Anyone got experience with 8DIO stuff?
I heard a demo of the Prophet XL ages ago, utilising some kind of close mic’d chamber strings patch… And it was stunning. But I’ve never been able to find it since and the 8DIO customer support said they weren’t sure which pack best matched the description, because the Prophet XL had adapted / unique samples… Looking on YouTube now, the 8DIO stuff seems kinda flat compared to Spitfire.
very beautiful sounds!
Been getting into orchestral stuff lately and it’s been a real joy using Spitfire Libraries, either through Kontakt or their own VSTs.
Their “Labs” are clearly a gateway drugs but there are some hidden gems in all those free libraries.
Also it’s really cool what they did with the Originals, there’s not really “bread & butter” orchestra elements but it makes them really easy to program & include in anything.
I’ve also tried the Blisko Violin and it’s a really great vst. A bit hard to tame, but it’s definitely worth the price. I notice a lot of similarities with the Spitfire Olafur Arnalds Evolutions, with the wilder string intonations, but the approaches to programming them are really different.
All in all, it’s great fun & if you like those kind of string intonations, you should definitely check out the amazing album Vast by Viktor Orri Árnason and Yair Elazar Glotman : https://viktoryair.bandcamp.com/album/vast.
Sounds we’re on the same path! 
Will definitely check the album you recommended, as I’m a big fan of Viktor Orri Árnason’s playing on Olafur Arnalds albums.
I haven’t posted in the thread in a while, but since acquiring a couple of Spitfire Originals to get going after Labs (which are a dangerous gateway drug indeed), I’ve already bought all of the Felt Instruments VSTs (Blisko bundle, Jasno, Lekko) and both Olafur Arnalds string evolutions collections. Also just got Spitfire Chamber Strings in the Christmas sale.
Besides those I have BBCSO Discover and the bonus Aperture Orchestra from the Black Friday sale. These two I haven’t used much though, as I’m mostly into layering my synth tracks with some strings.
I actually really think I’m well set now and have been pretty productive throughout the last couple of months. I haven’t done pure orchestral stuff much, as I’ve been busy with my album, which has strings (and piano) on most songs.
As to the Spitfire libraries, I much prefer the new Spitfire interface to Kontakt. Either I’m stupid and can’t find out a way to zoom it or the (free) Kontakt Player interface just isn’t very easy on the eyes on a 13” Macbook Pro laptop.
Luckily the sound of these libraries is awesome and combined with some still useful Labs bits, they have taken my strings/orchestral arrangements to the next level. For me the Olafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions is in a league of its own. Although it’s limited to what it can do, I could spend hours just playing with the string waves. It’s my fave library with Blisko Cello for sure.
I actually went deeper down this road myself, but a slightly different path than you guys.
After months of research, I bought Bernard Herrmann Composer Toolkit and Spitfire Studio Orchestra Professional (both recorded in the same space) during the Christmas sale. I’ve been getting really into 1970s library music and Italian film scores, and want to try my hand at writing stuff in this genre. It was a bit pricey, but I think this will be a strong workhorse setup for me and I was really frugal during 2020 and probably won’t be doing much for at least the first half of 2021.
I’ve really streamlined my studio over the past year or so, and prefer working in the DAW for synths and sample stuff, but still have my two guitars and a bass for instruments, which I hope to record more.
Different path, same rabbit hole.
Would really like to hear some of your stuff!
Any of you fine humans already tried their hands on Orchestral Tools libraries? I find them to be quite phenomenal for my needs, but then I don’t actually score orchestra, I just use elements in my productions.
Sorry, don’t have experience with Orcestral Tools but I would suggest checking out the VI Control forum, which is a specific resource for this kind of stuff.
Same path indeed, but you went crazier on the purchases, haha 
I’m halfway through an ambient EP and I have never been this productive. I only buy libraries for direct needs now that I feel like I’m almost set.
How would you compare the Blisko strings with the Olafur Arnalds Evolutions ? It seems like they’re really close in terms of philosophy but the execution is very different.
I agree that I much prefer the vst versions over Kontakt, but the full version makes it possible to setup with MPE, so unless they add that to their regular VSTs, it’s a great advantage for me as I think it would pair really well with the Expressive E Osmose as a controller (when it arrives)
I did the same things last year too, still hoping to sell additionnal stuff, but since getting a new computer it’s been bye-bye hardware for the most part. Only thing I regret selling is my Digitakt, because the workflow is nice for percussions and it would also fit pretty nicely with what I’m doing these days ^^
Also… the Bernard Herrmann Composer Toolkit demo sounds A-mazing, I never stumbled upon it but I see why you got it. And it has a very specific sound too 
My favourite film composer was Hermann. Glad he got his revenge on Hitchcock with Taxi Driver .
There’s certainly some overlap between Blisko and the OA Evolutions, and some patches or sounds can also well be made with Labs Arctic Swells, Scary Strings or Frozen Strings. The original OA Evolutions is for very fragile sounds so I’ve barely used them yet. Almost like ”frozen cobwebs and if you touch them they’ll break fragile”. Don’t get me wrong, they’re beautiful and I’ll use them eventually but within an arrangement that has synths, drum machines and vocals, they’re just too ethereal.
Olafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions is pure joy to play with and I’ve used the waves patches a lot in my arrangements. Similar sense of movement to what Blisko offers but there’s more control over the OACE, whereas you can get really left-field textures out of the Bliskos (the OACE Evo Grid can get you there as well). In short, if you’re thinking one or the other, get OACE. But if you’re not in a hurry, wait for a Spitfire sale to get 40% off.
Another point I would make is that I think Blisko Cello and Violin would well suffice for me, because IIRC, they cover the octave range of the viola. Of course the viola has its own sound but again in an arrangement where there’s a lot going on, I can get by perfectly without the viola.
One thing I haven’t done extensively yet is use an MPE controller with the Blisko strings, although not all patches support MPE. I do think however that some of the more ambient ”Afterglow” Blisko patches are a bit gimmicky (as in one-dimensional). Maybe good for subtle textures in some movie/tv show cues but not really something I find much use for. Overall I would love to be able to tweak the Blisko patches more, as now even the fastest attack on long articulations is just too slow.
Sold ! Haha, that’s exactly what I’m looking for 
That’s exactly the impression I got from watching videos and after getting Blisko Violin.
I’m waiting the next sale to get the OAE or OACE, you sold them really well even if it was already a done deal, haha.
The thing with Blisko Violin is it is extremely resamplable. The fact that some articulations are really “sparse” make it easy to get pleasing result when reusing them. In fact, I don’t think I’ve used it as-is yet but I’m having a lot of fun getting some rythmic textures from it.
I think I might get the Cello too, but not the viola either.
Haha! Good good, come this way good sir, oh that string library really suits you. 
Whenever you’ve got music to share, please post a link here!
I’ve only recently started this journey too! I’ve been bitten by the Spitfire drug - I love their interfaces and have been enjoying BBC Discover (the cellos are a particular highlight for me) and LABs, so I just bought their Intimate Strings yesterday too.
Conversely, I HATE everything about Kontakt 6 which I bought in the Black Friday sale… clunky, no resize to make it readable on my screens, awkward to use, very dated looking… And the bundled sounds are generally pretty rubbish. For such an expensive product, I really feel it should be better.
The saving grace is that I downloaded some free 8DIO stuff and paid for their Caisa Drum too – and those are excellent! Also, some of the Klang packs I found are good. I’ve been trying Pianobook instruments, some are ok, some are nice, a lot are ropey. I’m really keen to start building my own sample instruments over the next couple of months, so I’ll be persevering with ugly-ass Kontakt for now…
Yeah, that’s the one I’ve been lusting after for at least half a year, but was waiting for it to go on sale. During all my research I learned that Studio Orchestra was recorded in the same space, by the same engineer, with many of the same musicians, so it has been sort of described as a huge expansion pack for Bernard Herrmann Composer Toolkit. After I bought BHCT, I was so smitten by it that I decided to buy Studio Orchestra as well before the sale ended. Lol. I knew I wanted it so no regrets. It will make the next six months of not going out much a bit more tolerable.
Definitely will do, soon
Coincidentally, those type of sounds are so fun to play with, that it made music-making relaxing enough to be able to finish tracks
I’m especially impressed by those brass. I never listened to Bernard Hermann’s music and it’s something i’m going to do in the very near future
I usually have a hard time justifying buying sound content to myself, but honeslty the sheer fun it provides is well worth it, so I hope those next 6 months will fly-by very quick for you (and everyone else, me included too, haha)
I kind of wanted to buy it too, but it seemed a bit outrageous to pay so much to then have to pay hundreds more for decent libraries. Thankfully most expensive libraries include kontakt player, but some don’t and that’s a big pain in itself…
Thankfully their are some great free libraries for kontakt. If you missed the recommendation at the beginning of this thread, you might be interested in looking at the pianobook website.
I actually referenced Pianobook in my post… 
I’ll hopefully submit something soon - I intend to use their Monolith method to sample my piano as a way of getting myself into making some of my own sample instruments.
Using the Sonuscore Complete Orchestra 2 for trap and regular hiphop and it’s pretty outstanding for it.