@PaulR said:
"I recently bought the East West Quantum Leap String Orchestra, and found it to have a richer, fuller sound than the Vienna String Orchestra. which has a more European feel. The QLSO sound is also quite popular with clients who have described the scores I've used on it as sounding more 'Hollywood' or 'commercial'.The Vienna library is amazing but it's strength is also it's weakness because the possibilities are endless in terms of things like playing techniques. The QLSO is easier to use and that saves time:.....I am putting QLSO on everything!"
Source: Sound on Sound -September 2005
What does everyone think of that? And don't shoot me - I'm only the messenger - I never said it and don't necessarily subscribe to it.
[[:D]]
In some ways this is correct IMO.
However there are a few things to bear in mind.
1) QLSO always sounds the same (as far as I've heard), which is very limiting as far as different styles are concerned.
2) VSL does require more knowledge of mixing techniques regarding reverb/placement etc. so many composers are not up to the challenge. Using something that requires less effort is much quicker and probably more successful for many people. I think that one does need to know something about orchestras in order to use VSL successfully, and if a composer is too lazy to learn to read music, then they are unlikely to bother to study orchestration to any degree either (can of worms alert [[:|]] ).
3) Many clients wouldn't know a crotchet from a hatchet and are likely to be comparing what they hear with the traditional "sampled" string sound [[:D]] If the sound is compared with real orchestras then I would say that VSL has the edge.
Just a few thoughts while I'm trying to avoid work.
DG