Rank the libraries!

[C. Ryan]

Hi guys,

I have SO Gold and Pianos Gold and am looking to invest in two more to expand my library for film scoring purposes. I'm probably going to get Goliath and Stormdrum 2, but as I debated this decision, it brought up an interesting question.

If you had to rank ALL of the libraries in terms of how essential they are to your creative process, what would you put first? What would you put last? Of course, I understand that everyone composes in different styles, so I'm asking for your objective opinions.

Thanks!

Chris

[boulifb]

I would choose SD2 for the choice of percussion.
This would expand EWQLSO.

Fred.

[desktop_arranger_]

why ranking them ? They all fit a specific musical need.

[C. Ryan]

Because people like me can only afford buying one at a time, so in terms of quality and how useful they are, I'm interested to see--objectively--how people think they rank against each other. I realize there are endless amounts of factors that would need to be taken into consideration if this thread was anything more than just for fun!

Chris

[musicus2]

If you had to rank ALL of the libraries in terms of how essential they are to your creative process, what would you put first? What would you put last? Of course, I understand that everyone composes in different styles, so I'm asking for your objective opinions.

My ranking:

1. EWQL SO
2. EWQL SO
3. EWQL SO
...

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by desktop_arranger_

why ranking them ? They all fit a specific musical need.

Seriously? No offense but I hate crap like this. There always has to be a poster that goes against a thread. Give the man what he wants. He doesn't want haters, he wants a Rank! Forget the technical aspect.

[Magnazeon]

It's quite easy:

You need everything from EW to be happy!

[sopranos]

1. EWQL SO Gold
2. Stormdrum 2
3. Voices of Passion

I'm assuming you only mean EW products so I have ranked them in order of use (and how essential they are to me)...based, of course, on the only one's I have so far. This is not to say that one is better than the other, but I do agree that some may be more essential or influence creativity more.

For what its worth, I think my next librarby will be RA or Silk.... I have heard great things about those two as well.

[Kejero]

Well, ok, a lot of opinions on the question, not that many answers

So here are mine (EWQLSO excluded, which would naturally be up there at #1):

#1 SD2. Probably use it in every single piece of music, and not just the ones that rely on heavy percussion. Contains some really cool patches (like Ambient Largeness) to create some low range sweetness.
#2 Gypsy. Solely for the violin. Love it solo, but it really makes the EWQLSO strings shine when combined.
The other instruments are all pretty neat too, I especially love the guitars, but I don't get to use them in that many projects.

Gypsy and SD2 are probably more of a tie, but I put SD2 first because Gypsy simply improves the sound of my music, while a lack of SD2 would result in a drastically different sound and orchestration, even composition, all together.

On a shared 3rd spot, simply because I normally only use these libraries when I need specific instruments:
- Voices of Passion. Simply beautiful. I especially like the Bulgarian voice.
- RA. I tend to use some of the exotic instruments, especially some of the woodwinds, quite frequently. And the duduk, as cliché as the sound may be today, it's in there (quite a large amount of patches too) and it sounds great.
- Symphonic Choirs. Besides Carmina Burana, you can get some really beautiful choir work out of it, but I prefer to stick to vowels.
- Ministry of Rock. Probably use this one the least, because it's not the kind of music I specialize in. But when I need it, I really need it.

I've got good old Colossus too, but use it less and less since I've been getting the full libraries. Does still contain some patches I can't get from somewhere else, like those awesome drones.

There.

[KenK]

My favs are SO (w/ close mics), Goliath and SD2.

If you don't already have a wide variety of high quality instruments,
I'd put Goliath on top of the list.
It has a lot of variety and is my top choice for non-orchestral.

Surprising what you can get out of it.

KK