Carl Ewing

To follow up - ya, this Hammer + Waves collection is one of the best purchases I've ever made. This might the most beautiful keys instrument ever produced. I got the collection (piano, electric piano, chimes and prepared) and spent hours going through presets. It's both an incredible emulation of the core instruments (easily one of the best Suitcase 73 VSTs I've heard - I own a real own, and I could easily sell it now - it's the only emulation to get the random sticking mallets thing right), and absolutely stunning ambient effects machine. I had no idea the effects engine was that powerful. Some of these presets are beyond incredible. Just a gorgeous collection of sounds. On the 8Dio front - if you own either Silka or Insolidus, 8Dio will send you an invoice to get the other one for $30. You just have to message them. This Black Friday rules.

Seriously - so impressed with this Hammer + Waves stuff. I didn't grab the Wurli 145B yet - but good to know it's also high quality. Don't know if it's done elsewhere, but they designed a mechanical hand contraption to do all their recordings - basically repeating perfect velocities over and over again for round robins. And there must be a TON of round robins, because there's slight noise in a couple notes, but you have to hit the note at the same velocity like 20 times before you hear it again. And no worries on the advice. I yammer on a lot. Haha. Glad some info might be useful! I think you've mentioned before you did marketing for some of these companies? I've never used the Kirk Hunter stuff either. Sometimes there's just too much to try out.

Even adult entertainment needs symphonies. I can't compete with William's live orchestra though. He wins all the awards.

Oh. Professional composer (not using my real name!). I spend A LOT of time on library searching as I run a mobile system and multiple studio systems, so I have two totally different setups - one that is lightweight (as RAM, CPU, hard disk light as possible) and one that is heavy duty and with no memory, CPU, drive limitations. So I'm always looking for better lightweight libraries, which means trying as much stuff on the market as possible. This means comparing a lot of cheaper / lighter weight stuff (eg. Audio Imperia, Musio, 8Dio, etc.) against the monsters like Orchestral Tools. There's some surprisingly amazing lightweight libraries that do an excellent job. Audio Imperia I'm especially impressed with right now (I'm a complete fanboi this week) - I've picked up most of the catalog during this sale and endlessly impressed with how small / simple the libraries are considering the immense / quality / versatility of the sound. Really great for fast sketching, or getting a great sound with minimal computer setup. Definitely not as detailed / natural as the big brand stuff (and has a more full / forward sound that perhaps isn't great for intimate tracks...although Nucleus and Solo seem more on the softer side....especially the 'classical' mixes), but really impressed so far. I wish a colleague of mine was on this forum. He owns literally everything single thing on the market (it seems) and can go on and on about what each is good for. As a piano player yourself - I recommend another recent purchase: Hammer + Waves. This thing is incredible. I think you can get just the acoustic piano for ~$80 on sale. The sound design patches are possibly better than the acoustic / electric pianos. Insane the sounds that come out of this thing - especially the prepared piano (different library from acoustic) sound design / experimental patches. Just beautiful ambient weird stuff...that sound design engine is wild. https://www.skyboxaudio.com/collections/complete-bundle-instruments

Got Convolver for $10. Coupon code worked! This is a great tool. Allows you to take the envelope / characteristics of one sound and apply it to another. Similar to how a convolution reverb works, but you can take anything and apply it to anything else. (You can also just use it as a convolution reverb). So if you had a weird glitchy delay stereo modulated sample, you could apply it to a guitar pluck, and it'll give the guitar pluck all the same characteristics. Opens up some really crazy sound design possibilities. And if you use the Phase Plant browser, you can load your target sound into the synth, then just start browsing through any other sounds on your harddrive, and it'll auto-preview what your target sound would sound like with any other sound you click on applied to it. Just played with it for 10 minutes and it's awesome. For an example taken from one of the "how to" videos - guy recorded himself softly tapping on some objects in his house, then applied that recording to a harp sound, and the harp inherits all the soft percussive elements from the tapping recording, almost acting like delays against the harp's sustain. Super, super cool stuff.

I have Collectors Edition so have the full Komplete Symphony Series. I think the brass is extremely underrated. Although CineBrass Core / Pro are my primary brass, I'm still surprised Symphony Brass was received so poorly. There's some excellent patches in both the strings, brass. The percussion I think is absolutely excellent - it's one of the best orchestral percussion libraries for the price IMO. The winds are pretty awful though imo. About the NI Symphony strings. There's a funny video of a guy comparing the Komplete Symphony Series Strings with Spitfire Symphonic Strings and how similar they are. Understand that when it came out, people were specifically shitting on those Komplete strings compared to that specific Spitfire library. It's so funny. I think some people just have to mentally justify the money ($800 for Spitfire Symphonic Strings) they put out for these libraries. The string library was made by Audiobro (LA Scoring Strings, Modern Scoring Strings, Genesis Children's Choir), and the brass were made by SoundIron. I wouldn't trust impressions of that orchestra library - IMO it's much much much better than people give it credit for. I've used it a lot, and amazed it came with a Komplete Ultimate CE update. And for sure - I'd definitely recommend searching "Audio Imperia Nucleus" walkthrough videos. Very very good for the sale price. This is done with Nucleus: (And sorry to hijack the thread. I actually love a lot of 8Dio libraries!)

Actually - scratch my comments about Kontakt Factory Library 2 orchestra. Just spent some time with it. It's not very good and really limited. It's deceiving, because there are a couple spectacular patches (eg. the Cello / string spiccatos are strangely excellent), but it's really just a "hey, here's some basic orchestra patches if you don't already have any". My recommend would still be Audio Imperia Nucleus, considering the sale price + having strings, brass, winds, choir, percussion + being extremely intuitive / easy to use (meaning less customization) + quality is excellent for $225. And it gives you good crossgrade opportunities for their other products in the future.

Do you have Komplete 14? If so, you should have Kontakt Factory Library 2 which includes an entirely new orchestra library made up of selections from Orchestral Tools libraries (the really expensive ones). It surprised A LOT of composers, since it's a 1000x improvement over the old Kontakt library orchestra. There are some absolutely amazing articulations in that set. Audio Imperia's "Lite" libraries are also on sale for $80. Limited articulations, but Areia Lite (strings) & Nucleus Lite (orchestra) are pretty great for the price. Actually the full Nucleus library is on sale for $225. It covers the entire orchestra. Walkthrough video. The thing about Audio Imperia libraries is that they are great for hybrid styles - like using orchestra in pop or electronic music or rock. They have a very upfront sound, and 2 mixes, Classical (softer, but still quite full), and "Modern" (more full cinematic / trailer / pop music style). And they are dirt simple to use. I think I would go the direction of Audio Imperia based on your description of how you use orchestra. A lot of walkthroughs and reviews of their Nucleus, Aeria, Talos, Jeager, etc. libraries that should immediately show their unique tone. Their solo instrument is also quite good for pop music, as the mixes / recordings are quite forward sounding. If you want an idea of how forward sounding their libraries are -- for example, their spicatto patches -- here's a comparison of spicattos across 40 different libraries. IMO each Audio Imperia selection (Jeager, Aeria, Nucleus) stands out as the best for more hybrid genre use. Many others have that very warm cinematic tone that disappears in non-soundtrack mixes. But some stay that makes the AI stuff sound overly cold / machine like:

Ha. Ya, I have a lot of adult choirs, but most of them are either old, or I don't like them. Except 8Dio choirs - which sound gorgeous (especially Insolidus / Silka) but they aren't very flexibile. Was so disappointed in Omnia. It's the main reason I updated my Komplete CE edition. Voxos was also a huge disappointed, but got it with Musio, so no big loss. Same with being disappointed with East West's choirs via Composer Cloud. Interesting through - was checking out Voxos's childrens choir patches, thought it sounded pretty bland, then opened Genesis to compare and the first note I hit was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. Haha. That choir is incredible - also blows Liberis out of the water. So it'll probably become a battle between Chorus (sat through a couple hours of walkthroughs and love the sound / versatility) & Eternity - one of these will free up a lot of hard drive space after deleting all these other libraries.

Order also cancelled + refund. Went to JRR shop, got it for $85 with GROUP code. So still decent deal. And that granular engine is absolutely bonkers. Endless modulation possibilities, and it's set up sooooo much easier than Absynth or Omnisphere. Can do grain / position / randomization modulations in seconds, unlike Absynth which requires a PhD in engineering to get certain envelope modulations to work properly.

Same. And just when I was trying to make a decision on AI's Chorus. Will definitely wait and see now. This could be amazing. Also curious if they'll have crossgrade / loyalty pricing for owners of Genesis.

I'd agree here - Pro-R has some incredible features - especially with the addition of ducking in the v2 version. It's really an incredible piece of software, like all FabFilter stuff. I would never need another reverb again if Pro-R, with all its features, sounded like Cinematic Rooms. But honestly, those Pro-R features really make it versatile, I just find it takes way too long to get a sound I like out of it. Perhaps it's too transparent / clean, whereas I like grain / color (my second favorite reverb is UADs Lexicon 224 because it's so messy sounding imo)

Picked up all the ones I wanted last week with sub voucher: U2A , SA2RATE2, Masterdesk Pro, Amek 200 Console (already had 9099 from last year), Amek Mastering Comp and XStressor. I'm now grandfathered into Mix & Master bundle at $149.99 a year, so no brainer to get 6 of their best plugins per year for essentially $25 / each, and get to use everything else in the catalog all year. (but i forgot, subs suck, right?? hehe)

This is a very subjective question. I find Pro-R extremely cold. It has it's uses, but I rarely use it because I find it lifeless / sterile. no matter what the source is. I love Cinematic Rooms Pro & Seventh Heaven. I think CRP is the best reverb on the market - for pretty much any instrument, and by a wide margin. But some people feel the same about Pro-R. This is really something that needs to be demo'd in order to make a decision. But honestly, Valhalla DSP reverbs are $50 and I'd be entirely happy if these were my only options. But if I had a few hundred to spend on reverbs, my choice would the CRP. Again, totally subjective.

My experience back in early 2022 - i did get support from "Natan" for a Windows problem. Not a solution, but he responded pretty quick and let me know future updates would correct the problem (which they did), although the only thing I occasionally use of the bundle is Vybz & Tape Piano 2 (this v2 version corrected a problem I had).

To clarify - it's 2023 and prior - so the entire Cinesamples catalog (Musio versions) including anything released in 2023. It's about 75 libraries in my app (all CineBrass, CineStrings, CineWinds, CinePerc, all pianos, keys, solo instruments, synths, choirs, etc.) Not so far. I own CineBrass Pro & Core and a few other libraries already, which I use heavily, but I haven't switched to the Musio versions of CineBrass yet. From what I understand it's less mic options, no keyswitching for some libraries & not as much customization, I just haven't compared yet. I don't generally use a lot of keyswitching (and don't really like how CineBrass is set up in Kontakt), and prefer microphone blend mixes, so liking the app so far. Also - they've added keyswitching patches to a few of the libraries. There seems to be keyswitching patches for all the CineOrchestra stuff that I've opened. There is a Youtube review where the guy actually prefers the simplified versions of the instruments and explains why. Wish I could find that review again, it the one that convinced me to get it as we had a similar work flow (preferring single articulation patches, a lot of library blending, etc.)

I haven't grabbed any of the pianos (I have way too many, and was set on never installing another one unless it was Keyscape or Ravenscroft), but I don't like any of my upright libraries. Anyone recommend any of the Musio pianos? I have not heard much about any of them. EDIT: I guess I could spend a half hour downloading them all. So lazy.

I think it's the size. Especially with the addition of Fantasy Orchestra - which is basically an entirely new 120GB orchestra library (including choir) outside of HOOPUS. I have both Musio & CC, but the East West catalog is just absolutely enormous by comparison. $150 already seems insane, considering how much content there is compared to Musio. For data / articulation / mic position comparison, Hollywood Orchestra (OPUS edition) alone is 4 times larger than the entire Musio catalog.

You can get 1 year of Musio for $90 right now (3 months free). Or buy the entire Musio catalog for life for $300. Both the Cinesamples & East West subs are insane. EDIT: Musio is a bit of a beta test though. Finding quite a few bugs, but it's early days.

Oh - I don't actually own these so can't comment. Noticed in later comment that you bought them - definitely let us know what you think once you get a chance to play around.

Ya - they've allowed me to registered 3rd party purchases in the past - for example, from Time + Space way back when. Just had to send them the invoice / purchase info.

That's a great hint. Going to pick it up now too.

My upgrade price from Majestica 2.0 is $40.

Ya - Tina Guo is definitely quite processed, in that that dark / warm Zimmer tone. I've actually paired it with LASS 1st chair to give it some sharpness, but only in larger pieces where you can't tell it's paired - not really possible in quartet or strictly solo work. I'd definitely keep close eye on Performance Samples the next 6 months - looks like 2 different solo libraries coming out, and I think Vista may have a much dryer tone than Pacific. which I assume will be mix-matched with the ensembles which are quite warm.

Intro offer ends November 23rd. I have a feeling they'll then create a Fabrik bundle for BF. They did a few bundle deals last year (ARK series 50% off, Creative series, etc.) last year. I'm going to gamble and wait for that bundle before buying individual instruments.