Orchestral sample libraries have come on in leaps and bounds since the early days of computer-based music production, when hard disk-streaming and limited processing resources were severely restricting factors, and these days it’s hard to go wrong with any modern option when it comes to all the things that matter: technical capability, size, perceived authenticity, depth and sheer audio quality. With so many amazing options on the market at such a wide range of price points, though, deciding which one to plump for can be quite a challenge, so here are five orchestral virtual instruments that we reckon deserve every scoring composer’s attention in 2023.
EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition
EastWest’s Hollywood series of orchestral libraries has long been a mainstay for scoring artists the world over, and Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition not only brings the whole lot (Hollywood Strings, Brass, Woodwinds, Orchestral Percussion, Solo Violin, Solo Cellos and Solo Harp) together, but also adds a whopping 130GB of new material, totalling 944GB of primo symphonic sounds. Playback and editing is handled by the superb Opus instrument, which provides deep control over articulation selection and switching, mic balancing, channel mixing, tuning, envelope shaping and effects, and features the brilliant Hollywood Orchestrator engine, which enables full and complex arrangements – drawing on all sounds from the entire library – to be effortlessly performed and sequenced via simple chordal MIDI input.
Needless to say, the breadth and scope of the ensemble configurations and articulations on offer in this vast repository are as close to limitless as you’re ever likely to find, and there’s no cinematic scoring task that you couldn’t confidently tackle with it by your side. For what you get, it’s not that expensive, either. Absolutely stunning.
Vienna Symphonic Library Symphonic Cube
VSL’s equivalent to Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition might be comparatively svelte at ‘just’ 375GB of sample content, but it’s no less effective in the hands of the skilled composer. Taking in all ten Vienna Instruments Collections (Solo Strings, Chamber Strings, Orchestral Strings I and II, Brass I and II, Woodwinds I and II, Harps and Percussion), Symphonic Cube is known for its stellar recording quality, matchless consistency, copious articulations and breathtaking detail. And while the Vienna Instruments Pro playback instrument might not be much of a looker compared to the sexier competition, it’s packed with powerful editing, sequencing and processing features and works well.
An amazing set of libraries with a legendary pedigree, albeit sitting at the more expensive end of the market.
IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik 2
Produced by “sampling visionary” Miroslav Vitous, IK’s self-contained virtual orchestra is built on the company’s SampleTank engine and weighs in at a mere 58GB, 6GB of which is the original Philharmonik soundbank, carried over from version 1. The full orchestra is covered – strings, brass, winds, percussion (untuned and tuned) – plus piano, harpsichord, choirs and various other sundries, and up to 16 parts can be programmed and mixed in a single instance, then comprehensively edited and polished with over 30 effects lifted from the excellent T-RackS system.
Each instrument type is presented in all the expected ensemble configurations as well as its various solo constituents, you get a huge array of articulations within each one, and if you just need to call up an entire orchestra, string, brass or wind ensemble at a click, ten lovingly crafted Multi presets have you covered. Most importantly, the whole thing sounds incredible – instantly mix-ready, as they say. The only downer is that, while the rest of the multisample sets were massively upgraded for Philharmonik 2, the untuned percussion and timpani are unchanged from v1. They still sound great, though.
Relatively compact, beautifully produced and a joy to use, Philharmonik 2 is an unarguable bargain at its current price.
UJAM Symphonic Elements Bundle
Making even lighter work of cooking up convincing orchestral parts than Philharmonik 2, UJAM’s triple-pack of phrase-based instruments will have you blasting out cinematic brass, string and percussion lines with the minimum of input. The trio in question comprises Braaass, Striiiiings and Drums, and the samples behind them were sourced from the personal collection of Hans Zimmer, no less. The workflow is consistent between the three, with the titular instrument sections divided into mixable Low and High sections for easy accessibility, a good variety of playing styles rolled into each one, and phrases played and navigated by holding down chords and hitting keyswitches. Plenty of spectacular effects processing is on hand, too, through the one-knob Character, Motion FX and Finisher modules, and filter and reverb macros.
With Zimmer at the helm, top-notch production is a given, of course, and the streamlined interfaces get you where you want to be in no time at all; but there’s also a level of diversity to Symphonic Elements’ output that opens its three plugins up to deployment across all manner of media.
Sonokinetic Da Capo
Meanwhile, back on thriftier ground, Sonokinetic’s 10GB library loads in Native Instruments’ Kontakt or free Kontakt Player sampler, and serves up a full orchestra of string (52 players), brass (eight players), woodwind (ten players) and percussion (two players) sections. You can load the ‘All Sections’ NKI to access all four sections together in a single interface, or fire up separate per-section NKIs, each one housing three or four independently adjustable instrument types – violins, violas, celli and basses, for example – with independent articulation selection. Da Capo doesn’t compete with the others here on the articulations front, delivering nothing more than the basics (sustain, legato, marcato, pizzicato, etc), but four microphone channels are in play (Close, Decca, Wide, Balcony), the simplicity of the setup makes the interface supremely intuitive and easy to negotiate, and it sounds fantastic, with an earthiness and energy that really grabs the ear.
What virtual instruments do you rely on in your scoring endeavours? Let us know in the comments.