CSS of course, but I’m surprised to see it in S tier. I think the sample delay is enough to drive some away from it. Best sound and most expansive usage, but not for beginners in my opinion!
@@curtv3 I actually agree with you. Until recently, CSS was my go-to library. Only now I find myself going for Pacific Ensemble Strings a lot more. But for me, I have gotten used to the delay in CSS, but I can imagine it being hard for beginners to wrap their heads around it. I wouldn't say it's a good beginner library for that main reason. Also an advantage that you get with Pacific is that you also get the Pacific Solo Strings when that releases if you own Pacific Ensemble Strings.
In my honest opinion, CineStrings Core is quite useful and unique for every Film Scores. But what I love more about are Pacific Strings, Spitfire Symphonic Strings, and Spitfire Chamber Strings. One day if I get them, I could use more and more for anything.
Cinematic Studio Strings is just nuts for the price. I have it and their Winds library. Cinebrass has been my go-to for a long time but lately I've been wishing I had their brass! Their consistency across and within their libraries is just amazing. Well deserving of S-tier.
I own CSS, Afflatus, and Pacific Ensemble Strings. Pacific Ensemble Strings has become my bread and butter, I just really love it. My experience was the same as yours that as soon as you play it just immediately sounds wonderful, like truly big and expressive and epic. Love writing with it, love the lushness, love the fact that I don't have to figure out the negative track delay, and love how simple it is. Really great stuff. Truly an inspiring string library.
@@cachelesssociety5187 I think they sound really beautiful, but honestly I haven't felt the desire for anything else string wise since pacific. Also I tend to prefer larger section sizes.
Afflatus, three section different libraries(like chamber, medium and symphonic, for medium definitely CSS, I have Tokyo Scoring Strings for chamber), literally nothing from Spitfire. CineStrings Core is a no go too, due to weird legato transitions in violas on ff.
It depends on how rich the beginner is. Spitfire Originals and Areia Lite are certainly very good first candidates. By no means rush, the best strategy is to wait and buy tools on sale! I would then add some library from 8dio (Anthology) and full Kontakt. BBC SO Core is the next good option.
Yeah budget always needs to be considered. I made a similar Tier List video on the best all-in-one orchestral libraries for beginners: ruclips.net/video/HgzCiH0OBC4/видео.html Like BBCSO Core, Nucleus etc. :)
@@KevinKuschel Yes, I have seen your helpful video before. I think it's best for a beginner to buy a full orchestral package at a discount like the mentioned BBC SO Core, Nucleus or Iconica Ensembles or full Kontakt with "free" orchestral package or "just" freebies like BBC SO Discovery, Orchestral Tools Layers and Helix strings. In one of your videos, where there was a test of five libraries, you yourself showed that even with a small budget it is possible to do miracles. It just depends on a person's abilities and time options. In any case, thank you for your very informative videos!
Fortunately I am no longer a beginner, not because it is unattractive to be at the beginning, but I would again be faced with this difficult decision to buy the right string library, which first has to serve for a long time until one can afford the next step. But Cinematic Studio Strings came along at just the right time and they had me! I still thought it over and over again, but in the end it had to be the CSS. But it doesn't end with the strings: Woodwinds, brass and percussion are also needed. Still, I continued to use the brass instruments from the Kontakt Factory library for another year. At that time, it was still Komplete 11 or even 10, i.e. there were no good orchestral libraries made y NI. But then the realisation hit: an upgrade is necessary! So I mustered up all my courage and, partly because I was megalomaniac, bought the complete woodwind package from Orchestral Tools. I spent a lot of money, but it was the best decision at the time! I was aware that I would have to give up brass for the time being if I were to treat myself to the entire woodwind package, but I couldn't help it. This circumstance led to "interesting" orchestrations in order to avoid the bad brass from the Kontakt Factory library, resp. to only have to use it in case of doubt. Fortunately, there was and is the "Carver Low Bassoon Ensemble" in the SFX expansion pack consisting of 3 bassoons and 3 contrabassoons sampled in octaves. That's proper blowing! You can replace low brass with this if it doesn't have to blare with the specific sound. Luckily, half a year later, I bought the CineBrass Pro bundle when it was on sale on Black Friday. If we leave out the Komplete bundle, whose instruments I hardly used, apart from the synthesizers and percussion, because they were hardly useful for me, except to get to know Kontakt. So in conclusion my beginner libraries were: CSS, BWW, CB Pro and percussion from the Kontakt Factory library. Fortunately, I have now reached a point where I have several libraries for the same instruments in order to have the right sound for every occasion. This also includes those that are purpose-specific, e.g. Time Macro and Micro. But still, I keep going back to my first libraries because I made the right purchasing decisions. You can still use CSS as a professional, BWW and CB Pro anyway. Only when it comes to percussion, I don't go back to Kontakt Factory and rely on Berlin Percussion and the Metropolis Ark series. But looking back, it's interesting to see how everything started with a string library and how the other instrument groups of the orchestra were added linearly, like a red thread, and formed my foundation and how my arsenal then fanned out. If I were to paint the process, it would look like a tree.
EDIT: addendum: I find that the Orig!nals series are good add-on libraries for small money for beginners. You can afford them in between and still save up for the next big library. The introduction of this library is one of the best decisions Spitfire Audio has made in recent years. Last but not least, I would like to give all beginners a tip: try to know your libraries as well as possible; try to make a lot out of a little! Even from bad sounding samples you can still get a lot out of them, and that's the only way to learn the craft. Only when you have mastered this part, buy the next better library and apply the same principle there. Just because a library sounds good when it's freshly unpacked doesn't mean it can't be improved, but having an ear and the skills to do so is only possible if you've practised with bad(er) sounding ones beforehand. Last but not least, I would like to give all beginners a tip: try to know your libraries as well as possible; try to make a lot out of a little! Even from bad sounding samples you can still get a lot out of them, and that's the only way to learn the craft. Only when you have mastered this part, buy the next better library and apply the same principle there. Just because a library sounds good when it's freshly unpacked doesn't mean it can't be improved, but having an ear and the skills to do so is only possible if you've practised with bad(er) sounding ones beforehand. Then you can also start to deal with it creatively. Get some free sample libraries and try to use them as effectively and efficiently as possible. Only with these steps will you be able to be really good at it and find your own style.
I really don’t like this idea. Piano are super contextual and I really couldn’t pick one for beginners other then keyscape (which is extremely expensive).
That's a very useful video, thank you very much. I agree with most of your choices, however I would have liked to see included a few other libraries such as Spitfire Audio Abbey Road One (e.g. Legendary Low Strings and Soaring High Strings), 8dio Majestica, Anthology or Century Strings, Sonuscore Strings of Winter, maybe some EastWest or ProjectSAM libraries... I think there may be enough material there for a part 2?... 😉Once again thank you for all the work you put into these videos, much appreciated! Take care, all the best.
Just watched the whole video, huge congrats for making this!! It definitely takes balls to make a video like this. I think you did a really great job, you got great arguments for your choices, which is why I definitely think it's worth watching the entire video. I'm also really interested in seeing a version for more experienced composers, hopefully there we can see Vista up in S tier lol. Anyways, really cool video, very helpful for beginners! ❤
This was such a great video man, so much effort input. It would be sooo pleasing to see the guide for more advanced composers. Don't really think there's a need to put that much effort into making an "in between list" for someone who's somewhere between newbie and advanced level in composing, as in my own experience anyone who's interested in virtual composing and starts with recommendations like yours, put some money into that and realise that they will linger for a little longer as they're "hooked" the next step for them would be to start investing into something that "pro's" use and not to waste money on something that is "in between" (just one man's opinion). p.s would be nice to see your lists and commentary on all instruments, not just strings (I think today's starting composers are kinda too focused on the past and how the "older" generation did stuff - ONLY orchestral and string sounds when actually we're getting into more modern and contemporary times and as in some best of game, media, film projects we can hear that strings can be a complementary thing and not the main thing anymore. You did such a good job here that it would be really cool to see those lists for drums, guitar, bass, synths, piano, sound design, ambient pads and so on. One more time - amazing job.
For Max Richter, Ludovicio Einaudi, Olafur Arnalds, Craig Armstrong, Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of the birds would something like spitfire chamber strings / spitfire intimate / areia lite be the best?
An excellebt comparative review. You manage to describe your condensed reviews really well. The best resource for the beginner, but very useful for the more experienced composer as well. Thank you, you have put a lot of work into this, and you have created a highly wothwhile resource.
I’d go for modeled strings like Samplemodeling Strings because they’re much more flexible for live playing (e.g not having to change articulations for long and short notes).
This is one of the best orchestral sample reviews on RUclips! Thankfully I already purchased Spitfire Chamber Strings but I am looking for the best legato sound I can get - also I fell in love with what I heard in a demo of Cinematic Studio Woodwinds (If I'm not mistaken it is capable of impressive realism), so I could be about to buy Cinematic Studio Strings or Woodwinds or both. (I'm checking out the demos on Vista II though. Maybe it will be so good I'll need to reconsider. Now, please tell me why no Eastwest Hollywood Strings / Opus version was mentioned?
I was very confused😢 Between cinematic studio strings , Nashville scoring strings and Tokyo strings Help me please Which one is better for epic orchestra music ?
I believe in well programmed legato patches that also incorporate short notes. It is where most of the writing happens. That is where CSS shines. Libs that have a ton of inconsistent articulation patches that don't match each other are a total deal breaker for me. - Berlin for example - what a mess....
I bought it in that sale. For me it's a massive S tier. In my opinion it's the most versitile and detailed string library on the market. On top of that they update it once in a while and it gets even better over time. I can't go wrong with orchestral tools.
How could you put Berlin Strings below Cinematic Studio Strings? The amount of articulations in Berlin Strings is mind-blowing. Hand down! The best strings library on the market. Now it's 50% off!
Spitfire Chamber Strings does have more articulation than CSS, but, for example usual tremolo there is soooo tonally dirty, not too mention that we don't use those special articulations everywhere
@@LucasBurnMusic Yes, but CSS is better because it's more versatile. You're always gonna use some trems, shorts, legatos, harmonics, etc., and in CSS it's in one of the most consistent package
@@KevinKuschel (with the very rare exceptions:) there no harp ensembles in symphonic/larger orchestras (and orchestral music written). So it's logical it's a SOLO harp ;)
@@LordComradeAnarchoCapitalusMetropolis ark is not a normal orchestra recorded, it's a specialized setup, to achieve that sound it has. (it's very niche, and not realistic for a real orchestra performance on stage e.g.)
Since Vista II is described in terms of "more vibrato restraint than usual PS releases" I don't think the name Vista will mean that it covers exactly similar territory. Because it's on sale for $129 I feel like I should (& probably will in just moments) pick it up for super emotional melodic legato lines. I don't think 'Appasionate Spitfire' is exactly on par - at least in watching composers on RUclips I don't get the sense that I can get the same mileage from that one.
The thing with CSS for me is just that it eats up the ram and i have to be very careful with my arrangement for that reason. I'd only use it when i desperately need a legato section which it shines for its legato.
Yeah it's a good thing to keep in mind. Sadly a lot of them don't run in the free player, although this is on Native Instruments for charging quite a lot of money in order to run it in the free Kontakt. So if you're serious about composing, I would definitely recommend to get Kontakt. Otherwise it's probably smart to look at other options like CSS, Areia or maybe some ORIGINALS.
Don't have it, but I think it's more of a specialist library for modern/cinematic strings rather than a balanced allrounder. Heavyocity has very very nice sound design in general, though.
I'm shocked Modern Scoring Strings isn't on the list. Every section, every articulation, poly legato, divisi in every section, etc.And its fairly cheap. It's not only a perfect beginner library, but can stay as your bread and butter library. Pair it with Afflatus later down the line, and pretty much anything string related is at your fingertips. MSS + Afflatus are still my only main strings libraries. Spitfire stuff has too many inconsistencies - and terrible clicks, pops, bow sounds, and musicians breathing in the samples. Orchestral Tools strings sound WAY to 'harsh' to me - it almost always sounds like someone playing their violin with a razer blade. Audio Imperia stuff can sound nice, but it suffers the same sound issues as Berlin - but at least it allows you to control the vibrato. Cinematic Studio Strings is a nice library, but its BARE-BONES basic. Simple longs and shorts. No Sul Tasto, Flautando, Sul Pont. For the cost, I'd get MSS on sale. You might be able to get by with Cinematic Studio Strings + Spitfire Chamber Strings for that smaller sound and other types of longs, but then you might as well save money and get MSS.
@@mr_don_key It is always difficult to define a value. Always is matter of skills, use case etc. As a starting point it looks good for me for the price. Of course there are much better libraries but more expensive too. If one can spare more money BBC SO Core is better option from Spitfire.
You don't declare what "versatility" means to you (e.g. amount of articulations? what you can control with CC? how many mics?). Same for the "workflow" part: what sub criterias are you are focussing on within workflow? (dongle required? full kontakt needed? how many knobs there are? resizablitiy?) in short: they are both very broad terms what about realism? (or sonic footprint). How about upgrade paths to other libs from the same dev? How about the musical style/genre? (some are more oriented to traditional uses, other more to modern epic) that areia example, is to me telling, you have no clear vision on your own criterias. You say that appassionata is not complete (only longs), resulting in a lower score (for that reason mostly) Areia does have shorts and longs (somehow 2 tiers higher), yet the lite version is higher ranked even higher?! It more limited features, just like appassionata is. It should therefor be ranked lower than Areia (since it's just a teaser in essence). To me that high ranking makes no sense. ("test the waters first" - is no argument for a serious beginner) Yes it's cheaper.. but cheaper is in many cases not better. Also that vista is lower than appassionata, is weird, since vista sounds way better (more alive/real performance sound).. Yet less roomy sounding (no air lyndhurst hall) anyway.. keep it up.. i like your presentation style and see you growing in being a presenter :)
Why NOBODY talks about Modern Scoring Strings is a true mistery to me. Audiobro should have made an infamous marketing about that. My go to string lib since ever, the best with Pacific and CSS.
For some reason, in most examples, even in the official demos, the transitions between notes sound very strange in the Tokyo strings. And the sound of the strings themselves seems rather "cheap" to me. This is clearly a case where there's nothing to do without a manual, there's a lot to figure out how to operate this library. Clearly not my thing.
There will be many a professional who themselves do not use/own many if any of these libraries. You are using professional grade sample libraries for someone who is starting out, a student or hobbyist. There are plenty of free libraries and there is also the DAW libraries like the various versions of Halion for Cubase or the Presonus Soundsets for Studio One. Not everyone has an unlimited budget or the best top computers with unlimited storage space on hard drives tons of RAM and a fast as in 8 or more core CPU. A laptop might be limited to 1Tb and 8Gb Ram so that should also be a critical consideration. IN fact if you were to do a professional library tier list, I wonder what else you would add in? whats missing? erm NOTHING !!!!!
S-Tiers : Best for a Beginner ..... 8Dio Adagio... these are just gorgeous Romantic Strings. 2 Legato types.... It does have 6 solid shorts ... its like a poor mans CSS - that in many ways is better. $60-140 on sale. Oh and it has real Sordinos Arcs and more...
I was going to suggest Century Ensemble Strings as well. Was recently as low as 90 for both Normale and Sordino. Anthology is great too cause you can get the Adagio Strings for quite cheap once you get Anthology. Great for beginners.
Which strings libraries are your S-TIERS? 🎻🏆
CSS of course, but I’m surprised to see it in S tier. I think the sample delay is enough to drive some away from it. Best sound and most expansive usage, but not for beginners in my opinion!
@@curtv3 I actually agree with you. Until recently, CSS was my go-to library. Only now I find myself going for Pacific Ensemble Strings a lot more. But for me, I have gotten used to the delay in CSS, but I can imagine it being hard for beginners to wrap their heads around it. I wouldn't say it's a good beginner library for that main reason. Also an advantage that you get with Pacific is that you also get the Pacific Solo Strings when that releases if you own Pacific Ensemble Strings.
Pacific String
In my honest opinion, CineStrings Core is quite useful and unique for every Film Scores.
But what I love more about are Pacific Strings, Spitfire Symphonic Strings, and Spitfire Chamber Strings.
One day if I get them, I could use more and more for anything.
TSS for sure
Cinematic Studio Strings is just nuts for the price. I have it and their Winds library. Cinebrass has been my go-to for a long time but lately I've been wishing I had their brass! Their consistency across and within their libraries is just amazing. Well deserving of S-tier.
Defo interested in what you mentioned, an intermediate or advanced composer string tier list. Equally for brass, and percussion.
I've recently found my way to instrument libraries RUclips and I'm so happy to see a tier list :)
I own CSS, Afflatus, and Pacific Ensemble Strings. Pacific Ensemble Strings has become my bread and butter, I just really love it. My experience was the same as yours that as soon as you play it just immediately sounds wonderful, like truly big and expressive and epic. Love writing with it, love the lushness, love the fact that I don't have to figure out the negative track delay, and love how simple it is. Really great stuff. Truly an inspiring string library.
What do you think about Vista II demos?
@@cachelesssociety5187 I think they sound really beautiful, but honestly I haven't felt the desire for anything else string wise since pacific. Also I tend to prefer larger section sizes.
@@addd21323 I'm looking at Pacific too. Decision time.
I'm a professional composer and I still use Spitfire Originals Intimate Strings on some occasions, especially with games and media compositions.
If you don’t mind answering, how did you become a professional rather than just making music as a hobby?
Would love to see your strings list for advanced composers!
Afflatus, three section different libraries(like chamber, medium and symphonic, for medium definitely CSS, I have Tokyo Scoring Strings for chamber), literally nothing from Spitfire. CineStrings Core is a no go too, due to weird legato transitions in violas on ff.
I got all of my Cinesamples libraries from their 60% off Memorial Day sale, it was an absolute steal
nice concise video, thanks brother
Already got Areia , and now waiting for the sale of Audio Imperia 🤩
It depends on how rich the beginner is. Spitfire Originals and Areia Lite are certainly very good first candidates. By no means rush, the best strategy is to wait and buy tools on sale! I would then add some library from 8dio (Anthology) and full Kontakt. BBC SO Core is the next good option.
Yeah budget always needs to be considered. I made a similar Tier List video on the best all-in-one orchestral libraries for beginners: ruclips.net/video/HgzCiH0OBC4/видео.html Like BBCSO Core, Nucleus etc. :)
@@KevinKuschel Yes, I have seen your helpful video before. I think it's best for a beginner to buy a full orchestral package at a discount like the mentioned BBC SO Core, Nucleus or Iconica Ensembles or full Kontakt with "free" orchestral package or "just" freebies like BBC SO Discovery, Orchestral Tools Layers and Helix strings. In one of your videos, where there was a test of five libraries, you yourself showed that even with a small budget it is possible to do miracles. It just depends on a person's abilities and time options. In any case, thank you for your very informative videos!
BBCSO is broken
@@Harrysound Please elaborate?
Fortunately I am no longer a beginner, not because it is unattractive to be at the beginning, but I would again be faced with this difficult decision to buy the right string library, which first has to serve for a long time until one can afford the next step. But Cinematic Studio Strings came along at just the right time and they had me! I still thought it over and over again, but in the end it had to be the CSS. But it doesn't end with the strings: Woodwinds, brass and percussion are also needed. Still, I continued to use the brass instruments from the Kontakt Factory library for another year. At that time, it was still Komplete 11 or even 10, i.e. there were no good orchestral libraries made y NI. But then the realisation hit: an upgrade is necessary! So I mustered up all my courage and, partly because I was megalomaniac, bought the complete woodwind package from Orchestral Tools. I spent a lot of money, but it was the best decision at the time! I was aware that I would have to give up brass for the time being if I were to treat myself to the entire woodwind package, but I couldn't help it. This circumstance led to "interesting" orchestrations in order to avoid the bad brass from the Kontakt Factory library, resp. to only have to use it in case of doubt. Fortunately, there was and is the "Carver Low Bassoon Ensemble" in the SFX expansion pack consisting of 3 bassoons and 3 contrabassoons sampled in octaves. That's proper blowing! You can replace low brass with this if it doesn't have to blare with the specific sound. Luckily, half a year later, I bought the CineBrass Pro bundle when it was on sale on Black Friday. If we leave out the Komplete bundle, whose instruments I hardly used, apart from the synthesizers and percussion, because they were hardly useful for me, except to get to know Kontakt.
So in conclusion my beginner libraries were: CSS, BWW, CB Pro and percussion from the Kontakt Factory library.
Fortunately, I have now reached a point where I have several libraries for the same instruments in order to have the right sound for every occasion. This also includes those that are purpose-specific, e.g. Time Macro and Micro. But still, I keep going back to my first libraries because I made the right purchasing decisions. You can still use CSS as a professional, BWW and CB Pro anyway. Only when it comes to percussion, I don't go back to Kontakt Factory and rely on Berlin Percussion and the Metropolis Ark series.
But looking back, it's interesting to see how everything started with a string library and how the other instrument groups of the orchestra were added linearly, like a red thread, and formed my foundation and how my arsenal then fanned out. If I were to paint the process, it would look like a tree.
EDIT: addendum: I find that the Orig!nals series are good add-on libraries for small money for beginners. You can afford them in between and still save up for the next big library. The introduction of this library is one of the best decisions Spitfire Audio has made in recent years.
Last but not least, I would like to give all beginners a tip: try to know your libraries as well as possible; try to make a lot out of a little! Even from bad sounding samples you can still get a lot out of them, and that's the only way to learn the craft. Only when you have mastered this part, buy the next better library and apply the same principle there. Just because a library sounds good when it's freshly unpacked doesn't mean it can't be improved, but having an ear and the skills to do so is only possible if you've practised with bad(er) sounding ones beforehand. Last but not least, I would like to give all beginners a tip: try to know your libraries as well as possible; try to make a lot out of a little! Even from bad sounding samples you can still get a lot out of them, and that's the only way to learn the craft. Only when you have mastered this part, buy the next better library and apply the same principle there. Just because a library sounds good when it's freshly unpacked doesn't mean it can't be improved, but having an ear and the skills to do so is only possible if you've practised with bad(er) sounding ones beforehand. Then you can also start to deal with it creatively. Get some free sample libraries and try to use them as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Only with these steps will you be able to be really good at it and find your own style.
Great vid! Super helpful 👍🏻👍🏻
Can you make a similar video for Percussion and Choir Libraries? :)
Piano Library is probably the most over saturated library on the market, Can you do a tier list on it someday?
I really don’t like this idea. Piano are super contextual and I really couldn’t pick one for beginners other then keyscape (which is extremely expensive).
That's a very useful video, thank you very much. I agree with most of your choices, however I would have liked to see included a few other libraries such as Spitfire Audio Abbey Road One (e.g. Legendary Low Strings and Soaring High Strings), 8dio Majestica, Anthology or Century Strings, Sonuscore Strings of Winter, maybe some EastWest or ProjectSAM libraries... I think there may be enough material there for a part 2?... 😉Once again thank you for all the work you put into these videos, much appreciated! Take care, all the best.
Just watched the whole video, huge congrats for making this!! It definitely takes balls to make a video like this. I think you did a really great job, you got great arguments for your choices, which is why I definitely think it's worth watching the entire video. I'm also really interested in seeing a version for more experienced composers, hopefully there we can see Vista up in S tier lol.
Anyways, really cool video, very helpful for beginners! ❤
Thanks a lot for your support
@@KevinKuschel Of course!! I very glad that I was able to help a little. There were a lot of libraries to compare of course
Thank you so much for your incredibly informative videos!! I appreciate you explaining things so clearly and nuanced!!
Very nice overview. Thank you! Is there a limitation using Areia Lite with Kontakt Player instead of the full version of Kontakt?
No limitation.
@@KevinKuschel Good to know. Thanks a lot!
Just the video I needed. Earned a sub.
Choir libraries for beginners next? ;-)
BTW, what about Chris Hein Strings Compact?
I agree. I'd love to see a choir libraries for beginners too.
Could you review Light and Sound chamber strings on the incirios engine? There are no videos on it, not even from the developer.
This was such a great video man, so much effort input. It would be sooo pleasing to see the guide for more advanced composers. Don't really think there's a need to put that much effort into making an "in between list" for someone who's somewhere between newbie and advanced level in composing, as in my own experience anyone who's interested in virtual composing and starts with recommendations like yours, put some money into that and realise that they will linger for a little longer as they're "hooked" the next step for them would be to start investing into something that "pro's" use and not to waste money on something that is "in between" (just one man's opinion). p.s would be nice to see your lists and commentary on all instruments, not just strings (I think today's starting composers are kinda too focused on the past and how the "older" generation did stuff - ONLY orchestral and string sounds when actually we're getting into more modern and contemporary times and as in some best of game, media, film projects we can hear that strings can be a complementary thing and not the main thing anymore. You did such a good job here that it would be really cool to see those lists for drums, guitar, bass, synths, piano, sound design, ambient pads and so on. One more time - amazing job.
Thanks so much for your feedback! Appreciate it :)
Do you think a combo of Spitfire Chamber Strings Essentials $249 (doesn't have ensamble legatos) and Appassionata be a good choice?
For Max Richter, Ludovicio Einaudi, Olafur Arnalds, Craig Armstrong, Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of the birds would something like spitfire chamber strings / spitfire intimate / areia lite be the best?
Hey Kevin - can you recommend the best brass, woodwind and percussion libraries to go with BBCSO Core as replacements? Thanks for any info!
An excellebt comparative review. You manage to describe your condensed reviews really well. The best resource for the beginner, but very useful for the more experienced composer as well. Thank you, you have put a lot of work into this, and you have created a highly wothwhile resource.
I never see any review for strings vst use for live performance. Can you review it for me?
I’d go for modeled strings like Samplemodeling Strings because they’re much more flexible for live playing (e.g not having to change articulations for long and short notes).
big comparison and even a bigger help :D How about Modern Scoring Strings, ever had the chance to test it?
Thank you! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to test MSS, yet.
This is one of the best orchestral sample reviews on RUclips! Thankfully I already purchased Spitfire Chamber Strings but I am looking for the best legato sound I can get - also I fell in love with what I heard in a demo of Cinematic Studio Woodwinds (If I'm not mistaken it is capable of impressive realism), so I could be about to buy Cinematic Studio Strings or Woodwinds or both. (I'm checking out the demos on Vista II though. Maybe it will be so good I'll need to reconsider. Now, please tell me why no Eastwest Hollywood Strings / Opus version was mentioned?
I was very confused😢
Between cinematic studio strings , Nashville scoring strings and Tokyo strings
Help me please
Which one is better for epic orchestra music ?
🙏 Thank you!
I believe in well programmed legato patches that also incorporate short notes. It is where most of the writing happens. That is where CSS shines. Libs that have a ton of inconsistent articulation patches that don't match each other are a total deal breaker for me. - Berlin for example - what a mess....
Thanks! This is such a helpful overview
What do you think about 8dio Intimate studio strings?
I have cinematic studio strings and yes it’s lovely but very not user friendly
What do you think are the best libraries for minimalism, repetitive music, rebowing, etc?
@kevinKuschel : Berlin Series Main Collections at 50% off (for blackFriday 23) is a massive S list ? or some part of the bundle are not so "good" ?
I bought it in that sale. For me it's a massive S tier. In my opinion it's the most versitile and detailed string library on the market. On top of that they update it once in a while and it gets even better over time. I can't go wrong with orchestral tools.
why are all kontakt libraries?, East west and Uvi has a lot of nice string libraries
How could you put Berlin Strings below Cinematic Studio Strings? The amount of articulations in Berlin Strings is mind-blowing. Hand down! The best strings library on the market. Now it's 50% off!
Spitfire Chamber Strings does have more articulation than CSS, but, for example usual tremolo there is soooo tonally dirty, not too mention that we don't use those special articulations everywhere
@@gooscomposer It depends on what you wanna do I guess.
@@LucasBurnMusic Yes, but CSS is better because it's more versatile. You're always gonna use some trems, shorts, legatos, harmonics, etc., and in CSS it's in one of the most consistent package
What about EW Hollywood strings?
A video like this with Solo Library’s? :)
Very good library ranking, well done! Why didn’t you include Modern Scoring Strings? It’s excellent. Expensive but extremely powerful.
Your list is good. Layer them all! 🥹😂
50 strings libraries... to blend them all.
@@KevinKuschel 😂 Yep!
The harp is included in Pacific Strings because it is a stringed instrument. 😋 So not at all random!
a SOLO harp in Pacific ENSEMBLE strings 🤯
@@KevinKuschel (with the very rare exceptions:) there no harp ensembles in symphonic/larger orchestras (and orchestral music written). So it's logical it's a SOLO harp ;)
@@mr_don_keyMetropolis Ark II: DID SOMEONE SUMMON MY 6 HARP ENSEMBLE?!?!
@@LordComradeAnarchoCapitalusMetropolis ark is not a normal orchestra recorded, it's a specialized setup, to achieve that sound it has. (it's very niche, and not realistic for a real orchestra performance on stage e.g.)
@@LordComradeAnarchoCapitalustroll much? thanks for making me laugh out loud for a minute...
Since Vista II is described in terms of "more vibrato restraint than usual PS releases" I don't think the name Vista will mean that it covers exactly similar territory. Because it's on sale for $129 I feel like I should (& probably will in just moments) pick it up for super emotional melodic legato lines. I don't think 'Appasionate Spitfire' is exactly on par - at least in watching composers on RUclips I don't get the sense that I can get the same mileage from that one.
This is a pretty solid tier list :)
But i have to ask... Dolce review when?
I heard they are working on an update to fix the legatos in Dolce, so we might have to wait a bit more!
Nvm seems like they already did but can't find examples anywhere
The thing with CSS for me is just that it eats up the ram and i have to be very careful with my arrangement for that reason. I'd only use it when i desperately need a legato section which it shines for its legato.
How much RAM do you have?
@@KevinKuschel 12GB. And it is a 7 year-old gaming laptop.
The only reason I don't like Performance Sample's libraries is that they can't run in the free Kontakt player...
Yeah it's a good thing to keep in mind. Sadly a lot of them don't run in the free player, although this is on Native Instruments for charging quite a lot of money in order to run it in the free Kontakt. So if you're serious about composing, I would definitely recommend to get Kontakt. Otherwise it's probably smart to look at other options like CSS, Areia or maybe some ORIGINALS.
What about Soundpaint?
Hi, how do you rate novo library ?
Don't have it, but I think it's more of a specialist library for modern/cinematic strings rather than a balanced allrounder. Heavyocity has very very nice sound design in general, though.
Hello, can anyone please tell me Disney or Cartoon/Animation movie like sounding strings plzzzzzzzz😭
I'm shocked Modern Scoring Strings isn't on the list. Every section, every articulation, poly legato, divisi in every section, etc.And its fairly cheap. It's not only a perfect beginner library, but can stay as your bread and butter library. Pair it with Afflatus later down the line, and pretty much anything string related is at your fingertips. MSS + Afflatus are still my only main strings libraries.
Spitfire stuff has too many inconsistencies - and terrible clicks, pops, bow sounds, and musicians breathing in the samples. Orchestral Tools strings sound WAY to 'harsh' to me - it almost always sounds like someone playing their violin with a razer blade. Audio Imperia stuff can sound nice, but it suffers the same sound issues as Berlin - but at least it allows you to control the vibrato. Cinematic Studio Strings is a nice library, but its BARE-BONES basic. Simple longs and shorts. No Sul Tasto, Flautando, Sul Pont. For the cost, I'd get MSS on sale.
You might be able to get by with Cinematic Studio Strings + Spitfire Chamber Strings for that smaller sound and other types of longs, but then you might as well save money and get MSS.
Why no east-west? It comes with composer's cloud
Cause it's so bad it didn't even make the list 😂
Just kidding. But really it's very hard to use for beginners.
@@svendkorsgaard9599 hard to use or not.. it should be there considering pricepoint (which kevin uses quite a bit for ranking)
Please Review noteperformer 3 ando 4
You did show us Spitfire Studio Strings instead Chamber Strings 😉
But i like this video a lot
Oh sorry. It's only the image, the demo is from Chamber strings and my thoughts, too.
@@KevinKuschel no worries Kevin.
Tought it 😉
Great video 👏🏻
Souring Strings and Adventure Strings are each $129 on sale. Still watching the video so I don't know if that's good.
Had no clue ORIGINALS were this good.
Do you now how good the ORIGINALS orchestra is?
Very good value for the current money.
@@dustintheblacklight define value...
it's very very limited, so your bound to limited composing
@@mr_don_key It is always difficult to define a value. Always is matter of skills, use case etc. As a starting point it looks good for me for the price. Of course there are much better libraries but more expensive too. If one can spare more money BBC SO Core is better option from Spitfire.
No Albion Collosus ?😮
You don't declare what "versatility" means to you (e.g. amount of articulations? what you can control with CC? how many mics?). Same for the "workflow" part: what sub criterias are you are focussing on within workflow? (dongle required? full kontakt needed? how many knobs there are? resizablitiy?) in short: they are both very broad terms
what about realism? (or sonic footprint). How about upgrade paths to other libs from the same dev?
How about the musical style/genre? (some are more oriented to traditional uses, other more to modern epic)
that areia example, is to me telling, you have no clear vision on your own criterias. You say that appassionata is not complete (only longs), resulting in a lower score (for that reason mostly)
Areia does have shorts and longs (somehow 2 tiers higher), yet the lite version is higher ranked even higher?!
It more limited features, just like appassionata is. It should therefor be ranked lower than Areia (since it's just a teaser in essence). To me that high ranking makes no sense. ("test the waters first" - is no argument for a serious beginner)
Yes it's cheaper.. but cheaper is in many cases not better.
Also that vista is lower than appassionata, is weird, since vista sounds way better (more alive/real performance sound).. Yet less roomy sounding (no air lyndhurst hall)
anyway.. keep it up.. i like your presentation style and see you growing in being a presenter :)
Anyones *Top 5* or *Top 10* if these libraries were all the same price ?
Why NOBODY talks about Modern Scoring Strings is a true mistery to me. Audiobro should have made an infamous marketing about that. My go to string lib since ever, the best with Pacific and CSS.
Occasionally it sounds nice, but I notice that I don't hear a lot of people doing it justice. Maybe make a demo of it?
For some reason, in most examples, even in the official demos, the transitions between notes sound very strange in the Tokyo strings. And the sound of the strings themselves seems rather "cheap" to me. This is clearly a case where there's nothing to do without a manual, there's a lot to figure out how to operate this library. Clearly not my thing.
There will be many a professional who themselves do not use/own many if any of these libraries. You are using professional grade sample libraries for someone who is starting out, a student or hobbyist. There are plenty of free libraries and there is also the DAW libraries like the various versions of Halion for Cubase or the Presonus Soundsets for Studio One. Not everyone has an unlimited budget or the best top computers with unlimited storage space on hard drives tons of RAM and a fast as in 8 or more core CPU. A laptop might be limited to 1Tb and 8Gb Ram so that should also be a critical consideration. IN fact if you were to do a professional library tier list, I wonder what else you would add in? whats missing? erm NOTHING !!!!!
S-Tiers : Best for a Beginner ..... 8Dio Adagio... these are just gorgeous Romantic Strings. 2 Legato types.... It does have 6 solid shorts ... its like a poor mans CSS - that in many ways is better. $60-140 on sale. Oh and it has real Sordinos Arcs and more...
I was going to suggest Century Ensemble Strings as well. Was recently as low as 90 for both Normale and Sordino. Anthology is great too cause you can get the Adagio Strings for quite cheap once you get Anthology. Great for beginners.
@@5ammy13 8dio is really a great sound array and value!
Yes, but a beginner has to invest more money and buy full Kontakt..
@@5ammy13 I understood that the new Anthology is built on Adagio libraries? Am I wrong?
@@dustintheblacklight yeah that is a good point. And a beginner probably would not know how to time the sales.