The reviews of VST are generally accompanied with extracts allowing to judge the sound quality of the offered instruments. Objective consists in giving a not much worked extract and without effects (without sound mixing) with the intention of putting sounds such forward as they are by default.
Complete compositions are however offered to use instruments in a finished piece.
East West Quantum Leap Ministry Of Rock
Review
East West Quantum Leap Ministry Of Rock is a library understanding the necessary instruments to take up a group of virtual rock / metal: guitars, basses and drum kits. Is bet kept when they know the difficulty in reproducing in a realistic way the game of a guitar for example?
First of all, concerning drum kits, there are 4 kits: 2 vintage kits, 1 soft kit and a kit more metal (used by Metallica). The different elements of the drum kit are mapped on the keyboard of interface Play: bass drum, snare drum, toms, cymbales... It is therefore easy to construct a loop MIDI from these elements. The quality of recording is very good, notably kit Black really powerful. It is besides even possible to combine several kits to choose such snare drum, such bass drum... Kits being in fact gathered in one and the same keyswitch for which they deactivate the elements which they do not like to use.
There are several types of basses according to the piece: jazz, rock, metal, vintage... Basses offer different articulations: sustain, mutates, staccato, slide, bend who allow to construct a realistic benefit. Job will be more consequent on quick pieces (type doubles metal eighth notes) to avoid effect 'machine-gun', that is to say repetition the same samples breaking realism. The game on articulations is therefore very important.
From my point of view, innovation comes especially from offered guitars. The choice can be made between guitars lead, in powerchords, in plated chords or arpégés. What marks at first, it is the quality of recording. The sound is powerful, clean and rich. Every guitar was recorded via two amplis, the one ineffectual (recording ' dry ' to be able to apply its own effects later) and other one with a pre-regulated ampli (distortion, EQ). It is possible to topple over from an ampli to other one or to accomplish a combination of two.
Concerning guitars offering powerchords, they classics stayed chords or in palm are found mutate. The mapping on the keyboard of interface Play is a little confusing. They sometimes feel a pain to know how are divided chords on different octaves. It will be necessary to test to have answer.
An acoustical guitar allows to play plated chords or in arpeggios (maj, min, 7, 7min). The speed of the arpeggio varies according to the mod wheel (modwheel). One might as well say that without this rowel on a master keyboard, it is going to be necessary to lose a negligible time to automate it in the sequencer. It is a pity that two keyswitches are necessary: the one for chords minor others for major chords. He would have been more judicious to construct the only one or even one by range possibly.
Guitars Lead more held my attention. Being myself guitarist, "real " / "virtual" comparison seemed interesting. First official report, sound quality is much better than any amateur recording. Of course everybody has no professional studio at home. What is it performance and realism of game? Articulations try to reproduce the expression maximum: sustain, legato, slide, bend effects, vibrato, (mediator, whammy-bar). On the whole, nothing is missing. Main difficulty will consist in giving life to the guitar, in treating on transitions. It will be well necessary to play on articulations and to vary game. These guitars have a rather characteristic and recognizable sound (effects, vibrato...) and therefore to distance itself from others it will be necessary to show imagination not to come back into clichés fooling of characteristic effects of the guitar (whammy-bar, various noise).
In interface Play, they will deactivate generally Delay offered by default who is only corrupting the sound in an unpleasant way. It will not be rare to add reverberation to enrich environment. As well as to play stereo on will allow to reproduce the effect of Haas and so to bring more thickness in the guitar.
In conclusion, EastWestQuantumLeapMinistryOfRock is a solid library offering easily exploitable quality instruments. It will be often necessary to work game to bring some realism and to produce his own sound with the intention of distancing himself from others.
East West Quantum Leap Pianos is a library about 300Go containing 4 pianos: Bosendorfer 290, Bechstein 280, SteinwayD and YamahaC7. Each of the pianos can be separately installed on hard disk. On the whole the library is of very good quality, pianos were recorded with 18 levels of velocity, with or without sustain, with staccato separately...
Interface Play allows to use this library intuitively. 3 positions of microphones allow to use pianos by being close to the piano (closes), in the position of the player (player) or in the room (room). It is interesting to note that the library does not contain keyswitches, in other words there are not different articulations to be chosen. These last are automatically chosen according to game (sustain, staccato). This allows to use the library entirely by playing from a master keyboard midi.
Pianos Bosendorfer and Bechstein have one more classical direction with a deep and rich sound. Steinway and Yamaha have a more clear side also allowing them to find their place in pieces of varieties or of rock. On the whole the sonority of pianos remain rather dark, it will not be rare to level them slightly in the sharp to give them a little of air. These pianos being very rich, a not negligible job is necessary during sound mixing to let them pervade the piece.
Technically, the library is imposing: of 30 in 60Go by pianos. It is therefore necessary to use it there streaming via interface Play. On a correct computer, the library will work in a fluid way. It is however necessary to take precautions when the piece contains many quick notes or chords extended with the pedal of sustain. The number of used samples is consequent and can saturate the buffer. In that case there can happen unpleasant artefacts of a rather high volume (parasites, breath). Solution consists therefore in regulating buffer, latency and level of the engine of Play.
In conclusion, EastWestQuantumLeapPianos is probably one of the best libraries of pianos available on the market. The offered pianos are rich, realistic and recorded to everything in delicacy. The library is intuitive and easily usable. She remains however very fond of good food, as well in disc space term as in CPU. For more modest shapes, it is always possible to use version Gold, less expensive and less demanding.
East West Quantum Leap RA is a library regrouping ethnic instruments of the whole world: America, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Europe. Every continent offers a consequent number of percussions, instruments with wind, with strings... All well-known ethnic instruments are present: taikos, erhu, shakuhachi, flute of section, bagpipes, duduk, bansuri...
The library is composed of group of articulations for every instrument as well as of a keyswitch (legato, staccato, slide melodies, pick,). For some instruments (erhu for example), it's a pity not to have more articulations when they know the difficulty in bringing realism to a soloist (even more in strings). In practice, the library remains simple to use with interface Play. Main job will consist in giving life to every instrument. The material of the textbook and a more deepened research will allow to know better the specificity of every instrument (registers, timbres, way of playing).
Concerning sound quality, she remains correct. EASTWESTQUANTUMLEAPRA is a library which was recorded before products such as EastWestQuantumLeapSymphonicOrchestra and Choirs. She sometimes misses a little of depth, force... However the passage with the engine Play (and notably its reverberation in convolution) gives again to him a second breath. It will not be rare to fool reverberation and stereo control to reproduce a richer environment than the one in which the instrument was recorded. This will generally allow to bring more thickness and presence in instruments. To note that an adjustment allows to choose the tonality of the instrument.
The main pitfall to be avoided with such library is excessive use or even clumsy of instruments. An ethnic instrument is rather rare by definition. It is not therefore desirable to use a panoply in a composition at the risk of producing the inverse effect of realism. It is also sometimes difficult to take out of stereotypes such as Duduk to Gladiator, Irish flute in James Horner...
To conclude, EASTWESTQUANTUMLEAPRA gives a not negligible range of instruments which will surely allow to bring a local colour in a composition. It will be however necessary to play with some adjustments of Play to get a richer sound. Definite knowledge of instruments and some imagination will allow to use the library in a clever way.
East West Quantum Leap Stormdrum 2 is the reference library when big percussions as grunts Zimmer are searched. It is not rare to admit them in films such as Narnia or Terminator.
The library regroups any types of percussions: of the drum kit in the group of taikos by way of ethnic percussions and electronic tones. She comes as a supplement of EastWestQuantumLeapMinistryOfRock (drum kits) and EASTWESTQUANTUMLEAPRA (ethnic instruments).
At the level of its functioning via interface Play, this sounds bank offers mapped percussions on the different notes of a keyboard (although in general the height of sounds is indeterminate). Contrary to the previous version under the engine Konkakt / Intakt which also offered recorded loops the tempo of which could vary, here it is about sequences MIDI calling different percussions directly. This alternative is more interesting because they can is even to construct sequences and to change those existent.
Quality is on the whole exceptional. For those who wish a big sound typical of trailers of films, Stormdrum, with percussions such as GodzillaHits or EarthquakeEnsemble will be satisfied. The sound is powerful, recorded well, rich... With a light reverberation dose not to stifle the sound, percussions come to life.
Main job will consist in constructing interesting loops. In front of the number of available percussions and different variants, it is sometimes difficult to make its choice. That is why it is not useless to go through the library in diagonal to hear what she offers.
Attention however not to fall in the cliché too much spread of "trailers in the American style" where music comes down only to rhythm: that of percussions. The massive use of percussions is not therefore recommended at the risk of making them lose their power and to make them almost monotonous.
It is however necessary to note that Stormdrum also contains ethnic percussions which will find their place very well in a composition with EASTWESTQUANTUMLEAPRA. Drum kit kits are also interesting for compositions rock although those gifts in EastWestQuantumLeapMinistryOfRock are more complete.
To finish, East West Quantum Leap Stormdrum 2 is a library which holds promises. Superb range of percussions, exceptional qualities of recording. The amateurs of big percussions or ethnic instruments will be filled up, there is as all tastes. Loops MIDI offered give besides a working first base. It is not however useless to remind that if this library is interesting, a piece should not therefore contain that percussions.
East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs is a library offering choruses recorded in the same conditions as EastWestQuantumLeapSymphonicOrchestra. Choruses of men, of women and of children are offered, declined sopranos, violas, tenors and basses there. Soloists soprano, viola and tenor are also available. Articulations there staccato and legato allow to vary the game of choruses.
The main feature of this library is not to offer choruses but to make them sing. In other words idea is not to reproduce classical Oh, ah, Eh, Mmm but to enter oneself a sentence which will sing the chorus. How it works technically? An additional tool is used, it is about WordBuilder. It is inserted as effect midi in the track linked by the sequencer. According to syllables entered in WordBuilder, the tool uses automatically a series of keyswitches (vowels and consonants) to reproduce sentence. One might as well say that the number of used articulations is important, that is why, in Play, multis, that is to say group of articulations with different keyswitches are loaded. He size in random access memory is therefore consequent.
Result is conclusive on the whole rather unless respecting some conditions. The phrasing should not be too quick because some time is needed to formulate words. You should not either expect to differentiate sung words apparently. Objective is not to get a discernible text but rather to produce variations in song allowing to suggest a true chorus. The writing of a sentence can be made in English or via Votox, internal language in Wordbuilder. One needs some time therefore to get used to alphabet and to reproduce exactly the sound which is wanted (for example ' u ' French is difficult to reproduce). The tool has an integrated dictionary allowing to translate automatically the most common words as well as a library of sentences into Latin and into English.
Extension Voices Of The Apocalypse integrates perfectly with the library and offers two darker additional choruses: angels and demons. Quality is less good on the whole than choruses offered in the initial library. The purchase of this extension am not therefore justified because it does not bring reals more.
In conclusion, the principle of EastWestQuantumLeapSymphonicChoirs is rather unique. The library is good quality. Wordbuilder gives good results and the phrasing allows to bring variations in the chorus. A shape developed muscles enough is however needed to be able to use in a fluid way a complete chorus. Wordbuilder must also be arrested to succeed in producing a convincing result (use of Votox, manipulation of the different parametres of the phrasing: lasted, attack). Anyhow, EastWestQuantumLeapSymphonicChoirs is a library particularly interesting for the quantity of options which she offers.
UDUN
List of instruments
Type:
Sopranos
Violas
Tenors
Basses
Choruses:
Men
Women
Children
Soloists:
Soprano
Viola
Child
Screenshots
Extracts
Extracts:
The End Of All Things (The Lord Of The Rings)
Choruses sing sequence: "Sine-ri-olna-tha-turin-u-gar-nen. Mi-nau-rath. O-to-in. Boehe-dii Wine."
East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (Platinum Plus)
Review
East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra is a reference library on the market of the orchestral sounds banks. She is in competition with libraries such as the Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL), Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO)... What differentiates her of her rivals and made its success?
This library declines in several versions of the least expensive to the most expensive:
Silver version
Gold version
Platinum version
Platinum Plus version
These libraries are different according to several criteria:
The number of offered instruments
The number of articulations and available keyswitches
The totality of recorded notes (sampled chromatiquement or not).
The available microphones (closed, foyer, internship)
Samples available in 16 bits and/or 24 bits
Different versions give following characteristics:
Version
Instruments
Articulations
Sampling
Microphones
Bits
Silver
Limited
Limited
Not chromatic
Foyer
16 bits
Gold
Suit
Suit
Chromatic
Foyer
16 bits
Platinum
Suit
Suit
Chromatic
Closed, Foyer, Internship
16 bits
Platinum More
Suit
Suit
Chromatic
Closed, Foyer, Internship
16/24 bits
Review concerns Platinum Plus version. It contains the different sections of an orchestra: strings, winds, copperwares and percussions. Every section is then made up of instruments in sections (18 violins, 6 horns) and in version soloist (flute, trumpet player). Every instrument has group of articulations allowing to reproduce in most near the game of the orchestra (staccato, sustain, legato). Play version adds an important modification in the management of keyswitches. There is not any more a series of keyswitches for every instrument but only two (long and short articulations) for whom they deactivate the articulations which they do not like to use. This allows to have all articulations to hand with a descriptive text. It is however it's a shame that the description of articulations is not more clear (Known ModLeg, DXF, XF...) . Ambiguous terms harm the quick understanding of articulation.
This library is of very good quality. Having coupled with reverberation in convolution of Play, a big "Hollywood" sound is very easily got. The new engine of Play is really more competitive than the previous engine of Kontakt. The number of samples managed without artefacts is higher. As test on the same computer, 70 PiecesString saturated in 40 samples with interface Kontakt while with Play they attain easily several hundred samples played at the same time.
In negative points, it would be possible to name the unequal quality of some instruments. Some articulations (trumpet player, flute) are worse recorded and usable more hardly. There is some parasitic noise on some instruments with high volumes (triangle). The volume of recording of some instruments differs (violas>> violins). The main pressure in a library of this type is the realism of the legato. With some articulations, the script of the legato works well while for others result is more reserved.
In use, result is satisfactory very fast for an average ear. It is however necessary to give a considerable work to get a perfect orchestral simulation. This passes generally by:
General knowledge of orchestration / instrumentation
An exploration specifies possibilities of the library
A recording in general via keyboard midi to humanise game
A balance between the different microphones
A modification midi to bring realism in instruments (legato, lasted...)
A big variety of articulations to bring nuances
A sound mixing allowing to avoid having a sound mass
In conclusion, EastWestQuantumLeapSymphonicOrchestra is a very good orchestral library. Indeed, in part its report quality / price, it is one of the sounds banks privileged of users. This is however a disadvantage because many compositions have from now on the same colours. It is necessary to succeed in distancing itself by offering an use more pushed by the library, more realistic... The library is not however exempt from small defects but these do not harm its use. Interface Play is particularly well adapted and allows even to use the library on a modest computer. EastWestQuantumLeapSymphonicOrchestra is therefore part of the beep 3 of orchestral sounds banks.
UDUN
List of instruments
Refer to the material of software to get the detailed list of articulations.
East West Quantum Leap Voices Of Passion is a library offering ethnic voices. The different soloists come from America, Bulgaria, Syria, Wales and India. Similar singing exercises to Lisa Gerrard in Gladiator, tones medium - oriental with Syria are notably found...
The contents of the library are not the same according to the soloists:
Vowels (ah, eh, mm, ah): America, Bugarie, Wales
Intervals (legato, portato): America, Bulgaria, Syria, Wales
Ethnic sentences: Bulgaria, India, Syria
Words (dream, death, dark): Wales
The library is of very good quality, vocalistes is very well recorded. Coupled with the reverberation of Play, result is enough bluffing. However, it is necessary to know that difficulty domiciles in the use of the library. Indeed, even if vowels and sung words are very good, it is necessary to succeed in giving life to a sentence, a sequence... Main pressure consists in linking well several words or vowels without breaking the rhythm of the phrasing and while treating on transitions. This job passes by an use of many available articulations not to introduce a monotony into song. Every note must therefore be worked separately and linked in a realistic way with next.
The use of sentences should not be systematic at the risk of not being included indeed into the piece (rhythm, tonality). To bring variations, the mod wheel (modwheel) allows to choose an entrance point in sentence.
In conclusion, EastWestQuantumLeapVoicesOfPassion is an interesting library but to be used with parsimony. The judicious use of voices allows to bring a key of indisputable realism in a composition with an ethnic side. This product integrates besides perfectly with the collection East West.
