EastWest Ancient Kingdom - $61.41 with code at JRRShop (RRP $299)

[MusicMan]

EastWest Ancient Kingdom - $61.41 with code at JRRShop (RRP $299)

Use code: FORUM

https://www.jrrshop.com/eastwest-ancient-kingdom.html

[Promidi]

Also costs 136 GB  (hard drive space is also currency).

[MusicMan]

23 minutes ago, Promidi said:

Also costs 136 GB  (hard drive space is also currency).

Handy to know. Some of these libraries definitely aren't small!

[husker]

That is an amazing deal.  If you are an EW fan, I'd jump on that.

[MusicMan]

5 minutes ago, husker said:

That is an amazing deal.  If you are an EW fan, I'd jump on that.

Agreed. Some of the recent prices from them, including their reverb have been insane!

[Carl Ewing]

7 hours ago, MusicMan said:

Handy to know. Some of these libraries definitely aren't small!

It's at absurdity levels. Jamming 1,040 microphone positions - with full 27:2 surround atmos support  (extra sub in the *****?) ) - into a flute library is just a giving the middle finger to customers at this point lol. Their orchestra is bad enough - I ain't occupying 1TB for an orchestra that sounds like the underscore for Law & Order SVU.

At least Orchestral Tools justifies their drive footprint and gives option to self-select mic positions.

[BTP]

42 minutes ago, Carl Ewing said:

At least Orchestral Tools justifies their drive footprint and gives option to self-select mic positions.

Hollywood orchestra (Opus) has soft/classic/epic moods you can select, but you can select also mics from 4-5 options and adjust them freely.

[locrian]

For those that have UVI World Suite, how does Ancient Kingdom compare to that VI?

[JT3Jon]

Also consider the ancient bundle at $139 at most retailers (less with forum code at JRRshop) if you are in the market for these type of libraries. Includes  Ancient Kingdom + Silk, Gypsy & RA. 

[Fleer]

4 hours ago, locrian said:

For those that have UVI World Suite, how does Ancient Kingdom compare to that VI?

Both are great, but UVI’s has a much broader scope, while EW’s is focused on wind instruments, sampled in detail. 

[Amicus717]

So I don't need this at all - I have about 20 libraries that cover this ground in detail; and I've made a really deliberate effort the last few years to slow down my buying because I've already got more libraries than I'll ever be able to use.

But hey, why not? $61 is kind of a ridiculous price, and there is bound to be a few things in this library that will make it worth it. So I grabbed it this afternoon. Took a while to download, but I've been playing around with it for a couple hours...

I think it's ok.

Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of Opus, nor EW's overall design philosophy and patch breakout, etc. But there is enough unique stuff here to make it worth buying (for me, anyway). I like the Double Shepherd Flute, and the three Duduks; and the Viking stuff is pretty good. I will find them useful. The Lithuanian bagpipe has a power-drill-to-the-earhole kind of vibe that I quite enjoy (for real, it's the kind of sound that can cut through a dense orchestral mix if you want to give the proceedings a nice little touch of ethnic edginess). 

There are some things I don't like. I found the overall sound of the library to be a bit...I dunno, foggy? Kind of hazy, to my ears, and with a certain lack of focus. A lot of messing around with the mic and built-in reverb settings was required to get a sound and vibe that worked.

I also found some of the instruments to be a bit inert and drab. Eg: The Native American Flute in this package is just not very lively sounding, compared to, say, the Native American flutes in Eduardo Tarilonte's Forest Kingdom 3. The EastWest patch is not bad. It's basic and decent, and would work fine for a lot of projects; but Eduardo's patches are so much more interesting to the ear. 

So, overall Ancient Kingdom is certainly a decent value at $61, but so far I'm kind of glad I didn't pay more. As always, YMMV.

Edited 4 hours ago by Amicus717