Some woodwind advice

[shnootre]

Greetings, 

I'm trying to decide between the following, which cost the same for me: 

(all standard libraries): 

Picc 1, Flute 1, French Oboe, Clarinet 2, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon 

(nb I already have Eb clarinet and Clarinet 1)

OR

Woodwinds II (which includes Picc, Flute 2, Alto Flute, Viennese Oboe, 2 English Horns, Eb Clarinet (I have already) Bass Clarinet, and Contrabassoon)  as well as Clarinet 2 and Contrabassoon. 

Right now the only instruments I need immediately to add to my setup are: picc, flute, oboe, clarinet 2, bass clarinet, basson and contrabassoon. 

I get more bang for my buck with the second package; but I'm worried about the Viennese Oboe (I prefer the sound of the French), and I wonder about Flute 2 vs. Flute 1. I also don't know when I'll need Alto Flute or the English Horns, but if they're amazing instruments that might sway me. 

Also - I have the SE Winds vol. 1, not the plus. But I guess the Viennese Oboe and Fl 2 would give me some doubling options at some point. 

Thanks for any insight! 

[PaoloT]

If you don't need the advanced articulations of the full instruments, you may also consider to complete your SE woodwinds with the second woodwind library, and the corresponding Plus extensions. They do a lot, and would offer you a quite complete woodwind palette. Paolo

[shnootre]

Thanks; Yeah, alas I do need the artics. Particularly flutter tongue, which doesn't seem to be included in SE plus. Still undecided....

[PaoloT]

Not an easy choice, indeed. The Special Edition is very inexpensive, but has its limits. At the same time, it has enough for traditional tonal music, with the advantage of being very light and easy on the CPU and memory.

Do you need the additional articulations for all the instrument, of just some of them? In the latter case, you could get the Special Edition, and only the full instruments you need.

After having purchased parts of the Special Edition and several Full Instruments, I would say:

- If you only need realistic mockups, not to be released as parts of a professional production, and you don't need the advanced articulations, go for the Special Edition.

- If you intend to do professional mockups, or use the virtual orchestra as part of a more complex production, or you need the advanced articulations, you should go directly to the Full Instruments.

Also consider if the advanced articulations can be found in other libraries. I'm working with sounds from VSL, Spitfire, Xsample and Native Instruments, and I know others mix and match instruments as well.

Paolo

[shnootre]

Yes - I agree with a lot of what you say. I am mostly using these sounds for mockups, and I'm the exception in that I do a lot of my work w samples in Finale (rather than a DAW), but I feel like I'm getting better and better at utilizing deeper sample sets. 

One thing that's helped me? Jettisoning Spitfire and Berlin stuff from my template. I just made the switch from Berlin Woodwinds to VSL SE winds, and it just works and sounds better. But I do need more artics. 

I have Spitfire Chamber Strings, but dealing with Kontakt and Spitfire's limited articulation switching options (Finale can't play nice with CC 32, so UACC isn't a real option) just grew too difficult. I bought Chamber Strings full and my life got a whole lot better. 

I think I'll grab the full versions of the instruments I want, rather than the bundle. I'll get fewer instruments, but I want French oboe and not Viennese, and I have to suspect that Flute 1 is better than 2...    

I do think the SE instruments are pretty great for the price, and they've definitely worked well enough to show me that I want the real things!

Thanks for your thoughts.