AO or GOS?...

[Thomas Regin]

Hello!

This question has probably beenanswered before, but here it comes again!..

I want to buy myself a symphonic orchestra, but I really don\'t know which one yet. I\'ve just been at my local musicstore to get a demo of Siedlaczek\'s Advanced Orchestra which sounds very, very well.. However, I\'ve read in these forums that Garritan\'s Orchestra Strings are much better. What do you think!?..

There\'s a about $500 difference between the two products. GOS comes with 16 CDs and AO with 5. But I don\'t really care about the amount of CDs if the quality isn\'t extraordinary..

If you buy the complete AO set, you will also get a Brass and a Woodwind libary..

My music style is basically symphonic pop/rock that needs some dramatic orchestration every now and then, as well as stringlayers etc..

Which one should I get!? Any suggestions!?

Thanks in advance,

Thomas Regin.

[leadbelly]

Dear Thomas:

AO is a complete orchestra. The strongest aspects of it are the full range of solo and ensemble instruments,the variety of phrases and articulations, and the excellent woodwind and brass it offers. It is a good collection for a first-time purchase in terms of its completeness. Its weakness is the ensemble strings; in my opinion, they are just not as smooth and expressive as I would like. But they can used with great effect once you get into them and employ the crosswitching patches in the Giga platform.

GOS, on the other hand, are the finest string ensemble samples available. They will nicely complement your exisiting libraries with the most expressive, well-recorded and versatile samples ever.You will need access to brass, woodwinds, percussion etc to complete your sample set. You may already have these in synths and samplers. GOS is not a beginner\'s product, however; you need a powerful computer and the cash to invest. But they are a solid investment, nevertheless.

A nice orchestral \"palette\" would be GOS,Advanced orchestra,Ultimate Percussion library,Dan Dean Solo Strings and Dan Dean Solo Brass.

Good luck,

David.

[Chadwick]

Don\'t forget QL Brass!

[Damon]

Go with GOS definitely! The library really is the Daddy-O of string libraries.

[Thomas Regin]

Hi again!

Thank you for your inputs.. I think I will start out with the AO, since it\'s got a whole orchestra and not just strings as in GOS..

How much $$ have your spent in average on your samples!?.. To me, it seems like an obsene amount of money if you need all the sets of an package, but of course not compared to buying the instruments for real or hire a real orchestra..

Thomas Regin.

[pantonality]

I bought AO Strings and was not pleased. For me there\'s one sound worth keeping on my hard drive and that\'s the soft sustained strings. If all you want is pads and swells then AO is the way to go. If what you want is realistic string phrasing and articulation then GOS is the cat\'s meow. Since I purchased GOS I\'ve been discovering it\'s capabilities. They are deep and wide.

Steve http://www.mp3.com/stevechandler (\"http://www.mp3.com/stevechandler\")
aka Ettienne http://www.mp3.com/ettienne (\"http://www.mp3.com/ettienne\")