Orchestral Library Suggestions?

[PhospheneProductions]

Salutations!

I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations concerning an orchestral library. I've been doing some research and seem to find allot of the same. My intention is to have a high quality sound library (under $500 preferably) for use in composing classical pieces as well as composure for pop/rock etc... (love me a good background string quartet!)

I've been re-wiring Reason into Pro Tools in the past, and though this works and can get me sheet music for a session player to record, I'd like something a little higher sound quality and which can be mixed right into a song, no real player.

Any suggestions would be allot of help, Ive personally been looking at the Vienna Sound Libraries, they seem pretty good, would love to hear anyone's personal experiences with this or others!

Thanks!
Cheers~

[wren]

I have IK Multimedia Miroslav Phiharmonik (the full version) and I like it quite a bit. Its solo instruments definitely sound better than its ensembles and the samples are quite dry (and its built-in verb sucks), so definitely expect to add a crapton of verb to them if you want it to sound like a "real" orchestra, but other than that it sounds good, is easy to use, and isn't a resource hog. (And it's extremely cheap - much, much cheaper than it sounds.)

On the slightly more expensive (but still within your budget) side: I have a friend who's a sound designer and composer who bought the EastWest Quantum Leap Gypsy and Ra bundles in preparation for a summer full of composing music for Shakespeare plays, and he liked them so much that he told me he bought pretty much all the rest of the Quantum Leap libraries as well as a few of the other EastWest libraries. I haven't seen him in awhile, but I heard Gypsy and Ra right after he installed them and they sounded absolutely amazing - just based on that, I'd recommend looking into the EastWest Symphonic Gold Complete even though I've never heard it in person.

[Gregg Juke]

I know it's not a software "sound library," but I'll throw it out there-- I've been a vocal proponent for the Roland Juno G (now the Gi) keyboard. It's a great all-around workstation synth, but the strings and orchestra sounds are quite good. People frequently ask me "What orchestral software are you using?" when they hear some of the string stuff I've done. Plus, if you get something like the G, you also get a utility MIDI production device that can be used for lots of other things, rather than just some bowed and pizz string samples. You can probably get a used Juno for under $500 now if you look around. Just something to think about...

GJ