EastWest Symphonic Orchestra Structure Editition

[MatthewMoss]

Hi All,

Has anyone one used the EastWest Symphonic Orchestra Gold Complete — Structure Edition for Pro Tools. I understand that Kontact and Play engines are more popular, but wondering if anyone had experienced the use of this.

http://shop.avid.com/store/product.do;j ... 5114079904

Thanks Gals and Guys,

Matt

[Kolstad]

I don't know about the structure edition for Pro Tools, but no. one on my regrets list for software buys are EWQL Gold. The play engine is terrible, but I basically don't like the sound of the product. Worst part is that it can't be resold, so I'm stuck with a product I basically hate. Not money well spent.

[MatthewMoss]

@Magne, Sounds like I will be getting them, no but really, thanks for the input. I am currently using Miroslav through Reason rewired which is ok for textures in rock most of the time, but am looking for the next step up.

Thanks for the response : )

[orest]

I had no idea that East West had released a "structure edition".
Maybe it will load faster than PLAY?

I do like some of the instruments and patches in this library, I use the Platinum Edition myself.
However, I don't use it as my main orchestra library, just to blend with Cinematic Strings, Session Strings, Cinebrass and Vienna.

[matto]

Hey Matt,

No I have never used the Structure Edition (or Structure itself).

EWQL Gold Complete was my main orchestral library for many years, and it is still a very capable library. However it is getting a little "long in the tooth" at this point, it's definitely no longer "state of the art" and $700 seems kind of steep, considering you can get the Hollywood Strings/Brass bundle for the same price during EW's ongoing holiday sale (the "Hollywood" libraries are EW's replacement for the old EWQL Symphony Orchestra, of which Gold Complete is the midlevel/midprice offering). The "Hollywood" libraries offer far more content and are capable of much greater realism than Gold.
The drawbacks are you'd only be getting strings and brass, you'd have to run Play which most people don't consider the greatest platform ever , and these libraries take far more resources than Gold.

One thing that's important to know is that Gold has a very lush, reverberant "concert hall" type sound (it was recorded at Benaroya in Seattle), and this character is part of the samples so you really can't get rid of it. It's a library meant to be used for orchestral/symphonic/cinematic compositions, not for pop music. Most current state of the art libraries have a drier sound which makes them more flexible and adaptable to a wider variety of settings.
That being said the sound of Gold is beautiful right out of the box if lush and symphonic is what you need.

HTH,

matto

[orest]

Hey Matt,

No I have never used the Structure Edition (or Structure itself).

EWQL Gold Complete was my main orchestral library for many years, and it is still a very capable library. However it is getting a little "long in the tooth" at this point, it's definitely no longer "state of the art" and $700 seems kind of steep, considering you can get the Hollywood Strings/Brass bundle for the same price during EW's ongoing holiday sale (the "Hollywood" libraries are EW's replacement for the old EWQL Symphony Orchestra, of which Gold Complete is the midlevel/midprice offering). The "Hollywood" libraries offer far more content and are capable of much greater realism than Gold.
The drawbacks are you'd only be getting strings and brass, you'd have to run Play which most people don't consider the greatest platform ever , and these libraries take far more resources than Gold.

One thing that's important to know is that Gold has a very lush, reverberant "concert hall" type sound (it was recorded at Benaroya in Seattle), and this character is part of the samples so you really can't get rid of it. It's a library meant to be used for orchestral/symphonic/cinematic compositions, not for pop music. Most current state of the art libraries have a drier sound which makes them more flexible and adaptable to a wider variety of settings.
That being said the sound of Gold is beautiful right out of the box if lush and symphonic is what you need.

HTH,

matto

I agree, I wouldn't buy the "old" gold either now, better to invest in the "new" Hollywood gold libraries.

But be aware, those libraries are extremely RAM and CPU demanding. You would almost need a slave computer with at least a quad processor with minimum of 16 gig of RAM to run them in a descent manner.
And, an SSD drive because of the extremely slow load time of the PLAY engine..

[MatthewMoss]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the quite thorough answers. I suppose it would be strange for Pro Tools not to jump on old technology eh? I figured since I am a protools user, Structure (which comes with Protools) might be the most efficient engine. I have talked to an acquaintance that does a load of pop music/ some orchestral and says he loves LA Strings "LASS" which works on the Kontakt Engine. So I am going to test them out, I think they are around $1K. I believe Kevin Kiner uses them as well.


-Matt

[orest]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the quite thorough answers. I suppose it would be strange for Pro Tools not to jump on old technology eh? I figured since I am a protools user, Structure (which comes with Protools) might be the most efficient engine. I have talked to an acquaintance that does a load of pop music/ some orchestral and says he loves LA Strings "LASS" which works on the Kontakt Engine. So I am going to test them out, I think they are around $1K. I believe Kevin Kiner uses them as well.


-Matt

LASS, Hollywood Strings and Cinematic Strings are the best string libraries out there today IMHO.
It's a matter of taste what you buy and use. I bought CS myself (runs in Kontakt) and I LOVE it!

[matto]

Matt,

I agree with Orest that LASS, HS and CS are the top allround string libraries available today.
Of these, LASS offers IMHO the most flexibility because of the various different section sizes for each section, so if you are interested in using strings in a wide variety of settings and musical styles, LASS will probably be your best bet. The other two libraries are more focused on orchestral/cinematic music styles, although they could still work well in certain pop music settings.

There is also Session Strings Pro from NI which is specifically geared toward contemporary music, although it's not of the scope of these other 3 (but neither of the price )

I personally mostly use LASS and find it to be fantastic.

[Kolstad]

I got Session Strings Pro yesterday, and messed a little bit with it. It's really a big step up from the original as it includes release samples, and the sections & sounds are much smaller than the big libraries, which makes it very relevant in a pop/rock mix, and mixed with electronic patches, I think. Maybe too thin on it's own for huge movie stuff, at least Hollywood style (where the EW lib's excel), but might prove great for layering, and it's quite light on the cpu i Kontakt. It's a feel good item, due to the price tag (half off sale!)