ProjectSAM / Summer Sale (-30%)

[Piet De Ridder]

"ProjectSAM Summer Sale: 30% Off! Make it a cinematic summer with 30% off on almost all of our libraries, including the full version of Symphobia 4: Pandora, Swing More! and Orchestral Essentials! Yes, now is the time to complete your Symphobia series, get into Orchestral Essentials or take things for a Swing!. The Summer Sale ends Monday August 10th 2020 at 11:00 CET.

Free Summer Orchestra: That fancy summer cocktail you're sipping was expensive enough, so why not check out The Free Orchestra? A Gigabyte of cinematic sounds taken from our entire sample catalog, offering a dedicated user interface and Kontakt Player compatibility."

Go here.

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[Lawrence]

I got free orchestra a while ago, and it was a nice little surprise. Any comments on the harp-does it still hold up? I’m thinking the Harp and Animator, which could be useful for a possible upcoming gig.

[Guy Rowland]

I have the harp - it's good, but it's not my favourite tone.

Animator is great though, and there's nothing else like it even now AFAIK.

[Lawrence]

What’s lacking in the tone?

(Harps seem very subjective-I’ve been unhappy with Angelic Harp, others seem quite fond of it)

[lofi]

I’m thinking the Harp and Animator, which could be useful for a possible upcoming gig.

Harp is a no, no.
Go for the chocolate instead, much much much much much better. Really, it’s that much better.
Much better...

Animator.
I’ve used it on a few seasons of a cartoonish tv-series.
And as Guy wrote, there’s nothing like it.
The crashes, whistles and hits/rips/falls are great.
The prerecorded stuff is also great but limited.
Sometimes you don’t want to end on a major/minor chord but say a minormajor7 or a whole-tone cluster.
It’s not impossible to hit that prerecorded minorchord with a strong majorseven from another library, but it’s troublesome to get them to blend nicely. And it does take valuable time. Something you kind of don’t want to spend using a library like this.
Since it’s prerecorded/mixed you need to position the way Sam wants and try to find a similar voiced (as in timbre) instrument. Then melodyne the final chord and add your own flavour. At that point you feel silly you didn’t do it all from scratch...

Don’t get me wrong it’s great but you’ll get bored real fast, as I’m sure you’ll be from any prerecorded library.

I’ve asked Sam if they’d consider creating a soloist library with the same instruments as in Animator. They replied that there’s none planned but at the same time they wrote “you’ll never know...”

As inspiration Animator is great.

Best,
/Anders

[lofi]

What’s lacking in the tone?

It’s a LV library, so you need to animate the dampening of the strings.
The prerecorded glissandos are ... prerecorded.
Limited FX although the flageolets are really good.
The mic choices are close as in claustrophobicly close or Decca.
It’s kind of honkey (can be useful) and need some dynamic EQ to sound as a recorded harp.
Best,
/Anders

[Lawrence]

What’s lacking in the tone?

It’s a LV library, so you need to animate the dampening of the strings.
The prerecorded glissandos are ... prerecorded.
Limited FX although the flageolets are really good.
The mic choices are close as in claustrophobicly close or Decca.
It’s kind of honkey (can be useful) and need some dynamic EQ to sound as a recorded harp.
Best,
/Anders

I rarely use pre-recorded glisses, but are those tempo synced?

[lofi]

I rarely use pre-recorded glisses, but are those tempo synced?

I’m not in the studio, it’s been a while since I used it.
From memory I’d say no.
They are more or less random (I’m sure there’s a logic to it) and varies in tempo/dynamic/style over the keyboard.

/Anders

[Guy Rowland]

Yeah, it's quite old so not tempo sync'd.

For me I guess its mainly the tone. It's nice, but I prefer the old EW SO harp for lush orchestral stuff. This is a bit more up front, more mid, but often for that sound I find myself using one of the harps from Forest Kingdom, for the olde / fairy tale stuff. The PS harp is somewhere between the two in a way.

[Lawrence]

Thanks guys. The EWQLSO harp is still my go to! Spitfire and Cineharps keep coming up. I listened to the Chocolate but wasn’t knocked out. Oh well. I have a feeling it’s hard to go wrong with Animator.

[playz123]

What about Elysium Harp from Soundiron? It's worked well for me on many occasions. I do use the Spitfire Harp a lot as well.
https://soundiron.com/products/elysium-harp

[mcalis]

I’m thinking the Harp and Animator, which could be useful for a possible upcoming gig.

Harp is a no, no.
Go for the chocolate instead, much much much much much better. Really, it’s that much better.
Much better...

I actually prefer the SAM harp. Different stokes for different folks I suppose

[lofi]

I actually prefer the SAM harp. Different stokes for different folks I suppose

Perfect, I'm glad for you!
I really struggled with the sam harp, had it for years.
Had high hopes for the "pimped" version they released in '11/12 but it was mere a GUI update.
(I might be wrong with saying only the gui, but it sure wasn't a brand new sampled harp)

You don't find it hard to automate dampening of strings?
Or the limited glissandos... or the limited fx?

Did you compare both harps with the Sam one or "only" the concert harp?

Here's the chocolate:

The two different sets are depending on what harp you use.
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Project Sam has this to offer:

Skärmavbild 2020-08-02 kl. 19.14.41.png

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I guess at the end of the day it all depends on what you need your harp to do.
The Chocolate is $99 and gives you two different harps, the Sam is $69.

Best,

Anders

[Lawrence]

Mostly, I was interested in the basic tone of the instrument and how it fits into orchestral or chamber recordings. Does it sit nicely? Does it disappear?

[Guy Rowland]

(Larry if you have some midi I could render out a piece for you to try in situ - just PM me if you're interested).

[Piet De Ridder]

Like Mathias, I also rather like the SAM Harp. Used it on loads of things in the past and I'm sure it'll keep making appearances in future material as well.
Wouldn't want it to be my only harp library though, but if I were forced to limit myself to only one, I'd much sooner go with the SAM than with, say, Spitfire's or VSL's.
That said, I also like OT's Angelic — particularly for specific small-scale productions — which seems to indicate that Larry's and my views on what makes a good virtual harp may not have a lot of overlap ...

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[Lawrence]

...but I love me some Animator!

So well recorded...I’ve made a lot of these combos myself, but PS really has wonderful fidelity. (Bought.)

Edit-it’s easier for me to like Angelic in smaller productions, but definitely not for larger ones, not for me.

[Markus K]

Harp wise I'm totally into the chocolate one. Because of different mics which should not be confused with mic positions it's very flexible sound wise and the newer orchestral harp presets open up a lot of possibilities. For me it's miles ahead of others I've used like spitfire and vsl regarding the sound and the features. I wouldn't judge it too much on the demos.

[Ashermusic]

Harp wise I'm totally into the chocolate one. Because of different mics which should not be confused with mic positions it's very flexible sound wise and the newer orchestral harp presets open up a lot of possibilities. For me it's miles ahead of others I've used like spitfire and vsl regarding the sound and the features. I wouldn't judge it too much on the demos.

I like the Chocolate Audio Orchestral harp more than the Glissando, but they are both good. And I also like the EW Hollywood Harp. Blends really well with the rest of the Hollywood Orchestra .

[Geoff Grace]

This seems a good time to reiterate how nice it is to watch your Project SAM walkthrough videos, Guy. They're both informative and entertaining. Well done!

Best,

Geoff

[Guy Rowland]

Oh thanks very much Geoff, that's better than the self-loathing I usually experience.

[Geoff Grace]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Guy. I've seen no evidence at all that you deserve self-loathing. Of course, you probably just said this in jest, but in case this was a matter of true words being said in jest...

You know that clichéd plot device in which a character has an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other? If all you have is the "devil" on one shoulder berating you, then I think it could help to consciously practice being the "angel" with yourself. At least then, you'd have some balance. I think at the very least you deserve that.

Best,

Geoff

[bryla]

Guy, I have bought all Symphobias and Swings and every purchase has been based on several viewings of the same walkthroughs! I really enjoy all of them and have even watched them some times after purchase as well to refresh my memory of the library. I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to do more of these

[Guy Rowland]

Ahh thanks you two - I'm not fishing for compliments or reassurance, honest! It's just my general neurosis. The worst one was when I had a to dub a TV show where I was interviewed on-camera. It was genuinely one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. Not doing that again.

Anyway, enough of all that. Really glad you like Animator Larry, sometimes nothing else will do. I wouldn't mind a sequel to that, to get as many of those Scott Bradley moments as possible. Most of this at the BBC Proms is actually quite conventional, but would love those fast short strings glissis at 3'40 for example. Gawd knows how you'd attempt anything from the stretch at 5'05 though.

[Guy Rowland]

This has set me off down the YouTube rabbit hole. No video, but some unedited takes from Carl Stalling. 6'05, the sheer amount of sig and tempo changes...