Afflatus (by Strezov Sampling) - Review

[@steveb9325]

I'm a 64 year old Classical guitarist and o just found you a week ago. I'm fascinated by you and your expertise. I'm sorry to say I know very little about computers and do not understand most of your terms, ie: ram, dry, patched and so on...which of course is my fault for not taking the time and effort for this already 22 years into this century. I have tons to learn. Love your composing (I've researched. .) and thoroughly enjoy your channel! Thank you Anne🙏❤

[@toddd.8496]

I'm very happy you're reviewing different libraries. I'm just a hobbyist and can easily get lost in the never ending rabbit hole of music libraries... so having a professional give their insights on various libraries helps quite a bit. I hope there are many more videos like these coming in the future. Thanks so much!

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

I'm glad these are helpful to you. I'll try to keep reviewing products here and there but these videos take a lot of time to make if I'm not already familiar with the library. So it's not something I can squeeze into my schedule too often.

[@tezzermusic5317]

I m glad Anne that you are receiving recognition for your videos ...we enjoy them very much. You are kindly enough to show things others wouldn`t even consider in doing it. Thanks for not been selfish. Big hug and best wishes for you !! (you seem to be those kind of person that looks the same on the outside and the inside...both beautiful : D (with respect ) )

[@dk60ish]

Thanks for this guide! This was the first string library that had classic lush Hollywood sounds that I've dreamed of finding for years, but trying to find them in particular was tough, so you are 100% correct in how confusing this library can be to go through without the manual, definitely not out-of-the-box here!

[@statelis]

I found this channel by chance. My dear, believe me, you are one of the best TRUE reviewers out there! So much detailed information and so much knowledge on your videos!!! By the way Afflatus is great!!!

[@DavidKudellMusic]

Nice review! I once got Afflatus mixed up with Flatulus from Soundiron. Needless to say my track did not sound good.

[@thisislance]

Boo, get off the stage

[@markmccornack7983]

Flatulus Pro has some nice staccato parches, but the legato's can be a little "wet" sounding if you're not careful.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

I am still waiting for a movie in which we can use Flatulus... one day it'll happen!

[@gregorymoore6794]

Damn it David! I REALLY did have a mouthful of coffee when I read this! Fortunately I was able to refrain from spewing it all over my keyboard.

[@vintagepearlguitars]

It always takes persistence to start a new trend.

[@granbyplungar2929]

An exemplary analysis of the library. Thank you.

[@thisislance]

George is absolutely lovely. Some very nice libraries, great crossgrade/loyalty prices, and efficient recording services (via Four For Music) for those in need. His Djembe X3M release is one of my favorites.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Yes, he's been absolutely wonderful to talk to!

[@aklosabbaothofficial]

I love your reviews, they´re an honest insight and love that you also show the "behind the scenes" like with the RAM. love the musical examples, all in all it really gives us a good idea if is a product that we need o supplies a specific demand (like th Pandora library). On top of that watching you is the icing of the cake. 🥰

[@SeriousTipStudio]

I really like your reviews, you give an honest review. Even if they give it to you for free. Thanks for doing this and sharing your knowledge. 😁

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

My pleasure!

[@slimyelow]

OMG, I am listening to the demos and the sound is incredible.

[@1teodebeo]

Very thorough and honest review. Thanks! It inspires me to pick it up again. I bought it a year ago but was overwhelmed. Now I'm overwhelmed by your gorgeous mock-up❤️. Very emotive and nicely eq'd and balanced!👍🏼

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you! Glad you’re giving it another shot!

[@manuelfilho11]

Oh my gosh, you do the dynamics so well!

[@BF-up5xw]

This is a terrific review. A real review with reasoned analysis and assessment. It really is a very beautiful, emotional library, even if it takes a lot of work to learn to get the best out of it.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you for watching! It truly is a very expressive library. With a bit of love it can really soar!

[@yvanroustan4426]

Thank you for this complete explanation - with a demo it's great. I'm totally agree with you : superb sound, using half of the patches only, need serious eq, great legato script, so a very good library for layering to my opinion. It will be great to have your opinion or an example of you eq for mockup (in general). Have a nice musical day !

[@danmart2585]

You so ably give us info, and today you really look top drawer, too. Thanks

[@composingtips]

I like and use Afflatus but only a few select patches (the small short patches, layered with Spitfire Studio Strings.) There are way too many inconsistencies, noise and the EQ work required impedes my work speed. That doesn't translate well for a library sold at a premium price.

[@ameyasaraf8381]

I love the cue at the end of the video! Beautiful piece.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you very much!

[@c-c-laurin-lenschow]

Damn, you are quicker than me! And your mockups sound better... why am I even doing this lol Anyway, fantastic review as always!

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you! Yours is really cool too - it shows really well how this library fares in different writing styles!

[@c-c-laurin-lenschow]

@@AnneKathrinDernComposer Thank you so much!

[@KevinKuschel]

Very special library with a lovely sound :)

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

It’s definitely unlike anything else I have ever used.

[@Hartproduktie]

honest review and for the beautiful music I'm just a hobbyist Thanks! It inspires

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you!

[@Cutbult]

Thank you for another great and honest review and for they beautiful music! Love this library and you’ve made me realize I need to go back and spend those two days (or more) between buying and using to get the most out of it. So much to discover 😀

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thanks for watching! This one definitely needs a bit of care for optimal use but then it’s great!

[@Kolinu2]

Beautiful demo and a super helpful review. Thank you.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Glad to hear that!

[@arbnorshaqiri]

Great review, thank you!!

[@Peethoven]

Excellent honest review. Thank you.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thanks for watching!

[@JornLavoll]

ooooo, such a lush sounding library. romantic indeed!

[@eduardoreyes1272]

Love your channel.

[@HeartMere]

Thanks for review!

[@braunhausmedia]

The problem I have is that, frankly, you can make pretty much any library sound beautiful. Me, not so much.

[@tosvus]

This is an exceptional library though - I suspect you can make it sound beautiful too! They occasionally have great sales which makes it much more affordable as well. Over the last year I picked up Afflatus, Jade, and all their choirs.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Ha, I wish! There are libraries that were sent to me over the past 12 months that were completely unusable to me so I abandoned them. Some things just can't be salvaged with EQ, Reverb, and proper programming, no matter how hard one tries.

[@gregorymoore6794]

Anne, there may be some additional complexity, but your demo really sounds lovely and shows how its worth the learning curve!

[@soundtreks]

Nice review! Music at the beginning is quite lovely too btw.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you!

[@TonyThomas10000]

Incredibly detailed review!

[@tanukibrahma]

Beautiful music and sound quality regardless.

[@MUSICBOT-le9ty]

Interesting to see your aggressive EQ curves there. Mine look about the same but even worse in the high mid.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Yes, this library needs some EQ love for sure. I might still adjust mine but I have to play around with it a bit more.

[@AlexLupoz]

Thanks, lady 🌹

[@austinnichols7939]

that sounds very nice!!!

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you!

[@jcav764]

Such a beautiful sounding lib - I wish it was available in pieces. After getting their freebie minimalist violins patch, I want more sections but don't want to buy the whole library for $800.

[@paoloagostini1407]

so expressive

[@TheMrSjenkie]

Very nice review! What is the title of the mockup? Cheers

[@sebastiandudek4016]

Thanks!

[@DirettoIZM]

Beautiful demo! Very thorough, honest review - And you are always so down-to-earth - I really enjoy your insights! That's the most emotive library I've ever heard. It's beyond what my talent/system can handle, but something to aspire toward. Thanks for reviewing it for us!

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words!

[@mrm9677]

How do you delete patches that you dont ? for me its for the space

[@Metalpazallteway]

I like the library but being that as you mentioned carries some flaws i always go with spitfire StudioOP and Spitfire SymphonicOP. But I feel what you mean. Good overview btw

[@yango8778]

Great review! Very informative and well structured. I have a question regarding the true legato harmonics patches: Do they also emulate the "chirping" sound (caused by the inevitable glissandi) you get when strings are playing fast(er) artificial harmonic passages?

[@MustacheVerra]

Seems like they tried to organized the patchs in different themes maybe?

[@marcuschisolm3470]

What brand of beer is that in the background? Blue Moon?

[@thewest6128]

Mir gefällt der Klang sehr gut! Mich würde ein Video +ber das Eq´en von Streichern freuen als auch die Organisation in der DAW bzw. Kontakt.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Ich habe bereits einige Videos zur DAW Organisation gemacht. "EQ'en von Streichern" ist logisch nicht moeglich, da man jede Streicheraufnahme individuell bearbeiten muss, je nachdem wo aufgenommen wurde, mit welchem Equipment, von welchem Tonmeister, welche Micro Positionen, wie viele Spieler insgesamt, welche Besetzung pro Gruppe, etc..

[@thewest6128]

@@AnneKathrinDernComposer Naja, aber du hast doch dennoch eine bestimmte Herangehensweise und Klangvorstellungen welche du mittels EQing erreichen willst? Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass man dazu nichts zu sagen hätte. Klar ist das EQen individuell, die Zielsetzung und Methodik zu erreichen dieser sollte jedenfalls vermittelbar sein. Aber ich will dich natürlich dazu nicht nötigen, oder damit nerven haha

[@maxonofri]

First of all Thank you for your review! But, if i want to use only few patches! Is There a way to cancel some patches and samples of this library in order to save a lot of Hard Drive Space? and... How many GB of RAM you have??? You have a beast of computer!, maybe one day you can suggest us what PC components you have!! Thanks so much!

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

I've already made a video about my hardware if you wanna check that out. You can in theory delete sample sets in unencrypted libraries but I wouldn't recommend it since you never know for sure which patches draw from which sample sets (unless you truly know what to look for in Kontakt backend).

[@maxonofri]

@@AnneKathrinDernComposer Thanks for your reply!

[@thewest6128]

How much Ram do you need to run this properly?

[@vintagepearlguitars]

Have the bugs been corrected?

[@Pax30001]

Just curious. Was there any form of reverb on in the strings libray while the composition was played, or was the composition played without any form of reverb?

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

I turned off the reverb in the Kontakt interface (as I do with all of my libraries) and sent it through my regular reverb chain in my template. I did increase the amount in the reverb sends a lot for this one compared to my other libraries.

[@Pax30001]

@@AnneKathrinDernComposer I see ok. Thank you. It sounded like there was no reverb on the strings when I listened to it with my phone(when I played it out).

[@Pax30001]

@@AnneKathrinDernComposer Beautiful composition! :) Keep up the great work! :)

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Yes, like I say in the review, this library really swallows reverb a lot.

[@Pax30001]

@@AnneKathrinDernComposer ok. I don't know if I'm wrong by my thoughts but I am open to learning. By swallowing, it seems like demanding a lot of reverb when reverb is used on it. Thank you for your replies, I appreciate.

[@germainb.]

I'm not fond of reviews but I have to say that I think you do it really really well regarding the lenght of the video and the quantity of useful informations you provide. Thanks ! Oh, and this piece you made using this unique library is really inspiring.

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

Thank you!

[@VFXCommander]

I feel like this library doesn't get much attention. With that amount of size and patches, why don't we see pro composers using it?

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

It’s a very inconsistent library for its price I’d say which makes it harder to use than a lot of other products. It also has a very specific sound and is very cluttered. I could see a lot of pro composers on tight deadlines not using this since it requires a bit too much fiddling around. But that’s just my guess.

[@MusicFed]

@@AnneKathrinDernComposer which one is your favourite string library? CSS?

[@musical_lolu4811]

Is 64GB ram enough for this? I have an old trashcan mac.

[@tac2456]

Can anyone tell me the title of this composition please?

[@1basketeveryday]

Can you do a lass 3 review please

[@ThePickledOnions]

This :)

[@tac2456]

What is name of the composition? Who wrote it? Anyone ???

[@norbertopena6688]

Good review and you look sensual Anne

[@gooscomposer]

It's pronounced like Strezhov(Стрижов), from Russian bird breed стриж(streezh)

[@HAKKOSAMPLER]

Now 399 Euro ?

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

It’s Black Friday discount season right now.

[@afr65536]

Flatus means fart in Latin.

[@deetee3064]

Love this library however 3 years ago this cost 634 euros, today it’s claimed to be 799 and in the sale for 399. Sorry but this is overpriced and inflating prices to then make its discounts look better is shoddy tactics. Software like virtually everything else depreciates over time never has it appreciated

[@AnneKathrinDernComposer]

I don't believe that's what's happening here. They have added a lot of material in their free updates which justifies a higher price for new customers. On top of that, software - especially software that receives free updates - is not in fact a depreciating asset. In this case, it has gained value through added content but until the library is entirely discontinued, no depreciation is taking place as long as it is updated to the latest standards.