Amicus717

It has to be better than it's predecessor UVI World Traditions, which was so comically bad it was completely unuseable. I mean, 100% useless. 

I bought it on sale from one of the online discounters, and couldn't believe what I was hearing when I tried the samples: 2 second loop points that went full machine gun almost as soon as you pressed the key; odd patch names; and weird instrument classifications -- according to World Traditions, the alto sax was apparently an ethnic Balkan instrument. Bet you didn't know that. 

The library was so bad, it put me off UVI completely, and I've never spent a dime with them since. Admittedly, I have heard pretty good things about World Suite, but I'm not sure I really want to take a chance on it. 

That is very kind of you to say, Tom. Thanks a lot. 

Very kind, Mesh. Thanks.

...Lee Holdridge, Grammy Award winning composer, just complimented my piece "A Song for the Trillium Queen" (a track which I posted on the old songs forum last year). This happened over at the Steinberg Forum, where I posted the track about a year ago.

Sayeth Mr Holdridge: "Excellent cue Rob! As good as your midi is, it would still be great to hear it with a live orchestra!"

I love the man's music, and have been listening to his stuff for many years. So that is, well, kind of damn cool...

Yeah, this reverb seems like a nice little gem. And I actually like the voucher; NI's site automatically converts all currency to Canadian for me, so my voucher is $39. And yeah, it's the same actual value as everyone else's voucher, but feels psychologically more satisfying.  So I grabbed Picked Acoustic with it. 

Aaand, I missed out.

I ticked it. Did the test. Passed. Got told I was a bot. Multiple times. I give up.

I am getting the "Captcha has detected you are a Bot, please reload error." Anyone else getting that?

3 hours ago, simon said:

fwiw - these are GOOD reverbs (just my opinion obviously)

 

 

Agree 100%. Nimbus is my absolute go-to reverb. I think it is brilliant, especially for orchestral stuff, and I prefer the sound of it to any other reverb I own (and I own quite a few). 

What is the difference between a banjo and a trampoline?

You take off your shoes when you jump on a trampoline.

...So, I missed out. However, I had enough loyalty points to bring the price down to 24 Euros. That helps...

I didn't even realize I HAD loyalty points, so if anyone missed out on the freebie but still want the library, take a look at your account and see if you have points available...

Missed out on it.

If only I didn't work for a living...

2 hours ago, Matthew Sorrels said:

I think the brass high end is more limited because there are no trumpets.

I have been wanting to get this for a while to use with the phrase libraries but it never was a great enough deal to warrant picking it up.  But this plus the new loyalty points tipped me over.  Though I doubt I'll use it all that much (if at all).

Yeah, I think that is the case. I am curious why an instrument as fundamental to orchestration as the trumpet would not be included in this library, especially when their phrase libraries have trumpets (at least, Grosso and Vivace do -- which are the only Sonokinetic phrase libraries I own).  I also don't know why they'd stop the strings where they did. 

It is fun to use. I actually use Da Capo a bit when I am travelling, as it fits on my laptop HD with no problems, the 16 bit samples don't overtax the system, and you can lay out a decent and fairly complete basic orchestral sketch using the Da Capo sections. But is in no way an essential bit of gear.

It's not a bad tool to have around, some really nice sounds with a fair amount of character, but also some unexpected limitations.

Instrument ranges are surprisingly short, especially towards the top end. The high brass and the high strings both stop a full octave below any other library that I own. Da Capo's sustained high brass tops out at C#5 (when C4 is middle C), and the sustained high strings top out at C6. In comparison, Albion's strings and brass patches both go a full octave above that, as do various string and brass patches from Hollywood Orchestra. I find it a bit odd that Sonokinetic would cut the range short like that.
 
Also, the percussion has a lot less variety than I expected. Some nice timpani, bass drum and toms sounds (but no rolls of any kind), only 2 keys dedicated to cymbals (each key plays a single cymbal crash, one loud and one softer - there is no swells available), and some decent but limited snare drum rolls and hits. The basic sounds are very good, and should blend into a composition really nicely, but a bit more variety here would have been helpful.
 
The woodwinds are a mixed bag. The low end woodwinds sound pretty good, but the middle and upper range (clarinets and the lower flute registers) have a really breathy ambiance to the samples that is a bit distracting. They probably sound fine when mixed with other instruments, but if I had a composition where the woodwinds are really exposed, I probably would not use the Da Capo patches.

The brass sounds good, but it is only tuba, trombones and french horns. There are no trumpets, which I find a bit strange. 
 
The library overall does have a lovely sound to it, and everything blends well together. The legato strings are very low key in their transition -- not very swoopy, and no portamento -- and the staccato string articulations are very straightforward but really nice. There is also a nice hint of rawness to all the samples -- the sort of very mild imperfections that (I think) add a touch of realness to a library.
 
The interface is quite clever and easy to use, and offers some nice control features. I think it was designed for broad brush strokes, so to speak, rather than very granular midi arrangements. I don't use Da Capo nearly as often as my other libraries, but it does see some use. In particular, I like the sound of the strings when played softly -- they have nice, raspy but delicate sound that I sometimes use when I need a vaguely sordino sound (but don't want to use the Albion ONE sordino strings, which I find a bit too nasal). 

So, to me Da Capo is useful but not essential, and has some limitations. But for 49 euros, a fair deal. That's just my 5 cents.

Rob

I picked up:

1) VSL Special Edition Volume 4 (and upgraded to the Synchonized version)

2) Joshua Bell Violin Essential from Embertone (via Audio Plugin Deals)

3) Taylor Davis Violin from Cinesamples

Managed to avoid being pulled in by: 8Dio, Eduardo Tailronte (although I was THIS close to pulling the trigger on Celtic Era), and Native Instruments. The rest of the field didn't really grab my attention: Spitfire's promotion didn't tempt me at all, and EastWest and IK don't really have much that interest me, at this point...

I like the interface and over-all feature set of Overture 5, but I just could not get it stable on either of my main music computers. I eventually gave up on it and bought Presonus Notion about a year ago, and haven't looked back.

Overture 5 seems to work fine for most folks -- judging by the forums, at least -- but in the whole time I tried to use it, I don't think I ever fired up Overture without experiencing at least 2 or 3 crashes during the course of the session, and sometimes more than that. And this was on two completely different computers, using totally different hardware (both in regards to computer and audio hardware). Same problems and behavior in both instances. It was quite frustrating, especially because there is so much to like about Overture, from the intuitive interface to the feature set. And it produces very nice looking scores.   

The Joshua Bell Essential library is actually on Embertone's site, but not linked from any other pages, so it's kind of hidden away.

Includes a chart comparison between full and essential versions:

https://www.embertone.com/instruments/jbviolinessential.php

Update: Emailed them about the Ceres check-out problem, got a prompt reply...

"In our haste to make Ceres free, we ... well... didn't make it free! This has now been fixed, big apologies! Please go ahead and try again

Customer Support @ Auddict"

I tested, and it does now work properly.

Can't seem to pick up the Ceres freebie. "Order cannot be zero" when I try to process it through their purchase system. I wonder if it's only available as a freebie if you buy something else along with it?

This one has always tempted me, and I've heard good things about it.

Anyone here use The Orchestra? Any thoughts?

Nov 26th until Dec 2nd. Full details and pricing are here:

https://www.vsl.co.at/en/News/2019-11_Black_Friday_Deals

I will bravely and completely resist buying all of the things I'd like, but totally don't need...That's the first hour.

An hour later, I'll buy all the things.

The CDN price is almost $900.00 - that's a bit less than I paid for Komplete 10 Ultimate. Their stuff sounds really nice, and very useful, but I wouldn't pay even half that. 

It looks like a broad mix of prices,  with most sitting around 50% off. But there are some outliers: Majestica is going for $178 (goes $598 on Dec 1st), which is a pretty fair discount...

https://8dio.com/instrument/majestica/

That particular library doesn't interest me, but its probably worth looking around their site for the specific stuff you are interested in and seeing what deals are on offer. 

Gorgeous...and bought!