Just bought EWQLSO Gold...

[GarretGraves]

Just bought EWQLSO Gold and nearly went bankrupt. And there's such a vast selection of samples. I'm trying each one by one but I'm not sure which sounds to go with as far as strings or woodwinds are concerned. Brass for me was surprisingly easy to choose from and im not a brass man at all.

But there are a lot of samples (strings primarily) in which I find highly unusable. Cellos for instance dont have any staccato option. That's a little strange. and I've messed around a lot with the violins and violas and they can sound seriously robotic when they're lushed (i guess is the term). I tried adjusting the velocity like I should in FL but I still am not quite confident with it yet.

here's a sample:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WX6Q350C

I could just be mixing it badly or maybe I need better verb. But what I'm really asking (the people who own EWQLSO) is what are the recomended sounds for general composition? primarily for long-bowed strings and for staccato cello since I cant find any staccato sound for it?

[dannthr]

Just bought EWQLSO Gold and nearly went bankrupt. And there's such a vast selection of samples. I'm trying each one by one but I'm not sure which sounds to go with as far as strings or woodwinds are concerned. Brass for me was surprisingly easy to choose from and im not a brass man at all.

But there are a lot of samples (strings primarily) in which I find highly unusable. Cellos for instance dont have any staccato option. That's a little strange. and I've messed around a lot with the violins and violas and they can sound seriously robotic when they're lushed (i guess is the term). I tried adjusting the velocity like I should in FL but I still am not quite confident with it yet.

here's a sample:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WX6Q350C

I could just be mixing it badly or maybe I need better verb. But what I'm really asking (the people who own EWQLSO) is what are the recomended sounds for general composition? primarily for long-bowed strings and for staccato cello since I cant find any staccato sound for it?

Uh... what?

Short articulations for Celli in Gold XP (NI) or Gold (PLAY):

Bartók Pizzicato Round-Robin x3

Bartók Pizzicato

Col Legno Round-Robin x3

Col Legno

Marcato Mod Col Round-Robin x6

Marcato Round-Robin x6

Marcato Round-Robin †

Martelé Up-Down

Pizzicato New

Pizzicato Round-Robin x3

Pizzicato vs Bartók Round-Robin x3

Pizzicato

Quick Up-Down x6

Quick Up-Down †

Short Script

Spiccato Round-Robin x6

Spiccato Round-Robin †

The Quick Up-Down x6 is great for stacs...

[tweex]

Also mate, you may not get the perfect sound right out of the box. The sounds are fantastic, but you gotta learn how to use them well to really make them (or any library, really) sing. Don't get discouraged. It was overwhelming for me too when I first started using Gold.

[GarretGraves]

yeah i figured it wasnt going to be super awesome outta the box. But I just got super frustrated when I couldnt mix it right. I guess I just need patience.

But yeah, dannthr, im gonna go try those right now and see. I wanted to know cause there's a MASSIVE selection here and only so much my brain can read on the screen.

EDIT: Im a jackass. I REALLY need to learn how to use the fricken MOD WHEEL! VELOCITY, MAN! VELOCITYYYY!

[Ravich]

For starters, strings are going to have staccato type articulations labeled (abbreviated) as marc, mart, or spiccato

Second, like others have said, it's going to take a while to get used to all of the sounds. Think about it this way: you're knew to the entire library, so the bottom line is that if you're getting woodwind sounds that you would otherwise be satisfied with, you could be saying "yuck" because the rest of the sections arent sounding all that great. It takes a while to figure out what sounds you like, but in general I find that:

Unless you are going for a "natural" concert hall sound, you probably want to stick to solo woodwinds. Woodwinds playing unison in 3s tends to sound pretty awkward and not very in tune, and the fact of the matter is that a lot of orchestral writing isnt going to put an entire woodwind section on the same note.

When it comes to brass... I'll be honest, I struggle a lot with brass. It's very easy for brass to start sounding unnatural because the overtones differ greatly compared to other instrument types, and their interaction is less predictable. Additionally, a brass player can play the same exact note in a number of different ways, producing a different timbre for each, so it's hard to simulate that control with a sample library. If you're doing fine with brass, then dont worry about it.

Strings are a unique beast. They suck. Total pain in the ass. In general, the idea is that you're going to have to layer patches. It's probably a good idea to have a base sound that you like that will remain consistent for the part, and then applying other patches depending on the situation (swell, hard sus, etc). Something to keep in mind is that if you're going for a lush string background, go ahead and try out the large string ensemble patches. In general, those will blend together far better than individual string sections.

The important thing to remember is that if it sounds like it works, then it works. Dont worry about what the patch is called or where it's coming from. Necessity is the mother of invention, so if you find something that works, use it. If you're not satisfied with something, look for an alternate solution.