Best Orchestra libraries COMPARED | Realtime playing! | Massive Playthrough

[@DarkSideofSynth]

Shall we stop for a moment, and appreciate and applaud Dom's brilliant playing skills? Without which, we would not be able to hear how libraries react to real playing instead of programming. Bravo!

[@DomSigalas]

♥️♥️♥️🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@DarkSideofSynth]

@@DomSigalas OK, now you can wire me the sum we agreed upon :))))

[@DomSigalas]

@@DarkSideofSynth it’s already in your PayPal 😂😂😂

[@DarkSideofSynth]

@@DomSigalas It is, indeed! ευχαριστώ!

[@macdaddybender]

Hear hear. I've had a great time just sitting back and listening to his playing.

[@Torulv]

04:27 Steinberg 05:12 Eastwest Hollywood 05:45 Spitfire BBC 06:18 VSL 11:40 Steinberg 11:48 Eastwest Hollywood 11:56 Spitfire BBC 12:04 VSL

[@martytables]

You're a hero, thanks for the timestamps!

[@Torulv]

@@martytables Hehe no problem. I like to A|B test the samples by pressing the timestamps ;)

[@ViennaSymphonicLibrary]

Thank you for your kind words and great presentation of our product, Dom! 💙

[@bartbannister394]

I will buy your product if and when I find out whether it can be installed on a Mac Mini and is compatible with Digital Performer. Please advise.

[@Torulv]

17:05 Steinberg 17:41 Eastwest Hollywood 18:33 Spitfire BBC 18:56 VSL 19:20 Steinberg 20:01 Steinberg 20:06 Eastwest Hollywood 20:19 Spitfire BBC 20:32 VSL

[@Torulv]

Bass 21:35 Steinberg 22:03 Eastwest Hollywood 22:26 Spitfire BBC 22:42 VSL Woodwinds 24:07 Steinberg 24:34 Eastwest Hollywood 24:59 Spitfire BBC 24:34 VSL

[@OrlandoAponte]

Thank you for making a video like this. Anyone with great skill can make all of these orchestral sample libraries sound incredible, especially in a fully produced mix that caters to the strength of the samples, but this gives you the truest "out of the box" impression you can get.

[@BigMTBrain]

Wow! If you're new to orchestral composition and orchestral libraries, like me, and thought orchestral libraries were all quite similar, what an eye-opener! Multiple libraries is definitely the way to go, if you want and can afford the added versatility and coverage in sound. Thank you so much for producing this fabulous educational video. Your feel and passion shines.

[@JordanpUK]

To my ears, BBC and Hollywood are the best sounding. Awesome video!

[@TakahashiJones]

Would love to see a guide to orchestrating in Cubase, creating/setting up expression maps, basic dos and don'ts.

[@costinvaly1]

what's the mod slider he's using above his keyboard mod/pitch wheel?

[@Notmehimorthem]

See my post above

[@Pianistec]

Years ago I started with EastWest Composers Cloud which allows Non-billionaires to use extremely good libraries for monthly fees as much as Netflix, but you're investing in your dream, not in time waste. High recommendation at this point. But as soon as I started to buy more libraries, I become addicted to buy more and more, so watch out xD

[@TheSaboteurLT]

dude the quality of this video is insane, the music keeps your attention in the background too, and the way you speak is just so good at keeping peoples attention too.

[@shockdog0784]

All libraries are Amazing! Fantastic video.

[@twtobin941]

Thanks, excellent comparison... I heard things I did not realize before between these libraries. I have BBCSO and agree with many commenters that it does not have enough FF, but is beautifully round sounding and I like that it is in a bit drier/smaller hall so I can add ambience as needed (I am using EW Spaces II). I have some VSL, but not the full Synchron, just Big Bang and some individual instruments.. In this comparison I found VSL rather thin and edgy sounding compared to the others in many ways, but some instruments are great. Always wondered about EW Opus and though it sounds great for some things, some instruments do not sound as good as I expected. I also have some 8Dio, so if BBCSO brass isn't brash enough, I can use Century Brass, or Legion 66 Trombones and Tubas, which are all VERY big sounding. Really like your style of reviewing.. subscribed!

[@Shane-music]

Picking an orchestral library has got to be the hardest thing I've done my whole life! They all sound so good!! ...I haven't had a very hard life.

[@marcusstrymon693]

Uff nice I mean its always awesome when there is mostly good choices

[@chrisstaubyn]

Steinberg's Iconica was consistently great. EW Hollywood was also fairly consistently great. I especially liked the close mic sounds of the VSL, but the brass section was distinctly not as good as the others. The BBC was nearly last place in every category, but I think it did shine well in brass, harp, timpani and glockenspiel. Just my two cents.

[@DomSigalas]

Yes I was also surprised by the results when I played them side by side for the video. I like all of them for different things although every library has some weak spots for sure :)

[@GuyVignati]

I suggest you to check the new Brass Library from VSL, it sounds very good.

[@DomSigalas]

@@GuyVignati this is coming up in a future video :)

[@GuyVignati]

@@DomSigalas thank you so much, even if I was referring to Christofer since he wasn’t satisfied with the brass sound from VSL 😆. Anyway talking about video requests it would be awesome to see how you organize your expression maps.

[@hayden776]

Iconica and Opus the top two here. Opus for the extra dramatic sound but Iconica still with great dynamics and most consistent quality overall.

[@Notmehimorthem]

Hey Dom, thanks for the videos, big fan here. I have been playing around with EW Hollywood Opus's Orchestrator. I am finding it an astoundingly good learning tool. Here is a bit of a run down: It's an "orchestration engine" . In a basic way one can press a few keys, and it can play back a whole arrangement. Before people switch off and call it a "cheat", I want to point out that many master orchestrators studied the scores of others. There is no shame here. The outputted score is not only very analysable, but its also very customisable. One can start with the presets - these are all composed full orchestra (or part orchestra if you wish) ensembles playing in a certain style. I can hear they are based on famous masters and hollywood style arrangements. You can, if you wish, simply play in a few simple notes or chords and the whole orchestra will follow (use a bit of mod is better) giving you a fast impressive arrangement. But there is MUCH more. In the original orchestrator using Cubase or any sequencer, if you looked at your MIDI recording, you only saw the notes you played on your keyboard - on a single instrument track. Not very educational! In it's latest incarnation EW have added a powerful hand icon. This is how it works. After you have played a passage (using single notes and simple chords) you can simple drag the hand across to Cubase, then the exploded score is put into Cubase, one MIDI track for each instrument all labelled correctly. You know have the whole score viewable in CUbase. You can of course select all the tracks and see the notation. One adjustment is required before playback. For each MIDI track, one has to select your target Opus instance as the MIDI output, in Cubase's Inspector. After this, go back to the orchestrator and hit the bypass button next to the hand (bottom RHS) and this mutes the original instrument track. Now only the expanded MIDI tracks will sound. This is an incredible learning tool, it's much better than simply importing a MIDI score, its soooo flexible, one can change anything. It's also a great way to learn how modern composers orchestrate. It will give you orchestration chops. It's not just MIDI too, the presets have tweaks like keyswitch articulation lanes, mod lanes etc. Such a great way to learn! Even THIS is not all! Not only are there over five hundred customisable presets, but there is the ability, in a key edfitor, in the app, to change notes (you could also do this in Cubase if you have dragged the MIDI over), You can even make your own preset from scatch. Here is an overview of this process. In the Orchestrator instruments are arranged in score order. You can Select your instruments, then allocate a range for it to operate in (for example a Cello might copy a bass in lower range an octave above, or it may carry a melody in it's high range). For each instruments you do this. Then in the key editor in the Orchestrator you put in the desired notes of your melodies. You can save this as a user preset and it will play back just like the provided orchestrator presets. This is very useful for creating your own ostinatos for example. I could imagine a custom preset being used to signify a particular character entering a stage for example. I know you have an interest in orchestration. I find this so stunningly good. I hope you could do a comprehensive video of this feature. Check it out :)

[@theodoreleon2882]

Hey is there a guide video about the hand icon? the drag the hand across to Cubase, then the exploded score is put into Cubase, one MIDI track for each instrument all labelled correctly Im about to buy EW Hollywood Opus's Orchestrator but i was skeptical about the midi information of all instruments not being in cubase, I'm used to seeing what everything is doing so this feature is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you

[@mtgstudios1556]

I've been trying to get back in to making my own music due to taking a large motivation hit. I always tended to like Orchestral music and wanted to make high quality songs because there really is a huge difference between a quality sound and a sound that doesn't have the right feel. Before I would end up giving up because no matter what I tried the sounds wouldn't end up being adequate for me. These sounds were perfect though. So, may try to get one of them and see if I end up being able to get back into it and maybe even try to see if I can revive a dead passion of mine. Thanks for posting this video dom. I'd come up on a difficult time and have been struggling to keep hope alive for the future due to unfortunate circumstances. So this gives me something to have some drive for. Thanks for that.

[@snarf1504]

BBC SO 'sounds' the best because of the large hall, but has the fewest dynamic layers (especially noticeable on the brass), is inconsistently programmed, and has the obvious legato sucking effect when writing at faster tempo's. VSL has always sounded sterile and lifeless to me. Also, dry recordings + reverb never sounds the same as actual hall recordings. The woodwinds are decent, though. Steinberg is similar except not as dry as a bone. Never paid much attention to this library. Hollywood Orchestra is probably my favourite of these, especially since the OPUS update. It's still one of the most deep sampled libraries (some patches have 5 dynamic layers + vibrato layers + 3 types of legato depending on velocity/speed, some short patches have 14 round robins, lol) with a great dynamic and expressive range. Fairly dry, but with enough impression of a room. The strings, brass & perc are still very good, the woodwinds are a bit more mixed (although they sounded fine in these examples).

[@massimozanotti2485]

Totally perfect comment.

[@Po1itica11yNcorrect]

When I first started earlier this year, EW Hollywood Opus Diamond was recommended by Sweetwater so I went with that, along with Hollywood Choirs. Then Spitfire had their Summer Sale and I went completely overboard because the prices were simply too good to pass up. BBCSO, all the Abbey Road One's, all 6 Albion's, HZ Percussion, HZ Strings, Hammers, Eric Whitacre Choirs as well as some of their smaller libraries. After that sale had ended, I added Damage 2, Nucleus, as well as a few other libraries. Of them all, I tend to use the Abbey Road's and BBCSO the most.

[@anancha4665]

What do you think about the brass of bbcso and can it be used for epic scorings as well? I'm thinking about buying it on black Friday sale :)

[@Markrspooner]

Would love to know your thoughts on modelled libraries like Sample Modeling, Infinite Series by Arron Ventures and SWAM by Audio Modeling. These type of libraries try to give you more of that feel of playing the instrument rather than samples and keyswitches. They also work very well with Divisimate where you can have Midi routed to various instruments at the same time.

[@costinvaly1]

what's the mod slider he's using above his keyboard mod/pitch wheel?

[@PaulEvansRahal]

@@costinvaly1 Search for Monogram midi controller

[@SamJackson-w4b]

Violins: -VSL; the best -East West: classic "big, lush" Hollywood sound; "Epic" mode Celli: -East West + BBC Basses: -East West Flutes: -BBC Clarinettes: -VSL Bass Clarinettes: -East West (rich bass) English Horn: -BBC Oboe: -BBC (-VSL due to variety) Bassoons: -VSL Contra Bassoons: -BBC Harp: -BBC Timpani: -BBC Glockenspiel: -BBC Celesta: -BBC (-VSL) Trompets: -BBC soft -East West power Trombones: -VSL Horns: -East West Brass in general: -BBC good, but lacks power (not blare)

[@cats-and-robots]

I feel like I've watched and listened to so many of these orchestral comparison vids and STILL can't decide! Thanks Dom

[@TomSeeryCreative]

I'm in the same boat lol. So hard to decide!

[@Superduperond]

I got BBCSO core as my first complete orchestra. Couldn't be happier with it! Especially since they give you complete templates for free 😊

[@cats-and-robots]

@@Superduperond great suggestion, thank you!

[@matrixate]

I remember those days. Good luck. Talk to people. Don't buy blindly. It will all depend what music you want to compose and how quickly you need to have the song done.

[@apfelnymous5367]

@@Superduperond But no solos with the core version ?

[@AliAlZayer]

Iconica for most of demo I heard gave me live feeling . I start to love it more after this video thanks Dom

[@mrdali67]

What a great video. Does not make it easy to choose, cause all of them have places they shine and some where they are not so good. Only thing I miss is the actual feeling in how they react to your playing, but there is 2 parts to the agility in the fast and short notes. there's the latency you feel when actually playing them and the agility of the samplings. It's not a clear win on every instrument, but really many of them I feel the agility of the samplings, East West have a couple heads to the rest of the crowd, and It has this beautiful Epic sound. All very nice libraries.... give me 1 of each 😘 Been listening to a lot of the VSL lately and I really like them too. I love the grid there is in the VSL and Dorico Libraries. Dorico especially sound absolutely right in your face, the BBCSO is so soft laid back beautiful like a romantic movie and East West is WoW .. what an update they got. Absolutely Epic big sounds in between the BBCSO and VSL. Right now I would probably go with East West. think they give a lot for the money at half the price of Dorico which could use a bit of finishing touch at that price tag. Good entry Steinberg. It really shows potential, but with everything from Steinberg always comes at a premium price tag. Now I'm not a professional composer, but I really want to get a library that does a little of everything, both some patches for fast laying down the basics but also have the solo instruments with some decent legatos

[@DomSigalas]

I totally agree with you. I don't think there's a definite ultimate library. Depending on your needs, it could be that you might lean more towards one of them but the other ones will definitely have something amazing to offer!

[@buzzdx]

it's really nice to see how much you enjoy playing these =)

[@DomSigalas]

I do! :) :) :)

[@AndraDare]

Wow, great demo. Tough choice between Iconica and Hollywood Opus. To my ear Iconica has better string sounds, but I greatly preferred the woodwind sounds on Hollywood and on the BBC. I'm about to buy but what a tough choice!

[@composingtips]

Even though I have a bazillion libs, I still use Iconica quite a bit. Unfortunately, there's a bug in the basses: they don't answer to CC11.

[@rafik2910ify]

Hi Dom, Hope U’re fine. I can’t stop listening that Lacrymosa, dude it gives me tears !!! We can obviously see lots of emotion, and that great satisfaction you feel when playing it. Since my youngest age , from the day I heard Mozart Requiem I knew I wouldn’t find peace until being able to reproduce that masterpiece, so that anybody can do it… Listening to you playing orchestral with closed eyes is no more hearing but feeling the music !! BRAVO 👏

[@yuulian4776]

Your staccatos/spicattos playing skill is giving me goosebumps. Great work

[@CammyMoto]

Thank you, I think I’ll download the BBCSO in the morning. This is the comp I needed. BBCSO is super clean and natural!!!!

[@benirodriguez9516]

Being the East West Orchestra Opus Edition part of the composer cloud for $19.99 a month ($199 a year), I'd recommend everyone to try it! Think about it... an entire month for $19.99! and then you can just get out of the membership if you don't enjoy it enough. Definitely a non-brainer!

[@SouloftheTroll]

Strings: EW has it covered!! IMHO, in general most of the EW libraries were in the top two for realism in all sections. I was amazingly disappointed in VSL almost all the time and BBC felt a bit conservative in most regards. And Dom, thank you so much for creating one of the best pound for pound revealing comparators ever! Well done.

[@Yuusou.]

Please share some Choirs. This is one thing I'd like to buy at some point, yet most demos don't catch me. Either it sounds flat or the choir is sonically covered in orchestral mud :D I'd prefer to see libraries with support for phrases or syllables, instead of just sounds for ahh, ohh, ehh, ihh, uhh and mmm.

[@jessewarren817]

East West Hollywood Choirs is pretty good!

[@marmelade5118]

Best phrasebuilding i've used was the one from realivox (realivox blue, realivox ladies). Its not a choir, but having a choir + a solo (or small section) with the lyrics is a nice option. I have not come accross any lyrics i could not create with realivox blue, even in different languages :-)

[@subtitles1492]

thanks for your enthusiasm and demo!

[@cguzelli1]

Beautifully played passages that shows your musicianship on how each instrument is to be played with passion and within the context of an orchestra. I also have a Monogram for expression, fade, etc. As a classical pianist (and former musician in bands of various genres) I have now written several classical compositions in the framework of the Masters for piano and various orchestral groupings. I know what you mean - one library isn't enough to get a full palette of sound one needs to create different sound stages. Thank you Dom, for this video, it has made my decision making a lot easier for the first library.

[@LearnWithStephen]

Great in-video zooms and layout. Fantastic info! Wow! Comprehensive ...and you are like a painter the way you transform the attack and volume. (And you have the link? Amazing!) Such a pleasure Dom! Thank you!!

[@Ahmad-Mounir44]

Opus sound is jaw-dropping and it's on 60% off discount now. The only drawback is its freaking big size. Don't know what to do lol. Great vid bro :)

[@ZILLAprod]

Just took advantage of that 60% off, couldn’t resist lol. Ordered an external source of 1 TB storage for the beefiness

[@gb3496]

Steinberg Iconica Sections & Players for the win - which is surprising to me as I thought it would be VSL. Eastwest Hollywood Orchestra Opus in second.

[@Frontier2000AnoDomin]

Another great video Dom, and nice to see you playing too. We recently tried creating a Kontakt string orchestra patch by layering various of these libraries together. The idea was to create a huge sound but with a relatively low, CPU, RAM and loading footprint. In reality you get to a point where you don´t benefit much from layering… there´s like a sweet-spot peak beyond which it doesn´t really get any better. What we actually found more useful was to layer in a few solo strings, just enough to pick out on the higher velocities or hard vibratos. That actually did a lot to bring a bit more life and less repetitive sound in the patches. Thanks for the vid.

[@DennisCaunce]

BBCSO has the 'blare' on a different articulation. I user BBCSO pro, but Century Brass for horns. especially the solo horn, which is a little funky on BBCSO

[@VSD78]

For me, Steinberg is the BEST EVER!!! BOOOM!😄

[@eylab1541]

Lovely thorough yet concise comparison! If you allow me to make some minor constructive criticism (I am very pedantic, I know) at times you were riding the mod wheel a bit too fast, resulting in some sudden drops. Having said that, you demoed these instruments better than 90% of the people on KZbin. Thanks! After many years of considering whether I should get VSL, I am quite relieved that I never have. I am actually quite surprised how bad VSL strings sound compared to the other libraries. It's like it sounds very thin and lacks lows. I was also not keen on their brass, they sound synthy to me. I did try Opus myself for a while. I like the strings and really like their brass. Was not impressed at all with the woodwinds at all, except for the oboe which sounded superb. The bassoon is nice too. Overall, glad I have BBCSO. Their brass are the weakest part of the library though, it is basically like having only half of the instrument, dynamics-wise. I got century brass, and hope I can do some layering with BBC in order to get around the issue when I need a big, bold, bright brass sound.

[@matrixate]

Yes...layering has always been a best kept secret. Not so much on pianos though. Lol.

[@anancha4665]

Dom! You have no Idea how much this helps me. I myself have been looking out for a good orchestral library but it is so hard to find good comparisons to make the right investement. Thank you so much!

[@snajsnajsnaj]

Hey, out of curiosity, which one did you like the most - and for what reason?

[@anancha4665]

@@snajsnajsnaj it's hard to say which one I like the most. I was positively surprised by the Hollywood orchestra because it has a very big sound which is very useful for action. I like the strings of the spitfire, but brass is lacking a bit of that epicness which is good for classical music though. Overall I sink the VSL Orchestra had the best quality but I don't like the interface that mich and it is very expensive. I Ultimately bought the spitfire bbcso (core) during black Friday because it was 40% off and only 280 € which is incredibly low priced imo for it's package overall. You also got a really cool synth library extra if you brought some stuff together with it. In the end, it kind of depends what budget you have and what U want to compose and score. I think the BBCSO is a great entry point. But if you want to have very big and epic sounds without too much extra work, the Hollywood orchestra probably is the best. If U have a big budget maybe the VSL Orchestra would be the best as long as U are fine with it's interface. I also wouldn't forget orchestral tools. Dom only showed a library they worked on by cubase themselves which I didn't like, but orchestral tools has some really great (and also expensive) libraries like the Berlin series. But both orchestral tools and VSL are the most expensive I think. For me the spitfire bbcso is definitely enough for now. Although, the legatos are sometimes lagging a bit, I love the interface and it's convenience. The sound quality itself is also very good, especially the strings

[@snajsnajsnaj]

@@anancha4665 wow thank you, this is perfect! I figured I prefer the BBCSO for the style of music I'd want to compose (for reference, I really love the Nier and Violet Evergarden soundtracks) and found all the others too "epic" sounding and maybe even a bit generic. That black Friday deal looks like an absolute steal - guess I'll wait next year and bulk buy VSTs haha

[@anancha4665]

@@snajsnajsnaj glad I could help :) right now I think there is also a winter sale at spitfire audio also with 40% off. But you won't get an extra library with other things together. I think there also spring sales and summer sales so basically this is almost every time on sale haha (but without the extra library deal I think)

[@cguzelli1]

Of these 4 it's a tough decision. I decided on Steinberg Special Edition. However, the woodwinds are the best IMO on the VSL which is a critical orchestral element in some of the pieces I've composed. Looks like not only will I be getting another orchestra, but more memory for another library as well. I liked the EastWest for its wide expressive sound. But until money comes in for a movie project that I am contention with to write the score it will need to wait. Thanks again, Dom for the comprehensive comparison.

[@F4SPR]

Iconica for ever!!

[@fausto_colella]

VSL best "raw" sound and depth Spitfire best warmth and cinematic-ready vibe Eastwest best versatility and value for the money Steinberg stands somewhat behind Dom the winner of this comparison 👍😎

[@mralextan1]

I came here for demos and reviews and got emotional listening to your playing! Thank you!

[@ΥπερδιαγαλαξιακόςΑστροπολεμιστ]

Iconica>Opus>VSL>BBC....VSL and BBC are low category comparing to Iconica and OPus.Iconica really sounds iconic holy $hit.Opus really sounds Holywood ready.But the best quality and responsive and musical is Iconica.Well done Steinberg.They know what music is from the bottom of the core.

[@ΥπερδιαγαλαξιακόςΑστροπολεμιστ]

Guess what Sigalas.I bought Hollywood Opus diamond :-p

[@AlexanderOrion]

@@ΥπερδιαγαλαξιακόςΑστροπολεμιστ Iconica really is fucking iconic, can't believe how good it sounds god damn I love it

[@erekhronmusic]

what is your small controller on your Komplete keyboard? I am searching for that everywhere.

[@MarkusLeander]

Great video, Dom! First of all, can you tell me where I can get that cool t-shirt? To my ears, the clear winner is Hollywood Orchestra; at least for strings an brass. I would love you to include Orchestral Tools and Cinematic Studio Series in your next videos. I think that the flagship orchestral libraries from those two companies, together with Eastwest are in a complete different level. Keep it up!

[@DrProgNerd]

All around ....I gotta go Hollywood. Wasn't in love with the harp sound on it - but everything else was great. Excellent playthrough. Beautiful playing.

[@plamentsvetanov]

I'm a film composer and I use Logic. However, I'd love to have key expressions. Preferably as a VST it AU plugin.

[@reziahamed6654]

Exceptional showcasing Dom.. these companies REALLY ought to sponsor you.. Amazing talent as always.. Above all library options- I stand with your skill and ability to make anything sound better.. In proper hands any of these would excel, especially yours !!! Cheers & God Bless... 😍😍🥇🎆👍

[@jumpcut3]

Awesome demo! Thank you for taking the time!

[@MathieuPrevot]

Amazing video. I wished I saw it before I acuired my first orchestra. I must say, the Spitfire BBC, is very qualitative and realistic. Yes, please, a dedicated woodwinds video !

[@Gawkie]

thank you so much for taking the time to make this! i was looking to replace bbcso core with a different package, while i love the sound of bbcso it feels a bit limited dynamically, but your video showed me its definitely my fault not using the Expression properly with CC1, so thank you for saving me the money and letting us watch you play magnificently ^^

[@DomSigalas]

You are mostly welcome! I got more of these coming up :)

[@costinvaly1]

what's the mod slider he's using above his keyboard mod/pitch wheel?

[@vincenttohier7268]

Dear Dom - god knows how much I love you and how much of a model you are to me -, what about the Berlin series of Orchestral Tools ? I'm working with it and it definitely worths its place in the top3 best sounding orchestal libraries, with VSL and Spitfire.

[@tonyr.4778]

Also Nucleus, the orchestra complete, Jaeger,and ark.

[@araliman6318]

thank u mate u r the good musician !

[@DDIII3]

To me, the I don't have sounded most realistic: Steinberg. I love the rounded sound of BBC and that one and EW Opus usually came in 2nd to my ear. The VSL library sounded like I was hearing it through a tube. Distant. Great demonstration. Sub'd and Liked. Will watch more. Thank you.

[@nikolaostsimpetonidis4243]

Thank you for the great video. To my humble ears, in order of which is one best 1. VSL, 2. Sptifire, 3. Iconica, 4. Eastwest. At least according to my humble opinion.

[@TheNCGardener]

you are a genious. bravo!

[@tigerboy4516]

a demo like this is no doubt the only way to compare

[@NikolayVysochin]

Thank you Dom! Great overview of the libraries!

[@Progmium]

Great comparison! Awesome playing as well! EastWest and Orchestral Tools are my favorites. I think you can cover most bases with those. But BBC is great as well.

[@switterbeet]

Very nice comparison dude! Its really interesting how the hollywood orchestra reeally sticks out with its hollywood movie type sound so it really does justice to his name! Will you buy and make a review of Orchestral Tools librarys someday? I plan on buying on of theirs someday

[@MaxTooney]

Nice breakdown; greatly appreciated. Enjoyed the 'Die Hard' chord (maj7 #5) @ 53:09

[@switterbeet]

Nice to know im not the only one whos really into synth and classical instruments

[@auralaxiom]

Well, I might be a bit biased, but on balance...Hollywood Orchestra is still king of the bunch.

[@marklholloway]

Beatiful playing! I really like Iconica as best all around value for the money. Sounds incredible and VST Expressions is a real differentiator. Love the folks at Spitfire. That’s a rabbit hole of libraries 😅

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

Yes PLEASE!!! Libraries with sections.

[@karelhoogendoorn]

I really enjoyed this video Dom. The first one from your channel, but I will watch more. Great editing, great playing skills and a good vibe! This look into all the orchestra libraries made me even more enthousiastic to have my own studio. Thnx!

[@liamgovan2905]

That thing you use on your keyboard makes the sound of the strings sound realistic. I wish I could get other composers to use it.

[@victorm.cancino9806]

Please consider demoing Virharmonic is a smaller company but the instruments they made are so realistic!

[@lexcalistion6806]

Incredible!!!! ❤

[@connollytunes]

WELL!!! This was one of the most enjoyable videos I have watched in a while. Thank you. Never seen any of your videos before, and you are so approachable and believable. Will probably be watching your piano comparison vid next. I now just have to somehow find thousands of pounds to buy each and every one of these libraries...

[@revup67]

Dom - this was rather interesting. You've illustrated many good points. However, after watching this, I'd like to add to the ambivalence in user decision making, be sure and check out the 4 Cremora string instruments by NI and Native Instruments collection of Pro Session strings, you may be pleasantly surprised. By comparison, I thought the Hollywood Strings was disappointing in comparison.

[@shamcra]

A very interesting and insightful view on the differences between these libraries. I have the EW Hollywood library and loving it (apart for the GUI :) ). VSL really impressed me. Some brass had a tad of synthetic distortion but over all it sounded fantastic. I don't know if you used the default settings on the libraries, but I was surprised how bad the BBC SO's short strings sounded. Not responsive at all. Thank you for making this video. I will look into the VSL products.

[@thesoundsmith]

The comparison I'd like to see (any probably Vienna would agree) the COST of your time creating serious deliverable product (I don't believe real-time is sufficient, but maybe I'm behind the curve) generally one instrument/section at a time, editing note-by-note articulations, etc. VS. hiring an orchestra, hall and recording crew...How much is your programming/editing time REALLY worth? Include the cost of the library for each movement, you're still WAY ahead.

[@benhughes2355]

Surprisingly, to my ear, Iconica sounded the best. Just had a look at the cost though...

[@DomSigalas]

Don’t forget Iconica comes in two flavours- Sections and Players (that I use on this video) and Ensembles which is sections. ;)

[@marmelade5118]

I got Iconica Opus quite a bit cheaper in their intro sale, maybe that will return some day? Now that i have used it, i can say that i would happily pay the full price... I would recommend to download the demo version and try it yourself;-)

[@apfelnymous5367]

@@DomSigalas Owning ensembles doesnt grant you a discount when buying Sections and players later right ?! I dont get the upgrade path there

[@oliveruecker4919]

Genius! Waited so long for this. Thanks a lot! But I'm late...this is 3 years old. Maybe there could have been some words of hardware requierements. In order to use EW Opus, I had to install NVMe SSDs instead of SSDs; SSDs were way to slow........but that's hopefullly not new.

[@markusleb]

Nice comparison, well done! But did you by any chance mix up the English Horn and the Oboe on Iconica? Screen video seems to indicate so.

[@apfelnymous5367]

Thank you. Im having a hard time to decide. Critical arguments for me are: 1. Any hidden full kontakt player requirements (I dont want to buy it) 2. Where do I get solo instruments earlier in the upgrade path.

[@nomorebushz]

The beginning theme in the movie Prometheus had a wonderful French horn sound

[@ronnyb5890]

@Dom Sigalas some ideas for videos Dom,comparing choirs with wordbuilders,comparing sonuscore the orchestra orchestrator with the opus one comparing realitone's sunset strings to other similar (solstice??) libraries,the choices are plentyfull,too much so,an in-depth comparision would help immensely

[@phoenixrising4995]

I got Versilian Community Symphonic Orchestra for Intimate stuff and rare instruments. BBC Symphony Orchestra PRO for the big orchestra stuff.

[@LightWingStudios]

I'm currently using Eastwest Hollywood Orchestra Opus ComposerCloud Plus via Subscription which is very inexpensive and you get EVERY library they have to offer. IMO a great deal.

[@brianthomasmusic]

Have you figured out how to make the strings respond to the mod wheel on EW Hollywood Orchestra? My midi controller mod wheel only controls CC-1, and a lot of the EW sounds have vibrato connected to CC-1 and expression connected to CC-11. I don't have a CC-11 controller on my Launchkey-37. Any suggestions without buying another midi controller?

[@jonathan_audet]

Hey Dom, great video that needs to be seen at this time of year (Black Friday deals on). I already own EastWest and BBC Core and with what I have I totally agree of picking and choosing between libraries which depends on the actual composition. One thing I started to do is creating my own expression maps for Hollywood Orchestra Opus in Nuendo and I stopped when I watched this video saying it can be "imported". Is there a specific setting needed for this to work? (Rack or Instrument track?, single instrument loaded per instance?, Omni channel selected in VST?) As I can't see the option to import when I select my track that is connected to the VST. Thanks again for your videos, great work!

[@f.joaquinrevilla]

Ok ok, I'm looking for some "mates" (Latin American infusion) and I watch the complete video ... that's why I met you Dom, youtube showed me your video of Mozart's Requiem, as splendid as this one. Greetings from Argentina!

[@drew4872]

Thank you for your time to share this. I just wish I could hear a flat mix of each company's the strings etc. Hard to hear with a reverb wash.

[@IroLidorikioti]

Very nice and detailed video! You can get a good idea for each one of them!

[@peterpeper4837]

Yes it is really very detailed...unfortunately. When I blissfully thought that I could just upgrade my eastwest to the new opus and call it a day, here comes Dom with his excellent points and forces reality, that you need at least two of them. Oh, the Horrors!

[@IroLidorikioti]

@@peterpeper4837 Hahahha!

[@ruhe5784]

I would go with Iconica for almost everything, but that brass... It would be great to hear how different EW is while using its three modes (soft, classic and epic)

[@JoeMullanMusic]

Nice bit of Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony when testing out the cellos ❤❤

[@djcrystilo8733]

Iconica Sounds The Best

[@gavinwood7907]

Spitfire Albion series was my favourite go to for orchestral, however after this video I'm mightily impressed with them all. Like you say each one seems to have different strengths and weaknesses, as much as I love halion I felt it wasn't as good as the other three. I was very surprised by the VSL. Hollywood sounds amazing but felt like it was too wet but there was more room for your own eq and effects with VSL. Same with BBC though it does have a default gorgeous sound.

[@GuyVignati]

In my opinion VSL produces in general a very realistic sound.

[@samuelfranco.musica]

Great video! Thank you!!! I'm going to (probably) buy the EW one, for me, it seems like it's the most "balanced" one. Sometimes a bit better, sometimes worse, but it's now on sale (50% I think😅) So ... quite accessible Edit. It's actually 70% off

[@aspyccias]

Very good video indeed to explain how each library has its own goods and bads and any of them isn't perfect, just different. Thank you so much for confirming that the way you did! Just a simple and natural presentation in which we feel so much your passion :) It reminds me the time when I tried different libraries and I decided to make a choice of one and not mix them together... Maybe it'll change my mind about that. But anyway, I'd need so much free time (and money as well) to explore them that way.

[@Guttalaser]

Great video as always Man. Can you name those little "addo-on" controllers on the N.I. keyboard you use for expression?

[@matsolsson4978]

Amazing! You got yourself a follower!

[@DomSigalas]

Welcome!