The Sound Board

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 11:06 am

soundbylaura wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 11:04 am

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 10:59 am

soundbylaura wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 10:55 am

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 21, 2021 1:59 pm

Yes.

Is it possible to download the Opus engine without buying a new instrument/bundle? I looked around the website a bit and couldn't find any download links.

I don't think so.

Duh, I remembered the EW Installation Center software and it's in there. Downloading now, we shall see what happens.

Oh, good, that surprises me pleasantly.

So far it

(1) Gives a 403 Connection Failed error when trying to download part of it in the Installation Center
(2) Asks for an iLok activation and when I click on "purchase a license for EW Opus" it takes me to the generic EW support page, where there is no info on buying an Opus engine license
(3) Throws a small error when opening Pro Tools, saying it's not a valid 64 bit AAX plugin (which may be related to the above).

So no joy so far. Not in a rush, though, will keep at it.

soundbylaura wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 11:04 am

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 10:59 am

soundbylaura wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 10:55 am

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 21, 2021 1:59 pm

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Apr 21, 2021 1:18 pm OK, thanks - but you don't actually require it, Opus will run all the old stuff too?

Yes.

Is it possible to download the Opus engine without buying a new instrument/bundle? I looked around the website a bit and couldn't find any download links.

I don't think so.

Duh, I remembered the EW Installation Center software and it's in there. Downloading now, we shall see what happens.

I recall seeing a post from someone at VI control who did just that and discovered that in the absence of the full opus license it wouldn’t run

Brett wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 6:26 pm

soundbylaura wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 11:04 am

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 10:59 am

soundbylaura wrote: ↑Apr 22, 2021 10:55 am

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 21, 2021 1:59 pm

Yes.

Is it possible to download the Opus engine without buying a new instrument/bundle? I looked around the website a bit and couldn't find any download links.

I don't think so.

Duh, I remembered the EW Installation Center software and it's in there. Downloading now, we shall see what happens.

I recall seeing a post from someone at VI control who did just that and discovered that in the absence of the full opus license it wouldn’t run

This is really annoying. I had the option to download and instal the Opus software in the EW Installation Centre, which I did. Now every time I open Logic it asks me to activate/licence the software, which obviously I can't (don't have the Hollywood library). How does one uninstall Opus? Can't see an option anywhere.

Before I write what I am about to write, let me remind everybody that EW fired me as their Online Coordinator a few years ago, so I have no financial reasons to shill for them. Yes, they have given me many of their products for free, but so has Cinematic Studios, Strezov, Fluffy Audio, Kirk Hunter, and lots of others.

I have to say, Opus is such a massive improvement over Play that it is worth the upgrade price alone, even if there was no new content, which of course, there is, a lot of it very improved and good. The ease of building key switches in Opus and corresponding Logic Pro Articulation Sets is terrific. Auditioning and searching for sounds across libraries is now easy, as is creating favorites,

Although I will probably not use Hollywood Orchestrator much, because I am not under tight deadlines these days and am a roll my own kinda guy, it is very impressive and pretty damn easy to use and customize.

And I have yet to hear a collection that to my ears overall sounds better than the Hollywood Orchestra, but that is of course, my subjective opinion. Different? Sure. Another, more to any given persons' taste? Sure, More Chamber sized? Yes.

So I am not saying "must have" or "all you ever need." But what I AM saying is "highly recommended."

There are some basic red lines for a sampler, things like not blasting your ears, not crashing VEPro, not irretrievably corrupting your project files etc.

so the negative reception of OPUS is pretty fair IMO since those reported white noise blasts are SCARY. Instant dealbreaker for me, no matter how rare or non reproducible. I won't risk my ears - had too many similar blasts with the early 2010s versions of PLAY, (although they were partially my fault for running overburdened templates).


It does seem that OPUS has some nice features like DFD, but ... I'll wait for the "PLAY 5" of OPUS, thanks....

the Orchestrator is a huge deal, esp the ability to program your own presets. I think it really makes HWO competitive for busy composers in a way that HWO might not be able to compete on the pound for pound sound alone. When your choices are THIS, or Symphobia 2... I can see a lot of working composers paying the $1k for this.

The ability to functionally "Demo" their libraries for just $30 has always been their strongest point. I don't think it makes much sense to do movie or TV projects on ComposerCloud though. Just buy the libraries and avoid the hassle of broken cues later... (Speaking from experience having used CC on season 1 of a tv show...)

NoamL wrote: ↑Apr 23, 2021 4:28 pm There are some basic red lines for a sampler, things like not blasting your ears, not crashing VEPro, not irretrievably corrupting your project files etc.

so the negative reception of OPUS is pretty fair IMO since those reported white noise blasts are SCARY. Instant dealbreaker for me, no matter how rare or non reproducible. I won't risk my ears - had too many similar blasts with the early 2010s versions of PLAY, (although they were partially my fault for running overburdened templates).


It does seem that OPUS has some nice features like DFD, but ... I'll wait for the "PLAY 5" of OPUS, thanks....

the Orchestrator is a huge deal, esp the ability to program your own presets. I think it really makes HWO competitive for busy composers in a way that HWO might not be able to compete on the pound for pound sound alone. When your choices are THIS, or Symphobia 2... I can see a lot of working composers paying the $1k for this.

The ability to functionally "Demo" their libraries for just $30 has always been their strongest point. I don't think it makes much sense to do movie or TV projects on ComposerCloud though. Just buy the libraries and avoid the hassle of broken cues later... (Speaking from experience having used CC on season 1 of a tv show...)

The sound blast has not happened here, not even once. As for crashing VE Pro, Kontakt 6 does that often here

(I'd seen the multiple white noise blast reports - just my semi-regular plug for Nugen Sigmod, it's cheap and cuts in on any loud sound, saving your ears, speakers and sanity. I always keep it on my master, you never know when some spurious thing is going to hurl something horrible at you).

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Apr 23, 2021 6:57 pm (I'd seen the multiple white noise blast reports - just my semi-regular plug for Nugen Sigmod, it's cheap and cuts in on any loud sound, saving your ears, speakers and sanity. I always keep it on my master, you never know when some spurious thing is going to hurl something horrible at you).

That make a lot of sense. I put it on my "to buy" list. Thanks, Guy!

Best,

Geoff

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Apr 23, 2021 12:32 pm Before I write what I am about to write, let me remind everybody that EW fired me as their Online Coordinator a few years ago, so I have no financial reasons to shill for them. Yes, they have given me many of their products for free, but so has Cinematic Studios, Strezov, Fluffy Audio, Kirk Hunter, and lots of others.

I have to say, Opus is such a massive improvement over Play that it is worth the upgrade price alone, even if there was no new content, which of course, there is, a lot of it very improved and good. The ease of building key switches in Opus and corresponding Logic Pro Articulation Sets is terrific. Auditioning and searching for sounds across libraries is now easy, as is creating favorites,

Although I will probably not use Hollywood Orchestrator much, because I am not under tight deadlines these days and am a roll my own kinda guy, it is very impressive and pretty damn easy to use and customize.

And I have yet to hear a collection that to my ears overall sounds better than the Hollywood Orchestra, but that is of course, my subjective opinion. Different? Sure. Another, more to any given persons' taste? Sure, More Chamber sized? Yes.

So I am not saying "must have" or "all you ever need." But what I AM saying is "highly recommended."

As I wrote elsewhere, I think it looks promising; but I've decided I'm going to wait for more reports from early adopters before I upgrade.

I especially look forward to feedback from users who meet the minimum requirements, but not the recommended specs of eight cores, running at 2.7 GHz (or above) and an NVMe SSD.

I think you're in that group, Jay. Are you running it on a (six-core) Mac mini with 64 GB RAM? Are you using an NVMe SSD?

Best,

Geoff

Yes Geoff, that’s the machine I am using, streaming from a regular SSD. Obviously I cannot run as large a template as I could when I had a slave PC but I haven’t needed to because nobody hires me to do huge orchestral reproduction. If someone did, I would have to get a second machine again or be content to freeze tracks, which I have not done in years.

Thanks, Jay. That's very helpful!

Best,

Geoff

NoamL wrote: ↑Apr 23, 2021 4:28 pm There are some basic red lines for a sampler, things like not blasting your ears, not crashing VEPro, not irretrievably corrupting your project files etc.

so the negative reception of OPUS is pretty fair IMO since those reported white noise blasts are SCARY. Instant dealbreaker for me, no matter how rare or non reproducible. I won't risk my ears - had too many similar blasts with the early 2010s versions of PLAY, (although they were partially my fault for running overburdened templates).

100% agreed. White noises blasts are a big, big no, no. Even if it happens only in 0.01% cases - the idea that it could happen is enough not to use OPUS. My workaround is to put Ice9 on my output (on the monitoring, using Cubase's control room). This does mean I had to pull my overall mix down a tad so I don't accidentally trigger the automuter on a big crescendo, but to me it's worth it having the insurance. When a sound blast happens, Ice9 triggers incredibly fast and it saved me a couple of times already when I had either kontakt or cubase creating static noise blasts (it's been a while, I don't remember the exact conditions that caused it).

NoamL wrote: ↑Apr 23, 2021 4:28 pm the Orchestrator is a huge deal, esp the ability to program your own presets. I think it really makes HWO competitive for busy composers in a way that HWO might not be able to compete on the pound for pound sound alone. When your choices are THIS, or Symphobia 2... I can see a lot of working composers paying the $1k for this.

Funnily enough the orchestrator is the part I was least interested in. I haven't even bothered to install it yet. I probably should since opinions seem to be quite positive about it, but at the moment I can't be bothered. Maybe there is some vanity/pride thing going on and I'm secretly an old, very grumpy composer on the inside sticking to the "old" ways... but time will tell.

---

My own experience with OPUS has left me in two minds. I'm not particularly amazed by the new samples. They're decent, and that's about all that I can say about them at this juncture. The orchestrator largely leaves me cold, so what exactly did I just throw $495 at?

Well, I do sincerely notice lots of improvements in the programming, which is great. Really, there are only two things holding me back from using OPUS more and those are:

- The surround mic also loading in the "classic" mood. I just want the main mic. I already found a workaround for this by editing the .preset files, but I'll need to apply it to loads of files and have as of yet not gathered the will to write a script to make that happen.
- OPUS seems significantly more RAM hungry, even if the classic mood is reduced to just one mic. I have a strong hunch that there's some double loading going on and I'll wait for a couple updates to come around.

For anyone wondering why I didn't get CC. I've had it in the past, it's great, but I simply prefer to own permanent licenses when I can afford to.

Appreciate your thoughts Matthias, and you Jay also.

It seems to me as if East West in general have stepped up. Many of us remember their extreme defensiveness when Play was young and horrendous, and how off-putting that was. I'm really impressed by so many of the positive things that have happened since then, and Opus looks like it has loads of great things going for it. I'm going to be watching the next few months carefully to see how they respond to their existing issues.

Just noticed there's a half price sale on at East West (surpriiiiise!) but now they are including Opus on any product (except the Orchestra). Don't think there's anything I want / need to pick up, but might be worth knowing for some here.

http://www.soundsonline.com/memorial-day-sale

Hi,

How are OPUS Orchestra users liking it so far ?

I just purchased the upgrade from HO-Diamond which I rarely used, to OPUS orchestra. for $295 which is their current upgrade discount price, and look forward to download this beast of a library. I had deleted all of HO-Diamond from my system for quite a while, since I wasn't using it.

Watching the OPUS Orch. Videos, and the OPUS engine, I'm delighted to see so much has improved when comparing it to PLAY.

Thanks,
Muziksculp

Muziksculp wrote: ↑Sep 18, 2021 9:19 pm Hi,

How are OPUS Orchestra users liking it so far ?

I just purchased the upgrade from HO-Diamond which I rarely used, to OPUS orchestra. for $295 which is their current upgrade discount price, and look forward to download this beast of a library. I had deleted all of HO-Diamond from my system for quite a while, since I wasn't using it.

Watching the OPUS Orch. Videos, and the OPUS engine, I'm delighted to see so much has improved when comparing it to PLAY.

Thanks,
Muziksculp

I can quibble with some of the implementation and I likely will never use the Orchestrator, but it definitely is a significant improvement.

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Sep 18, 2021 9:37 pm

Muziksculp wrote: ↑Sep 18, 2021 9:19 pm Hi,

How are OPUS Orchestra users liking it so far ?

I just purchased the upgrade from HO-Diamond which I rarely used, to OPUS orchestra. for $295 which is their current upgrade discount price, and look forward to download this beast of a library. I had deleted all of HO-Diamond from my system for quite a while, since I wasn't using it.

Watching the OPUS Orch. Videos, and the OPUS engine, I'm delighted to see so much has improved when comparing it to PLAY.

Thanks,
Muziksculp

I can quibble with some of the implementation and I likely will never use the Orchestrator, but it definitely is a significant improvement.

Hi @Ashermusic,

Thanks for the feedback .

Yeah.. I doubt I will ever bother with the Orchestrator. But I'm surely looking forward to have OPUS Orchestra, with all its improvements work for me

Cheers,
Muziksulp

The biggest advantage of OPUS that I've noticed is that projects load faster. Play is just way slow with loading instruments in comparison. There are certainly also improvements in patches, and the expansions are nice, but the loading speed is a more noticeable gain.

There are things that annoy me though. Switching to the MIX page isn't as snappy as it should be and on the whole I find I'm taking slightly longer to configure patches then in PLAY, primarily because I always have to disable the preview sound for every OPUS instance (because I don't want previews playing) and I have to hit the "add" button which is over to the left instead of below the patch list. In Play 5 and lower I could load a new patch by double-clicking, this then changed in Play 6 where double-clicking a patch replaced the currently selected one. It's a minor UX annoyance, but for someone that uses these instruments extensively all the extra clicking does add up...

I'm also warming more and more to the new instruments, particularly the new trombones and wind sections.

As for the orchestrator, I don't care about it.

mcalis wrote: ↑Sep 18, 2021 11:27 pm The biggest advantage of OPUS that I've noticed is that projects load faster. Play is just way slow with loading instruments in comparison. There are certainly also improvements in patches, and the expansions are nice, but the loading speed is a more noticeable gain.

There are things that annoy me though. Switching to the MIX page isn't as snappy as it should be and on the whole I find I'm taking slightly longer to configure patches then in PLAY, primarily because I always have to disable the preview sound for every OPUS instance (because I don't want previews playing) and I have to hit the "add" button which is over to the left instead of below the patch list. In Play 5 and lower I could load a new patch by double-clicking, this then changed in Play 6 where double-clicking a patch replaced the currently selected one. It's a minor UX annoyance, but for someone that uses these instruments extensively all the extra clicking does add up...

I'm also warming more and more to the new instruments, particularly the new trombones and wind sections.

As for the orchestrator, I don't care about it.

Hi @mcalis,

Thanks for the helpful feedback.

I received an email about the EW sale this morning, and once again I had to take a look-see, but also once again I decided to pass. I've heard some absolutely brilliant things done with various EW libraries. I own, and use, Ghostwriter (not as often now that I bought a bari guitar<G>). So it isn't a bias against EW, more that I can't create brilliant works with the libraries I own, and others can, so clearly it is not for lack of tools. When I reach the point where I need another library I will once again consider it.

Hi,

Anyone know if EW SD3 works in the new OPUS Player ?

Thanks.

Muziksculp wrote: ↑Sep 19, 2021 3:30 pm Hi,

Anyone know if EW SD3 works in the new OPUS Player ?

Thanks.

Yes, it does.

Ashermusic wrote: ↑Sep 19, 2021 4:00 pm

Muziksculp wrote: ↑Sep 19, 2021 3:30 pm Hi,

Anyone know if EW SD3 works in the new OPUS Player ?

Thanks.

Yes, it does.

OK.. That's great to know.

Thanks again