Timestamps for all the examples: 01:02 - Normal Sketch (Nucleus for Orchestra, Oceania for Choir & other libraries for the trailer stuff) 02:30 - VSCO2 CE (Free) 04:30 - Palette Primary Colors + Angry Brass (Free) 06:29 - EastWest Hollywood Orchestra ($30 monthly subscription / there's a typo in the video) 08:47 - Audio Imperia Nucleus ($449, currently on sale for $379) 11:14 - Audio Imperia Jaeger ($599, currently on sale for $399) 12:33 - Metropolis Ark 1 (€549 + VAT) ⚠️ BEAR IN MIND ⚠️ Literally all of these libraries can sound 3-4 times better if you learn how to use them properly, and how to compose / mix in a way that is more catered to them (as I do when I use them for tracks I seriously spend time on). What I wanted to show in this video is the raw sound you'd get out of them as a STARTING POINT, so you can get a better understanding of what they'll sound like if you buy them as a beginner. If you want a good example of what they sound at their full potential (which I recommend too), check out my released tracks, or even better, check out the demos on the sample libraries's websites.
Just found your channel. Awesome. Eventhough I'm not primarily interested in scoring for movies and games and such but I think this is really helpful. For ARK 1 sounded the best. Have you tried the libraries that come with NI Komplete? Session strings. If so do you think they're useful?
@@aiden_macleod gotta be careful who you try to troll - they might just know wtf they're talking about and clown your ass for sayin something stupid lol. Derplord..
If you're enrolled in a University's music program, you can hire student musicians at an affordable rate. A friend of mine got hired to compose a soundtrack and I got to sit in the recording session in the school's performance hall with student musicians, a recording engineering student and pro level equipment. The experience was awe inspiring. His parents were def not rich so it couldn't have been that expensive. He still used SW to compose and audit his composition, no idea what it was.
Honestly, as an orchestra violin player, Nucleus was the one who convinced me the most as beeing close to real instruments. At least the strings, as that's what I'm more familiar to know what it sound like. You can even hear the open E strings in the final section in the 3rd bar/chord. I think little details like this, are what make Orchestral VST's more convincing, so congratulations to the people who did Nexus! All the others have done some nice job aswell, I can't even imagine how hard is doing something like this. What makes a real orchestra sound real, it's the humans and their different behaviours, so "humanizing" something like this must be everything except easy.
Wait, you're in an orchestra and you're more familiar with the sound of strings? What happened, the rest of the orchestra wouldn't let you play with them?
@@kiillabytez I get what she means, as shes a violin player she can hear the full real sound of a violin (Better than other instruments) I feel the same way but for brass as I play french horn in an orchestra
In all fairness, the VSCO library is a chamber orchestra library, not a triple fortissimo epic music library. Also, it does not have super heavy percussion.
"Free or not, thanks God for the orchestral sampler libraries, as it avoid me making a fool of myself with a real orchestra" - one of my guitar students -
I'm still using instruments and effects from 5 years ago. $30/mo over 5 years will set you back $1800 and you'll still have nothing if you decide to stop paying, which makes $450 seem like a steal in comparison. The subscription model is terrible unless it's a product that evolves enough that old versions are obsolete, like Photoshop. Maybe you could make a case for Ableton or even a plugin that stays on the cutting edge like Ozone or Melodyne. But this is not one of those cases.
The $30 dose include the whole suite of libraries and anything added over time, However I ended mine after 2 years. Simply in favour of owning a couple of good libraries I could use like yourself over longevity.
Subscription model for software in general is just a scheme to milk customers for more money that when they outright buy and own their software. Anyone wants money for nothing and when they can get away with that they will do it. Here's the example from gaming industry - in old times you were paying full price for the full game, when that game was becoming older it was usually sold cheaper. Sometimes expansions of significant size were released for prices ranging from 1/20 of original game price to the full price if the expansion is pretty much the same in content value as original game. When internet became faster they started to release unfinished games at full price then adding smaller content as "DLCs" for smaller prices. Which sometimes was just crazy - main game $60 with... $4000 in DLCs and all of those were like unlockable content in older offline games. Then they went even further - splitting the game to slices from the very beginning, already completed game just to sell it for like $60 +$25 +$15 +$15 + $15 + $15 - why the hell not instead of getting just $60 for the same work, when you can do it legally? When they saw that customer base accepted that they went full on greed mode. Added microtransactions and casino-like elements with real money from free-to-play games to full price games. That's where they kinda got some backlash at government level. But they were exploiting customers like this for more than 15 years already and continuing to do so, just a tiny bit more carefully. Same happens with subscription model in professional software. You let them to touch your finger and a little later they will chop your arm off... Also that Photoshop example isn't exactly correct. Not everyone wants more functionality, improved functionality at the price of paying much more for the software and even more for PC upgrade. There's enough users which use such advanced software as a tool like hammer - to do a set of specific tasks and once they get software/hardware combination that does the job well they don't need to upgrade - industrial approach aka "if it ain't broke - don't fix it" And Adobe knows that well. Thats why they went as far as to send threatening legal letters to people continuing using older software, promising legal actions if they won't upgrade etc. Caused a huge backlash and made themselves a laughing stock pretty much. I'm not saying that there's no place for subscription in software. LIbraries and databases for example, like law databases - those need to be constantly updated and it's obvious that you should pay people for doing that. Upgrades to sample libraries in the form where you do own base version and subscribe for updates and additional content and once your subscription is expired you end with last version at the moment and won't get anything newer till you'll subscribe again. Those cases are obviously reasonable and absolutely acceptable. But paying just for some software when at the first glance it looks cheaper but in 2-10 years you pay 5 times more than you'll spend if you'll just buy it with no other options - isn't.
My reasoning is that it's something that I'll use maybe once or twice a year, and when the outright price of one ew library is in the $200-400 range, it could take me 10 years to hit the break point for just one library, let alone all of them. Stuff I use regularly like compressors/EQs it wouldn't make sense to subscribe, I'd run that bill up quick
That's right. Undertale definitely wasn't. Nor was Akira's score, which was mostly made with electronic samples. That's what I mean when I say VSCO is good for indie soundtracks. However, I challenge you to find me a trailer or triple-A cinematic score that uses cheap or retro samples like indie or retro things do
If the idea is making a mindblowing orchestra a budget is probably limiting. But if they idea is to make a mindblowing soundtrack to a movie or a game, it definitely isn't limited to a budget. As Alex said, Undertale is one of the best soundtracks out there but it certainly doesn't have the highest budget.
Context... Sure, you can make incredible music using only free tools. Sure, nice, polished tools will save lots of time and frustration, but when it comes down to it, it's about skill and effort. But, if you specifically want a realistic orchestral sound, you're simply going to need quality samples, or an actual orchestra. That said, if your time is worth anything, squeezing great sound out of inferior tools is not a good option for a limited budget...
My creativity and mental agility are increasing drastically thanks to all the information you'r giving away. What you do has a lot of spirit in it, and it's reaching people from different parts of the world. A big THANK YOU " from Argentina"
lol well for library composers, the publishers only post the composition that use REAL instruments, so they get very good sounding Virtual instruments to make a sketch for the real orchestra
This video really helps for comparisons, and I’m sure some comments have already said this, but a free sample library’s faults does only show further when the arrangement wasn’t made with those samples in mind. Even with a free library, a composer can arrange to that library’s strengths, highlighting the instruments in a way where their best qualities are shown, and that can make a big difference.
yes! I think so too, a great musician can make music out of anything, adapt it, improve, master it. A great true musician doesn't need one thousand dollars to be good, the only important things are skills, knowledge, creativity and will.
Something to note ,Vsco2 is a chamber orchestra .hence it will not sound has full ,you would need to mix far more violin ,brass parts etc, to make a bigger sound .
Even though I don't have the budget to get the best stuff, there's something to learn still about the way orchestral arrangements work, that I feel can help enhance your music making overall. I'm def gonna subscribe to you.
I think what hits VSCO2 the hardest is the lack of dynamic brass. Fortunately, Virtual Playing Orchestra (which is a free "frankenstein" library, much like Sonatina and even uses lots of samples from Sonatina) does offer "swellable" brass and it's great for what it is.
VSCO is a chamber orchestra. About half the size as a typical concert orchestra. I think you're doing a bit of apples and oranges. Maybe VSCO is not suited for trailer music, just like Arc 1 isn't suited for pp parts. What did you think of the outro with VSCO? (I'm looking to get VSCO Pro with the tax return in a couple months, though I don't plan on film as my audience.)
Dude, Alex, how on earth did youtube not find you for me.......by days I've been trying to find a proffesional like yourself for ages, thank you......time to binge watch your videos me thinks =)
Great compilation, very well presented!!! I liked your balanced and detailed comments, where you clearly highlighted good and not so good parts of a library... and you didn't hesitate to highlight weaknesses in a library even if it costed a lot. Keep up good work!
Idk, East&West stuff - one love. Just because Hollywood series are so dry and you can sculpt literally anything out of it. Yeah, it's damn hungry for the CPU&RAM but my PC can handle only 1-2 sections without consolidating track, so it doesn't really matter to me
Just in case anyone is thinking about getting a library, you should try "Layers" by Orchestral Tools. It's quite new and completely free, only requiring that you make an account and download their free player. It contains about 1 TB of various orchestral samples that you can play realistically.
I use play paired with EW libraries and love it. i've been working with it for a few years now and i've terabytes to still sort through. I'm a pretty big fan of the Storm drum kits as they offer such wide variety. the value is pretty high for quality samples. that said i have a much more powerful PC than the avg consumer so i dont run into throttling issues often. looking into different sample packs though. PS i recently decided to get Valhalla shimmer as a result from watching you use it and have really fallen in love with it!
In my opinion, the EW Composer Cloud is not as worth it as it seems to be. It's better to pick up the actual instruments and pay full price, cause think of this, the EW CC doesn't have instruments you will use regularly. You will probably only use Hollywood Brass. If you pay 30$ for a year, you would have spent 360$ on something that you won't even use regularly. My advice is probably put 30$ in a piggy bank and spend it on a great library when you have enough.
Honestly, the Brass and Strings have been one of the best purchases I've ever made. The Hollywood strings are probably some of if not the best string samples out there. They have so many articulations and ways you can program them The brass is out of this world. Woodwinds are definitely the weakest part.
@@aidan-forte exactly. Don't you think you will end up saving money if you instead buy just the Hollywood Strings and Brass libraries? Cause you won't generally be using the other libraries and in 2-3 years time you'd have spent way more than what you would have if you'd just bought the library in full. You'll have the library for perpetuity too.
@@5ammy13 If you are composing professionally for film tv or any other media I would say the composer cloud is a great investment. If you are a student, hobbyist, or someone that doesn't need 100 different libraries I would invest in learning one library. In my case, I'm still in high school so I'm just learning how to master the EW orchestra because it will last me my whole career.
@@aidan-forte hmm okay. Makes sense I guess. The thing is I don't think I'll ever use any other EW instruments in my workflow as I have libraries that are newer and better than what EW puts out. In my opinion the only libraries that are worth it are the Hollywood Strings and Brass. I can understand that as a student point of view and you're absolutely right. But I think for professionals, it doesn't make sense.
@@5ammy13 Its just what I've heard people say because I'm not a professional haha. I usually try to make my own shitty samples before using ones I've paid for.
-VSCO2 CE (Free) - good esp when trying to be retro but sub par for real professional goals -Palette Primary Colors + Angry Brass (Free) - better than VSCO2 CE by far. Sustained strings enhanced more by Spitfire SOft Piano library. -EastWest Hollywood Orchestra ($30 monthly subscription): con: is based on Play sample which sounds bad and flat/weak. Requires well done orchestration and processed mixing to avoid sounding weak. Also consumes a lot of CPU space. -Audio Imperia Nucleus ($449) - Great for sketching/beginners. Sounds closest to the real thing. Cons; bad choir and no mic positions. -Audio Imperia Jaeger ($599) con: dryer than nucleus, requires processing to wprk around dryness Nucleus is better for sketching pro: you can do sound design in patches Metropolis Ark 1 (€549 + VAT): pros: Intense; great brass; very good choir cons: lacks soft dynamics; muffled low spiccatostrings because low strings spiccatos come only in octaves but works well with high string spiccatos
The best free Libraries (and the only free libraries I'd use) are those, that are freebies of bigger Libraries: VSL Big Bang Orchestra Spitfire BBCSO Discovery Spitfire Labs Orchestral Tools Layers ProjectSam The Free Orchestra All of those are Freebies from idustrie-standard developers that mostly include the same sounds that are found in their big expensive libraries but (obviously) just a fraction of those.
You did a nice job comparing libraries.......don’t care what anyone else says.......it boils down to what your trying to achieve and what your needs are.....it’s amazing to hear what’s our there now compared to a decade ago........and it’s dirt cheap compared to then .......and the quality of of the library’s are only getting better and easier to use..........keep up with great work ........ I myself appreciate being able to hear the difference in libraries before making a purchase........greatly appreciate your time and efforts!
Could you play each one with the drum line as well next time? Hearing it alone is great but hearing it with the drums is a completely different level which makes a huge difference.
ProjectSAM released a free orchestra wich is awesome except the fact that it's required full Kontakt. But you could use them as wav files in any sampler of choice (wich I do) so it's still worth checking.
I just found your channel and all I can say is: Wow! O_O You're REALLY good at both composing music AND explaining the techniques you are using! 😯 +1 subscriber! 😃👍
NIce review!! Just one thing regarding Hollywood Orchestra, yes the Play software is very limited compared to the editing fearures on Kontakt, but you are using the "Lite" version of the Orquestra with only one Mic position when the full version has 5 microphone positions. The subscription for $ 30 a month only gives you access to the lite version and the full version costs about $450, and of course sounds much better.
Summery for everyone and myself Palette primary colours + Angry Brass - probably best free has really nice soft chords Metropolis ark one - has the fattest brass Audio imperia nucleus - if you can only afford one expensive on this is a good all round, choirs mehh Alex's set up - Audio imperia nucleus for brass and strings and oceania for choirs
Great video! Now you have The Free Orchestra by Project SAM, Layers by Orchestral Tools, Kontakt Factory Selection and Play series by Native Instruments and LABS by Spitfire Audio. So you can do very professional stuff with just the free stuff. But you have to choose wisely and be aware of their limitations! However, it's a great stuff to learn how to make music without spending too much. And then you have Nucleus Lite (which cost like 2 games) and the Spitfire basic series (Which each one costs like a top tier indie game). And yes, I always compare the price of the music gear with game stuff. It's a good time for start learning music production! (and you can't leave your home in most countries like mine due to coronavirus, so people don't have your social life as an excuse :P).
I use 3 different orchestral libraries but I'm not sure if those can be usefull for Orchestral..but anyway : 1) The Total Composure Orchestra (Full basic/advanced Orchestra) but the only thing that it's not there it's the choir 2) Project SAM The Free Orchestra : Just an amazing basic orchestra project , but it also have some sfx for trailers/horror music and some libraries there are quite intersting! They also have this schedule when they upload a new free library in a specific period (for example : September 7/2018) 3) The BIG BIG collection of Big Cat Instruments that have pretty much everything..basic orchestra/saxophone , ethnic instruments ecc. And from there , I just got 4 different Choirs that are really nice Note : I don't raccomend to download Edirol Orchestra (but it's still a great vst) because I've tasted it and EVERYTIME I need to reload the instrument when I close the project on Fl Studio and reload it and that was sooo annoying to do
@@Y0nex yep , but they are freebie , that means that you need to insert an account , details of your order and basically "buy" that product and I don't like that , because it's just useless to just give all of my details to a company that I know that I will not spend any money on it..but yea , in terms of quality , I agree , their free libraries are amazing!
Great video, and perfect timing! I was trying to figure out what library to start with and this settled it for me. I'm going to pick up nucleus during the sale. Thanks!
Hi Alex, thanks for this comparison! Would have liked to see Spitfire Albion One and Vienna Symphonic Librairy (Vienna Smart Orchestra) in there too. Just to see if it is a good match with the others. I understand you might not have access or time to test all librairies. Nice stuff though. Keep it up!
Albion One is great for starters, but it is all Ensembles so you can't program each section individually limiting you in the future. I would also say that it sounds very synthy, but if you are making epic trailer music like this guy then its perfect!
Haha, spot on. Literally anyone can download and put OTT on their master though, plus use some basic mastering plugins to make everything louder. What I tried NOT to do here are all the things beginners wouldn't be able to. Proper mixing, realism, good orchestration etc.
Alex Moukala it of beginners have NO IDEA what OTT is, let alone how to use multiband compression... Unless u just literally left OTT unchanged, which is pretty... *Cough
@@boimesa8190 I talked about OTT and the settings I use in many other videos in the past. Chances are, if you watch my tutorials, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Alex i love how you keep you flow with the time with your mouse cursor LOL i do the same thing as well LOL or when playing the keyboard i will move my hands up the keys in terms of dynamics does it do anything no but it helps with the overall feeling when making music to me makes you feel the music in ways anyways love the channel just found you yesterday :)
Some effects and anything can sound good, even free libraries they can even sound better then paid ones, so in my opinion don't pay for any libraries just develop techniques
Hey Alex, what about the Spitfire library? Their Labs, (free) Orchestra and Expressive strings sound amazing seeing how they're free. Like I honestly could see the expressive strings being used in something professional.
If someone jwants to get their feet wet with string arranging, Cakewalk by BandLab, which is freeware, comes with a decent little 64-bit string section VSTi that can also be used outside Cakewalk in other DAW's. To get it, you need to select "Install Extras" from the BandLab Assistant download manager
I got my hopes up. I thought the palette primary colors was complete free (which technically it is) but it requires the $399 full version of Kontact 😞 damn....
mzma bc from what I remember you could only use that with the full version on Kontakt not just the player. Either way it doesn’t matter cause I bought Kontakt lol
The lesson of the day: you get what you pay for! Couple of possible exceptions are the free version of BBC Orchestra, and the new very inexpensive Spitfire Originals. That last is sold as $29 per section and is lacking in some areas but it’s worth checking out
Timestamps for all the examples:
01:02 - Normal Sketch (Nucleus for Orchestra, Oceania for Choir & other libraries for the trailer stuff)
02:30 - VSCO2 CE (Free)
04:30 - Palette Primary Colors + Angry Brass (Free)
06:29 - EastWest Hollywood Orchestra ($30 monthly subscription / there's a typo in the video)
08:47 - Audio Imperia Nucleus ($449, currently on sale for $379)
11:14 - Audio Imperia Jaeger ($599, currently on sale for $399)
12:33 - Metropolis Ark 1 (€549 + VAT)
⚠️ BEAR IN MIND ⚠️
Literally all of these libraries can sound 3-4 times better if you learn how to use them properly, and how to compose / mix in a way that is more catered to them (as I do when I use them for tracks I seriously spend time on).
What I wanted to show in this video is the raw sound you'd get out of them as a STARTING POINT, so you can get a better understanding of what they'll sound like if you buy them as a beginner.
If you want a good example of what they sound at their full potential (which I recommend too), check out my released tracks, or even better, check out the demos on the sample libraries's websites.
At 6:43 you're showing the $30 subscription but the title card on screen says it's the free primary pallette and angry brass library.
the last two brasses sound weird
@@theostene4444 Sounded flat? Maybe earbuds aren't the best choice for listening to music for you.
Just found your channel. Awesome. Eventhough I'm not primarily interested in scoring for movies and games and such but I think this is really helpful. For ARK 1 sounded the best.
Have you tried the libraries that come with NI Komplete? Session strings. If so do you think they're useful?
@@aiden_macleod gotta be careful who you try to troll - they might just know wtf they're talking about and clown your ass for sayin something stupid lol. Derplord..
The ultimate power move would be to acquire your own orchestra.
Darian Clark *laughs in Hans Zimmer*
kanye
or playing every instrument individually yourself
you have to be millionaire to pay an entire orchestra
If you're enrolled in a University's music program, you can hire student musicians at an affordable rate.
A friend of mine got hired to compose a soundtrack and I got to sit in the recording session in the school's performance hall with student musicians, a recording engineering student and pro level equipment. The experience was awe inspiring. His parents were def not rich so it couldn't have been that expensive.
He still used SW to compose and audit his composition, no idea what it was.
Alex Moukala: "This example sounds absolutely basic, unprocessed and undeveloped"
*plays a literal god-tier quality track*
Yeah, I subbed as soon as he pressed play after saying that. If THAT is "absolutely basic and underdeveloped", I can learn a lot from him lol
*cries in free libraries*
My untrained ears cannot even comprehend what's missing. It just sounds so nice.
@@NeverduskX not to knock it but there's alot missing, it's all diatonic and sounds like every build movie track ever
from a music producer stand point, i think it could really use some mixing tbh
Thumbnail: 3 Sample libraries!
Title: 6 Sample libraries!!
Intro: "I'm gonna compare 7 different sample libraries!!!"
like opposite clickbait innit
@@M.F.Hafizhan and then wrong captions during the examples
Dedication 💯💯
Honestly, as an orchestra violin player, Nucleus was the one who convinced me the most as beeing close to real instruments. At least the strings, as that's what I'm more familiar to know what it sound like.
You can even hear the open E strings in the final section in the 3rd bar/chord. I think little details like this, are what make Orchestral VST's more convincing, so congratulations to the people who did Nexus! All the others have done some nice job aswell, I can't even imagine how hard is doing something like this. What makes a real orchestra sound real, it's the humans and their different behaviours, so "humanizing" something like this must be everything except easy.
Wait, you're in an orchestra and you're more familiar with the sound of strings? What happened, the rest of the orchestra wouldn't let you play with them?
@@kiillabytez I get what she means, as shes a violin player she can hear the full real sound of a violin (Better than other instruments)
I feel the same way but for brass as I play french horn in an orchestra
@@kiillabytezhahahahahaha you okay bro?
In all fairness, the VSCO library is a chamber orchestra library, not a triple fortissimo epic music library. Also, it does not have super heavy percussion.
The strings sound pretty good in corale style or accompanying a solo violin or piano.
Your perception of how things work musically is nice. Great grasp on what emotion is in music. Great little demo piece by the way.
"Free or not, thanks God for the orchestral sampler libraries, as it avoid me making a fool of myself with a real orchestra"
- one of my guitar students -
Y ya que quisiera yo tener una orquesta real :')))
1:02 music in my mind
2:33 music I make
😂😂😂
Hehehe same here bro
lmao
Me too lol
how do you guys think i did on this soundcloud.com/user-604243041/metaldrillerdrillmetalhybrid sounds great in my mind lmao
I'm still using instruments and effects from 5 years ago. $30/mo over 5 years will set you back $1800 and you'll still have nothing if you decide to stop paying, which makes $450 seem like a steal in comparison.
The subscription model is terrible unless it's a product that evolves enough that old versions are obsolete, like Photoshop. Maybe you could make a case for Ableton or even a plugin that stays on the cutting edge like Ozone or Melodyne. But this is not one of those cases.
The $30 dose include the whole suite of libraries and anything added over time, However I ended mine after 2 years. Simply in favour of owning a couple of good libraries I could use like yourself over longevity.
Subscription model for software in general is just a scheme to milk customers for more money that when they outright buy and own their software. Anyone wants money for nothing and when they can get away with that they will do it.
Here's the example from gaming industry - in old times you were paying full price for the full game, when that game was becoming older it was usually sold cheaper. Sometimes expansions of significant size were released for prices ranging from 1/20 of original game price to the full price if the expansion is pretty much the same in content value as original game. When internet became faster they started to release unfinished games at full price then adding smaller content as "DLCs" for smaller prices. Which sometimes was just crazy - main game $60 with... $4000 in DLCs and all of those were like unlockable content
in older offline games. Then they went even further - splitting the game to slices from the very beginning, already completed game just to sell it for like $60 +$25 +$15 +$15 + $15 + $15 - why the hell not instead of getting just $60 for the same work, when you can do it legally? When they saw that customer base accepted that they went full on greed mode. Added microtransactions and casino-like elements with real money from free-to-play games to full price games. That's where they kinda got some backlash at government level. But they were exploiting customers like this for more than 15 years already and continuing to do so, just a tiny bit more carefully.
Same happens with subscription model in professional software. You let them to touch your finger and a little later they will chop your arm off... Also that Photoshop example isn't exactly correct. Not everyone wants more functionality, improved functionality at the price of paying much more for the software and even more for PC upgrade. There's enough users which use such advanced software as a tool like hammer - to do a set of specific tasks and once they get software/hardware combination that does the job well they don't need to upgrade - industrial approach aka "if it ain't broke - don't fix it" And Adobe knows that well. Thats why they went as far as to send threatening legal letters to people continuing using older software, promising legal actions if they won't upgrade etc. Caused a huge backlash and made themselves a laughing stock pretty much.
I'm not saying that there's no place for subscription in software. LIbraries and databases for example, like law databases - those need to be constantly updated and it's obvious that you should pay people for doing that. Upgrades to sample libraries in the form where you do own base version and subscribe for updates and additional content and once your subscription is expired you end with last version at the moment and won't get anything newer till you'll subscribe again.
Those cases are obviously reasonable and absolutely acceptable. But paying just for some software when at the first glance it looks cheaper but in 2-10 years you pay 5 times more than you'll spend if you'll just buy it with no other options - isn't.
You don't have to get the subscription. You can also just buy them.
My reasoning is that it's something that I'll use maybe once or twice a year, and when the outright price of one ew library is in the $200-400 range, it could take me 10 years to hit the break point for just one library, let alone all of them. Stuff I use regularly like compressors/EQs it wouldn't make sense to subscribe, I'd run that bill up quick
@@UndersLikewise
Still though, Hans Zimmer's words still apply. Ideas are not limited by budget :p
That's right. Undertale definitely wasn't. Nor was Akira's score, which was mostly made with electronic samples. That's what I mean when I say VSCO is good for indie soundtracks.
However, I challenge you to find me a trailer or triple-A cinematic score that uses cheap or retro samples like indie or retro things do
If the idea is making a mindblowing orchestra a budget is probably limiting. But if they idea is to make a mindblowing soundtrack to a movie or a game, it definitely isn't limited to a budget. As Alex said, Undertale is one of the best soundtracks out there but it certainly doesn't have the highest budget.
Context... Sure, you can make incredible music using only free tools. Sure, nice, polished tools will save lots of time and frustration, but when it comes down to it, it's about skill and effort. But, if you specifically want a realistic orchestral sound, you're simply going to need quality samples, or an actual orchestra.
That said, if your time is worth anything, squeezing great sound out of inferior tools is not a good option for a limited budget...
@@dolofson agree with you :)
@@dolofson A famous man once said, "You can polish a turd as much as you want, but by the end of the day, it's still a turd."
*And he says it's not mind blowing*
It's not ! 😶
If you're beginner then you'll definitely find it mind blowing 🙂
@Vincent Deruty it's an opinion dipshit
Vincent Deruty i dont see you doing the same tho but alright
Ah the classic humble brag.....🤣🤣🤣
My creativity and mental agility are increasing drastically thanks to all the information you'r giving away. What you do has a lot of spirit in it, and it's reaching people from different parts of the world. A big THANK YOU " from Argentina"
Can you share work / puedes compartir tus trabajos ?
Spitfire strings is free and sounds amazing they even dropped a 2nd version today
+1
+2
+3
+4, 5 & 6
+777777777777777777777
"Buys $500 plugin, gets told it's only worthy of being a sketching tool"
you don't need expensive tools to be good
@@dargunsh7156 you just need friends with expensive connections lol
lol well for library composers, the publishers only post the composition that use REAL instruments, so they get very good sounding Virtual instruments to make a sketch for the real orchestra
@@YoungBlaze I mean know to be good you need creativity and a strong understanding of music theory but what ever
@@YoungBlaze idiot shut up
I see you have been practicing your conducting skills
This channel is my greatest discovery of 2020
This video really helps for comparisons, and I’m sure some comments have already said this, but a free sample library’s faults does only show further when the arrangement wasn’t made with those samples in mind.
Even with a free library, a composer can arrange to that library’s strengths, highlighting the instruments in a way where their best qualities are shown, and that can make a big difference.
yes! I think so too, a great musician can make music out of anything, adapt it, improve, master it. A great true musician doesn't need one thousand dollars to be good, the only important things are skills, knowledge, creativity and will.
@@dargunsh7156 That comment really strengthened me ! Thank you so much!
$30 per month is still a lot.
I miss the times when you bought the full thing for cheap and not montly payments...
It is a lot, if you dont have enough money dont risk, use what you have and master it, improve and find other solutions, just adapt.
You can still buy it, especially when do sales all their stuff is super cheap
@@azraksash if you got money you can buy anything you want
Well, it's 30$ a month for the entire East West catalog.
For most people it's just pocket change but i agree that for indie it is a lot of money!
Something to note ,Vsco2 is a chamber orchestra .hence it will not sound has full ,you would need to mix far more violin ,brass parts etc, to make a bigger sound .
'it's like i'm screaming in the distance instead of singing softly' love that analogy lol
Yes, that fact was very well expressed in a humorous way! :-)
I personally like the sound of Palette Primary Colors + Angry Brass
I should note that Palette Primary Colors is only free if you have a full version of Kontakt. I do not, I have only Kontakt Player.
Alex, you won the CZcams algorithm race. This vid has been recommended on my front page.
“You can get a sound waaay better than this” just before blowing me away with even the first one 😂
Even though I don't have the budget to get the best stuff, there's something to learn still about the way orchestral arrangements work, that I feel can help enhance your music making overall. I'm def gonna subscribe to you.
I think what hits VSCO2 the hardest is the lack of dynamic brass. Fortunately, Virtual Playing Orchestra (which is a free "frankenstein" library, much like Sonatina and even uses lots of samples from Sonatina) does offer "swellable" brass and it's great for what it is.
Really glad you've decided to do a video like this
Sick video, I love when people actually make stuff instead of just talk. Great job subbed
There is a mistake on eastwest orchestra on 6:29
VSCO is a chamber orchestra. About half the size as a typical concert orchestra. I think you're doing a bit of apples and oranges. Maybe VSCO is not suited for trailer music, just like Arc 1 isn't suited for pp parts. What did you think of the outro with VSCO?
(I'm looking to get VSCO Pro with the tax return in a couple months, though I don't plan on film as my audience.)
EXACTLY what I needed for Black Friday! Thanks for everything you do!
Dude, Alex, how on earth did youtube not find you for me.......by days I've been trying to find a proffesional like yourself for ages, thank you......time to binge watch your videos me thinks =)
Your video collection is worth an entire 4 years at university. You're really awesome!
Him: "It's just a sketch I made in a couple minutes, nothing serious"
What I hear as a weeb: "I'M USING ONLY 5% OF MY POWER"
Great compilation, very well presented!!! I liked your balanced and detailed comments, where you clearly highlighted good and not so good parts of a library... and you didn't hesitate to highlight weaknesses in a library even if it costed a lot. Keep up good work!
Idk, East&West stuff - one love. Just because Hollywood series are so dry and you can sculpt literally anything out of it. Yeah, it's damn hungry for the CPU&RAM but my PC can handle only 1-2 sections without consolidating track, so it doesn't really matter to me
Metropolis really sounded amazing...particularly the choir. Good review.
Just in case anyone is thinking about getting a library, you should try "Layers" by Orchestral Tools. It's quite new and completely free, only requiring that you make an account and download their free player. It contains about 1 TB of various orchestral samples that you can play realistically.
I use play paired with EW libraries and love it. i've been working with it for a few years now and i've terabytes to still sort through. I'm a pretty big fan of the Storm drum kits as they offer such wide variety. the value is pretty high for quality samples. that said i have a much more powerful PC than the avg consumer so i dont run into throttling issues often. looking into different sample packs though. PS i recently decided to get Valhalla shimmer as a result from watching you use it and have really fallen in love with it!
Hollywood Brass Is the best brass VST on the market I think. Nothing seems to compare.
@@justinbeamon6624 cinamatic studio brass has superior legato and articulation control. I tend to use both csb and ewhb together
In my opinion, the EW Composer Cloud is not as worth it as it seems to be. It's better to pick up the actual instruments and pay full price, cause think of this, the EW CC doesn't have instruments you will use regularly. You will probably only use Hollywood Brass. If you pay 30$ for a year, you would have spent 360$ on something that you won't even use regularly. My advice is probably put 30$ in a piggy bank and spend it on a great library when you have enough.
Honestly, the Brass and Strings have been one of the best purchases I've ever made. The Hollywood strings are probably some of if not the best string samples out there. They have so many articulations and ways you can program them The brass is out of this world. Woodwinds are definitely the weakest part.
@@aidan-forte exactly. Don't you think you will end up saving money if you instead buy just the Hollywood Strings and Brass libraries? Cause you won't generally be using the other libraries and in 2-3 years time you'd have spent way more than what you would have if you'd just bought the library in full. You'll have the library for perpetuity too.
@@5ammy13 If you are composing professionally for film tv or any other media I would say the composer cloud is a great investment. If you are a student, hobbyist, or someone that doesn't need 100 different libraries I would invest in learning one library. In my case, I'm still in high school so I'm just learning how to master the EW orchestra because it will last me my whole career.
@@aidan-forte hmm okay. Makes sense I guess. The thing is I don't think I'll ever use any other EW instruments in my workflow as I have libraries that are newer and better than what EW puts out. In my opinion the only libraries that are worth it are the Hollywood Strings and Brass. I can understand that as a student point of view and you're absolutely right. But I think for professionals, it doesn't make sense.
@@5ammy13 Its just what I've heard people say because I'm not a professional haha. I usually try to make my own shitty samples before using ones I've paid for.
Alex: "This is just sketched out"
Me: "HOW?!
-VSCO2 CE (Free) - good esp when trying to be retro but sub par for real professional goals
-Palette Primary Colors + Angry Brass (Free) - better than VSCO2 CE by far. Sustained strings enhanced more by Spitfire SOft Piano library.
-EastWest Hollywood Orchestra ($30 monthly subscription): con: is based on Play sample which sounds bad and flat/weak. Requires well done orchestration and processed mixing to avoid sounding weak. Also consumes a lot of CPU space.
-Audio Imperia Nucleus ($449) - Great for sketching/beginners. Sounds closest to the real thing. Cons; bad choir and no mic positions.
-Audio Imperia Jaeger ($599) con: dryer than nucleus, requires processing to wprk around dryness Nucleus is better for sketching pro: you can do sound design in patches
Metropolis Ark 1 (€549 + VAT): pros: Intense; great brass; very good choir
cons: lacks soft dynamics; muffled low spiccatostrings because low strings spiccatos come only in octaves but works well with high string spiccatos
The best free Libraries (and the only free libraries I'd use) are those, that are freebies of bigger Libraries:
VSL Big Bang Orchestra
Spitfire BBCSO Discovery
Spitfire Labs
Orchestral Tools Layers
ProjectSam The Free Orchestra
All of those are Freebies from idustrie-standard developers that mostly include the same sounds that are found in their big expensive libraries but (obviously) just a fraction of those.
You did a nice job comparing libraries.......don’t care what anyone else says.......it boils down to what your trying to achieve and what your needs are.....it’s amazing to hear what’s our there now compared to a decade ago........and it’s dirt cheap compared to then .......and the quality of of the library’s are only getting better and easier to use..........keep up with great work ........ I myself appreciate being able to hear the difference in libraries before making a purchase........greatly appreciate your time and efforts!
I'm so glad I found this channel
Could you play each one with the drum line as well next time? Hearing it alone is great but hearing it with the drums is a completely different level which makes a huge difference.
Labs is the best available free instrument, it contains orchestral stuff too.
ProjectSAM released a free orchestra wich is awesome except the fact that it's required full Kontakt. But you could use them as wav files in any sampler of choice (wich I do) so it's still worth checking.
@@user-xx8gw5nc8g hahaha I get your point, but for me requiring full kontakt is not really free🤣
Still those are pretty good vst
@@user-xx8gw5nc8g now it works with K.player free
I just found your channel and all I can say is: Wow! O_O You're REALLY good at both composing music AND explaining the techniques you are using! 😯
+1 subscriber! 😃👍
you are an inspiration 🐝
"If you're a beginner you will sound like this" Meanwhile I am here learning how to play the trumpet on a laptop
How to use the sounds on fl studio ?
NIce review!! Just one thing regarding Hollywood Orchestra, yes the Play software is very limited compared to the editing fearures on Kontakt, but you are using the "Lite" version of the Orquestra with only one Mic position when the full version has 5 microphone positions. The subscription for $ 30 a month only gives you access to the lite version and the full version costs about $450, and of course sounds much better.
Summery for everyone and myself
Palette primary colours + Angry Brass - probably best free has really nice soft chords
Metropolis ark one - has the fattest brass
Audio imperia nucleus - if you can only afford one expensive on this is a good all round, choirs mehh
Alex's set up - Audio imperia nucleus for brass and strings and oceania for choirs
I know tNice tutorials is an old video but I’m new and thank god I finally found you . Thank you for such an amazing and helpful video ❤️
Great video!
Now you have The Free Orchestra by Project SAM, Layers by Orchestral Tools, Kontakt Factory Selection and Play series by Native Instruments and LABS by Spitfire Audio. So you can do very professional stuff with just the free stuff. But you have to choose wisely and be aware of their limitations! However, it's a great stuff to learn how to make music without spending too much. And then you have Nucleus Lite (which cost like 2 games) and the Spitfire basic series (Which each one costs like a top tier indie game). And yes, I always compare the price of the music gear with game stuff.
It's a good time for start learning music production! (and you can't leave your home in most countries like mine due to coronavirus, so people don't have your social life as an excuse :P).
Me: * Get Super high quality library*
Also me: *render in mp3 8bit 32kbps*
I use 3 different orchestral libraries but I'm not sure if those can be usefull for Orchestral..but anyway :
1) The Total Composure Orchestra (Full basic/advanced Orchestra) but the only thing that it's not there it's the choir
2) Project SAM The Free Orchestra : Just an amazing basic orchestra project , but it also have some sfx for trailers/horror music and some libraries there are quite intersting! They also have this schedule when they upload a new free library in a specific period (for example : September 7/2018)
3) The BIG BIG collection of Big Cat Instruments that have pretty much everything..basic orchestra/saxophone , ethnic instruments ecc. And from there , I just got 4 different Choirs that are really nice
Note : I don't raccomend to download Edirol Orchestra (but it's still a great vst) because I've tasted it and EVERYTIME I need to reload the instrument when I close the project on Fl Studio and reload it and that was sooo annoying to do
Wow thanks project ssam is amazing!
@@Y0nex Np :)
@@TheGhostRecordsChannel I also think perfomance samples are great!
@@Y0nex yep , but they are freebie , that means that you need to insert an account , details of your order and basically "buy" that product and I don't like that , because it's just useless to just give all of my details to a company that I know that I will not spend any money on it..but yea , in terms of quality , I agree , their free libraries are amazing!
Italian voice reveal at 100K subscribers!
(man, your work is wonderful. This channel's just become one of my favorites)
damn that metropolis ark 1 roar is unbelievable.that brass is insane.powerful af
You can't expect your midi programming to translate to other libraries. It will sound the best for the one you programmed it for.
Great video, and perfect timing! I was trying to figure out what library to start with and this settled it for me. I'm going to pick up nucleus during the sale. Thanks!
Thank you so much for making an amazing comparison with a great demo!
How could you forget Albion
If you try to layer different free libaries, and pull them through a good reverb, you can actually make them sound pretty good
This was super useful I’ll
Be checking your other vids
Great run through. But Holy Moly I had to watch and listen 4 times to hold on to all the information.Thanks man for your work !!
Wow what an acNice tutorialevent! Best of luck for the rest of your future, I’m looking forward to being able to invest when I turn 21 in November!
Thank you saved me a lot of time trying to browse videos for an actual working one
30 USD per month is not cheap by ant stretch of imagination
Wow, so well done! Thanks for posting, man! Very helpful.
for everyone who doesnt now the audio imperia sounds are on a Black friday sale!!!
Awesome! Now it's only 1 kidney instead of 2 😄
@@AnymMusic tbh, you can survive with one kidney.
Unless you already sold one for your daw, then that'd a problem
@@ZlakEdoras 350 dolls is less then 1 doll/day in one year
@@18CC I thought we were just making jokes 😂
13:33 'It's like I'm screaming in the distance'. Made me laugh.
Great video dude.
Why are you using compression on orchestral music if you want it to sound "Out of the Box?"
Shh
Hi Alex, thanks for this comparison! Would have liked to see Spitfire Albion One and Vienna Symphonic Librairy (Vienna Smart Orchestra) in there too. Just to see if it is a good match with the others. I understand you might not have access or time to test all librairies. Nice stuff though. Keep it up!
Albion One is great for starters, but it is all Ensembles so you can't program each section individually limiting you in the future. I would also say that it sounds very synthy, but if you are making epic trailer music like this guy then its perfect!
Ok.. First 9 seconds of the video and hit the subscribe button - Exactly what I was looking for.
Now, the reset of the vid :)
"No processing... just reverb and mastering" lol
Haha, spot on. Literally anyone can download and put OTT on their master though, plus use some basic mastering plugins to make everything louder.
What I tried NOT to do here are all the things beginners wouldn't be able to.
Proper mixing, realism, good orchestration etc.
Alex Moukala it of beginners have NO IDEA what OTT is, let alone how to use multiband compression... Unless u just literally left OTT unchanged, which is pretty... *Cough
@@boimesa8190 I talked about OTT and the settings I use in many other videos in the past. Chances are, if you watch my tutorials, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
@@AlexMoukala i don't and new watchers won't have either xD
@@boimesa8190 freaking google it
Alex i love how you keep you flow with the time with your mouse cursor LOL i do the same thing as well LOL or when playing the keyboard i will move my hands up the keys in terms of dynamics does it do anything no but it helps with the overall feeling when making music to me makes you feel the music in ways anyways love the channel just found you yesterday :)
Great and fair comparison. Thanks
The ending harmony patterns and movement of the bass.... just so brilliantly "worry" / "unrestless ending" emotion.
THANKS FOR THIS IV BEEN SEARCHING FO SOOO LONG
Bruh you can make that 3x better? That already sounds incredible!
i thought it was literally going to sound trash cause he was so reassuring that is was bad. but damn thats exactly what i love. that was epic
Some effects and anything can sound good, even free libraries they can even sound better then paid ones, so in my opinion don't pay for any libraries just develop techniques
Liking the power of your sounds it really makes a different.
Thanks for this! Good job 👍
Have to agree about Spitfire Labs BBCSO (B.B.C Symphony Orchestra). Beautiful and rich sounding (on Ableton, anyway).
Hey Alex, what about the Spitfire library? Their Labs, (free) Orchestra and Expressive strings sound amazing seeing how they're free. Like I honestly could see the expressive strings being used in something professional.
HOW IS THAT NOT MINDBLOWING
Keep up the great videos man! this helped a lot, thank you
Fantastic tutorial, keep up the great videos!
If someone jwants to get their feet wet with string arranging, Cakewalk by BandLab, which is freeware, comes with a decent little 64-bit string section VSTi that can also be used outside Cakewalk in other DAW's. To get it, you need to select "Install Extras" from the BandLab Assistant download manager
spitfire labs also got some great strings, and other ambient synthy sounds for maybe more experimental scores for free.
your honestly insane at what you do
I got my hopes up. I thought the palette primary colors was complete free (which technically it is) but it requires the $399 full version of Kontact 😞 damn....
why not use (the free) Kontakt Player?
mzma bc from what I remember you could only use that with the full version on Kontakt not just the player. Either way it doesn’t matter cause I bought Kontakt lol
This must've taken forever to put together, thanks for doing this, very helpful comparison.
dude, this is such an useful video, thanks a lot! you should do more of those
My guy...I dont sub. I DONT! Ive watched a few of your vids. I subbed. And I didnt even struggle with the decision!!! You, sir, are the shizznit!!!
In this Video, Nucleus had the best sound in my opinion lol ... those stac strings are amazing
This is right up my alley. Subbed!
I Use Vcso with other vsts and it helps brighten it up
Very helpful, and surprisingly therapeutic
The lesson of the day: you get what you pay for! Couple of possible exceptions are the free version of BBC Orchestra, and the new very inexpensive Spitfire Originals. That last is sold as $29 per section and is lacking in some areas but it’s worth checking out