Ok, I'm thinking about getting an orchestra plugin, but as usual I'm low on money, so I'm looking at the cheap ones. So far I found the MOTU Symphonic Instrument and the Garritan Personal Orchestra, both seem to be good for their price, though MSI has a few nice boni (mainly the antique instruments), otoh GPO has other nice features. What do you think? Or are there any other good options?

Well, that depends upon what you would ultimately like to do with your music. Personally, I would recommend EastWest Silver. I am not sure how expensive it is, but I don't believe it is MUCH more than Garritan Personal Orchestra package. I will tell you that it sounds a helluva lot better than GPO, IMHO. What is good about the EastWest orchestral libraries is that there is a cumulative effect...meaning that if you choose to upgrade to a higher version of EASTWEST orchestra in the future (Gold or Platinum), the difference between what you have paid for already will be subtracted from the new upgrade. This is a really good idea as it has the potential to save you a lot of money.

Whatever you choose to do, good luck!

Ryan

east west symphonic orchestra silver is actually even cheaper. but i haven't found the upgrades anywhere.

From the description at BestService.de (my regular plug-in provider):

"- The SILVER EDITION "Upgrade Plan" enables users to apply 100% of the purchase price for the SILVER EDITION towards an upgrade to the GOLD or PLATINUM EDITION at any time (contact sales@eastwestsounds.com for details). "

I use SO Silver right now, and I'm quite pleased with it. The individual samples are great and there is enough articulation variety to make good stuff possible. It's not that difficult to get good-sounding lines either. The only "problem" is the density of the samples, if you play notes that are close together, you sometimes do noticed that there are repitched samples. Considering the price, that's not a very big complaint in my eyes.

ok, since im in germany that'll do :-)

so, has anyone actually tried the motu?

Well, you did say budget and I gotta say I find Edirol Orchestral to be the best 'bang-for-the-buck' orch plug-in that I've come across. Dare I say, I even find some of the sounds to be warmer and nicer than some of the much more expensive libraries. Sure, it has its limitations and a few more string articulations wouldn't go astray, but for what I paid ($840 Aus), I'd even call it 'godly'. You get a full orchestra (including a nice warm grand piano), percussion (with some great timpanies), some authentic room/hall reverbs and it's very easy on your system resources, not to mention alot of cool controller parameters all within a nice, simple GUI. It's 'all-in-one' so you don't have to go loading up multiple instruments into a sampler. A cheaper price tag often makes people assume that a product can't be good, but trust me, Edirol Orchestral sounds pretty dang pro to my ears! Oh, and it's also available as VST or Dxi. I did almost all my orchestral stuff with it. Check out the URL below if ya wanna' hear how it sounds. Having said all that, I can't compare it to the EW Silver as I've never tried it and I don't even know how much it cost compared to Edirol Orchestral but I've heard it sounds great. Hope that helps you a little bit! Good luck.

Audio Architect: http://www.audioarchitect.com.au

compared to the others the edirol orchestra costs approx 1.5x as much

I strongly recommend against edirol orchestral. It is very old, and the sounds only sound a step above soundfonts. Plus roland still had the price at unreasonable levels. There is just no reason to get this outdated library.

i would reccomend EWQL silver ;).. + it even comes with a choir to add that special touch to your pieces .. however, GPO would be a good choice too.. it's really up to u to decide which instruments from which library u want , make a comparison, then choose .

Nobody actually answered what they thought of MOTU Symphonic Instrument?

I have just purchased it and am awaiting delivery but have not actually tried it yet?

Comments about it please?