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A beginner asks for tips combining free orchestra libs

tulamide

Member
Not sure, wether this is the correct subforum.

Over the years, I shifted slowly from electronic music to orchestral mockups. I learn about orchestration and arrangement at my own, slow speed. But I also notice, how my ears get more and more trained. I can't stand the sound of early libraries anymore (the orchestral companion series, which I bought a decade or so ago on a sale). However, I also can't invest hundreds over hundreds of my money in high quality orchestra libraries, like the Vienna Studio/Synchron series and the like.

I grabbed some free versions, namely BBCSO, Project Sam and Berlin Free and I like the latter. But I want to extend my possibilities, as those are typically reduced to 2 articulations. But a full orchestra library, that's not something you find a lot. I think we can be thankful for the three I mentioned.

That's why I see people using a lot of individual free libs, a strings lib, a horns lib, a woodwind lib, etc. But here I am lost, because I doubt that they could be combined in a consistent way - or can they? Some have room reverb on them, some have not, some are recorded hot, others quiet, etc.

In short: if you are an orchestrator or classic composer, what set of free instrument libs would you recommend to put together for me to extend beyond the capabilities of Berlin Free? I am fully aware, that the "real deal" can only beachieved by taking money in my hand, but something that is not quite there, but better than my current set, surely must exist. What are your experiences?
 
There's a lot of good stuff in the free Blueprint series by Fracture Sounds, and in the former Labs by Spitfire (now all available via the Splice Instrument). Whether they'll work well in combination with the Berlin Free by Orchestral Tools is something you'll have to try for yourself. If you're prepared to spend a bit of money, The Orchestra Essentials and Lux Strings Essentials by Sonuscore are worth a look - in fact, there is the free Orchestra Elements which will give you a look-see as to whether you'd like Sonuscore's way of doing things.

An alternative is to wait for the next sale at East West and pick up their Composer Cloud+ subscription for $99/year. Once you have that price, it stays that price for life - it's not a first-year-only discount. Again, you need to listen to their demos and see if you like what they do, but the library resource is vast and they've paired up with Sonuscore a lot to create some of the control and arrangement mechanics. They regularly bring out new products (not always in the orchestral genre, however) and we are awaiting Hollywood Scoring Tools which is set to drop on the 29th of this month. It should be a very interesting VST.

Trailer at
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