How Many Thousands of Dollars Worth of Sound Libraries Do You Need to Uninstall?

[wing]

I've also spent a lot of money over the years on Spitfire, in fact being the first Orchestral libraries I ever purchased. Having found other libraries for various things which I enjoy working with more, I constantly wish their license agreement allowed for resale so I could recoup some of my losses, but unfortunately this is not the case.

Their aesthetic approach is up my alley, but I find in hindsight that many of their libraries are excessively wet. All that reverb sounds beautiful in isolation and in demos, but in real practice, I'm always having to adjust the mics to get something which is actually useable in a mix. Don't even get me started on the original SF Perc (JB), whose transients are such a blur with all that reverb, that it's not really worth the fight now that I have other perc libraries which are more detailed and punchy out of the box.

However, I don't think of them all as a loss. I still use a handful on the regular which I don't regret. Chamber Strings, Solo Strings, LCO Strings, Albion Solstice, OA Chamber Waves, Hammers, Woodwind Evos, all live in my template and get regular use. One of my all-time favorites which I use very often is Percussion Swarm - it's quite a unique library which adds textures unlike anything else.

Surprisingly I've purchased 3x more than that list lol. But those are about the only ones that have survived, especially as I've grown more into orchestral work.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

You're making a few assumptions here. I composed for 10 years using free 8-bit instruments before I even thought about buying my first commercial sound library. In all the time since then, I've never been as satisfied with a percussion library as I was with that free 8-bit drum pack I had back in the day. But I have to say Fjordheim Drums and Ting are two really cool libraries I just found out about and purchased. They might be what I've been looking for for all this time.

But anyway I honestly never felt like I needed commercial libraries per se... at the same time those 8-bit libraries didn't have the capacity to mimic the sound of an intimate real world recording where you could hear the strings from the bass being played or the percussive qualities of a guitar and things like that.

So I bought libraries like Albion IV Uist, thinking yeah I can hear the physical qualities of the instruments, that's like an intimate recording and look at how great it sounds when Homay and Lucie are using it.. But the way the library is put together is more for cinematic composition. You know splashing color here and there. It's not really playable at all. Yeah I watched the video but I guess I ha to experience it for myself before I would know for sure whether it was compatible with me.

Instead, I prefer when they combine samples with modeling because then you can flip through the articulations in realtime and trigger them from various controllers and based on how you play it with the keyboard. That's more what I prefer so I am using Samplemodeling strings.

I may be completely wrong, but it sounds like perhaps you were expecting those libraries to sound convincing out-of-the-box....which is a rarity even with sample modelling libs. Since you're coming from free 8-bit instruments, there is a lot to learn with regards to MIDI programming; that's where the realism comes into play. And most importantly, understanding how all of the CC's, etc, function with each particular library. It's a huge learning curve for sure, but a necessary evil if you want to breathe convincing realism into your projects.

 

[vibrationisreality]

I have the same "problem" from a company that starts with an "8"...

 

[Bee_Abney]

I have the same "problem" from a company that starts with an "8"...

Those sales can bankrupt you!

 

[EanS]

Depends, do you want Regular Price, Sales Price or 8VIP prices?

 

[PancakesBear]

I may be completely wrong, but it sounds like perhaps you were expecting those libraries to sound convincing out-of-the-box....which is a rarity even with sample modelling libs. Since you're coming from free 8-bit instruments, there is a lot to learn with regards to MIDI programming; that's where the realism comes into play. And most importantly, understanding how all of the CC's, etc, function with each particular library. It's a huge learning curve for sure, but a necessary evil if you want to breathe convincing realism into your projects.

It's true, i'm new to orchestral libraries. But I've done some research on this stuff... for example I've learned some things about midi modulation and CC's and MPE, and the result of my research was to move away from Renoise because my background is in using trackers instead of what you might call a traditional DAW... so I moved from Renoise to BitWig Studio because I hear it's strong in MPE and modulation in particular. And I also bought a Keith McMillion K-Board Pro 4 which is great for synths and Sample Modeling strings.

I have invested a lot of money because I grew up composing with a 8-bit setup that I implicitly trusted. Trusted it so much that I never had to think about the instruments. It was as if the instruments and I had become one. So I started spending money searching for commercial libraries that I could have a similiar relationship with. And I took some risks on certain libraries. The things we do in pursuit of love I guess. Btw, honestly after this month of sales... I think I'm almost there. I found some great libraries for myself which is the reason why the difference between THOSE and Spitfires are even more pronounced to me.

Anyway, my point is that you're right I have a lot to learn. Btw, my first two companies that I started buying from really were OrangeTreeSamples and 8dio. And I love 8dio actually. I don't agree with SoundPaint, though - I think they should focus on integrating modeling into their existing BEAUTIFUL recordings instead. I know people knock 8dio but I love em.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

It's true, i'm new to orchestral libraries. But I've done some research on this stuff... for example I've learned some things about midi modulation and CC's and MPE, and the result of my research was to move away from Renoise because my background is in using trackers instead of what you might call a traditional DAW... so I moved from Renoise to BitWig Studio because I hear it's strong in MPE and modulation in particular. And I also bought a Keith McMillion K-Board Pro 4 which is great for synths and Sample Modeling strings.

I have invested a lot of money because I grew up composing with a 8-bit setup that I implicitly trusted. Trusted it so much that I never had to think about the instruments. It was as if the instruments and I had become one. So I started spending money searching for commercial libraries that I could have a similiar relationship with. And I took some risks on certain libraries. The things we do in pursuit of love I guess. Btw, honestly after this month of sales... I think I'm almost there. I found some great libraries for myself which is the reason why the difference between THOSE and Spitfires are even more pronounced to me.

Anyway, my point is that you're right I have a lot to learn. Btw, my first two companies that I started buying from really were OrangeTreeSamples and 8dio. And I love 8dio actually. I don't agree with SoundPaint, though - I think they should focus on integrating modeling into their existing BEAUTIFUL recordings instead. I know people knock 8dio but I love em.

Thanks for your reply, I understand where you’re coming from now. Just keep plugging away and experimenting, you will reap results.

Regarding 8Dio, they indeed have their shortcomings for various reasons, with forum members (myself included), but there’s no denying they have some wonderful libraries. I own several.

 

[syrinx]

This thread got me thinking. It's interesting to think of how we have all these libraries but when you're in the flow in a project, which library do you reach for and why?

Some libraries I could recommend to people in a heartbeat, but are rarely what I reach for first. And I'm not talking special purpose libraries either.

Anyway, just get another drive - problem solved! (joking, not joking - I'm about to do this myself...).

 

[Alchemedia]

Because they've manipulated us into thinking they're useful and valuable, obviously.

Reverse psychology FTW!

 

[ModalRealist]

I’ve probably got about £10k in libraries, assembled over a little more than a decade.

Of these, the only ones I actively think are “not useful” and which I would permanently uninstall are the Berlin libraries. Not because they are bad, but because I cannot stand SINE and its endless crashes and lack of features that were in their Kontakt libs. It ruined the collection for me and as I only have Brass on SINE, the ease of use of running the full orchestra is marred for me. Such a shame because before it was released, I was hyped for SINE. They just massively underdelivered. The front end being done in Electron (SINE is basically Google Chrome!) really doesn’t help either.

There’s around £2k in libraries I use all the time. But that’s because they have the most superior fit to my workflow and I like the results I personally get from them. I don’t regret having the other sounds on my palette if and when I want them.

I do think sample land has gotten far, far less interesting in recent years. Back in the mid-10s there was lots of innovative work on legato and depth of sampling. That feels like it’s tailed off a bit, or at least become iterative rather than “generational.” For example, I haven’t felt the need to move away from SSO to either BBC or ARO.

At some point someone will crack a “generational” leap in some way. And when they do it’ll be a newly fresh arms race! Can’t wait…

 

[Mistro]

Me with my unused plugins when some says "If you don't want it, give it back". It's a jar of dirt but I'm keeping it even though I don't know why.

 

[Epic Wonder]

I recently joined this forum and became active here because I've been facing the reality that I needed to take some decisive action in regard to my massive sound library collection that I started building on years ago. And I'm looking through my stuff and I notice something. That almost every. Single. Library of a certain company, that I have in my collection, is a library that I've never actually used. And whenever I do take a tour through this company's libraries, I tend to feel overcome with regret for having purchased it.

That company's name is Spitfire Audio... and I'm not knocking their quality or anything. Its' just that the whole cinematic approach that they have is incompatible with me. I've always known I prefer intimate recordings... so it was foolish of me to try to integrate SA into my collection just because they have those marketing cheat codes that they parade around all the time, you know who I'm talking about, Lucie Treacher, Homay Schmizt, Oliver Patrice Weder... you know, the usual suspects reaching into my wallet, mind controlling me like a collection of pied pipers.

The only library of theirs that I've used is Resonate. Which I enjoy but then I recently found WrongTool's Parrelolgram which is pretty close to Resonate... perhaps better except it doesn't seem to have the underwater microphones which are pretty neat in Resonate.

Anyway... I think today's the day that I face facts and realize that I'll probably never use any of these Spitfire libraries. And I think I'm just going to delete them... Minus $1500 right there.

I know you can't resell them, but you should keep them. Don't let that money go to waste. Maybe some other composer you meet could come over and collaborate on you using that software and make something great. For me, I have learned that too many music composers operate in a vacuum. Working with another person can be intimidating, but there are rewards to be gained by working with others.

 

[Elliot A]

At some point someone will crack a “generational” leap in some way. And when they do it’ll be a newly fresh arms race! Can’t wait…

Performance Samples and modelling. Strangely for modelling, there seems to be a bit of an arms race, just with different players; but I don't think, of the types of libraries/instruments Performance Samples has released, any sampling companies are coming close. I'm not sure if you follow their development, but they have absolutely achieved a generational leap with sampling, and continue to improve almost daily. And unfortunately, no arms race in sight. Of the companies that have done the same style of repetition/performance sampling method, most of them have done so in collaboration with Jasper who runs PS. I am not sure why more aren't trying it :(