EastWest

+ Good quality choir sounds for the price. I bought Symphonic Choirs as a download. - Very difficult to get to work. Since 1990 I have used a lot of different music software over the years, this software feels like doing combat and after one weekend of trying, I gave up and cancelled my purchase. Random issues seem make it not work. EastWest, loads of people work offline with computers and with SDDs where software libraries are stored. Your competitors like IK Multimedia and Spitfire so not suffer the issues I have had with your software. Logic Pro X has more basic sounds but hey, it works.

The East West Quantum Leap Pianos gold is a VST that has a library with four different grand pianos. All of the pianos where professionally recorded and you can tell they where when you use them. All of the piano samples are very high quality, when they recorded these samples they truly put some effort into it and recording with different pedal resonance. All of the piano samples come from the Bechstein D280, Bosendorfer 290, Steinway D, ad Yamaha C7 grand concert piano’s. All of these pianos where recorder with vintage microphones to give it more of an authentic feel. You can use East West Quantum Leap Pianos Gold on your Mac or your PC. For Mac it requires 4 GB Ram and OS of 10.5 or higher and on windows you need to have 4GB of RAM and Windows XP Service Pack 2, Vista or Windows 7. In order to use East West Quantum Leaop Pianos Gold iLok is required. The interface of the East West Quantum Leap Pianos Gold is very easy to use and understand, it is actually pretty simple. I have never experienced any issue with it either and I have run it up to about 5 different times simultaneously and no issues. It installs quick and easy. My favorite piano is the Steinway D because I love the sound of it, this VST has allowed me to take real pianos with me on my laptop instead of having to lug out a digital piano to go to a session at a friends or studio that doesn’t have a piano. I am very happy that I purchased this VST, for 300 dollars it could be one of the best investments that I have made into my software. That price may seem like a lot just for some piano samples but it is worth it because the quality of these samples are amazing.

The Symphonic Choir is a plug in that I didn’t want to invest it. Just because at the early stages of my musical compositions I overlooked the importance of having some really good choir samples and sounds ready to go. Most of my other softwares like the Kontakt bundel and some other vst’s have a lot of chior sounds in them. Usually I only use choir to fatten up some of my music, I never use it to stand out . So I though that I could just get by with using some of the cheaper choir patches that came with other vst and plug ins. But when I got Symphonc choir all of my thoughts changed, there is a big difference with the preset banks in most vst’s and patches, when you have symphonic choir you really have full conrol over the sound and its really almost like having a live choir on hand to use in your usic. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE It did take some time to really understand and get into depth of the program but after you practice and mess around or read the manual it wont be hard anymore. The thing that I hated the most about it is that it takes forever to load and install. Its sort of too long, my computer is fast and it still took a long time, I cant remember how many gigs it was to install I just remember it taking a long time. OVERALL OPINION Yes, you should buy it. The price isn’t as bad as some of the other stuff from EastWest or else I wouldn’t have got it, But its affordable and worth the buy, and installing it is also worth the wait. Because it will take some time to install, you will have to get up from your computer and do something else while you wait.

This is a Multi-sampled instrument. The configuration and setup is very simple. The GUI offers no actual parameters to tweak and the setup is as simple as dropping the files on your hdd, opening Kontakt and pointing the browser to them. Once loaded, just pick the choir or choirs you want and you are off. SOUND QUALITY In my opinion, the samples are not varied much. You get four choirs (angels, demons, men, women) and each contains a few presets like "ohs" or "ahs" or effected or mod wheel controlled. Having those options does increase the flexibility of the set, but I honestly don't find much character difference between men choirs and demon choirs or the Angels and the women. In fact, the demon choir doesn't sound demonic even in the slightest. It just sounds like another male choir. I run this on a Macbook Pro i7 with 8gb ram with a RME FireFace 800 running Kontakt as standalone or in Ableton/Logic. Although not varied as much as I would like, the samples do sound pretty good and would fit decently with most styles of music. OVERALL OPINION What I like most about it was back in the day, this was a very solid choir sample set. As it stands now, it just doesn't have the flexibility or the options that I need. What I do't like about it is the fact that the Demon choir doesn't sound demonic. I didn't do any research when I bought it in "07, so I was disappointed with that. I believe I paid something around 80 or $100 for this, but I can't remember. At this point, I wouldn't buy this as there are so many better options out there. I give it a 8 out of 10 for sound quality. The samples sound good, but slightly dated. I now use Voxos Epic choir which is unbelievable and puts this set to shame, of course it costs a heck of a lot more. I don't recommend this sample set to anyone. I am not sure if it is for sale anymore anyway, but there are a lot better options out there so pass this one by.

This is a pretty high-quality sample bank. I think that it's a pretty easy thing to set up with Logic or another DAW. The setup didn't take me very long, and once I got started, the interface in Logic made it all pretty easy to control. It also, beyond being a sample bank, has an actual sampler, called Play. SOUND QUALITY The sounds in this sampler are pretty varied, and actually do a great job of covering all the basics. There's a ton of different sounds for piano, synthesizers, orchestral sounds, percussion, and drum kit. The only concern I have with these sounds is that once you pick them, you cannot manipulate too far within the interface of Goliath itself. You'd have to rely on some outboard gear or EQing to really mess with them. This is sort of limiting, as there are other sample banks that allow you to really manipulate the sounds within the banks themselves. My style of music doesn't really call for sample banks as much, since I really would almost always prefer to use live instruments. However, this is rarely possible at home, so I would have to say that this is pretty satisfying as far as sample banks go. The actual quality of the given samples is pretty robust and full for the most part, and none of them sound very artificial, which is what I am always worried about. OVERALL OPINION The main problem I had with this was that I had to really be careful about not pushing my computer too hard. This is unfortunate, especially since I have about 4 GB of RAM on my hard drive. Logic would be the only program I could run and get the performance I wanted out of it. I'm not too familiar at this point with a whole lot of other sample libraries, only a few far cheaper banks that were far inferior. They ran more smoothly on my computer, but they didn't sound nearly as good. The only critique sound-wise was again, the lack of editing possible within the program itself, it gets tricky to get really creative with these sounds when you have to send signals back to outboard gear or mix them very strangely. I would say to anyone, check it out before you buy it. Its worth checking out to say the least.

I was about to start a project that required orchestral samples and I got advice to use Quantum Leap: it turns out that this was great, because it spared me from going through hundreds of mediocre plugins. The installing process is as simple as any other plugin of the sort: install it and load it from your DAW. I never had any compatibility issues, and the software is clear enough that it does not require a manual for basic use: all the modelling tools are visible from start. I only did resort to the manual when I came to use Keyswitch samples and other advanced options, and not only the instructions were clear but also it provided me with means of making my music more realistic and full of subtleties. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I run this in an I5 and I usually don't experience any performances issues or crashes. That is, when I don't overload my DAW. Running two or three instances of this particular sofware may hinder your performance significantly, especially if you are using keyswitched patches. I've used this software for at least 3 years now and to be fair I'd be totally lost without it, as it has turned out to be the most versatile tool you may be able to find in the market. OVERALL OPINION As I said before, the best thing about this piece of software is its awesome versatility. The sheer number of articulations and dynamics you can get from every instrument (together with subtle timbre changes based on dynamic), combined with the possibility of loading more than one sample on a single instance, modelling timbre, and effect variables (chorus, delay, reverb) make for a must-have tool in the modern musician's arsenal. To be totally fair, the sounds are a bit dated now (specially some strings sections and brasses), you can bet much better particular samples if you resort to 8DIO tools, but those take up a great deal of space, while Quantum Leap offers a whole orchestral library, full with percussions and effects for a moderate amount of memory. I think this is an indispensable tool for any aspiring orchestral composer or arranger, as it makes for excellent mockups or even professional work (as long as the orchestra isn't the main dish on the music).

East West sound banks are a staple of my sound. In writing symphonic, cinematic prog rock synth funk, I've found myself going back to Orchestra Gold time and time again. However, those with slow computers - beware! The general setup of the program is a time-consuming process. At the time of my purchase, all of the software came on several discs. I had to install the software disc-by-disc, sitting at my computer and watching the progress bar slowly move closer towards completion. And every time I've had to reinstall my OS, I've dreaded having to reinstall this software. You get what you pay for, and in this case, you get what you WAIT for. The rather arduous process of installing disc after disc of material, then authorizing the product through Ilok, is rather tedious and can take the wings right out of your music production sails if you think you're gonna be making music within 10 minutes of opening the products box. Having said all that, I do believe the software is now sent on it's own hard-drive, meaning installation is unnecessary. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The thing with these sound banks, is it's a FULL orchestra at your freaking fingertips. Now I'm not much of a technical guy; I don't know how to make this software. I understand how it operates at a rudimentary level, but not enough to give you detailed cliff-notes on specs and the like. I'm a MUSICIAN, and my focus is composing music, not designing software. Having said that, from personal experience, this program can and WILL bog down your computers run-time, so it is of utmost importance you optimize your OS for music production, shut any unwanted programs, and work with East West ONE instrument at a time. Basically, you have your skeleton of a track. As you add each part (11 Violin Staccatos, etc.) freeze the track when you are finished so it doesn't eat as much CPU. You'll also probably notice the reverb....it sounds amazing, essential to give the track even more of an edge. But you'll find turning it on AFTER the bulk of production work is done, and recording with the reverb off entirely is a good way to speed up the process and save your computer from locking up. OVERALL OPINION This might be my favorite VST, but it's a BIG investment and not for the faint of heart. I literally learned so much about orchestral composition just seeing the names of the presets. And as I loaded various samples in, I learned all kinds of terms pertaining to orchestral music (Pizzicato, Staccato, etc) and what goes into composing for an orchestra. But as I said, this isn't for the faint of heart. Your computer WILL experience some CPU spikes if you are attempting to run 15 different iterations of the software at once. Freeze each section you're done with, and hold off on drenching the instruments in reverb until you've established some finality. Work with the product and around it's (very few) pitfalls, and you'll likely have at your hands the best orchestral software you could possibly find. I'd also like to note Sounds Online runs almost constant sales. I actually picked this up with Stormdrum 2, a buy one get 1 free sale, and was extremely happy I did so. So in summation - bit of a learning curve, pain-in-the-neck to install, but amazing software that will bring so much more to your music and tracks with a little effort and knowledge.

Rare Instruments made by EWQL are compatible with different working platforms like Xp , Vista , 7 or MAC. The manual that is included with the software is pretty detailed , enough to obtain the necessary information of how the instruments work. The setup doesn't require a lot of time or effort , it's very fast and easy to manage. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The software works great in its configuration. The software is sample based , so the level of stability is a must , very decent product from east west quantum leap as you would expect from such a huge company. I'm getting great performances combining their distinct sound in my mixes. OVERALL OPINION What I really like about this product , is how distinct the sounds are , the touch that they have on mixes , the instruments were recorder on some vintage microphones which give a certain color to the sound. The instruments were recorded on Neumann U67 and Neuman M50 and of couple other high quality mics as East West Quantum Leap declared. The sound is clear and broad , the instruments recorder are typical found in Africa, Europe, India, Americas and Australia, the Far East, and the Middle East and Turkish Empires. My opinion about the value for the price is great , the price range goes about to 350$ but still it deserves the money mainly because of how unique the sounds are. Precision and quality of the sound is dead on , very clear , powerful , intense sounding instruments from east west quantum leap, 10/10 no doubts. I've tried different packs that included some unique instruments , this is on a completely new level. Knowing what I know , I would buy this product if I'll need something more traditional based , more ethnic which can be applied in some filming or scoring type of sounds.

East West Drum kit from hell 2 comes with 2.4 gigs and over 32 hundred files. All of the drum sounds are very authentic and natural sounding. This plug in does not take much of my CPU up on any system that I have used it on. I have been using this drum kit since around 2004 off and on and it has never given me any bad results. I do feel like the interface was a little more complicated than it needed to be though. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The Drum Kit from Hell 2 was professionally recorded and edited by award winning producers. It has just about everything you could ever ask for except a user friendly interface. All of the drum sounds do seem to be heavier than what I was expecting. I used the original drum kit from hell before this one came out and it didn’t seem like the kits where that aggressive but they really turned it up with this kit making it very aggressive. OVERALL OPINION Installing this VST was simple and it didn’t take long, it was easy to install it on my Windows XP system and my Mac computer at the time. I do not have it installed on my newest studio Mac computer now though because I do not feel like I would use it that much and it would be a waste of disk space. It only requires 2.5 GB of disk space though and can be run multiple times without it slowing down your system or freezing. You can use this as a plug in VST or as a stand alone, I actually preferred using it as a stand alone to route the audio out to other gear. Or just to mess around with the sounds and kits then later work on sequencing with them. There are plenty of samples with this kit and the price was pretty good when it came out. There are plenty of percussion to last you for a long time.

There weren't any kind of compatibility issues , the program works on any platform either Windows XP, Windows Seven or MAC OS. The book provided with the program was excellent , very in depth explained , the design also is a factor to consider , while reading the book you could get instant a pretty advanced understanding of the program. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The Software works correctly without any types of errors or mistakes , also the gear and configuration is very stable , Image Line did make a very useful and easy to understand Daw. I'm getting great performances , mainly in creating my drum sets , different grooves and patterns. OVERALL OPINION What I like most about Storm Drum is that it's based around samples , acoustic drum kit. The quality of the samples is extremely high , and you have a lot of samples to choose from , different kicks , snare , hi hats , different grooves and panning , velocity and sound. I do enjoy the fact that you can sync the tempo or the duration of other samples with the Storm Drum , which makes the creating process to occur much faster and easier. The design of the program is very pleasant and easy to catch as well , everything its based on a basic concept which is found trough a nice interface , and another great thing about this product is that it has a lot of eq options , you have a low pass filter , a high pass filter , a great delay and many other effects options. Precision and quality of the sound is remarkable , the drums sound very full , powerful and have a nice attack. My opinion about the value of the price is decent , I think this is a very powerful drum tool to have in your arsenal , so without a doubt , price shouldn't be a problem if you're serious about your music.

I haven't had any kind of compatibility issues , the program worked really good on any platform like Windows XP, Windows Seven 8 , or a MAC OS. The book provided by the program was quite clear and I could understand the basic configuration of the program and its features. General configuration and setup is requires some amount of time due to the high size of the program , but besides that , everything is smooth and fast. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The software works great and its very stable and reliable. Regarding the functions and the performances , everything is as good as it can be , I was quite surprised with the reality and power of this product. I'm getting max performances with this great samples based pack. I've been using it for a couple of months , but I totally love it. OVERALL OPINION The most precious thing about this product which I really enjoy is the quality of the sound , that big sounded brass , the reality of the violin , the tweaks , the editing features , like stoccattoo , legato , tremolo , vibrato , portamento etc , everything makes the creating process way more real and of course. The thing that I like least about it , are the recourses that this product requires , even if this product isn't very current , it requires high cpu power , a lot of space on your hdd and a good amount of virtual memory , which I must mention is probably the only downside feature that comes with this product. My opinion about the value of price is diverse , this product isn't a cheap one , so if your budget doesn't allow the purchase , no worries , you can find others packs much cheaper , but right now , this is probably the most powerful brassed , stringed product and as well the most realistic. Precision and quality of the sounds 10/10.

All of East West plug ins are very good, “The Dark Side” is another one from them, it is a 40GB collection that comes on a DVD. It does take up a good amount of hard disk space and it will use some CPU. You will need to make sure that you have a Dual Core PC with a fast processor or else this will run really slow on your system and it will make it pretty much unusable. It does require iLok and iLok is not included with the purchase of The Dark Side. It can run on your Mac and your PC. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE All of the presets and sounds in The Dark Side are arranged into groups so you can find them easily. It comes with basses, guitars, keyboards, strings, FX, Synths, and all of your percussion sounds. Most of the sounds in The Dark Side are not really clean. They are “dark” and muddy on purpose to give that scary eerie feeling to it. I would not purchase this if you are not looking for dark sounds, because that’s all this really is. OVERALL OPINION But this is most definitely the best “dark” type of synth and VST plug in that is out to this date. But I must warn you it is not for everyone. I suggest reading some reviews before purchasing, you would not want to waste your 350 dollars buying something that you can not return. I wish they mixed in some cleaner sounding synths and instruments so it was more of a total package instead of just geared toward dark music and sounds. It would make it a lot more appealing. It is great if you are into those type of sounds, but it just was not for me, I made a mistake purchasing it and have moved on. It does run great, but I can not do too much with all of the dark and eerie sounds.