Musio by Cinesamples: The Netflix of Music Production? 🎵🎹 Review + Demo!

Welcome to my in-depth review of Musio by Cinesamples, the cloud service that's shaking up how composers access quality samples. Is it the Netflix of music production? 🎬🎹
🎶 What You'll Discover:
1️⃣ Musio Overview: What is Musio and what can you expect from it?
2️⃣ Creating a Cinematic Fanfare: I put Musio to the test by composing a cinematic opening theme. How does it fare against my go-to libraries?
3️⃣ Album Teaser: Get an exclusive sneak-peek into a piece from my upcoming album, releasing this November. 🎉
4️⃣ Subscription vs Ownership: The pros and cons of cloud-based subscription services against lifetime licenses.
We explore the power of the lydian mode to evoke that heroic and magic feeling, right before the movie starts. With my step by step composition walkthrough, we get a look at Musio's options for strings, brass, woodwinds, and orchestral percussions.
Whether you're new to music production or a seasoned composer, this video offers a comprehensive look into the Musio service and what it means for the industry.
👇👇👇
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[@SamuFL]

So... the business model of Musio just changed. And for me, that's a game changer on my judgement. Basically, they are bundling now instruments into "Musio 1" (for everything published in 2023). And later, when they have the next viable bundle, they will publish "Musio 2" - for an upgrade price for owners of Musio 1. Etc... pretty much the way Kontakt and Ozone release new versions with new content. But, owners of the old version get all updates on anything included in the old version etc... Let me know if you want a little video where I explain the new model.

[@jonalex_io]

perhaps a YT short would be helpful in explaining the recent update!! Thanks for the initial review😊

[@khalidalkhamiri7510]

Wonderful top view of what can musio do … I do love this library

[@SamuFL]

Yes. I became a fan of it. It's not perfect by any means, but it's honestly a really great addition to my collection and I use it a lot.

[@gigabruzinho]

Well, thank you very much for your demo and comments ! Yes I would enjoy a little video of the new model ! The mix of BBC orchestra and musio is great 😊 congrat !

[@SamuFL]

Thank you very much. I am planning to make an update video dedicated to Musio 1. By now I have collected some good solid information concerning Musio 1, it's content etc... So, I can reliably give a judgement on it.

[@gigabruzinho]

@@SamuFL Well, fantastic, thank you so much for that !

[@Immanuel11.11]

Great video. Great insight on the plugin as I'm new to this VsT. Do you have templates on your set up. Specifically the routing "template"

[@SamuFL]

Hi. I am planning to do a bit of an update to this video. I will include how I route my template. Musio evolved A LOT since I made my first review, and I think it's worth to include some comments on the newer features and sound packs.

[@ronnyb5890]

hey Samuel, i bought a 2Tb internal SATA SSD where i download ALL musio samples to, i have to be patient only once downloading the entire collection however, there are no tricks to transfer downloaded samples to your second machine, so i had to re-download for the second machine one thing wich is also great from the musio/cinesamples team, is that they listen to their users, so i contacted them with that second machine download and they replied that they will incorporate an all library download button, great hmm, cheers m8

[@SamuFL]

Yes. Im in the beta testing group. And yes, the musio developers do listen to the community. And I can confirm that they are working on features concerning generally performance and resilience of the software - next to preparing some amazing new sound libraries. Over time I became an absolute fan of Musio 👍

[@Capt-Cran]

Thank you for the great video ... could you share with me if there is a place or group of Midi files with various orchestral runs and pharses? ... I'm not sure how ti even ask the right question ... but I'd like to find a program or package that has various runs that would be applied to brass, strings, and woodwinds .... Thank you!!

[@SamuFL]

I wish there was something like that, that I knew of 😅 There are some free orchestral „runs“ by VSL (www.vsl.co.at/de/BBO_Map/BBO#!Product_Info). They have some Phantastic free harp runs. Other than that, I am not aware of any free resource. ProjectSAM has a VST instrument specifically for runs. The reviews are quite convincing, but I don’t have any experience with it myself. The name is „colours adaptive runs“ - projectsam.com/libraries/colours-adaptive-runs

[@klarkb3nt403]

Hey Samuel...using Studio one! nice...love to see your template

[@SamuFL]

Whoop! Studio One is GREAT! And, one of the things I love the most is - I don't really have a "template". I have stored track & instrument presets that I can load as I go.

[@TheAerovons]

My reaction was the same as yours comparing the two versions was a tough choice!

[@netuno_music]

I looked everywhere for the fiddle sound in musio. Found it here. I think I'll wait for Musio 2 to see if they put out some ethnic stuff

[@SamuFL]

Haha. If there is any sound you are interested in, let me know! Look, I know that even in Musio 1 there is more world instruments coming. I don't know if it is what you are looking for speciffically, but cinesamples committed to a roadmap that was finalized an published a few weeks ago: And it contains Iceland package, Scottland package, Africa package etc...

[@netuno_music]

@@SamuFL The ethnic packages are already working? I was waiting for Africa, Iceland, Scotland, Ireland stuff... I thought it wouldn't be ready until next year.

[@SamuFL]

@@netuno_music So, some of it is already in the Beta testing comunity. But, yes, many of them may slip into next yeat. However, Cinesamples promised that they will be part of Musio 1 regardless of whether they make a release this year, or next year. The content on their HP right now musio.com/whats-included/, is what you will (eventually) get. But the discount price of 299 will only last until end of this year. If that makes sense.

[@netuno_music]

@@SamuFL Thanks for the explanation and for the content

[@markuc999]

Hello, I am also using Studio One in Windows 11, how is your audio buffer setting please ? I have an 18-core I9 with 128 GB RAM and I would imagine somewhat higher performance in some applications ... I switched from Cubase mainly because of the articulation overclocking, which Steinberg invented but still works miserably in Cubase. Thank you for your response.

[@SamuFL]

Hi. I just looked it up. My Audio settings are as follows: I use PreSonus Studio 26c USB as audio interface. For midi recording: Device Block Size 64 samples; for mixing Device Block Size 1024 samples. Saple rate is set to 96 kHz. Dropout protection is at "minimum". Process oprecision at Single 32 bit. Does that answer your question?

[@boyrazak]

superb

[@SamuFL]

Thank you 😃!

[@SCtester]

These reviews are very useful, thanks for making them! The perpetual license Musio 1 bundle is currently only $299, which seems like quite a good price. But even for that lower price, I worry that it's not true ownership. If it's still technically being licensed without being owned, what if, for example, Cinesamples goes out of business or closes the Musio brand. I could very well see that people would lose access in that case. I don't know, I'm torn, but it is tempting.

[@SamuFL]

Thank you! Yes, indeed - Musio stopped offering their lifetime licence and instead settled on versioning: Musio 1, Musio 2, ... To me, it sonds like a good new deal. Somehow similar to the way Kontakt does it's thingy.

[@SCtester]

@@SamuFL The comparison to Kontakt's model makes a lot of sense - thinking of it that way makes it seem more logical. For a first orchestral library, how would you say Musio compares to something like BBCSO Core or Nucleus? I'm having trouble deciding between the three.

[@SamuFL]

@@SCtester Ouff. And I don't envy you on having to make that decision. I don't have experience myself with nucleus, but from what I hear it's very good and the sound is a bit more flexible and cinematic with the two mixes you get. BBCSO sounds a bit more realistic / natural to my ears, though. And Musio will be the most complete option of these three. Providing not only orchestral instruments, but a buch of folk instruments, choirs, sampled synthezisers etc.... So, if your collection of samples right now is pretty much 0 + freebies: Musio might be the biggest value add for you. You will get imho more control for detailed orchestral scoring with BBCSO, though. And nucleus gives you for sure a pristine cinematic sound. I guess you already checked out the 30 day trial of Musio? What is your opinion?

[@SCtester]

@@SamuFL Thank you so much for your input! Being that my sample collection is indeed 0 + freebies, you make a good point about the value add of Musio's additional VSTs beyond just an orchestra - that might end up being the deciding factor. I've been looking into BBCSO Core and Nucleus for some time now, but only just found out about Musio a few days ago and haven't yet had a chance to try the trial - so that will be my next order of business. It's a shame the other two don't offer trials as a point of reference, but nonetheless, trying Musio hopefully will help determine what my priorities are. Thanks again!

[@micwarren21]

You could always take your project or your track and generator Audio. And you do have it on your hard drive.

[@mmbproducer5969]

You have to be online to make it work ????

[@SamuFL]

Yes and no. You need to be online to access the calaogue and download the samples. But one you have them, you only need to connect online once per month (or once per year) to verify your license. But generally, I would suggest that you should rather be mostly online to use the plugin, yes.

[@riccochettv8638]

Musio is the best

[@SamuFL]

Not sure about "the best" - but it's a really great product and I recommend it a lot.

[@janneckchristiansen2778]

CORRECTION: A flat Major, B flat Major, C flat Major!!! ;)

[@SamuFL]

Thank you! And: Correction to the correction -- A flat Major, B flat Major --> C Major 😅 But you are perfectly right. I misspoke in the video, I think I said e flat, which is clearly wrong...

[@janneckchristiansen2778]

@@SamuFL of course! DOH!! Rule nr. 1 when you correct someone: check for typos!!😂. The only reason I corrected you, is because I myself call it the Super Mario Cadence, and therefore I'm very familiar with it😄

[@SamuFL]

@@janneckchristiansen2778all good - I was well aware it was just a typo. 😅 was just having fun. I'm sorry, I'm very often on a very tight schedule for the youtube stuff, and then I can't reshoot, when I mess up. So, thank you anyways for pointing it out 👍

[@braunhausmedia]

Nay. Hate subscriptions.

[@SamuFL]

Yah, me too 😅 I now have two: Splice and Musio. Any yes, I'd much rather own it, than rent it.

[@CraigRodmellMusic]

Sorry, but anything Subscription-based gets the Thumbs Down from me.

[@SamuFL]

Yes. And I understand why. As I stated in my conclusion: I am not a fan of renting. And I will never ever let Musio enter the core of my template. But, overall, for me it works out and for me it's worth the 10 €/month.

[@CraigRodmellMusic]

@@SamuFL Well for me, it most definitely ISN'T worth it. $20 per month doesn't sound like a lot, but that's US$20. In my currency, that's about $36 per month. Ouch!! And that's whether I use it or not. And I'm a hobbyist. I have no way of recouping that expense. And that expense soon mounts up! I BOUGHT BBCSO Core for what it would cost me for 13 months' subscription at US$20 per month: it's mine to use until Kingdom Come, I don't need to be on the 'net to use it (my music PC is offline), and I don't have to pay a fee if I don't use it. I give subscriptions the thumbs down, and not just for music software either. The video editing software I use is trying very hard to persuade me to go on the subscription plan. Their efforts are in vain. I have no intention of going on it whatsoever.

[@m22110]

There’s a lifetime purchase for $299

[@CraigRodmellMusic]

@@m22110 Oh. I didn't know that. Thanks. But still, I suppose that's actually US$299, which as that will mean over $500 for me, means I won't be getting it any time soon.

[@HumanTouchArt]

you can actually buy the whole bundel now for 300 i think its a very good deal and you own it forever...

[@PreacherAtArrakeen]

I find the woodwinds synthy. Strings, average. Brass, average. Not quite living up to the hype, imo.

[@SamuFL]

Mkay... I am actually a big fan by now. Musio 1 developed really strong since last year. And it's still evolving and expanding both, it's catalogue as well as the feature set.

[@PreacherAtArrakeen]

@@SamuFL 'mkay' is pretty patronizing, don't you think? Almost as if you take my opinion personally. Really, perhaps their more exotic collections will have something interesting, but quantity over quality is not my thing in the day of limited ssd space. I'm glad I only paid 199$ for it. Corporate shill.

[@SamuFL]

@@PreacherAtArrakeen sorry if it came over like that. I just happen to disagree 🤷‍♂️

[@PreacherAtArrakeen]

@@SamuFL it has a ways to go. For example, I tried to map the articulations for ensemble strings keyswitch in logic. Musio says they're mapped from C1, but it is actually C0. A bit of a pain, until I figured it out. I had hoped this would be my go-to, but it isn't. EW Symphony Orchestra Opus sounds far more authentic to me.

[@antoniozimmerman7767]

@@PreacherAtArrakeenmost software companies use C4 for middle C but others use C3. So there is not an official standardization.