Orchestral Libraries 3.5 : Vienna Buyer's Guide, Vienna Instruments Standard Collections, and Other Purchasing Tips

Yes, my last post was very long, but hopefully, it had some useful information about how Vienna works and what the Special Edition is. I have finally lost access to my school’s demo and had to do some purchasing in order to keep using Vienna products for class. However, I did not go with the Special Edition, and if you are thinking about doing so to save money, you may want to think again. Here’s why:

Vienna SE comes in six parts. Volumes one and two, along with their “plus” counterparts are basically essential if you want to have any versatility at all in your composing... and it will still run you over $1,200 USD. The full SE collection, except for when there are sales like there are right now (buy 2 SE get 1 free for the month of August, 2014), is about $1,800. If you are going to spend that much money on Vienna products, there are a number of better methods you can use to get more of what you want.

SE is basically everything Vienna has to offer in an extremely limited way. You get a large number of instruments you most likely will never need or use, and even if you are a bit adventurous, you will probably only use some of them once or twice. So, you are paying for wasted access to many instruments that, even if you did have recurring need for all of them, still only have four different articulations (sustain, legato, staccato, and sforzato). Such instruments include the bass flute, bass trumpet, euphonium, basset horn, and many more “uncommon” orchestral instruments. Aside from that, your regular and semi-common instruments (oboe vs English horn, clarinet vs bass clarinet, trombone vs bass trombone, etc.) only have a few more articulations that you may use on a regular basis.

However, buying Vienna Standard Collections can get you immensely more from each instrument for the same price, and you can still have a very complete orchestra (though at this price point, some small sacrifices will need to be made). What I mean when I say you get immensely more is that each instrument comes with about twice as many useful articulations or variations of similar articulations and those instruments have more detailed sample layering. It is particularly noticeable in the brass, which comes with vibrato and non-vibrato versions for many different articulations, but as brass is still the hardest instrument family to sample, it takes really great mixing work to apply some of the fortissimo patches properly.

Here is what I did, what I got, and what I had to sacrifice:

As I mentioned before, the woodwinds by Vienna are immaculate. Plus, I use 7-8 different types of woodwinds—the traditional four and their semi-common counterparts—in most of my compositions. So, it made the most sense for me to get Woodwinds I and II, which is around $800 together. The complete Woodwinds Bundle, which includes Special Woodwinds ($370 alone), is $1056, but I didn't want to spend the extra money for instruments I don't use. The only special woodwind I did use, frequently I might add, was the oboe d’amore, and if you remember from the previous article, all instruments except strings can be purchased on an individual basis as well. That was one of the sacrifices I decided I could live with.

I had absolutely no need for the cornet, alto trombone, fanfare trumpets, or euphonium of the Special Brass collection, and the only thing in Brass II that I used regularly was the bass trombone. I sometimes used the piccolo trumpet as well for variation amongst individual trumpets. So, because I do have an EastWest trombone that plays in the bass register or could replace bass trombone parts with a second tuba, I just got the Brass I section, which consists of the main four instruments as solos and multiples sections for the trumpets, horns, and trombones. Again, if I really want to upgrade or get one or two more brass instruments, I can still purchase any one instrument at a time to add onto what I already have.

The strings was a bit of a sacrifice at first… or so I thought. In SE, you get basic versions of all solo, chamber, orchestral, and appasionata strings sections. Purchasing the standard collections outright costs $500-600 per section size if you get all four instruments as a bundle, which is quite a bit less than buying parts I (violins, viole) and II (celli, bassi) separately. So, I thought, I already have multiple EastWest solo and chamber and orchestral strings sections, I rare use my SE solo strings, and I have never used my SE appasionata or chamber sections, so why not just get the orchestral (standard) package, which I use in every piece? And that is exactly what I did. Solo strings would be nice to have too, but it really isn't that necessary, especially since I have so many EastWest options.

Finally, Vienna doesn't specialize in world or Hollywood-style percussion, so you won't find a lot of the instruments you may need if you are looking to use non-traditional percussion in your scores. Again, I already have everything I need percussion-wise in EastWest, but I'm not too fond of my old glockenspiel, and Vienna does a great job with their pitched percussion. Also, their timpani and harps are wildly different from those of EastWest, so I thought it would be good to have two different options. Although you only get one or two articulations per instrument, I went with the Special Edition percussion for only $63 because you get a plethora of percussion for a very small price… and I don't really need many articulations for percussive instruments that I can't create on my own with good MIDI usage.

So, I hope that helps any confused buyers out there to rest a little easier when deciding which library sets they want. When added up, I still got all of the instruments I use regularly (including a Flute II, oboe II, and other secondary instruments) minus my preferred second oboe d'amore and bass trombone. What's better is that the final price was about the same as that of the full Vienna SE (much cheaper though with my special discount applied), and I now have double the articulations and sample layers for each instrument.

Perhaps, you only need a few things and can purchase one individual instrument at a time. That works too, but in the long run, it will cost you more than bundles do, so try to reserve purchases for when your needs align with the best packaging options. The final reason that standard instruments and packages work best with Vienna is because if you ever want to upgrade to an insane amount of articulations by adding on the extended libraries, you have to own the standard versions of all of the instruments in your desired package before they will sell it to you.

Orchestral Libraries 3: Vienna Instruments and VI Special Edition Review

I recently dived face-first into a special 6-month trial of the full Vienna Instruments Special Edition suite, and boy do I have some news for you all. This trial has greatly opened my eyes to the coveted world of MIDI composition that is Vienna Instruments. Because of their ever-expanding options and libraries, getting set up with Vienna doesn’t necessarily have to cost you more than you will be paid on your next few to several projects. However, I will say ahead of time, in order to properly reap all of the benefits VI has to offer, you do have to have a decent amount of experience writing, and more importantly, mixing music well. This includes having the ability to sufficiently handle a large amount of keyswitching. If you don’t know what that is, perhaps I will write an article for you.

The reason you need to know what you are doing as a composer or producer if you want Vienna to sound good at all is because everything is recorded completely dry. This means there are no “multiple mic positions” in the traditional, EastWest sort of way, although their separate MIR reverb software does enable you to process real stage positions and reflections in a very advanced way. Therefore, if you can’t mix or keyswitch well, or if you are newer to the field and lack advanced listening skills, you may feel like Vienna doesn’t sound much better than the stock MIDI instruments in your DAW. However, that couldn’t be further from the reality of just how different Vienna actually is. In fact, an advanced composer, or at least the mixing engineers he or she sends any Vienna-made scores off to, might be overjoyed that no big “room” sound was recorded along with all of the samples because it gives them complete control over reverb effects for any given situation. Purists might be upset by the dryness of Vienna, but room noise in what is still considered to be a “stage mic’d” sample isn’t exactly pure, now is it? Perhaps the truest of purists who lacks the ability to hire a full orchestra might simply take any sampled parts to a concert hall and re-record them for a “true” natural reverb… but that’s another topic for another time.

The really fantastic things about Vienna are its players, Vienna Instruments/VI Pro; the ability to create custom keyswitches; and the common sense they used when recording various articulations.

The player is a unique work of art all on its own, and other developers should learn from it. You have the ability to assign the various parameters to MIDI controlled channels for automation, and perhaps the greatest three features to control are the velocity fader, the velocity fader on/off switch, and the slot fader. That’s right, you can control and automate the velocity of any single, sustained MIDI note with the velocity fader, meaning that you could have a note on a horn start out at pp (pianissimo) and crescendo as it plays until it reaches a ff (fortissimo) volume… and the duration of the crescendo can be any length you want!  I don’t know of any other players that allow that kind of customization. The on/off control is there because, as avid automators know, once automation is turned on for a track, whatever the automating line says at that exact moment is what all of the other unattended notes will play back for the rest of the piece. So, if you only want to crescendo 3 notes during an entire score, it could be a bit of a pain to go in and set the velocities of every MIDI note via automation. Simply automate the on/off switch instead to tell your sequencer when to ignore velocity automation.

In addition, the slot fader lets you have the same kind of control… but get this—it’s between multiple articulations or instruments. Yes, you can have a fortepiano contrabass note magically transform into an organ or even have a sustaining cymbal swell suddenly become a flute, but on a more practical level, you could have a sustaining violin section slowly add tremolo as a note goes on. Or, you may like the “oboe d’Amore” sound for the first half of a note but want it to settle in with a simpler sound before the note ceases. Tiny details like this can greatly add to the realism of a MIDI mockup, and again, I know of no one else who offers this level of control.

The ability to create custom keyswitches is the next great feature. Whether you are or are not familiar with keyswitching, I’m sure you can agree that assigning C1 (except for low instruments, which I usually default to C4) to change all of your instruments to the “sustain” sound, C#1 to change to staccato, D1 to legato, etc., allows you to greatly increase your workflow and keep trigger memorization to a minimum. Other players and companies do offer keyswitching; however, many of them kind of throw the keyswitches in at random and follow no common setup for all like instruments. You might have D2 be pizzicato for one stringed instrument, but have it be tremolo for another. With Vienna, you get to choose and save your own keyswitches, so after the initial set up, time never really has to be wasted checking which trigger produces which sound. Amazing. I won’t even get into how the matrices or presets work, but let’s just say there are multiple layers of keyswitching that could allow you to keep your articulations all the same but change, say, the instrument type you are using, the playing technique from regular to muted, or the size of the viola section. Vienna Ensemble is a whole separate beast that allows you to preset an entire orchestra (with or without Vienna plugins, so you can mix and match) in a single player that will load every time you open a new or existing project and allow you to still control each instrument individually via aux channel.

Finally, in regards to what makes Vienna great, they had a little more sense than some other manufacturers when deciding what articulations to include in with each instrument set. Too often, you will see a sample set that has something like staccato in the solo cello and 10 cello sections, but leaves it out in the 3-4 cello sections. Or, you might see a trumpet, trombone, and tuba with a sforzato patch, but not get it in the horns. Everything in SE is pretty much standardized, with slight variations based on what instruments can play and on what you already have. So, obviously only strings will have pizzicato and tremolo (which I just put higher up in my keyswitch chain so as to keep the lower notes common among all instruments), but everything has sustain, staccato, sforzato, and legato and their plus versions have trills, fortepiano, portato, mutes, and more. The only area where this is slightly off is for uncommon instruments or instruments that repeat like bassoon 2, flugelhorn, and 8 “epic” horns, which have no “plus” articulations (in the SE versions). All in all, it’s pretty consistent throughout. One additional side note is that the legato patches in Vienna are all true legato, meaning that, much like a synthesizer set to “legato” voice/mode, only one note can be played at a time, and tiny crossfades and slides are applied to overlapping notes in order to emulate how a live player would move between two legato notes.

So, let me give you the breakdown of what SE includes. There are 4 products in the VI SE line, and special editions 1 & 2 both have “plus” versions, which come with additional instruments or articulations beyond the standard packages. Versions 1 & 2, along with their “plus” add-ons, are probably the most essential parts to get if you are on a tight budget and are considering Vienna. Together, they encompass the bare minimum you need to write music for an orchestra, but, as you can see in the list above, don’t expect to get extreme in your creativity. Version 3 is strictly a con sordino strings and harp 2 add-on, while 4 includes more obscure instruments, like the euphonium, cornet, heckelphone, and bass flute.

The strings sections are pretty good. They are definitely not “Hollywood” bright or big, so if that is the sound you are going for, you may prefer something that has a more unrealistic high end. In the full version of SE, you get regular and plus articulations for all five sections as solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and full orchestras. You also get an even larger grouping called “appassionata” strings, but each section only contains sustain and staccato articulations. Everything is very realistic, and it is highly recommended if you know what you are doing and don’t need that many articulations. The harp options are very nice, though they only come with simple articulations in SE. I give strings a grade of A-.

The percussion/rhythm section is interesting because it is very classical for the most part. If anything were going to have a bit of a Hollywood edge to it, I’d recommend it be the percussion, maybe because I love to write for big and world percussion styles. Pitched percussion is fairly easy to sample, and things like the glockenspiel and xylophone in SE hold their own well. The timpani also sound great with classical pieces but need a boost from something like EastWest’s timpani if you really want to bring the thunder. Unfortunately, there are only one or two options (a left hand hit and right hand hit) for important instruments like gongs, cymbals, mallet cymbals, bass drums, etc., so the sounds get repetitive quickly. Plus, there are no foreign instruments except for taiko, and it always sounds like they are clipping at their highest velocity. Pianos and guitars are also extremely basic in this version, but lots of these instruments can be upgraded. Regardless, the Vienna percussion sound often isn’t enough for me, since I write for many foreign percussion ensembles, so if you have similar needs, be prepared to seek an additional supplier or a Vienna upgrade for your percussion. Overall, I’d give Vienna SE’s percussion library a B.

The brass is the weakest grouping here, so I can’t give it higher than a B or B+, but even so, it is still good as brass instruments are not easy to sample realistically. You just have to know how to use it. My main issue with the brass is the thin, phase-y sound it has when it is completely unedited, especially in the grouped sections of 3 instruments.  I prefer to have 3 solo brass instruments I can customize individually, luckily, but using similar keyswitches in unison parts can still get a bit wild. Once mixing is done, you can usually blend the brass and get most phasing issues to go away, but I’d still rather they not be there at all.

The woodwinds are a huge plus, probably my favorite of the included sections. They have all four main instruments (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon) and their counterparts (piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, and contrabassoon), and there are alternate options for all four main instruments. I also often include the rare or alternate instruments from the SE 4 collection in my scores. Again, I don’t really have a need for the multi-instrument sections, as I write for each woodwind individually, but those are included as well.  Although the bass clarinet seems to be twice as loud as the other winds, which has happened with every sampled bass clarinet I’ve ever heard, I give this section a solid A+ because of the incredible realism and control possible with the woodwinds. The only way I can imagine it being better is by buying more Vienna articulations.

Lastly, I mentioned that Vienna doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. While the rules and prices vary between Europe and the Western hemisphere (American-based composers can purchase Vienna through Ilio at www.ilio.com), the products remain the same. Yes, the full Vienna suite plus all of the additional software and plugins will run you over $15,000, but they recently outdid their Special Edition package by offering individual instruments or sections for single purchases, each complete with the option to go standard, go extended (plus), or do both at once. These are a bit more expensive (about $50-100 for standard or extended per instrument and $150-$200 for both), but you also get a significantly larger collection of articulations since they come from the non-SE full packages. Oddly, strings are not included in this offer, but most everything else they have to offer outside of the “dimension” series is available. The great thing about choosing this route is that you can select exactly what instruments you want your orchestra to be comprised of. So, if you only want one flute type but need the contrabass tuba, euphonium, and regular tuba sets, you can buy whatever you want whenever you want it. Plus, if you do need a basic strings package, the SE packages can be broken down by section (allowing you to just buy strings) and there are various other strings packages, though those are pricey. However, rumor has it that they will give you a discount on new purchases that overlap with what you already own.

I know this is a longer article, but there is a lot to know about Vienna… and I barely scratched the surface. It is a great collection of instruments if you know how to use it properly and its sound blends well with some of the bigger “in-your-face” libraries out there. I wouldn’t recommend it to a beginner, but then again, I wouldn’t recommend much to a beginner, so it’s actually a nice first library to have, especially if you are willing to practice, make mistakes, listen, and learn. Who I really wouldn’t recommend it to is the lazy composer who maybe doesn’t have professional aspirations. A library that has automatic mic positioning and preset reverb setups is going to make your cheesy 5-minute loop with no use of the available keyswitches sound better. But to everyone else considering high-end professional material, this is a must-have. The player paragraph should have made that obvious. Vienna can easily be a great way to achieve your realism goals if you prefer live musicians (don’t we all) but only have the time or money to hire a few main pieces.

To hear samples of songs that are made with or incorporate Vienna instruments check out my site at www.natecombsmedia.com and its various links.

Winifred Phillips: Award Winning Game Composer and Author

I had the amazing privilege to engage in a few online conversations with Winifred Phillips recently. For those of you who do not already know who this rising star is, Phillips is an award-winning film, game, and radio composer whose name is quickly rising, specifically in the game music community. Not only has she composed for big titles such as Little Big Planet, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, God of War, and many more, she has also written a book which aims to aid aspiring composers in their own quests to impact gaming history with music.

Published by the MIT press--that's right, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press--her book, A Composer's Guide to Game Music, is being celebrated throughout the entire compositional world. Legends such as composer Harry Gregson-Williams (one of the top film and game composers today... you definitely know some of his works even if you don't recognize the name) and game director David Jaffe back this book... and I do too. No, I haven't had time to read the entire thing yet, but having previously taken a master's-level class on this exact subject and knowing what it takes to work in the game composing world, I can say that this book shouldn't just be read by aspiring composers... it should be taught in music schools. It definitely gets more in-depth than my course did and may even contain two semesters worth of material for some universities. An initial read-through also allowed me to pick up on three aspects I believe all good publications contain: thorough detail with understandable explanations, evident passion, and quirky, witty comic relief.

At a modest price of under $30, you can obtain Winifred's book either as a hardcover or eBook on Amazon by following this link: A Composer's Guide to Game Music.

For anyone interested in getting into the game music world and wanting great instruction for an unbeatable price, this book is a must-have. With it, you can go from thinking, "Hey, I can make game music," to knowing, "Hey, I can make game music," just as Phillips did before she began her career as a professional game composer.

In addition, you can find her website at www.winifredphillips.com, a press release by the popular game business site Gamasutra, and countless YouTube videos featuring the works of and interviews with Winifred Phillips herself.

As always, I will post an additional/updated review as I work my way through the book, and I am going to try to secure an interview to post as well.

Be sure to also check out what's going on at www.natecombsmedia.com!

David Garlitz: Euro-American Acoustic Album "A Poor Man's Pocket"

I have interviewed David Garlitz before for the site, and now, I have the pleasure of reviewing his first full-length album, "A Poor Man's Pocket," before it is released on January 14th. As you should know from the previous article on David, he is truly a phenomenal jazz guitarist... and he does all of his music on a classical guitar, which is no easy feat. He also still lives and plays music in Paris, but frequents his homeland of the United States when he can.

"A Poor Man's Pocket" is everything you can expect from Garlitz. You'll hear great guitar matched with perhaps the perfect voice for his style, and you can bet your bottom dollar you'll hear subtle references, clever wordplay, and scattered silliness. For the first time, I got to hear David sing in other languages, all of which I know and understand a little bit less every day, sadly. I really enjoyed the long solo intro to the first track, "Hija Mia,"and assumed it would continue this way until the next track. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it later developed into a full song, which he sang entirely in Spanish. So as not to give everything away, I will say that one of the tracks tactfully switches between French and English, creating a nice, and funny Franglish?... Engrench? I don't know, since I've studied Spanish way more than I have French.

A very nice thing about the album is that it is consistent all the way through. You won't hear 15 different guitars or mixes done by 10 different people. Unfortunately, in today's industry, some people can rush their albums and you can easily pick up on it in the final product. Also, many people try to squeeze too much into each song and extend them to sometimes 6+ minutes. I'm glad to say that this didn't happen in "A Poor Man's Pocket." Most songs seemed to be under or around 4 minutes and they only have 3-4 tracks--one for the main vocals, another for the guitar, and perhaps another for some guitar slaps or harmony--with no doubling, all of which is great for acoustic music.

Finally, I will say that some of the songs really remind me of that light, happy feeling portrayed in many Pixar short films, and I could easily hear David being featured in one of them... if he is even interested in writing music for movies.

I enjoyed hearing "A Poor Man's Pocket," and it is very good for a first album, speaking as one who produced somebody else's not-too-consistent first album when I first started in the field of recording. I have heard David play with other people before, and would love to hear a full band album in the future, with either all new material or some full band arrangements of his favorite songs.

You can find out more about David Garlitz on his website at www.davidgarlitz.com.

The album is also available on itunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-poor-mans-pocket/id778708889?uo=4

Be sure to also check out what's going on at www.natecombsmedia.com!

Orchestral Libraries 2: A Review of East West, the Complete Composer's Collection, and other High End Sample Libraries

Ok, so it's been a while since I wrote my buyer's review for some of these libraries. As my most popular article, I feel I owe it to you, the readers, to continue this as a sort of mini series.

For today, I will give a more in-depth review of my East West purchases as well as some insight to the future posts you can expect to see.

Most of you should know, through your own research, what East West is and how they operate. They have two levels of sample library (high and elite), and they often bundle packages, known as the Complete Composer's Collections, together for those who are looking to buy several libraries at a discounted price.

Some of my first serious libraries came from that EW CCC, against my better judgment and the advice of many who came before me, completely and utterly due to the price. As I stated in my buyer's guide, it is the most all-in-one package you could probably find... at least a few years ago. With its ability to customize exactly which libraries you get and how many (above 7) you get, it was very appetizing to me and was perfect for where I was. However, as many of you should know by now, they currently run on the PLAY 4 sampler, while virtually everyone else in the world runs on Kontakt. If it wasn't for Native Instrument's large price tag on that player alone, I would have gone that route and gotten other libraries for it.

So, let's take a look at exactly what I got: Symphonic Choirs, Symphonic Orchestra Platinum, Goliath, Gypsy, Pianos, Ra, Silk, Stormdrum 2 Pro, and Voices of Passion.

Choirs: I rarely use this mainly because I don't like to write many pieces for choir, and when I do, I usually write more ethnic-sounding styles that truly need to be recorded live. I was very intrigued by its word building feature and thought this might be great for any epic choir songs I do decide to write without using an actual epic choir. When people say that the word builder is awesome, that's quite a stretch. Yeah, it's cool to be able to form your own words, but you've got to remember, these words aren't super clear like they would be if you asked a group of real people to sing them. I find it best for creating gibberish that sounds like Latin, honestly. For example, one project that will be released around the turn of the year called for a type of gibberish that I tested with choirs. Because choirs takes up so much memory and processing power and because it didn't really say the words I had created in an understandable manner, I found it to be useless and just recorded a live choir instead. Overall, in comparison to other similar libraries, I'd have to give this a letter grade of B. This is because there aren't too many choir libraries out there, and as I said, I just record live, so I have no reason to try to compare. As just a library, the grade would be lower, perhaps as a C or something in that average range.

Symphonic Orchestra Platinum: This is my most used library. It comes with a full, four section range of mostly traditional orchestral instruments. It is just fine for people who like to compose casually or who are not very skilled, but it also has some real setbacks. First, many of its samples have noise in the background in random notes. That can get annoying really quickly. Second, the master keyswitch files seem to be on a round robin preset that is not the same as some of the standalone articulations. They mostly alternate between two hits, which becomes really obvious in staccato arrangements, especially if you are not following a hard-soft (forte-mezzoforte/piano) pattern. These also take up a fairly large amount of memory and processing, so a lot of computers cannot handle many instances of SO instruments being opened. If you are clever enough, you can use just one instance of PLAY to track many different instruments, but that is a topic for another time. Finally, the samples are very bright, probably due to heavy EQ and processing before packaging them up into the program. So, let's talk about each individual section of SO Platinum.

• Strings: My most used of the four sections. They are so flippin' bright, but the proper use of EQ can fix that and appease my actual string-playing friends. They do a good job of including articulations and group sizings for different needs, but some groupings clearly took precedence over others. There are 18 violins, 11 violins, 10 viole, 10 celli, and 9 double basses for the largest of orchestral arrangements. It is super annoying that the 18 and 11 violins don't have the same articulations. One of them does not have a pizzicato. I think one might not even have a good staccato or marcato setting. So, if you are hoping to have a true violin 1 section and violin 2 section, this is not the library for you. You'll more than likely have to use two 18 violin sections half of the time or assign certain articulations to the violas or cellos. Next, there is a rather pitiful chamber level of about 4 or so of each instrument. You basically get a legato setting with maybe one or two other articulations (and that's how it is in the brass and winds too). Finally, they offer solo versions of each instrument, and they pick the slack back up by offering a good number of articulations. They also offer full, all-in-one string and entire orchestra sections as additional articulation presets. Harp and harpsichord are also included in this section.

• Brass: I use this one a lot too. It is very similar to the strings. Being fairly bright, it sometimes has to be EQ'd appropriately on the high end, but sometimes, its brightness can work to your advantage, especially with trombones. Because brass sections don't need to be as large, they come in at 4 trumpets, 6 French horns, and 4 trombones. The articulations for the trumpets are extremely annoying because they are basically spread out over that grouping, the 2 trumpet grouping, and the two versions of a solo trumpet. To cover a wide range of playing techniques, you would probably have to use all four. There are also 3 Wagner tuben, and if you don't know what those are, look 'em up on YouTube or something and then read a book about Richard Wagner. Aside from the larger groupings and the two solo trumpets, it also includes solo versions of a piccolo trumpet, French horn, trombone, and a tuba to round off your low end.

• Winds: My saddest of sections, which I try to use a lot, but it is clear they did not put as much effort into it. For the top end, you get 3 clarinets, 3 flutes, and 3 oboes with a good number of articulations. However, the solo instruments are superior in this group. Together, the solo bassoon and contrabassoon cover a wide range of beautiful low end articulations, but because of the instrument ranges, and the fact that both don't cover all of the articulations, I often find myself having to switch an arrangement around to make up for it. If they put more into these two instruments alone, the SO project would have been so much better. The three solo flutes are piccolo, regular, and alto, all of which are fairly decent. The solo oboe and english horns are also pretty good. Finally, there is a solo clarinet and a solo bass clarinet.

• Percussion: This is a fairly decent library. I use it for a wide range of cymbal and gong sounds. I rarely use the actual drums because I like Stormdrum better, but the metals and woods also offer nice selections. The one frustrating thing about this library is that most instruments are triggered by the same MIDI notes. Because you can load multiple different instruments and samples to be triggered as one instrument, they really should have organized it in a way that would allow you to load lots of instruments as a sort of all-in-one percussion player. This is different from using one instance of PLAY to track multiple, but separate instruments. If I want a tambourine and a triangle to load, I need to open two instances anyway because they are both placed in the same 12-note range. C'mon guys, you had 88 choices (not really, but, who's keeping track?). By loading both, if you press C2, for example, whatever sample is on C2 for the triangle and tambo will sound. That's why they shouldn't be placed in the same range. If you are lucky or want to spend a bit of time mixing and matching, you may be able to find a cymbal combination with your triangles or a gong combination with your drums. It comes with lots of other cool metals, like anvils and sleigh bells. The glockenspiel, which I want to use a lot, is a touch disappointing. There is a lot of noise in its louder articulation, and many of the hits sound like they clip. The mellow articulation is basically worthless, since you can never hear it. Lately, I've been going with the celesta or even crotales. In its woods, there are castanets, a marimba, (the tambourines are actually here), a washboard, a xylophone, and more. There's even a Steinway piano, but it was only recorded at the stage mic level. 

Mic'ing is a huge deal with EWSO and the Hollywood Series, so if you only buy gold versions, you are for sure screwed. In gold, you only get stage mics and might as well throw the whole thing away. The close ones are super important to have access to, even if you don't always use them, and the surround (plus the additional two mics in HS) offer even more possibilities. B- is a generous grade for EWSO.

Goliath: This is basically a demo of their other libraries. It pretty much gives you the worst everything else has to offer, plus general MIDI. The only plus about it is that it takes up very little processing and memory. I do use it occasionally to fill in an out there instrument that I can't get anywhere else. For example, I have no other access to saxes right now, and I hate myself every time I use the ones in Goliath. This gets a D, hands down, and should not be considered a high quality library. Next!

Gypsy: Another library that is easy on your computer, this offers a rich solo violin that can easily be overused. It's kind of a hidden gem, but the word is definitely getting out. It also offers some nice classical and acoustic guitars and many instruments in the accordion family. Check it out to discover more. B+

Pianos: This is the mother of resource suckers. The detail and quality is huge though. I don't know that another library could beat this one in quality. They'd probably tie. However, you will experience that lack of realness if you make it sound too pretty. My only concern with this library is that it corrupts a lot, for me at least. I don't know if it is the library or Logic Pro, which I am currently considering leaving. It doesn't matter though because neither Apple nor East West have the greatest customer service (Apple is way worse), and they will both blame each other for any problems. Perhaps it is me. I do like to have a lot of naturalness in my notes by spreading out their actual positions ever so slightly, so rather than triggering 6 notes at exactly the same time, it has to trigger them in a sequence that is almost exactly the same time. Perhaps it can't handle it and that is why the notes come out choppy. I did recently find that if I leave the piano track highlighted when I play back or export, I do seem to have fewer problems. This glitch happens with pianos from any EW library, not just Pianos, so A- for this one. Let's just hope that solution sticks.

Ra: This is like a rushed version of silk. It doesn't offer too many articulations and is pretty studio-ified, but if you need world instruments, this should be a nice little boost to your collection. It doesn't tax your resources and is fairly reliable, though back before I got my whole CCC fixed (from too much corruption) it was one of the libraries that would do a similar thing to pianos with certain instruments. B- seems like a fair grade.

Silk: I really like this library when I use it. I just wish it had more instruments. It focuses specifically on China, India, and the Persian empire. There is a lot more detail and more articulations are included than in Ra, so even if instruments do overlap from Ra's wider, world collection, Silk is pretty much always better. The small Chinese Di Zi seems to randomly turn off. Let's hope that was fixed in my recent endeavor, since I haven't used it in a while. Other than that, the instruments are pretty reliable, and I don't know that you could find better non-Western set of pre-recorded instruments out there. Definitely in the A class along with pianos. You assign the +s and -s as you like.

Stormdrum 2 (Pro): I use this one a ton. They have great drums, so I'm not sure why people don't rave about them as much as some of the other libraries out there, like the Drums of War, by Cinesamples. The variety is pretty good too, as you get a few rock kits, traditional orchestral drums, and a ton of foreign drums, such as the taiko (and many alterations), roman war drums, earthquake combos, etc. The list is quite extensive, so you should look up the complete list on the soundsonline site if you want to know the specifics. One thing I will say is that the metals are just as great as the drums. Plus, they have included sound design material. Some of the drum hits do feel like they clip though, and some of the room ambiences and accidental noises are undesirable, but it is still pretty stable. B+

Voices of Passion: A pretty handy little library if you like solo vocalists. I'm married to one, so I get even better options, but this is great for styles she doesn't sing in. You get an American lady, which for me is useless, since I know enough of them. You get a Bulgarian woman, which sounds almost as much Middle Eastern as she does European, so she can be used in surprisingly more ways that you would have thought possible. However, her EQ is super muffled, so expect to raise the high end and cut the lows dramatically. There are ladies from India and Syria as well, if you want more authentic Middle Eastern or Indian vocal runs. Finally, a singer from Wales rounds out the team. I've never used her in a project, but I'm fairly confident she sounded great when I was fooling around with her vocal abilities. It's not the biggest library, but they are very generous with the amount of recordings they include for each woman. If you are looking for male vocals, this is the wrong library. I'll give this one a B. It's right where it should be for that high quality level library. Only a real person can probably reach that elite grade.

With all that I have, I wish I'd sacrificed Goliath or even the Voices of Passion (or possibly Choirs) for the Ministry of Rock or Fab Four because none of the rock drum kits are good in any of the libraries I have, and I'm often stuck doing them in another program with my secret weapon (though it's not round robin) or recording live, both of which take significantly longer.

So, there you are. If you are considering the CCC, pause. The CCC2 is now out. Get that inste... pause again. Hollywood is better than Symphonic, but the CCC2 only comes with the gold version of Hollywood. Remember what I said about that? My friend just bought it and instantly regretted it. Luckily, the CCC2 Professional is also out. That has the diamond versions with all of the mics, and it comes on a pocket flash drive which is mountains handier than the hunky SATA drive you'd get with the original CCC.

If you can afford the $400 USD for Kontakt or wait until they have a 50% off sale (usually on Black Friday), I'd recommend that, and then you can try to get a discount on the full Komplete if you need more B grade, high quality, instruments. In fact, they may even give you more than EW, but you definitely don't get to pick and choose. Ultimate is not exactly cheap either, but it can be discounted too if you time it right.

I am about to do a special 6 month trial deal with Vienna, so that will be my next review. From there, if I decide not to buy a package deal from them, I will be considering the Albion series. I hope you enjoyed this article and found it to be helpful as you debate for hours over what is the best library to buy.

Be sure to also check out what's going on at www.natecombsmedia.com!