Best "all-in-one" sound libraries / synths?

Hey, folks!
 
I do a lot of sound work for my church, and it looks like it'd smart for us to invest in some better synths than what Logic comes with.
 
Does anyone have any good recommendations on some sort of "all in one" synths and sound libraries for instruments like bass, piano, e. piano, and strings, plus some orchestral woodwinds and percussions and stuff? We're not looking to compose whole symphonies, but I would like to look at something that sounds reasonably realistic and gives a lot of function for the money. We mostly do stuff with vocal solos/duets and choirs. 
 
We do NOT have a specific budget, but everything else we're able to afford (monitor stands, a new table, MIDI controller) will be directly dependent on how much we decide to spend on AU instruments. I've used Kontakt before and LOVED it, but I think it and the good libraries will end up coming in at a bit too much to be able to continue to fund the other components we need.
 
Thanks!

Omnisphere.

davdud101
WOW! Xpand2 is AMAZING! Kontakt is definitely the very best in its field, but at the cost of Xpand2, and for how it sounds / what it can do, it's certainly where I'm putting my money.
Thanks for the recom, abacab!
 
And thank you other guys for checking out the thread. What a deal!
 
I'll definitely be adding a couple more sound libraries - namely, piano (as the provided piano sounds aren't *quite* as good as what I'm looking for). So cool, I'm mega-excited! Buying two licenses as we speak 

And then you can get the AIR Complete for $62.99 at JRR and have EVERYTHING!
Use code GROUP at Checkout...
https://www.jrrshop.com/a...-pack-complete-upgrade

You can also get the free Kontakt 5 Player here: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-5-player/
 
There is a free sound library with 650 MB of premium sounds and 50 instruments for the free Kontakt 5 Player: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-5-player/kontakt-factory-selection/
 
If you do find that you need to broaden your sound library, there are also some good NI instruments, and some 3rd party instruments that you can buy, that are compatible with the Kontakt 5 player version.  So you don't necessarily have to upgrade to the full Kontakt version.

davdud101
 
I've always wondered about Kontakt player - does it also work with all standard Kontakt soundsets like the full version does? What are the limitations - given that the one of them is free?

I have the Kontakt Player, not the full version.  Many Kontakt libraries require the FULL version to work.  But there are some made specifically for the Player version.  You need to check the system requirements for any package you are interested in to see if it is compatible with the Player.

If your looking for a good all-around virtual instrument, checkout HALion Sonic 3 (just released).
It's the Vi equivalent to a Montage/Kronos hardware workstation.

+1 Omnisphere + Keyscape
 
There are even whole groups that exist for worship based in Omnisphere that you might find a home at which  people from Hillsong United to Planetshakers post also on:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/OmnisphereWorshipSounds/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/KeyscapeWorshipSounds/
 

dmbaer
 
HALion is much better at supplying conventional ensemble (real world) instruments. 
 
I know nothing about the AIR option (but it frankly sounds way too good to be real).

Halion Sonic 3 looks good, but the $250 entry point, or $350 for the full version of Halion 6, is still steep for a tight budget.  But it may be cheaper vs. Kontakt if you add up the cost of several Kontakt libraries to get the equivalent sounds.
 
The AIR stuff is actually very good, and the recent sale prices are hard to believe, but they are for real.  AIR Music Tech is a German development group that has provided the instrument bundle that has been an exclusive Avid Pro Tools feature for years.  Since inMusic has acquired AIR, they have been marketing these instruments in VST and AU formats.  Some of their interfaces are dated, like some of the older Cakewalk plugins, but for the price, the sounds are hard to beat! 

abacab

dmbaer
 
HALion is much better at supplying conventional ensemble (real world) instruments. 
 
I know nothing about the AIR option (but it frankly sounds way too good to be real).

Halion Sonic 3 looks good, but the $250 entry point, or $350 for the full version of Halion 6, is still steep for a tight budget.  But it may be cheaper vs. Kontakt if you add up the cost of several Kontakt libraries to get the equivalent sounds.
 
The AIR stuff is actually very good, and the recent sale prices are hard to believe, but they are for real.  AIR Music Tech is a German development group that has provided the instrument bundle that has been an exclusive Avid Pro Tools feature for years.  Since inMusic has acquired AIR, they have been marketing these instruments in VST and AU formats.  Some of their interfaces are dated, like some of the older Cakewalk plugins, but for the price, the sounds are hard to beat! 

Ditto, Between the Air and Sonivox deals lately, I've topped off my instrument collection significantly. Awesome sounds at insane prices.  The Air Fx are really good too.

bigcatt
Have I already spouted off on this thread? If these are good enough for your purposes is open for debate, but lots of free VSTi stuff including pianos. Note turn the volume down on the pianos if they distort, my bad I should have normalized them lower.
 
http://bcvsts.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-gm-soundset.html
Newer version of the VSCO2 Chamber orchestra
http://bigcatinstruments.blogspot.com/2017/02/vsco2-rompler.html
 

I'll look at those, bigcatt! I've tried quite a few freeware VST's like this - a lot of them are quite good, and SoundFont stuff is usually pretty decent before wanting something more realistic. BUt
I've found that generally all the free libraries do REALLY badly with winds instruments, and the strings only barely meet my expectations when people rave about 'em and rate them highly. To each, his own, I guess!
 
Having used Kontakt, Halion Sonic, and now Xpand, I don't think the freeware stuff will ever do it for me again - at least not when it comes to organic instruments. 

dcumpian
Omnisphere.

That's the best answer, by a mile...
I own so much stuff I'd have to triple my sig to begin to fit it all in... if I had to choose letting 90 percent of it go or losing Omnisphere, I wouldn't blink... It's O all the way.  I might go so far as say I wouldn't trade it for all the rest!
 
Expansion is endless with the best guru's making amazing new sounds/samples... at a reasonable cost vs the high cost of each Kontakt library I own...
 
Omnisphere is one of a kind, beyond anything else, and all else pales in comparison... spend some time googling pluginguru omnisphere2 vids or just go to skippy's site.
 
And you can add to the platform with Keyscape {not for me personally but widely heralded as the greatest collection of keys ever assembled}

I hear what you guys are saying by "bread and butter" sounds, but honestly, I end up using Omni in every track, and I rarely can't find what I'm looking for. Granted, for full orchestra, I'm going to reach for Play or Kontakt, but there are quite a few brass and string patches in Omni that sound great, and you can create your own patches from the included sources or add your own. Those Xpand! sounds remind me of older SoundCanvas type stuff.
 
Dan

Here's another cool deal for just $1.
 
SONiVOX Orchestral Companion Strings
https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/virtual-instruments/sonivox-orchestral-companion-strings
 
The SONiVOX design team has produced over 90 outstanding string programs, each one meticulously crafted to deliver as accurate and convincing an experience as possible. Your productions deserve nothing less.
There is a comprehensive collection of full orchestral string ensembles, which are fantastic for background string parts or quickly sketching out an orchestral score. But we also offer you also a full array of individual string sections so you can really customize and polish your final creation by building things up section by section. The key is flexibility—you can compose and create on as detailed a level as you'd like. All sections are fully represented, including 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos and contra basses. Up and down bow bowing, sustain, staccato, and spiccato notes, plus instrument pizzicato and tremolo articulations provide the depth of content needed for convincing ensemble string parts and tracks.
 

davdud101

abacab
Here's another cool deal for just $1.
 
SONiVOX Orchestral Companion Strings
https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/virtual-instruments/sonivox-orchestral-companion-strings
 All sections are fully represented, including 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos and contra basses. Up and down bow bowing, sustain, staccato, and spiccato notes, plus instrument pizzicato and tremolo articulations provide the depth of content needed for convincing ensemble string parts and tracks.
 

Couldn't help it - at that cost, I bought two licenses for my two machines.
 
Up and down bowing is SUPER important to me with strings synths. It's taking a minute to download, so I'll go ahead and ask- and I didn't look crazy-hard into it before purchasing (but like I said, no loss whatsoever at $1), but are you able to, for example, route one MIDI channel to one set of instruments? (I probably said it wrong as I don't have SONAR in front of me right now, but I mean like in Xpand where you have four separate MIDI channels, each of which can have it's own separate instrument and MIDI track)?
 
The last thing that would've made Xpand!2 a KILLER piece of software was if each of the four channels could further be individually routed out to other audio tracks/busses for processing without the whole thing having only one output. Still amazing software!!
 
Yikes! Hopefully my bank acct doesn't start looking a bit thin from all these $1 deals. Gotta save a little for the expensive stuff too! 

Just to let know, you should get two activations with each license.  Perfect for a desktop and laptop combo.
 
The SONiVOX instruments are not multi-timbral, so you would need to insert multiple instances into your project, one for each MIDI channel/sound.  But is is light enough so that should not be an issue unless you are running an old computer.
 
For Xpand!2, say for example if you insert 4 instances of the VST and group related instruments into the 4 Xpand!2 VSTs, you have 16 total channels of MIDI and four audio ports.  So you can manage and process the audio out from each group of 4 sounds separately in the DAW.  For example, this may be most useful for processing the percussion separate from the other instruments, by placing the percussion in one instance of the VST.
 
Yup, big bang for the buck!!!