These are questions that get asked a lot.
“What’s the best DAW?”
“What’s the best orchestral VST?”
“What’s the best notation software?”
And the list goes on and on and on. Think about all the things involved in creating royalty free music, or any music for that matter, and the questions that can be asked are staggering.
Problem with those questions is, in most cases, there is no real answer. Oh yeah, everybody has got their opinions, but that’s all they really are…opinions. If there really was ONE best whatever, all the other products out there would go out of business. We’d all buy whatever and be done with it.
But that’s why there is competition so that one product doesn’t dominate the marketplace and become so expensive that nobody can afford it.
I mean can you imagine if there was only one piano manufacturer in the whole world what a concert grand would go for? I shudder to think of it.
So okay, best is subjective but we still have to qualify, as far as making music goes, why it’s subjective so that consumers can still make an informed decision when purchasing something.
For example, let’s take a strings VST sample library. We’ll put
Vienna Strings against East West Quantum Leap Hollywood Strings. Both are considered to be excellent. So what’s the difference?
Well, let’s start with price. East West Hollywood Strings Diamond, which is their top of the line product is about $800. The Vienna Orchestral Strings Full is about $600. So the difference in price is not such a big deal unless you’re just plain broke.
But what about sound? Well, that’s where things get really subjective. Some people swear by EWQL while others say Vienna is the industry standard. Me? I don’t hear that much of a difference. And at just $200 difference in cost, I shouldn’t. I mean let’s face it, no VST is going to sound exactly like a real orchestra. I don’t care how good it is.
Beyond price and sound there is something else that has to be considered when purchasing either of these libraries.
Compatibility.
OH my goodness. The headaches that you can run into after purchasing something because it’s not compatible with 64 bit Windows 7 or hasn’t been tested fully on Windows 8 yet. Maybe there are quirks between it and the particular DAW that you’re using. Not every VST made is tested on every DAW. They can test on a few and even at that, not extensively.
And then what happens when a DAW has an update? Things that used to work can suddenly stop working.
For example, my EWQL Pianos collection has a problem with one note on the Bechstein Piano. It doesn’t sustain properly. I think it’s G4. That’s right, one note. Makes the piano unusable though if you’re playing piano solos. That one note really stands out and sounds bad.
That’s just one example of the strange things that can happen between VSTs and DAWs. So a product that’s great for John Doe may be totally unusable for John Smith because of bugs like that.
Then of course there is the matter of overkill and budget. A particular product may be considered to have the best sound. But what if, for your purposes, you really don’t need it.
Let’s take this as an example. You’re looking for a piano sound. The EWQL Pianos are excellent, especially if you’re doing classical music. But what if you’re doing nothing but pop tunes where the piano is kind of buried in the mix? Do you really need to spend $300 on a collection of pianos? Probably not. A $100 piano pack or even something that comes with your DAW could be good enough for a pop tune.
A lot of people think they have to in fact have the “best” of something when it comes to music and then you take a look at what they’re actually writing and recording and it turns out that most of this stuff is so buried in the mix or so heavily processed that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a $300 VST and a $30 VST. It’s crazy what people will spend when they don’t need to.
I needed a really great pedal steel guitar because I was going to use it as a lead in traditional country songs. It was going to stand out right in front of the mix so had to sound authentic and good. Now way I could get by with something “okay.” So I sprung for the Wavelore Pedal Steel and have never regretted it. Listen to some of my country tunes and you’ll see what I mean. That thing sounds as authentic as you’re going to get out of a VST.
Conversely, I don’t have to spend $8,000 on an old modular synthesizer to get that classic modular sound. The VSTs that are out there are perfectly acceptable imitations. My Sonigen Modular is absolutely amazing, in my opinion. I doubt many people could tell the difference between it and the real thing that I’d need two moving men to bring into my home. And no tuning problems.
And let’s face it, sometimes you have to make compromises. We’re not all made out of money where we can just go out and buy the “best” thing available. Sometimes we have to settle. That’s why not everybody drives a Lexus. Some people drive a Honda or even a, shudder the thought, a Ford.
In my music business, I have my Lexus and I have my Ford’s too. Some of those really cheap synths (read free) sound pretty good and are appropriate for certain kinds of music. My Revitar, which is the best strumming guitar VST I’ve ever heard, was a free download.
So when you set out to ask what the best
Best for me is what’s best for me.
And sometimes it comes as a total surprise.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim