Symphony Series

I'm looking at purchasing the Symphony Series String Ensemble but I can't afford the String Ensemble ($499) and want to start with the String Essentials ($199). Would I be able to upgrade to other more complete packages that would add to this in the future. I see there is pricing, regular price and crossgrade price. What is crossgrade price? It says I don't qualify for crossgrade price.

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iNate

Buy EastWest HOOPUS. It's like $218, tax-free (in the US) at Thomann (wow… forum strips links). Better Library, and you get the entire orchestra.

It's NKS Compatible.

Only one iLok activation, but that is worth dealing with for a much higher quality library that gives you everything.

Their Opus player is, surprisingly great - one of the better on the market. DAWs like Cubase and Studio One also import Articulation Maps directly from Opus, so you don't have to deal with setting that up.

If you only want the strings, then install only the strings…

Until then, just use Session Strings or the patches from Kontakt Factory Library.

Symphony Series is only worth getting when it is bundled in Komplete Ultimate or Collector's. It's not good enough to pay for on its own.

Shore

Hey @reachesfar:

There's opinions out there but I like the sound of the symphony series. However I feel that the articulation set of the essentials is very limiting. I feel that buying the series on its own as stated above, is probably not the most cost effective approach.

There are lots of different options including what @iNate mentioned above. in addition Spitfire audio has a symphony orchestra that is free as an entry point to their ecosystem.

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover

Take care

Patt

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/43017/symphony-series

I can't afford the String Ensemble ($499) and want to start with the String Essentials ($199). Would I be able to upgrade to other more complete packages that would add to this in the future.

You have to actually click respectively the Cross-grade price and the upgrade price when logged in to see the actual qualifying products (and if owning a qualifying product prices for you).

But as you can see from screenshot of pricing page below here (where I am not logged in) then if you have the SYMPHONY ESSENTIALS – STRING ENSEMBLE then that qualifies for cross-grade pricing to Essentials Collection and from Essentials Collection you can upgrade to Symphony Series Collection. As always then prices could maybe be lower at sales where/if the product goes on sale but I can not tell anything of that for sure.

Generally speaking though then pricing structure is made in a way where it will cost you the same if you e.g. add the prices of buying SYMPHONY ESSENTIALS – STRING ENSEMBLE plus cross-grade pricing to Essentials Collection and then plus upgrade to Symphony Series Collection as it would had you bought the Symphony Series Collection from the start. not more and not less , except if e.g. any of the upgrades are acquired cheaper at a sale.

Also generally speaking then the better way of saving money is to get the libraries through buying the Komplete Bundles that have the libraries that you want since this gives the greatest overall discount. E.g. then the Symphony Essentials products are in the komplete 15 Ultimate and the Symphony Series Collection is in the Komplete 15 Collectors Edition .

All comments

iNate

Buy EastWest HOOPUS. It's like $218, tax-free (in the US) at Thomann (wow… forum strips links). Better Library, and you get the entire orchestra.

It's NKS Compatible.

Only one iLok activation, but that is worth dealing with for a much higher quality library that gives you everything.

If you only want the strings, then install only the strings…

Until then, just use Session Strings or the patches from Kontakt Factory Library.

Symphony Series is only worth getting when it is bundled in Komplete Ultimate or Collector's. It's not good enough to pay for on its own.

Shore

Hey @reachesfar:

There are lots of different options including what @iNate mentioned above. in addition Spitfire audio has a symphony orchestra that is free as an entry point to their ecosystem.

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover

Take care

Patt

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/43017/symphony-series

I can't afford the String Ensemble ($499) and want to start with the String Essentials ($199). Would I be able to upgrade to other more complete packages that would add to this in the future.

You have to actually click respectively the Cross-grade price and the upgrade price when logged in to see the actual qualifying products (and if owning a qualifying product prices for you).

reachesfar

Thank you for your responses.

iNate

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/214183#Comment_214183

Many people will have better than BBCSO Discover with their DAW. Live has Spitfire. Bitwig has Orchestral Tools. Cubase has Iconica Sketch. Studio One has PreSonus Symphonic Orchestra. Kontakt Factory Library has comparable or better patches (depending on which Factory Library you have - 5/6 vs. 7/8).

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/214183#Comment_214183

Symphony Series is a baller deal … in their respective Komplete Bundles.

I think opinions of Symphony Series are relatively neutral aside from the built-in inconsistency across the sections. I think the Cremona Quartet gets more hate due to the way they have implemented Vibrato, among other things.

I do think the limited articulation slots is a bummer. Number of articulations is fine, given the target audience. I'd probably struggle to do Baroque-style music with them, though. Even the full versions are lacking in that department. It's why I use EWQLSO in my sketching template instead of Symphony Series. It has a lot more articulations, and the patches aren't limited to only 8.

I do wish Kontakt would adopt the method of exporting Expression/Articulation Maps to the DAW that Opus and Synchron use, though.

GB36

And now SS collection is 90% off during summer of sound sale!

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