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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



Orchestral Tools Layers: Free - Very nice, ensembles.


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



Versillian Chamber Orchestra Community Edition: Free - https://versilian-studios.com/vsco-community/
https://soundcloud.com/samulis%2Fcommunity-ed-winner-seasons-otto-halmen

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

 
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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.


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.


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.


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
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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