Blue123

All excellent recommendations! I'm not familiar with Adler's book, but I've heard good things about it. Personally, I use Kennan's "Technique of Orchestration". http://www.amazon.com/Technique-Orchestration-Recording-Package-6th/dp/0130771619/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288896005&sr=1-3 It's huge, the score and audio examples are great, but it's even more pricey. Take a look through the comments of reviews of both, and see what you think. However, for a quick, easy to read reference, I recommend the Essential Dictionary of Orchestration : http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Dictionary-Orchestration/dp/0739000217/ref=pd_sim_b_1 It's quite small (I like to take it on long journeys), to the point, and while it does cover a lot of topics a few descriptions are on the vague side. You should have waited on buying the Rimsky-Korsakov though; there's a full, free and updated (with interactive score and audio examples!) available online. Several other great tutorials are available from the same site: http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/77-Principles-of-Orchestration-On-line Lastly, "Acoustic and MIDI orchestration for the contemporary composer" is a good starting point for beginners, or a companion. It contains a lot of useful and good information and techniques and how-to, starting with the traditional instruments and then moving onto sequencing them, but is of limited depth. http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-MIDI-Orchestration-Contemporary-Composer/dp/0240520211/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288896496&sr=1-1

It's a software issue with Kompakt player. It seems to happen if you have above 2GB of RAM. An update available from the website for EWQL solves the problem. https://www.soundsonline.com/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view&parentcategoryid=12&pcid=0&nav=0 Gold software update 1.08.003. The sound not playing is a different issue and I'm afraid I can't help you there.

Traffic Department 2192.

Ahh, I remember this mod. I haven't played it in a while due to seemingly always empty servers, but I guess I might have another look. Here's to hoping they don't get taken down by an overzealous legal team. Also Audix, the friend function on Steam doesn't seem to find the ID you posted. Are you sure that's right?

It won't quite be the same, perhaps.

We've given you information and our opinions, but now it's up to you to go and decide which product you want. My inkling would be to go for EWQLSO Gold, although that would mean you'd have to find another $300 somewhere. But as I said, it's your choice...

Merry Christmas. Jeremy Soule posted a christmas blog earlier, it made a great read

Nothing. (10 char wat)

Jolly good show. Congratulations! Winston Churchill haunts us with his fertility.* *bonus points to however knows where that's from

Yeah. If you want to make your point, make your point, but don't be smug about it and don't belittle the competition...

You can do almost anything. Mix and match to your desire. Although beware, if you're using sounds from lots of different libraries, they may clash or may not be of the same quality. It's not a major problem but you may encounter it. I notice you're going for different products for different areas of the orchestra. It's down to personal preference, but I think this might be a bit costly- just get a single product for now. EWQLSO Gold is my favourite.

Yes. ... you know how to use FL Studio, right?

VSL is good, if you can afford it. Alternative VSTs are Garritan Personal Orchestra and EWQL Symphonic Orchestra. Get these, they will be much more flexible. EWQL sounds better out the box, but can be hard to use and I've heard the new player is glitchy. GPO and VSL require some tweaking to get to the same "quality" (for want of a better word) because they're recorded dry.