Amicus717

I have the Tina Guo series, and I like them a lot. The overall vibe of the original library is pretty dramatic and intense, with pronounced legato transitions. Tina Guo 2 is a more agile library with a lot of articulations, including shorts. As for how dry: they do come with default parameters that are pretty schmaltzy, and there isn't a ton of user-configurable elements, at least in terms of mix or mic settings. Basically, you have two mixes - Tim's Mix and Raw Mix - and some limited reverb settings that you can adjust or turn off (plus the usual Legato controls, etc) I don't know how dry you want things to be, but I did three really fast and dirty recordings and linked them below. All these are done with the in-library reverb effects turned off, and using the "Raw Mix" (as opposed to the curated "Tim's Mix" that is the default). There are no effects applied in my DAW: Tina Guo original library Legato - https://soundcloud.com/amicusaudio/tina-guo-1-dry Tina Guo 2 Arco Legato - https://soundcloud.com/amicusaudio/tina-guo-2-dry Tina Guo 2 Spiccato - https://soundcloud.com/amicusaudio/tina-guo-2-spiccato-dry-test Hope this helps. Rob

I have bought a number of libraries from Best Service, including most of my Eduardo Tarilonte "Era" libraries. I trust them, and their support has always been responsive and helpful. Great company.

I've always taken a "right tool for the job" mentality with this stuff. Project SAM's design approach is kind of love-it-or-hate-it, and I would probably never use them for any of my big orchestral projects, since I like to have a lot more control over the mood and texture of my arrangements. But I think the basic sound of Project SAM's samples are a good as anyone's, and if you need to do fast arrangements they are hard to beat. Buddy of mine has a podcast and a couple months ago he asked me to create a few short bumpers for different recurring segments. I messed around with a bunch of ideas using my template's go-to libraries (including Albion ONE), but after a week or two I wasn't getting anywhere. Decided to fire up Symphobia Lumina and was able to crank out three of them in an hour using the multis.

Guy Rowland has great video reviews of both: Orchestral Essentials 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl7d6jBTab8 Orchestral Essentials 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J-04SM2-no These reviews cover the basic instruments, and they link to follow-up reviews that talk about the Multi patches. These are older reviews so they show the original interface and patch setup. I have Orchestral Essentials 2, and it's great, although I have since bought the Symphobias (1,2 and 3), and so I don't really use it much anymore. But it's a great library with really lovely samples. It is ensemble patches, for the most part, and I think it's geared towards efficient composing using a basic and traditional kind of orchestral sound. As for Kontakt's factory library: it's adequate for very basic work, although I find the orchestral samples in both Factory Library 1 and 2 to be either quite dated (1), or nice sounding but very limited (2). To my ears, working with these patches would take a lot of careful tweaking or the results would be pretty midi-ish. I personally would consider the Orchestral Essentials libraries to be pretty good toolkits for basic orchestral work, and a genuine upgrade on what's in the Factory Libraries. However, it all really depends on what you want to do, and how you want to do it. I know folks who really love the Project SAM approach to samples; and I know folks who just don't feel at home in that kind of ensemble/multi patch headspace. So, YMMV, but I do think Rowland's reviews give a good overview. Hope that helps. Rob

Site seems broken. I am getting a "something went wrong" message when I try to check out.

Worth noting that this is available via the Steinberg store, also: https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/mongolian-voices/

Hi folks, On Feb 6th, RME released an updated driver for Babyface, Babyface Pro, Babyface Pro FS, Fireface 802, Fireface UC, Fireface UCX, Fireface UCX II, Fireface UFX Version 1.227. https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads.html From the Readme: "News, changes and fixes Warning: this version is no longer compatible to Windows XP! V 1.227 (02/06/2023) - Babyface Pro: supports Boost mode for inputs 3/4. Requires firmware 203 and TM FX 1.80. - Internal: new relative paths following Microsoft rules - Added workaround for programs that not understand relative paths for the ASIO driver"

Info here: https://sonuscore.com/shop/mongolian-voices-ancient-phrases/ THE SPIRITUAL SOUNDS OF THE VOICE Invoke the old magic with these mysterious voices from beyond. These otherworldly calls will deliver you into strange and unknown places, enticing your primordial inner self to break your compositions free from all inhibitions. For the MONGOLIAN VOICES - ANCIENT PHRASES library, we tapped into the shamanic sounds of traditional Mongolian singing. Divided into three categories, Female, Male, and Throat, the library delves into the more mystical places of vocalizations. The Female and Male parts are based on the traditional long song, or Urtiin duu, a most ancient art loudly sung from the mountaintops, each long, drawn-out syllable evoking the deep, vast, open spaces of the Mongolian steppe. Then there’s the famous throat singing – the Mongol Khoomei – which relies on guttural vibrations and circular breathing, creating a completely alien, otherworldly sound. At first listen, it inspires visions of far out sci-fi/fantasy worlds or ancient religions. MONGOLIAN VOICES - ANCIENT PHRASES is the perfect vocal instrument to add a raw, esoteric flavor to your music.

Nevermind, challenge codes arrived! I'm good to go. Rob

Got both Animator and Orchestrator. I kind of figured the code would be sent by JRR, which I could then put into the ProjectSAM cart at the time of purchase.

Too good a deal to pass up... Anyone know how long it normally takes to get your code/serial from JRRShop once you'd made your purchase?...

IMHO, the Century Brass instruments are generally pretty decent. I have them, and while they are not my main brass library, they are a useful extra color to have around.

I completely forgot about this program, but I am positive I bought it back when I was still using Soundfonts and a SoundBlaster Audigy2...I recall it was pretty decent...

The price is much nicer to look at in Euros. I sometimes forget the exchange rate to Cdn is a lot less appealing...

Info here: https://www.strezov-sampling.com/bundles/view/ESSENTIALS Bundle.html

At the other end of the spectrum, Connor McDavid is basically a human cheat code. Dude's playing the game in god mode.

Oh, there are a lot of variations on that theme...

And that was Thomas Chabot he stole the puck from and then out-dueled for possesion and position. Chabot's no lightweight - a great defender. And yeah, you can do a lot with hustle, alertness and a modest skill set

...and stuff like this...

Helluva game, and you totally have my sympathies, hockeyjx. I’m a Leafs fan - I understand heartbreak.

...just kidding... mostly...

Yeah, it is the Leafs. Sigh. I have no idea if they can do it, this year. They should have been able to every year for the last five.

Yeah, that I totally understand. If the Leafs aren't leading by a mininum 6 goals with 3 mins left, I can't relax.

I played a lot of hockey, including for my town and high school, and managed to keep my teeth. They are all originals! Got stitches a few times, separated my shoulder twice - that was fun - and ended my career courtesy of an epic ankle injury I sustained in the summer break on a trampoline. My skating never really recovered from that, and between my ruined ankle and all the damage I did to my knee joints over the years, I had to find a better way to channel my energy. These days, when the weather is cold and damp, I limp up and down the stairs like someone twice my age. I loved guys like Clarke, O'Reilly and Neely but I never wanted to play like them. Didn't like high traffic or the corners all that much, and I really didn't like getting hit. Nowadays I watch hockey obsessively, and wait for the Leafs to win something, anything, in the playoffs. Not a Devils fan? As for the big game: I'll be watching, and I suppose I'm rooting for KC -- although in truth I'd be happy if it was simply good, competitive game.

I just noticed this while going through the Presonus site: the Universal Control driver was updated on Dec 6, 2022 to v4.0.0.90879 The release notes: https://pae-web.presonusmusic.com/downloads/products/release_notes/UC_4.0_Milestone_Release_Notes1.pdf