How about Garriton Personal Orchestra 4?

GPO is a great product, especially for those wanting to integrate orchestral sounds into their projects.  it's really the best value for orchestral sounds.

is it the best sounding?  no.  otherwise products like EW wouldn't exist at the price point they have.  but it is the best value for the money, IMO.

you do not need Kontakt also, GPO 4 is a comletely stand alone product and can be used also as a VSTi.  buying GPO is all you need to get started.

I bought it recently when cake had a sale.... it's pretty decent as a starting point for orchestral sounds.... but like Beagle says..... better is available but at a larger (usually much larger) entry price.


If you keep your eyes open in these forums you can, from time to time find FREE but limited samples of teh more expensive libraries.... I have a Silver EWQL that was  free..... you have to keep your eyes open and venture into some of the other forums here as well.... I think I found the EW link in a forum for the cake instruments....IIRC.... 

could not find the link again.... sorry.

I love the added control with the Mod wheel controlling volume and Velocity controlling attack.  Do the more expensive packages respond the same way?  Will my orchestrations for GPO be able to used in the others?

SvenArne

guitartrek


I love the added control with the Mod wheel controlling volume and Velocity controlling attack. 

Provided you don't have the Roland-style push mod controller instead of a wheel. Then your sanity will be at risk... How the hell do you switch off the mod control?

Sven

Dude, that was your fault for buying that crazy stick modulator thingamajiggy...

If you can splurge a little more then buying NI Kontakt 4 gives you a pretty good basic orchestral library (from VSL). Plus it's a frigging good soft sampler as well. :)

Kuusniemi


If you can splurge a little more then buying NI Kontakt 4 gives you a pretty good basic orchestral library (from VSL). Plus it's a frigging good soft sampler as well. :)

I'm thinking that Kontakt 4 is my next step.  So when you buy Kontakt 4 you get VSL?  And VSL is a step up from GPO?

guitartrek

Kuusniemi


If you can splurge a little more then buying NI Kontakt 4 gives you a pretty good basic orchestral library (from VSL). Plus it's a frigging good soft sampler as well. :)

I'm thinking that Kontakt 4 is my next step.  So when you buy Kontakt 4 you get VSL?  And VSL is a step up from GPO?

VSL is incredible.  I graduated from GPO to VSL and yes it is more expensive but there is no comparison.

[<font]Kontakt 4 includes sounds from VSL, but VSL migrated to their own format from Kontakt many years ago.

For better or worse, the non-Kontakt format high-end libraries use dongles: VSL, and EW in particular.

GPO uses their own Aria player.  In terms of "bang-for-the-buck" it is outstanding.  It also requires very little by way of computer resources.  Does its sound compare to VSL?  No, but then GPO is aiming at a different target market than VSL.

With the higher end libraries, for optimal use, a 64 bit o/s, and a minimum of 8 gigs of Ram are strongly recommended.  GPO does not need that.

If you eventually decide to go with EWQLSO, try to save enough for at least Gold, and the Gold close mic position.  Gold alone has so much reverb that it is really limited to the "Hollywood Orchestra" sound.  By including the close mic position, one gains many more options.

If you are more interested in traditional classical type composition I would suggest going straight to VSL (the Special Editions are a good starting point).

The VSL true legato is generally regarded as the best legato out there - particularly for the woodwinds.  In contrast, EWQLSO does not have true legato. 
 
Technical comment: The way EW's Play handles legato scripting is very awkward - in the default setup, scripted samples (including legato) are placed on separate tracks: the multi-patches do not include legato.  While one can create custom patches in Play, one cannot change the pre-existing patch descriptions (a rather bad oversight).  Only with the forthcoming Play Pro will it become really feasible to create custom patches.

Summary: GPO is a great starting point, but it is just that, a starting point.  If you are not sure how much you would actually use an orchestral library, that is all the more reason to start with GPO.

One other series of budget orchestral libraries many like (though I do not personally care for his strings, so the libraries were never a serious consideration for me) are those offered by Kirk Hunter.
 
<edited for clarity>

The "problem" with VSL (if you can call it that) is that the samples are very raw. This might not be a problem for the more professional level mixers, but for some (I include myself in this category) it might seem a little intimidating.
The samples don't immediately have that classic Hollywood sound. You have to know how to EQ and compress the bare samples. They are also close mic'd in a dry room so placing the instruments through panning and reverb is also not that apparent.
They have an accompanying set of effects called The Vienna suite that has your EQ, limiters, compressors, and reverbs all built in to one package with presets for each VSL instrument to help you along, but I think it's about $400-$600 to purchase. I was lucky enough to get it for free, which was a godsend because I would truly be lost without them.