hear you mention Garritan Orchestral Strings.

I believe that the main resource that these companies should be looking for is a way to have these libraries with the same or even better competence, but, mainly, occupying much less space in our SSDs and consuming less RAM and processing power. That would be a huge advance. Physical Modeling as it has a gigantic potential, and SWAM has demonstrated this. Nowadays these libraries are gigantic, they require a huge heap of memory and processing, making it impossible for independent composers to assemble their mockups in order to compete with the big ones in the market.

There's a ceiling to what you can do by buying more timbres, and I think we're pretty close to it. As a hobbyist, I got off the train of buying samples and plugins ages ago and re-embraced chiptunes. The professional composer is in more of a bind since they're regularly asked to make their work sound "realistic" (i.e. expensive) but the toolset they're using for that is an imitation, and it has, since the dawn of MIDI, enforced a certain kind of workflow to pursue realism by doing extra work to cover up all the flaws in the samples. Thus, all the arrangements where the sections are layered with percussive instruments and solo voices are limited to amelodic blasts with no dynamics - Hans Zimmer did it and you can too. I did have thoughts of getting a cheap recorder and playing with that. There's a session instrument for ya.

I’ve taking my first steps from sound designing into composition and this hits the nail on the head. Picked up a competitively priced used license for Komplete 14 CE and I’m now immediately getting marketed a promising 8dio composition bundle for $200. While it seems to fill in a lot of gaps, that’s also good money that could go towards, say, CSS for what seems like a stronger, dedicated workhorse library. This video was a good reminder for me to slow down and do more research before getting carried away with this month’s discount FOMO 😅

Good point!

Music making is extremly expencive and stressful😂

I don't really think orchestral libraries have peaked in the last few years. Most companies are adding nothing new except marketing. For me, Performance Samples is really doing something new.

I mix a lot of high budget orchestral scores. Hollywood Strings and CSS are the only two that even come close to live recordings.

I agree with you, it seems like they all try to grab your attention with a new «best ever made , 10 years to make this fantastic library» every month. I own more than a few, but my main library is CSS. I think in overall that native instruments produce some of the most intersting libraries, i know that they collab with a lot of developers, but anyway😊

I can’t believe I heard you for 12 mins. You’re absolutely right!

Agree with this vid so much. For me it's more than just orchestral libraries though. Neural Dsp's amp sims are over saturated and lacking features that their competition caught up to and does better; such as mixing and matching pedals and amps etc. Plus any new amp sim they make is just selling the name. You can use their old products, or suites like Bias amp 2, or tone x, OR Ozone to Eq match their tones perfectly. In the case of Bias amp two; I fiddled with settings until I matched the sounds exactly without eq match. Also if you follow the artists of the Neural sims; you can see that they don't always give you their actual full signature rig all the time. Rabea (my fave of theirs), in real life he's mentioned so many time he uses the Blue Sky reverb (even before the sim was made). That's not thee reverb the sim offers; lol! Not a super big deal; and I think the one they included sounds really nice; but yea... For orchestral libraries the one that opened my eyes was Tokyo scoring strings. It was my dream library to get at the time. And as good as it is; it's nowhere near my go to for strings as I thought it would be. They charge so much for it. Put so much work into it; and won't let us turn off the reverb from that library... So anything you write or use it in has to match that library instead of your composition, ir cover, etc. Where as my friend showwed me Strings of Winter. That I have played with through and through. Winter is much more versatile; and if u don't want it to sound cold and brooding, but light and warm instead- you know what you can do? Turn off the reverb and use your own. Lol. I WISH they had a week or two week free trial to this library. Because of them I don't really consider plugins that don't allow somee sort of trial. Aaand lastly is synth plugins. There are quite a few "last synth you'll ever need" plugins like Omnisphere, Pigments, etc. With enough time patience and know-how there is no need to buy another soft synth if you own one of these. Most newer synths just do new presets of what your ultimate soft synth of choice can do already. Haven't gotten excited to buy a new plugin or library in quite a while- but I view that as a good thing. I feel complete with what I own; and can see how far I've come when using them to achieve whatever sound I want with them.

Its so crazy - had the Miroslav Philharmonik 1 decades ago and the cellos were (personally) the best sounding I ever had for my music (less cinematic music more electronic stuff). I personally do not like the Kontakt Factory Library at all - it all sounds so muddy/ muffled for me. In general it is not pleasing to use Kontakt 7 in general - everything is buggy, slow loading times and often crashes. There are so much outstanding plugins out there e.g. Slate+Ash but the Kontakt is limiting these plugins…😓

As a part time shopaholic I have to say that Spitfire Symphony Orchestra at 280 euros (50% sales) is the best deal. In addition Musio 1 perceptual licence at 200 euros (50% sales every 2-3 months) is a great addition… So with 500 euros you could do what was impossible a few years ago. The WOW factor these days is the price and not the libraries themselves. For me, best purchase I ever made is Vflutes from Acoustic Samples. I also own Vbrass and saxes and I have to say I’m pretty impressed and inspired by the level of performance of these libraries.

great video ... really ... I have felt the same over the past few years ...

I’m satisfied with EW composer cloud ☁️

Im surprised none of these orchestra vsts have made a plugin with an automatable conductor yet...

I love the east west hollywood orchestra stuff. But I think, that there can still be done lots of noticeable improvements.

Just two words here: ICONICA OPUS... yummeeee! Not that hollywoodish "big", but absolutely real and very fun to work with.

@SoundPaint is hands down the best!

I recorded soundtracks with the LSO and other orchestras, and created soundtracks for several theatrical films using samples only. I spent money on libraries and plugin. But apart from Eastwest, I regret every one I bought, incl. Spitfire and 8Dio. And now, I also hate music.

Still use EWQL Plat to this day (low resource usage for level of manipulation and detail) and was a bit sad of no callout of Sonic Implants Symphonic Orchestra in that group lol (is also a fantastic old school collection). Overall (short of performance samples methodology), i would have to say that most of the libraries are often providing conveince more than anything. In a stereo primary world, it becomes basically the "same" in a lot of areas, but the time savings are for sure something to be considered (stating this as someone who has amassed things from basically every company mentioned here), but some have pushed the bar (acousticsamples vwinds or virharmonic bohemian series) in the overall orchestral library market. Absolutely agree with the majority stating here though, it has changed into a new market style than it was in the past for sure.

My thoughts exactly! I used to use HS and that was a revolution. But CSS was a revolution as well. Anyway - physical modeling is the way now. And maybe some AI instruments in the future. Or next month maybe...

I will confirm that EW Holiwood Strings is absolutely the most used string library in my deck. 20+years of music composing, the best bank out there. Kudos to Spitfire Albion, but EW wins.

I only occasionally buy intersting fairy dust type sample libraries now like Emergence Audio texture libraries

Wee correction: Windows XP was released in 2001 (?why do I remember this? Because it’s the only time I switched to windows from Mac - before OSX - because XP gave me a true robust pre-emptive operating system

Agree! I have sent a mail to all the big companies asking them to add a demo for their products. Everyone said no. Thats because server cost and technical challenges.

Soundpaint is pretty innovative actually. But agreed with this video !

Big YES for Hollywood Strings 2 review.

Whats your thoughts on OPUS?

For string sections the best recommendation I can give is: learn to play the violin!!! It will make your tracks waaayyy better! I started 3 years ago and now I'm slowly getting to the point where I can record parts and layer them over my VSTs. And boy it makes a hell of a difference. Even if you're not the greatest player it sounds so much better and more realistic- especially for all shorter articulations and/or sections where you need to switch the articulation a lot. Before I started I often didn't even realize how bad those midi strings can sound when you're not completely sure what you're doing- now I hear it.

I completely agree with you. I've used EastWest for more than a decade. I bought the Strings2 library. So blah. I am using BBC more often.

Does Nativ really have the sound of a Stradivarius violin?

The big problem is, they're all the same... Also there are free options that can be made to sound far better than they do out of the box, with just a bit of technique and processing. For example, load up the Cellos and Basses from BBC Discover with the stock sounds play them and they sound like crap. Now add a notch eq around 2.5khz -2 or 3db, tune the cellos up an octave, add a second bass track, tune it down an octave with the built in down tuner, -6db, add a subtle curve high pass filter around 80hz, and throw ReaLoud on the track with the mix% mapped to the modwheel, add some big reverb. Suddenly you have apocalyptic sounding strings right out of a Zimmer track, you don't even notice the lack of legato on big verby sections as long as you blend the note together a bit with a sustain pedal, but if you need legato strings you can always layer in a solo cello with legato to act as a first chair. Processing and blending is super important to get anything "Zimmer" esque, if you can do it yourself there's no real reason to buy them. The libraries worth buying are the great all rounders that will lend themselves to the quieter/more traditional orchestration, like BBC Orchestra, Symphonic/Hollywood Orchestra, Nucleus. Making it sound big and loud isn't worth paying $$$ for. The one exception might be Metropolis, but it doesn't really sound "bigger", just louder and grittier.

As someone who "owns" hundreds of these libraries, I definitely agree that they all sound very similar these days. Furthermore, I only rely on 1-3 libraries as you suggest. I often go as far as to render out individual samples and add them into compositions via REAPER's Project Media FX Bay.

Weird. When you talked about budgets getting smaller, and deadlines getting shorter... I felt that. See, I'm a CG Animator. And it's fucking brutal for us right now. Everyone wants to exploit us to the moon then immediately fire us. Pixar just had a great purge of employees right as they're promoting Inside Out 2. I'm a working guy with a family, and I'm getting by working for corporate places like Dell and Microsoft. But it's not just us, all us production artists (composers are Absolutely artists in my opinion) are having to compete and learn to work so damn fast, on our toes with fire leaping at us in order to stay in the game. But we do it because we love it (and also that means having to take a massive paycut if I wanted to quit and get a "real job") SO... At least for me... I'm fucking stuck whether I want to be or not. So I gotta learn, quickly and fast, and always change with the times. At least I enjoy that.

I'm just a hobby musician and as long as that's the case, I would never spend so much money for those libraries. Not because I think they don't deserve it or the product isn't worth that, but I just can't invest so much if I'm not even sure I'll use it that much. So for me personally, the EW subscription is an amazing alternative! I'm still thinking about getting very niche libraries, like Orchestral Tools Grimm or insanitysamples Haunted Strings 2

I want to try SWAM.