Virtual instruments late 2011 – top end?

Hi ,Vir2 instruments have awesome sound quality,for me. Greetings. Roby

yeah, if you get kontakt be sure to check it out properly before getting anything else, as it's the dogs as far as samplers go and has a humungus library... synth-wise check out zebra 2, it's a beast... and as for any software, check out the demo were possible

Komplete 8 Ultimate
All Spectrasonics:  Omnisphere, Trilian, Stylus RMX
Hollywood Strings

+1 for Kontakt

Also, for something that does both standard sampled instruments, but also more esoteric electronic sounds, check out Camel Audio's Alchemy (though it has far more esoteric than electronic sounds).

Regards
Glenn

Glyn Barnes, I checked out Orange Tree based on your recommendation. From the demos and user guide, it looks like a really good product. Since it requires the full Kontakt player, it is more costly than RealGuitar—unless, of course, you already have Kontakt. I may add this to my line-up so I will have more acoustic variety. (I bought Vir2 Acoustic Legends so I would have a different sound to go along with RealGuitar, but the Vir2 strumming and chords are very limited compared to RealGuitar so I don't use it as much as I had hoped.)

konradh


Although Kontakt will give you a huge library, here are what I think are best quality:

1.  Piano: Ivory II Grand - no contest
2.  Acoustic Guitar: RealGuitar (MusicLab)
3.  Electric Guitar: RealStrat and RealLPC (MusicLab).  Use with Guitar Rig or Amplitube.
4.  Orchestra: Vienna Symphonic

This is not the cheapest set but this is the best.

+1
+1
+1
havent used
 
I have bought Komplete 3-8 except 7.  In my experience NI has a terrific variety of just decent instruments.  There are few exceptions.  Razor is awsome! Reaktor in general has extremely usable excellent sounds.  Kontakt to me is not great at anything but good at everything.  I actually dont care for their pianos or basses at all and vastly prefer Synthogy Ivory II for pianos and Spectrasonics Trillian for bass.  I like Kontakts organs and epianos just fine but liked the B4 and Elektric piano better.  Biggest problem with NI is the difficulty of integrating it with hardware controllers like Novation.  its a complete PITA to map a reaktor or Kontakt instrument to a hardware controller.
 
I actually really like z3ta+ as a synth but NI synths are way better.  If you like vintage stuff I like arturia a lot.
 
If you have a ton of money and want to do electronic music there is nothing like Nexus!!!  it can cost a fortune to get all the expansions
 
For drums I have Battery and Superior drummer and EZ Drummer and Stylus RMX.  Superior Drummer absolutely dominates for acoustic drums!  Fantastic!!
 
MusicLab Real Everything is like no other guitar vst.  Absolutely stunning vs anything but an actual guitar.

I have been trying to get a look at Kontakt on the NI site - but the site seems to be down???

The Ivory 2 keyboards look fantastic. Pricey but the sounds seem wonderful. I have never used software with an iLok. Is this going to be a problem if I got this? Does this require a DIRECT connection to my PC or can I have this silly dongle on a USB port on a hub connected to my PC? I loathe the thought of burning a USB port just for that thing. Any real keyboardists out there that can comment on the touch sensitivity of this VST set? 

I know no virtual keyboard can ever feel like my real Yamaha Grand. Unfortunately, I live in a house and not a studio and I really have no ability to make a clean sonic environment for recording on the real thing. A great VST would seem like a decent compromise for someone like me that is not in a professional studio.

How about info on a really good sampled organ set? In particular, any recommendations on a virtual B3? I want to be able to channel my inner Jon Lord :-)

KOMPLETE 8 Ultimate

East West Quantum Leap Complete Composers Collection for 799 US you get it all on a 1 GIG WD Caviar drive. I don't fnd the iLok dongle a problem at all.

If you just want an all round sampler you could do a lot worse than Yellow Tools Independence 3.0 which has a huge sample library - No dongle and much cheaper than KOMPLETE or EWQL CCC In fact they''re just about giving it away at the moment for 20 or 30 Euros.

mudgel

If you just want an all round sampler you could do a lot worse than Yellow Tools Independence 3.0 which has a huge sample library - No dongle and much cheaper than KOMPLETE or EWQL CCC In fact they''re just about giving it away at the moment for 20 or 30 Euros.

Yellow Tools for 30 Euros?? Where? The website wants 99 euros for the basic version - also - no sound samples??

Yeh, I'd also suggest steering away from YT. When they offered a free version awhile back, most people had difficulty getting it installed and authorized. I got it working but wasn't impressed with it and uninstalled it. And I don't uninstall much of anything.

...any recommendations on a virtual B3?

The product you want is called VB3. 49 euros.

I will have to agree here, Old Lady is absolutely inspiring to play and Sampletekk often has amazing deals. Jon

Sampletekk has both "Old Lady" and "Emperor" piano samples in 24-bit for Kontakt - each is $25! Sounds like a winner.

I have Steven Slate Drums, which includes the Kontakt 2.0 player; will the Sampletekk piano's work with that player?

Thanks!

pdarg


Sampletekk has both "Old Lady" and "Emperor" piano samples in 24-bit for Kontakt - each is $25! Sounds like a winner.

I have Steven Slate Drums, which includes the Kontakt 2.0 player; will the Sampletekk piano's work with that player?

Thanks!

Sorry, no. You have to have the full Kontakt, not the player.

I'm actually getting a lot of use out of Native Instrument's own Vintage Organs pack. Jon