Hello,

I'm starting to get into the DAWs and composing world. My idea is combining beat composition with cinema/videogames composition. That's why I chose Cubase to start with (and because I bought a Zoom recorder which came with a license).

Of course, I am no professional and, at least for this moment, I'm not gonna sell anything that I can create with the DAW. But, for getting into the world of audiovisual composition, I want the best orchestra libraries I can get for free, downloading them.

I looked for VSL, which are the more complete libraries, but they seem almost uncrackable because of the eLicenser. I got to download one version of it but it looks old AF, because it comes with the VSL Performance Tool (which hasn't been used for, like, thirteen years or so) and even I also downloaded Vienna Ensemble Pro, I have no way to connect the libraries to that, nor to the Performance Tool, nor to any plugin to play them on the Cubase.

I dunno what to do to get some orchestral material to start with. Can anyone help me with this? Thank you very much!

 

I am on the same exact boat and decided to chime in. I would like to get into video game music after a past of being a band musician.

There is no substitute to trying them out, but what I can tell you is that with time - I was told by people with opinions I trust and I am learning from - that after a while you will develop an ear for what works and what not. Obviously it's going to take time and trial and error. Don't go out and buy stuff on a frenzy but on the other hand don't swamp yourself in everything.. once you "get them all" and try them, make sure you commit to something and trash the rest.

One tip I have been hearing a lot is that a lot of pros combine a couple libraries together, so maybe in your tests try and see what works with others. Something a bit dry and "too direct and fake" might work amazingly well with something with more ambience. This is easier to spot: some libraries just don't add up and others just blend perfectly.. and you will miss using only one of those.

Even if you end up using one of the two libraries you pick, it will be a good way of shooting them out against each other.

Luckily a lot of web sites and people are helping through videos, go on YouTube or on company web sites and get your ears out to spot some tests.. brand sites tend to have a bit too "marketing" sound (= better than it is in our own hands) but ProjectSAM, Heavyocity and Spitfire have great tutorials. I think EastWest does too. You can check out real people using them like Todd Edwards, Fuseroom (they're making a video game scoring series on Twitch), Steve Steele, The Producer Network or Tall Tree Audio.

I am not a fan of all the above but I use them anyway to get how they like to think and adapt those opinions and tests to my own method. Still better than buying something and then regretting it or spending hours and hours to download something that sounds "off" to our purpose!

Good luck!

 

eastwest is gone free for few months .. with edu ID of course, or why dont you try the free version of versilian orchetra ? or spitfire labs

 

https://vis.versilstudios.com/vsco-community.html

 

Spitfire, definitely. There's some quality 8dio stuff out there, too. There's Berlin series and CineSamples as well.

 

There is no such thing as cracked orchestra or instrument or library. It's about the platform (like Kontakt) that loads these libraries that can have a cracked version.

 

Just get Kontakt and any number of decent orchestral libraries. I score film, so I wound up grabbing all four Symphobias, True Strike 1, Jaeger, Majestica, Ethno World Pro 6 and the main three 8Dio choirs, plus all the Embertone solo string libraries. There's a few other decent libraries out there, like the Metropolis Ark series (depending on how much hard drive space you're willing to part with!). If you can't whip up a decent score with just those, VSL won't help.

 

Hi! Well, all of your responses are very helpful, and they came so fast. Thank you very much! I think I have enough with everything you recommended. What a nice forum I just discovered.

Thanks again!

 

These are free and very good from ProjectSAM
https://projectsam.com/library-category/the-free-orchestra/

SonusScore have free Orchestra chords, very nice
https://sonuscore.com/free-orchestra-chords/
And they have these on a flash sale for the next day. I picked them up and they are great for 10 euro
https://sonuscore.com/shop/origins-bundle-vol-1-5/

Check the 'Freebie' section of these guys
https://performancesamples.com/

 

Bought at 10 as well. Thanks for sharing!

 

SWAM by Audio Modeling - but you need to manually assess the orchestra!

 

Spitfire and Orchestral Tools: What else?

 

cinesamples, projectsam

 

LASS. Still have found nothing to compare. Metropolis is decent.

 

I need Vienna Smart Orchestra?

 

The gold standards are pretty much made by Spitfire and Orchestral Tools. OT's Metropolis ARKs are great if you want loud stuff, Spitfire's Albions are great if you want quiet stuff. The aforementioned libraries are great for scoring, but if you want to have more control over individual instruments, you'd have to go for their flagship instruments (Spitfire SSO, OT Berlin Woodwinds, Strings, Brass (not found a new version of OT Berlin Brass yet))

 

Why do i can not find Ethno World 6 (instruments) anywhere??

 

Orcheatral Tools, Fluffy Audio, Strezov, Musical Sampling, Sample Modeling, Spitfire, LASS, 8Dio, Cinesamples,Vir2, Project SAM, The list could be endless because each manufacturer & each library usually has a niche, some have multiple niches.

 

How do you deal with the tuning issues within the sordino patches? I find them unusable without Melodyne fixing things in post.

 

I don't use them... I rarely do actual orchestral arrangements; I'm usually adding strings to people's songs so I don't have a lot of need for the sordino patches. If they were that bad I'd use something else. There are some sketchy intonations here and there in other LASS articulations but they make it sound natural- I've only encountered one or two that really sounded gnarly *lol*