Orchestral Tools: Metropolis Ark 1

[Raymond_Kemp]

Why do I fire up EWQLSO all mics blazing and think ' hey! what's wrong with this old library'?
and yes, I also have the choirs.

Sad ol' fart here. I've money to spend but not on this.

I love EWQLSO to this day and still use parts of it. I miss legato when trying to write evocatively, especially on solo instruments. It can sound robotic on repetitive phrases due to lack of RRs and velocity layering. Still, there are great things in there.

when I listen to some of John Graham's music from the time when Platinum was King legato doesn't seem so significant. I think the point I'm making relates to, the skill of the user outweighing the relative quality of the tool.

[Lawrence]

Always, but that's always been so and I've never thought any different. Meanwhile, John has moved on to many upscale libraries. So.

[Guy Rowland]

As Larry says, there were incredible demos written for a wide range of products over a decade ago, Ray. One could argue therefore that everything released subsequently is superfluous - if skilled people could make good sounding stuff then, what's the point of anything else? But what on Earth would we talk about and do all day? :-)

Since (for some reason) we're discussing EWQL SO, the horns are far better in Ark (the FF layer in SO always sound horrible to me even under John Graham's fingers). I also prefer the tone of the strings in the Ark, there was always a hardness to SO. And yes, legato is a very big deal and the Ark does it extremely well.

I like Ark 1 very much. I've been slightly surprised at the apparently voracious appetite for it - it's far from the only good FFF options I own, for example, and I don't even have Iceni. For example, while the horns greatly exceed SO's, those CineBrass 12 horns still kick mighty ass. But having all that stuff in one place, to the level that OT have got it to, is undeniably a fine thing.

And hey, now I can have 21 horns. FFFF.

[Lawrence]

FFS!

[Raymond_Kemp]

Thank you Larry and Guy, yes I do appreciate we've all moved on over these last few years.
atm I do not really need such a library and maybe never will although that doesn't mean I'm not buying new stuff having just downloaded one last evening. The trouble is, I'm away for the weekend and won't get a chance to play with it. Never mind, after that I'm free to play every day until next year I'll have that much time on my hands for frivolity, it'll nearly match that of a pro

[Guy Rowland]

FFS!

CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED THAT GAG!!!!

[Tanuj Tiku]

Well it's release day, so here's my take on it, in three different videos.

A 10 minute smash-through, for those who just want a broad feel for the scope of the library / can't be doing with all the long-form jibber jabber:



Then there's two more in depth videos, the first looking at the strings, winds and brass:



...and the second looking at the non-orchestral stuff, plus the percussion

Thanks for this Guy! Sorry, I have just seen it now. Great walk through.

Does Metropolis Ark 1 still make sense two years later? Any alternatives I should be looking at? I am looking at getting some new libraries for trailer work. I am looking at some percussion as well. Audio Imperia has some interesting stuff there.

Any suggestions? I do really like Metropolis Ark 1 for its brass and low strings.

[Guy Rowland]

Ooh, a blast from the past, thanks Tanuj. I don't have a great deal to add since then, I don't often do that kind of music so at times I can forget I own it.

I can't remember all the libraries you already have... where do you feel most lacking currently for trailer stuff? For big ass percussion I use a combination of CinePerc, LADD, HZ01, Storm Drum 2, Damage, Action Strikes, even good old Drums of War 1, there's usually something among that lot. I'm very curious about Toontrack's new Action EZX, as I think their pattern engine, mixer and UI is exemplary in Superior Drummer 3 in particular, and I can well imagine this being far better to use than any of the Kontakt libraries. But the jury is still out on the sounds - the first demos feel very generic bash rum digga dum dum, so looking forward to a walkthrough to get a better feel of the range.

[Tanuj Tiku]

Yes, a blast from the past I am sure! I did not even realise its been that long since Ark 1 came out. Well, it was a very enjoyable video so thanks for doing it!

I have been doing trailer music on and off but as part of my new plan to get more into production music and trailer stuff, I want to gear up a little bit.

Here are some of the problems I have currently:

1. Orchestral libraries - I have some great ones that do just fine for film scores but they inherently lack the bite needed for trailers and so I end up spending a lot of time sculpting the sound. Prime against these problems is EW Hollywood Brass which takes a while to get right with edgy stuff, adding reverb, taking out the bulge and making them sit. I have done it enough times but I get tired dealing with all that and it just slows me down. Plus, the main thing is that I don't actually get a unique sound doing all this extra work. Its good to have dry-ish stage libraries for film scoring (actually extremely important)) but for trailers, I would rather have out of the box edgy stuff with mic positions ready to go.

2. Percussion - I have HZ percussion 01, True Strike 1 (yes, old school!) and Frame Drums/Dhol/Epic Toms from 8 Dio and damage. I really do not like Damage too much, I rarely use it. The old Tonehammer stuff is good but again, I am having to spend time getting that sound and there are only a few articulations that are useable. They are great but few. Plus they have a fixed mic position and even though I am aware of the MW hack it still does not sound great always when you need more presence. Hz Perc is great for big swampy percussion but doesn't work well with trailers as such.

So, I am getting Ark 1 and 3 plus looking at Strike Force (sounds good for trailers).

I don't mind getting edgy stuff geared mostly towards trailers and epic music even if it does not fit elsewhere because I have enough for those things.

[Guy Rowland]

For (1) do you not use templates of some kind?

For (2) there are so many other good options now. Damage has a very particular (and overused) sound, I tend to use DM-307 for that kind of thing now just because its less used and still feels fresher, but neither are right for traditional trailer stuff it's true. LADD is good and is likely to get a good UI update at some stage, Action Strikes I think is very under-appreciated, that's really well programmed too.

[Tanuj Tiku]

Guy, yes I do have templates though I have abandoned them at various stages recently. May main problem is that they work very well for scores but for trailers, it seems to not work well because it is more production driven than orchestration and changes quite a bit. In my experience, templates are not working out for me for trailers.

My main problem is the bulk of my current samples simply do not have that edgy sound needed for trailers and as a result I try to compensate elsewhere whereas I think I simply need samples which have that edge built into them by design.

Yes, LADD does sound good. Action strikes is good but lacks the detailing I am looking for. I think if I do end up getting Ark 3, between that and strikeforce, I will have everything I need.

My new dilemma is understanding the difference between Ark 1 and 3 as far as the orchestral elements are concerned. I understand the difference between the percussion perhaps but not so much the orchestra.

[Lawrence]

Tanuj-have you listened to demos of Jaeger from Audio Imperia?

[The Saxer]

Trailer Brass, Adventure Brass and Caspian work well for that stuff. Still unbeaten for my taste is LASS for all those tight shorts (not speaking about summer fashion here).

Ark1 is great too. Not just for brass. Choirs are great, overall sound is really good. I resampled some of the Metropolis Multis (from Ark1 and Ark3, which are CPU demanding) into Logics EXS and they work as great 'fillers'.

[Piet De Ridder]

(...) 2. Percussion - I have HZ percussion 01, True Strike 1 (yes, old school!) and Frame Drums/Dhol/Epic Toms from 8 Dio and Damage (...)

.
Tanuj,

Since you have so much percussion already, don't you think that adding more will never really give you the inspirational excitement that you seek? Why not have look instead at some of the BOOM libraries? They don't contain percussion as such, but are loaded with hits, strikes, noises, impacts, whooshes, clashes and crashes (all of the absolute highest possible sonic quality), specifically aimed at film- and trailer work, and these sounds can also be perfectly combined with traditional orchestral percussion, a combination which, if done well and creatively, might give your tracks a distinct sound as well.

_

[Tanuj Tiku]

Thanks so much for the input guys.

I am looking into various libraries at the moment. For now, I picked up Strike Force as I think they have done something inherently edgy with the percussion sounds and I like how easy it is to work with it. It does have a little too much reverb at times but that can be customized. It is a very nice and precise version of what Tonehammer did all those years ago. Much more useful than Tonehammer sounds though and instantly big sounding. Again the layout is fantastic and it works well as a big striking sound on top of some of the percussion I have.

On that note Piet, yes I do have the cinematic designed kit from Boom Library and that is great for swooshes, hits (btw agree, it is top notch quality). But, for regular edgy percussion I found that Strike Force did a strikingly good job. The stuff I already have just does not have that final impact quality as my suspicion has been confirmed after getting Strike Force. Though, I have to say that I am talking of really close to in your face kind of sound which I never do outside of trailer work. Simply as it is over kill for anything else.

My main gripe with orchestral stuff I have is that I have to keep creating layers much as I love doing that for film work, in trailers it makes less sense. For example, if I want a low brass sound, I will orchestrate it with trombones, tuba, horns etc but if I have something like Ark 1 or Ark 3 - it is much easier to work with. It is also numbers - Ark 1/3 simply is bigger because they used more players and with a placement that is more conducive to trailers and big productions. What is more, Ark 1/3 have in the mid to high dynamic layers a realism for big sounding stuff that for example EW Hollywood Brass does not. This is because when the top dynamic layers are hit, the bite takes over the mids. It all just fits well with trailer production work. A friend of mine has Ark 1 and I got to spend about 15 minutes with it 3 weeks ago and it has been on my mind since.

Saxer, I am going to check out Trailer Brass, Adventure Brass and Caspian - haven't heard any of those yet.

Larry, I have checked out Jaeger but I still think Ark 1 is better for my choice. Jaeger seems surprisingly a more standard orchestral offering. Though, it did sound good. I already have a standard type orchestra with me. The remaining sections, I would rather pick up individually - effects, percussion (like strike force) etc. Jaeger seems to be a great start-up package though.

[Jaap]

Bit late to the party here. Ark 1 and 3, and don't understimate number 2 as well as it has some nice solid deep and good sounding stuff in there which is awesome for those first trailer beginnings, but 1 and 3 are indeed just really nice for creating those solid layers when it comes down to the brass and add some thickness to the strings. Jaeger is great, but more suited if you really want to add those to a more sound design and synth orientated track as in my opinion they blend a bit better due to the dryness and ease to mix them as you like. That is what I sometimes found a bit more challenging with Ark 1 and 3.
What I like about the Ark's as well is that they blend good with other orchestral libraries. The strings work for me (in trailer setting, not in more realistic settings though) perfectly with Cinematic Studio Strings and often I use the low brass and trumpets from the Arks and the 6 horn patch from Hollywood Brass Diamond (that one still is my favorite in tone and piercing through everything).

Also big lover of Strikeforce here. Took me a bit of tweaking to make the room sound work for me, but this percussion adds some really good things which normally would take a lot of effort and different libraries to create.

[KyleJudkins]

Arc3 struggles with melodic content... it's basically a bunch of shorts and Tempo synced repetition patches

I don't think there's actually a real Legato patch, or sustain patch in the entire thing

You could get away with using some of the articulations in a phrase, but at that point you are essentially using a screwdriver as a hammer