Which All-In-One Orchestral Library is BEST for Beginners? Tier List
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video, I rank the best (and worst!) all-in-one orchestral sample libraries for beginners in a tier list.
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00:00 Intro: What are the parameters for the tier list?
01:14 Abbey Road One: Orchestral Foundations
02:33 Albion One
03:46 Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra
04:32 BBCSO Core
05:20 BBCSO Discover
06:18 BBCSO Professional
07:08 Berlin Orchestra Inspire 1
09:05 Berlin Orchestra
10:31 Jaeger
11:49 Kontakt Factory Library 2
13:32 Metropolis Ark 1
15:57 Miroslav Philharmonik 2
16:49 Musio
18:21 Nucleus
21:31 Hollywood Orchestra OPUS Edition
23:27 The Orchestra Complete 2
24:57 VSL Synchron Prime Edition
27:17 Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra
28:28 Final Tier List
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_____________________________________________________________________
Attributions:
Fluffing a Duck Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Description tags:
all-in-one orchestral sample libraries, orchestral library tier list
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Hey
Thanks it was very honest feedback 😀
But I think you should have mentioned PROJECT SAM and 8Dio too..
Rewatched this so many times lol. By far the best intro do these libraries I've found on youtube!
I have all the Spitfire libraries mentioned here as well as Nucleus, Jaeger, and Hollywood Orchestra Opus. I pretty much agree with your ranking, although I'd probably put Nucleus and Jaeger in the B column and Abbey Road One in the C column.
I have the BBCSO Pro, but BBCSO Core is a no-brainer for beginners. Especially when Spitfire Audio has one of their frequent sales.
Funny, I have VSL-packages, yet I keep coming back to the orchestra. Their Celli and Bassi are super-vibrant, and I love the presence of their brass. The woodwinds of VSL are the absolute best out there. So I put my orchestra together with instruments from here and there and sometimes stack ensembles. Okay, I get it, the topic is "for beginners" but even from the perspective of a beginner I'd say "The Orchestra" has a lot to offer.
VSL rules. Sounds are the ‘realest’ to me. Love my VSL!
I agree on Nucleus. It really is the best out there, especially regarding the UI and workflow. I personally would put The Orchestra Complete 2 higher though. Partly because I like the sound (where many others don't) but the engine is amazing for beginners. It's faster and more intuitive than the Opus engine, and the midi drag'n'drop will let you see under the hood, which is a great learning tool. It's a great library, don't sleep on it!
THIS! I so agree! I would also suggest to rank Orchestra Complete 2 higher because the unique engine makes beginners feel powerful. That engine makes you want get the MIDI and try to dissect/replicate the complex articulations it does on the composition.
You deserve more recognition, your video production quality is on spot and the video was very helpful 😭❤️
thank you!
Just found you today and have been binging your reviews, I don't know how you don't have more subscribers! But you got one more now man, keep up the fantastic work :D
Thank you! It's motivating to get such amazing feedback on this marathon :)
I think a B+ for EastWest is a little unfair, particularly when you consider that their entire library of samples beyond the traditional orchestra are included in the modest monthly subscription.
Also, worth noting that a more extensive sound library can be hugely inspirational, and you can also purchase their pre-loaded 3TB SSD for under £200 if network download speed is an issue.
Super great vid, Kevin. I can’t wait to see where Pacific ends up on this list when it’s out!
Thank you! Super curious, too.
I wish you'd make a second video with more options. Starting with eventual updates and changes, moving them around the tier list, and then putting up the new ones. There's a lot of suggestions here in the comments already
In my opinion Symphobia or Orchestral essentials 1 could be in the list. Interesting and useful information though.
With the intro you got my full attention xD nice stuff ;D
Very useful! Thanks
Thank you for this, this is so helpful
peerrrfect topic. thankyou!
Watched the whole video and have to say thank you for the extended and complete description of all the libraries. Be on the lookout for the sales when it gets closer to Black Friday and some very good deals are possible.
Very informative - You just gained a subscriber 👍
Nothing has as many articulations as East West Hollywood orchestra and especially the Opus is more than Orchestra.Having an orchestrator that allows you to midi drag n drop ostinatos or whatever you can think of,is unique and Only happens in East West so far.Thats why East West Diamond complete hollywood orchestra is almost 1TB and im proud of owning it.You forgot to play East west demos...Also very important that should place East West to S grade here.You can download any instrument you want manually,so that you save space.East West is by far superior to every other here because of all these reasons.Not to me tion that is the most famous as well.
Yeah I agree. I think it was unfair to knock it down because of its file size and that it uses ilok. Sure ilok is annoying but you get such amazing value for your money with the subscription. I got one year for $60 with the student discount and blackfriday sale and you get access to all their other products too. That's insane.
I generally hate subscriptions but in this case it's worth it especially for a beginner. Subscribe for a year or two, and during that time while you're learning save up to outright buy your favourite libraries.
You missed the part that this was ranking for BEGINNER composers. East West stuff is not for beginners in any way, until you want them to run away and never compose anything, of cause. It’s too overwhelming for beginners.
And yes, my whole PC has only 1TB of space, and it’s really common thing for most people. So no surprise it’s not an S-tier.
So glad I started with nucleus. It's been incredible to work with, and even though I've collected so many other libraries, I use it in literally everything I do.
Also I would probably put Orchestral Essentials 1+2 in this list too, either in A or S. The value is insane.
I have Nucleus Lite and and Essentials 1 and I have to say, the cover a crazy spectrum, you can really do almost anything, just the separated strings are missing a bit for me. Considering getting Aeria Lite still. Then add all the good freebies like BBC discovery, SAM FreeOrchestra 1+2, Spitefire Labs etc and you have an insane range of HQ instruments and sounds to make incredible orchestral (epic) music for a total of 250-350 dollars.
@@amarug Full nucleus might be the best value if you want full sections. You get EVERYTHING in it, plus you get solos which I use constantly
@@amarug Also you can upgrade to full nucleus for a discounted price if you have lite, that's how I got it actually
@@AndrewPRoberts thanks for the info! very tempting!
I had bought bbcso core when it was half off, and it was one of the best purchases I have ever made. Still planning on getting the professional version later down the line
The best library I have ever purchased. I have the Pro one now, but having Core in my smaller internal SSD always available is a no-brainer. And the quality is top-notch!
@@paopis Love the modularity!
Kevin, great and insightful comprehensive review/comparison! But I would have thought ProjectSam Symphobia would have figured nicely into this list. Can you give us your take on Symphobia, and where you might place it on this quite helpful grid? Thanks!
This may be the best orchestral VST roundup I've come across yet, given your focus on why you might or might not want a particular library. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is more attention to sale prices. Some of these libraries regularly (or irregularly) go on sale for quite appreciable discounts.
Another thing I appreciate about this video personally is that it makes me feel quite good about what I've already got. When Audio Imperia went on sale a little while back, I was sorely tempted to buy Nucleus, but in the end I decided I couldn't justify it since I already had BBCSO Core (purchased on sale). It sounds like I should have no regrets.
Thanks for your feedback, Brent! Glad you like the video :) I had to go for the regular prices for comparison's sake. Can't anticipate what developers will come up this Black Friday (or next summer, or BF 2023). The video would become outdated faster than I could say "Vienna Symphonic Library Synchron Prime Edition".
VERY GOOD REVIEW !!! On side notes i have many vst on this list , and i think you have good view on produce. I also think Miroslav was not the best of all , BUT they are not so bad because many choice and it is almost ALWAYS in special with the TOTAL MAX BUNDLE at black Friday AND boxing day... so for the price i think it was tought to beat. At least for a second library, good.
For me it's The Orchestra by Sonuscore
Thank you 😁 very useful
I wrote some light orchestral music fifteen years ago. Back then I had a pirated version of Miroslav 1, which I eventually bought while it was on sale for 150€, because all my compositions sounded incredible with it. A few years later I got a new computer and realized that I had lost my license for Miroslav during a move. Miroslav 2 was too expensive for just a small hobby and none of the other beginner libraries sounded good with my writing style, plus it sounded worse, so eventually I abandoned composing altogether.
I still watch library reviews from time to time, but man, I don't see the appeal of the other libraries at all - it's like losing your first love 😄
Then you might be interested in this: th-cam.com/video/1zzyhKblFTc/w-d-xo.html. It seems that Miroslav 2 is now being given away for free.
You could’ve just buy Miroslav 2 CE edition... which is way cheaper, especially on discounts. I remember once it was even less than 50$.
I got Miroslav for free (Group buy) and it sounds pretty good. Were it fails is in the workflow and how old it feels.
Ok. Just decided to go with Nucleus this Monday. Guessing there will be a sale for Black Friday.. but that's too far away. Amazing video!!
Thank you very much 🙏🏻
Musio: you can actually buy to own - and you could do this for $299 until end of 2023 (now $399).
For this you get a vast amount of libaries and while you only get one mix (instad of multiple mic positions in the Kontakt versions) the mix you get nails it immediately. You can run it very litely - so ideal for laptop work - but you can also download all sorts of articulations for detailed offline work.
Funny intro xD I think nucleus is the best for a modern sound
After watching this video and doing some more research, I went with Nucleus and it's pretty awesome. Nucleus wasn't even on my radar before watching this video. The small size of the library (approx 30 GB) makes it perfect for laptops, and despite the small size, it offers a large amount of instruments, even solo instruments and also a choir. Very glad I went this instead of Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra or the extremely large libraries (like EW Opus).
I usually draw sketch with albion and give them details with BBC :-) Great libraries!
I actually dreamt of BBC SO core for the past 3-4 years, when I’ve heard VSL Synchronized I fell in love and bought it after trying the demo out. Playing with it feels like being in the concert hall front seats and as an aspiring classical composer that’s my jam. Plus, it was only 191 EUR for the volume 1 35% off and it has way more instruments than Prime does which is why I bought Synchronized instead
miroslav with discount (150-EUR) forever. with addition of soundpaint g-brass it's amazing.
Awesome vid
Gotta add Spitfire Symphony Orchestra now 😊
This was really useful! I was missing Cinematic Studio... but otherwise great! Thank you!
Thanks! I didn't include Cinematic Studio Series on purpose, because it is not an all-in-one orchestra. They have dedicated products for strings (CSS), brass (CSB) and woodwinds (CSW) and a piano, but no percussion. The idea of this video was to list those libraries, that are one product which contains the entire orchestra.
Great summary! Very balanced and informative evaluation. I personally went BBC Discover >> BBC Core and it even runs great on my M1 (32gb) MacBook Air! I'd be interested in your opinion of the new Iconica Sketch, as I've had my eye on Iconica for a while... :)
edit: Iconica Sketch is included with Cubase 13 Pro, so I'll check that out. Also another plus for the BBCSO is that you can seamlessly switch between Discover, Core, and Pro. So you could compose on your old notebook with Discover, then open the project on your Desktop and set it to Core or Pro and it will change all the instruments for you. So awesome.
Thanks, glad to hear it was useful :) Have fun trying out Iconica Sketch, I don't have experience with it!
Jes, Sonuscores The Complete ist underrated. It comes with many presets. Study them and you can you a learn how to orchestrate. It has all single sections and a choir (a lot of this libraries have no choir). It Brings a lot of Instruments for the price. And i like the sound, it has a vibe of a live orchestra. For me a great start.
You should definitely continue this as a series.. please have a look at some brass libraries as a suggestion :)
Strings/woodwinds are of course interesting as well, but it’s more settled I feel (CSS or OT quite literally)
Need. Moar. LIbraries. :)
Hello there, thanks for your list of Orchestras, but I’m new to orchestrating and arranging and got Opus Edition on sale and learning Joe to you it. I always wanted to know, you have Spitfire Symphony orchestra and you have Berlin Orchestra. Which is better out does it really matter? I guess it’s up to WHO is using the library to compose. Just heard the person scoring using Spitfire Symphony orchestra and it was for the movie Gambit, I think. He explained (the composer) how he got the sound he wanted with the movie. It was great. Shaun, any advance or encouragement would be appreciated.🙏🏾
I went with nucleus and I am really happy with it after 2 years. Wouldn't recommend the demo version though it has a lot of bugs especially with the choir sections.
It lacks a bit in the very short articulation departement imo, but has powerful brass sound, solid woodwinds with an exceptionally good solo oboe and solid string sounds
Great video, as always. I agree with your placements mostly, at the regular list pricing, at least. Regarding Miroslav, Sampletank and the workflow are actually factors I would rate as more negative than the sound. There is a case to be made that it‘s frequently available at much lower prices (for example as part of the recent Total Studio Max sale), but you‘re still stuck with a workflow that‘s making your beginning as a composer not as easy as it could be.
I'll echo this sentiment. I have Miroslav, got it in the Group Buy last year. Loaded it once and played around with it, but IKM have made it unusable with the workflow and dated (and bloated) software. I would re-sell it, if I could.
This!
I dare to say sound-wise, is not even that far from the rest. It is the UI and the workflow that kills it.
What's so bad about the workflow? Curious because i own it, just never bothered to install it so far.
@@beatz04 outdated GUI mostly. Sound-wise is pretty competitive even though is not a modern library, but for the price you can get it in deals, it might be a great option.
Thanks you! I like East west ! But Nucleus is good for beginers!
Great Video! You really should update this video though. Spitfire just recently re-released their Symphony orchestra, which used to be thousands of dollars to get their pro version. They have done away with the proversion altogether as most of the sounds can be replicated with their default mics. I confirmed this with one of their reps before buying the new library. Now their all in one library is a little north of six hundred dollars. It also comes with the joey burges percussion library and is a really good all in one value.
Thanks for the overview. Although I'm covered with "All-in-ones" now, I really enjoy this video.
In the past I bought Amadeus and regretted it. Apart from some woodwinds the sound is rather bad. BBCSOD was a nice start. I mocked up a track from Jerry Goldsmith and it worked really well. After that I tried Nucleus lite and mockup up the Avengers Theme. That was a total different world for me. Nucleus Full was the obvious conclusion and I'm happy with that. Now I added Ark I. Although its rather old and doesn't have full section control as you mentioned it makes its job absolutely perfect: being loud and epic. I would rank it at lease as a B.
Ark is fantastic indeed. For me not perfect as a first library when you have nothing else and want to cover as much ground as possible. But as an addition to power up your orchestra with organic epicness? Hell, yeah!
Great list. I layer stuff. Albion One. Areia Lite. Sometimes stock Logic, Nashville scoring strings, Kontakt Factory (1 & 2), BBC SO Discover.
Layer everything. 😂
Agreed, I think the more you advance you start filling in specific needs as you go. I love layering close and dry libraries with roomier ones!
@@PeterToml1nson Facts!
In my opinion Nucleus is better than BBCSO Core for couple of reasons:
1) The most important is loading time. Running a song with few instances of BBC takes much more time, than nucleus.
2) In Nucleus you can take one specific articulation, in bbcso core you have to load the whole instruments, which is loading to your ram and then you can uncheck the unnecesary articulations.
3) Nucleus has not only the individual sections, but also ensembles, which is great for quick sketching of your concept.
The only thing that is quite weird in nucleus is the fact, that not every instrument in section has the same articulation. For example you have legato violins and cellos, and don't have violas and basses. But the best thing you can do is to have both of these libraries. Nucleus is faster and more efficient for the most of work, but when you want to add some of that "classical sound" you can use one or two of these beautiful sounding instruments from BBC :D (the percussion in BBC is wonderful)
Yeah its definitely subjective, i have both but never use nucleus at all anymore because bbcso sounds so much better to me
I have 1 more question David after this useful video : for people who already have Komplete Standard, where do you putt the upgrade to ultimate (around 450$ more) to access Symphonic Orchestra library ? If we “bypass” all the module and other part included. Thanks
Musio is $9.99 a mo, or $99 a year. Almost a nobrainer. Excellent vid. Didn’t know about Musio, now it’s in my DAW. Good job.
So, erstmal danke für deine Hilfe bezüglich der Libary-Wahl. Ich habe mich nach einer turbulenten Woche jetzt wohl doch für Nucleus entschieden. Eigentlich finde ich den Ebby Road One Sound bombe, allerdings hat dieses OC ja leider viele Nachteile, gerade im Bezug auf das erste Orchestra. Eigentlich war ich auf der Suche direkt einmal vernünftig zu investieren "Für Filmsound" aber es gibt wohl keine vernünftige Libary die alles professionell abdeckt. Ein bißchen schade, aber ist nun mal so. Was würdest du den direkt ersetzen in der Libary? Strings? Da der Black Friday for der Tür steht, werde ich dann dann direkt mehr investieren wollen, damit ich erstmal ruhe hbn😅 Percussion kram hab ich genug über EZ Drummer, das kann ich gut abdecken falls nicht der Hammer bei Nucleus. Vielen Dank, hast informative Vids zu dem Thema. Abo ist raus🎉
I get everyone is biased about their own opinion!!! All of these are great in my opinion they all serve a purpose!!! Just my opinion!!!🤷🏽♂️
well, i just started with classical music, and am on a budget, therefore got me The Orchestra, not complete, not essentials, the 300 €, core pack. Yes, the samples are a bit on the rougher side, but still good enough to make high quality music. The big plus with this library is the level of control. you can use every instrument (section, not solo instruments) seperately, which was the selling point for me. sonuscores upgrade/crossgrade path is also quite decent. to be fair, the amount of optiions in each section is limited, there is no xylophon for example, just a glockenspiel, but i got more than enough to explore and work with until i have the money to upgrade to the latest complete edition, which will fix that.
Hello ! Great great great video !!
Hi Kevin, thanks for sharing this. What do you think of the Modern Scoring Bundle by 8DIO / NKS for just €199? And how about Albion Legacy for €149? Sounds like fair prices to start with.
S tier is kontakt factory library 2 now, since you probably want Kontakt.
I think an important thing is also, how useful will my first purchase be when I eventually upgrade to more expensive individual libraries.
And KF2 + Kontakt is the best in the category.
For that reason I would probably also rank TOC/Opus higher than you. Those purchases provide a lot of value that will be useful over time with their engines.
Opus if your machine can handle it (on sale). TOC if you want a lightweight version.
I would put all these S tiers, yes also TOC (String legato's would be the weakest part of TOC currently, also Nucleus choir much better)
I think Nucleus is too, but it lacks articulations, maybe not essential as a beginner, but they will be nice to have later on for sketching.
How would the currently discounted 8Dio library feature in this? Both the pack sold on Native instruments (200 bucks including a bunch of choirs and effects) or just the Majestica Professional on its own (80 bucks)?
Tanks 😊
I really love Opus, so I might be a little biased. But saying that it's too heavy to download when you can get every sound individually straight from the VST, doesn't make a lot of sense. The library is huge, but in this case is all advantages: you can preview any sound, and if you need it you download it. On top, the sound is probably the best on the list, and you can get it for 20 bucks.
Most of beginner composers don’t have a free terabyte space for it. And also that much options are overwhelming for beginner.
@@user-vy9ll3jl3v Exactly, beginners can download the patches individually, dont need 1 TB to download them all together. Also, if you just get each basic instrument of the orchestra KS patch you're ready to go in 20 minutes with 200 GB max.
Not a fair take on Amadeus imo... First, it DOES have legato. 2nd, BBC discover is not a better option because it doesn't have nearly as much articulations and control. Without attack/release controls, it's very restrictive and any beginner would be quick to reach for something better. Finally, for 150$ (or less on sale) that's one hell of a good price for what you get. I'd recommend anyone reading to go search for demos made with Amadeus and see what you can do with it.
Part of the reason Discover is ranked so high is because it’s completely free and it can seamlessly convert all projects to Core or Pro if you choose to upgrade later.
Yeah, not to mention that for 150$ you’ll get all the sections with almost every orchestral instrument, and lots of them would also have solo mode, which is insane. Basically, it’s like Nexus in terms of options, but with poorer sound quality and way more cheaper.
What do you think about Hollywood opus for 300 dollars or BBCSO Core for 315 EUROS? I do not have a background in orchestral music, but I've been making melodic beats for around 5-6 years now. I was set at BBCSO CORE at first, but now this is on a huge deal. LMK what you think.
I bought IK Multimedia Miroslav 2 for about 70 euro, which is part of Sample Tank, so got also a lot of synths ... Miroslav 2 only costs around 42 euro around black friday ... I understand it's not the best, but very useful and much cheaper compared to some 300+ euro alternatives.
How about a review of just the Spitfire stuff? There are so many
And regarding the original spitfire audio labs? What position would you put them in?
I like your rankings, even if I would likely rank them differently. I think my only comment is that if someone really is a beginning composer, they may not really need individual patches for each section of the orchestra. If they really are just starting out, you may not really know how to orchestrate properly yet. So you can get stuff done faster with ensemble patches like Albion 1 has. No of course you'll never learn how to do it right if you don't have the tools that allow you to try. But I think for those that may just want to get things done, if they actually have projects that need to be completed, ensemble patches get a lot of work done more quickly than having to deal with each individual seat of the orchestra.
Thanks! Totally valid point. To me, I would encourage a beginner to get an All-in-One library that offers individual patches, because they might end up buy a second All-in-One library afterwards, when they require section control. Before then jumping into individual section libraries. Some people can probably skip the second step and jump directly from ensemble-all-in-one library to the dedicated section libraries (a strings library, a brass library, a percussion library etc). But I think they lack some sketching tools in that case. Again, totally subjective, but if I had the choice between an all-in-one orchestra that has both individual patches + summary patches compared to an all-in-one orchestra that has only summary patches, for the same price, I would choose the more flexible one.
Again, totally depends on the composer, their workflow, the genre they write, and their taste on which library sounds best to them.
@@KevinKuschel Really think the BBCSO Freebee is a no brainer. I am also not a pro and yes there are limitations but if you come from being a keyboardist that want to dabble and learn there is no idea in putting 500 bucks into the first couple of years, and the quality in the free version is already lightyears better than what you find in an avg. Hardware keyboard, even compared to what is available of 3'rd party sample expansions to eg. top workstations like the Korg Kronos. And really even you are a natural self learner, if your not already studying composition most users will find it overwhelming to have a full orchestral tool available with all its articulations and microphone choices. EW composer cloud would also be a good start as you get really much for your money and how many of us don't already have 2-3 streaming services running on a monthly basis. cut one of them and you have access to like 95% of all their products that would cost thousends of dollars if you had to own them all, and you can disable your sub at any time. If your already a Pro I don't like the subscription type as it will most likely come to some of the products going unavailable at some point in time and then you suddenly can't access your old projects just to do some kind of remix or use it as part of a new project. I currently have a NI Komplete Select 13 which I plan to upgrade when there is a ver 14 rebate option as you said here the new factory library is actually really descent where you in earlier versions had to go CE version to get some descent orchestral libraries or buy them seperate.
Imo there is really much usable for any types of musical genre in the new Complete 14 Ultimate package On that matter the Albion One library, even it still sounds nice, it is getting a little old with only 3 layers of expression in the sounds. I still like the new Spitfire engine even it do need more cpu an ram the more instruments you load, but It still amazes me that Kontakt after all these years isn't better at streaming samples as it is, no matter if your using a spinner or the fastest gen 4 nvme ssd. The Korg Kronos is nearly 15 years old and is doing a better job in streaming with a dual core 2010 Intel atom processor and a sata SSD than Kontakt on a 2022 mid -high end PC.
looking at the spring sale on spitfire audio this week reminds me of the complex decision i had to make as a child in london in the woolworths store and the 500 metres long counter filled with candy bars, sweets and chocolates 😂 just totally overwhelming and impossible to choose 😢 as our dear freddie once sang "i want it all, i want it all, and i want it now" 😻
Haha good luck finding the best candy for you! Hope i was able to help sort it out a bit more clearly.
@@KevinKuschel i love Albion one but maybe it's just the demo piece they use but i can't find nucleus ? But i was quite partial to symphonic motions. I'm not a pro and I'm not film scoring but I've this crazy idea to put orchestral music behind the 70s heavy rock genre and I'm quite serious, my mind goes there with some pieces but I'm not sure if there is a specific piece on spitfire that would suit a hint of heavy rock .. I'm talking genesis, deep purple, led zep, whitesnake and a few others. Just want to recreate that fab decade with orchestral behind it all. Don't think such a genre exists ? but I'm doing my own thing :) thanks for the video
How about UVI Orchestral suite? Is it a good one to buy?
Where I think complete orchestra 3 is in my opinion by far best in the game along with project Sam symphobia series
BBC Discover is what I started with and it's definitely an A (almost S) tier like Nucleus. But if I could do it all over again, I would have went with BBCSO before Nucleus because the legato is much better than Nucleus. I tried the VSL Prime Edition demo and it's really nice if you're going the classical movie scene route.
Have you set your Nucleus instruments from 125ms to 250ms on the sample start knob? Improves the legatos.
@@KevinKuschel Yes, I tried it first at 125ms and then to 250ms. I find Areia to have a smoother legato tradition when using it with Nucleus But, it's been some time now since I've messed with Nucleus so I'll try it again since I was just learning the ins and outs of the library at the time. Would overlapping the notes slightly help?
Have you ever tried sampletank 4 max. What do you think about it?
Where would you place the Berlin Orchestra at a discounted price of €399? Already own Nucleus and BBCSO, but really wondering if I should move towards the rabbit hole of the Berlin series as well or expand with CS.
Same rating I think, because you'll have to compare it to the other libraries' sales prices. Looks like you are already very well equipped with All in One orchestras. Maybe makes sense to branch out into more specific needs (e.g. dedicated section libraries, or the Ark series)
It's sad to see Amadeus did not succeed. I've heard it's good for beginners because it has really lots of options for the money when compared to other products for the same price, and also it's beginner-friendly in general. Yeah, the quality might be not the best.
Also, I've heard good things about Diamond Symphony Orchestra by Kirk Hunter. It normally costs 499 but now seems to be often (permanently?) available for 99.
Wondering which would be the best option for a total beginner. Ok, most likely it's the free Discover but I wish it did not have so much reverb by default. I'd like to have something more dry so that I can apply (or not) my own reverb.
What would you think of Steinberg Iconica ?
Nucleus is probably the best beginning library
For me, it took a handful to meet my needs from nuance to BIG.
Albion One
Albion Solstice (AMAZING!)
Studio Strings
BBC pro (Love it so much. A cimbasso, contrabass clairinet etc and legato everywhere- French horn with legato made me understand why people like French horns, legato solo flute, flute a3, solo for each string divisi as good as most Solo Cello VSTs)
Orchestra essentials (good sketch tool)
MSS (polyphonic legato and intuitive mode yeshhhh)
Composer+ Opus- thousands of excellent samples for choir and strings etc worth it
Musio- yes yay Cinesamples but mainly for the femur bone flute, ancient Norwegian fiddle and other boss options
IntimateTextures heavyocity- gorgeous very fun quartet you can tweak using a variety of legit modern techniques tutti or by instrument for an amazing background or idea maker
Pandora Core- if you’re doing film music I’d say get core or better yet full. Beautifully sampled sinister sounds ready to hybrid
Action Strings- for ostinato although now I use MSS modern scoring strings arpeggio and ostinato capabilities on any instrument or solo with mics and settings
All good for different phases but OVERALL for cinematic strings at least I’d say MSS for its flexibility and great tone.
(Needs layers if you want big or aggressive but in general my goto unless it’s complex then BBCSO pro I would say is the best orchestra I’ve used for “orchestral sounding” music or non cinematic music it’s not even a race .
Cinematic start with Albion one or what you can afford
Wär cool gewesen, wenn noch Symphonic Orchestra von EastWest dabei gewesen wäre, da es sich doch deutlich vom Hollywood Orchestra unterscheidet, aber sonst super Video!
May I ask why Garritan Personal Orchestra wasn't included? It's a fully featured orchestral library, and only costs $150. I haven't used it, but it is one I'm looking into.
Hey Mark, don't know much about it, don't know anyone who uses it. Personally, I am not impressed by the sound and it seems pretty old. Also, I don't see any upgrade path to dedicated libraries from the same developer. So, I am not sure it makes for the best ecosystem as a beginner All-In-One orchestra in 2022.
GPO is very dated and not worth it today. It integrates nicely with Finale though. But other than that, you're better off with free libraries especially for strings. The harpsichord, pianos, and harp are decent from GPO but check out check out BBCSO Discover and the free instruments from Orchestral Tools Sine Factory, especially the Helix strings. And for 2€ the Organic Samples Majestic Horn from Orchestral Tools is a steal.
What is your take on the new kind of "assisted" libraries that are starting to appear, such as "The Score" by Sonuscore, "Synchron Smart Orchestra" by Vienna Symphonic Library, or "Hollywood Fantasy Orchestrator" by EastWest? Do you think these products are suited for beginners? I'm asking because they all seem to be designed with user-friendliness in mind and a "have fun and get results quick" philosophy. Would love to get your opinion on this.
Hey, check my video on The Score, I touch on that topic a bit there. They are great for creating good-sounding results and finding inspiration. They are also very useful to learn from the presets that the developers put together, what instruments to blend and how they are arranged. At least to some basic extent that can be helpful for a beginner. But you won't write full orchestral pieces with them.
You gave Amadeus short shrift. It's actually a great little orchestra. The clip you showed was merely the "Symphony" patch, which is not meant to be anything other than a very quick sketch tool. I would say that the sections themselves, the instruments, and the scripting are far, far superior to the Spitfire freebie you compared it to. And all of the instruments have legato.
Totally agree! Amadeus is bang for a buck considering how many solo and ensemble sections it offers plus so many articulations! BBC Discover is not even near
Nucleus ore Orchestra are the best for beginners of course ❤
Orchestral Tool Berlin,Spitfire Chambers,Opus are in a different level.When Opus upgrades to new recording samples,it can be the first one easily..But Orchestral Tools Symphonic is the most realistic tool now.
something happened. I had HO for over 10 years without installing it on the machine. actually i forgot about it. The HO play version felt so horrible to use. but then I bought opus Edition and HO got a new life. I don't know what happened, but the whole library feels like new and is a pleasure to use. It is now in my new template as the main library.
@@jussivalter New Opus engine is really good and always upgrading sounds in background.
Miroslav is currently for sale on Black Octopus for $30. How would it rerank?
Same rank.
Nucleus lacks piccolo flute and other instruments. Huge letdown. I use piccolo a lot.
Regarding Musio - It's not cloud-based instruments. It works just like EastWest.
Hello, can anyone please tell me Disney or Cartoon/Animation movie like sounding strings plzzzzzzzz😭
Hello, my question is when making music using these plugins, who owns the copyright? Also, it seems with these plugins, anyone can make music, even for someone like me who has zero knowledge in music theory. Is this a good thing or bad thing? I mean if I created some great music just using my ear, people would expect me to know how to play at least a few musical instrument, but in reality I know nothing. Will I disappoint them? Is this cheating? 😅
Maybe add Project SAM orchestral essentials 1+2 in here?
Unlike the other top libraries, Hollywood Orchestra is on sale most of the time these days. You can get it for $334 right now.
Yeah, and Nucleus was on sale for 200$ in the Native Instruments sale until a few days ago. Hard to keep up with those, that's why I sticked to the regular prices. If I compared sales prices of the past, the video would become outdated as soon as one of the devs makes a better promotion than what I state in the video. Hope you still enjoyed it. Brace yourself for Black Friday 2022! Coming soon in your area.
@@KevinKuschel Except OPUS is always 60% off. The sale never ends, lol.
Wait you put composer cloud below the BBC discover for beginners ? lol
If the "Epic" sound feels unnatural and lacking subtlety, but the BBC sound is a little too conservative and indistinct, would you say that the Vienna sound is a happy medium? I wouldn't want to spend more than I have too if the BBC Core is just as good, but BBC Discover sounds kind of muffled and old fashioned and I'm not sure I like it. If Vienna splits the difference between that and the modern style, it might be worth it.
Miroslav DOES sound old and interface is ugly, but I will add that it is a product that rarely is bought at full retail price. I got it as kind of an afterthought with IK's Total Max Studio 3.5 a few months back. IK is always having ridiculous sales that offer a huge amount of products for less than the price of one. Seen in the context of actual cost vs list price, it may offer one of the best bang for the buck ratios. If I divided everything I got and gave Miroslav equal weight, I spent maybe $10 for it.
I have the EastWest Opus Edition and i am a beginner, so i would like to share my experience.
You are spot on when you say it is overwhelming, it is VERY overwhelming. I have been tinkering with it for a month so much that i have not even begun to compose a proper piece. First of all, for a beginner who knows next to nothing about an orchestra, you get completely lost in all of the articulations. Which ones to use? WTF is this "Bartok Pizzicato" and why does it sound like someone is breaking their instrument on stage?
Then you spend a month learning about what all articulations are and find out you really only need 2 to begin: Sustains and Staccato. Next step would be including Legatos and Marcatos. The rest is still mysterious to me.
And then when you finally compose a piece, you wonder why it sounds like so "empty"... i mean, NOT an epic sound. And the reason is that they recorded it very "Dry" (For a good reason, but not good for beginners), so you spend another month learning about EQ, Reverbs and Mic Positions. You think you can finally get the sound you want by Incorperating more Mic Positions but then POOF!!! YOU HAVE USED UP ALL OF YOUR RAM!!!
Great, spend a few days searching of how to upgrade your PC, you upgrade the RAM, and then find out its still not enough, so you upgrade your SSD to an M.2NVMe SSD. And now suddenly everything works.
So this has bean painstaking, and i have wasted 2 months just trying to figure OPUS out.
But I still compare the sound I can get with OPUS as a noob, with the sound that nucleus has, and still wish I had bought nucleus instead. Would have started composing 2 months ago.
Therefore, unless you have a VERY good PC, and already know how to MIX an orchestra to get the sound you want, you are better off NOT getting opus, jf you are a beginner at least.
Thanks for sharing this part of your composer journey! The issues and challenges you wrote about couldn't be more real (especially the RAM upgrade, and then finding out it wasn't enough... same with storage). As a beginner, it's important to focus on the basics and then gradually expand as you improve.
That's why I recommend to start with all-in-one orchestral libraries and not get those dedicated section libraries too quickly. With Nucleus, I like that there is a Basic and an Advanced tab in the user interface. You CAN dabble with some settings, but you don't have to if all of this is still overwhelming to you. This level of convenience is crucial for a good beginner library imo.
Is nucleus better than the BBC, right now BBC is on sale, so, what do you think?
They’re on par, but BBCSO is more useful in classical orchestral music and Nucleus is better for modern/hyped orchestral imo.
I'm really surprised to see Albion One in B and BBC Symphony in S considering that everyone comparing them always say that Albion is easier to get a good sounding orchestra and BBC has way more control so is harder to use for a beginner.
Read that again
@@losangulos I did and don't see anything wrong with my comment. Had to remember what the hell I was talking about though since it's been months lmao
Where are you put Note performer 3 or 4?
Note Performer is so different and unique in its use case that I wouldn't compare it to sample player based libraries, since it's used with notation software.
For composers who use notation software, Note Performer is a great upgrade compared to the standard sounds included in these notation programs. Although I heard that Musescore is catching up with its Muse Sounds.
Need advice and guidance as a beginner? Looking to level up your composition and production?
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I think Audio Imperia are the best for beginning composers. Now only do they cover what you need, but their sales and crossgrade prices are excellent. I've also found their customer support to be top tier.
As long as the "award-winning standalone plugin" hosting the instrument and articulation controls is neither multitimbral nor capable of purging samples that are not in use, I will refrain from buying Spitfire Audio products. Given that there are differences in track delays to take care of, you have to have single tracks for each articulation. This is not beginner friendly, and you need a big CPU with even bigger RAM to handle this. There is a reason why the trusty Albion 1 is still on Kontakt. The BBCSO Discover is too good to be true (even with the %§//&% player) but you have to keep in mind that there is only one velocity layer for everything (even BBCSO Core has "up to 3" only).
The S-tier pick depends on the genre of music, imho. There is no "best" beginner's library, there is only something that will work for the individual. And since (to my knowledge) VSL is the only company that lets you try before you buy (30 day demo!) I would recommend to start here. Even if you don't buy it, you'll get a grasp of how a good interface should look like and how a professional library can sound on your machine.
Very good summary! Besides EastWest and Orchestratools, I always loved the simplicity and sound of the Project Sam VSTs. They sound great out of the box and their multis are extremely inspiring to me.
@@spinelldete Core IS now capable of purging unused articulations. It was like that when I bought it last August. I just found out how to do it recently, and took out all the articulations that my current project wasn't using. It turned a 6.18GB project into a 5.2GB project.
UVI Orchestral Suite?
Umm I think AMADEUS sounded beautiful.
BEST! BEST? BEST?! BEST!!???? Which All-In-One Orchestral Library is BEST for Beginners!
Do you offer full orchestral instruments for beginners?
LOL