Hello everyone. 

I am trying to get different ideas of what some of you might be using in addition.  I am using Sibelius 4 with Kontakt Gold and VDL 2.5.  I am looking for additional improvement in the sounds my woodwinds/brass/strings/etc.  make.  The Garritan collection has been recommended to me.  Any others out there that you like?

Thanks,

Dennis

I use a lot of Nostalgia and Cakewalk Rapture sounds for my Synth and effect sounds along with VDL.  If you are on a budget I think the Garritan sounds would do well to expand your needs - and also to fit the need for something to be failry easy to use compared to East West, MOTU Symphonic Instrument, etc.  I do not write too much wind music so I may not be giving the best advice there, but I have also used East West for some percussion sounds as well.

Honestly for the money, the sounds you can get in the Apple Jam Packs are really really good.  I have never played around with them until they came for free with logic studio, but there's a lot of great samples and software instruments in every library for a fraction of the cost most professional libraries cost. 

http://store.apple.com/1-800-780-5009/WebObjects/EducationIndividual.woa/9544008/wa/PSLID?mco=7E4EB91E&nplm=M9696Z/A&wosid=tm2IiJKojZ7T3l2hAJ41fQq0mJ5

With an educational discount you can get them for $79/89 a pack, which is a steal.

If you're really serious about band sounds, you could go for the Vienna or Garritan packs, but at $4500 and $200 respectively they're not worth it as little as I have a need for band sounds.

It looks like Kontakt 3 will have many gigs of new instrument samples.  Right now I think the most realistic is Symphony Orchestra Gold/Platinum from www.soundsonline.com, but they are expensive.  The different [url=http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=synthline]synths from Native Instruments[/url] are great for electronic music.

Maybe this needs to be somewhere new... but I feel this is fairly relevant. If you already have VDL 2.5, you're on a budget, and write for more than just the marching world... do you go for the Garritan Marching/Concert Library or are the sounds in Garritan Personal orchestra suitable for marching as well. Granted some things will be missing (saxes), but are the other brass and woodwind sounds good enough to give you an accurate portrayal of your writing? Thanks! Peace...

Sibelius 5 comes with an improved set of built-in sounds called ";essentials."; It includes a few sounds from GPO and Garritan's CoMB, as well as (VDL). It's a step up from Gold to be sure.

Vienna Instruments are very popular among the pros, but as stated earlier, they're expensive. I've used EWQLSO Gold XP for some of my projects, and do enjoy it quite a bit. However many of these types of libraries are broken out into different articulations, so sometimes you need to switch patches to go from (for example) legato to staccato, or open to muted, etc. Expression tends to be handled differently from developer to developer as well. So sustained dynamics sometimes require you to control cres/dim expression with the mod wheel (CC1) or Expression controller (CC11). This isn't really a problem if you're working in a DAW, but in Sibelius or Finale it can tie your hands a bit. Project Sam makes some outstanding products as well.

If you're looking for something inexpensive, Garritan and Kirk Hunter are good choices to look into. Just be sure to know how patches are controlled, especially if your intent is to load them into Sibelius or Finale. Working in that environment can limit your control over certain functionalities that the libraries require, unless you're aware of how their various controllers are implemented.

If you can't spring the money for some of the more expensive sample libraries, check out some of the MOTU or East West libraries.

Mixing techniques play hard into making believable tracks.

Using a good balance of compression, EQ, reverb, delay, panning, and balance will make or break your mix.

Jim,

Have there been many bugs with Sibelius 5?  I am going to upgrade, but wanted to wait until most bugs were fixed.  Have you heard anything?

Thanks,

Dennis

[quote author=cavies79 link=topic=2035.msg10338#msg10338 date=1192289355]
Jim,

Have there been many bugs with Sibelius 5?�� I am going to upgrade, but wanted to wait until most bugs were fixed.�� Have you heard anything?

Thanks,

Dennis
[/quote]

Sibelius 5 actually works as it should. I wouldn't call them ";bugs"; per se, but there are some features that are being enhanced to add an extra level of functionality, which will be of particular importance to using VDL with SoundWorld (their new playback system). These things will be a part of an upcoming update, which will be available for free for all 5.0 users. So I wouldn't hold back on getting v5. Just go into it knowing that there will be a new, upcoming VDL template that makes good use of the new Soundworld functionality, and the method in which you work will be slightly different (though more efficient) than what you're already familiar with in Sibelius 4. As to [i]when[/i] this template will be available, that's mainly dependent on when Sibelius releases their next update. It'll follow shortly after that update is released.

http://www.soundsonline.com/EWQLSO-Silver-Bundle-pr-EW-161PROB1.html

$200

Hey Drumcat,

I listened to the EWQLSO Silver.  Wow, I really liked those sounds.  I am really thinking of purchasing this one.

To me, it's the best inexpensive library.  I have Platinum, and to me, it's just awesome.  The Silver license as cheap as it is now...  it's quite a bargain.

Make sure you try the sample that's ";all silver"; -- those samples are mostly done with platinum, but really there's very, very little difference.

Quick question.  Does the silver orchestra work well with Sibelius?  Do you use it in the same manner that you use kontakt gold?

No; it's not quite so automatic.  It works exactly like VDL2 works, minus the noteheads.  Well, I guess it depends on your version of Sibelius...  anyhow, just like VDL2, you choose the instrument and channel.  Unlike Gold, there's nothing ";automatic"; with instrument selection.

Got it.  Thanks.

I think I might be purchasing this software shortly.

Dennis