ProSamples series any good?

[MDesigner]

I saw them on www..com.. (\"http://www..com..\") they\'re $50 per CD. Are these any good? I\'m looking mostly at the choir & orchestral CDs...

[midphase]

In a word....no. The selection that you get is really minimal and not very useable at all.

From your posts I\'ve gathered that you\'re on a tight budget.

What I would do if I was you is take it a step at a time....don\'t buy a bunch of crappy sounds at once, buy quality sounds a bit at a time, and in a short while you\'ll have a great collection of extremely useable and realistic sounds.

My advice is:

GOS LITE - $300
SAM Trumpets - Free!!!!
SAM Horns - $100
G-Town misc percussion - Free!!!
SAM Timpani - Free!!!
Worra\'s stuff - Free!!!!
Dan Dean Woodwinds - Buy them one at a time for about $150 each....start with flutes, clarinets, and oboes.
Gigaharp - $100
Malmsjo Piano - $100
or
Xsample Clarinets, oboes and flutes - $120 each.

Those are the best quality sounds in that price range. When you get some more cash and you\'re into it more, consider adding the London Orchestral Percussion, GOS full, Dan Dean Brass Ensembles, and either Symphony of Voices or VOTA.

I have spoken!

[MDesigner]

midphase,

Thanks, you\'ve been really helpful! Would you recommend the Dan Dean winds over the Xsample ones?

Also, where can I find Worra\'s samples?

Thanks!

[midphase]

XSample sounds good and for $135 you get Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Oboe and English Horn.

I don\'t have Dan\'s woods but he\'s a great guy and I would highly reccomend contacting him. People speak very highly of his collection and if I would have known him earlier I would have probably given him my business.

Perhaps a combination of the two libraries would be a good solution!

Worra\'s place is www.worrasplace.com (\"http://www.worrasplace.com\")

[KingIdiot]

combining DD and Xsample seems to be a great thing for users. Especially if you\'re planning on building your own ensembles.

I have it on good word that Dan is doing some updating to the woodwinds and brass, I\'ll probably have a small hand in some of the programming when I can bring myself to sitting in front of the editor again.

BTW, I\'d personally stay away from the ProSamples if you\'re planning on expanding later. Dont pick up any \"lite\" versions of libraries unless there is an upgrade path to the full version.

[thesoundsmith]

EastWest said somewhere on their that they\'ll give credit toward the full library later, tho they did NOT say how much credit, or how much later, and I assume you have to have purchased directly through the site. Any comment or clarification, Doug?

Actually, given the nature of the sample demo/MP3 artifact/etc. decision process, I find the ProSamples a good way to see if you want the full library, though almost NONE of the series gives you enough of any one library to be truly useful. It\'s primarily a tool to make you want more (Doug, you ought to just give \'em away-\'first one\'s free...\')

Dasher

[KingIdiot]

AHA!

Then they are worth it images/icons/smile.gif

[Larry Negro]

and for a hundred bucks or so I would definitely add the DD Solo Strings. I got them free with the GS promotion, but after hearing them I would have bought them anyway.

Larry

[thesoundsmith]

AHA!

Then they are worth it
<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Until somebody comes up with a way to offer time-limited full demo versions of the full disks, yes. The problem is, you never know in advance what is going to actually be useful (of course this is true in the high-priced libs as well...) and what just feels like a teaser, leaving you wanting more...

I understand there are some \"Loopstations\"? in some major areas (Sam Ash says they have 4) that let you audition some disks before purchase, but they don\'t have any at GC in Sunnyvale, and certainly not at Music Unlimited n Monterey... images/icons/rolleyes.gif

You pays yer money and you takes yer chances...

Dasher

[dougrogers]

Originally posted by thesoundsmith:
EastWest said somewhere on their that they\'ll give credit toward the full library later, tho they did NOT say how much credit, or how much later, and I assume you have to have purchased directly through the site. Any comment or clarification, Doug?

Actually, given the nature of the sample demo/MP3 artifact/etc. decision process, I find the ProSamples a good way to see if you want the full library, though almost NONE of the series gives you enough of any one library to be truly useful. It\'s primarily a tool to make you want more (Doug, you ought to just give \'em away-\'first one\'s free...\')

Dasher<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Hi Dasher,

You can upgrade any ProSamples volume to the full version by calling EASTWEST at 1-800-833-8339 regardless of where you purchased it. You get a $25 credit towards the full version, which, with a street price of only $39-$49 is very generous - and - you get to keep the ProSamples version, which is useful due to the number of included formats.

What you get with each ProSamples volume is approximately half of the full audio version (for half of the price) but you get the sounds in up to 7 formats (Giga is not included, but Akai S1000 is). The quality is high, having come mainly from award-winning libraries, but the series is not aimed at sophisticated Giga users that need multiple everything - it is aimed at the consumer market, or those on a budget.

Btw, if you go to www.prosamples.com, (\"http://www.prosamples.com\") you can download the ProSamples Library Wizard (both Mac and PC) which enables you to view all of the contents of each volume, and search for a specific type of sample - it\'s very useful.

Doug Rogers
EASTWEST

[Chadwick]

Doug, when you posted the URL to the wizard there was a comma included. No big deal, but it might be worth editing the post for those forum users who are \'net challenged\'...

Didn\'t know about the Wizard - great idea.

http://www..com/prosamples.html (\"http://www..com/prosamples.html\")

[sönke]

hi,
here in germany (bestservice.de) you get three of those for 100 EURO... still not worth it. though prosamples offers all those formats - and I can imagine, most of you people here have either exs,halion or similar on your machines for the stuff that really needs to be tight (and if so, everyone should have translator ;-) - you get about 5-10% of the original library. not even the most useful patches. they should give that stuff away promotionalwise...

midphase, you mentioned the great SAM stuff. Can you pass the url, please. I wasn\'t able to access the site with my bookmark the last few days(www.projectsam.com).

sönke

[midphase]

You have the correct url. The site seems to be down, perhaps they are changing stuff up and updating it to reflect the fact that the CD\'s are ready to ship?

[thesoundsmith]

Doug, thanks for the reply. But you said:

What you get with each ProSamples volume is approximately half of the full audio version (for half of the price) <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Really? (Sounds sarcastic, I don\'t intend that., but...)

Seems to me it would have to be a lot less - one Pop Brass or Orchestral Brass CD in Akai format to subset a 5-CD Giga volume (ignoring the 2nd alternatively formatted CD, and all the extra velocity layers for Giga) , and I believe some of the samples are the same (the TPT-M and TPT-M+ sound identical and are the same size).

These are both from QLB - can I reference both and get double the discount? And do I have to have purchased from EastWest directly to qualify (I got all mine at Guitar Center...)

Dasher (who wants QLB.)

[dougrogers]

Originally posted by thesoundsmith:
Doug, thanks for the reply. But you said:
</font><blockquote><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><hr /><font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\"> What you get with each ProSamples volume is approximately half of the full audio version (for half of the price) <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Really? (Sounds sarcastic, I don\'t intend that., but...)

Seems to me it would have to be a lot less - one Pop Brass or Orchestral Brass CD in Akai format to subset a 5-CD Giga volume (ignoring the 2nd alternatively formatted CD, and all the extra velocity layers for Giga) , and I believe some of the samples are the same (the TPT-M and TPT-M+ sound identical and are the same size).

These are both from QLB - can I reference both and get double the discount? And do I have to have purchased from EastWest directly to qualify (I got all mine at Guitar Center...)

Dasher (who wants QLB.)</font><hr /></blockquote><font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">There are some exceptions, as you illustrated with these versions of QLB, but generally there is approx. half of the original audio CD included.

You do not have to purchase from EASTWEST to upgrade, any purchase from any dealer will qualify - we just need proof of purchase.

dr

[dougrogers]

Originally posted by sönke:
you get about 5-10% of the original library.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">This is not correct, each volume has approx. 300Mbs of samples or loops. The original titles have approx. 600-650Mbs - that is not 5-10%.

ProSamples outsells everything else 10:1 worldwide currently, and most purchasers come back and buy more volumes. The feedback we have gotten from users is very positive, and they think it\'s an absolute bargain for the price.

However, Giga users demand much more comprehensive and expressive libraries than ProSamples. They were never developed for the average Giga user - Quantum Leap Brass, Voices of the Apocalypse etc. etc. are libraries developed for Giga users.

dr

[midphase]

ProSamples outsells everything else 10:1 worldwide currently, and most purchasers come back and buy more volumes. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">You know Doug, this is the best argument that I\'ve ever heard for the direct correlation of lower price to higher purchasing amount.

Perhaps you guys (and the other developers) should take a hard look at the numbers and consider lowering the prices of some of those libraries. If Quantum Leap Brass could sell 10 times the copies for $200 than for $400....it would seem like a pretty clear decision to lower the price!

It sure seems to make sense.

BTW, you guys actually do have some pretty screaming deals, especially for bargain basement discontinued items which are still useful to many of us.

images/icons/grin.gif

[dwdonehoo]

Perhaps I can add some input here because I own and have some actual experience with using 9 of the Pro-Samples.
If you are just starting out or you want to check out a library before you smack down $500+/-, you cannot go wrong. It also helps if you own Acid or an AKAI sampler. I only have seen maybe one dog in the lot that I had to reprogram. Some are great values if you are willing to work. From the Percussive Adventures I was able to cull about 70 individual drums and make it into one massive patch...which I use all the time. Two of the PS volumes gives you a good deal of QLB. Want to know how some of AO sounds? They got that. Choirs? It\'s in there. As your library grows, you will outgrow the PS stuff, but if you get some of the associated LIBs, you get the discount. Do not count out PS: pick and choose. I get them for about $39, so it don\'t hurt much. Give it a try...

[thesoundsmith]

Yup. I agree with Doyle. If you\'re just starting with Giga, this is a great way to maximize your initial investment before spending the big bucks.

And thanks for the good news, Doug. Now all I have to do is dig up my old receipts!

Dasher

[meeehoon]

Hiya...

I have 3 Pro Samples series and I run them in EXS24 format to save voices on my GigaStudio...

PS16: Guitar and bass: Useful...
I particularly loved the Acoustic God and the clean guitars. Not fantastic but workable. I also have YellowTools Pure Guitars in Giga-format and I tend to use Pure Guitars for most of my guitar work.

PS17: Guitar licks: Just for fun!!!
Although all the riffs are fixed tempo, they are a lot of fun to play with!!! Not a must have, but fun if you have the extra cash... Alternatively you can try to chop them up and quantize them to a different time grid.

PS19: Pop Brass: Serviceable...
The one thing I liked is the swell on the different instruments. Its just so different than increasing the volume!!! The falls are good as well... The rest of the sounds are serviceable...

That\'s it... I will buy another Pro Sample volume if I want to... Strings I just use either GOS, AO Strings or Smart Violins... All fantastic with GOS being my most favourite and most awesome library!!! Of course, GOS can buy me the entire set of ProSamples, but its just too fantastic!!!

meeehoon
Noodles with a flu

[dougrogers]

Originally posted by midphase:
</font><blockquote><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><hr /><font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\"> ProSamples outsells everything else 10:1 worldwide currently, and most purchasers come back and buy more volumes. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">You know Doug, this is the best argument that I\'ve ever heard for the direct correlation of lower price to higher purchasing amount.

Perhaps you guys (and the other developers) should take a hard look at the numbers and consider lowering the prices of some of those libraries. If Quantum Leap Brass could sell 10 times the copies for $200 than for $400....it would seem like a pretty clear decision to lower the price! </font><hr /></blockquote><font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">You are right!

dr