any good free orchestra or strings VSTs?

[adfsghjn]

I have several of the ones from KVR but they all sound like crap. I don't want to have to pay several hundred dollars to get an orchestra sound. What can I use?

[Compyfox]

http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21071&sid=6b0179579410b139fb97a2d0ea80a152

Or pay for your sound. Like most of us did.

[adfsghjn]

Paying is not really an option. I'm 18, I live in my own apartment, and I pay my own tuition. I make 7.25 an hour. Not to tell you my life story or anything, I just get fed up when people act like everyone should be able to afford all this expensive stuff.

[Compyfox]

I'm 26, I have no job and have only like 300bucks for the month. I started making music with 14. I bought my first synthesizer (300bucks) with 15 from hard saved pocked money and recently bought an old synthesizer (software) for 80bucks.

I can only buy every half year something new. Mostly used stuff. Samplepackages are easy to get nowadays. Not to mention that they're cheaper than 10 years ago.


I get fed up with people whining about not having money to pay expensive stuff and use "warez" as main excuse. Use the search function, there're tons of threads giving you enough hints to get good stuff for fairly less to no money at all. And the thread I linked is a good starting point (however there is no "free" orchestra VSTi).

Admins/Mods please close this thread.

[zircon]

Shut up, Compyfox. It's not against the rules to ask for free stuff. The OP was not "whining" about not having enough money. In other words: if you have nothing constructive to say, STFU.

In response to the original poster:

Hammersound.net has a variety of good free string soundfonts. I recommend 5-strings, Cadenza Strings, and Tron Strings for starters.

[Compyfox]

Okay that's it, Andrew...
I responded to a question and answered it at the same time. He insulted "me" in the first place - didn't use the search function, nothing!

I feel free to write DJP now. I'm sick of being told to keep quiet as if I`'m a fucking troll of this forum. See this as first official complaint against you, a ever-so-noble judge!

[zircon]

He didn't insult you. He asked for good free string samples. You told him to BUY string samples. He politely responded that it was not within his budget to do so, and you flew off the handle.

Do not derail this topic further or your post will be deleted.

ps. Yes, you ARE becoming a troll of this forum.

[adfsghjn]

Thank you very much Zircon, I'll check those out. Sorry if I cluttered up the forum, next time I'll post in the dedicated VST thread.

[Sil]

I don't want to have to pay several hundred dollars to get an orchestra sound. What can I use?
The orchestral sound is different on a person to person basis. For instance, there is no definitive string library. There are many libraries that can fool most by having the most realistic sounding pizzicato, staccato, tremolo, or other articulations, but in the end no library I know of has ever come close to imitating that lovely vibrato-sustained, arco/legato sound. The closest I've heard is the string section used for the Tengai Makyo II OST and I have no idea what library was used for that incredible sound. I know it’s sampled, but it’s the most carefully and well-produced sampled sound I’ve heard in terms of strings, and I think that soundtrack was released in 2003.

What I’m getting at is that you have to choose carefully the sounds you want, and then it takes a while to actually become good at using them. Sometimes it takes years, and you will always find something new about them in time. A big problem these days is that people want results as soon as possible, so they’re easily swayed into buying the newest and most appealing libraries out there that are packed with so many effects and articulations… traditional styles of composition sadly become a second priority. The result? Downloading sample libraries for free is no more a solution than paying thousands for them, because in the end the best results come from years of experience, and one silly little violin patch that is probably no bigger than 10 megs.

[superdan54]

Also check out SJ Orchestral & Squidfont. Squidfont has some really good marcato & pizzicato and SJ Orchestral just has good all-around instrumentation. They are both fairly large, however (approx 75MB) so you might need to download rgc: audio's sfz player if you don't have it (it uses disk streaming that allows you to play larger soundfont files).

Also make sure to pick up the Roland Orchestral Percussion set, which has an amazing orchestral hit sample.

SJ Orchestral - http://www.sf2midi.com/index.php?page=sdet&id=7487

Squidfont & ROP - http://soundfonts.darkesword.com/

SFZ - http://www.rgcaudio.com/downloads/freeware/

If you ever come by some extra $$$, I would check out East West Sympohic Orchestra. You can get the Silver edition for $149 at Musician's Friend right now.

hope this helps!

[sgx]

I feel free to write DJP now. I'm sick of being told to keep quiet as if I`'m a fucking troll of this forum. See this as first official complaint against you, a ever-so-noble judge!

You are often the troll. Pretty much every conflict in this forum involves you. You are extremely hot-headed and needlessly petulant much of the time. No one is out to get you - most here just want to discuss music stuff without getting into arguments, but it seems whenever someone disagrees with you, you take it as a personal attack and throw a fit. Chill out, grow some thicker skin. Please.

[adfsghjn]

I'll check all of these out later tonight, thank you guys. The main reason I want strings is because of the Shadows of the Colossus OST, but I think those are real strings. I guess I have a lot to learn.

[sgx]

I'll check all of these out later tonight, thank you guys. The main reason I want strings is because of the Shadows of the Colossus OST, but I think those are real strings. I guess I have a lot to learn.

Good game! :) Pretty good OST, but I was a bit dissapointed that it wasn't as ambient and weird as the ICO ost was.

[Kanjika]

My advice is to go on a huge soundfont downloading spree. Just go to Hammersound and SF2 Midi, search things like 'strings' 'brass' 'orchestra'. I'd say squidfont is good for what you need. The sounds suck but you needn't worry as much about the sounds at first. Start with good arrangement. I used co compose "orchestral" with the crap FL has. 8O I had no idea what a soundfont was...

If you want good sound, Compy is right. You have to pay. You can't go to the junkyard and find a good car to drive, you pay thousands at a dealer. Granted, there are cheap cars and also cheap libraries too.

[suzumebachi]

or sometimes you get lucky and find super sweet deals. like the van i just bought for $300 that has 52k original miles on it. fuck yeah, bitchass!

</derail>

also, lol dramarama.

[Nicole Adams]

A good solo cello at HammerSound is "Warm Cello w/vibrato". :wink:

[Spc1st]

I have a nice violin solo soundfont called ViolinSTR.sf2 (and "VL mf vb 2b" as the patch name). It sounds really convincing with a nice and rich vibrato, especially at the upper-middle/lower-high registers. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of where I've gotten it from, nor what it's sampled from (from the naming convention, it seems like it's part of a larger collection).

[ubernym]

A really, really good, inexpensive (relatively) option is the Edirol HQ Orchestra. I've tried various programs like GPO and EWQLSO, and those definitely have higher quality samples (and wider selection), but Edirol HQ is really quite astouning for what it does...and it's only like $200 or something. You could save up for that if you wanted to.

Alternatively, check out the soundfonts/samples thread, and definitely look into squidfont orchestral soundfont. It's great. It really is.

[zircon]

A really, really good, inexpensive (relatively) option is the Edirol HQ Orchestra. I've tried various programs like GPO and EWQLSO, and those definitely have higher quality samples (and wider selection), but Edirol HQ is really quite astouning for what it does...and it's only like $200 or something. You could save up for that if you wanted to.

Alternatively, check out the soundfonts/samples thread, and definitely look into squidfont orchestral soundfont. It's great. It really is.

I have to recommend against Edirol HQ. As you said, the samples in HQ are relatively low quality - in fact, it's only a few hundred MB of saamples derived from old Roland keyboard expansions. Considering that it's $200, there is little reason NOT to get GPO which is also $200, or QLSO Silver which is only about $125. Both have more samples and better recorded samples.

[OverCoat]

or QLSO Silver which is only about $125. Both have more samples and better recorded samples.

Actually, QLSO silver has far less instruments than HQ Orchestral. The quality is higher, of course, but Silver doesn't even have a full string section sample :). And it's not like one is bad and one isn't, they're both far above the quality of your average free soundfont.

Anyway, I've gotten satisfactory results out of both HQ Orchestral and QLSO Silver, however the sample quality in QLSO is much higher. I have not used GPO, though.

So Edirol gets points for having a boatload more instruments than QLSO Silver, but Silver beats that out with a very high quality. Keep that in mind when shopping around.

[suzumebachi]

you don't need a full string section sample. in fact for doing realistic orchestral music i'd greatly recommend against using one. same goes with any kind of 'ensemble' sample.

i say GPO or EWQLSOSE is the way to go.

(however in my personal opinion the woodwinds in Edirol Orchestral are much better than those in EWQLSOSE-- not that they're bad or anything)

[zircon]

or QLSO Silver which is only about $125. Both have more samples and better recorded samples.

Actually, QLSO silver has far less instruments than HQ Orchestral. The quality is higher, of course, but Silver doesn't even have a full string section sample :). And it's not like one is bad and one isn't, they're both far above the quality of your average free soundfont.

Anyway, I've gotten satisfactory results out of both HQ Orchestral and QLSO Silver, however the sample quality in QLSO is much higher. I have not used GPO, though.

So Edirol gets points for having a boatload more instruments than QLSO Silver, but Silver beats that out with a very high quality. Keep that in mind when shopping around.

I never said QLSO had "more instruments", I said it had "more samples" - eg. more samples PER instrument.

[Argle]

A really, really good, inexpensive (relatively) option is the Edirol HQ Orchestra. I've tried various programs like GPO and EWQLSO, and those definitely have higher quality samples (and wider selection), but Edirol HQ is really quite astouning for what it does...and it's only like $200 or something. You could save up for that if you wanted to.

Yeah, but, for an extra $50, it seems silly not to just save up and get GPO or Silver, which sound FAR better imo than the Edirol dealie. I think Edirol is WAY overpriced considering the quality of the sounds.

[zircon]

Not to nitpick but as I wrote above, you can get Silver for about $120-$125 now.

[Argle]

Really? Is that the regular price now? I remember it being on sale months ago for that price, but I thought that was a group buy or something.

If that's the reg price now, that's, like, a really awesome deal. 8O

[tgfoo]

Really? Is that the regular price now? I remember it being on sale months ago for that price, but I thought that was a group buy or something.

If that's the reg price now, that's, like, a really awesome deal. 8O

They lowered the price on all of the EWQLSO line (Silver, Gold, and Platinum) by 50% (Despite what they claim, it's basically to get people using their products so they're updgrade to the XP veresion eventually). And I'm with Zircon. Leave Edirol alone, go GPO or Silver. I still prefer GPO's sound to Silver though.

[andyjayne]

I've seen Edirol HQ Orchestra for around $80. They dropped the price about a month ago, there was a thread on KVR about it (after typing this I found the KVR thread, it was being sold on www.americanmusical.com for $80, it's now been taken out of their stock). I bought mine from a local dealer in about August and it was around £50 then which was way cheaper than anywhere online at the time. (I even doubted the legitimacy of the product)

But I would probably recommend against getting it, save up for some better quality stuff. Some of the samples in this VST are pretty poor, some are excellent, but most only have a mediocre margin above free soundfonts. The samples in Edirol aren't modifiable, you can't control attack or use triggers and some of the slides can sound poor. They have included sampled slides which are nice unless you want to do a slide which is quite different to the sound it has. It also has "slow" sections with pre-recorded slow attack, but if you intend on implementing convincing techniques to the sounds it's very difficult. Whilst this is the case with most packages, the other two mentioned have significantly more control.

Personally I'd recommend using soundfonts to build up your arrangement, save some money up if you want to get a better library. Improve your arrangement and compositional techniques by getting to know your library well and then when you're ready to take the step (financially and/or otherwise) purchase one of the other packages mentioned. I can't say which I prefer because I haven't used either.

[zircon]

Something that's a bit ironic; there are a fair amount of soundfonts out there actually based on the same samples that Edirol HQ Orchestral is. For example, the "Florestan martellato" soundfont.

[superdan54]

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but can anyone provide links to where EWQLSO Silver is being sold for $100-$125? I Froogled it and the cheapest I found was Musician's Friend, who have it for $149.99.

[zircon]

www.scitscat.com

[SnappleMan]

I gotta throw in my support for EWQLSO Silver. At $100 it's a GREAT value. Everything is pre-panned and processed for you so that getting a good sound out of the library is not impossible.

I really like the strings from that library, also. Very usable in many different genres of music, and they sound great played through a keyboard with the pre-programmed articulations and all that jazz.

I think that's a major factor you should consider when looking for a string library. That is, if you're reserving it for purely orchestral work or if you're planning to branch out with it.

For a song that's mainly techno or rock with some strings in there, any samples would work, really. Realism isn't very important when it comes to a non-orchestral piece, just whatever sounds good in the song.

But yeah, EWQLSO Silver is a great library that's definetly worth $125-150. And the piano and organ that it come with are great too!

[superdan54]

Am I looking in the wrong place? Scitscat.com has EWQLSO for $199, and the XP Upgrade for $195. Was it on sale at one point?

[Synth]

I don't have EWQLSO but from what people say, its the best for your buck. If your a reason user, I would stay away from the Strings refill that propellar heads sells, waste of $90.

[zircon]

Am I looking in the wrong place? Scitscat.com has EWQLSO for $199, and the XP Upgrade for $195. Was it on sale at one point?

Strange. No, it wasn't on sale.. I guess East/West forced them to raise the price. Brilliant marketing :roll:

[Cerrax]

Am I looking in the wrong place? Scitscat.com has EWQLSO for $199, and the XP Upgrade for $195. Was it on sale at one point?

Strange. No, it wasn't on sale.. I guess East/West forced them to raise the price. Brilliant marketing :roll:

I got it from Scitscat off of eBay for $140 and free shipping. That was two months ago. I don't think they changed the price that fast.

[Synth]

$150 here http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Recording/Computer/Software?sku=955872

[LongeBane]

It says edirol is still $329 on that skitskat site. Thats...really expensive.

[ubernym]

So why do the GPO section strings sound so crappy? The "lush w/mutes" sound like synths to me...am I doing something wrong here?

[zircon]

They're recorded dry. With the proper reverb, use of the expression controller (modwheel/cc1), and perhaps a little EQ, you can get some good results.

[ubernym]

They're recorded dry. With the proper reverb, use of the expression controller (modwheel/cc1), and perhaps a little EQ, you can get some good results.

Well, I'll have to tinker around with that. Thanks for the advice.