Hey whatsup yall, back with another review for you from MOTU.
Like I said in the MOTU Electric Keys review…I really dig what they are doing over there and I’m surprised they aren’t talked about more often…maybe those who know are too busy making music to talk about it!
Either way…it’s some good stuff, and I’ve noticed that a lot of their stuff loads very quickly.
They also usually have some good fx built in…
Today I’m checking out MOTU Symphonic Instrument…
so let’s see what’s good!
What is MOTU Symphonic Instrument?
I’m pretty sure you’ve guessed it has something to do with a Symphony right?
You would be correct in that guess.
It’s a single interface, straight-forward instrument that is dedicated to covering all the various aspects and instruments you would need to do symphony recordings.
It has ensembles and solo instruments like brass, strings, woodwinds, etc. There’s also some historical instruments, a piano…percussion, you get the idea.
Tons of different sounds and instruments that cover a broad range of symphonic goodness.
Quick Specs
- content: 8gb orchestral instrument library
- format: VST, AU, MAS, RTAS, DXi (sounds also load in MachFive, BPM, and UVI Workstation)
- price: $279.00
How does it sound?
Overall it sounds pretty good. For me, an instrument like this is really about strings first, then brass and woodwinds.
Everything else is bonus material in my opinion, even though they all make up the symphonic soundscape.
To that end, the strings and woodwinds sound amazing, especially the sections and specifically the tutti sections.
The brass ensembles are good as well. They even have a concert piano in here that sounds pretty nice.
I was NOT impressed with the guitars… but I’m rarely impressed with the guitars in any orchestral/symphonic library and I don’t go to these libraries for that.
The orchestral percussion as well as the other types of instruments are all usable, but for me, the strings, woodwinds, and some of the brass are the stand outs.
The convolution reverb just adds to the depth and richness of the sound, and it’s easy to operate, tweak, and customize.
So what’s the overall verdict on MSI?
Overall I like it, I like it a lot. The tutti sections are very useful as are the rest of the string ensembles. The woodwinds sound pretty good too.
What I really like is how fast the instruments load…that’s important when you’re in the middle of producing a track, you want to switch to and find that perfect sounds as fast as possible.
I also like how easy it is to layer sounds to create your own new dynamic patches…being able to mix them on different layers is dope.
I give this 4 out of 5 subs…it’s a good solid collection of orchestral instrument.
I would like to be able to resize the interface to make it bigger, and I would LOVE to have a native 64 bit version.
I look forward to the next version for these reasons, but if they don’t make another MSI then these sounds themselves will still remain very useful.
The fact that, like the other MOTU instruments, the sounds can be loaded into BPM, MachFive, and UVI Workstation is just another plus.
I know people are always looking for a decent, all around orchestral instrument that doesn’t cost thousands of dollars. Because let’s face it, unless you’re doing highly detailed orchestral arrangements or film scoring, you’ll never use 3/4 of the articulations and independent sections found in some of the larger orchestral libraries.
These sounds will be at home in any situation, even film and media if you so desire…but I’m looking at it from a beat maker/producer standpoint, and it’s a perfect tool in that situation.
Go on over and check out the info at MOTU: MOTU Symphonic Instrument
leave me a comment and let me know what you think, is it worth the price…too high? Too low?
What you think?
Yo SaintJoe, How you feel about what maschine and Native Instruments is doing with Kontakt and Komplete; vs BPM and now all of their sound libraries. For somebody like me with a MPD it looks like Motu is on the come up for real!!
@Fred aka Panoramic, I feel Maschine is the future…I like the expansion of BPM but it only expands to a point, once you go through the UVI/MOTU sounds…that’s it….
I’m just waiting for Maschine to allow plugins lol…then it’s a wrap..hoping they do that!
@saintjoe, Yay! I think your right about NI being the future……. For sure!
@everythingbutthegirl, fasho! We’ll see 🙂
@saintjoe,Whatup? Thanks for the great articles and insight. I am a Maschine addict, if there is such a thing. I’ve started with NI since I’ve started music production (2yrs, 5months) and I definitely agree that they are the future of sound. They just make sense to me, and that is huge in creating a natural work flow. Thanks again and keep the good stuff coming.
Check out me Making a beat with NI Maschine http://youtu.be/Dp0OWSBdzPE?hd=1
@UptownsPhinest, that’s whasup man, I’m a maschine fanatic as well lol, not sure what that has to do with this article though :), thanks for stopping by!
After I get get through the 30gb of UVI stuff I already got, I’ll probably get this and the keys set. It’s cool this has a dedicated interface too, I generally prefer the older MOTU/UVI interfaces to the the current player (it’s still decent).
Fred aka Panoramic is right about the MPD/BPM combo, it works well. Anyone trying it, be sure to use the MPD with a DC adapter and midi cables, the pads are awful through usb.
Thanks for the review Saintjoe!
@Metatron72, yeah…I like the dedicated interfaces too, just wish they were expandable lol, they are a lil on the small side. And I want this to go 64 bit, but the sounds are dope, especially the strings, which is what I use it for…some woodwinds too, and quick orchestral brass.
yo sounds decent but I am a bit impartial to miroslav philharmonik I think it sounds fuller and more realistic . The tutti strings in motu symph are sounds nice though . You’re right the guitar sounds awful . Guitar emulations are usually very rare to come by. check out Applied acoustics systems strum or Rob Papen RG , for guitars, peace.
@Funk Bandit, Miroslav is dope for sure…I can’t wait for an update to the SampleTank engine…I think it’s cool but needs an update for sure, can’t wait for it to go 64 bit! Vir2 acoustic legends is a dope guitar library, as are the ones you named.
Very nice instrument collection:) but what im lookin for is some very realistic saxophones.. Only heard a very little of the sax’s in this reveiw.. Can you explain to me how good the sax’s are and how realistic they are??
Would really apreciate it:)
\\Thor
@Thor VN, I wouldn’t look to this for realistic saxaphones, there are dedicated instruments that will be much better, mojo from Vir2, chris hein horns, sax brothers from sample modeling are some of the best dedicated horn libraries.
@saintjoe, Yeah okay.. Thankt for the quick answer
@Thor VN, no problem!
hot stuff joe those sounds are amazingly on point 1 question i know you love machine and not to much into daw s but have heard or try cubase 5 or reason 5 and record 1.5 yet if so will you do a review on them ?
@tony, have tried reason 5, it’s okay, blocks are cool but overall it’s not for me, I just didn’t like it.
I have no desire to checkout cubase, for daws I have ableton live and studio one…but rarely use them for production things, studio one would be for vocals, etc.
hmm looks cool i like the symphonic sounds but yeah that first guitar does sound like a harp lol this would be good for scoring background music for like a movie maybe
@tim, no doubt lol