Sample Libraries for Classical Music

ok, another question to you guys:

as the topic titles says…“Sample Libraries for Classical Music”…

is there a (huge) sample library which covers it all, or do i need different libraries for strings, brass, violin and so on?

greets kola

i haven’t try cause i don’t work works with samples isn’t mine(except for the radio renoise france and remix) but you can try sfz soundfonts it’s not so big amount of data don’t know if it’s enough for you the advantages is that there is plenty instrument

hmm thx but i need professional results :slight_smile:

Most people doing orchestral/film scoring professionally will combine a lot of different libraries to get the best sound, but there are some decent all-in-one libraries available for Kontakt.

How much do you want to spend?

When you say professional results, what kind of media are you writing for?

iv got infinite amount of money and need just samples with good sound quality ;)

We’ll that doesn’t narrow it down. Most orchestral libraries have excellent sound quality.
If you have infinite money why not just buy them all?

Although I’ve used the EastWest Symphonic Orchestra stuff in the past, these days I much prefer Nexus Hollywood 2 for classic music and film score stuff. It’s highly inspirational, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTGnVSZk9Os

many thx for the input!

Philharmonia has a HUUGE free orchestral sample library. It’s worth looking for!

I’ll “probably” buy “Spitfire Audio - Albion 1” for christmas (if nothing stupid and unexpected happens that cost money :) ).

I’ve set my budget around €500-600 (and that is stretching it a bit) so that kind of limits the options a bit.
Reasons for me picking Albion is:

  1. It has different mic-positions to choose from e.g. ProjectSAM Orchestrial Essentials doesn’t include that, you need to buy their larger libraries.
  2. Of course I think it sounds good as well :)
  3. They use Kontakt so no need for iLok (if that is a plus or not depends I guess).
  4. You can resell the package once if you’re not happy with it, East/West - don’t allow reselling.

Kind of depends on how you want to work as well.
If you know “all” about orchestrial composition then I guess getting the specific section packages offer the best flexability.
Usually the combination series like Albion uses a subset of the same samples as the specific packages.

It’s also a taste thing but I like Dimention Pro for these kind of sounds. It’s expandable also.

I wish I had infinite money… If you truly have infinite money, in addition to East West Symphonic Orchestra, check out their Hollywood Strings and Brass. Hollywood Strings is something I salivate over, but alas, so much money. The lite edition is affordable but only has a fraction of the articulations, which imo defeats the entire purpose of getting it in the first place.

Also, their symphonic choirs looks absolutely fucking amazing.

Give me infinite money and i’ll hook you up with some awesome samples! :rolleyes:

I like your logic :lol:

Having infinite money is one thing, having the skills to use those libraries is another thing that you would need.
Symphonic Orchestra has very great sample libraries on that area, but learning to use the expressions in those libraries takes some time and the library itself also requires resources if you need a lot of instruments.
(a fast CPU, a big amount of RAM where 8GB is frankly todays minimum standard and a fast HDD (or frankly SSD))

There are also orchestral plugins that give a generic professional output without requiring too much effort, be it that expressional features are usually also very limited.
Don’t use cheap stuff like Garrison Personal Orchestra and Edirol HQ though, they sound like shit (really!!).

Somehow i think “an infinite amount of money” is code for warez

That.

Yeah, but these warez also come with a pack of malware and spyware these days.
You would have to do so much trouble to hack yourself through the crap that comes along with it that its hardly worth the hassle.
Hell, even game-trainers aren’t even safe anylonger these days.

Hahaha great comment…its both logical, and ridiculous!