• Hi and welcome to the Studio One User Forum!

    Please note that this is an independent, user-driven forum and is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or maintained by PreSonus. Learn more in the Welcome thread!

Scoring On A Budget

Gray Wolf

Gray Wolf

Member
Just wanted to start a thread where composers with limited financial resources have some places to look for low cost (under or close to $100) orchestral libraries that are actually usable.

BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover: Free - https://www.spitfireaudio.com/virtual-instruments/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover - Small size, good sound, easy on CPU and Ram. Limited articulations

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


Orchestral Tools Layers: Free - Very nice, ensembles.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


Project SAM The Free Orchestra: Free - https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-2

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.


Versillian Chamber Orchestra Community Edition: Free - https://versilian-studios.com/vsco-community/
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

DSK Overture: Free https://www.dskmusic.com/dsk-overture/

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
Last edited:
Spitfire Originals Orchestra: $99 - https://www.spitfireaudio.com/originals-orchestra\
A good deal for the money. Their "Original" class of products is very good in general, reusing sounds from other libraries at a lower cost.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Nucleus Lite: $99
www.audioimperia.com

Nucleus Lite Edition | Audio Imperia

Nucleus Lite Edition | The Core Essentials - An essential (5GB) package of everything you need to begin your journey into cinematic orchestral composition.
www.audioimperia.com www.audioimperia.com
I haven't personally used it, but it seems to be a good value.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Steinberg Iconica Sketch: $120 - https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/iconica-sketch/ -
Sounds very good for the price. Limited articulations on some instruments. Most of the percussion is in one percussion preset.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Miroslav Philharmonic 2 CE: $99 https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/philharmonik2ce/?pkey=miroslav-philharmonik-2-ce
Audio Sample: https://g1.ikmultimedia.com/html/miroslavphilharmonik2ce/audiodemo/5-Indie Action-Hetoreyn MP2 CE.mp3
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AAV
Doesn’t ship Studio One v7 with the full Presonus Orchestra Library (even for perpetual license owners)? That would be a decent starting point for free.
 
It does come free now, yes. Having said that, I'm not a fan. Most of the free and low cost things above sound much better to my ears. To me, the strongest part of PSO is the percussion and the Big Strings. The timpani is great as is a lot of the percussion. The rest of it is kind of ... "meh" in my opinion. I'm sure others may disagree.
 
Sospiro Strings (€37)
www.lootaudio.com

Sospiro Strings | Kontakt Instruments | Loot Audio

Sospiro Strings is a Kontakt library for creating slow, emotive strings. It features 4 different length swells and 3 sustained articulations, recorded on bass, cello, viola, and violin. For Kontakt 5.8.1 or above.
www.lootaudio.com www.lootaudio.com

Not the most versatile library, but in the right hands and the right context, I think it can be quite useful.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
there’s a lot of good suggestions here but the most important one I can add is:

Do not, under any circumstances, buy Motu Symphonic Instrument. Regardless of how cheap it might go to on sales, it is absolutely the oldest and most depressing virtual symphonic library on the market. I bought it in *2004* at 20 years old and was shocked last year when I found my old ilok. I found out they are still selling it unchanged from 2004. *Do Not* buy it.

It was fair to middling in the first GWB admin. It’s far worse now.
 
Orchestral Tools are giving away a free Orchestra at the mo'
It can be downloaded via their Sine Player.

www.orchestraltools.com

Berlin Free Orchestra

A virtual orchestra made with pro-grade samples from our flagship series. The perfect starting point for composing in your DAW.
www.orchestraltools.com www.orchestraltools.com

Rgards to all.
 
sintil8 said:
Orchestral Tools are giving away a free Orchestra at the mo'
It can be downloaded via their Sine Player.

www.orchestraltools.com

Berlin Free Orchestra

A virtual orchestra made with pro-grade samples from our flagship series. The perfect starting point for composing in your DAW.
www.orchestraltools.com www.orchestraltools.com

Rgards to all.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Not bad at all. I made VST3 presets for it which are attached below.
 

Attachments

Gray Wolf said:
Thanks. Not bad at all. I made VST3 presets for it that I tried to share here, but this board doesn't accept the zip file fomat for file attachments.

I sent them to Lukas, maybe he'll add them here.
Click to expand...
Nice, will give them a whirl as time allows, Ta!

Kind regards.
 

Scoring with Berlin Free Orchestra​

Guy Michelmore
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top