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Hi everyone,I have been a Taxi member since the beginning of 2008 and this is my first post on the forum. I have to say joining Taxi is the best thing I’ve ever done in terms of stretching myself as a composer and becoming really productive – I have taken many songwriting courses and BMI and ASCAP workshops etc. but Taxi is far more valuable to me. Although I’ve written a lot of songs and quite a few musicals (some have been workshopped in NYC and I was part of a big one that had a three week run in London), I enjoy writing “film” music the most – mainly orchestral instrumentals. So that’s what I’m focusing on mostly. I’m getting forwards and good comments about the tracks that are returned (hugely valuable feedback!) The overall comment seems to be that my music is plenty good enough, but that my orchestral sounds are just not authentic enough. So I am looking at updating my sounds. I have been recommended “Vienna Philharmonic”, which is out of my price range, and Sonic Implants, which I could obtain if I sold a few things, like my piano and my Korg Triton, which is what I’m recording all my tracks on at the moment. So my question is, do any of you have experience with either of these packages and can you give me your rating on them? On the Sonic Implants demo there are loads of musical dynamics, crescendos/dims etc and I’m wondering how user-friendly these are to incorporate? Also, I’m assuming you run these samples on Cakewalk, cubase, Pro Tools or similar software? Which is the best/easiest to use, and does it take a long time to learn to use them well?Grateful for any advise, thoughts,Georgina

Quote:Hi everyone,I have been a Taxi member since the beginning of 2008 and this is my first post on the forum. I have to say joining Taxi is the best thing I’ve ever done in terms of stretching myself as a composer and becoming really productive – I have taken many songwriting courses and BMI and ASCAP workshops etc. but Taxi is far more valuable to me. Although I’ve written a lot of songs and quite a few musicals (some have been workshopped in NYC and I was part of a big one that had a three week run in London), I enjoy writing “film” music the most – mainly orchestral instrumentals. So that’s what I’m focusing on mostly. I’m getting forwards and good comments about the tracks that are returned (hugely valuable feedback!) The overall comment seems to be that my music is plenty good enough, but that my orchestral sounds are just not authentic enough. So I am looking at updating my sounds. I have been recommended “Vienna Philharmonic”, which is out of my price range, and Sonic Implants, which I could obtain if I sold a few things, like my piano and my Korg Triton, which is what I’m recording all my tracks on at the moment. So my question is, do any of you have experience with either of these packages and can you give me your rating on them? On the Sonic Implants demo there are loads of musical dynamics, crescendos/dims etc and I’m wondering how user-friendly these are to incorporate? Also, I’m assuming you run these samples on Cakewalk, cubase, Pro Tools or similar software? Which is the best/easiest to use, and does it take a long time to learn to use them well?Grateful for any advise, thoughts,GeorginaIn addition to those, don't overlook the stuff from East West/Quantum Leap (www.soundsonline.com). I think that most of the composers on this forum use their products (including myself). For under $500, their Gold Bundle really can't be beat and gives a composer everything they need to compete at the highest levels.

I use VSL, and spent several grand a few years back on their complete library. It is amazing, but if I had it to do over, I would go with EWQL. Why? To get that "hollywood" sound, you have to process VSL. the samples and articulations are diverse, accurate and very complete, but the sound is purposely raw--- to get that "lush" sound takes some eq, reverb, etc.Most of the time, that's the sound I need, and even though I have templates, etc-- it still takes time. EWQL is better "out of the box" for that than most anything out there, and as Dave mentioned, you can't get more for your money IMHO than their less than $500 Gold bundle.Sonic Implants makes some great products, but I think EWQL is the top dog right now in functionality/sound/price.Aub

Georgina...The full Vienna Instruments from VSL is very expensive, but they now have the Vienna Special Edition and Special Edition Plus Bundle available for about $900, and it contains all the articulations you'd probably ever need.Also, don't overlook the excellent products made by Kirk Hunter Libraries, such as their Ruby and Diamond collections.EWQL Gold is what I use mostly, and I like it a lot. It's true it sounds the "lushest" and most "Hollywood Film Sound" of all the packages, the drawback being it's less flexible than drier libraries.Also, in its current incarnation it has less sophisticated programming than VSL Special Edition or KH in terms of legato and other "intelligent" articulation selection. Another point is that if you're on a Mac, it can't run on current IntelMacs unless you buy the NI Kontakt sampler separately, or wait until Gold comes out on EW's new "Play" engine (which should also add more sophisticated programming to Gold).The Sonic Implants orchestral library is a superb product, one of the finest libraries available. However, it is quite expensive.For the same money you could get the VSL Special Edition bundle, plus EWQL Gold, plus KH Ruby, plus Kontakt 3 (crossgrade from the Kompakt player that comes with Gold) to run Gold and Ruby on...plus pretty much any DAW software of your choice (meaning Cubase, Cakewalk, Logic or Digital Performer if you're on Mac, Protools...The result would be a much more versatile orchestral palette...and, I can guarantee you that if you can't produce professional quality music with this setup, neither would you be able to with SI. SI is superb, but it's just one flavor...as is any of the other libraries on its own. Combining several gives you the most power...and with the above setup you don't have to spend all the money at once, you can build up yur setup in stages, which has the added benefit to allow you to learn one or two pieces of software at a time...And who knows, maybe after getting Gold or Ruby or Vienna Special Edition you'll find that any one of these is all you need to take your orchestrations to the next level...matto

SI is $2500, and for a full package I think the price is in line with everything else.

I've found that combining libraries gives me the most expressive and realistic orchestrations. I use EWQL Platinum, Kirk Hunter, SAM Orchestral Brass and Garritan Stradivarius and Gofriller Cello along with a fantastic oboe from Westgate Studios. The combination of dry and wet samples makes for a very spacious sound and allows for the Hollywood sound along with a punchy up close and personal vibe when appropriate. Even mixed together it's an awesome sound.No library does it all and I think at this point, with the East West prices so low (and a 2 for 1 offer right now on some things) matto's suggestion is the best one. You'd have a fantastic setup for making great sounding film scores.Mazz

"I've found that combining libraries gives me the most expressive and realistic orchestrations."You're not alone. Agreed.

Hi Guys! Thanks for all your thoughts about this, it really helps enormously. I will go with your advise then and get the less expensive package and see if I need more after that. Does EW/QL run alone or do I need to buy a package like Cakewalk (I'm on a PC) - if it runs alone is there more benefit to running it on something like Cakewalk?Thanks again for your wisdom! Very appreciated. Georgina

You do need a "DAW" (= Digital Audio Workstation) to run any of the orchestral packages mentioned.However an entry level version of Cubase or (Cakewalk) Sonar would probably do all you need. Cubase 4 Essential has a street price of $149, or if you need notation printing capabilities and other advanced features you could get Cubase 4 Studio for $399.As a Cubase user myself I'm not intimately familiar with the Cakewalk product line but I'm sure it comes in similar "stepped" versions.

As matto said, you need a DAW. All of these programs need to be triggered by MIDI somehow and the only reason to run them standalone would be if you were using a slave computer. Otherwise, they need to run "inside" a host program (a DAW such as Cubase or Cakewalk). Vienna comes with it's own player and the others mentioned run inside of Kontakt. Some include a Kontakt player app (EWQLSO) but others (SAM, Kirk Hunter, Westgate) need Kontakt to run. Kontakt is a good investment anyway, it is more flexible than the Kontakt player and comes with a sizable library of useful samples above and beyond orchestral stuff.I would suggest trying to hang on to the Triton if you can. It has some good synth sounds in it that you can use to complement the sample libraries and it will function as a controller which you'll need to enter the parts.Hope this helps. Good luck and looking forward to hearing some of your music!Mazz