Reid Rosefelt

Thanks. I have a lot of stuff from them, including their woodwinds. The clarinet is very good, and, like you say of their libraries, very easy to play. The Tina Broz solo strings are also good, although I only have the cello. I'd love to get Spaghetti Western, but I have learned from doing "The Cowboy Way," that I don't really need it.

The shouts all came from Red Room Audio free library "Snaps Claps Slaps Stomps & Shouts" They are now charging $5 to cover their bandwidth costs. https://redroomaudio.com/product/snaps-claps-slaps-stomps-shouts/ I also used whip sounds. But that was just a sample from a sound effects library. The men's choir ahs came from Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra. I have "better" libraries,😀 but it worked the best. Some of the other things were tubular bells from The Orchestra, Native American Flute from Ethno World, Indiginus' Resonator, and the harmonica and Whistle Ensemble from "Swing!" The lead guitar was OTS Evolution Stratosphere, and the acoustic guitar was one of the NI Strummed Acoustics. These NI acoustic libraries are such cool libraries because you can use the modwheel to constantly change the intensity of the strumming. A lot of people thought this was a real guitar. I went through a lot of trumpets and they all sucked. This is the thing I'm not satisfied with. Oh... and Modwheel's The Lowdown was the bass. This piece is exactly why I don't like things like EZBass. I played the bass part live early on, and it really drove the piece. Playing your own bass parts is fun. (Sometimes I use EZBass when I"m in a rush)

It seems pretty obvious that they were going for something in the vein of Edda Dell'Orso's vocals in Morricone's in "Jill's Theme" from "Once Upon a Time in the West." And I think they've done a pretty decent job. It's a niche sound. It's not the typical thingThis is why their is a discount for Spaghetti Western owners. If you're looking for that sound, that this is kind of a no-brainer. I actually wrote music in this style, before Fluffy brought their Spaghetti Western library out. My piece wasn't intended as slavish pastiche, more of a blend between Morricone, surf rock, and other influences. It was fun to put together instruments from different libraries., just for the fun of trying to orchestrate like him. I used my beloved Solo Opera for the operatic stuff. If I had this new Fluffy library I probably would have mixed it with whistling, to disguise that it wasn't exactly this kind of thing.

I like this library a lot and it is a fun way to get introduced to a large amount of world instruments. Sill I would give the edge to Ethno World 6 for an expansive world library. It's divided into Instruments and Voices, but you can get the instruments for $259. During the Best Service 40% off sale it will be $155. So it's less expensive than World Suite 2, and better. But... I do like World Suite 2.

But, as stated above by @TheSteven,(and it says so on the site) you can spend $29 now and get Dehumaniser 2 for $300 ($99 off). Save 70 bucks. Plus you get MNTRA Huracan. 😀

A decent reason to buy Simple Monsters. Last BF the Krotos sound design instruments were 50% off. So it's possible that you could upgrade to Dehumaniser 2 for $100.

This is going to help me do stoopid things on YouTube for $29. Cheap. If you want to do this on a pro level, Krotos has Dehumaniser 2, which was used for Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Jungle Book, Game of Thrones, The Conjuring, Stranger Things, etc. That lists for $399, which isn't a bad price, considering how good it is. And there are sales. BF is coming soon. It also has a free demo. https://www.krotosaudio.com/dehumaniser2/ But overkill for me farting around on YouTube. If you are looking for very high quality, you can safely cross Simple Monsters off your list.

There's a free demo. This is a lot of fun, but of course it helps if you have a silly YouTube channel like me that will give you a reason to use it. Thank you @pseudopop It worked fine today! I didn't even have to put in the code. And now I have Huracan too. Mndala 2.0!!

It didn't work for me. Too bad, this is a very good price for it.

A no-brainer, but you need Windows XP/Vista 32 bit.

It's possible that Kontakt 7 will be half price even in the Black Friday sale. I believe that happened with Kontakt 6. But certainly in the summer sale.

I didn't notice that there is a new choir library made by Strezov, CHOIR:OMNIA, with polyphonic true legato, a syllabuilder engine, and 5 mics. Per Strezov it is all new recordings. No word yet on what it would cost outside of CE. Requires the free Kontakt 7 player. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/cinematic/choir-omnia/ This is another reason for composers to get the Collector's Edition.

The big news for me is Kontakt 7. If it is like previous reports, that will be an awesome step forward. Also, adding stuff from Plugin alliance and iZotope suggests the beginning of a new direction for the series. Otherwise it is the same as 2016, 2018, and 2020. A September announcement in an even-numbered year and the largest version (now CE) would include every previous official NI release since the previous version. Komplete 14 includes Ignition Keys, which just came out a few days ago. I think I called it pretty well here https://vi-control.net/community/threads/is-komplete-14-due-soon-if-so-what-will-be-the-new-libraries.129042/

Assuming you already have Unify, does this do anything that Unify can't do?

How could I forget Modwheel? There are so many great small developers, but they make high-quality stuff that is really unusual. Anyway, I was reminded because they sent me an email about a new freebie that is available for a short while called Wreckage. https://www.modwheel.co.nz/wreckage?utm_source=MODWHEEL&utm_campaign=40c364968a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_20220905_WRECKAGE_LAUNCH&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a67e6c42b0-40c364968a-443798345&mc_cid=40c364968a&mc_eid=1c0d8cda9e I use their acoustic bass a lot. This began as a library with a lot of unusual bass noises. They then updated it and added the typical pizzicato and arco sounds. I tend to use it for acoustic bass, as it has a lot of stuff you can't find anywhere else. https://www.modwheel.co.nz/the-lowdown-v2 There's a free version of some Lowdown soudns called Tasty Morsels https://www.modwheel.co.nz/free-stuff There's also a freebie that's all Feedback.

If you're looking for a piano that is very different, and musically inspiring, let me suggest ArtVista's Malmsjo, a favorite of Hans Zimmer. I guess it was the first virtual "soft piano." But not with cloth or anything, the original piano just sounds that way. It's been around since Gigasampler. This is not a go-to everyday piano, but it is beautiful to play and it has inspired me to make music that works with that sound. It's one of my favorites--a classic VI. https://www.artvista.net/malmsjo.html It sells for $99, but you can pick it up for half that during holiday sales. I also like Art Vista's Virtual Grand 3 https://www.artvista.net/vgp3.html It is based on recordings of a 1960 Hamburg Steinway Model ”B.” The twist is that it offers stunningly realistic piano presets that emulate recordings from the 1950's through today by artists such as Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Donny Hathaway, Chet Baker, Jan Johansson, Ray Charles, John Lewis, Bobby Timmons, Billy Preston, Keith Jarrett, Jackson Browne, Leon Russell, John Legend, Arthur Rubinstein, and Bill Evans. I have a LOT of pianos (too many), but I end up using this one more than not. I guess with all the presets I can always find something that works for each piece.

I'm a big fan of Dream Audio Tools A lot of great libraries, very reasonably priced. And their are sales that make them even more reasonable. I'm a big fan of their Indie Fingers series, which are libraries composed of contemporary pop/rock guitar arpegggios, which you can combine. You can make amazing tracks just combining some of these arps. Also, +++++`1 for Indiginus. I think that Tracy Collins is one of the greatest makers of virtual instruments ever, along with Tarilonte, Alex at Cinematic Studio, and Eric Persing of Spectrasonics. He makes instruments that sound great and are also a lot of fun to play. The thing I particularly like is that he has an auto-harmony feature. You can bring this in and out with keyswitches or velocity or other cc, but I am lazy and tend to just leave it on all the time. Do NOT make the mistake that because Indiginus products are so cheap that they are not number one. I have excellent guitars by Orange Tree Samples and AmpleSound, but I generally reach for my Indiginus ones. Or... I try them all for a piece and the Indiginus ones sound best. The problem with a company like Indiginus for a forum like this is that there are no sales--therefore there is no sense of occasion, like "I have to buy now!" I never miss a product introduction, and I've tried to pick up one or two a year. Here's a little thing I did using the harmony effect on both Indiginus's The Fiddle and The STEEL, the amazing Indiginus Lap Steel, that I use all the time. With tools like this even a shmo like me can get beautiful sounds very quickly. (Guitar is NI's Picked Acoustic.)

I think I remember Mike Greene doing a Black Friday Sale where he briefly RAISED the prices on all RealiTone libraries. But you had to move fast-- or the prices would go back down again. Maybe I dreamed this. Does anybody remember if this really happened?

Are you tired of sales that apply only to some products? Are you tired of sales that have ending dates? Wouldn't it great if there was a company that lowered prices on all their products? Permanently? You bet it would! https://realitone.com/ Here at Realitone, we hear you. So we've permanently lowered prices on all products ... by 95 cents! That's right! So instead of Realivox Blue being $149.95, now it's just $149! Sunset Strings was $299.95 - but now just $299! RealiBanjo? Say goodbye to four digits of messiness with $59.95, and say hello to $59! Now, I know what you're thinking: "But Mike! Sure, this looks cleaner. But how are you going to stay in business with such a drastic drop in income???" I hear you! Heck, I'll probably have to start buying off-brand ramen, instead of the fancy stuff. But when you're as dedicated to your customers as I am, then by golly, these are the sorts of sacrifices you have to make. But Wait! There's More! Sure, I take pride in going my own path with this permanent price-slashing thing. But it can be lonely being the leader in the cause of Pricing Justice. So if everyone else is having a Labor Day Sale, then ... well, I want to have one, too. So with our Realitone Labor Day Sale, we're slashing prices even further! And ... with the extra 95 cents off, that makes these are our lowest sale prices ... EVER! (I'm hoping the people who bought during the last Black Friday sale don't get mad!) Sunset Strings - Was $299.95. Now on sale, but not at $199.95. We're talkin' just $199! Realivox Blue with Wordbuilder - Was $149.95. So is it on sale for $99.95? Heck no! We're slashin' it to just $99! Realivox Ladies Lite is on sale for as low as $99! That's how much we care about you, our valued customers! Hip Hop Creator and RealiDrums are each half off! Just $99! Amazing! Fingerpick as low as $79! RealiBanjo is just $39! RealiWhistle is just $29! Acoustic Lite is just $29! Screaming Trumpet - Featuring Wayne Bergeron is just $99!

If the Death Whistle scares you as much as it does me, you can get the cheery Chernobyl vibe of PRIPYAT for only $3 more. 😀 Fifteen bucks and this is all yours!

I got confused too, but in the description it says “similar to its big brother PolySpace”

FYI, MNTRA has a new website now and has come out with version 2.0 of MNDALA https://www.mntra.io/mndala/ I think if you get the free Huracan it downloads with it, as it is a MNDALA 2.0 instrument. Per VI:Control when you put in MNDALA 2.0, it gets rid of all your old instruments. It will be sorted, but I'm going to wait a bit before trying this. 😀 I suppose the old instruments continue to work in the old MNDALA. I think they just need to make 2.0 versions of them.

Choose Between Karanyi Sounds Space or MNTRA Huracan. https://www.pluginboutique.com/articles/1872 Huracan is a full product and Space is a limited edition of Karanyi's reverb Poly:Space Introducing Huracan, a gateway into a new world of winds and percussion inspired by Mesoamerican and Andean cultures. Offered to you as a free gift only for the month of September, exclusively through our store. 11 rare and unique wind instruments are accompanied by 5 textural percussion sounds, giving you a complete, curated palette, ready to create breathtaking music. Huracan (A.K.A; U Kʼux Kaj, Heart of Sky) is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, and fire. Here MNTRA imagined a hidden cenote deep in the jungle where a lone traveller stumbles upon the ancient deity, incidentally awakening it from a deep slumber and activating a portal into an alternate timeline where pre-hispanic cultures continued to thrive unaffected by colonisation. Over time they developed their own distinctive version of synthesisers and electronic instruments. Central to Huracan is MNTRA's founder Brian D’Oliveira’s (Composer of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf ) deep connection with South and Central American cultures and their unique instruments. Originally raised in the Venezuelan Andes mountains, he began a lifelong pursuit of learning and researching ancient musical cultures, starting with these unique instruments. Here, MNTRA have deeply sampled a curated collection of sources from his personal arsenal, allowing you to harness their unique potential in your own compositions. More info here: https://www.mntra.io/product/huracan/ Meet Space, Karanyi Sounds' reverb effect focuses on unique, but naturalistic and clean reverberations. Similarly to its big brother Poly Space, Space combines pristine DSP algorithms and vivid impulse responses in order to offer a wide variety of studio-quality presets from large halls to small simulated places. The modern and lean interface hides a real workhorse for adding depth and space to your sounds. System Requirements MNTRA Instruments Huracan 2 GB installed (5 GB recommended for setup) 64-bit VST2 / AU plugin for Windows & macOS (10.11+) (including M1 Chip support) Minimum 8 GB of RAM and an i5 or better CPU required (SSD drive recommended) Supported by all VST / AU compatible DAWs Karanyi Sounds Space macOS 10.11 or higher is recommended (M1 Apple Silicon native not supported - but compatible via Rosetta)Windows 7 or higher 4 GB of RAM, 8 GB is recommended 2 GHz CPU with at least 4 cores 64-bit DAW 100 MB of Free Disk Space

or movie or TV scores... https://www.spectrasonics.net/company/filmtv.php

Ben is a one-man band. He comes up with the ideas for his libraries, plays and records the instruments, and codes it all. I imagine he does the graphic design too. Super nice guy too. Simeon and I got to talk with him when we did that podcast with him. If you like Ben's stuff this is a no-brainer. And he is one of the very best people making libraries these days.