I just bought the full version of Kontakt on their 50% off Black Friday sale,  so I decided to give the orchestral sounds a try.  This piece was inspired by peering through my telescope at the Winter sky. I call it "Starlight" at:

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13668404

Interesting stuff Glennbo!
Cool arrangement. REminds my a LOT of music from 90's JRPG games.
 
As far as improvements, I think the timing of things overall could be a bit tighter in some areas, generally it's okay though.
The sounds themselves in MY mind are more reminiscent of PlayStation-area role playing games like I said above, rather than necessarily being a "realistic" representation of the 'proper' classical instruments. It could do some good to learn for each of the instrument groups their tendencies for how they're arranged and how they sound when they do certain things just to get a feel for making them sound more realistically-performed. Something I'm working on for my strings and especially my MIDI-woodwinds.
 
Keep on truckin'!
 
 
p.s.
Your tune "Why Not" is killer! Like the drums and saxes+keys! I kinda dig your jazz/fusion/rock stuff too.. sounds a bit like They Might Be Giants :)

davdud101
Interesting stuff Glennbo!
Cool arrangement. REminds my a LOT of music from 90's JRPG games.
 
As far as improvements, I think the timing of things overall could be a bit tighter in some areas, generally it's okay though.
The sounds themselves in MY mind are more reminiscent of PlayStation-area role playing games like I said above, rather than necessarily being a "realistic" representation of the 'proper' classical instruments. It could do some good to learn for each of the instrument groups their tendencies for how they're arranged and how they sound when they do certain things just to get a feel for making them sound more realistically-performed. Something I'm working on for my strings and especially my MIDI-woodwinds.
 
Keep on truckin'!
 
 
p.s.
Your tune "Why Not" is killer! Like the drums and saxes+keys! I kinda dig your jazz/fusion/rock stuff too.. sounds a bit like They Might Be Giants :)

Thanks Dave!
 
I attempt to play all instruments, although I am a mere caveman drummer.   ;-)
 
The orchestral thing has a combination of decent quality sampled orchestral instruments from Kontakt, but in several places I am mixing with them, some synthy sounding things from the E-Mu Proteus VX, to give them a bit more ethereal sound. For instance at one point I have a fairly real sounding English oboe but have glissy synth mixed behind it to make it more spacey than just the oboe. I know the Kontakt orchestral sounds are by far not the best either, but they are the best I have at the moment.  Funk/Jazz/Rock is really more my primary style of writing, and on most of those songs, I'm playing bass, drums, guitars, and keys with an occasional spotlight solo by friends.

The problem with using the Kontakt built in orchestra library is the lack of legato instruments, which orchestral music direly needs. This is evident from the strings, they sound quite unnatural as the note transitions do not flow. The brass works better as they have more attack.
 
The biggest thing lacking here is dynamics. This is what orchestral music needs. Everything here is at a constant level. Some parts should be quieter than others. The other I feel need for is warmth. The orchestra sound very cold.
 
Some ways, this reminds me of some older films scores by Eric Serra.

Kuusniemi
The problem with using the Kontakt built in orchestra library is the lack of legato instruments, which orchestral music direly needs. This is evident from the strings, they sound quite unnatural as the note transitions do not flow. The brass works better as they have more attack.
 
The biggest thing lacking here is dynamics. This is what orchestral music needs. Everything here is at a constant level. Some parts should be quieter than others. The other I feel need for is warmth. The orchestra sound very cold.
 
Some ways, this reminds me of some older films scores by Eric Serra.

As a caveman drummer, who writes mostly jazz, jazz/rock, or funk, reminding you even slightly of a real film composer is a compliment I'll take.   The Kontakt orchestral sounds are the first and only ones I've ever had, and since I've never really tried to compose for orchestra (although I did play in one back in school), I thought I'd see what I could come up with using the sounds that I got with Kontakt. Native Instruments had a half off sale for Black Friday, and I decided to finally buy Kontakt, but mostly for the horns that could be used for jazz/funk/rock.
 
Thanks for all of your input!
 

not bad for a caveman drummer lol
I enjoyed this - sounds like you had a ton of fun.
Kontakt is a pretty fab sample player - some great libraries out there at reasonable prices.
Enjoy  

daryl1968
not bad for a caveman drummer lol
I enjoyed this - sounds like you had a ton of fun.
Kontakt is a pretty fab sample player - some great libraries out there at reasonable prices.
Enjoy  

Thanks Daryl!  Now that I finally have Kontakt, I'll start looking at some of the libraries I might get for it.

the_user_formally_known_as_glennbo

daryl1968
not bad for a caveman drummer lol
I enjoyed this - sounds like you had a ton of fun.
Kontakt is a pretty fab sample player - some great libraries out there at reasonable prices.
Enjoy  

Thanks Daryl!  Now that I finally have Kontakt, I'll start looking at some of the libraries I might get for it.

you can probably find a thread of favorite libraries somewhere in this forum.
For value for money, I can definitely recommend these guys https://www.wavesfactory.com/

I thought it was good Glen. I like your fusion stuff better though. You've got this Brand X kind of thing going on which is right up my alley. I really like that one called The Real Thing.

daryl1968

the_user_formally_known_as_glennbo
Thanks Daryl!  Now that I finally have Kontakt, I'll start looking at some of the libraries I might get for it.

you can probably find a thread of favorite libraries somewhere in this forum.
For value for money, I can definitely recommend these guys https://www.wavesfactory.com/

Thanks for the link!  Hopefully I'll get some Christmas money I can blow on more sounds.