Orchestral libraries

[bill5]

Curious what any of you have used and what you did/didn't like about it. I'm casually window shopping for one to supplement my non-classical needs but maybe dabble in some classical at some point.

 

My front-runner is Amadeus, a highly affordable ($150) yet full-featured library which as far as I can tell sounds very good too.

 

There are of course numerous others from Spitfire, Audio Impreia, 8Dio, VSL, etc etc. 

 

 

[David Emm]

MOTU's Symphonic Instrument ($279) served me well for several years, as it was recorded rather dry and a bit close-mic'd. It contained my first convolution reverb, which made things sound creamy. I can recommend its high quality for a mere 8 GB. I upgraded my Mac and began looking for bigger plug-ins.

 

After taking up a lot of smaller components and learning how to beef up Logic's bundled resources with effects, I began to build on Spitfire. I installed their free BBC Symphony Orchestra, which has limited articulations, but does a lot as Synth Helper. Their free LABS roster contains some real winners, but it took off with several of their "Originals" subsets such as Epic Strings and Cimbalom. The Abbey Road offerings are also useful.

 

While they obviously offer big-buck packages with broader articulations, you can make a lot of headway with a decent bouquet of their more economical specialty sets. Between that and my collection of Korg and E-mu sounds, I enjoy plenty of Big Orchestra Fun.  

 

Amadeus sounds creditable, so you couldn't go too wrong using it the way I approached Symphonic Instrument. Its a huge world to approach. Starting small is wise, so you can learn when and where to advance. You may also decide to stop there and see Amadeus as an orch-flavored synth module that covers the areas you really need.

[bill5]

Thanks, I hadn't heard of MOTU's thing, will check!