Amicus717

I was somewhat critical of their main sketchpad library in a previous thread, but credit where due: the update they released a couple weeks ago (which I had not had a chance to install previously) helped a bit. Seemed to fix the problem with the Glockenspiel in particular. I've heard good things about both melodics and the runs library. They are available individually, at $79 each, which seems a decent price. I don't recall exactly, but I think I pad $99 for sketchpad (or somewhere in that range) and while there are things I'd like to see improved, I don't regret the purchase. $79 for Melodics is tempting.

I bought a used original Babyface for $300 about 3 years ago, and it has been -- hands down -- the absolute best interface I have ever used. Clean sounding, solidly built, rock solid drivers that are still supported and updated, great latency and designed to last. RME pretty much locked me up as a permanent customer going forward. They're the best, in my books. Rob

One of the NI folks is responding to people over at VI Control, talking about this issue, including the updating to the FAQ, etc. Some worthwhile comments here, I think: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/ni-will-no-longer-activate-discontinued-products-from-may-31st.90761/page-15#post-4522462

Nah, I make it up as I go. The dudes who make Palette do talk a lot about how blendable their library is, I think partly because it is fairly dry compared to others. I think they consider it a feature, and folks who have other libraries will benefit from adding this to their toolbox because it will compliment what they already own. So, possibly I am just using it incorrectly, maybe not getting the correct balance of mic positions.

I find the Close mics really dry, but I find the Decca mics to have a lot of muddy ambiance baked in. It's not a huge space, but I really don't like the sound of it. Do you find it blendable with other libraries?

I think it's a pretty decent starter kit, with lots of tools. I can see students getting a lot of good use out of it. And its a great library for travelling with a laptop -- which is what I use it for on a regular basis. I'd really like it if they gave it some more polish, though. I haven't downloaded the update yet. Might do that later this week.

I have the main library Palette Symphonic Sketchpad. It's...ok-ish. It's actually kind of an odd package, in terms of quality. For a sketchpad it is quite complete, with many useful parts -- but also a bit rough around the edges and variable in quality from patch to patch. I don't like the interface much, and the samples are a distinctly mixed bag. It ticks all the boxes in terms of orchestral sections, with strings, woodwinds and brass being the main players, and additional patches for various percussion, timps, hand percussion, piano, harp, choir and some synth patches. For the ensemble patches (strings, woods and brass) Palette has a full set of articulations (all the usual suspects, plus tenuto and major/minor trills). And surprisingly, it has a separate chamber-sized patches for each ensemble. There are three mic positions: Close, Decca and Hall. The Decca is the default, but with more baked in room ambience than I expected. I find it a bit muddy and difficult to blend with other libraries. The Close mic is a lot better for that, but needs a fair amount of added reverb. The sound of the strings players is decent, but not the most refined sound (certainly not the glossy and pristine sound of the Albion ONE strings I regularly use). Rather, it is solid and workmanlike, with a hint of rasp. The basic articulations are fine, except I don't like the spiccato - too abrupt and punchy, and not enough velocity layers for my tastes. Admittedly, I haven't really played around with the settings in the GUI, so possibly that can be adjusted. The trills are a nice articulation option, and are the only parts of the package that are currently in my orchestral template, as they are the best trill samples available to me when it comes to blending them with my Albion and 8Dio strings (Albion doesn't have trills, and I don't like the 8Dio ones - and while the Pallete samples take a bit of work, they do fit in fairly well after some reverb, panning and eq). The woodwinds are adequate - nothing special, but they get the job done. The brass is okay when played en masse. But for both the winds and brass patches, the overlap points of the instruments is kind of obvious and does not leave enough room for individual sections to play melodies cleanly. I also don't like the position of the brass players in the soundscape. There are some weird bits to the library... The glockenspiel is really not good -- quite unusable, to my ears, which was something of a surprise. How do you mess up a glockenspiel? The Close mic sounds nice, but it's really dry and in-your-face, and thus hard to place in my orchestral soundscape. The Decca is really ambient, and has the weirdest sound when played hard -- there is a deep banging sound to the highest velocity samples, as though the percussionist is hitting his knees on the glock stand in his enthusiasm. The Hall mic is no better. Quite odd and quite unusable. The Harp has lots of nice strings, and one or two strings that sound brittle and obvious, and thus make the patch hard to use. Those strings (high C and D) stand out way too much, and draw all kinds of the wrong attention to themselves. They only fit in with their brethren when played at the lowest velocity. So I don't use the harp. The timps are perfectly fine, and include a nicely programmed set of mod wheel crescendos that drop in a final hit upon release. They work well, and I've used them to good effect. The piano sounds surprisingly decent for a small add-on to an orchestral package. Quite usable. The hand percussion, trailer percussion and orchestral percussion are all decent, with a generous number of different instruments. The choir is very limited, but adequate for the very basic stuff (oh, ah and mm). So, it's kind of a strange package -- almost like the alpha release of a good orchestral library, with solid potential but some genuine rough spots. It is good for sketching and works well on my laptop (where it sees most of its use, along with Da Capo). I bought it on sale earlier this year (I don't recall what I paid for it), and it has been useful - but I'm glad I didn't pay full price. That's just my two cents. As always, YMMV. Rob

Oh, I wasn't suggesting you were implying anything. Apologies if I gave that impression. I think you made a fair point about seeking out forums that specialize in one's primary musical interest. Makes a lot of sense.

I had not heard of this forum before your mention of it, M, so I wandered over to see what it was about, liked what I saw and signed up. Thanks for suggesting it. Definitely a good place for orchestral aficionados like me I should mention, though, I personally have never felt at all ill-served by the folks on this forum. I only do classical/symphonic stuff exclusively, but when I've posted my music, folks here have been generous with their time and commentary. And it's been really appreciated.

This is what I sometimes do, and is a pretty handy feature. I’ve started creating really rough sketches in Studio One Artist (which came free with the cheap PreSonus USB interface I bought for my laptop), and then send the tracks to Notion 6, which has been my notation software of choice for quite a while. I expand and finish the arrangement in Notion, then print the finished score and perform it into CuBase, where I create the final recording. Kind of a roundabout way to do it, but it’s pretty seamless. I find the “send to Notion” feature in Studio One is nice and works well. And Notion is great - easy to use and the built in sounds are trouble free and work perfectly fine for composition purposes.

I think those normally go for $250 each. I have a pair of Adam F7. Sound great, and yeah their signature ribbon tweeters put out some really nice high-end. But I've already had to have one replaced (defect in the woofer cone), and one of them serviced (electronics needed replacing), and they are only 5 years old, so I haven't been all that impressed with the quality of their build or longevity. Personally, I would hesitate to get another pair.

On the site it says something quite different: "Once this clearance sale ends, all these sale products will officially be discontinued and no longer available"

Info here: https://8dio.com/instrument/studio-piano-bundle/ Also, $48/$58 per piano: https://8dio.com/instrument-category/8dio-instruments-on-sale-vst-au-aax-kontakt-instrument-samples/?page-2

Info is here: https://www.bestservice.com/ethera_gold_2_0.html

Really enjoyed listening to this, Dan. It sounds really polished - nice writing, tightly recorded, mix sounds good to my ears. Holds interest all the way through, with lots of nice little details -- in particular, I really liked the ending, with the gradual emergence of the hand drums to close out the piece. Great. Rob

I really need to pick up Omnisphere, one of these days. Those libraries sound good, Tapsa...

I have both Vocalise libraries, and they are pretty nice. I use them both a moderate amount (I don't do as much hybrid cinematic music as I used to, otherwise I'd use the Vocalise libs all the time, as they are great for that sort of thing). I think they are pretty solid, and having both is nice. They cover the same ground, but with enough differences that they compliment each other well.

I have had the same experience so far -- don't use the brass in any of the Albions that I own, and instead have a varied patchwork from other libraries in my orchestral template. In my case, a mixture of VSL brass, Hollywood Gold Brass, NI Symphony Series, Da Capo brass, and Adventure Brass (by Musical Sampling). I like having legatos on hand, so if Forzo has none, I'm not sure how useful I'd find it. I've heard nothing but good things about Cinematic Studio Brass, and that may be where I'll look next. And I think a few folks have praised Spitfire Studio Brass, as well. That's on my current Wishlist....I'll probably give Forzo a pass.

That was my thought, as well. I love AlbionONE's strings (I use them in everything), but don't like the brass patches very much. Forzo might be a nice companion library...

Forzo would interest me, also. I'm always looking for good brass libraries. I've got lots of strings libraries (and Novo sounds cold and clinical to my ears). But Forzo looks and sounds interesting...

I experience this kind of slump on a regular basis. The one habit I developed that has helped somewhat -- I try and work really fast when creating the initial sketch or draft for one of my orchestral pieces. I try to unhook my self-critical faculties as much as I can, start with a simple idea, and just get to the end without second guessing or redoing anything, leaving all sorts of mistakes and crappy bits in my wake. But at least I get something tangible and finished. I find just getting something down and basically complete is often the biggest hurdle, even if it's mainly just a big mess. There are often enough good ideas that it can be salvaged, or at least some of its nice bits can be used to create other projects.

Full price $298 (starting Feb 1st). Info here: https://8dio.com/instrument/century-ostinato-strings-2-for-kontakt-vst-au-aax-samples/

Info here: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/news/?id=tr5sunsetsoundreverb

At least this one is still in Kontakt. I genuinely like the Albion stuff (I own ONE and Loegria and use them both a lot), and this one certainly interests me. Based on the things I've read, I have no interest in buying a library that uses their own sample engine.

Info here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/albion-neo/ Also, some discounts available for owners of other Albion libraries: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/faq/albion-neo/