Musio 1 perpetual on sale! Amazing variety of sounds and solid CSS libs...granted only one mic position, but I turn off musio verb and use convolution verb for room and algorithm verb for glue to mix with other libs(+eq and hall placement plugin).
random thing: Save $20 and get the Yearly Studio One sub. You get a perpetual at the end of it and it's $180 vs $200, and you get to experiment with their stuff.
Great video. I was never open to buying Chorus by Audio Imperia as the choir in Nucleus Light was so bad, but after some research I decided to treat myself to this as my Black Friday treat. Blown away!
Hey Kevin! I started watching your playlist from 2021 on your journey, just wanted to say thanks for all the work you do on your content and sharing the process with us! Love what you do
I would like to endorse Nucleus for beginners because it has consistent sample delays all across its articulations! So when you start composing you don’t have to worry about different delay compensations, and you can just set all the negative delays to -125
Another thing about Nucleus is that it’s very light weight. Doesn’t require as much expensive hardware. Easy to use. Tons of instruments. Best all in one for beginners.
Hey Kevin :) I started my composer journey a couple of weeks ago because I’ve always admired the music of Patrick Doyle and have been (and still am) obsessed with the Ice Dance from Danny Elfman. There were many times I doubted myself for even starting this journey, as it felt so overwhelming. But your videos are pure gold-they are helping me so much. You’re an amazing, tremendous person. The joy, love, and humor you bring to the game are so refreshing and fun. I'm just so happy I found your channel and wanted you to know that you're a big reason I keep following my dream to create music. I truly wish for all your dreams to come true❤️
Such nice content on this channel. I find myself in the 1000$ section, and I absolutely had no clue about any of the bank you propose in the 3000$ section, except for AI Chorus that I own. But what holdsme back for the moment is as you mentioned, I like using a full orchestra livrary as it is working as a whole, and I feel easily overwhelmed by the FX and engineering I should do if I was using many different libraries together. I’m definitely diving into these references you shared anyway. Thank you !
If I would start I would choose "Cubase Elements" (99 Euros!) it comes with 5 GB !!! professional Orchestral Library...also included a great big inspiring cinematic sample content and top plugins. Easy Midi Editor, Chord track etc. Highly recommend, I must say... ❤
I bought Orch Tools’ Metropolis Ark series over a week ago, I am in heaven after experimenting with no regrets! I will absolutely utilise the collection with a lot of music I’ve been writing for myself and also other artists needing my services. Next year I’m going for Berlin Series. Thanks for your video mate, from Australia 🇦🇺
What can a beginner composer dream of when starting out? It's a well researched, objective video like this. I cannot image how much work into this. I defintely support your initial statement to NOT buy everything, even when it's on sale but to buy if you hit limitations. Do I need more thound dethign and thynths?
Ich finde es super, dass du am Anfang einen Disclaimer über Kaufsucht eingebaut hast, ich neige selber dazu, zu viel Geld für VSTs auszugeben und begrenze mich deshalb ein bisschen. Kaufzwang kann wirklich gefährlich sein.
Well Kevin, I was seriously considering getting Evolution: Devastator Breakout Pro (even though Audio Plugin Deals has the original Devastator at $75. But in checking out there recent videos I got sold on picking up Appex. I happen to be focused on soundtrack work with guitar parts (I'm a guitarist) and I fancy the idea of building accompaniment parts using it. It's my first paid Keep-Forest library, and while the out-of-the box sound in many cases is just too aggressive for my typical songwriting, it does offer cleaner sounds, and external processing can bring the tube amplification smoothness back in. It's feature rich and the features aren't junk.
I think if you have a decent budget Berlin Orchestra (OT) is definitely worth it. Sounds better than any other sample library, especially the Strings and Brass. They have individual players in wind sections which is extremely flexible. The brass is more than enough for symphonic writing but could be underwhelming to compose like Hans Zimmer so Metropolis Ark 1 could help with that. Using libraries by a single company keeps the sound consistent which lets the whole piece sound better.
I hope you’re well, I know it’s all personal choice…but, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I have got some very good deals on 3 libraries. Spitfire SSO $377, Steinberg iconica opus $350 (which i have been waiting for) and Berlin strings $270 I know Berlin is just a string library Time is running out, if it was you, which one? Many thanks Steve
@@KevinKuschel I see, thanks! :) It's been close to a decade though. I sort of feel like they are close to releasing the evolution?! Or perhaps it's so good the quality will hold up and last another decade?!
I have the complete CSS series. Alex Wallbank is a genius and I love his stuff. Cinematic Studio Strings has a dark tone and I like it a lot on my pieces.
@@TheSoundChronicles TSS 2.0 has a "cinema" mix, it somewhat sounds like they are trying to sound like CSS. Darker than TSS pre 2.0 but still more detailed and a little brighter than CSS.
Talking about Orchestral Tools, they have the Berlin Series Main Collections on sale right now, so you get a 1,900 Euro collection of the four orchestra sections for 950 Euros. Plenty of money left then for other stuff!
Both licenses for Reaper are commercial licenses. The less expensive option is limited to incomes of $20,000 a year generated while using the software, but you can still use it for commercial projects.
@Todzuum No, that's too much for a beginner. Just a good pair of Elite headphones is enough. But definitely need to get competent hardware for the PC. An i5, 32gb RAM, and an external soundcard. That's all you need!
I use EWQL Hollywood Orchestra and sort of happy with it. But _real_ price is higher: it takes freaking 1TB, and you need to spend extra money for decent SSD disk to use it.
By lack of focus I followed the advice video from last year because it said "2024". Then I watched this current one and it actually made even more sense to get stuff from both years. In fact I didn't need much, just strings and percussion. Then I went .... cause it's totally NOT like what I normally do. Let's sail the new waters even if my boat sinks.
Super cooles Video, wie immer Kevin! Kannst du mal ein In depth video zu Chorus machen? Ich tu mich ziemlich schwer mit dem Phrase Builder und den Patches
For those people who don’t wanna buy Reaper after 2-month trial, UAD Luna might be a solution - it’s free (if you don’t need extra plugins for mixing) with no strings attached. And Musio is a good solution for few bucks spending.
I heard it's pretty good, but people always get confused around the Essential Plugins Bundle they offer with any of their products thinking you have to buy Luna after a month still would be fun to learn thru Luna since it has a mixer you "build up" and can look like analogue mixer imo edit: sorry for butchering few sentences
I was going to give Luna a try - until it demanded that I set up an iLok account. My Music PC is offline, and I would prefer it stays that way. I'll use a USB Dongle, but I'm not interested in an iLok account. Why it should be necessary for a free product is beyond me.
If you like Studio One they must be pretty good with the negative track delay. I'd heard somewhere that there was some kind of issue with it, or Cubase, or some other DAW (forgot which!), but it could be resolved now.
@@KevinKuschel Yea, I think that's right. I think I read somewhere that during the beta phase of v5 it still persisted but someone claimed it got handled. I'm very relieved to hear about it though. I have tokyo scoring strings and FL Studio doesn't correct the piano roll scrolling to match the track delay. If I start using Studio One, according to their video, it syncs up.
For a limited time, If you buy SSO from Spitfire, They give a gift of your choice, pool includes appassionata, studio brass pro, studio wood pro, swarm and aperture
in the 3000 usd, where is your piano ? LOL ......what do you think about pacific strings for layering CSS ? did you have the opportunity to try the new tokyo strings 2.0 with all the new mic ? ...Thanks for all your video because I agree with you regarding your choice for beginner and advanced composers 🙏, hope to see a video about what plugin you are using for mixing and mastering 👍
Cubase has built in mastering. Yessss TSS 2.0, it's on my list for when it goes on sale, hasn't this black Friday maybe next month. Claire and noire for piano, I prefer performance samples over CS, Benjamin Wallfischer strings is a flagship strings library too.
....but Spitfire SO needs the full retail version of Kontakt? It won't run in Kontakt Player, as the choirs do. So the top item in $500 option wouldn't run? Confused 🤨 🧡
I've been loading up on Orchestral tools Berlin Series. All I have left to buy is Berlin Percussions. It'll only cost me 140$ with all the other things I've bought. After that, I think I'll not need another thing for years unless I wanna go the hybrid route. I think I may forgo the Percussions section and go for a hybrid Percussions library instead.
Another very inspiring video. But where is 8DIO? They have tons of strings, choirs, percission etc - very cheap compared to everybody else. But the don’t get mentioned much if any in your videos? Do you think they are bad quality? Bad playability or? All the best and thank you🙏🏼
I'd like to know why 8dio does not get more love here too. Right now, if you spend $69+, they throw in Majestica Pro, a high-quality orchestra, for free. So, you could pick up all Choirs Bundle ($143) and Hybrid Tools Series ($63), and you get the free Majestic Pro, which I think you could upgrade to Majestic Ultra for probably less than $10.00, so for about $220, you have a heck of a composing powerhouse. This is a heck of a BF deal.
@@michaelburns8073 It seems though that 8Dio has made their own platform “Soundpaint” - instead of Kontakt. It very comprehensive and free. And it looks like 8Dio is moving all their libraries to Soundpaint in new improved version - cheap all year.
I have Ableton 12 Suite but see composers use Cubase. Im running into limitations with composing orchestra in live. Does anyone recommend the switch without bias?
The most popular for media scoring is Cubase and Logic, others include Digital Performer, Studio One. They all could do the job, have articulation management and lots of resources on the web to learn. The biggest difference between them is workflow and it depends on you. There are some DAW specific features as well. Best thing is go for a trial and test them out before deciding.
I switched to Cubase 13 this year, but I still love Live. Cubase is good for scoring to timecode for one, enable/disable tracks for making a big template, routing midi to stems, tempo track, expression maps, chord track(helpful), midi record memory, control room(for headphone plugins, utilities)...more. Evenant(composer) still uses Live... lots of tuts for Cubase(PC)...
Hey there! First of all great video, and also important that you said that disclaimer! So I wanted your opinion on something please: I own the Berlin Series Main Collections and also Metropolis Ark 1 by Orchestral Tools, but I'm also looking sometimes for that more symphonic big orchestra sound. I was considering getting Spitfires Symphonic Orchestra.. You think that library would fit/blend well with the Berlin Series or maybe you got any other recommendations? Thanks in advance and again great video, you really are helping out a lot of people here!
Haven't personally tried any of them but I've heard there are some inconsistencies across the board. So you're saving money but end up having a tool that works in some cases and doesn't in others. That's not my opinion, just what I read on the forums. Would be glad if someone who owns those libraries corrected me
8dio libraries are great, but they seem to lack specialty. Companies like Spitfire, Audio Imperia, OT and VSL have their own unique sounds that define them, but 8dio is largely seen as generic. That being said, their stuff is awesome too, but as a beginner it's better to get beginner friendly libraries from one of the companies I mentioned above, and then when you start getting a hang of it, buy libraries from 8dio to fill in gaps that those other companies can't.
Both are great and I recommend both in the video, just for different budgets and different use cases. For more details, see my video The Best All-In-One Orchestral Sample Libraries For Beginners in 2025.
What about an engineer who is new to specializing in Orchestra/scoring? Like, experienced and can write a score, but does not have a dedicated library?
Great video as per normal. Unfortunately the exchange rate is a killer right now. 1000Us is 1500Aus +10% gst + 2% card sur. The budget is really $600 Aus which is maybe 2 decent things.
I still love the warm classical tone of it and I do love my classical as well. I think the brass is a little weak so I've been complimenting it with Abbey Road One thematic horns and trumpets. You can really go for a more classic James Horner and John Williams sound 😜
After I bought Nucleus my price for Areia went down to $37, so I bought Areia and Talos ($89) instead of Jaeger :) though Jaeger is still the only way to get that specific Merethe Soltvedt stuff. Pity they stopped selling it on its own.
@@ontrada I did have Areia Lite. I got Areia, Nucleus, and Chorus Lite a while back Jaeger has not gone down for me from $142 lol, I hoped buying Talos might have changed that but no >_>
Aight, so I hate that we have to have Kontakt full to use some of the best libraries. It's also confusing which one you have to buy to unlock the ability to use these libraries. Can you buy Kontakt full (the player) isolated?
And which of the Kontakt options gives me full Kontakt? If I qualify for crossgrade, do I get the full player, or do I have to pay the 300 dollars for the full version?
Get one of the qualifying freebies (e.g. Heavyocity Emotive Choir). Register it in Native Access. Log into your Native Instruments account. See if you can quality for the Kontakt 8 Full Crossgrade. Wait until the crossgrade is on sale. -> Should be able to get Kontakt Full for 100USD.
@@LG-bi1sr so it's clear, Kontakt Player is the free version. There is no "full player" - There is only Player (free) and Full ($$). We should start seeing more Player-compatible libraries as NI stopped charging for it and only requires nks compatibility, iirc. I have some free Player-compatible libraries, for instance, and that was not always a thing before.
If I started from scratch in 2025 based on the music style I like to do (BF sales): SA Appassionata SA Albion One or Berlin Symphonic Strings Berlin Woodwinds (a la carte purchases) JXL Brass (a la carte purchases) SA Originals Cinematic Percussion Noire SA Originals Intimate Grand Piano SA Originals Epic Choir Audio Imperia Chorus Lite Fracture Sounds Moonlight Celeste Fracture Sounds freebies.
My list is as follows: All 8Dio century series (on a crazy black Friday sale, strings, brass, harps + percussion all for a bit more than $200) CSW Sample modelling strings
2:00 Recommending Reaper for a beginner is the worst advice anyone could make… How to loose your credit in less than 2mn. Thank you, now I know I dont even have to watch the rest of the video and waste my time with stupid advice.
It's all a matter of preferences dude. Reaper might not work for you, but it works for me and Kevin, and plenty of others. There are other free DAW options like Bandlab by Cakewalk. You can be as critical as you want, but Kevin's videos work quite well for a lot of people, regardless of what you think.
2024BF - So, comparing Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra (BF$440 ❤) with Cinematic Studio Strings, Brass, Woodwinds and Piano (BF$1090-no percussion, no harp, etc.) I have to say Spitfire wins hands down. If I had more money to spend I would again go with Spitfire and get Spitfire Studio Strings Pro (BF$549) which is a different library than SSO, the (Lyndhust) hall library. This is, or course, a subjective choice. I understand the appeal of CSS,B,W for its consistency but to my ears Spitfire Strings has a sweeter sound especially in the high registers. But even ignoring the sonic differences, there is bang for the buck which Spitfire wins easily. I agree with Spitfire Appassionata Strings also - excellent. Your advice overall is excellent. Kudos. There are less expensive options for your entry point. But honestly, if you can afford it, buy SSO at BF$440 this year and learn it. The price is truly a gift for the quality and quantity of content that you receive. The one thing I would add is that workflow/ease of use in the interface is also important. Try before you buy if possible. SSO is a Kontakt library so you can pick up anything from Native Instruments Komplete line to get a feel for how this interface works. You might discover that you hate it. Another big bang for the buck option is Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition (BF$250) - it's not Kontakt. You also mentioned it at the end of your "The Best All-In-One Orchestral Sample Libraries For Beginners in 2024" It's less money, yes. It's also less orchestra (than SSO). Other inexpensive orchestras that might be worth listening too are Garritan Personal 5 ($150) and Versilian Studios Chamber Orchestra 2 ($229 ❤ Kontakt) and lastly, another amazing deal if you would like to try Orchestral Tools Sine interface - Inspire 1&2 bundle ($288 - ends Wednesday December 4 (Central European Time - UTC+1) )
I tried MUSIO (continue trying for free for whole 30 days along) and created a track using REASON+ VST, which I would like to share with you. th-cam.com/video/A-nvYsYJ41U/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ABYnWdFAEg10_mcG Thank You Very Much Kevin indeed for your instructions. Keep your good work for us :D
What libraries would you buy if you started orchestral composing in 2025?
Dude, Musescore comes 16Gb sample library and it is free.
What do you think of the Spitfire BBC Professional? It’s on sale for about 700€ right now, 750€ with the pianos
Garritan all the way
Musio 1 perpetual on sale! Amazing variety of sounds and solid CSS libs...granted only one mic position, but I turn off musio verb and use convolution verb for room and algorithm verb for glue to mix with other libs(+eq and hall placement plugin).
random thing: Save $20 and get the Yearly Studio One sub. You get a perpetual at the end of it and it's $180 vs $200, and you get to experiment with their stuff.
I couldn't believe Majestic Horn was also on sale. That's commitment to offering sales! And I bought it at the $2-3 full price! The pain!
Great video. I was never open to buying Chorus by Audio Imperia as the choir in Nucleus Light was so bad, but after some research I decided to treat myself to this as my Black Friday treat. Blown away!
Hey Kevin! I started watching your playlist from 2021 on your journey, just wanted to say thanks for all the work you do on your content and sharing the process with us! Love what you do
Thank you
I would like to endorse Nucleus for beginners because it has consistent sample delays all across its articulations!
So when you start composing you don’t have to worry about different delay compensations, and you can just set all the negative delays to -125
Another thing about Nucleus is that it’s very light weight. Doesn’t require as much expensive hardware. Easy to use. Tons of instruments.
Best all in one for beginners.
Hey Kevin :)
I started my composer journey a couple of weeks ago because I’ve always admired the music of Patrick Doyle and have been (and still am) obsessed with the Ice Dance from Danny Elfman. There were many times I doubted myself for even starting this journey, as it felt so overwhelming.
But your videos are pure gold-they are helping me so much. You’re an amazing, tremendous person. The joy, love, and humor you bring to the game are so refreshing and fun.
I'm just so happy I found your channel and wanted you to know that you're a big reason I keep following my dream to create music. I truly wish for all your dreams to come true❤️
@@mearkury2679 Thank you so much!! Good luck
Such nice content on this channel.
I find myself in the 1000$ section, and I absolutely had no clue about any of the bank you propose in the 3000$ section, except for AI Chorus that I own.
But what holdsme back for the moment is as you mentioned, I like using a full orchestra livrary as it is working as a whole, and I feel easily overwhelmed by the FX and engineering I should do if I was using many different libraries together.
I’m definitely diving into these references you shared anyway. Thank you !
Love this, great follow up to the last video.
If I would start I would choose "Cubase Elements" (99 Euros!) it comes with 5 GB !!! professional Orchestral Library...also included a great big inspiring cinematic sample content and top plugins. Easy Midi Editor, Chord track etc. Highly recommend, I must say... ❤
Your channel is truly S-tier content! Subbed, and looking forward to more.
Amazing video mate!
This was super helpful, thank you!
I bought Orch Tools’ Metropolis Ark series over a week ago, I am in heaven after experimenting with no regrets! I will absolutely utilise the collection with a lot of music I’ve been writing for myself and also other artists needing my services. Next year I’m going for Berlin Series. Thanks for your video mate, from Australia 🇦🇺
What can a beginner composer dream of when starting out? It's a well researched, objective video like this.
I cannot image how much work into this.
I defintely support your initial statement to NOT buy everything, even when it's on sale but to buy if you hit limitations.
Do I need more thound dethign and thynths?
Ich finde es super, dass du am Anfang einen Disclaimer über Kaufsucht eingebaut hast, ich neige selber dazu, zu viel Geld für VSTs auszugeben und begrenze mich deshalb ein bisschen. Kaufzwang kann wirklich gefährlich sein.
Danke, ja ist wichtig!
Incredible, thanks! I’m a semi-pro composer and have been using East West for like 15 years…time to upgrade!
GREAT ADVICE , WE, who ARE addicted , will take your advice
Well Kevin, I was seriously considering getting Evolution: Devastator Breakout Pro (even though Audio Plugin Deals has the original Devastator at $75. But in checking out there recent videos I got sold on picking up Appex. I happen to be focused on soundtrack work with guitar parts (I'm a guitarist) and I fancy the idea of building accompaniment parts using it. It's my first paid Keep-Forest library, and while the out-of-the box sound in many cases is just too aggressive for my typical songwriting, it does offer cleaner sounds, and external processing can bring the tube amplification smoothness back in. It's feature rich and the features aren't junk.
I think if you have a decent budget Berlin Orchestra (OT) is definitely worth it. Sounds better than any other sample library, especially the Strings and Brass. They have individual players in wind sections which is extremely flexible. The brass is more than enough for symphonic writing but could be underwhelming to compose like Hans Zimmer so Metropolis Ark 1 could help with that. Using libraries by a single company keeps the sound consistent which lets the whole piece sound better.
I hope you’re well, I know it’s all personal choice…but, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I have got some very good deals on 3 libraries. Spitfire SSO $377, Steinberg iconica opus $350 (which i have been waiting for) and Berlin strings $270
I know Berlin is just a string library
Time is running out, if it was you, which one?
Many thanks
Steve
Assuming you have nothing else, then SSO.
Cubase 14 pro, nucleus core, audio Imperia chorus, damage2. Thats all you need
Great video! Thank you
Thank you! Very helpful
JXL Brass and Percussion don't get enough credit in my opinion. Really hard hitting stuff, punches you straight in the gut. Great for hybrid music.
As always, please pay for Reaper if you use it past the trial period. It is worth it.
If I were to start 2025 . I’d invest in ni komplete collectors edition. Arkhis is really good for orchestra
That’s a steep price for a beginner though. Too bad the Standard and Ultimate packages don’t come with many orchestral libraries.
Is the Cinematic Studio Series ever on sale? I may have looked at it at the wrong times, cause I have never been able to catch it on a sale.
25% on Black Friday. But you also get similar loyalty discounts if you buy one of them
@@KevinKuschel I see, thanks! :) It's been close to a decade though. I sort of feel like they are close to releasing the evolution?! Or perhaps it's so good the quality will hold up and last another decade?!
Super travail, merci !
I have the complete CSS series. Alex Wallbank is a genius and I love his stuff. Cinematic Studio Strings has a dark tone and I like it a lot on my pieces.
@@TheSoundChronicles TSS 2.0 has a "cinema" mix, it somewhat sounds like they are trying to sound like CSS. Darker than TSS pre 2.0 but still more detailed and a little brighter than CSS.
Talking about Orchestral Tools, they have the Berlin Series Main Collections on sale right now, so you get a 1,900 Euro collection of the four orchestra sections for 950 Euros. Plenty of money left then for other stuff!
Cinematic Studio Series is probably still the better choice for B&B; more consistent and better legatos imo.
Both licenses for Reaper are commercial licenses. The less expensive option is limited to incomes of $20,000 a year generated while using the software, but you can still use it for commercial projects.
Seriously i think that for a person just starting out, Reaper and Musio for 50$ is all you need.
I agree , I’d have them focus on acoustics / monitors/ computer with musio and reaper
@Todzuum No, that's too much for a beginner. Just a good pair of Elite headphones is enough. But definitely need to get competent hardware for the PC. An i5, 32gb RAM, and an external soundcard. That's all you need!
Maybe. I kind of think Musio and Nucleus (or BBCSO). Everything you need right there.
@@svendkorsgaard9599 Don´t really need an audio interface while you´re just using headphones.
I've heard such great things about Reaper. As a Cubase user, I intuitively feel Reaper is possibly the most underrated DAW out there.
Also, it's worth noting that East West is INCREDIBLY deep and expansive, especially programming-wise
I use EWQL Hollywood Orchestra and sort of happy with it.
But _real_ price is higher: it takes freaking 1TB, and you need to spend extra money for decent SSD disk to use it.
By lack of focus I followed the advice video from last year because it said "2024". Then I watched this current one and it actually made even more sense to get stuff from both years. In fact I didn't need much, just strings and percussion. Then I went .... cause it's totally NOT like what I normally do. Let's sail the new waters even if my boat sinks.
Amazing!
Super cooles Video, wie immer Kevin! Kannst du mal ein In depth video zu Chorus machen? Ich tu mich ziemlich schwer mit dem Phrase Builder und den Patches
What are the best sounding strings in your opinion between Berlin strings and cinematic studio strings ?
Pacific! :D
@ thanks 🙏
For those people who don’t wanna buy Reaper after 2-month trial, UAD Luna might be a solution - it’s free (if you don’t need extra plugins for mixing) with no strings attached. And Musio is a good solution for few bucks spending.
I heard it's pretty good, but people always get confused around the Essential Plugins Bundle they offer with any of their products thinking you have to buy Luna after a month
still would be fun to learn thru Luna since it has a mixer you "build up" and can look like analogue mixer imo
edit: sorry for butchering few sentences
I was going to give Luna a try - until it demanded that I set up an iLok account. My Music PC is offline, and I would prefer it stays that way. I'll use a USB Dongle, but I'm not interested in an iLok account. Why it should be necessary for a free product is beyond me.
those who don't wanna buy reaper after two months technically don't have to
If you like Studio One they must be pretty good with the negative track delay. I'd heard somewhere that there was some kind of issue with it, or Cubase, or some other DAW (forgot which!), but it could be resolved now.
No issues! I think there was one years ago before v5?
@@KevinKuschel Yea, I think that's right. I think I read somewhere that during the beta phase of v5 it still persisted but someone claimed it got handled. I'm very relieved to hear about it though. I have tokyo scoring strings and FL Studio doesn't correct the piano roll scrolling to match the track delay. If I start using Studio One, according to their video, it syncs up.
For a limited time, If you buy SSO from Spitfire, They give a gift of your choice, pool includes appassionata, studio brass pro, studio wood pro, swarm and aperture
IMO Monolith percussion by Orchestral tools fits Spitfire strings better, because they were recorded in Air.
Does it make sense to get Appassionata if I already have Cinematic Studio Strings and Spitfire Chamber Strings?
the only thing missing are 8DIO's Silka and Insolidus Choirs. Because of the polyphonic lines you can write within a real sung sentence.
What do you think about Glass Strings?
Not sure if it is a real issue but most Spitfire stuff lists compatibility for Mac not for the latest OS 15 but only for v13 or maybe v14.
in the 3000 usd, where is your piano ? LOL ......what do you think about pacific strings for layering CSS ? did you have the opportunity to try the new tokyo strings 2.0 with all the new mic ? ...Thanks for all your video because I agree with you regarding your choice for beginner and advanced composers 🙏, hope to see a video about what plugin you are using for mixing and mastering 👍
Cubase has built in mastering. Yessss TSS 2.0, it's on my list for when it goes on sale, hasn't this black Friday maybe next month. Claire and noire for piano, I prefer performance samples over CS, Benjamin Wallfischer strings is a flagship strings library too.
Were any modelling synths on this list or are they all sample based? I am yet to watch it in full. Also what ram should we be looking at?
What are your thoughts on Steinberg Iconica Opus?
what about complete ultimate that is actually on sale for half price?
too much stuff I'd never use
....but Spitfire SO needs the full retail version of Kontakt? It won't run in Kontakt Player, as the choirs do. So the top item in $500 option wouldn't run? Confused 🤨 🧡
It runs in Kontakt Player
@@KevinKuschel Ahhh! That now makes sense 😁🧡
Is the "Chorus" library better than the "East West Hollywood Choir"?
What are your thoughts on choir essential vs chorus lite? Cheers!
I've been loading up on Orchestral tools Berlin Series. All I have left to buy is Berlin Percussions. It'll only cost me 140$ with all the other things I've bought. After that, I think I'll not need another thing for years unless I wanna go the hybrid route. I think I may forgo the Percussions section and go for a hybrid Percussions library instead.
Get orchestral tools Benjamín Wallfischer strings, it's like one of 2 orchestral tools libraries I'd buy. Absolutely incredible but 700gb compressed.
Another very inspiring video.
But where is 8DIO?
They have tons of strings, choirs, percission etc - very cheap compared to everybody else.
But the don’t get mentioned much if any in your videos?
Do you think they are bad quality?
Bad playability or?
All the best and thank you🙏🏼
I'd like to know why 8dio does not get more love here too. Right now, if you spend $69+, they throw in Majestica Pro, a high-quality orchestra, for free. So, you could pick up all Choirs Bundle ($143) and Hybrid Tools Series ($63), and you get the free Majestic Pro, which I think you could upgrade to Majestic Ultra for probably less than $10.00, so for about $220, you have a heck of a composing powerhouse. This is a heck of a BF deal.
@@michaelburns8073
It seems though that 8Dio has made their own platform “Soundpaint” - instead of Kontakt.
It very comprehensive and free. And it looks like 8Dio is moving all their libraries to Soundpaint in new improved version - cheap all year.
I have Ableton 12 Suite but see composers use Cubase. Im running into limitations with composing orchestra in live. Does anyone recommend the switch without bias?
The most popular for media scoring is Cubase and Logic, others include Digital Performer, Studio One. They all could do the job, have articulation management and lots of resources on the web to learn. The biggest difference between them is workflow and it depends on you. There are some DAW specific features as well. Best thing is go for a trial and test them out before deciding.
I switched to Cubase 13 this year, but I still love Live. Cubase is good for scoring to timecode for one, enable/disable tracks for making a big template, routing midi to stems, tempo track, expression maps, chord track(helpful), midi record memory, control room(for headphone plugins, utilities)...more. Evenant(composer) still uses Live... lots of tuts for Cubase(PC)...
MUSIO is absolute must have, especially for such tremendously low price
Best Value for anyone starting out👌
Hey there! First of all great video, and also important that you said that disclaimer!
So I wanted your opinion on something please:
I own the Berlin Series Main Collections and also Metropolis Ark 1 by Orchestral Tools, but I'm also looking sometimes for that more symphonic big orchestra sound. I was considering getting Spitfires Symphonic Orchestra.. You think that library would fit/blend well with the Berlin Series or maybe you got any other recommendations?
Thanks in advance and again great video, you really are helping out a lot of people here!
Hi, great Video. May I ask why you does not mention 8dio libraries? They are real cheap and really good.
Haven't personally tried any of them but I've heard there are some inconsistencies across the board. So you're saving money but end up having a tool that works in some cases and doesn't in others.
That's not my opinion, just what I read on the forums. Would be glad if someone who owns those libraries corrected me
8dio libraries are great, but they seem to lack specialty. Companies like Spitfire, Audio Imperia, OT and VSL have their own unique sounds that define them, but 8dio is largely seen as generic. That being said, their stuff is awesome too, but as a beginner it's better to get beginner friendly libraries from one of the companies I mentioned above, and then when you start getting a hang of it, buy libraries from 8dio to fill in gaps that those other companies can't.
Curious why you suggest Nucleus instead of Spitfire all in one?
Both are great and I recommend both in the video, just for different budgets and different use cases.
For more details, see my video The Best All-In-One Orchestral Sample Libraries For Beginners in 2025.
I also like (and own) Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra. It's $149 (no black Friday yet)
What about an engineer who is new to specializing in Orchestra/scoring? Like, experienced and can write a score, but does not have a dedicated library?
Same imo
@KevinKuschel this is more helpful than it should be 😂😅
Great video as per normal. Unfortunately the exchange rate is a killer right now. 1000Us is 1500Aus +10% gst + 2% card sur. The budget is really $600 Aus which is maybe 2 decent things.
I already bought BBC symphony orchestra core on sale this year after it was almost universally recommended D:
I think you'll still be okay :) it might not be "super epic" but it's hasn't suddenly become a bad orchestra
Which version did you get? I have the Core edition.
I still love the warm classical tone of it and I do love my classical as well. I think the brass is a little weak so I've been complimenting it with Abbey Road One thematic horns and trumpets. You can really go for a more classic James Horner and John Williams sound 😜
I like the thumbnail in this one haha perfect timing for black friday. RIP my wallet
I picked up Musio 1 for $200 on sale a few months ago and now it's on sale for $150 to puschase
What is your opinion on Jaeger? I was surprised to not see it anywhere here considering Nucleus owners can get it for 142$ right now
Yeah, good addition for an epic/hybrid build if you can get it discounted.
After I bought Nucleus my price for Areia went down to $37, so I bought Areia and Talos ($89) instead of Jaeger :) though Jaeger is still the only way to get that specific Merethe Soltvedt stuff. Pity they stopped selling it on its own.
@@Emily_M81 Areia for $37? Is that a typo? I just got Nucleus and the biggest deal is Jaeger for $142.19. Areia is $101.69 and Areia Lite is $71.10.
@@ontrada I did have Areia Lite. I got Areia, Nucleus, and Chorus Lite a while back
Jaeger has not gone down for me from $142 lol, I hoped buying Talos might have changed that but no >_>
@@Emily_M81 We're so LOYAL!
Aight, so I hate that we have to have Kontakt full to use some of the best libraries. It's also confusing which one you have to buy to unlock the ability to use these libraries. Can you buy Kontakt full (the player) isolated?
And which of the Kontakt options gives me full Kontakt? If I qualify for crossgrade, do I get the full player, or do I have to pay the 300 dollars for the full version?
Get one of the qualifying freebies (e.g. Heavyocity Emotive Choir). Register it in Native Access. Log into your Native Instruments account. See if you can quality for the Kontakt 8 Full Crossgrade. Wait until the crossgrade is on sale. -> Should be able to get Kontakt Full for 100USD.
@@KevinKuschel Okay, nice. I have Areia which qualifies me for Crossgrade. Now I only have to wait for a sale :)
@@LG-bi1sr so it's clear, Kontakt Player is the free version. There is no "full player" - There is only Player (free) and Full ($$).
We should start seeing more Player-compatible libraries as NI stopped charging for it and only requires nks compatibility, iirc. I have some free Player-compatible libraries, for instance, and that was not always a thing before.
@@Emily_M81 Thanks! Yeah, most of mine use the free version, so I don't necessarily need it at the moment. Good to see them moving in that direction!
If I started from scratch in 2025 based on the music style I like to do (BF sales):
SA Appassionata
SA Albion One or Berlin Symphonic Strings
Berlin Woodwinds (a la carte purchases)
JXL Brass (a la carte purchases)
SA Originals Cinematic Percussion
Noire
SA Originals Intimate Grand Piano
SA Originals Epic Choir
Audio Imperia Chorus Lite
Fracture Sounds Moonlight Celeste
Fracture Sounds freebies.
Got Ablion one and Nucleus before knowing about Spitfire Symphony.. oh well XD
@johnny_blz can I ask how did you get SSO for that price?
Noice
Thanks, but most of it, is bombastic libraries, i write ballads,anime,jcore, jpop, and more ballads....
Tiiiiime to drain my bank account
So much for buying addiction. 😅
My list is as follows:
All 8Dio century series (on a crazy black Friday sale, strings, brass, harps + percussion all for a bit more than $200)
CSW
Sample modelling strings
Kontakt 300€ !
Kontakt 149€ with crossgrade, that you can get with a free library. Then wait for crossgrade sale and pay 100€.
An das genuschelte dscherrrmen englisch muss ich mich echt gewöhnen. Sis ist exaustink
🤷
Made all my last tracks with Musio / Reaper and Decentsampler. I even uninstalled Kontakt, because I don't need it anymore.
2:00 Recommending Reaper for a beginner is the worst advice anyone could make… How to loose your credit in less than 2mn. Thank you, now I know I dont even have to watch the rest of the video and waste my time with stupid advice.
Cakewalk from Bandlab is probably the best DAW for beginners
Dude. Chill. Everything isn’t “all or nothing.” Human beings aren’t perfect. There is plenty of great advice in this video!
With a $300 budget what DAW do you recommend then instead of Reaper?
It's all a matter of preferences dude. Reaper might not work for you, but it works for me and Kevin, and plenty of others. There are other free DAW options like Bandlab by Cakewalk. You can be as critical as you want, but Kevin's videos work quite well for a lot of people, regardless of what you think.
2024BF - So, comparing Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra (BF$440 ❤) with Cinematic Studio Strings, Brass, Woodwinds and Piano (BF$1090-no percussion, no harp, etc.) I have to say Spitfire wins hands down. If I had more money to spend I would again go with Spitfire and get Spitfire Studio Strings Pro (BF$549) which is a different library than SSO, the (Lyndhust) hall library. This is, or course, a subjective choice. I understand the appeal of CSS,B,W for its consistency but to my ears Spitfire Strings has a sweeter sound especially in the high registers. But even ignoring the sonic differences, there is bang for the buck which Spitfire wins easily. I agree with Spitfire Appassionata Strings also - excellent. Your advice overall is excellent. Kudos.
There are less expensive options for your entry point. But honestly, if you can afford it, buy SSO at BF$440 this year and learn it. The price is truly a gift for the quality and quantity of content that you receive. The one thing I would add is that workflow/ease of use in the interface is also important. Try before you buy if possible. SSO is a Kontakt library so you can pick up anything from Native Instruments Komplete line to get a feel for how this interface works. You might discover that you hate it. Another big bang for the buck option is Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition (BF$250) - it's not Kontakt. You also mentioned it at the end of your "The Best All-In-One Orchestral Sample Libraries For Beginners in 2024" It's less money, yes. It's also less orchestra (than SSO). Other inexpensive orchestras that might be worth listening too are Garritan Personal 5 ($150) and Versilian Studios Chamber Orchestra 2 ($229 ❤ Kontakt) and lastly, another amazing deal if you would like to try Orchestral Tools Sine interface - Inspire 1&2 bundle ($288 - ends Wednesday December 4 (Central European Time - UTC+1) )
I tried MUSIO (continue trying for free for whole 30 days along) and created a track using REASON+ VST, which I would like to share with you.
th-cam.com/video/A-nvYsYJ41U/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ABYnWdFAEg10_mcG
Thank You Very Much Kevin indeed for your instructions. Keep your good work for us :D