Miroslav Philharmonik- Best Strings out there?

[davecos]

I own almost every orchestral library on the market at present. EWQLSO Platinum, VSL Vienna SE, HALion Symphonic Orchestra, MOTU Symphonic Instrument, Apple Jam Packs, Project SAM Brass, Garritan Strad 2, and the list goes on. I'm really picky about strings. Most of the samples I have seem to encompass too much vibrato or something that makes them sound, a tad synthetic. I also own Miroslav Philharmonik and believe it or not, I think the strings on that library are the most emotive, warm samples I have heard from an orchestra library. they don't have that wobbly pitch or tone. They are steeped in real emotion and are a pleasure to play. I also have more compositional ideas when playing them. The sampletank player makes creating multis a cinch.

Anyhow, anyone else out there think Miro is better than it's paltry 7 gigs of samples would suggest?

p.s. I'm not chucking my VSL or Platinum libs anytime soon. they have tons of merits to them.

[RobertTewes]

davecos:

Have you had the pleasure of listening to the Kirk Hunter libraries? I recently purchased the DIAMOND library and am simply blown away by their beauty and emotion. If you haven't yet listened to these, I'd definitely recommend you take a look at his site. He has some demos that were recorded "right out of the box." I can attest that this library really plays "right out of the box." I haven't had it long yet, but I am so impressed by his strings as well as the other samples. Check it out if you get a chance.

[mojamusic]

Are both libraries (Kirk Hunter and Miroslav) recorded dry?

[peter269]

I own almost every orchestral library on the market at present. EWQLSO Platinum, VSL Vienna SE, HALion Symphonic Orchestra, MOTU Symphonic Instrument, Apple Jam Packs, Project SAM Brass, Garritan Strad 2, and the list goes on. I'm really picky about strings. Most of the samples I have seem to encompass too much vibrato or something that makes them sound, a tad synthetic. I also own Miroslav Philharmonik and believe it or not, I think the strings on that library are the most emotive, warm samples I have heard from an orchestra library. they don't have that wobbly pitch or tone. They are steeped in real emotion and are a pleasure to play. I also have more compositional ideas when playing them. The sampletank player makes creating multis a cinch.

Anyhow, anyone else out there think Miro is better than it's paltry 7 gigs of samples would suggest?

p.s. I'm not chucking my VSL or Platinum libs anytime soon. they have tons of merits to them.

I think you should listen to Jay Bacal's realization of the Howard Hanson movement and how Jay achieved divisi using the Appassionata strings and solo strings. Plus you can download the MIDI file to see how he did it.

Overall, I think your strongest purchase would be to get the Appassionata Strings 1 basic to fill in your SE.

[bluejay]

I've got be honest, Miroslav Philharmonik strings have a very good reputation for tone. I've certainly considered buying them myself.

Although you do have an excellent collection of samples there, I notice that there are many excellent string libraries that you don't own.

Have you looked at: -

Sonic Implant Symphonic Strings (my favourite)
Vienna Symphonic Library Appassionata Strings
VSL Chamber Strings
Dan Dean Solo Strings Advanced (which includes ensembles)
VRSound Kontakt Strings

[JT3_Jon]

I 2nd VSL chamber strings. Best purchase I've made in a long time (especially considering you can grab the Horizon series for 30% off at audiomidi.com or ilio.) Extremely realistic, detailed, yet surprisingly full. I'm loving them! My favorite strings so far.

[davecos]

Actually my post had more to do with what I am using with my existing libraries, not buying new ones. This year I stepped up and bought EWQLSO Platinum and EWQL Symphonic Choirs, Vienna SE, Logic Studio 8, and a Kurzweil SP2 & Axiom 61 (also a usd Mac G5 DP 2.0ghz loaded w. 4 gigs RAM). That's enough gear for me for one year.

Yeah, Miroslav Phil probably cannot compete with the Appassionata Strings (although I have the Extended VIenna SE lib which does include basic articulations) but for what I have, I like using them the best. I do wish they would continue to expand upon the library though. I think IK Multimedia has a winner on their hands, although it is priced a little steep considering other libs for the same price have 30 gigs worth of samples.

[davecos]

davecos:

Have you had the pleasure of listening to the Kirk Hunter libraries? I recently purchased the DIAMOND library and am simply blown away by their beauty and emotion. If you haven't yet listened to these, I'd definitely recommend you take a look at his site. He has some demos that were recorded "right out of the box." I can attest that this library really plays "right out of the box." I haven't had it long yet, but I am so impressed by his strings as well as the other samples. Check it out if you get a chance.


Yes I keep hearing accolade after accolade re: Kirk's libraries. I visit the site and listen to the demos which sound good but I guess considering I went the VSL/EW route, er, and Miroslav route, and HALion route, and SAM route, well, you get the idea. I don't think I could add yet another orchestral library to my already fairly dense set of orchestral sounds...But I keep checking on his stuff. For fun, I might get the $99 library because I have Kontakt 2.2. But that would be in the new year.

[mech289]

I also thought Miroslav strings were the best also. Until I purchased KH Concert strings. To me they have the Miroslav strings beat by a long run. And I never thought I would find a library better then Miro..Joseph

[mahlon]

I'd like to hear more demos from users using the KH strings Library. I bought his first set, way back in the day, and found that in the higher registers, KH Virtuoso Strings sound awesome and really were sweeping.

So, if anyone has some really knock-out examples of the new strings (a la VSL style mockups), I'd love to hear them. I just haven't heard examples yet where they bowled me over. But I'd like to.

I love Miroslav and bought his complete library back in the day. Haven't used it for a while, but am going to fire up some of them again. I remember them being very good.

Mahlon

[davecos]

Okay so I caved because curiosity got the better of me. I ordered Kirk Hunter's Sapphire because I am curious to see what all the fuss is about and $99 is an okay way to get my feet wet. I see that there are very generous upgrade paths if the sounds impress me. I also see that there is a lot of flexibility in adjusting the performance controls through K2 which is nice.

This might be a good set to use on my Macbook when I am away from my G5 tower.

thanks for the input everyone!

[angelic]

Dave,

I'm curious -

Leave a review once you've had time to play. I'm going to get the KH stuff, anyway, but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on sound and workflow ease, etc.

Thanks a bunch!

- A

[mech289]

Okay so I caved because curiosity got the better of me. I ordered Kirk Hunter's Sapphire because I am curious to see what all the fuss is about and $99 is an okay way to get my feet wet. I see that there are very generous upgrade paths if the sounds impress me. I also see that there is a lot of flexibility in adjusting the performance controls through K2 which is nice.

This might be a good set to use on my Macbook when I am away from my G5 tower.

thanks for the input everyone!Excellent choice. I will be purchasing the rest of his libraries this week..I am sure you will love the sounds. Let me know your thoughts on it when you had time to try it out. Joseph

[ThomasL]

I think you're going to like it!

I have the VSPro strings and I use them all the time. And the woodwinds from Emerald get it's fair use as well.

Value for money? Oh yes, par none!

Congrats and happy playing...


Best
Thomas

[tradivoro]

I"m glad that you like the Miroslav strings... From the demos I've heard, I think that they sound nice in a pad type of backing, and slow lines, but when they have to play some fast lines, they sound real synthy... I would also recommend the Kirk Hunter libraries... They sound great in a lot of situations...

[davecos]

I"m glad that you like the Miroslav strings... From the demos I've heard, I think that they sound nice in a pad type of backing, and slow lines, but when they have to play some fast lines, they sound real synthy... I would also recommend the Kirk Hunter libraries... They sound great in a lot of situations...

yeah, I just ordered Sapphire to check it out. Kirk's libraries are very highly regarded on this forum.