Miroslav Vitous is a legendary Jazz Bassist from the Czech Republic. In 1993, he found himself at the cutting edge of sampling technology when he decided to attempt to sample the entire Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The resulting huge and expensive sample library became the mainstay of many media composers running on hardware Akai, Roland, and Emu samplers.

These devices typically had a few megabytes of memory: modern computers can load gigabytes of samples. Even so, the original Miroslav library was considered legendary for the “feel” of it as much as the quality and size of the samples. In 2006, IK Multimedia took this original library and built it into the Miroslav Philharmonik virtual instrument.

Ten years later, in collaboration with Miroslav, IK Multimedia released Philharmonik 2, which takes the library to an astonishing 58GB covering 2,700 instruments.

What’s perhaps unique about this virtual orchestra is it was produced by an artist rather than an engineer. There was something about the way the instruments were played, the emotion captured in those samples that made the Miroslav library so creatively exciting. Miroslav Philharmonik 2 aims to retain the spirit and musicality of the original while expanding the range and reach. It then delivers all the humanity, passion and grandeur of a real orchestra in one virtual instrument.

Within the virtual instrument, you can load up to 16 instruments. Each instrument comes with multiple articulations that are switchable via key presses. To load more instruments, simply load another instance of Philharmonik 2 and you have another 16 instruments to create another section.

The mixing page helps you blend the individual instruments and control the routing through the inbuilt, professional effects. A powerful synthesizer engine lets you edit the instruments’ tonal character. And finally, a convolution reverb provides a 3D sonic visualization of the acoustic space in which you want to place your players.

Miroslav Philharmonik 2 is an extraordinary collection of instruments able to bring an emotive and elegant sound to your music. It’s wrapped up in an easy-to-use interface that’s instantly accessible and at an inclusive price point. For the budget-conscious there’s even a CE version containing 10GB of samples and 700 instruments, covering probably what most people would actually need. This would be a good place to start.

Miroslav Philharmonik 2 aims to retain the spirit and musicality of the original while expanding the range and reach. It then delivers all the humanity, passion and grandeur of a real orchestra in one virtual instrument.

Street Prices:
• Miroslav Philharmonik 2 $499
• Miroslav Philharmonik 2 CE $149

ikmultimedia.com
Check out this Miroslav Philharmonik 2 video review

If Miroslav brought the artistry, then the Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) brought the science of authenticity. Situated in Vienna, Austria, they have produced over three million samples of nearly every instrument of the symphonic orchestra, choir, and associated sounds.

With over a terabyte of high-resolution recordings, they have captured more sound than any other company. Their goal is to provide composers with the most authentic sounds so they can realize their visions and get themselves heard.

VSL is not a single product. It encapsulates all the libraries they have produced and continue to produce and can be rather overwhelming. It’s probably best to start with either a single library of an instrument you are interested in or a more cost-effective bundle.

The traditional libraries come under the name Vienna Instrument Series and cover 10 entire collections for around $2,000. The latest libraries are called the Synchron Series focusing on individual instruments, ensembles and hybrid articulations. The full library is over $8,000.

All their instruments run through the same software interface, the Vienna Instruments Sample Player. This allows for the complete management of each loaded instrument. It contains lots of clever technology like detecting certain ways of playing and providing the correct articulation for a more realistic sound. It’s extremely efficient and can load complex arrangements very quickly. Combined with this is the Vienna Ensemble Mixing Host which provides the mixing and effects processing side.

As a system, the Vienna Instruments and Ensemble Mixing Host can run completely stand-alone and accessible over a network. This means you can have computers dedicated to running the library that is all controlled and played from another computer. A network of computers running VSL is a common way of coping with the enormous potential, detail, and size of these instruments.

VSL is a serious, considered investment in the quality and authenticity of orchestral sounds. If you really want to sound like an orchestra and have the skills to arrange and articulate all the instruments on offer, then this is where you should start.

There are many different versions to choose from including the free Big Band Orchestra, as featured in the video. Give it a whirl to see if the interface is to your liking.

Street Price: free to $8,000
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Many other orchestral libraries make use of Native Instrument’s Kontakt technology to provide the interface and player for their sounds. So it’s only right that NI should be able to make best use of it. The Symphony Series is a portfolio of wonderful performances from top musicians recorded by some of the finest audio engineers.

They are designed and built into the Kontakt interface to give you the most intuitive experience. The design is wonderfully clear, beautifully nuanced and a joy to use. If you like to tinker more than make music then perhaps this isn’t for you but for those of us who like to rely on the sounds that are given then this is perfect.

The collection is split into four different sections. We have Percussion, Strings, Brass, and Woodwind. Each one uniquely recorded and mixed. The Strings came from a 60-piece ensemble recorded in Studio 22, Budapest along with the 55 piece Percussion section. The Brass came from a 32-piece section recorded at St Paul’s Church in San Francisco, and the 36 Woodwinds played at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland.

There were endless articulations, groups and solos, rich combinations, dynamic movements and incidentals. All wrapped up in the easiest interface you can imagine.

Street Prices: $999

Native-Instruments.com

East West has produced some of the most successful orchestral libraries since they began back in the early 2000s. Much of their success is attributed to their engineering prowess and ability to capture instruments at an amazing level of quality. With the Symphonic Orchestra library, they wanted to surpass their own high standards to create the most comprehensive, best scripted and most meticulously recorded sample library ever attempted.

But of course, that’s the sort of thing all these virtual orchestra producers say. For East West, it was all about getting the highest level of fidelity and realism. They aim for that big “Hollywood Sound” film/TV/Game Directors and Producers want “out-of-the-box.” You could see them as combining the usability and instant access of Miroslav with the quality and detail of VSL.

Symphonic Orchestra was recorded by eleven-time Grammy-nominated classical Recording Engineer Prof. Keith O. Johnson in a state-of-the-art concert hall. Each instrument was recorded from 3 microphone positions: close, stage (Conductor’s position), and hall. These positions can be mixed to achieve the realistic sound you’re after without the need for additional reverb.

Along with the new recordings came East West’s new instrument interface called PLAY 5. It greatly simplifies the workflow while intelligently and efficiently streamlining the library to achieve the best results. This allows less experienced users to get amazing results without having to dig into the particulars of each instrument.

Articulations can be easily turned on and off and legato detection senses and responds to legato and repetitive playing. While mixing the instruments, the PLAY interface offers professional effects and some superb reverb impulses to place the players in various environments.

The sound of the East West Symphonic Orchestra is legendary and surprisingly affordable. You can also subscribe to access to these sounds and all the other instruments in the huge East West library.

Street Prices: $499

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With the big hitters of VSL and East West dominating in the areas of detail and realism, it would make you wonder why you’d look anywhere else. But there are many ways to capture the sound of an orchestra and each space; with each environment and collection, players can add something new and nuanced to a collection of recordings.

ProjectSam not only manages to capture immersive ensemble performances but also adds in some unique and intensely cinematic orchestral effects. The result is an inspirational library in three parts that has found a solid place in scoring for films, games, and television.

For Symphobia 1 it’s all about the ensemble recordings rather than individual instruments. They wanted to harness the power of different ensembles in different arrangements rather than building a sound from solos. This means you get the instant lushness of the combined force of sound. The other side of Symphobia is the cinematic effects. You’ll find rips and hits, string risers, brass clusters and evolving woodwind textures.

Symphobia 2 is the sequel and expansion to the original and completely unique. It brings in many more fresh and inspiring cinematic effects, along with exclusive legato ensembles and transitions. It takes the ideas of the original and explores all sorts of creative and interesting avenues.

Symphobia 3 Lumina takes a different path into fantasy, mystery, and animation. Symphobia 1 and 2 focused on the heavier side of drama, while Lumina aims for warmth and beauty. On the other hand, Symphobia 4 Pandora weighs in with the nightmare strings of horror movies.

Symphobia uses the Native Instrument Kontakt sampler instrument as the sound engine for the library. Although in some cases this can be restrictive I find the Symphobia interface is refreshingly light and minimal when dealing with a little bit of articulation, mic placement and effects. It resists the constant tweaking perhaps the other sample libraries demand.

Street Price: $299-$499 each, with deals available on bundles.

Recorded at the famous Air Studios with a 109-piece orchestra Albion One was intended to be everything you need to score a film in a single product. The orchestra was populated with London’s best players, people who feature regularly in Oscar-winning film scores, and captured in the same way film scores are recorded.

Albion uses 4 microphone positions — close, tree, outriggers, and ambient — and you can mix those to achieve the ideal balance of sound to suit the music you are producing.

What’s interesting about Albion is they’ve gone beyond the orchestra into other creative areas. The first is Brunel Loops, which is a module allowing you to smash together two sources into warped, sequenced, effected and blended loops.

Secondly, there’s the Stephenson’s Steam Band where they’ve mangled the library through various horrible processors which results in some alarmingly good pads and electronic sounding orchestral movements.

And finally, there’s The Ostinatum which is a pattern sequencer capable of producing amazingly lifelike orchestral arpeggiations. These are all part of the more interesting side of the Kontakt Sampler engine Albion uses.

Street Price: $399
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There’s something about Garritan sample libraries that always hit the mark. While perhaps not going to the depths of some of the others on the list the authenticity and realism in these instruments is uncanny. You will not find a finer collection of instruments for $150.

The instruments are available in the single interface of the ARIA player instrument. You have over 500 instrument patches to choose from covering multiple articulations, solos, ensembles and full orchestras. You can build your own orchestra using individual instruments or choose from the many curated combinations.

The library covers brass, strings, percussion, woodwind, keyboards, harps and choirs, all painstakingly sampled and built into multi-level instruments.

Garritan Personal Orchestra has been around a long time and is still the best choice for people on a budget and you can be assured that it punches well above its weight.

Street Price: $149
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The BBC Symphony Orchestra is free and completely brilliant. It’s not a throw away freebie, this is an expertly recorded and professionally put together collection of instruments that can bring a score to life. It’s nicely presented inside Spitfires own deliciously minimal interface which lets you get on with writing the music rather than worry about the technicalities.

That said you do have 47 different techniques to choose from over 33 different instruments. I know that doesn’t sound like much but you’ll be surprised how good that can sound. In terms of library size it’s tiny at only 200MB but that means it will run on anything, any laptop or computer and any desktop format. It’s perfect for score writing or arranging on the go when you don’t have access to your larger system.

The library comes from the world-famous BBC Symphony Orchestra recorded at London’s Maida Vale studios. It captures a the performance of a working orchestra that plays challenging material together all the time giving it an incredibly cohesive sound. The free library is taken from the very same sessions that produced the Core and Professional versions that cost considerably more.

Street Price: free
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