Westgate Studios - Woodwinds
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Prologue
Products by Westgate Studios are not very well known, yet it does not diminish their quality in any way. Westgate Studios, founded in 2005 set a milestone in sample library development by being one of the first to introduce true legato in their woodwind packages. Unfortunately they went out of bussiness in 2010 and all their products are being sold on Big Fish Audio.

Introduction
Westgate studios sampled all essential instuments of woodwind family, including the less common Contrabassoon, Bass Clarinet and Eb Clarinet. All their libraries were recorded in anecholic chamber, unlike Sample Modeling though, the samples are not morphed or modeled, and thus you're getting a bit less control over the sound, however considering what's in the package, the 'loss' is negligent at best.
Westgate studios meticulously recorded all their libraries in as much as 5 velocity layers, providing you with staccatissimo, staccato, marcato, trills, flutter and repetitions in nearly every package. The samples are not looped, so the notes cannot be played indefinitely.
There are total of 10 instruments and 3 combined sections:

• C Flute
• Alto Flute
• Piccolo
• Flute section a3
  
• Oboe
• English horn
• Oboe section a3
  
• Eb Clarinet
• Bb Clarinet
• Bass Clarinet
• Contrabass Clarinet
  
• Bassoon
• Contrabassoon
• Bassoon section a3

Specification and Layout
Westgate libraries use single patch for each articulation, but thanks to 'unnamed' developer, and Nils Liberg all the necessary articulations were merged into single patch.


Fig. 1 - New Leg-Shorts patch


Fig. 2 - Original Oboe legato patch

The new Leg-Short patch provides with much higher degree of control, allows for trills/flutter transitions, true legato playing with switchable attacks and short notes, activated with sustain pedal. These new patches really simplifies playing and sequencing.
These patches also include continuous vibrato control which lets you mix exactly how much of it you want. It's even possible to control vibrato through aftertouch or pitchbend. Great!

As with Sample Modeling, a good convolution reverb and IR are absolute necessity to create realistic renditions. In this case, less spacy room such as Teldex will be more appropriate.

Fig. 3 - Key trills
Trills can be also performed based on the key. Just hit those cyan keyswitches and then use D#1 to activate it.

Even though Westgates are dry as a bone, with right reverb they do sound very nice. The Eb Clarinet in particular is one of the best available.
It might however get static over time as no sustain repetitions are implemented.
The shorts sound quite unnatural as well, therefore I'd advise to use only sustains and staccato attacks for shorts.

Problems & Drawbacks
Apart from the somewhat static sound, I've found no problems in these libraries. Surprise!

Conclusion
Westgate libraries, though quite unknown were a huge leap in sampling as they feature true legato. The original patches were good, but might not be tailored for everybody. New Leg-short patches simplified this a lot by combining nearly all features into single patch for each instrument.
The leg-shorts also come with on-the-fly vibrato control, real-time trills and flutter transitions, allows for quick remapping and enable advanced configuration for easy modification of response curves, overlay volume and setting up a breath controller.
The sound is great, though it might seem still and robotic at times as there are no sustain repetitions. It's a good idea to combine Westgate with another woodwinds such as Berlin Woodwinds.
Overall it's great library and should not miss in your sample repository. It's just 7GB by the way.

PS: Westgate also recorded some more instruments, such as French Horn, Celtic and Concert Harp and Timpani.

Reviewer's rating:
7 out of 10 stars

 

For the static problem, you can always automate some EQ, filter, scripted vibrato, volume and (de)tuning to help hide it.

 

You put these out so fast I'm missing them. Definitely going to be spending more time in this new section. *yes*