Originally Posted by dcuny
This is an old library, and it's the last time it'll be offered before its retired. It's nowhere near $500 in value.

I picked it up at $50 because I figured I could probably use the romantic solo violin at some point. Plus, I like the sound of some of the string sections. The sections can be reduced in size, which is nice.

The woodwinds aren't very good. The brass might be usable - there's some fun stuff in there, like french horn sections with rips.

Keep in mind - it's very much orchestral in sound. For most pop music, you'll want something that sounds close miked and intimate. Orchestral in just the opposite. And the sounds aren't detailed, so you probably won't be able to get a "room" sort of sound with it.

So if you like the sound of the strings, it's a good purchase. Otherwise, I'd suggest passing.


Originally Posted by dcuny
If you've got Kontakt, you've probably got the Kontakt Factory Library and Kontakt Factory 2, both of which have some very nice instruments.

Most of the holiday sales are over, so libraries like [https://www.audioimperia.com/product/nucleus-lite-edition/]Nucleus Lite[/url] are back to full price. These are limited (similar to BBC) to sections so they lack soloists. And they tend to be bombastic, which limits their usability.

Red Room Audio has a free library called Palette Primary Colors that contains sections (strings/brass/woodwinds) that you might find useful. It's not intimate, but it's nice.

You might check out Solid State Symphony by Indiginus. It's an synthetic orchestra library, but the sections can be layered with your existing libraries, so you might find it useful.

If you don't mind working with notation, MuseScore is a free notation program that has some very good orchestral instruments. But... it's notation-based, which is a whole new set of software to learn. Here's an example of what it can sound like:



Thanks, David.

This is what I was asking for - an intelligent, informed answer.

I thought the question was actually fairly easy to understand.

Since I don't use this type software extensively - or even enough to have an informed opinion - I did not know how This Particular orchestra software was perceived (in the orchestral community, so to speak).

I figured if it was a tried-and-true-old-standard that everyone loved, it would be a good $50 buy.
Both you and Mario suggested it was not the right purchase (with that in mind). Thanks!

And thanks for the other suggestions to look into...

150+ Songs produced using BIAB RealTracks
And 50 more...
and some more...