Obviously not the number one thing around here but I was wondering if there are people here who are interested in orchestration? In particular, anyone who writes arrangements with orchestral libraries? Sure, if you write for real orchestras, feel free to chime in!
Iāve been thinking of getting one of the Spitfire Audio libraries in the near future and would like to hear from people who have experiences with them (or libraries from other companies).
My orchestral ambitions (mostly strings) are in line with the more subtle side of things, so I was thinking which library would best suit my needs. I love Olafur Arnalds so his signature libraries would be tempting but also expensive.
Most likely Iāll start with Labs Strings or the BBC Symphonic Orchestra Discover and go from there. Just feel itās time to dive into orchestration because thatās what I often try to do with synth sounds anyway.
Would love to hear peopleās work and experiences in this field here!
Just gonna leave this here since itās so awesome even though itās not made with an orchestral library.
For the subtle side of things, I recommend Vienna Symphonic Libraryās SYNCHRON-ized SPECIAL EDITION bundles 1 and 1 Plus. Volumes 3 and 5 if you really need that much variety of strings. I like these better than the corresponding Native Instruments stuff, if for no other reason than VSL has a more streamlined interface into the various articulations.
A couple of days ago I read a comparison between Spitfire and Vieanna libraries. The conclusion was that Spitfire seems more balanced to get the āfeelingā right easily and Vienna tends more to be very detailed and precise.
Iām getting more into this side of things these days. While not orchestral per se, my favorite libraries are Swing/Swing More by Project Sam.
I have my eye on Spitfireās Bernard Herrmann Composer Toolkit as well, although itās a bit of an odd library.
Iām also interested in some of the stuff from 8Dio, mainly their Studio series and the Fire Trumpet/Saxophone.
I lean toward smaller spaces/dry sounds (studio/session-type stuff) rather than big, classical sounding stuff.
Another library I love that is very niche and not deeply sampled, but very cool is Grindhouse by Funk Soul Productions/Big Fish Audio. I have their Vintage Horns 2 as well, and would like the Vintage Bundle if it ever goes on sale for cheap.
I really like the Orchestral Tools libraries. Quite a polished sound, but beautifully emotive. Plus all their stuff is recorded at the Funkhaus in Berlin, so different libraries just go together.
Not really. I tend to listen to the latest ones on Saturday morning. Then download the ones Iām interested in. Makes some loops or sample chains in Ableton and then dump on to OT.
Finally I delete them from Ableton to keep it clean.
This topic is good timing, I just got my download code for this yesterday, having filled out the questionnaire and waited the 14 days. Have only played with the violins so far but they sounds rich and detailed (no other serious string libraries to compare them to though).
I was looking into how to arrange strings and string sample libraries in general, when I found this interesting old article:
It is a walk-through of what makes a good sample library (features which most orchestral libraries now seem to have) as well as tips on arranging.
Just got my new MacBook Pro yesterday to replace a mid-2009 MBP, bought Logic Pro X and already downloaded some Spitfire Audio Labs VSTs (Amplified Cello Quartet FTW!). Sounds fantastic to my ears, just LOVING IT! Donāt see any reason to upgrade to the expensive actual libraries for a looooong time. Will post some music at some point and would love to hear other Elektronautsā orchestrated cookings as well!
Iām really looking forward to checking it out. Iāve sort of gone down the rabbit hole rabbit with virtual instruments lately, still havenāt surfaced yet. Haha.
Iāll hopefully be recording some stuff again soon. Iāve been sidetracked a bit by life.
The fun thing about orchestral composition is that you are working with tried and true instrumentation and you can spend more time on the actual composition and less worrying about fiddling with soundsā¦ I too am looking into getting the huge BBC libraryā¦ some great videos and tutorials shout their stuff tooā¦
Youāre absolutely right, of course. For the time being, however - learning, practising, demoing ideas etc. - the free libraries are ok for me. I would argue, however, that you could record some orchestral arrangements on free VSTs and get away with it, except for the most learned listener/ear. I also feel the Spitfire LABS instruments are of varying quality, for example LABS Strings (the name of the library) doesnāt sound too good to me. That one to me sounds like a lifeless preset. Scary Strings, Amplified Cello Quartet and Frozen Strings are a lot better though, I would say.
Iām currently writing music for an album which combines elements from acoustic, electronic and the subtle side of orchestral music. The idea is to demo the orchestral arrangements with the VSTs, then record and overdub with a live string quartet and maybe some brass. Maybe leave some of the VST sounds in the final thing if the orchestra needs to sound bigger. Most importantly, Iām just having fun with this stuff as is the case with the rest of my gear.
Just came across this in rbenyās newest video. This is not your ordinary orchestral library but might be of interest to people following this thread: https://feltinstruments.com/
The strings bundle isnāt cheap by any means, Ā£219 but then again this might be the answer to what Iām looking for and was hoping Iād get in the Olafur Arnalds libraries (two separate ones, price close to 600ā¬ā¦) - a strings library that feels alive and naturally lends itself to the more subtle, evocative side of orchestration.
This is obviously not it yet but something I cooked up during the first week of having the new MacBook Pro and some free Spitfire Audio Labs instruments. Two tracks, Iād say both pretty āNordicā and cinematic in feel - think Olafur Arnalds, maybe also Nick Cave and Warren Ellisā soundtrack work.