East West Mega Sale Starts Nov 4th

[Larry Shelby]

60% off...will post link when it goes live!

[Larry Shelby]

It's on at EveryPlugin

http://everyplugin.com/catalogsearch/advanced/result?manufacturer[]=89

[Sergio]

I'm rather poor regarding orchestral libraries. The only big lib I have is the Miroslav Phillarmonik, from IK, that I recently got for $70.

I see that there are two Gold collections from East-West, Hollywood and Symphonic, at a good price.

Are any of those significantly better than Miroslav?

And any good reason to pay $45 more for the Hollywood collection?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

[Matthew Sorrels]

Hollywood is newer than Symphonic.  It also is available in pieces (unlike Symphonic).  Symphonic and Miroslav are pretty much the same generation.  I haven't used Symphonic in a long time (when I had a year Cloud sub), but it didn't seem as good as Hollywood (which I ended up buying after my sub ended) though it did have solo instruments as well as ensembles which Hollywood didn't. 

Since you can't crossgrade from Symphonic and you can't resell EastWest libraries, it's generally better to get what you actually want from the start.

Hollywood Gold is decent, but Play v6, their sampler is garbage.  It streams data very poorly and they seem to have no interest in changing that.  As a result it's kind of hard to recommend either of them.  Can you make it work?  Sure, maybe.  If you only store libraries on a fast SSD, configure the player to load all samples into memory, and never do a fast bounce.

Buy a month of Composer Cloud and try them both.  Don't buy either one until you try them.  Both are better than Miroslav but not by all that much really, but it also may depend a lot on what you want to do.  Sadly to get something in the same class in Kontakt format or VSL is going to cost you a bit more, even with sales.  Or you end up with something not as complete but perhaps better.

[Sergio]

Thanks Matt. Would you say I'd have better orchestral tools by upgrading from Komplete 11 to Komplete Ultimate 12 than either East-West libs? This is an option I'm considering also. Just waiting for a good sale price.

Edited November 4, 2019 by Sergio

[husker]

Sergio - I'll hop in here with my opinion since I have both the Komplete Ultimate 12 Symphony series as well as Hollywood Gold (plus the solo).  (I'm interested in yours as well @Matthew Sorrels).

To me, the EW Hollywood is better than what you get with the Komplete Symphony series.  Opinion only, but HO sounds more authentic than the Komplete product, and you get a ton more articulations with the EW product.  Play is certainly no Kontakt, but it is workable enough for me.  I would definitely get the HO over the older EW Symphonic orchestra.  

You could ask the experts over at VI Control, but be aware, they aren't too big a fans of the Symphony Series.

[Matthew Sorrels]

The NI Symphony is a bit of a mixed bag.  The essential versions are kind of weak and that's all you get with Ultimate.  The full versions (if you get the collectors edition or upgrade) are better but only the strings and percussion would I consider good.  I used the full version of just the strings for a while before I finally jumped to the collectors edition.  The strings auto-divsi is really nice and NI did finally fix some of the bugs with repeating notes not playing.  I still like how the strings sound even if I've mostly moved on.  I'll still pull them up because I like how they sound and how it works, but the brass and winds I've never bothered to use much at all.  The percussion is good, but I have at least a half-dozen high end orchestral percussion libraries so it doesn't get much play. 

Ultimate has some nice stuff, I've never regretted jumping to it long ago, but I'd always wait for the upgrade sale to get it (spring or summer I think, can't remember for sure).  It has a few pieces the normal Komplete doesn't that is helpful (Session Strings Pro 2, Session Horns Pro, Action Strikes, Rise and Hit).  But I don't think I'd compare it with the EastWest, Spitfire or Berlin Tools stuff.  By the time you got Ultimate and then the upgrade to the full Symphony you could have bought just about anything else.  It's not the cheap way to a complete package.

Hollywood Gold right now with the sale price isn't a bad deal though and you do get a complete package.  My problems aren't with the sound but more the way the player works.  It's really painful for me even if the sound I want is in there somewhere.

 

[Sergio]

I'm more or less convinced that Hollywood Gold is the best option. I just have one more question: HO Gold does not include solo instruments but the only solo libraries are for violin, cello and harp. What about the other instruments?  I mean... I'd rather have solo woodwinds or brass than... harp!!!!????  Would Miroslav cover the need of solo instruments in general if used in conjunction with HO Gold?

[Matthew Sorrels]

No solos.  And I really don't recommend the HO Solo's, they are not that good.  OK the harp isn't that bad I guess.  Not really sure I have much insight on what makes a quality harp.  But for the violin and cello there are much better choices.