Hi Alexander,

I am really impressed by your music. It sounds fantastic. You have your own style I like. I hope one day you become a teacher and give me some lessons.

I am interested in the path you walked to become such a good composer. 

Maybe other great composers can inspire you. I like for instance Toshio Hosokawa, Circulating Ocean

Kind regards,

Frieda

@LAJ said:

... If I could place a wish to the VSL ... it would be: Be wilder, be crazier! Give more fire with effects. Try to make more complete SY-products ...

"f you are really looking in music for something new, better think once more about your musical concepts and attitudes than to continue repeting always the same concepts just with different Libraries.: - fahl5

That is exactly it, beautifully put.  I guess the point is, by focusing on the actual sounds of the orchestra in detail like VSL, the most amount variety is made possible.  That is the nature of orchestration.  And there are no other libraries with as much detail, as accurately recorded, as VSL.  

Thank you all for your kind feedback and your advice. I assure you, I'm not going to just swap one library for the other without a reason. However, there's something that tells me "go and try something completely different".

@Jos: you got the point in your last sentence. :)

@LAJ: In particular thanks to you for your elaborate suggestions. I'll keep them in mind. At this point however I'm looking for the opposite which means less tweaking and tuning effects, more composing and enjoying good quality sound "out of the box".

@frienell_3530: You're so kind, thank you for your words. Please contact me via my site www.xanderscores.com (includes e-mail and twitter links) or forum-DM and I will gladly share with you the little I know.

@fahl5: Yes, you're right. I could and should expand my style, but my claim is that I can only do that with another library. So far every tool I used - starting with my old KORG M1, then Roland JV2080, then Opus 1 and now Vienna Instruments - has shaped my style very distinctively. My assumption is that a new library will give me the opportunity to expand my skillset once more. Maybe I can finally learn how to come up with 2-note-motifs and 7-minute-ostinatos. ;)

@William: You're right. VSL is the most realistic. Maybe that will be my reason to return to it, but maybe I find in other libraries other qualities that VSL lacks.

I'm going to find out soon and I'll share on my blog and also here on the forum. Thanks, guys!

@Xander S. said:

@fahl5: Yes, you're right. I could and should expand my style, but my claim is that I can only do that with another library. So far every tool I used - starting with my old KORG M1, then Roland JV2080, then Opus 1 and now Vienna Instruments - has shaped my style very distinctively. My assumption is that a new library will give me the opportunity to expand my skillset once more. Maybe I can finally learn how to come up with 2-note-motifs and 7-minute-ostinatos. 😉

Of course you should explore all which is available for you which woke kind of your interest.  I am not at all affiliated with VSL moreover I tend to constantly annoy them with radical uncompromising suggestions (of which the last they fullfied now with the Articulation-Dimension-Concept of the Synchron-Player I already demanded by myself 5 Years ago.😉)

So believe me I do understand you since I myself do have enough of "alternative-Library attempts" more or less scarcly used on my SSD's.

But in one point you just touched ( not to say hurt) my very musical ideology:

It is the musician and his intentions who shapes the music wiith help of more or less always imperfect instruments and not the instruments who shapes the musicians intentions or the music just by its self. 

Believe me you can do the most awfull things even with the most wonderful instrument, and if you are gifted your talent will always find its appropriate instrument to express what you are bearing in your  musical intention.

So allow me just to recall who is responsible for the music and what is nothing else than the tool you use for.

The Musichistory is full of wonderfull examples of ingenius musicians making the most touching music with most awful, limited and primitive instruments. Many belive using those awful instrumtens would be what  makes those ingenius musicians authentic. Imho it is not, it is their Idea and Intenttion , which was strong enough even to come along with the short coming of their instrument.

However our "shortcomming" today is more or  less our incredible wealth of available opportunities, do not let yourself be distrackted from keeping your inner ear just for what you want to do. That is imho your most important "Librarie" to care for.

Steffen some very good points and I totally agree.

I never meant to hurt anyone's ideology, but my way of composing relies heavily on playing around and trying out things. That might be due to my musical upbringing which is non-academic, but the point is, different sounds and libraries are a factor of inspiration, and everything that inspires me to do new things is welcome. I agree, however, on the statement that the musical vision shouldn't depend entirely on the tools at hand.

@Xander S. said:

I never meant to hurt anyone's ideology, but my way of composing relies heavily on playing around and trying out things. That might be due to my musical upbringing which is non-academic, but the point is, different sounds and libraries are a factor of inspiration, and everything that inspires me to do new things is welcome. I agree, however, on the statement that the musical vision shouldn't depend entirely on the tools at hand.

@"hurt" Sorry I didn't intended really that personal meaning of "hurt" at all. I know that you are far from that.

@ "factor of inspiration"

Everybody here know that very well. However I see two possible problems.

1) You might get trapped by the businesmodel of Sampleproducers who give you some earcandy to wake the Idea of increadible potential to make something touching. And if you are lucky it is even possible for you to imitate that effect in your studio to have once again the joy you had hearing nice demos of the product what gives You for a moment the feeling as if you can create something likewise beautiful while you do not understand, that you are doing not much more than reproducing this earcandy-effect you've bought that poduct for.  What a disappointing situation if you will once wake up recognizing that it was nothing but the imitation of the advertismentstrategy of the Sampleproducer, but scarcly anything realy creative.

2) The good composers of all time have always done their research with the instrumtens/tools they have ahd. Those have always been imperfect. the research tried to find things which match with their musical intentions although the abilities of the instruments available always have been that limited and seemingly overused. I fear its again my point while they are playing around with the inabilities of their tools they did at the same time an exploration of what they intend to do. Their inspiration woke up in the moment when they found Ideas how to handle this limited tools in a way that fits to what they like. Couldn't it be that you might neglect that second Part of playing around which is nothing else than playing with your own Ideas and intentions the more you avoid it to make  your tool speek with all its own limitations.

OK I talk to much: take it just as "my two cents"....😉

I appreciate your thoughts, fahl5, and I'm grateful for your caveats. However at the moment I want to make things simpler for me, not more complicated. This is why I just do and try and do, not thinking much about what might be the best thing to do next and how to adapt this or that. That said, your two cents do resonate with me and will have an impact. Thank you!

@LAJ: Danke - ich schau's mir gleich an! :)