If I Started Orchestral Composing in 2024, I’d Buy These Sample Libraries
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2024
- These are the best orchestral sample libraries for 4 budgets and my picks if I started orchestral composing from scratch in 2024.
Get your starter kit for orchestral composing: www.becomeaprocomposer.com/st...
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$300 budget:
Reaper: www.reaper.fm/
Kontakt Full: www.native-instruments.com/en...
Nucleus Lite: www.audioimperia.com/product/...
Areia Lite: www.audioimperia.com/product/...
Majestic Horn Legato: www.orchestraltools.com/store...
Audio Ollie Taste: www.audioollie.com/taste
$500 budget:
Reaper: www.reaper.fm/
Kontakt Full: www.native-instruments.com/en...
Nucleus (Full): www.audioimperia.com/product/...
Choir Essentials: www.strezov-sampling.com/prod...
Elements Modern Scoring Synth: collabs.shop/3ek14b
Ethera Gold Atlantis 3: collabs.shop/ztfmm8
$1000 budget:
Reaper: www.reaper.fm/
Kontakt Full: www.native-instruments.com/en...
Cinematic Studio Strings: cinematicstudioseries.com/str...
Damage 2: heavyocity.com/product/damage-2/
Ethera Gold Atlantis 3: collabs.shop/ztfmm8
$3000 budget:
Studio One Professional: www.presonus.com/en/studio-on...
Kontakt Full: www.native-instruments.com/en...
Cinematic Studio Strings: cinematicstudioseries.com/str...
Cinematic Studio Solo Strings: cinematicstudioseries.com/sol...
Cinematic Studio Brass: cinematicstudioseries.com/brass/
Cinematic Studio Woodwinds: cinematicstudioseries.com/woo...
Metropolis Ark 1: www.orchestraltools.com/store...
Metropolis Ark 3: www.orchestraltools.com/store...
Talos: www.audioimperia.com/product/...
Devastator Breakout Pro: keep-forest.com/store/librari...
Ethera Gold Atlantis 3: collabs.shop/ztfmm8
Ethera Gold Full Bundle: collabs.shop/eahcdm
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00:00 Orchestral style
00:37 Important: Mental health
00:55 Buy sample libraries during sales
01:15 Budget: 300 USD
05:44 Budget: 500 USD
08:50 Budget: 1000 USD
12:41 Budget: 3000 USD
19:45 Before you buy!
Other Videos:
Best All-in-One Orchestral libraries: • Which All-In-One Orche...
Strings libraries for beginners: • The BEST Strings Sampl...
Best beginner sample libraries 2023: • Best Orchestral Sample...
My Top 7 Strings Libraries: • My Top 7 Strings Sampl...
Best orchestration courses: • This Orchestration Rec...
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Description tags: start orchestral composing, orchestral sample libraries, orchestral music production
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Thank you for including Majestic Horn! As the creator of the library, I'm very happy to see it there :-)
Gonna check it out, sweet price point mate
You should! @@krakapoww
Thank you for the opening advice. Spot on!
Great video Kevin and really smart advice!!!!
Thank you, Kevin! Very useful 👍
What a fantastic video! Very informative, silky smooth editing, and a very likeable host. +sub
Thanks for this list! I haven't bought any orchestra stuff before and this is really helpful
I wished I found this channel sooner, thanks for sharing all this info Kevin!
What a great video! Hope I'd see this before black friday!
Wow - best overview ever! Thanks a lot!
Thank you so much for this, you are exactly the channel I needed.
These videos were so helpful a few months ago when I was trying to get a handle on all these libraries. Thanks Kevin.
Wait what?! Only 6k subscribers are insane, the quality Is terrific for those numbers. Thank u for these usefull videos, u deserve more
Nice and helpful video Kevin, thanks
Amazing explanation ❤
Kudos man, cool and useful video for everybody! If a beginner has got the full Kontakt I would recommend some 8dio libraries like Anthology, Century brass, Insolidus currently on sale too.
One thing i would add, is the OPUS subscription from East West fro 20 dollars a month. It has helped me alot over the years, especially on specific projects. Plus you can cancel it if your budget gets tight.
Yeah Opus is really the one. I'd say FL Studio as a DAW is good cause free upgrades
So much this. Subscription aside, Hollywood Orchestra is bigger and better than Nucleus and the Cinematic Studio series combined and is often on sale for $400 USD. A no-brainer.
Awesome! Confirms a lot of my thoughts and intentions, however one question left (speaking im high praise from Teldex sound): What do you think of the OT Berlin Series & expansions?? Quite pricey, but in the long-run a an even better investment with more sound depth / detail for a professional composer? After all: GREAT reviews, Kevin! I am a fan and since a couple of months I regularly drop by to watch your stuff. Very informative, useful, and funny. Thanks!!
Thank you for the tip about getting Kontakt 7! I've been wanting it for a while now. Finally able to get it for a decent price!
Glad I could help!
Best review🙌🙌🙌
amazing video really i just subscribed
Wow, this is so great, thank you for making this! I'm just starting in orchestral music and these libraries sound like a great investment.
Could you make something similar for mixing orchestral music? No idea where to start there
Superb, condensed and balanced overview. In fact, I went through all budgets with only a few diviations. BTW what's the name of the goose on the coach?
I'm a hack guitarist and bass player with a home studio trying to get into playing keyboard and composing. Thanks for this! One thing that I've found that you really should have included is the free Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra. Subscribed. I've checked out a few of your posted videos and will be watching them over again I'm sure!
This is very helpful!
Thank you so much!
thank you bro!
Surprised that Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover (free) wasn’t a suggestion. Glad you mentioned Labs and Pianobook.
Yes, this is a very decent library of free orchestral instruments
Great choices!
Thanks for the illustrative video.....Can you guide me for harps, which is the best library?
Those are some great recomendations… but in the high tier budget I think VSL synchron package beats everything. Really worth investing into.
Highly recommend Nucleus for beginners. But I think Hollywood Opus is also a nice upgrade after Nucleus, for the higher budgets. It’s top notch.
About to get the Berlin Strings bundle from OT to upgrade my strings... couldn't be happier with my decision, I particularly love the sound that the Berlin series has - I was very torn between CSS and Berlin (my top two decisions), but opted for the latter since there's just so much more to work with, and the opportunity for so MANY compositional directions and ideas. CSS is beautiful, don't get me wrong.
Ya, I believe they both can be used for cinematic , but OT I believe had more intense composition in mind like classical or romantic era style.
@@shanebullard7995 definitely! I'm more into that style lately, but the series comes with the con sordinos, which are great for the cinematic stuff.
Thank you for mentioning "US$" in the price rather than just xxx dollars. I do get a bit tired of hearing that such-and-such is cheap at just $100, but by the time it arrives on my credit card bill, it's more like $165.
I bought BBCSO Core last year. So far it's my only orchestral library. Money VERY WELL spent!!!
Totally agree. Finally got BBC Core with discount + BF, only £230! My go to for traditional sound. Very nice single mix. Beefed it up with CineBrass on sale for £120 + Splash Sound Epic Perc 2 for only £18…. then, oh no, Audio Imperial Epic bundle (Jaeger, Cerberus, Solos, Fluid Brass, Fluid Woods) went on sale for £320. I just couldn’t resist as I wanted that trailer punch and thought it was a bit of a one off. For around £800 I should be covered for a while I hope. I love my BBC SO Core as my starting point though. Feels great to play.
@@sonicsatsuma1256 If you have any music you've made using Core, reply to this with links, and I will have a listen. I seek out and listen to new music that other people have made using Core. I also have a couple of tracks of my own, made using just Core, on my own channel.
Great vid Kevin! My only question is where can I get the goose in the background? I feel like it would greatly improve my compositions 😛
It's a duck. Admittedly, a huge one. It's from Korea :D
I just caught the sale!!! I’m finally in the NI world!!! I can finally get some of these!!!
Ngl that mental health note kinda helped me out. I just got paid and I'm saving for a mac but I felt myself wanting to spend it on a new plugin. Thx
glad to hear, and good job!
Kevin this is a killer video, buddy. Quick question - whats the best library which is not using Kontakt?
Probably Orchestral Tools or Spitfire Audio.
Awesome line up! What would you recommend for someone with Garritan Personal Orchestra 5, world music and the jazz pack to round out instruments (eg percussion) or up the quality
I’d start from scratch and get BBCSO Core or Nucleus (depends on your orchestral style, Nucleus for more modern, processed styles and BBCSO for more classical orchestrations ) and then upgrade to dedicated section libs after I run into limitations.
Big props to Kevin for providing everyone with an amazing guide to buying sample libraries. And also thank you Kevin for showing care. Great video!
For free! And not sponsored!
Ben!
Marvin!!
@@marvinmusic16 Marvin!!
12:56 I second this. In fact Studio One Professional has been my first and only DAW since version 2
Get the pun? I second this? :) Anyhow, it's an awesome DAW
13:20 In fact, I recommend choosing Komplete over Kontakt. You get Kontakt plus a whole lot of really nice sample libraries and virtual instruments. That way you venture out a little further. I'm especially thinking of the Spotlight Collection which you get with it. You get for example: koto, darbuka, oud, cajon, conga, djemben and dozens more. Plus guitars, drums, synths and more.
question.... any library you suggest that's good for orchestral percussion? Danage 2 is great, but what about timp, snares, cymbals, etc?
I have a lot : Spitfire, Orchestraltools….big fan of those
But i started to buy the Cinematic Studio Series.
Woods… already this.
I go on on. Love it
CSS seems like a safe bet. Everyone seems to love it. It's a bit over budget for me right now.
I can recommend a few ones that did not go into your list but that you may have heard of; Scaler 2 (for finding new chords), Zenith (epic soundscape / percussion), Spire (synth), Nexus (but not the orchestral packs) and Amy + Maggie voices from Musical Sampling. I can also recommend Analog Labs which is a free soundscape/analog synth.
Interested to know what people think of the BBC Core, Abbey Road and Albion One libraries.
What about the Eastwest libraries? I have the composer cloud stuff.
Ty very very much. But more please.
And save some $$$ for external SDD. :) I'd go for build your own or Samsung T series.
@Kevin Kuschel i would propose buying musio one for 299$ it has all the cinesamples instruments ever made plus all the instruments that will come out this year, and there are no lite versions,you have everything, even 2 sorts of legato's, there also are some synth patches included from well known and expensive synthsn you also have samples from the 808 and linn drum machines, nest year will be musio 2 wich will give you all the instruments from that year, at a reduced price for woever has musio one, cheers Kevin
Thanks for the video! Surprised to see no Spitfire Symphony orchestra even for the bigger budget option, what’s your opinion on it? Do you think they’re not worth the price or don’t do what Cinematic studio orchestra can do?
I don't own Spitfire Symphony Orchestral, so take it with a grain of salt. From what I saw, I think the Cinematic Studio Series has better programming and consistency. Spitfire has nice tone, but with something like Berlin Studio by Samplicity you can also make Cinematic Studio sound like a nice orchestral hall.
I understand that Strezov is the most well known developer for choirs, but honestly - Nucleus Lite for shorts + Originals Epic Choir for sustains and you are covered.
Nucleus is by far the best purchase you can make. The sound quality, workflow and content is second to none.
I just made epic boss music with nucleus choir and originals epic. They work very well together.
Having got the academic/EDU $69 East-West Composers Cloud+ with Play & owning Kontakt and a fast Mac: Do I need anything else to start? Your recommendation seems to say that I should just "learn these tools inside and out" and re-evaluate next Black Friday season? Is this correct? Thanks for the video! :)
With composer cloud you got all you need. It has a lot of stuff, some quite dated and not in the most modern of engines I think. But yes, use it, become good at it, and upgrade as you outgrow your tools :)
Keepforest and Heavyocity for the win.
The buying part is so true 😢
the 2$ orchestral tools majestic horn really has me wondering if there are more "hidden gems" in OT store? maybe as an individual instrument of a bigger library?
Right now Native Instruments is running a sale on some Audio Imperia libraries: Jaeger, Cerberus, Solo, Fluid Woods, and Fluid Brass all for $400 USD. Would this be good for someone starting out?
Another good freebie is ProjectSam The Free Orchestra
Great video, not much to disagree with. Excellent breakdown. Musio is great, I always find my way back to CS in the end, just great sounding orchestras. EW Opus is also a great sounding orchestra but the plug in is a system hog for me even with 5.2Ghz CPU and 64GB 6000mhz memory. Feel free to disagree, personally I can’t keep good performance with many instances
What do people think of 8dio's products? They're on sale until the end of the year with extremely steep discounts. I have NI Komplete Standard (includes Kontakt), but I'm looking for a full orchestra, preferably with the ability to play instruments individually in addition to ensembles. I know it's all subjective and there is no single product that is "the one", but I'm looking for something good to start with, and 8dio's discounted prices look enticing. Are their products worth it?
Devastator Breakout Pro is so much fun just to play around and feel like you are killing demons in hell haha.. In my last track I used it hell a lot also with Areia/Nucleus.
What do you think of the orchestra by best service
This is a brilliantly professional Video - Kevin's a great talent. Let me say this though....if the use of a sample library is a training ground for working with a real orchestra (which I suppose it should be - unless it's there to put orchestral players out of work!) then I do not see the point in expounding the virtues of a collection that groups together for example, all the woodwinds on one keyboard group or one that fails to separate out Soprano and Alto singers or Tenor and Bass singers! You'll learn very little using these types of shortcuts as it's not what the art of orchestration is all about. These collections may be usable for Video game type scores on a pretty basic kind of level but will not help an aspiring composer to understand how a real orchestras really works. I'd love to see Kevin show the best sample collection assembly for making a (almost!) perfect recreation of the Rite of Spring - for example.
Thanks! I agree, I prefer orchestral libraries with full instrument/section control over grouped ones.
I bought way too many cheap choir libraries instead of one large, like Spitfire Originals Choir, Olympus Micro Choir, Dixons Choir and Oceania 2. Many of them sounds almost the same but I like Oceania 2 and Spitfire Originals Choir best. I should probaby just bought Chorus Lite today and upgraded from there.
I really love the NI Symphony Series... Pretty happy with them. I'm sure they weren't produced by NI themselves, they're too good.
Hey man what keyboard are you using? (Not the NI one I mean the pc keyboard ;)) Cheers!
Nuphy Air75
My GoTo would be: Choir: Oceania 2 / Chorus, Strings: Pacific Strings, Brass: Metropolis Ark 1, Percussion: Damage 2, Rest & Addition: EastWest Composers Cloud
Bro, just forget every library you mentioned in this video. I've got Albion One, Nucleus and 16 gigs of Ram.
I recently bought Musio by Cinesamples which is their complete collection for 299$ in an own plugin which is 100× less RAM/CPU intensive as Kontakt. The only disadvantage is that you have no mic pisitions yet, but I wouldn't care as a beginner. There is nothing out there which nearly comes close to this deal.
The full orchestra libraries are so expensive that I went all in on cheaper libraries. I now have Musio subscription, EastWest subscription, Nucleus Lite. Now I can't make up my mind if I should upgrade to Nucleus Full for $150 or not (sale + discount). It's hard for me to see what I miss. In the end I want to close subscription services as they are cheap now but are more expensive for each month.
I have all the Audio Imperia libraries, and there is a crossgrade pricing on top of the sales. The reason being that most of the libraries contain small portions of others (ex: Areia has some components of Nucleus, but expands on it). I don't like subscriptions either as they add up over time, so this is the path I chose. I really believe Audio Imperia is the best value for your money. Are they perfect libraries? No - but they are excellent, get updates, and will serve you a long time.
@@Ultimate_Wasabi Thanks! I contacted the support ones and it's good as well. Thanks for giving me a direction. :)
Hi Kevin, What about Sound Online, East West ?
I use EastWest. It feels a bit old, most of the libraries. Too many articulations if that make sense. The one thing I like is the fantasy serie which sounds good and is simple enough.
this!
Their libraries are actually super deeply sampled and very dynamic, but when it comes to scripting they do flat. Programming EW is actually kind of a nightmare sometimes
Wich Midi Keyboard you use for composing?
Komplete Kontrol S
Hey Kevin, where did you find Breakout Pro for 199? It's saying breakout pro is 259 for me and the core version is 209 😕
It was 199 on their website just 1 or 2 days ago.
@@KevinKuschel Nooooo 😞I missed it 😞
Why did you not include East West Hollywood Opus, Symphonic Orchestra, or the Steinberg Iconica, or VSL ?? You think Nucleus, Areia and Cinematic Studio is better?
How about subscriptions like EastWest Composer Cloud+ and Musio?
I use both of them. Musio is smaller but feels more modern and at half the price. I'm more hyped for Musio. Most of the libraries on EastWest feels dated, except the fantasy series.
Musio is so insanely good and takes basically no ram
Musio gets no love here. For $10 a month, it's exceptionally good and versatile for beginners. The engine may not be powerful (yet), but I'd say it's a pro for beginners as you won't be intimidated by too many customization options. For the remainder of December, they offer 3 months for just a buck.
How come no major Spitfire mentions? BBSO Pro, Albion, Abbey One? I ask because I was recently introduced to these and I bought their Colossus library
In a matter of year I bought myself from Spitfire BBCSO core, Abbey Road One full collection, Aperture Orchestra and some individuals like Epic Choir and Intimate Grand Piano. I can blend them all together quite beautifully and won't care if one is recorded in AIR studios and the next one in Abbey Road. Just lovely natural reverbs that make it sound traditional, which I personally like. Together it's very convincing sound for like 70's-90's style film scoring or nature documentaries for example.
If I were starting now and only had $300 to spend, I'd go to Sonoscore TODAY and get:
1) Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition
2) Forbidden Planet
3) Orchestral Essentials
4) Warhorns
ALL for $299!! But the deal ends today.
Sonuscore*
And I agree: Hollywood Opus is a great library that you can’t go wrong with. I use it in conjunction with Nucleus all the time.
Hi Kevin, thanks a lot for your quite good video, very interesting! 🙂👍🏼
But please, the next time please don’t talk that fast, instead take your time to explain. Otherwise it makes me somehow incredibly restless. 🤪
is the crossgrade still working?
I suprised you didnt mention Vital in your 300 budget. It can do SO MUCh that the "cinematic atmospheric" sample libraries does.
Vital is nice. I actually bought 2 orchestral libraries for it. One better than the other. Go for Mintona Audio - Analog Orchestra. Not near a real one but fun for $15.
What is the full name of Vital?
If you look up Vital Spectral Warping Wavetable Synth, you'll find it
@@GizzyDillespee”viral synth” is more than enough, it’s the first search position
A beginner here. Why would you Replace Reaper with Studio one (or any other of the mentioned DAWs) in the most expensive budget? What is the benefit of it, when Reaper still is a professional tool? Is there something holding it back other than it not being that big of a player in the professional community still? I'm legitimately curious as I see quite a few flocking to Reaper from the other DAWs instead of the other way around.
Hey, I prefer Studio One‘s workflow. It’s a bit more intuitive to me. Some Pros use Reaper, so don’t think it’ll limit you :)
@@KevinKuschel Alright, thanks mate!
Yes you can obviously stay with Reaper. It’s already a good point to see this daw being mentioned more and more. All daw have their own workflow for sure, but Reaper can match YOUR workflow, and I think is the most important to be efficient. I moved from Logic to cubase to reaper and I’ll never look back
Cubase 13 pro + ICONICA Sketch ( Full Orchestra made by Orchestral TOOLS) +
Full Kontakt on a sale ( and add all the free Libraries available ) +
Soundpaint everything free, + SF Labs + a basic Ethera Library like Elements or 2.5+ the free orchestra by Project Sam+ the free stuff of VSL.
Thats the professional choice for beginners. And its not expensive. maybe 800$ ...Add extra Choirs later. Stay under 1000$ before u invest a lot of money.
The secret is to NOT sound like 99% of all the wannabe HansZimmer "YT Composers" and go for Woodwinds and NOT the always Epic.
btw check how u can sell your stuff once u find out it was a stupid idea to become another "composer" with no income.
Spitfire TOS says u dont own the Libraries and are not allowed to resell it... i bet other companies have similar hidden "rules", or charge fees for a licenes transfer.
Reaper and EastWest monthly subscription of $25, which givers you access to everything EastWest has (full orchestral plus some synth elements), done. Far better than any option here, no offense. Under $100 up front, a night of downloading, and 2 tb of downloading overnight of the entire EastWest library.
wow
Dude...eastwest and musio subscription. 20 and 10 bucks a month. Lots of liraries inside.
And the keyboard, assistance hardware like Nanokontrol, speakers, USB audio interface, a large screen ? You totally forgot all this ! The M-AUDIO Keystation 88 MK3 is priceless ( about 200 dollars ) I have is very good. You can find Korg Nanokontrol for 40 dollars ... The global price of hardware reaches 350/400 dollars ! It's ESSENTIAL to begin. You also forgot Pianobook is not no free. And before, is your computer/laptop able to turn with the DAW you choosed ? Isn't it too old ? A total review of your prices must be done. 🤪
If only this vid would have bene there for me just 2 years ago....
How is 300$ budget
Why not Ablion one😮
Personally, I prefer to have an orchestra with full section control (e.g violins separate from violas). I might pick up something like Albion at a later point for their specific flavours and atmospheres, similarly as I said with Metropolis Ark for the 3000$ budget.
@@KevinKuschel Thanks, by the way, what's your opinion for buying komplete 14 collector's edition to score animation and video games, I only use BBCSO pro for now. Or should I buy library from different companies?
or you just buy the Komplete 14 Collectors edition for 900$ during a sale. Has you covered with most stuff.
The dollar sign comes before the numbers, as in $179.00
thanks
What would you buy if you started again from scratch?
I would buy BBCSO, because you don't have to care about Mixing and stuff
First things I would look to is Tokyo Scoring Strings and Seventh Heaven reverb. That's a heavy investment in a somewhat niche strings library but everyone has different tastes and I'm quite happy doing strings only compositions so I think it's important people consider what they actually want to do with the libraries - a library that's amazing to one person could collect dust for another. Secondly, I'd probably look to something like Spitfire Originals Epic Choir which is much cheaper by comparison but by no means lacking!
@@ridgeroso instead of four libs should i go for bbcso?
@@quadrolaserbeam For me, the balance in orchestral music is one essential thing to get a it right. The CSS, CSSS, CSB, CSW are not volume matched. BBCSO is and sounds very cohesive
nucleus full costs $449
I feel depressed after watching AI as a musician I spent lots time to learn piano and music production now i am producing and trying to make it a living but AIstealing everything from me maybe unaliveing is the only option
All about songwriting at the end of the day,not the sounds.
Most libraries these days are fine.
Which one would you get as a first purchase?
OK, give me the money, now...
I like how you said nothing about Native Instruments libraries....not even an honorable mention... damn..... time to get my wallet ready....
I think there are better options for Orchestral. Though, the new orchestra in Kontakt Factory Library is decent for starters. It comes free if you own Kontakt 7 Full.
@@KevinKuschel I'll start with that then. I've been playing around with the orchestral instrument libraries. I haven't even tried the factory content yet.
Laughs in torrent
Haha
"sample libraries don't make you a good composer"
...
opens 2k$ worth of plugins on a 64 GB RAM 🤷
If you could just not call it VST please, just say 'plug-in'. VST is one of the many formats, like AU or AAX or CLAP. Just imagine saying 'this VST is an AU plug-in' to see how nonsensical this gets.
Don’t think too much of it. Do you get mad when people call tissues Kleenex or window cleaner Windex? It’s just vernacular. We know what a VST is but it’s just easier to say that sometimes
Would you slowdown and relax and so your English will sound much better !! you sound as your mates are waiting for you for a Pint,anyway talking like this I do not know what you are talking
about it is confusing
Sorry, too much talking…