Best general purpose orchestral bang-for-the-buck?

[DDJack59]

Dear GigaFriends,

It seems by all the comments that the garitan strings would be one of the ultimate libraries to own, but I don\'t have that kind of money to spend right now.

I need a good general purpose library for orchestral intruments and am currently looking at:
\'Symphonic Fields Forever\' or the \'Prosonus Orchestral Collection\' (need to stay ~$200-250 range)

Are there others in this price range I should be considering?

Comments and/or suggestions welcome...

Would like a library I could use to add Strings, Violins(Solo and ensemble), Cello (Solo and Section), Dbl Bass
Fr Horns, some perc, Bassoon, Oboe etc to augment contemporary and classical styles.

I have GigaStudio.

Regards,
--Doug

[Robert Kral]

In the low price range like that I think you\'d love the Prosonus library.

images/icons/smile.gif

[DDJack59]

Robert,

Thanks for the reply.

Does any one know if there is a site that features demos made exclusively with the Prosonus Orchestral Collection?

--Doug

[PolarBear]

DDJack59,

try this, can be found among others at http://www.bigfishaudio.com (\"http://www.bigfishaudio.com\")

http://www.bigfishaudio.com/cgi/SoftCart.exe/scstore/d-oc.html?L+scstore+dwrd7897+1020019516 (\"http://www.bigfishaudio.com/cgi/SoftCart.exe/scstore/d-oc.html?L+scstore+dwrd7897+1020019516\")

Regards. images/icons/wink.gif
Hansi

[DDJack59]

Hansi,

Thanks I will check out Big Fish.

--Doug

[csduke]

Doug,

I have Prosonus and would highly recommend it. It is big and is a great starter or add-on library. It is not perfect but is worth more than double the offered price - to me. With the money you save, you might want to purchase DD Solo String.

Craig


Originally posted by DDJack59:
Dear GigaFriends,

It seems by all the comments that the garitan strings would be one of the ultimate libraries to own, but I don\'t have that kind of money to spend right now.

I need a good general purpose library for orchestral intruments and am currently looking at:
\'Symphonic Fields Forever\' or the \'Prosonus Orchestral Collection\' (need to stay ~$200-250 range)

Are there others in this price range I should be considering?

Comments and/or suggestions welcome...

Would like a library I could use to add Strings, Violins(Solo and ensemble), Cello (Solo and Section), Dbl Bass
Fr Horns, some perc, Bassoon, Oboe etc to augment contemporary and classical styles.

I have GigaStudio.

Regards,
--Doug<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">

[DDJack59]

Craig,

Thanks for the comments. Looks like I\'ll be hunting down the best price for the Prosonus library.

--Doug

[AlKindi]

It would be interesting to hear a demo for the Garitan String Lite version, which goes for about that price range.

[DDJack59]

Hmm, I wasn\'t aware there was such an offering.

Could someone fill me in on the details? Although, I suspect I will still consider the Prosonus for the variety of instruments available.

But I\'ve also heard Garritan strings are awesome.

Regards,
--Doug

[michael88s]

Following along here, regarding the Prosonus OC, it sounded wonderful in the demo.

Is it in Giga format or Akai, the Bigfish site seemed a bit vague? If in Akai, any problem converting.

Thanks,
michael88s

[michael88s]

csduke,

what\'s less than perfect about the prosonus orchlib?

thanks,
michael88s

[Tarkus]

michael88s,

...the immediately noticable tuning imperfections of the Celli Section.gig for one.

Does anyone know where I can get .art files that correct the numerous pitch problems in this library?

tarkus

[Chadwick]

Are the tuning problems simply between notes, or are they within the group playing a particular sample?

Maybe Donnie knows something about this?

[DDJack59]

michaels88s,

Prosonus OC, from what I have been able to determine, is available in both Akai and Giga format.

The demos posted on the BigFish site are quite good, in my opinion.

Can someone further explain what is the \'art\' file I see referenced?

Regards,
--Doug

[csduke]

Originally posted by michael88s:
csduke,

what\'s less than perfect about the prosonus orchlib?

thanks,
michael88s<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">M88,

I do not want to speak too quickly about Prosonus as I have not had the library for long (two short pieces so far). I will start by saying that I am very happy with my purchase.

There are a few notes out-of-tune here and there - should be easy to remedy (art. files anyone?). I do not believe the instruments in the sections themselves are out of tune though, just the tuning between the gsinstrument notes. I don\'t want to overstate the tuning problems though.

The flute and clarinet, it seems, are not very good for naked soloing (out-of-the-box) but I have used the flute very well doubled with the piano soloing in a group - haven\'t used the cl in a group yet. There is only one gigaInstrument for each WWs except, I believe, the picc – not sure if I should expect more. Many choices for each brass instrument incl. many effects), plus a cornet (many playing choices) and flugelhorn (ditto). I like the \"pop trumpet\" a lot. Includes brass sections as well. The Marcato strings are fantastic. Need to spend more time with the rest of the strings. I have been using DD Solo Strings for doubling and soloing violins because DDSS is so fine (at $110!). Have used the NV sus strings - nice . Strings and Brass have keySwitching. Harp, great. Percussion is enough to get you by.

I doubt this purchase would disappoint most anyone be it your only orchestra or just a way to increase your choices. I have Prosonus, DDSS, UOP, GigaPiano and feel set for a while.

As this is the only full orchestra lib I own, I have nothing to compare it with - as far as its general and specific qualities. I can’t imagine the effort that it must take to put something this expansive together.

It has become clear to me, in my first foray into GS, that one doesn\'t know a library until one put a lot of time in on it and I haven\'t even scratched the surface of Prosonus yet . I personally need to learn how to “work” each of these instruments to their best effect (now via midi and soon via GS editors).

Craig

[michael88s]

Craig and DDJack,

Thanks for the info. After exploring further I was able to download several demos and I absolutely love the string sounds represented there. The french horn sounds good, what I assume are trombones have a lot of bite in the upper velocities. There seems to be a lot of expressiveness to all the samples.

If there are a few out of tune notes that can be corrected manually, that\'s fine with me.

Apparently the library is not native Giga but it has been converted to the Giga format very nicely.

Thanks again,
michael88s

[csduke]

Originally posted by michael88s:
Apparently the library is not native Giga but it has been converted to the Giga format very nicely.
<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">M88,
The Giga version of Prosonus is not a port/conversion in the sense of the word used by software engineers (and we know how smart they are ;-)) i.e. translating code (samples) from one language (Akai) to another (Giga), but rather a recast i.e. the original Prosonus *recordings* (not sure of analog or digital) were cleaned-up per Donnie et. al., then worked into the Giga format without regards to the Akai format. In other words Prosonus Giga is not simply the result of taking the Akai version and translating/converting it to the Giga version. See the difference?

Hope this clears that up for you (unless I misunderstood you then).

[PolarBear]

Just the Prosonus or Garritan thing.. I want to state clear the Garritan library would only contain strings for about the same price... not like the Prosonus all the orchestra. Also I wouldn\'t say one could use Prosonus \"straight out of the box\". A bit EQ and stereo imaging and reverb must also be added on your sounds if you claim to get awesome sound... images/icons/smile.gif No tweaking no sound... I need my personal tweaker, no time for such things images/icons/wink.gif King? When does your tweaking service start? images/icons/grin.gif

Regards. images/icons/smile.gif
Hansi

[Thomas_J]

Seeing there are quite a lot of people owning the Prosonus in native Giga-format I would like to ask one of you guys to kindly assemble a list of articulations and .gig files (and sizes of these gigs) so I could compare it to my AKAI library and make up my mind whether it is worth upgrading or not. For some strange reason there seems to be a lack of info where the library is sold.

I know the Giga version is 2cds, where the AKAI version was only one, so of course there would have to be much new material, the question is \"what\" and if it\'s worth getting the Giga version for that additional palette of samples.

Thanks in advance!

Thomas

[LifeForceExplorer]

I\'d do it for ya, Thomas, but there\'s no text file with Prosonus and Giga wants to start dragging gigs as soon as I try to drag over and copy file names. If you know an automated way around this I\'d copy and paste the instrument names / articulations and file sizes for you.

[thesoundsmith]

LFE, would a simple DOS-level DIR > LPT1: kind of command do it? I don\'t have the lib, so I don\'t know how useful the filenames are...

Dasher

[Thomas_J]

Ahh well problem solved by CraigDuke! Thanks to him for going through with the tideous task images/icons/smile.gif

Thanks anyway LifeForce,

Thomas

[csduke]

Glad to be of assistance. Before going through this exercise, I had never come to grips with just how many different playing techniques are included. Though, by the time I got to the strings, I was wishing the library was a bit smaller. images/icons/wink.gif


Originally posted by Thomas_J:
Ahh well problem solved by CraigDuke! Thanks to him for going through with the tideous task :)Thomas<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">

[dwdonehoo]

Ah-hem! CraigDuke:

Do you think you could post or send me the list that you sent Thomas? I also have the Akai version, which I converted to .gig (no problems at all), so I would like to know what the (big-gig) difference is.
Just to chime in here: The Prosonus is very useful, particularly when blended in with other libs. It can also fill in orchestra instrument holes you may have (until something better comes along). The marcato is worth the entire lib alone. All of my latest stuff makes good use of the Prosonus lib.

[michael88s]

Thanks CraigDuke,

for the info about the Prosonus OC. Now I KNOW I\'m ordering it. Their demos are so excellent I was hoping things would translate as well in Giga, and your info makes me feel much more confident about that.

If you wouldn\'t mind sharing the organizational data you\'ve put together I\'ll gladly return the favor if ever I\'m able.

Thanks,
michael88s

[csduke]

Originally posted by dwdonehoo:
Ah-hem! CraigDuke:

Do you think you could post or send me the list that you sent Thomas? <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Dwdonehoo,
ThomasJ gets no special treatment from me images/icons/wink.gif He saw the list in separate post called \"Prosonus Instrument List\"

[dwdonehoo]

Csduke, Thanks! Found it. Looks like I need to inquire after getting a giga version to replace my AKAI versions. Those keyswitches are too valuable.

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/376/doyle_w_donehoo.html (\"http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/376/doyle_w_donehoo.html\")