Kirk Hunter - Symphony Orchestra Emerald 
Size: 19,7 Gb Symphony Orchestra - Emerald is already a favorite amoung many leading composers, arrangers, songwriters and
other musicians. And at only $325.00, it is without a doubt, the best "bang for the buck" orchestral sample
library available today. Some of the many features of Symphony Orchestra Emerald include its vast list of
sampled instruments and articulations, LegatoLive performance tools, use of alternates (K2 Round Robin), and
flexible programming! These features make its value unsurpassed in the industry. But don't let the low price
make you think that you're getting a "budget" product. This set truly rivals, and in many cases surpasses the
quality of the best and most revered orchestral sample libraries out there. There are thousands of instruments
containing samples that you will not find in ANY other sample library. The focus is on performance, dynamic
range, musicality, flexibility and expression. But probably the most widely reported strengths are its
amazing sound and its out-of-the-box playability!
Format: KONTAKT2
Price: $325.00The way YOU play is the way IT plays!
For example: Suppose you want to play smooth legatos that respond to your touch, and suddenly, you want
marcato or staccato without having to use a keyswitch. But you also want the response be smooth and not
abrupt. It's all right there! And it's not a velocity switch either. Whether you play more aggressively all
of a sudden, or slowly over time, you'll get the same progressive amount of the attack all according to how
you play! Any instrument with "vmc" in its name uses this kind of response.
Rob Gregory Brown: "Kirk Hunter Symphony Orchestra - Emerald I've said this before, but I'll say it again. The days of bloated,
gazillion sample orchestral libraries are numbered.
Oh, there will always be those of you who feel the need to have the latest and so-called greatest. You’ll make
claims that you can’t do business without them. That your customers demand that you keep up to speed with your
sample libraries and they’re always asking if you have Such-and-Such, because they really like the sound of
it. That you need every articulation known to man because they give you choices – and more choices give your
more artistic freedom.
Bulls__t.
Your customers won’t give a hoot what you’re using, as long as you have the talent and technical ability to
make your compositions sing. They won’t know a VSL from a EWQSL, if you kill them with your work.
And to kill them with your work, you really don’t need any of those megabucks libraries. Not anymore.
I’ve sung the praises of GPO. I think it’s a very good starter library. But even Gary Garritan himself will
tell you that it’s not meant to compete with the big guns.
I’m sure Kirk Hunter would probably tell you the same thing about his Symphony Orchestra Emerald. And he
probably means it.
But that doesn’t matter. Because KHSO Emerald, the version he was kind enough to send to me for review, is a
beautifully realized orchestral sample library that combines the sound of the big guns with the ease of use of
the starter libraries and puts them in the hands of the average, budget-strapped composer.
KHSO Emerald, with its beatifully rendered samples, sounds every bit as good at the more expensive libraries,
at a mere fraction of the cost ($325). The beauty of KHSO is that it DOESN’T give you a gazillion articula-
tions to choose from. It gives you just the right amount.
You can read a list of those articulations here, and as you can see, there’s a lot of ground covered. Based
on thousands of samples. Just about everything you need to make wonderful, realistic orchestral music.
So why do I think it’s just the right amount?
Pyschological studies have shown that when people are confronted with too many choices, they tend to get
confused and shut down. And once they’ve finally made a choice, they tend to fret over whether or not it was
the right one.
Add this to the simple fact that more choices means more time wading THROUGH those choices and what you have
is a stituation that’s not very conducive to creativity.
And let’s be honest. When dealing with the mega-libraries, most of us look for and find the articulations we
like best, then use them over and over again.
Yes, it’s nice to be able to go back and find new ones, but is it really worth three grand to ten grand to be
able to do it?
My answer is no. Yours may vary.
Kirk Hunter’s Symphony Orchestra Emerald comes in two flavors: Kontakt 2 and Gigastudio.
Call me crazy, but why anyone would bother getting anything Gigastudio anymore is beyond me. Kontakt 2, with
its scripting abilities, pretty much rules the roost at this point.
And Hunter's Kontakt 2 version takes advantage of that scripting. He's created something called Legato Live,
which he's in the process of implementing for the Emerald orchestra.
As anyone who reads my reviews knows, I don't go into a lot of detail about the products because my reaction
to sample libraries has more to do with gut than intellect -- just like music creation itself -- so if you
want an explanation of what Legato Live is, check out Hunter's website.
My job is merely this: when I like something, I tell you about it. And I LOVE Kirk Hunter's Symphony Orchestra
Emerald. Five minutes after I installed it, I was making beautiful music -- real world music that could be
used in any project I take on.
To my mind, Kirk Hunter's Symphony Orchestra Emerald not only competes, it wins the competition."
PROGRAMMING -----------
Kontakt 2 - A lot of programming has gone into this library in all versions. There is even additional
programming that takes advantage of many of the Kontakt 2™ features such as "Round Robin" and Legato
Scripting. (Kontakt 2 version)
You might be asking, "Why are there SO MANY various instruments?". This was so that all levels of users could
enjoy this library. Some of the "parent" instruments load every dynamic/vibrato layer available along with
all the articulations, while other instruments separate these layers out. So for those of you who have
massive rigs, you can get all the benefits of all the meticulous layerings, crossfadings and multiple articu-
lations by loading in the "parent" instruments. However, those of you who have smaller rigs and don't need or
want to load so many layers or articulations, but who still wish to take advantage of the meticulous
programming of the "parent" instrument can easily do so!
For example, let's look at a clarinet solo. The largest, or "parent" instrument is Clr_KLegLive_all_p-f_
velVol_modVol-rr.nki. This "parent" instrument has EVERYTHING loaded into it. All 8 velocity layers, the
trills, the runs, the staccatos, the various sustains and swells, and all are keyswitched using both "normal"
and LegatoLive instances. But let's say you want to load only the soft layer of sustains and swells, without
the runs and other articulations . It's right there - Clr_KLegLive_susAndSwell_p_velVol_modVol-rr.nki.
Similarly, if you still wanted only the sustains and swells, but more dynamic layers, you could load up the
file, Clr_KLegLive_susAndSwell_p-f_velVol_modVol-rr.nki. And conveniently, you'll get the same keyswitching
map and LegatoLive map in all cases as the larger "parent" instrument. Therefore, if you later wish to
upgrade your rig, you can load in the "parent" instrument at that time, and your old sequences you made with
the smaller instrument will still match up..
LegatoLive (Kontakt 2 version) The Legato performance instruments recently produced by the creators of the best sound libraries in the
industry have been an invaluable tool for authentic orchestral scoring.
Kirk Hunter and his team have taken the quality and expressiveness of these types of legato performance
instruments to the next level.
Their technology, "LegatoLive" introduces a truly dynamic set of legato and performance instruments!
LegatoLive instruments are meticulously designed for quality and authenticity by composer Kirk Hunter, the
author of the Emerald Symphonic Orchestral library which is recognized by many to possess the most character
and expressiveness in the industry.
By intricately micro composing a virtual simulation of legato intervals in real time, LegatoLive delivers a
life-like sound. It intelligently renders fluent transitions between extensive performance variations of
dynamics and playing alternations. Imagine having that "chunky" sound a clarinet gets when the player plays
through a range of notes. That sound is so distinct that it has always been the litmus test of being able to
tell a real player from a sampler. Now, with LegatoLive, this is very closely simulated! The sound of the
instrument's body and the "puff" of air through the holes as the keys are opened and closed is captured with
a good deal of realism.
For strings, in many instances, the modulation wheel smoothly alters the character of the LegatoLive instru -
ments from a romantic to robust feel by creating section glides in addition to the transitional intervals.
With LegatoLive, the user can obtain beautiful and fluid note transitions, while playing in the "legato"
style*, and yet still preserve a "staccato" style on the same instrument without having to change channels or
instruments.
LegatoLive uses very little CPU overhead, while significantly saving RAM and speeding up loading times. Most
of the LegatoLive instruments have been creatively programmed so that you will not often have to run the
instrument in "sampler" mode. We've made it possible to take advantage of LegatoLive in "DFD" mode so that
you won't run out of RAM as is usually the case in most other legato style scripted instruments.
*At the current time, the "legato" playing style requires that the user play a note followed by a second note
which slightly "overlaps" the first note. Luckily, once the second note is played, the first note is
musically turned off, and a micro composed interval is inserted between the two notes. All this means is that
whenever a note is played which even slightly overlaps a preceding note, the "legatoLive" script is invoked.
Obviously, at the current time, the convention for legato scripting is fairly monophonic, rather than poly -
phonic.
DOWNLOAD:
Download: (only for Musician & Moderator Group)http://vstclub.com/forum/25-3388-1 
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