Orchestral Sample Libraries: A Beginner's Guide

Your favorite work tools.

When getting into composing orchestral music, there's no way around sample libraries. No matter if you're just a hobbyist writing purely for pleasure or an aspiring film, TV, or video games composer:

You need to look into this to get realistic orchestral sounds out of your computer.

In this chapter, we'll:

• Learn what sample libraries are
• Explore how they work
• Look at the best orchestral sample libraries for beginners.

Sample libraries are exciting, and composers love talking about them. 

So, let's find out what it's all about.

What is an orchestral sample library?

In short, sample libraries are digital audio files that contain snippets (or samples) of real instruments played by professional musicians. And these audio files are programmed so you can play them with a MIDI keyboard.

The orchestral sections in Hollywood movies are often recorded at famous studios with a particularly stunning sound. You may have heard of the legendary Abbey Road studio. When watching a film with a soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, John Williams, or Ennio Morricone, you're likely listening to a real orchestra recording.

However, music in all sorts of media - from film and TV over video games to your favorite epic orchestral music playlist on Youtube - is not always recorded with a real orchestra. Instead, they used sampling technology. If you think about it, it makes sense. Not all projects have budgets to produce with a 100-piece orchestra, where the cost of each minute of finalized music is in the thousands.

And even if it has, composers usually prepare everything on the computer beforehand to save precious (and expensive) recording time.

So yes, there is no way around it.

What Is Sampling In Music?

In the context of a sample library, the term sampling refers to a process where every single note of an orchestral instrument is recorded and saved as an audio file. The goal is that you can ultimately reproduce the sound of that instrument on your computer.

Here's how it works:

A company hires the strings section of - for example - the London Symphony Orchestra with all its 30+ violin players, 12 violas, 10 cellos, and 8 double basses. Not just the instruments but the actual professional musicians.

They set them up in a recording hall with carefully adjusted microphones.

Then they start sampling: Every single possible note is played with various types of volume and playing techniques and painstakingly recorded. The players perform long notes and short accents, pluck the strings with their fingers or scratch them for spine-chilling horror effects. 

These techniques are also called articulations, one of the essential sample library terms. High-quality sample libraries have many types of articulations you can combine to reproduce a realistic sound.

These thousands of audio files are then programmed and mapped, so you can play them with a keyboard to get the sound of an accurate orchestral strings section.

This final result is the sample library that you can purchase. You can buy it directly from the sample library developer's websites or third-party resellers (e.g. Best Service). Prices reflect the vast diversity in sample libraries, ranging from 0$ freebies to 1000$ flagship libraries.

Sampler

You need sampling software to use a sample library. It crosses the bridge between the individual audio files, and you play them with your MIDI controller.

Kontakt Player (free) vs. Kontakt Full (paid)

The most popular sampling software is Kontakt by Native Instruments, which is available in free and paid versions.

With the free Kontakt Player, you can only load those sample libraries specifically developed for Kontakt Player. Kontakt Full libraries only load in a demo mode and stop working after 15 minutes.

You might ask: "Why would companies create sample libraries you can only play with the paid version of Kontakt?"

Because Native Instruments takes a significant license fee for making your sample library available to everyone. Usually, only the larger library developers can afford to pay this. Smaller devs usually develop for Kontakt Full.

For most of us, Kontakt is an annoying thing to buy. It doesn't give us that rewarding feeling of a shiny new sample library.

And yet:
I consider Kontakt Full a standard investment for every composer because it opens up a world of high-quality niche libraries by smaller developers. There are true gems (e.g. the Ethera Gold series with arguably the best vocal libraries on the market).

Other samplers

Sample library developers have also started releasing their own samplers to have more freedom on how they want to host their sample libraries.

Examples are the SINEplayer from Orchestral Tools or Spitfire Audio's sample player. Other free alternatives are Decent Sampler or Sforzando.

Kontakt is definitely the industry standard as of now.

Articulations

Long articulations

The most frequent long articulations found in sample libraries are:

Legato: Smoothly connected notes played with a single bow stroke. It's often used to play melodies with a beautiful, smooth sound.

Sustain: Long notes without the legato transitions of a single bow stroke.

Tremolo: Tremolo is a very fast repeated note with no variation in pitch. It's perfect to create tension or anticipation. Usually refers to string instruments.

Flutter tongue: Tremolo-like technique of brass and woodwind instruments repeating one note very fast.

Trills: A trill is a rapid alternation between two notes, usually either a half step or a whole step apart. Larger intervals are possible.

True Legato vs. Scripted Legato

True Legato

True legato is the most realistic-sounding type of orchestral sample library. It uses samples from real players and instruments to capture the complex nuances of actual performance. This makes it possible for true legato instruments to transition smoothly between notes without any noticeable "glitching" sounds at the point where notes change.

Scripted Legato

This legato type is created with scripting software that mimics the way real instruments play. It simulates legato transitions instead of recording them and does not produce such realistic-sounding results. It might be good enough in some situations, mainly when the instrument is not exposed in a solo line but buried in the mix.

Short articulations

The most commonly used short articulations are:

Sforzando: A note is played with accent or emphasis.

Staccato: A short note.

Staccatissimo: A very short staccato note

Spiccato: Produced by bouncing the bow off the string rather than pressing down. Sharp percussive sound.

Repetition: Very fast notes by partial tongue technique in brass and woodwinds instruments.

Pizzicato: The string is plucked with the finger for a soft percussive sound.

Articulation Switching

An instrument will likely play more than just one articulation throughout an orchestral piece. It might switch back and forth between long and short notes several times in a single melody line.

Therefore, it's also essential to switch up articulations in your virtual performances. Applying staccato to some notes and staccatissimo or spiccato to others makes an accented line of short notes sound much more convincing than relying on the same articulation.

There are 3 ways of achieving this. All 3 workflows are used among composers, and there's no right or wrong here. It's a matter of taste (and habit):

Keyswitches

Keyswitches trigger articulations with MIDI notes either played by your MIDI keyboard or programmed in the piano roll. Sample libraries with multiple articulations usually have their articulations mapped to keys in the piano's low register.

This way, you can play a melody with your right hand and trigger articulations with your left hand while playing. However, this only works if your keyboard has enough keys to reach down to the very bottom notes. Else, you'll have to program the keyswitches afterward.

Expression Maps, Sound Variations, BRSO Articulate, etc.

Some DAWs come with features that make switching articulations easier. In Cubase, it's called Expression Maps; Studio One brands it as Sound Variations. For FL Studio, there's a 3rd party plugin called BRSO Articulate.

With such articulation mapping features, you can select notes in your melody and assign them to an articulation from a drop-down list. You can even assign those articulations to a hotkey and switch them with the push of a key (or a Stream Deck button).

This is pretty convenient but also comes at a cost. You will have to set up these mappings for each of your orchestral libraries unless you purchase them separately or are lucky to find free ones made by the community.

Products like Babylon Wave's Art Conductor offer them as presets. Personally, I use this method, and it saves me a lot of time.

Separate tracks

A third thing composers do to switch between the articulations of an orchestral instrument is to distribute notes to separate tracks per articulation. This way, no articulation has to be changed. The Legato track only has legato notes, and the Staccato track only has the staccato notes, etc.

This saves you the trouble of programming keyswitches or setting up expression maps. However, the downside is that your MIDI notes are now spread up much more, making melody lines harder to edit. This method is also more taxing on your system as more instances of your sample libraries have to be loaded (one per articulation).

Experiment with these three options and see what feels most natural for you. There's no right or wrong here. The more comfortable you feel with your workflow, the faster you can write music. Time is money! :-)

Dynamic layers and Round Robins (RRs)

Sample libraries with multiple dynamic layers are recorded with several intensities ("dynamics") per note. For example, a strings library with 4 dynamic layers may have one note recorded in pianissimo, piano, forte, and fortissimo. You can blend through all of these layers seamlessly with the mod wheel.

Make sure that your sample libraries come with multiple dynamic layers, so you can phrase your melodies more expressively and ultimately more realistically.

Round Robins

Round-robin samples are another feature of orchestral sample libraries that allows you to get even more natural-sounding results when working in your DAW.

A library has round robins when multiple takes of the same note are recorded. So that when you play the same note multiple times (especially in drums), you don't hear the same sample over and over again. Instead, you hear numerous variations of the same notes. This allows these samples to sound like they are being performed by real musicians with tiny sound inconsistencies.

Without round robins, each note sounds 100% the same. Playing the exact same sample several times in rapid succession sounds robotic. This is called the "machine gun effect" and libraries with round robins prevent this effect from happening.

Microphone positions

An orchestra's sound depends on many factors, including the hall, the instruments, and the musicians. As a result, the same orchestra can sound very different when recorded in different venues or with different equipment.

To give composers more tools to shape their sound, orchestral sample libraries come in multiple microphone positions. The most common are close, mid, and far. This allows you to mix the sounds together to get a more realistic mix of instruments playing at once.

Mic positions significantly affect a sample library's file size. An infamous example is Spitfire Audio's BBCSO Pro with 20 different mic positions at over 600GBs.

The reason for a library having multiple mic positions is that there are subtle differences in the sound of each of these positions. They can be used by a composer to go for a specific sound.

Usually, libraries come with some form of close mic, a far mic, and a balanced mix.

As a rule of thumb, close mic positions add more proximity and "attack" to the sound, while far or room mics add distance and "blurriness."

Mic positions are handy: By balancing mic positions, you can move instruments to the front and back of your virtual space.

However, if you're just starting out, I recommend you to go with the default mix first. Most orchestral libraries are recorded in situ with their original seating and, therefore, already well-balanced.

For now, don't get lost in the details! :)

There's always time to experiment with mic position adjustments once you are more familiar with all the steps of producing orchestral music.

Best paid sample libraries for beginners

"What is the best orchestral sample library?" is the most frequently asked question in every composer community.

Ironically, mostly asked by beginners. And for a reason! Aspiring music producers don't want to go down the wrong route with purchase decisions they might regret later. Sample libraries are expensive.

In response to that question, every experienced composer will tell you that it depends on what you are looking for. And that your skillset is what matters more. Professional composers make better-sounding tracks with 20-year-old samples than intermediates with the latest technology.

Let's look at some sample libraries that can help you get started with orchestral music.

I bought several orchestral sample libraries early in my composer journey, which were invaluable to me. Here is what worked well for me, but your needs may differ, so it's best to do your own research before making purchases.

These libraries will be able to give you everything you need from a cinematic orchestra. From elusive and dreamy all the way up to epic and punchy, everything is possible.

This is my personal subjective list and is documentation of what worked well for ME. You may have different needs and preferences, and it's best to do your own research before buying libraries. There are fantastic valid options by other developers, too. I will also name alternatives for each section that might work very well. 

You've been warned.

All-in-one orchestra

When I started my composer journey, I didn't know what style of orchestral music I would be doing. So, I wanted a modern sound that matched today's movie or video game production standards yet still offered enough versatility to explore more traditional orchestras. 

I needed to cover as much ground as possible, and an all-in-one orchestral library was the best solution to get started. 

First, I looked at Spitfire Audio Albion One because it was popular. Ultimately decided against it because I wanted control over each section in an orchestra. 

As a beginner in composing, I liked the freedom to apply what I learned about orchestration and instrumentation in my work. Not having complete control over section sizes would have limited this learning experience. 

Then just as I was researching, the perfect match for me was released: Nucleus by Audio Imperia.

Nucleus has an impressive range of content and full section control over strings, brass and woodwinds, basic orchestral percussion, a choir, and a few capable solo instruments. 

There's even some cinematic sound design! It's all I needed to get started and more. A huge plus is its resource-friendliness. Nucleus runs well, even on most laptops. 

Two mix options for a modern (processed) and a more traditional sound are an excellent bonus for allowing me to experiment with both traditional and hybrid orchestral styles. 

One alternative to Nucleus would be Spitfire's BBC Symphony Orchestra Core. It captures a beautiful symphonic sound and offers complete section control with many articulations at a similar price point. 

Orchestral Tools Berlin Inspire serves a similar purpose. However, it offers less flexibility with the sections, using group patches like high and low strings. Compared to Nucleus, BBCSO and Berlin Inspire lean more towards the classical orchestral sound.

All-in-one orchestras like Nucleus and BBCSO Core are perfect for getting you started.

For cheaper options, Nucleus LITE and BBCSO Discover (FREE!) are great entry points into the orchestral range for a low price. Plus, they offer reasonable upgrade paths as your budget increases.

You're already well-equipped to write high-quality orchestral music if you grab one of the flagship all-in-one orchestras. Learn your tools well, and you'll be able to write entire symphonies with Nucleus or BBC Symphony Orchestra alone. But let's go one step further and look at sample libraries for the dedicated instrument sections like strings, brass, woodwinds, etc.

Strings

After using Nucleus for a while, I wanted to enhance my favorite section—the strings. Everyone was talking about Cinematic Studio Strings at the time because it was new. After weeks of learning how to use it properly, I also started liking what I heard. Years later, that legato is still one of my go-to patches when composing strings arrangements in my orchestral tracks. 

The beautiful, romantic tone is consistent across all articulations and patches. Suppose you're using other Cinematic Studio Series products as well. In that case, there's beautiful connectivity between your different libraries.

Pacific Ensemble Strings by Performance Samples is another great pick if you're looking for a large, symphonic sound with fantastic playability.

Percussion

I love my All-in-one orchestra Nucleus, but the variety of percussion instruments was limited. I wanted to write some epic stuff with taiko and tom ensembles, big bass drums, and energizing high percussion. When Damage 2 by Heavyocity came out—just when I felt ready for it—it was a no-brainer recommendation for the first versatile flagship percussion library.

Damage 2 contains a wide variety of organic and world percussion instruments as well as epic cinematic drums with hybrid and industrial processing. I would recommend it as the first choice for a flagship percussion library.

If you're looking for something less expensive but still extraordinary, I'd recommend Strezov Sampling's Percussion Essentials X3M. It's a compilation of Strezov's whole percussion range, from orchestral to ethnic to cinematic percussion (I reviewed it here). I've also heard good things about Hans Zimmer Percussion if you want that big cinematic sound.

Choir

In the beginning, Nucleus is a great way to familiarize yourself with your choir section. But it's hard to beat Strezov's Choir Essentials for that price. It's a straightforward choir collection that gives you the basics you need at an incredibly affordable price. With true polyphonic legato for men and women, short syllables, a children's choir, and an energetic ensemble performance patch, Choir Essentials is popular among beginners. And you can get it for close to 100$ on sale. Check my video overview to hear it in action.

Suppose a traditional separation into Soprano, Tenor, Alto, and Bass (SATB) patches is not a strict necessity for you. In that case, Chorus by Audio Imperia is a fantastic workhorse. It might be the only bread-and-butter choir library you'll need (I made a video). 

Brass

Here's a great all-rounder: Cinematic Studio Brass. The concept of CSB is similar to that of the Cinematic Studio Strings: a versatile bread-and-butter library with a consistent sound, gorgeous legato, and all the necessary articulations in medium section size. Picking Cinematic Studio Brass was an easy decision for me at that time. To this day, it's an absolute staple in my orchestral template.

Cinebrass by Cinesamples is a popular alternative to Cinematic Studio Brass if you're looking for a brighter, more Hollywood-style brass sound. A real heavy-hitter both in price and quality is Tom Holkenborg's Brass by Orchestral Tools.

Woodwinds

I didn't get into using dedicated woodwind samples for quite a while. I was delighted with the Nucleus winds as they served me well and started my orchestral writing journey. However, once I began using other libraries like Cinematic Studio Woodwinds, I achieved a more robust sound in terms of versatility and character.

Free and low-budget orchestral sample libraries

Plenty of options are available even if you're a composer on a tight budget. This paragraph will present some of the best free and low-cost orchestral sample libraries.

Spitfire LABS

Spitfire Audio is well known for its high-quality sample libraries. LABS is Spitfire's ongoing series of completely free instruments. LABS contains a bit of everything, including orchestral instruments, synths, ambient and experimental textures, and folk and world instruments. There's some funky stuff in it!

Spitfire Originals

Spitfire Audio also offers an Originals series as a step-up from the free LABS. Originals are priced at £29 / 29€ / $29 and provide greater detail and better functionality than the free instruments. They refer to themselves as essential cinematic ingredients and come at a very affordable price.

Orchestral Tools SINEfactory

After releasing their own sampler SINE, Orchestral Tools established an ongoing stream of high-quality freebies called SINEfactory. These include a church organ, studio percussion, strings and woodwinds instruments, a ukulele, and many more :) Same story here as with LABS: You don't need any external sampler like Kontakt. The instruments all run within SINE, which is free.

Heavyocity Foundations

A little while ago, Heavyocity started a Foundations series of freebies that make you feel like you're playing a paid product. These run in the free Kontakt Player and combine organic instruments like a piano, a strings section, or a nylon guitar with their signature cinematic sound design. All in a highly polished user interface. All for free.

Performance Samples Freebies

 Performance Samples has several free libraries in their catalog that make you wonder, "WHY don't they sell them for money?!". They're just so good. Performance Samples' freebies primarily include strings instruments like a solo violin and solo cello but also ensemble patches. Some of these samples simply haven't made it into a final product because they were re-recorded at some point. Others are limited (but useful!) demo patches of their flagship libraries.

Conclusion

Even though I believe each of the library picks in this chapter can become an invaluable tool for your own composer journey, know that the modern-day composer has a massive palette to choose from.

Do your own research.

Don't rely on me or anyone else to tell you what's good and bad. Get out there and listen to as many libraries as you can. Check out demos and watch YouTube videos. And be aware that Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) can seriously impact your mental health and wallet.

The free and budget libraries I listed are perfect for building your sound palette and finding some true gems out there. They probably won't replace a comprehensive all-in-one orchestra or a professional section library, as they focus more on one specific function.

But I can confidently say that these freebie series are all worth looking into and will significantly boost your selection of music production tools.

Now that you understand the basics of articulations, dynamic layers, round robins, and mic positions, you know what to look for.

Find the libraries that speak to you, and those are the ones you should buy.

Learn more