Hi! I'm a composer for TV and films. I'm between buying an OASYS (or maybe an M3) and the Complete Composers Collection from EastWest/Quantum Leap - also called "CCC"- (www.soundsonline.com) I would like to hear from you (Oasys users) how convincing are orchestral sounds on the Oasys/M3.
Should I buy an Oasys/M3? Or should I better buy the CCC to have a more professional final product since they are real recordings/samples?
Thank you!
OASYS or Virtual Instruments ???
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Kevin Nolan
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A difficult question to answer. There are many issues that only you can answer:
- Range of 'genres' you compose for TV and Film
- Do you compose mockups that are then recorded live with orchestra?
- Are you looking for extremely realistic sample based orchestral pieces?
and so on.
- East West Platinum Pro XP is probably the 2nd most sophisticated orchestral library commercially available after Vienna. Hence, with proper use, it will be far superior to the OASYS in this regard. This is NOT necessarily true of East West Gold – both of which I own.
- The OASYS has formidable orchestral sounds; and is VASTLY superior to any other workstation. For example, it can house the EXS3 Wind and Brass library; and there's the KARO Philharmonic Strings library; both of which must be purchased separately. But these, combined with OASYS's already formidable internal orchestral sounds - and critically - with extremely capable programming - makes for a very, very impressive instrument in the orchestral department. Indeed, the programming expertise put into the hundreds of available programs makes up many of its comparable (to Eastwest and Vienna) shortcoming in available articulations. Take this point seriously - the programming is extremely clever and sophisticated – for example in the effect of velocity on the attack of strings, the use of the vector joystick to vary the thickness of strings from solo to ensemble sounds, use of aftertouch, switching between arco and pizz. and so on make the OASYS extremely expressive. It really is very, very good. But of course to have it sound orchestrally 'realistic' will require a lot of time and effort to play and record (but that’s true of the dedicated sample libraries too).
- Of course the OASYS has many other stunning features such as its various other synthesizer engines, excellent 500MB grand piano and so on that make it the most versatile and truly professional workstation on the market. It's utterly professional in sound, depth and breadth.
- That said, if you are specifically after orchestral sounds exclusively for TV and Film composing; the OASYS may not be for you. Remember - speed and efficiency of work flow is important in such tight deadline work and the OASYS, as all synthesizers and workstations I know of, suffers from shortcomings for such work - limited program locations and a crude file system; both of which mean that organising the many variations of sounds and templates that arise when working rapidly on a TV project can easily get lost, or can be awkward to name, save, find, use and backup. I have found this with the OASYS, as with all other synthesizers; and it is one of the areas I wish Korg would have improved upon with OASYS through it’s various OS updates. I used the OASYS on several TV jobs and it was a pain to organise the many drum kits, Karma GE's and so on which I used. In TV work, a pure computer based system is the way to go as you have the sophistication of endless program locations within plugins, ability to assign lengthy names s with context, infinite file space, proper file systems, integration into DAWs and so on. On the other hand (!), the finished product has been stunning. The OASYS work flow was frustrating, but it is sounds fabulous. And here I mean - when you're looking for a finished sound 2nd to none, it takes a lot of work so the OASYS is a double edged sword - it delivers in the sound department, but it does not help when editing many variations along the way and needing to save them all.
So although I absolutely adore the OASYS and find it to be extremely important to my setup (to the extent that I will probably buy a 2nd one for long term reasons), for fast TV work it’s not the best because of its limited program space and quite crude file system. It does not suit rapid turnaround media work where time is tight.
But - it sounds stunning. There isn't a better sound creation device in existence. That’s its draw. But for you I suspect it’s not what you’re after. It’s more for pure music composing, experimental wok, live work across a staggering range of music genres and so on. It’s powerful and magnificent, but it needs Operating System improvements to be suitable for rapid turnaround media work where you need clear, integrated yet open-ended work-flow and work environment.
The M3, though a very nice imstrument, is nowhere near in the same league as the OASYS. It can sound very nice but when needing true depth, the OASYS is in a completely different league.
Kevin.
- Range of 'genres' you compose for TV and Film
- Do you compose mockups that are then recorded live with orchestra?
- Are you looking for extremely realistic sample based orchestral pieces?
and so on.
- East West Platinum Pro XP is probably the 2nd most sophisticated orchestral library commercially available after Vienna. Hence, with proper use, it will be far superior to the OASYS in this regard. This is NOT necessarily true of East West Gold – both of which I own.
- The OASYS has formidable orchestral sounds; and is VASTLY superior to any other workstation. For example, it can house the EXS3 Wind and Brass library; and there's the KARO Philharmonic Strings library; both of which must be purchased separately. But these, combined with OASYS's already formidable internal orchestral sounds - and critically - with extremely capable programming - makes for a very, very impressive instrument in the orchestral department. Indeed, the programming expertise put into the hundreds of available programs makes up many of its comparable (to Eastwest and Vienna) shortcoming in available articulations. Take this point seriously - the programming is extremely clever and sophisticated – for example in the effect of velocity on the attack of strings, the use of the vector joystick to vary the thickness of strings from solo to ensemble sounds, use of aftertouch, switching between arco and pizz. and so on make the OASYS extremely expressive. It really is very, very good. But of course to have it sound orchestrally 'realistic' will require a lot of time and effort to play and record (but that’s true of the dedicated sample libraries too).
- Of course the OASYS has many other stunning features such as its various other synthesizer engines, excellent 500MB grand piano and so on that make it the most versatile and truly professional workstation on the market. It's utterly professional in sound, depth and breadth.
- That said, if you are specifically after orchestral sounds exclusively for TV and Film composing; the OASYS may not be for you. Remember - speed and efficiency of work flow is important in such tight deadline work and the OASYS, as all synthesizers and workstations I know of, suffers from shortcomings for such work - limited program locations and a crude file system; both of which mean that organising the many variations of sounds and templates that arise when working rapidly on a TV project can easily get lost, or can be awkward to name, save, find, use and backup. I have found this with the OASYS, as with all other synthesizers; and it is one of the areas I wish Korg would have improved upon with OASYS through it’s various OS updates. I used the OASYS on several TV jobs and it was a pain to organise the many drum kits, Karma GE's and so on which I used. In TV work, a pure computer based system is the way to go as you have the sophistication of endless program locations within plugins, ability to assign lengthy names s with context, infinite file space, proper file systems, integration into DAWs and so on. On the other hand (!), the finished product has been stunning. The OASYS work flow was frustrating, but it is sounds fabulous. And here I mean - when you're looking for a finished sound 2nd to none, it takes a lot of work so the OASYS is a double edged sword - it delivers in the sound department, but it does not help when editing many variations along the way and needing to save them all.
So although I absolutely adore the OASYS and find it to be extremely important to my setup (to the extent that I will probably buy a 2nd one for long term reasons), for fast TV work it’s not the best because of its limited program space and quite crude file system. It does not suit rapid turnaround media work where time is tight.
But - it sounds stunning. There isn't a better sound creation device in existence. That’s its draw. But for you I suspect it’s not what you’re after. It’s more for pure music composing, experimental wok, live work across a staggering range of music genres and so on. It’s powerful and magnificent, but it needs Operating System improvements to be suitable for rapid turnaround media work where you need clear, integrated yet open-ended work-flow and work environment.
The M3, though a very nice imstrument, is nowhere near in the same league as the OASYS. It can sound very nice but when needing true depth, the OASYS is in a completely different league.
Kevin.
Iwould say one thing that is interesting though as I've been finding out in the karma forums is that you can ues ESC to basically port a VST into the Oasys and get marvelous samples into the Oasys and fine tune them with the incredible filters and hardware the Oasys has. It's amazing.I will never stop learning from this instrument.
I could never get ESC to work with EastWest/Quantum Leap.franzlp wrote:Iwould say one thing that is interesting though as I've been finding out in the karma forums is that you can ues ESC to basically port a VST into the Oasys and get marvelous samples into the Oasys and fine tune them with the incredible filters and hardware the Oasys has. It's amazing.I will never stop learning from this instrument.
It won't open the source files obviously because they are protected, but it would run it as a VSTi either.
Have you seen different ?
Regards
Sharp.
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Mike Conway
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- Posts: 2485
- Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:44 pm
- Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
I'm not going to diss VSTs, because East/West and some others have awesome samples in quantity.
All I can do is link to examples (sorry for re-posting) that I have done on the OASYS.
I scored this trailer with nothing but the OASYS:
EXILE.
Note: I also use Karo Philharmonic String samples, mixed about 50/50 with OASYS factory strings.
ORCHESTRAL song,
STRINGS
All I can do is link to examples (sorry for re-posting) that I have done on the OASYS.
I scored this trailer with nothing but the OASYS:
EXILE.
Note: I also use Karo Philharmonic String samples, mixed about 50/50 with OASYS factory strings.
ORCHESTRAL song,
STRINGS