I'm warming up to the East West libraries again. Having just re-installed Stormdrum 2 after leaving it shelved for almost a year (technical difficulties prevented me from using it), I'm now enticed to get one or more of the Hollywood libraries (Gold version). Given that I can only afford one at a time, which one should I aim for first?
At 12/6/13 04:48 AM, JacobCadmus wrote: I'm warming up to the East West libraries again. Having just re-installed Stormdrum 2 after leaving it shelved for almost a year (technical difficulties prevented me from using it), I'm now enticed to get one or more of the Hollywood libraries (Gold version). Given that I can only afford one at a time, which one should I aim for first?
I have Hollywood Strings and Hollywood Brass. They're really excellent libraries if you have the computer specs to run them (and you need a hell of a beast to run them). I'd say it depends on what you need more of. All I had before Hollywood Strings and Hollywood Brass was Symphonic Orchestra Silver for orchestral instruments, and that has really crappy brass, so I find myself more inclined towards thinking that Hollywood Brass is more useful for my needs.
Both are great libraries though with a huge amount of samples (especially Hollywood Strings which has enormous amounts of patches for each instrument). I can't say anything about Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds but I don't doubt it's also a keeper. Also I've got to add that Hollywood Brass felt a bit more accessible to me. Strings requires you to go through various menus and different types of samples to find the one you want and note velocity in most of its patches isn't mapped to loudness as usual but to some other parameter which I find really annoying. I'm sure it's just geared towards advanced users, but to a noob like me who just wants nice-sounding instruments, I found Brass to be easier to work with.
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At 12/6/13 04:48 AM, JacobCadmus wrote: I'm warming up to the East West libraries again. Having just re-installed Stormdrum 2 after leaving it shelved for almost a year (technical difficulties prevented me from using it), I'm now enticed to get one or more of the Hollywood libraries (Gold version). Given that I can only afford one at a time, which one should I aim for first?
I have got Hollywood Strings, Brass, Woodwinds and really love them all. The weakest in my oppinion is Woodwinds. If you got Woods already which sound ok like Symphonic orchestra or something you dont need to hurry to get Hollywood Woodwinds.
That means: Its Hollywood Brass vs Hollywood Strings - both are extremely awesome. I think the right decision depends on what kind of cinematic sound you want to create. If you wanna compose epic powerful epic scores with the best french horns and trumpets i have heared so far than you should take Brass. The legato patches of the trompets and horns are just amazing and with modwheel you can instantly play extremely realistic stuff within just a few patches. The French Horns are available as Solo / 2 Horns / 6 Horns which allows you to get nice divisi.
Personally i absolutely adore hollywood strings. If you want to create pieces with the classical hollywood style of nino rota then you should go and get the strings (which are much more hardware-hungry like the brass as far i have seen. But there are different qualities you can load - the light patches also sound pretty good but need much less ram. The power system patches are just ... EXTREME ... the biggest legato cello needs 15 minutes to load :D But the soundresult is just incredibly beautiful and lush.
So its your decision. If you are just doing epic trailer stuff and want to get good effects you should take brass. For a incredibly real orchestra sound - also for classical / late romantic pieces you should take the strings.
Good luck with your decision!
If you're going to get both eventually I'd say go with the Brass first because the Symphonic Orchestra brass is worse than its strings, imo. If it will be a long time before you can get the second, though, I'd say go with the strings because, unless you write a lot of brass chorales, you'll probably use them more. Orchestral Woodwinds is good too but it's all solo instruments, not sections like Symphonic Orchestra.
At 12/6/13 04:48 AM, JacobCadmus wrote: I'm warming up to the East West libraries again. Having just re-installed Stormdrum 2 after leaving it shelved for almost a year (technical difficulties prevented me from using it), I'm now enticed to get one or more of the Hollywood libraries (Gold version). Given that I can only afford one at a time, which one should I aim for first?
Ddance
Thanks guys! Well it's still a tough decision, but it's definitely either the brass or the strings. I have Berlin Woodwinds from Orchestral Tools, which sound WAY better than Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds IMO, so I'm covered in that department. My other orchestral elements are well-covered (CineBrass, LASS, Symphobia, etc.), but every one of those libraries lack certain aspects that the EW Hollywood libraries seem to excel in (based on what I heard in the soundsonline demos).
Also, I don't even mess with the Symphonic Orchestra anymore. That library dates back as early as 2002 (recording sessions), and it shows, haha.
I bought the complete collection literally 2 weeks ago and so far I'm -very- impressed with Brass and Strings, less so with woodwinds but it's still pretty good.
I have yet to really get a feel for them - work is keeping me away from my love of music - but on at a glance, if you already have LASS, I'd say go for Hollywood Brass.
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Thanks for you guys' thoughts, I was thinking of trying a newer orchestral library as well.
Hollywood Strings and Brass do sound pretty good. I only have the Symphonic Orchestral Library and it's not THAT bad. (I'm sure we've all heard worse)
Has anyone used Vienna Symphonic Library? I'm tempted to get at least one of the instruments but LIGHT dem prices doe!!!
Has anyone tried those or are there some newer libraries that have more detail?
Symphobia 2 is pretty cool, but I still feel like it's missing something.
Any suggestions?
At 12/7/13 01:50 PM, race1 wrote: Has anyone used Vienna Symphonic Library? I'm tempted to get at least one of the instruments but LIGHT dem prices doe!!!
Has anyone tried those or are there some newer libraries that have more detail?
Symphobia 2 is pretty cool, but I still feel like it's missing something.
Any suggestions?
I don't know much about VSL, but I think they have some new-ish libraries out there that sound pretty good. I personally prefer CineSamples libraries over the VSL sound though. They recently just released CineStrings, which sounds phenomenal!
As for Symphobia 2, well it's really only meant to be an expansion to Symphobia 1. The idea is to have both (if you can afford it).
At 12/6/13 04:48 AM, JacobCadmus wrote: I'm warming up to the East West libraries again. Having just re-installed Stormdrum 2 after leaving it shelved for almost a year (technical difficulties prevented me from using it), I'm now enticed to get one or more of the Hollywood libraries (Gold version). Given that I can only afford one at a time, which one should I aim for first?
Hey it depends on what type of music you do and what that music requires more need for. I have Hollywood Strings and Brass. They are great…..I use Berlin Woodwinds for my winds much better than East West. I just got a SSHD (solid state hybrid drive) and installed all my East West libraries on it. Hollywood libraries load super fast and save RAM. You need an SSD or SSHD for East West it will speed up your workflow.
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At 12/9/13 12:44 AM, Elitistinen wrote: Have you checked out Spitfire Audio Albion (different volume depends on which theme you use)? Albion at decent price with powerful strings, woodwinds and brass.
Indeed! I own Albion I; the ensemble woodwinds are a permanent part of my template.
