EWQL composers collection question

[The Biznut]

EWQL composers collection sale only goes to the end of the month. I've been thinking of biting, because it seems like a phenomenal deal. I was going to wait till I was in a better position to drop a grand though. For those who have been around Sounds Online longer than I have:

Does this deal come around often?

Is there any other collection out there that offers this breadth and quality?

Also, does anybody have personal experience with the Ministry of Rock library?

Thanks

[Meteo Xavier]

I'm told that deal has come around before, but it'll probably be a little while before it comes around again.

Yes, I'm sure there are other deals out there with as good or better quality stuff, but that's been the one a lot of people, myself included, have gone too, so if you're looking to start there, Its as safe a bet as any other.

I switched out Goliath for Ministry of Rock. I haven't had loads of time with it, but, baring the fact there aren't great guitar leads on it, it sounds like it gets the "half-man's Sixto Sounds" job done ok.

EDIT: Have you looked at KOMPLETE 6 at all? It's not as good quality as the Composer's Collection, but it seems to be a lot friendlier for composers in our level of professionalism and it comes pretty highly recommended from a number of people. Go check that out on Native Instrument's site.

[Hy Bound]

I absolutely love the sound of the EWQL stuff that i have. But I have had nothing but trouble with the sampler it comes with (the kompakt sampler) but I hear that PLAY is just as bad or worse in the reliability dept.

What Meteo said about Komplete is great if you need a bunch of synths and a good workhorse sampler, but if you are mainly into sampled stuff and aren't as interested in synths and fx, i would definitely lean more towards the EWQL stuff.

I have Symphony Orchestra Gold, Colossus, and StormDrum as well as Komplete 6. I'd say Reaktor alone is worth the price of Komplete, but i admit the learning curve seems a tad high to people just interested in messing with presets (not that you are). But, as i said, the shear amount of samples with the EWQL stuff is massive and entirely overwhelms the soundbank of Kontakt. So it depends more on where your interests lie.

[Meteo Xavier]

What Meteo said about Komplete is great if you need a bunch of synths and a good workhorse sampler, but if you are mainly into sampled stuff and aren't as interested in synths and fx, i would definitely lean more towards the EWQL stuff.

The point was that he could get KONTAKT, and third party samples and sets for KONTAKT that could replace samples that weren't up to shit. Harps not good enough? You could find much better samples for $29 for just Kontakt. Want better violins or trumpets? You can find them.

[markhansavon]

I got it (Two East West Libraries/Goliath and Ministry of Rock) and really hated it. I traded it to a friend as I couldn't give the software back.

The Play engine is absolutely horrible. At least it was in October 2009. x_x I had two computers and it ran horribly, and had all kinds of trouble with both of them.

The sounds were great (absolutely stunning, actually x_x), but I had to mix each track 1 by 1, and at the time I had a computer that had 4GB of ram and a quad-core (2.0Ghz x 4) processor.

I ended up sticking with Reason 3 with Sonar. I found that I could make things sound a lot higher quality in a music creation environment that I, personally, am comfortable with. I have still fooled a couple people recently with some demos that I have achieved in the sampler using what most would call lower quality orchestral samples. (It's not the size that matters, it's how you USE it!)

Maybe having sounds that have an amazing quality really does help, but what's much much much much much much much much more important is ease of use for you personally. It'll be different with each person, so download some demos (of DAWs, and test VSTs and VSTi's) and set up your environment to your own tastes.

You need to find a DAW and Sampler + Keyboard setup that works for you personally.

Now, for a lot of people, East West works, and for those people that get really really deep into the Gold/Platinum orchestra, their midi performances...you couldn't tell the difference between the real thing and midi. =)

[Meteo Xavier]

I'm the undisputed dark knight of having trouble with things and I haven't had that much trouble with PLAY at all.

[markhansavon]

Ah I see. It might have just been me and my crappy computers. x_x

[The Biznut]

Thanks for your thoughts so far, I have a few more days to decide, which is nice.

[Arcana]

I use the Play Free edition and it likes to crash Logic Pro every time I close a file.

If I had $1000 lying around for music stuff, I'd probably pick up the huge pack deal things, but I really don't have that kind of money right now.