East West

[Alan]

Santa says I haven’t been too bad this year, so he may bring me East West QLSO Platinum complete (24bit only).

Any opinions on this? The demo sounds great to me. Much better than what I have (Garritan, MOTU, Reason 6 and Sonar X2).

Are there any licensing limitations I should be aware of? I noticed that Crucial asks if East West samples were used in the submission process.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[yzzman1]

This is of course my opinion only – but I have both EWSO and East West’s Hollywood Strings and Brass Collections.  (don’t have Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds yet).  I use their Hollywood software libraries a lot more than East West Symphonic Orchestra.  That may just be me though.  There is of course a difference in pricing – and if you get EWSO you will surely not be disappointed in it’s quality.  It’s very good.  Does require an iLok key though.

Chris

[MichaelL]

Hi Alan,

A lot depends on the kind of music that you write. EW is really geared toward a BIG cinematic sound. If that’s what you’re going for EWQLSO is fine, but remember it’s almost 10 years old.  If you write more intimate works, I’d perhaps look elsewhere. I have LASS, Symphobia and Cinebrass, and find that I don’t use EWQLSO very much.

I thought about  picking up HS and HB while they’re on sale, but I’m Mac based, and have read that HS, in particular, and Play function much better on a PC. Maybe Chris can address this issue.

But, to answer your question, EWQLSO Platinum is in a completely different league than Garritan and your other sound sources.

Cheers,

Michael

 

[Tony A]

From the POV of a person who is not primarily an orchestral composer, but has used the EWQL string libraries to write less intense orchestral works at times, I find them to require quite a bit of work to sound as good as those demos on the site. You really have to spend the time to mix and process them as if you’re working with a real orchestra and not rely on the software to help with realism to any major extent. MIDI editing to get the best out of the articulations and proper dynamics is pretty much mandatory because real-time keyswitches and use of the mod wheel probably aren’t going to cut it across the board. If you are not someone with a good degree of formal training in orchestral arrangement and conducting, and don’t have the engineering chops in the mixing department when it comes to working with a live orchestra, prepare to be exposed.

However, for people doing the type of work I generally do, Project SAM’s Orchestral Essentials is sufficient and considerably less expensive. They are processed to my taste, combine orchestral sections well, provide great orchestral effect simulations, and work well with hybrid works. I’ve been known to mix OE and EWQL Gold, but much prefer OE’s sound. I only use EWQL because I paid for it and might as well use it. I just don’t have the time to spend on making the EWQL strings work for me on their own. Keep in mind against, that I am not primarily an orchestral guy.

If you have the money, skills and mainly compose for full orchestras, my opinion is to forget EWQL string libraries and step way up to Synthobia, also by Project SAM. As stated previously by another person, EWQL is getting on in years and I suspect you’ll find Synthobia more advanced, yet easier to work with, especially when doing runs and things of that nature. The only reason I don’t own Synthobia is the expense. Otherwise, I’d go for it and hope for some inspiration to go deeper into orchestral work as I do enjoy working in that genre from time to time. As for EWQL in general, I personally find EWQL products to be overrated. Although I own most of them, I have since found products in each area that beat all of them individually.

I hope that helps…

TA

[woodsdenis]

East West QLSO  is very dated, if its general orchestral Symphobia is a great all rounder, big section sound. If you compose full orchestra mockups then its a whole different ball game, you are talking Lass, Cinesamples etc. East West QLSO really wouldn’t cut it today in that company.

For general orchestra additions to tracks Project SAM’s Orchestral Essentials has got great reviews, I would definitely check that out before East West QLSO. I have East West QLSO and it really sounds tame compared to what the newer developers are doing and indeed East West’s own newer libraries .

[Alan]

Thanks for all the great input guys! It is appreciated. I think I will do a lot more research before I decide what to get. If any of you want to give more advice, here is what I’m after:

I write in several genres, but my quirky/funny stuff seems to do best.

I play trombone and generally blend that in with sample horns, sometimes it can be pretty convincing with 3 and 4 horn swing tracks.

I’m pretty good with winds (big band jazz, etc) so I need excellent brass and WW samples

I don’t do big orchestral stuff very well, but when I do use strings I really want excellence. I especially want good solo strings

Cheers!

[MichaelL]

@ Alan..you play trombone? I’m sorry. (I think we’ve been down this road before).

If it hasn’t been mentioned Spitfire has excellent solo strings. LASS has very good first chair strings that can be used as solo strings, with a little work. 8dio also has solo strings.

You might want to read this thread: http://vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27353&highlight=solo+strings&sid=27772f279b2c0131312979f2f28440a5

In the really reasonably priced category: http://www.focusounds.com/instruments.html

For brass that can cut big band jazz, look at Sample Modeling. http://www.samplemodeling.com/en/products.php  and Fable Sounds http://www.fablesounds.com/  Sample Modeling can be especially convincing if you use a wind controller.

Happy Shopping!

Cheers,

Michael

[woodsdenis]

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/

 

Is a great resource for all things sample based.  The definition of what is good, or not ,varies a lot to put it mildly.

[Alan]

@ MichaelL

HA, I’ve never heard a trombone joke before … ;~)

Be warned my friend, we “bone heads” are a tight knit group. With one phone call I can see to it that you never get your pizza delivered again.  Never, ever, anywhere in the world …

Thanks for the tips, I’ll look into all of these.

Cheers!

[MichaelL]

Be warned my friend, we “bone heads” are a tight knit group. With one phone call I can see to it that you never get your pizza delivered again.  Never, ever, anywhere in the world …

Hence the old joke:

How do you get a trombone player off your porch? Pay him for the pizza!

BTW…I really do love trombone.

Here’s a string freebie:

http://embertone.com/freebies/intstrings-lite.php

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

[Alan]

Thanks MichaelL,

I checked out Fable Sounds Broadway Big Band and clicked buy it now. Then I saw the price tag. Unfortunately, I’ll need a few more placements on “My Big Fat Redneck Vacation” before I’m in the market for that one! HA

I just sent Art my project from yesterday. Keep and eye on MLR Jukebox

Cheers!

[JunL]

I’ve been using EWQLSO(PE) Play edition for years and it’s the only strings or orchestra vsti I have. Sound quality is good. I think sound quality of EWQLSO is good enough to use now and for ever.

One thing I desire is “ease of use” and it means it takes some time to learn whole product and also means it feel like manual and slow instead of auto and fast. Although EWQLSO is not an inconvinient product but many vstis that are released recently may have more convenient features than old products.
I’ve been using EWQLSO(PE) Play edition for years and it’s the only strings or orchestra vsti I have.

[yzzman1]

Don’t have issues with the Hollywood libraries on my mac – I don’t use a pc though so I can’t chime in on if it functions better on pc.

[Chris]

I have not had to tweak the EastWest samples much to get them to sound good – other than adding reverb.  It’s necessary to be well versed in articulations but other than that I find it pretty easy to use out of the box.  Some of my biggest sellers as far as licensing is concerned use EastWest orchestral sounds that are right outta the box.

I am sure, however that many other orchestral sample libraries are just as good.

[alicehive]

Thanks for the tips! At the moment I’m also pondering which kind of orchestra vsti I’m going to buy. Seems like projectsam would be the better option for me as I don’t have any real experience with orchestra music.

[Author]

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