[REVIEW] Native Instruments Symphony Essentials 

- SAMPLED ORCHESTRATION IN A WEEKEND - If you want to learn how to use libraries like this, check out my Sampled Orchestration in a Weekend course. It starts right at the basics, teaching you how to get the absolute best sounds out of your sample libraries. Over 6 hours of video and accompanying course text. Check it out here: thinkspaceeducation.com/courses/soiaw/

Reviews of sub-$500 orchestral VST are super helpful for us hobbyists. And watching you compose is always fun too! Thank you!

19:24 _"I'm gonna call that a day... and we've only been here like 20 minutes or something."_ Could you do a video on how I get to live your life?

I like how you laugh at yourself for the simplicity of what you're playing, but it really is just what so many of us need. Thanks for the effort!

I composed my first movie score last night in the Ableton Live 10 Suite DAW using Native Instruments Kontakt as the plugin. Its pretty fun creating. I've always been into movie scores. Guy Michelmore thanks for showing me what to in the creative process.

I’ve had a fever the past few days. Being treated to 2 uploads from thinkspace since Wednesday is cheering me right up. Thanks for the mood boost, Guy! Also thanks to Jake and Blake for their advice regarding monitors a while back. I bought a pair of Adam T7V in the end and can’t wait to test them. Tested me last Film on a 4K tv but the instrumentation was only piano and synth so thankfully didn’t have to worry about an orchestral mix due to the lack of monitors at the time.

13:30 "I've written worse!".... LOL ! I would kill to write this one in only 10 mins...

What a wonderful teacher, energetic, focused and making it all a lot of fun, fantastic channel

Why this channel is not bigger I don't know. It's just a matter of time before people catch on. As a composer myself in the sync world this is useful information, very inspirational and is also good to watch in downtime when I am trying to recharge. Cheers!

I'm not looking for a new sample library, I have all I need, but let me just say you are absolute blast to watch! The whole workflow is so effortless and the high energy/humor makes this extremely entertaining! Great stuff man!

Watching live creation by skilled people is an excellent way to assess quality and learn at the same time. Subscribed!

It would take me months to compose what he's done in 20 minutes. Amazing 👏

I have the full symphony series collection and all I can say is the added features and articulations that come with the full version make it a much more viable library!

Hi everyone, I see a lot of discussion about the Symphony Series Essentials and the Symphony Series Collection (sound quality and price), and I also see those who are wondering which to buy. I own the full Symphony Series Collection, and would like to tackle this topic. First off, I'd just like to note that you can get either the Symphony Series Essentials or Symphony Series Collection as part of a Komplete bundle from Native Instruments (Komplete Ultimate or Collector's Edition). I highly recommend doing this as it's a steal! Not only do you get the Symphony Series instruments, but you also get so many other incredible useful libraries and effects! Also, if you can get one of those bundles on a sale (like I did), it's more than worth your money! Anyway, let's get to the reviews already! The Essential version is a great starting point, but won't suffice if you're a serious or aspiring composer (still good for pop or film, just a little bare bones). I only say this because you can't change microphone positions, you don't have the auto-divisi feature, and you are somewhat limited with your articulations with the Essential version. If you have the budget, or the time to save a little more money, I would buy the full collection (or just buy the Komplete Collector's Edition on a sale). Here's my review of the Symphony Series Collection (also, look for songs I've created using Symphony Series in this review): Strings: Probably the best ensemble in Symphony Series. It's very versatile, easy to use, and sounds great! You can adjust many settings such as the microphone positions, reverb, release, dynamics, and you can even change the section size of your ensemble (I don't know many libraries that can do this). The sound is superb, but some articulations have noise, such as the harmonics articulation, which makes that articulation difficult to use. Having said that, the other articulations sound great and are very handy! This library works for slow and intimate scores, or fast and epic! A string solo patch is not included sadly. Here's a song I composed using the string ensemble (listen for the drop): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T-URksT_Gbc.html Brass: Elegant sound, just a lot of natural reverb. The brass ensemble's sample quality sounds amazing, and has so many articulations between all the different patches. The dynamics wheel sounds really great because you can go from soft to really hard and loud! As I mentioned before, the base recordings have a lot of reverb, but if you reduce the release and change the microphone position to close, it definitely manageable. Here's a song I've composed which uses the entire brass ensemble: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gjl6YCUNL2M.html Percussion: This instrument of Symphony Series is great because you get so many instruments. The sample quality is good, but not for all microphone positions. The spot and close microphones typically sound superb! But the stereo or far microphones are too washed out by reverb. There is also a resonance simulation that sounds incredibly realistic! Listen to a song I've composed with the percussion here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V4IsRJe9R8g.html Woodwinds: The woodwinds have a great sample quality, but have a similar problem to the brass: too much reverb and noise in the recordings (brass doesn't have noise, just reverb). Again, if you have the Symphony Series Collection though, you can change the microphone positions to close and get a workable sound. There are a lot of good features about this library too, such as the articulations and the arpeggio generator, which allows for trills and such. The solo instruments are a plus, and sound pretty nice too. I'm sure there are better woodwind libraries out there, but since this already comes with Symphony Series, why not use it? Well, there's an honest review the Symphony Series library... what do you think, yay or nay? Darn it... they also didn't include a choir patch... maybe one day... right?

Would be great to do something similar using the Spitfire LABS and Epic instrument ranges... 😀🎶

I need this guy's energy in my life

Guy: 13:04 "These sounds are fine, they are not..." Director: "CUT!"

Very helpful -- OMG -- I never thought of adding a midi track beneath an instrument track to keep the keyswitches separate from actual notes. THANK YOU FOR THAT TIP!

4:02 "That enormous knob in the middle of the screen" !!!! We love you Guy!

2:52 me once again after three days of composing in which I simply forgot to eat and sleep

That MIDI KS thing is awesome! Never thought of it! Brilliant! Thanks a lot!

My god! What have I just found! An absolute jewel in multimedia! Sir you have yourself a loyal subscriber and fan! 😇

Watching your videos is not only very useful, it's fun!! Thank you for your playful yet educational way of doing this :)

Mix of Humor and creative abilities is unmatched an tremendously gravitating..takes your music tutorials to another stratosphere 👌🏽

You are one awesome guy, I can tell you that

You're an inspiration! Just watching you using the articulations has helped me to learn some of this mysterious science...

You’re like the Jeremy Clarkson of MIDI

I love your personality! We need more people like you in this world

best tutorial for orchestra ... what a master piece thanks

This was one of the most helpful overall vids that cleared up the process.... jumping into the template setups is SOOOOO overwhleming. Nice to see you breeze through with JUST enough info on key switches / articulations ... thanks. Subscribed!

I was mostly mesmerised by that cool DIY on-air light you have on the way into your office :P

Finally an indepth review of the Essentials package. Thanks so much Guy, I've been looking for this for a while! Gives a great idea of what you get with the Ultimate edition in regards to the Symphonic sounds. Also, have you ever used the Kontakt Base Library's Orchestral sounds? What are your thoughts on those?

Hello Guy. Could you please consider doing a video on which DAW you prefer and WHY, and also about your music/piano/computer setup etc...and the bare minimum needs you could get away with. Thanks a lot. : )

13:41 I can relate sooooo well. My actual creativity ain't that bad but writing a good tune that isn't generic would take forever!

Wow i just got in here and i found him so authentic. Love it.

Thought the triple tongue was amazing. The snare sounded quite good. Loving these lessons. Extremely useful information.

Well. That melody got stuck in my head now. In 20 minutes. Colour me impressed.

I will love to know your opinion about NI Symphony Series regarding the Essentials version. Great video as always!

So glad I stumbled on this video. Really cool watching you work and break this down. I've had Ultimate for about a year now and have largely avoided this, but now I'm inspired. New subscriber :)

Amazing library.. I just made articulations sets for these libraries in Logic. Mind blowing sounds..

I can use a MIDI track to input KEY SWITCHES?!? ARGHHH!!! Why didn't nobody tell me this before?!? Thank you, Guy! Your videos are great as always. Keep up the excellent work!

Great video. Also a really good piece of music. The sound of the VST is amazing - I am pretty sure, that I will buy it during the next black friday week.

Thank again for great tips on a rainy day. You Rock!!!!

Very nice practical review fof NI Symphony Essentials. Thank you Guy. I can see the niche that this fits into for production needs. The speed at which you assembled a track on the fly was just what I needed to see. Appreciated. JL

Just excellent! Jamming out an epic cinematic sound - both entertaining and educational all in one! Thks

14:17 was that Lugia's Theme from Pokemon? :o

In Logic you can also set the MIDi recoding to be additive and put the controller stuff straight on the same track. Menu Option is: Overlapping MIDI Recordings > Merge. Most DAWS must have something similar

Great videos. So uplifting. Hands up! I have learned dozens of useful cubase functions and tips on composing in general.

OMG "Step input" is amazing ! thanks for that

the 36 woodwind players bit had me in stitches 😂😂🤣

I’ve watched many significantly less talented RU-vid composers who also have a huge knob in the center of the screen, even without this software.

Bonjour Guy , Simple direct efficace as usual Merci Marc

Crossgrade means they give you a discount if you're using a competing software from a different developer. It mainly exists for people who are satisfied with what they've got but are interested in trying something else.

I would love for him to be my boss! Awesome

The software is ok I want to know whats the best orchestra software out there and the best realistic bass and guitar software out to use with kontakt?

You are fun to watch and I learn a lot too! Even with your manic motions lol. Love it, just subscribed.

Top drawer, thank you for yet another entertaining and inspiring vid.

wow.. 2 minutes in and I've learnt about diminishing frequencies and what you consider "essential". All whilst being drawn to your charisma :) looks like I'm in for a ride with this video lol well done :D

These might not seem expensive to most people but they are still waaaaayyyy out of my minuscule budget; I'm utterly in agreement that you get what you pay for, and I wish I could afford the Komplete package AND all the amazing Spitfire packs, but alas, buying that AKAI thing is more than I can afford right now. Oh well... Keep up the great (and entertaining) work. I've just bought your 'How to Write Music' course so I look forward to getting stuck in on that!

My main takeaway from this video is that I’ll actually start using that RU-vid notification bell. You know.... “the thiiing!” 😄

I have Nucleus as well as purchased the Komplete 12 Ultimate bundle and going to be mixing and matching based on the tonality I want for certain scores/music compositions. Some sound better and more articulate for a specific sound. Overall awesome video! Love you content

Thank you so much for this review.

I bought this library (essentials) some years ago, but find some instruments very bad sounding. Also, if I remember correctly, the brass ensembles sound an octave too low. Very nice trick with the keyswitch track, I will absolutely use it! And using a controller for the low key switches is nice as well, I only have a drum pads on my midi keyboard, and I think they are all too high programmed.

SUPER GREAT composition !!! Merveilleux !

"Why would you need so many woodwinds?" ＊laughs in concert band＊

This was fun. Thanks for sharing how you write it.

I love your enthusiasm and energy. Keep it up!

I bought the symphony essentials a while back. I really like how they sound, but when I was working on one of my video game covers I noticed they were a bit limited. I recently bought Session Strings Pro 2 and there's a noticeable improvement in quality and functionality. If I had to get one or the other, I'd choose Session String Pro 2, but the symphony essential strings provides that big orchestral sound so a combination of both is great if you have the money. The other symphony essentials are great (although don't expect to get the same small band sound you might want for funk/reggeaton/jazz).

Guy, your composition style is making me want to start playing bass trombone again!

I wish I lived in London, so I could come work for you! I'd be sure to bring tea every morning! Thanks again for another great video!

Is it essential to know the chords for making epic music? I would play by ear but seeing you play chords to get the sound you want intrigues me and seems to speed up the workflow. Any classes on this?

I’m subscribed! Never heard of this Guy before but I’m hooked now!

For something "thrown together" the results are rather impressive. But then your skills and experience are just a fraction above average! (To say the least.)

The Series version was worth the extra dough. Until you buy something like metropolis ark 1&2

Your editing is incredible haha!

Hello, excellent video. I have an important question. From minute 15 to minute 16 you make a recording on the Roll piano, you give some option to be able to record slowly and the eighth notes are written. You do it with woodwings. Can you tell me how to activate this wonderful tool? Greetings from Spain.

I have this and have used it quite a lot, what would you recommend as the next library to got for a beginner? I'm thinking of getting Spitfire's Albion One

Hey Guy. Love the channel and thanks so much for all the great content. One question; what was the purpose of the ‘Key Switching’ with the timpani? I feel I missed something crucial?

Thanks Guy.. That's a great piece of Advice

I found the Komplete symphony series generally have very strong attack, which I appreciate

I'd like a creating video with ambient/cinematic music. Just an idea. Thanks for videos and music. ;)

I forgot…. And I guess you did not find out. This Libary can be dynamically microtuned. And if you do it with the oddsound microtuning suite you get a real perfect sound.

How would this compare to Nucleus by Audio Imperia? Also, I discovered you recently and I love your videos. I hit that subscribe button like a Timpani!

I like this guy!

Inspirational and entertaining video, thank you Guy!

what kind of computer you need to hold all this power and run smooth. my laptop burns with one kontakt open :)

@Guy Stellar review and creativity as expected. What is the awesome feature called that you showed us around 15:35? Recording at your own pace and without having to press play?? I’ve never seen this before in any other DAW.

If you know how to use that stuff, its pretty powerful. I also thought about mixing orchestral libraries to create a more diverse sound maybe. I can recommend the EastWest libraries too.

I wish you would do a comparison video between this and Modern Scoring Strings by Audio bros.

What are your thoughts on the Audio Modeling SWAM Engine products? They're non-sample based VSTs that don't require key switching between articulations. Would love a video on them!

0:38 3:01 3:44 Articulation 6:48 6:59 Message from Sponsor 7:29 8:35 Add snare drum 10:06 Add brass 11:51 One more layer 12:54 Horn line 14:00 Add woodwinds. Flutes 16:46 One more element, woodwind ensemble 17:18 Akai ATC Mini 18:13 19:25 Conclusion. Cheap, does what it says on the tin

Native Instruments has an upgrade to Komplete Ultimate 12 Collector’s Edition from Komplete Ultimate 11 for $299. In Komplete 11 there are symphonic Essentials , but in !2 Collectors Edition it is the complete symphonic collection + more. Worth the upgrade? (Normally $599)..

Guy, if you weren't doing a quick tutorial would you usually put multiple instruments in one instance of Kontakt to save CPU?

I am badly stuck with the HARMONY part where we have 2 to 3 sections of Strings and woodwinds supporting the Main Melidy with a sub Melody .... it sounds so full ... if I could learn the way around that then I M ON FIRE😎

Can you also please share how you arrive at the decision to choose the next instrument and it's respective articulation to fit in with how far the track has already developed? You sometimes say, let's try this, but surely there must be more to the selection, especially for us beginners. Thanks.

GREAT. Congratulations. Hugs from Brazil.

Genial... Feliz Año 2022! ... 🙋🏻‍♂🇲🇽

- The orchestra complete - Symphony essentials - Berlin inspire 1 y 2 which is the best and why?

always a blast to see you at work guy,i use an akai thingy for mixing the main category of instruments (strings,brass,woodwinds,etc) because of the limited (8) sliders there are for keyswitches i use a mini keyboard with 1,5 octave,and i transpose if need be,anyway,nice composition

Hi, great videos and training. How does this compare to the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra?