12-20-2018, 12:11 AM
So on Facebook I'm a member of the VGM Academy group. I don't comment much (and post not at all) but a few days ago someone posted this:
I saw this and read it and realized that yes! This is something for which I have a level of knowledge adequate to help them. So I wrote a small book.
You thought I was exaggerating.
Anyway, having written so much, I realized that I could probably, with a little bit more research, turn this into a fully-fledged article.
So I'm thinking of doing just that. Since I know this forum is filled to the gills with people more knowledgeable then I, about free and affordable libraries, and not only that but people who have recorded and compiled and created such libraries - three of which I mentioned in my post (SSO, VSCO2, and VPO) - I figured you all could, possibly, help. Even so much as direction as to what to research, and where, would be helpful. This is stuff that you all are experts at. I am a dilettante. If you can help in any way, however minor, I would appreciate it.
Quote:Hello, everybody! I'm a mexican composer. New member here, but looking to get practice and connections. I mosty arrange using synthetic sounds, since I have almost no practice in recording orchestral instruments. I wanted to ask a couple of things: a) Do you know a good affordable sound library for orchestral sounds? b) Do you know any good online resource to learn orchestration? Thanks!
I saw this and read it and realized that yes! This is something for which I have a level of knowledge adequate to help them. So I wrote a small book.
Quote:1: the SONiVOX Film Score Companion is reasonably inexpensive, but the software is, frankly, not very good. There's no disk streaming which means it's a nasty RAM hog. They are monotimbral; you'd need a separate instance for each section of the orchestra. I've heard various other problems with it, too, which have been detailed over at the Scoring Central forums. I would recommend only as a very last of last resorts - I might even go as far as to warn you against purchasing it. This option is a difficult one for me because the sounds are fantastic; warm, rich, lush, etc.; but the front end is awful.
2: Digital Sound Factory offers a number of cheap, older sample libraries. These are, however, not really ideal for if you intend to write orchestral music commercially because these samples, again, are very old. Once again, not ideal.
3: If you have Kontakt or Kontakt Player, the Versilian Chamber Orchestra 2 Full Edition may fit your needs. It is inexpensive and offers all standard orchestral instruments and a reasonably generous selection of auxiliaries, too. However, because this is a chamber orchestra, it may not be ideal for massive, epic-type tracks, at least not without layering in some other sample libraries. You can, of course, take a listen to demos yourself to find out - they have a website and a Soundcloud. VSCO2 offers two pro options.
4: If you can not afford the above three, there is still a completely free option - the Virtual Playing Orchestra, which is comprised of public domain samples, all of them looped, retuned, etc. so that they fit together. The sample sources come from as diverse as the Sonatina, the No Budget, the Versilian CO2 Community Edition, and various others. You will need a soundfont reading VST, of which there are a number of options. With a good reverb applied to the VPO, you have the best free orchestra there is.
5: If for some very bizarre the VPO does not fit, you can, of course, utilize the Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra in its original form, likewise with the No Budget Orchestra. I do not recommend this.
6: There is, of course, beyond this, something which is neither inexpensive but poor, inexpensive but good, or free - I speak of the abandonware software Edirol Orchestral, which is... iffy. It's comprised of Roland samples ranging from the 80s to the 2000s, and the quality correspondingly varies. It's all wrapped up in a very low RAM usage VST. I've had two instances loaded without a single problem, and this at a time when I had only 2 GB of RAM. (For comparison, my computer and DAW could only run 2 instances of the SONiVOX Strings before Reaper crashed.) For a PS2-type of sound, it's positively ideal.
7: EWQL offers a subscription service called the Composers' Cloud which allows you to use their products at a far lower price than it would take purchasing them. (They currently have a holiday sale on for their ComposerCloud X option putting it at $19.99 a month for a year.)
8: In the realm of older libraries, the Garritan Personal Orchestra 5. This is, mind you, rather dated and old. I've heard other stuff about it such as it requiring babying by way of effects to sound good; but do NOT take my word for it.
9: Best Service offers the Complete Orchestral Collection of Peter Siedlaczek's libraries. This is, as with DSF's orchestral libraries (not, mind you, their Emu libraries but their own libraries), is one of those retro sample libraries.
10: In the same realm of the retro sample library is the Prosonus Orchestral Collection.
11: Miroslav Philharmonik 2 is almost, but not quite, a library akin to this. I say almost because it has been updated, so it's a very weird sort of in-between library. This is a nice option because it has a few auxiliary instruments in it that, say, SONiVOX and VPO lack. MP2 is currently on sale (€149.99 = $170.23 [usually €299 = $340.46], VSCO2 PE $229), which means you can purchase it for less than it would cost you to purchase the VSCO2 Professional Edition.
12: Naturally, there are numerous General MIDI soundsets. I wouldn't recommend these; crawling through them to find something that sounds at least reasonably professional would be extremely time-consuming. Again, if you have no money to spend, just get the VPO.
13: There also the DSK Music VSTs. These are not very good.
14: Beyond this, options become progressively more and more expensive, and, correspondingly, more and more professional and with a larger and larger learning curve. There are probably other inexpensive options out there, but if there are, I don't know of them. (The old adage: do your research.) I, personally, would recommend either the VSCO2, MP2, or VPO if you're aiming to go as cheap as possible. Beyond that you'll have to listen around to demos, see what people say about the library.
15: TO ORCHESTRATION. It must be noted firstly that the usage of sample libraries for orchestral music, and writing for an actual orchestra, are subtly different skills. MIDI Orchestration is the art and practice of making sure your virtual orchestra sounds realistic; while Orchestration itself is the art of writing for a genuine symphonic orchestra such that you achieve a good sound and the orchestra can play it. MIDI Orchestration involves a great deal more hands-on editing with CC parameters etc. to make your sounds sound like they are being performed. With Orchestration your concern is much more with "can the orchestra play this?" and "can this actually be heard?" Sample libraries are dishonest - you may get an audible sound with a harp with a library that you can hear at least a little well no matter how loudly the rest of the orchestra plays. In a genuine orchestra, a harp played forte could only be heard if the rest of the orchestra played mezzo-forte or piano.
16: I can not really recommend anything as regards to MIDI Orchestration. There are videos and articles out there if you look for them, but I can not at this moment recall any specific sources. In the realm of orchestration itself you have a variety of options - the YouTube channel OrchestrationOnline, the blog Orchestra Sounds, and obviously you will want a few books: Adler's Study of Orchestration 4th Edition, Piston's Orchestration seem to be the best consensus picks, the latter for starting out with and the Adler later on. The OrchestrationOnline website has other recommendations as well as a blog.
You thought I was exaggerating.
Anyway, having written so much, I realized that I could probably, with a little bit more research, turn this into a fully-fledged article.
So I'm thinking of doing just that. Since I know this forum is filled to the gills with people more knowledgeable then I, about free and affordable libraries, and not only that but people who have recorded and compiled and created such libraries - three of which I mentioned in my post (SSO, VSCO2, and VPO) - I figured you all could, possibly, help. Even so much as direction as to what to research, and where, would be helpful. This is stuff that you all are experts at. I am a dilettante. If you can help in any way, however minor, I would appreciate it.
