Here's what I wrote three years ago —
to the day, in fact — about the Ircam Solo Instruments:
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Strange little library. Me, I really like it, but I doubt that many others ― accustomed to (and expecting) the sampling depths and programming sophistication of many of today’s libraries ― will. This IRCAM package, you see, offers none of those luxuries. There’s hardly any velocity switching, no round-robins, no legato of any kind, no release samples, no continuous controller programming (except volume), no performance scripts, most of it sounds very mono-ish … In fact, if I were told this was a product of the dark and, in sampling terms, barbaric nineties ― some old Akai- or EMU-library or something ―, I’d have no difficulty believing it.
So, why do I like it, then? Well, the sound. That unfashionable, quaint, one-dimensional sound. This thing doesn’t sound very high-end or anything, but it’s got a certain authentic, unpretentious, spartan, almost home-recording type of quality and liveliness to it, which I happen to really like.
Might seem a bit strange to use these terms to describe an IRCAM-effort, this being the institute where the sonic universe is being scientifically explored with state-of-the-art equipment, but that’s what this particular library sounds like to me anyway: someone inviting a few musician friends over for an impromptu, jolly and somewhat chaotic sampling session in the living room. The results are very uneven, there’s very little consistency in the amount and length of what was sampled, but you get something which you rarely hear in other sample libraries: a certain carefree spontaneity. Something French perhaps. Which I find quite irresistible.
The reason I like this sound, is because it’s not entirely dissimilar to the sound of the Columbia recordings of the 60’s. A sound which I really love and which can be heard at its best in the wonderful registrations of Stravinsky’s chamber music, conducted by the composer with the Columbia Jazz Orchestra featuring Benny Goodman and Israel Baker.
I suppose this is not a sound that is going to make all that big an impression on today’s ears ― spoiled (or ruined?) as many of us are by today’s artificially enhanced digital hyperrealism ― but I happen to really like it. And the IRCAM has something of that as well: there’s a slightly raw, unpolished, retro-ish, almost analog colour in these recordings.
In short: ignore what’s written on the product page: “If you're looking for your first high quality solo instrument library or are looking to add a choice collection, IRCAM Solo Instruments offers a unique and comprehensive soundset unrivaled in quality.” None of that is true. The only word that rings true in that entire sentence is “unique”.
My verdict would be: if you’re looking for a comprehensive collection of professionaly sampled solo instruments that don’t sound out of place when put in amongst today’s orchestral libraries, look elsewhere. You won’t find any of that here. Also: if you’re thinking ‘wide-screen cinematic’, there’s nothing much of interest here either (except some fx articulations). This set could easily win a gold medal for being the most un-cinematic sample library in existence.
If, however, you like a slightly off-beat, un-trendy type of sound, and you don’t mind fiddling with sparsely, inconsistently and, let’s not deny it, fairly amateuristically sampled instruments, this IRCAM set holds plenty of very nice surprises.
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