Cheap and free VSTs (mostly for the full version of Kontakt)

[lowdown]

There is an old legacy VSL Library in Kontakt. You can get some really decent Orchestral sounds together from that.
Worth looking at some of these vids for some tips.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hncW_hYc3_g[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SnAj4soFaY[/media]

Edited January 27, 2017 by lowdown

[lowdown]

You really can get a lot out of that old VSL library.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3Tazw8S2NM

[Mornats]

Oh man, thanks for those. I didn't realise you could do so much with the Kontakt library and some scripting! That choir morph feature is awesome with the Komplete Kontrol S61 keyboard as the morph function is mapped to one of the knobs by default. I've just had a play with that multi from the first video and there's some nice stuff to play with!

[Mornats]

Not cheap or free but I'm looking at this with great interest https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/london-contemporary-orchestra-strings/

My thinking is that I could get a lot out of the kontakt library, save myself the money that I'd spend on Albion One and get very interesting sounding strings that I reckon I could do more with than the more classic strings from Albion One.

[lowdown]

I suppose you have to ask yourself, what you would use each lib for?
Albion One is very much multi purpose and if ones knowledge on Orchestrating is minimal,
it would be a great asset. String sections are highs, mids and lows (Same with Woodwinds & Brass).
All recorded in the same hall along with the Percussion. Makes arranging and mixing that much easier.

With the LCOS (above), you would be mixing and matching Woodwinds and Brass from the Kontakt lib.
Makes mix down that much harder because of the different reverbs and halls etc. Unless you are thinking of
buying SA Woods and Brass as well?

Albion is a Swiss Knife, along with the Synth patches, it makes good for Hybrid Orchestral work as well
and is all self contained.
LCOS is more left field soundwise and specialised, split up into Vlns1, Vlns 2, Violas, Basses & Celli sections.

Must admit, I have my eyes on it. It would make a good companion for Albion One.

Edited February 21, 2017 by lowdown

[Mornats]

You've made me think a bit more about this now. My reasoning is as follows...

I did think that I'm a fair way off doing anything with proper orchestration yet so felt that a full Albion library would be too much. Plus I have a few orchestral percussion libraries already, along with Bravura Brass, Rhapsody Orchestral Colours and a few choirs. It's mainly a good strings library I feel that I need. But then I really do need to learn how to combine strings with brass and wood I guess. But as you've said, Albion One is one of the best ways of getting all this to work in an easy way.

So I thought about learning any orchestration using the Kontakt factory library plus the other libraries. So yeah, I'd be mixing Kontakt Factory Library with LCOS.

However, what I liked about LCOS was that I heard the demos and was immediately inspired. When I hear Albion One I'm impressed but also disheartened that any proper orchestral pieces will fall well short of what I hear in those. But I could instantly place LCOS into some tracks in my head. I like the left field sound. I also love the sound of Albion V Tundra which may be more suitable as a first library than LCOS but not as suitable (or as traditional as Albion One).

Also, LCOS is £240 until March 9th and the Albions are £399. I did have a 25% voucher for both Albion One and Albion V as part of their post-Christmas thing but bought my Maschine Jam instead! So, I have until March 9th to decide on whether I want LCOS but the Albions can wait until there's maybe another deal on them.

I guess the question I have to answer for myself is whether I want to work with full orchestral pieces, or go left field with a strings library and my other stuff. And I thought buying basses was hard...

Edit: another option is to wait for a half price update from KU10 to KU11 and I get the string, brass and woodwind symphony essentials (and Replika XT which I really want too).
Edit 2: I could always get LCOS now and aim for one of the Albions later when they're next on offer (which could be Black Friday/Christmas). Just listening to the walkthroughs for Albion V and it sounds just simply amazing.

Edited February 21, 2017 by Mornats

[lowdown]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1487697253' post='3241950']
You've made me think a bit more about this now.
[/quote]

Often overlooked in Albion One is the other material (The Hybrid side of things).
Huge amount of sounds that all fit and sit together (Sound and Mix wise) with the Traditional patches.

'Stephenson's Steam Band' - Mangled Traditional Instruments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcCVZXjjts4

Also 'The Brunel Loops' (The Synth Side Of Things).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-f_T1Us9A&spfreload=5

Edited February 21, 2017 by lowdown

[Mornats]

I'm kicking myself now for not getting one of the Albions (One or V) when I had the 25% voucher!

Anyway, new plan. What I loved about LCOS and Albion V were the frozen string type sounds. I got the Frozen Strings Labs instrument and have been playing with some of my existing sample libraries too. So I intend to create a template in Reaper with one of these and tweak it with EQ, delay/reverb/whatever to make them sound frozen, icy, glitchy or whatever. So in effect, trying to emulate the sounds I like from those libraries.

Those Kontakt library videos you posted will be a great help in doing this - cheers!

Edited February 22, 2017 by Mornats

[lowdown]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1487784223' post='3242892']
Anyway, new plan. What I loved about LCOS and Albion V were the frozen string type sounds. I got the Frozen Strings Labs instrument and have been playing with some of my existing sample libraries too. So I intend to create a template in Reaper with one of these and tweak it with EQ, delay/reverb/whatever to make them sound frozen, icy, glitchy or whatever. So in effect, trying to emulate the sounds I like from those libraries.
[/quote]

Actually, that's a great idea.
It's given me some ideas as well.
Cheers for that.....

[Mornats]

I've started to create a template that puts Rhapsody Orchestral Colours and Bravura Brass through the Guitar Rig effects that came as part of Audio Imperia's Photosynthesis Vol 1. Sphere. I'm getting some good results even before I've honed the sound to how I want it.

By the way, they've got a walkthrough up for LCOS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsxs7S-XblU

[lowdown]

A heads up from VI Control for an updated 14 gig Percussion library now with an Arp setting.
Not free, but a very modest donation fee for an excellent library.
I purchased this the first time around and well worth the fee.

Direct link.
http://www.modwheel.co.nz/perc-plus-redux

VI Control post.
http://vi-control.net/community/threads/perc-library-is-back.60324/#post-4061319

[Mornats]

Ok, back to my Albion musings! I got a 10% discount code from Time Space after entering a competition. That puts the Albions at £360 instead of £399 so I'm going to pull the trigger on one. Question is, which one?

Albion One is the obvious starting point but I love the ethereal sounds of Albion V. With the list of sample libraries that I already own (listed above) I'm wondering whether I can get my standard orchestral sounds from those and make some real use out of Albion V. But I still go back to thinking about Albion One as the obvious backbone of my orchestral sounds (with my other sample libraries to be used as added colour and layering).

Edit: I made the sensible choice of going for Albion One

Edited March 8, 2017 by Mornats

[Dad3353]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1488540337' post='3249771']
A heads up from VI Control for an updated 14 gig Percussion library now with an Arp setting.
Not free, but a very modest donation fee for an excellent library.
I purchased this the first time around and well worth the fee.

Direct link.
[url="http://www.modwheel.co.nz/perc-plus-redux"]http://www.modwheel....perc-plus-redux[/url]

VI Control post.
[url="http://vi-control.net/community/threads/perc-library-is-back.60324/#post-4061319"]http://vi-control.ne...4/#post-4061319[/url]
[/quote]

Good call here. Good Stuff for a modest sum, which goes to a Good Cause. Recommended; thanks for posting this.

[lowdown]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1489003742' post='3253697']
Edit: I made the sensible choice of going for Albion One
[/quote]

The thing is with Albion One, apart from it's lovely sounding sections, is all the extra sound design patches in the Edna (Engine) Synth.
They have taken the original Orchestral section recordings and mangled them up, including arp and sequence rhythms.
So there are many decent, and very usable ethereal sounds available.

Be sure to check out the videos on YouTube from various people, because there is plenty to get stuck into.

Enjoy...




[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1489013762' post='3253814']
Good call here. Good Stuff for a modest sum, which goes to a Good Cause. Recommended; thanks for posting this.
[/quote]



Yes, a nice Cause.

Edited March 9, 2017 by lowdown

[Mornats]

In an attempt to bring this back on topic, this is out now and is half price: http://auddict.com/celestial-voices-calypso.html - the demos sounds like it has lots of potential. I can't really buy a) yet another female voice VST and anything else for that matter after grabbing Albion One.

Speaking of which, I've had a play and it sounds great, fantastically amazingly great. It'll take a bit of learning but I jumped right in and did a quick one minute mockup just to try out some instruments. (Nothing I'd post, just something that covered most instruments and a few articulations I wanted to try out.) A few thoughts on it:[list]
[*]Everything blends together amazingly well. I think it was well worth grabbing this rather than trying to blend instruments from various libraries.
[*]Dynamics work really well once you get the hang of them (I found recording legatos using the modwheel "live" a good start but then went into midi overdub mode to focus on the dynamics more).
[*]It has a sense of epic about it but can do calmness quite well.
[*]The drums are blastingly loud if you hammer that keyboard!
[*]As Lowdown mentioned, the Brunel Loops and Stephenson Steam Band contains a massive amount of first class material. I'm going to enjoy tweaking it.
[*]I'm eager for the 1.3 update with NKS support. I believe it's a tad overdue?
[*]I can guarantee this won't be my last Spitfire library. Albion V Tundra will be bought if it's ever on sale. But not for a while. Next year at least. I promise. (crosses fingers).
[/list]
I'm off to watch every video there is on Albion now Oh, and I still need to do a track for this month's composition challenge but my idea doesn't actually involve Albion at all (I actually went to Time+Space to grab the Alt-rock midi pack from Toontrack with my 10% off voucher before realising it would also apply to Albion One...). But hey ho, Albion got me a 15% voucher so I'll use that!

[Mornats]

JRRShop have Miroslav Philharmonik CE for $49.99. Apply the code "GROUP" to get it down to $41.99 (if it doesn't auto-apply it) - quite the bargain!

https://www.jrrshop.com/ik-multimedia-miroslav-philharmonik-ce

[Dad3353]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1494431278' post='3295940']
JRRShop have Miroslav Philharmonik CE for $49.99. Apply the code "GROUP" to get it down to $41.99 (if it doesn't auto-apply it) - quite the bargain!

[url="https://www.jrrshop.com/ik-multimedia-miroslav-philharmonik-ce"]https://www.jrrshop....philharmonik-ce[/url]
[/quote]

Damn..! If you'd posted this 24 hours earlier, I'd have saved $8..! The sound libraries are downloading as I type, so can't say, yet, how it sounds, but if it's any improvement at all on Philharmonik 1 (already splendid...), I'll be happy enough.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1494431278' post='3295940']
JRRShop have Miroslav Philharmonik CE for $49.99...
[/quote]

Follow-up, having acquired and installed this...

All the pain in the world to (finally...) understand how to actually trigger the download, after having to install an all-new Authorisation Manager for IK MultiMedia stuff. Once installed, this triggered a whole set of 'freebies' that I didn't ask for, such as AmpliTube, SampleTank 2.5 and more, plus a few 'Stores' (now what in the world could they be for, I wonder..? ), but still no actual sounds. These have to be downloaded separately. Finally, it all came together, and I was able to play some stuff. First thing to try was the old version 1 sounds. Deception. They are very incomplete (there are some, but not at all the variety, nor the same richness as the old version...). Hmm... How about the new sounds, then..? Deception, too; this is a 'lightweight' version, don't forget, and, although the sounds are very good (I liked the oboes, for instance...), there is, again, a much lesser choice compared to Phil. 1. Almost no percussion, for instance, a big blow for me, a drummer..!
Never mind, I still have Phil 1, don't I..? Well, no, it won't run any more..! Damn and blast..! Much perusal of t'web, much register cleaning and (light...) swearing at IK Multimedia (despite their having helped me get through the authorisation process...), I finally found the key. It would appear that these products need to run in Administrator mode, and oblige Reaper to do the same if calling up these Vst's. No big deal for me, once I'd found this out (not from IK, of course..!), and I have now recovered Phil 1 (Phew..!), but it was a scary ride. Yes, the quality of the new sound library is up to scratch, and worth the rather modest expense, but no kudos for making it so blinking difficult for an old duffer such as myself. It's limited (it's a 'CE', 'light' version, so no surprise there...), and would serve well enough for those without the mega-budget of the fuller versions, but I'm not enamoured of the IK way of doing things, and will not be 'upgrading' or adding any of the extras (such as a Percussion library..!), as they're quite too far above my modest, pension, budget.
Make what you will of the deal, then; to each their own. No regrets on my part for the purchase, but I would have liked a smoother ride. All is well, now; but I'll still be using Phil 1 for decades to come, though, as it has far more scope, for what I do. Phil 2 I'll ease myself into, gradually, for specific compositions.
Hope this helps.

[Mcgiver69]

Here is my contribution to this thread:

[b]- MT PowerDrumkit 2:[/b] This is a free drum kit and like EZ Drums it has free drum samples, it can be loaded into a bus too. It's free to use but you'll have to skip the nag page every time you load your daw but if you contribute with let's say £5 it'll remove the nag page.
http://www.powerdrumkit.com/

[b]- Sennheiser [/b][b]Drumic'a[/b][b]:[/b] This is free drum kit that uses Kontakt, this won't stop after 15 mins like most free Kontakt libraries. It is a whopping 9gb but sounds great and you can select among 3 mics to tailor your sound. Can be bussed too.
Website is in German so you'll need Google Translate, just register to receive your activation code.
http://de-de.sennheiser.com/drummica

[b]- Ample Guitar M Lite II:[/b] This is an Acoustic guitar plugin, this thing sounds like the real deal, just check the samples. It has picking option and strumming option. just download and use it for free no questions asked.
http://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=7

Edited May 16, 2017 by Mcgiver69

[lowdown]

[quote name='Mcgiver69' timestamp='1494931683' post='3299636']
[b]- Sennheiser [/b][b]Drumic'a[/b][b]:[/b] This is free drum kit that uses Kontakt, this won't stop after 15 mins like most free Kontakt libraries. It is a whopping 9gb but sounds great and you can select among 3 mics to tailor your sound. Can be bussed too.
Website is in German so you'll need Google Translate, just register to receive your activation code.
http://de-de.sennheiser.com/drummica
[/quote]

Ok cheers. Might check this one out.

Regarding free Kontakt libraries timing out after 15 minutes.
That only happens in the free Kontakt player, not the full version of Kontakt.
Something to do with the vendor not supplying a license, and the reason I think,
is that it will cost them a fee to Native Instruments for a license for the player version, but not the full version.


EDIT:
The reason this VST has a license/activation code is, it was given away with a magazine or maybe a small fee originally .....But anyway, free now for both the NI samplers.
Thanks for the link.

Edited May 16, 2017 by lowdown

[Bigwan]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1464206050' post='3057614']
I know this thread is a two man show with the odd groupie hanging on,
But, another $20.00 gem has landed.
Very unique sounds and you can do some very clever tricks with it.
A real Diamond.
[url="http://impactsoundworks.com/products/electronic/sonic-forest/"]http://impactsoundwo...c/sonic-forest/[/url]
[/quote]

Can anyone suggest something like this that DOESN'T need the full version of Kontakt (HOW MUCH?!)? Have a few songs that could benefit from these sort of sounds. Total newb at this sort of stuff though...

[lowdown]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1494942848' post='3299807']


Can anyone suggest something like this that DOESN'T need the full version of Kontakt (HOW MUCH?!)? Have a few songs that could benefit from these sort of sounds. Total newb at this sort of stuff though...
[/quote]

I believe there is a free sample player knocking about on the web that might load Kontakt libraries and patches.
IIRC, Dad3353 has this, so he would possibly know more about it.
Hopefully he will come along, if not PM him.

[Bigwan]

I know from the Impact Sound website that it needs the full version of Kontakt to play it, but if there was another player that would work I'd buy that in a shot!

[Mornats]

A lot of the cheaper libraries require the full version of Kontakt to run. It's a shame as there's a load of top quality fairly cheap libraries out there. There's a cost to developers to get their instrument to work in the free Kontakt player and I heard it was around the £50k mark (per instrument) so it rules out a lot of the smaller developers and their cheaper libraries.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1494942848' post='3299807']...HOW MUCH?!)?...
[/quote]

Would this be of any interest..?

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Native-Instruments-Kontakt-5-Sampler-Boxed-DVD-set-/232335299755?hash=item36184354ab:g:uzIAAOSwYlRZGG1c"]Ebay: S/H Kontakt 5 Full bundle for sale ...[/url]

No idea at what price it'll go for in the end, of course, but that's the way to reduce the cost.