It's really funny to me. Many of the composers who are doing game scores aren't using EWQL Gold... just the people who want to get into scoring games. The problem I have with the library is that it's tough to get past it's overly John Williamsesque sound and therefore makes all demos just utilizing Gold for all aspects of the virtual orchestra sound very similar... to my ears anyway. Sure, the themes are different, but I have a hard time getting passed the Gold sound... maybe it's just a personal preference.
Before I
venture forth further with this rant which may offend those of you who own this damn library... which means all of you... I should say that I DO own gold and gold xp play.... and I DO utilize it on some projects. JUST NOT FOR MY ENTIRE ORCHESTRA. I'll use a string section here, a horn section there, then mix it up with a project sam library or one of the many synth libraries out there. While I commend Nick Pheonix and the others involved on the library for a well sampled orchestra... it's just agitating that now anyone and everyone can add to the Overcrowditation of things by picking this orchestra up for free... or for a fraction of the price it once was for the full library. Seriously, if you don't want to sound like EVERY other demo out there, take this phrase to heart."Just say NO to East West Quantum Leap O."
I see what soundsonline.com is doing here, they're hoping you'll like the free version so much that you'll plop down the $400 for the real deal. That, or they have a new library coming out which will make Gold absolutely obsolete and will be the new "go to" lib for you, me, and everyone else out there. Overcrowditation indeed. This is a trend that has happened with tons of libraries out there, though very surprisingly not with Symphobia or Evolve.. not that I've heard. There was a time when Stylus RMX could be heard in just about every commercial, television show, and game... but now I rarely hear it at all anymore (except for in really bad reality television... the damn composer / producer usually just throws down a RMX loop and calls it music).
This brings me to another decent point... what's old can be new again. I've recently found myself going back and using Stylus RMX.. but not for the loops... for the loop elements and applying various FX to them. This can be done with tons of older libraries out there so definitely don't discount a library just because it's old!
The whole point of this rant, in case you haven't picked up on it yet, is that you need to make yourself competitive. EVERYONE including you is using EWQL Gold. Save some money up and invest in a more expensive library like Symphobia that will help to distinguish your sound. I know I know... you're all saying "but thats far too expensive", "I can't afford that"! Well, you're honestly going to HAVE TO afford it if you're serious about getting in to composing for games... as stated before, save your cash! There are tons of lesser known libraries out there like String Essentials that will help give you a different sound. After hearing 10 demos from 10 different composers who all used EWQL Gold...an audio lead will want something that will stand out from the rest and not sound like another composer trying to sound like John Williams once again. Hell, they should just call EWQL Gold "Williams in a box" cause thats just what it is!
If you're absolutely stuck with Gold, find a way to sequence / master your music so that it doesn't sound like everyone else (read: Over quantized).
I like the SAM libs and the tonehammers of the kontakt world. I never played with the new PLAY engine from EWQL tho.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the EWQL free orchestra is not the same as EWQLSO Gold, more like silver. Also I hate the play engines, wish they'd go back to kontakt libraries. I cannot get the play engine to work on my system which is a 64/32bit hybrid.
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