What can $500-$1000 buy me?

[big giant circles]

I don't own Vienna, but I'm sure it's no worse than any other comparable plugin. 4 Gigs of ram is plenty, though you might want to invest in jBridge (it's like $22 or so) to help make better use of your RAM.

Ethno actually crashes consistently on my machine for whatever reason, so I haven't touched it in months.

[PrototypeRaptor]

I own QLSO, Kontakt, and some ProjectSAM libraries...

If you want the best brass in the biz (IMO), ProjectSAM is the only way to go.

If you got Kontakt and the ProjectSam brass library you'd be good for a while - the VSL string samples that come with Kontakt are great. (and the woodwinds are passable)

It's a bit expensive, but the sam brass really is 100X better than QLSO.

(YMMV, of course.)

[Moseph]

VSL has a nice feature that lets you kick unused samples out of memory for any instrument, so once you get the part for that instrument programmed, it may be possible to reduce its RAM footprint from (say) 120 MB to 10 MB without freezing the track.

I have VSL, although I haven't used it for any major orchestral projects yet, and I'm running on a three-year-old Core 2 Duo (laptop) with 2 gigs of RAM, with the samples on a Firewire drive rather than an internal one. I haven't had any issues with it.

[Meteo Xavier]

Alright, I'll settle on VSL. I guess I'll just get MOTU Ethnic since I can't find another good ethnic library (QL doesn't count, Its $500 and has PLAY EDITION)

[big giant circles]

once again, I can't even get Ethno to work in FL. So far, I haven't had any problems with PLAY on my system, so I'm not entirely sure that you're making the best choice there... But maybe it's just my machine.

[Meteo Xavier]

What system are you running, Jimmy?

[big giant circles]

The hardware specs are comparable to yours. Running Windows 7 and FL9.

[Meteo Xavier]

I'm not running Windows 7 or FL Studio 9 on mine, plus I got an email from the MOTU sales and they tell me there shouldn't be a bug or anything with FL Studio 8. I can run like 20 instruments if I watch what I'm doing.

Course, if you say PLAY is not a problem, then there really can't be any reason I shouldn't just get EWQLSO Silver... I could get Silver and RA then. Does RA have that round robin or alternate playing samples too?

Edit: Looks like it does. Cool. I'm not digging how little Celtic stuff it has, but I suppose it would likely be a better buy in the long run. I can just use VSL harp for that kind of stuff, right?

I wish EastWest just had something where you could just ask what their return policy is if there turns out to be a problem or I can't use it.

[dannthr]

VSL has a nice feature that lets you kick unused samples out of memory for any instrument, so once you get the part for that instrument programmed, it may be possible to reduce its RAM footprint from (say) 120 MB to 10 MB without freezing the track.

I have VSL, although I haven't used it for any major orchestral projects yet, and I'm running on a three-year-old Core 2 Duo (laptop) with 2 gigs of RAM, with the samples on a Firewire drive rather than an internal one. I haven't had any issues with it.

You can do that in Kontakt, it's called PURGE.

OT:

RA is a great library, and with PLAY's legato scripting it's even better, but RA, comparably speaking, is very superficially sampled. A lot of time stretching/pitch shifting, which isn't bad, but now-a-days it's not up to snuff. Nonetheless, when I first got choirs and RA I thought my go to would be choirs, it ended up being RA--it was just the right thing to put a little lemon twist on an orch composition.

Really good frame drum in RA.

[Meteo Xavier]

Well, I gotta make a choice here because I've spent two days on this. I either need to do Quantum Leap Silver Orchestra and RA or MOTU/VSL Symphonic and Ethno. I don't want PLAY and iLok at the same time.

[big giant circles]

Play and MOTU instruments both use iLoks.

[zircon]

So does VSL. IF you want to avoid that stuff, please just get Komplete 6. Kontakt 4 has great orchestral samples and is easily expandable, and the amount of other content you get is just insane for the price. You really can't go wrong with it.

[Meteo Xavier]

*Click. Boom.*

Alright, I'll just get MOTU for the ethnic and EWQLSO for the orchestral. That should save me enough money. Can I use the same iLok for both?

[big giant circles]

Yes. Your MOTU instrument should come with an iLok with the code already on it. You can just register that with your iLok account, and put any other licenses on it.

But like Andy's saying, if you want to avoid iLoks, just go for Komplete 6. It's pretty well rounded and reasonably priced.

At any rate, remember to use the zzounds affiliate link. Lowest price, free shipping, no tax, all that.

Link - http://www.zzounds.com/a--925434

[Meteo Xavier]

I guess I can't argue with those recommendations. If Komplete 6 will let me effectively cover all my bases and get a good foundation so I can get some real work done, its a good price for it. I'm not just in love with the samples like I am with MOTU, and it will make it impossible to buy your drum VST, Andy, because I was wanting that one for its sounds and to thank you for the support you've given me the last year plus by sending my money your way.

My last question then is how much I could afford, in resources, to use Komplete 6. I sometimes need to a lot of instruments going and I have some of these in previous versions already but I have yet to really, really go nuts with it.

Edit: Is that Komplete 6 price time-weary? Do I have only a certain amount of time before it jumps up in price?

[big giant circles]

As far as I know, no. The price is static.

And again, to be fair, while MOTU is decent, and I'm sure the demos/samples you've heard sound good, they're often professionally arranged, and you usually find achieving the same results is more difficult than you imagined. Also, bear in mind that stuff like MOTU and Philharmonik are kind of old/dated. I don't think either incorporates round robins, or at least if they do, then not very well. Plus, MOTU symphonic does not have loop points on their samples, so all your sustained patches have an ending point, so in some cases, you can't sustain a note as long as you might need to. Also, look at the size of the library. More samples = more realism (usually). MOTU is like, I can't remember, 7 or so GB while Kontakt or QLSO or Vienna are like 30+.

You seem to be overly concerned with using your computer's resources. While I appreciate where you're coming from, you're just going to have to learn to work around this issue. Your computer is fine. If you start to run out of memory, just bounce your tracks. This is nothing new. All kinds of remixers/composers deal with this constantly, so just learn to be smart with your plugins. If you expect to be able to have 3 of every single plugin you own open, with a crapload of processing, then you're going to have to drop about 10,000+ on a super computer.

[Meteo Xavier]

My concern for computer resources goes back to my last computer. When I bought Z3ta+, the RAM usage was minimal but the CPU was constipating to say the least. I couldn't run but less than 3 z3ta instruments at any one time. Kompakt was easier but again I had no idea how little I could run then.

And I was lucky, I got both those for cheap. I won't be able to do that here and VSTs aren't easy to just return for money back.

Like I say, the price is not the problem. Numerically, I could afford all those mentioned here. Its the investment that is my concern. Getting that time and money back.

The real reason I could go on and on with, but thats enough for now.

I'll email MOTU on their return policies. To hell with it, I'll just get Komplete 6 AND MOTU ethno and if Ethno doesn't work I can (hopefully) return it properly.

[avaris]

If you're wanting to sell a VST make sure to check if there is a transfer fee and if you can resell it. Then def make a listing on the market place at KVR.

[Meteo Xavier]

Ooh, thats actually a really good backup plan. Thanks, A.

[Nase]

My concern for computer resources goes back to my last computer. When I bought Z3ta+, the RAM usage was minimal but the CPU was constipating to say the least. I couldn't run but less than 3 z3ta instruments at any one time. Kompakt was easier but again I had no idea how little I could run then.

Generally, synthesizing or processing a sound on the spot takes up cpu, while sampled sounds take up ram. So unless there's some heavy fx chain on the sampled instrument or the plugin uses a hybrid approach (or it's just awfully programmed, dunno), you mostly have to worry about your ram resources.

with FL's ram limit, my more dominantly sample based .flps end up using all the ram while the cpu meter barely reaches 50%, often much less. Disk streaming included.

I'm using Kontakt/Sampletank though, but I can only assume that the CPU use of Play is bad considering it's a sampler/rompler. I'm pretty sure it's not comparable to CPU hogs in the synth realm.

I mean, how bad can it be?

[Meteo Xavier]

Well, I guess what I'm just going to do is get Komplete 6 on their recommendations and then the headphones and then MOTU Ethnic. If I don't like/can't use Ethnic, I'll sell it on KVR. Its just another $300. I pocket like $400-500 a month anyway and my christmas bonus can cover it too.

I'm look at Sony MDR-5706 (I think thats right) for my headphones. Dannthr recommended 'em and he's been one of the most helpful and accurate so far.

[dannthr]

My recommendation was to shoot for a $100 pair of cans:

http://www.sweetwater.com/c412--Headphones

I personally use the 7506s, but I'm sure the Sennheiser (HD280 PRO) and the AKGs (K240 STUDIO) are comparable.

Can't vouch for the Direct Sounds...

I feel comfortable with the 7506s detail and frequency response, even though I know it's got a slight curve on the lows and highs. (If you have the opportunity, you could probably find some local place to try these out--although most headphone shops are geared toward consumer audiophiles and carry phones like Grados (which aren't bad, just not necessarily what you're looking for)).