jac
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East West Symphonic Choirs
I'm thinking of buying East West Symphonic Choirs - it's on sale for half price, but I have a few questions.
First, does anyone have experience with it? What do you think? - I'm running X2 Producer and I've got plenty of horsepower and 24Gigs of memory.
Also, probably a question for East West/Soundsonline, but is there a trial version? I can't find anything on their website.
Finally, if I order, do I have to wait for disks or some other media to be delivered or can I download it as with most stuff like this ('don't want to take anything for granted) - again, no info on their website...
I'd appreciate any info!
Thanks,
John
Sonar X2 Producer - 64 bit (various plugins/soft synths) Windows 7, Home Premium Intel Core i7-920, 2.67GHz (4 cores, 8 virtual), 24 Gig RAM Separate system/sample/project disk drives Dual monitor Echo Layla 3G Edirol PCR-300
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cclarry
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/22 22:15:15
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I have the Native Instruments Original Version (Silver)
of Symphonic Orchestra...
Because of the HALF OFF Sale I decided to upgrade to the PLAY Version
of Silver for $49.50
After completing the transaction, I got an email from Nick in I.T. stating...
Because your original transaction was for $49.50 (the half price of the upgrade to the PLAY version) we cannot process your transaction again for $174.50 for Symphonic
Orchestra Gold. Your order has been cancelled. You will need to replace your order.
I responded saying
My order was for the Upgrade to the PLAY version of Silver from the NI Verison
hence the $49.50 price. I NEVER ORDERED GOLD. That is why the price was
$49.50!!!
That was two weeks ago.
I got my money back a few days later.
Never a response. Never an apology....NOTHING.
NOT A WORD.
If that is how EAST WEST conducts business, rest assured they will
NOT GET any money from me again.
You will NOT be able to download the product.
They ship it...and will charge you $16+ dollars to do so...
Cheers!
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jac
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/22 23:06:59
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Bummer - it looked like it might be a good product.
Thank you for the info/warning though!
Sonar X2 Producer - 64 bit (various plugins/soft synths) Windows 7, Home Premium Intel Core i7-920, 2.67GHz (4 cores, 8 virtual), 24 Gig RAM Separate system/sample/project disk drives Dual monitor Echo Layla 3G Edirol PCR-300
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LpMike75
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 03:44:29
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Ive had good luck and dealings with EW. They messed up a ILok license on a product, I sent an email, it was resolved immediately.
Symphic Choirs sounds great to me. I havent messed around with wordbuilder a whole lot. but I have heard people get some really cool results. Havent heard any better VST choirs
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cclarry
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 06:44:44
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I should state don't be put off by my experience... Their products are top notch... I just have real issues with these companies that don't take responsibility for their mistakes... I don't mind paying shipping either, but they way overcharge for it. Get it from Sweetwater...they don't charge shipping....save a buck or two. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QLChoirs/ One thing I have noticed...during the entire half off sale it has been out of stock at Sweetwater...if you're patient, you can order it and they'll send it when they get it in...
post edited by cclarry - 2013/02/23 07:08:57
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cryophonik
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 10:23:49
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LpMike75
Ive had good luck and dealings with EW. They messed up a ILok license on a product, I sent an email, it was resolved immediately.
Symphic Choirs sounds great to me. I havent messed around with wordbuilder a whole lot. but I have heard people get some really cool results. Havent heard any better VST choirs
+1. I've also had very good dealings with EW and their customer service. I messed my own order one time, sent them an email and it was resolved within an hour. As for EWQLSC, it is indeed a great sounding product. I'm no power user and I primarily use it for choir pads (e.g., layering oohs/aahs with filtered pads), but I've experimented with WB and it is really cool. Also, I highly recommend adding the Voices of the Apocalypse expansion if you want that "epic choir" sound.
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jac
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 13:45:06
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Thank you all for your feedback!
I'll take another look...
Sonar X2 Producer - 64 bit (various plugins/soft synths) Windows 7, Home Premium Intel Core i7-920, 2.67GHz (4 cores, 8 virtual), 24 Gig RAM Separate system/sample/project disk drives Dual monitor Echo Layla 3G Edirol PCR-300
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bapu
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 15:14:04
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LpMike75
Symphic Choirs sounds great to me. I havent messed around with wordbuilder a whole lot. but I have heard people get some really cool results. Havent heard any better VST choirs
I have THIS and THIS by Soundiron. I (of course) think they sound fantastic. I did a little messing with Soundiron's phrase builder. Pretty cool concept once you get it down. The Soundiron combo is a bit pricey compared to EW's Choir so let that be a guide if you're budget conscious.
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bapu
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 15:34:19
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WOW.... just checked this out on Soundsonline... 75% off on a 7 (+1 free) bundle (configurable).  I am tempted... sooooooo tempted to hit that Add PC button. Should I mention the bundle comes on an external hard drive?
post edited by bapu - 2013/02/23 15:37:56
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rtucker55
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 16:06:27
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I bought symphonic choirs years ago when it first came out. As I remember it was on sale back then for around $800.
The word builder never did work even after a few updates. They offered me an upgrade (paid) to the play version but I walked away. It was shortly after that they went with the Ilok protection scheme so I was glad I did.
I try contacting support a few times about issues and always felt like I was being blown off so I don't do business with them any longer.
Your mileage may vary. It does make me wonder why they are selling all these things for fractions of what they sold for. I wonder if they have lost their Customer base due to unkept promises and poor support. They use to have a forum which might give you an idea of how satisfied their current Customers are.
As far as the hard drives the libraries are sent out on, might want to check the spec'son those also as I remember that East West said they were only for installing the software and not to be used to actually run the libraries from. That may have changed now also.
Kind regards,
Rick
Purrrfect Audio DAW here. Wow!...
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bapu
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 18:47:34
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rtucker55
As far as the hard drives the libraries are sent out on, might want to check the spec'son those also as I remember that East West said they were only for installing the software and not to be used to actually run the libraries from. That may have changed now also.
Kind regards,
Rick
I would never run a library off an external hard drive. That's madness or at least a recipe for disaster. 
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rtucker55
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 18:51:58
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Now, come on Bapu. Surely you would at least try it just once... :)
Purrrfect Audio DAW here. Wow!...
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bapu
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 19:03:46
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Kroneborge
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 19:11:00
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"It does make me wonder why they are selling all these things for fractions of what they sold for. I wonder if they have lost their Customer base due to unkept promises and poor support. They use to have a forum which might give you an idea of how satisfied their current Customers are. " - - - - This is actually a pretty standard marketing technqiue and business practice. The people that want it NOW, and can afford it will buy when it comes out. Those for who price is more of an issue will wait till the sale. Thus they get more sales and higher returns.
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Kroneborge
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 19:12:09
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Ok, WTF, why don't my line spaces show up???
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rtucker55
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 19:21:26
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""Ok, WTF, why don't my line spaces show up???""
Must be using Firefox...
BTW, what does WTF stand for? :)
Kind regards,
Rick
Purrrfect Audio DAW here. Wow!...
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bapu
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/02/23 20:56:22
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jac
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/03 13:11:14
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'just thought I'd post an update.
First off, thanks for all the feedback. I did go ahead and buy it. I also pulled the trigger on the VOTA Expansion Pack. I ordered it from B&H Photo in NY City. B&H had it in stock and UPS shipping was reasonable. I had it in a couple of days. (The expansion was a download from Soundsonline and was also half price).
While the instructions in the package were a little cryptic, the website and documentation are helpful and I was able to get it installed and running with minimal problem.
First impression - it sounds good and it seems pretty powerful. Wordbuilder is a neat feature, but it takes some fine tuning to get realistic singing from it. I don't think anyone would find that to be a great surprise. I'm still climbing the learning curve.
I've had a few hiccups in Sonar, but not too bad. For some reason, the volume from the Choirs is very low. I just boost it with the trim, but it seems odd. I have also had couple of crashes, which seems to happen ocassionally with very big projects or when I have more than one project open at a time. (I don't usually do that, but sometimes when dealing with a big project I find it helps to create a smaller project with a subset of the instrumentation, work on that, and then consolidate the results. So, you have to have both open to copy.)
I also had a couple of cases in the Choir where the notes would end abruptly or be missing in a chord. 'still trying to figure that one out - maybe it's a resource issue. Anyway, overall I'd have to say I like it, so far so good.
Thank you all again!
Bapu - I didn't see your recommendation for Soundiron until after I placed the order. Looks pretty cool, but I'd probably have gone with this anyway because of the price and Wordbuilder - but thanks!
Sonar X2 Producer - 64 bit (various plugins/soft synths) Windows 7, Home Premium Intel Core i7-920, 2.67GHz (4 cores, 8 virtual), 24 Gig RAM Separate system/sample/project disk drives Dual monitor Echo Layla 3G Edirol PCR-300
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bapu
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cclarry
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/04 17:39:23
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bapu
bapu
WOW.... just checked this out on Soundsonline... 75% off on a 7 (+1 free) bundle (configurable).
I am tempted... sooooooo tempted to hit that Add PC button.
Should I mention the bundle comes on an external hard drive?
I was a bad, bad boy..... The order has been place.
You'll have every VST Instrument, Effect, and whatnot that exists Baps... East West is good stuff...I know that...
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Bajan Blue
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/05 06:23:04
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Jac
Saw you were having a few issues - I take it you loaded from discs etc - Did you download the latest Play engine from East West / Soundonline? Just a thought as I know there was an upgrade recently
Nigel
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jac
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/05 23:30:53
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Nigel,
Good thought, but I went to the website and got the latest download, so I should be up to date. In fact, that's what caused some of the installation confusion because I wasn't sure whether to install everything from the disks first and then do the update (turns out this is the thing to do), or just install the stuff on the website first.
Anyway, I haven't had a change to investigate further - got some gigging to do, but I'll get back to it.
Thanks for the suggestion though...
Sonar X2 Producer - 64 bit (various plugins/soft synths) Windows 7, Home Premium Intel Core i7-920, 2.67GHz (4 cores, 8 virtual), 24 Gig RAM Separate system/sample/project disk drives Dual monitor Echo Layla 3G Edirol PCR-300
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bapu
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cclarry
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/06 19:32:05
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I just saw that Solo Violin is $49.50...that's more my speed...LOL
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cliffr
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/06 19:40:11
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jac
Nigel,
Good thought, but I went to the website and got the latest download, so I should be up to date. In fact, that's what caused some of the installation confusion because I wasn't sure whether to install everything from the disks first and then do the update (turns out this is the thing to do), or just install the stuff on the website first.
Anyway, I haven't had a change to investigate further - got some gigging to do, but I'll get back to it.
Thanks for the suggestion though...
Hi Jac, you should have no problems running Play and the Choirs with your set up. Check that you have any instrument updates, not just the Play software update. There are instrument updates for both the Symphonic Choirs, and the Choirs Expansion pack (VOTA), so you need to install those too. Regards volume, dropped notes etc ... Volume - check your use of; - CC7 (MIDI-volume) - CC11 (MIDI-Expression) - CC1 (MOD Wheel) For smooth sailing you'll want to set up a template or two ... or maybe lots !. Off the top of my head, I think it's the Mod Wheel (cc1) which catches people out with the Choirs (and maybe some others). I always explicitely set all 3 CCs I mention at the beginning of all tracks, which is pretty much a "good practice" thing anyway. Dropped notes or other weirdness, check the various setting in Play. If I remember, there are some voice and memory settings you can tweak. Let us know how it's all panning out once you get a chance to put it all through the ringer. Cheers - Cliff
i7-950 24 GB, GTX 580, W7/64 Ultimate, Sonar Platinum, Alesis MasterControl, KRK Rokit RP8g2s Some Real piano, basses, and guitars, Komplete 8Ultimate, Ibanez guitars, MusicLab RG/Strat/LPC, Trilian, Omnisphere, RMX, EWQL SO Platinum, Pianos, Choirs, VOP, Gypsy, Goliath, SD2, MOR, Ra, HS, HB, too many plugs, Midi controllers, and all kinds of weird gadgets My Soundclick Page
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cliffr
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/06 19:47:40
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cclarry
I just saw that Solo Violin is $49.50...that's more my speed...LOL
Yeah Larry, it's a bargain alright, and one of the few downloadable ones. I grabbed it a full price a wee while back, and very happy with it. Definitely sweet for if you've got an ILok. Cheers - Cliff
i7-950 24 GB, GTX 580, W7/64 Ultimate, Sonar Platinum, Alesis MasterControl, KRK Rokit RP8g2s Some Real piano, basses, and guitars, Komplete 8Ultimate, Ibanez guitars, MusicLab RG/Strat/LPC, Trilian, Omnisphere, RMX, EWQL SO Platinum, Pianos, Choirs, VOP, Gypsy, Goliath, SD2, MOR, Ra, HS, HB, too many plugs, Midi controllers, and all kinds of weird gadgets My Soundclick Page
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cclarry
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/06 19:49:31
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cliffr
cclarry
I just saw that Solo Violin is $49.50...that's more my speed...LOL
Yeah Larry, it's a bargain alright, and one of the few downloadable ones.
I grabbed it a full price a wee while back, and very happy with it.
Definitely sweet for if you've got an ILok.
Cheers - Cliff
Yes I do...don't leave home with it.... 
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ltb
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/06 20:15:32
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bapu
cclarry
bapu
bapu
WOW.... just checked this out on Soundsonline... 75% off on a 7 (+1 free) bundle (configurable).
I am tempted... sooooooo tempted to hit that Add PC button.
Should I mention the bundle comes on an external hard drive?
I was a bad, bad boy..... The order has been place.
You'll have every VST Instrument, Effect, and whatnot that exists Baps...
East West is good stuff...I know that...
Arrived today on a 1TB Seagate Barracuda drive model ST1000MD003. I'm copying the drive contents to an external 3TB drive (as protection) and I'll install all the stuff to a new 1TB drive.
Very nice, along with SoundIron you've got a great selection of vox libs.
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bapu
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Re:East West Symphonic Choirs
2013/03/06 23:04:50
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carl
Very nice, along with SoundIron you've got a great selection of vox libs.
So it would seem.
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