I'll offer some opinions on products I've tried over the years.
Garritan JABB3 is pretty good for the money.
It's strong points are:
1. Fairly low price.
2. Resource use and base system requirements to run it are lean.
3. A plug and play Sibelius sound set exists for this library, and it is rather well put together right out of the box. I.E. Falls, Doits, Shakes, and glisses are ready to go.
4. You do NOT need any kind of dongle or special eLicenser software. The registration process is simple (you drag an image onto the player to register). MakeMusic is generous in allowing several installations to a couple of machines without any extra interventions required from a website or support staff.
5. The instruments can be very expressive, as there are numerous parameters that can be changed in real time to alter timber and dynamics.
It's weaker points are:
1. In general, while you can get the base features of this Library inside Sibelius...to get the MOST out of it you'll probably want to do your final audio mock-up in a DAW. It's possible to make Sibeilus take advantage of every parameter offered by the library, but it's not as simple as in a DAW (where you'd just draw or record the events right on a controller lane).
2. For 'me' this is actually a strength, as it makes it possible to work this library into just about any style of music and venue you'd like, but it does add some to the learning curve. The samples in this library are super dry. There is no natural room ambiance or reverb tails on the samples themselves. For this reason you'll either use the included ARIA reverb and convolution effects, or use your own external room shaping utilities. I personally like dry sample sets, but some people complain about a lack of reverb tails or more factory presets for room shapes included to dial through.
3. For 'rock' and 'pop' I find that the guitars, organs, and percussion are a bit limited. While the included instruments are pretty dawg gone good in my opinion (a great traditional set covering Big Band, Hard Bop, Cool Jazz, and 'early Fusion' eras), I'm often going to other libraries for guitars, organs, and percussion when I'm searching for a more 'modern' vibe.
4. It has just enough effects (two light weight reverbs per instance) included to get a rough ambient mix. If you're seeking a polished sounding mix you'll want to take advantage of extra effect plugins (better yet, move to the DAW and use everything that comes with that).
Halion 5 or Halion Sonic has long served me well as a solid set of instruments spanning the ages. The Halion engine is kind of like running a Rompler workstation on a PC, but with fewer limits in terms of polyphony, memory, and processing potential (extra effects). Both of these instruments offer a base General MIDI sound set all mapped out and ready to go. Along with that you get several gig of instruments (and variations) that you can use.
Note, if you're on a Mac...I'm not sure if they offer a VST2 compatible version that would work in Sibelius. You'd want to double check that if you're a Mac user. Halion 5/Sonic does come with a stand alone version for both Mac and PC.
On a PC it's no problem...as Steinberg/Yamaha does provide both 32bit and 64bit versions of both VST2 and VST3 plugins.
Strong points of the Halion engine:
1. Works well with limited system resources.
2. Massive pallet of good general sounds for a large variety of musical styles and ensembles.
3. Powerful effect chain.
4. It's a quality sound engine from top to bottom.
5. Since Halion includes a General MIDI I compliant sound set...one can start with the General MIDI sound set that is included with Sibelius, and use that as a base for remote control of Halion. It's not difficult to customize and tweak Halion and a copy of the GM1 sound set for automation in Sibelius. Of course you can also set up complex arrays of instruments/articulations using a 'manual sound set' in Sibelius as well.
6. If you go for the full blown Halion 5...it's a powerhouse for making your own sounds. It's super powerful, and really fun to program.
Weakness of Halion in my opinion are:
1. This Instrument is dongle ware. You must invest in a Steinberg USB licenser system if you do not already own one. While you can easily install the software on as many machines as you like, you cannot 'use them' until you plug in your USB key. If you do not already have a dongle, it pushes the price up a bit as well to get it running.
I've personally grown to like dongles for my own set of reasons...but I rarely use a laptop or tablet.
While the full retail price of Halion isn't exactly cheap, if you keep your eyes open, you can often find yearly deals that'd push the full Halion 5 variant down to around $200. Steinberg also offers an 'Advance 2' package that includes 'nearly every VSTi plugin' they have in one kit.
2. If you're interested in the full version of Halion 5, note that it does NOT include a built in sampling utility. In Cubase this is not a problem, as it's designed to integrate right into the DAW. One simply records on a track, and then drags the part right into Halion for futher editing and manipulation. If you do not use Cubase, then you would need your own sample recording utility to make your own samples (I.E. A DAW of your choice, Audacity (Free), WaveLab, etc.) and then import them into Halion 5. Halion Sonic is strictly a Rompler style engine that does not let you imnport user samples at all.
3. Currently I can find ways to crash Halion in Sibelius with Program Changes if I'm not careful. As long as I stick with the default General MIDI sounds in Halion it doesn't crash, but if I drag larger instruments into a slot, and Sibelius sends a program change to that slot, it just might crash. Steinberg is currently working to fix this issue, but I don't know how long it will take them to release a patch. This usually isn't a problem for me since I know the work arounds...but it is presently a potential 'show stopping' bug for someone with less experience with Sibelius and Halion.
4. While quite a few of the instruments in Halion do have adjustable reverb tails on the samples, like JABB3, you'll still need to explore and learn how to best set effect chains to get the best sound. While most of the factory patches sound really great on their own right out of the box...it's often necessary to tweak the effects when using groups of them together as an 'ensemble'.
5. There aren't that many third party sound libraries out there for Halion as compared to something like Kontakt, Mach 5, etc. Even Steinberg only offers a few extra Libraries at this time (Such as Halion Symphonic Orchestra and Steinway Grand). It's great for rolling your own sounds (of all kinds, including granular synthesis and more), but if you're looking for prefab libraries to buy and plug in to this engine...you won't find many.
These are the 'software based' plugin products I have some personal experience with inside Sibelius that I frequently use for Jazz, Fusion, Rock, Pop, and R&B. I've also used a number of external workstations over the years with Sibelius (I.E. Roland Fantom XR). I'm pretty happy with these options so I've not really explored other libraries much.
It's also worth adding that these days I generally compose in Sibelius with the included Sibelius 7 sounds, or Garritan Libraries, and export it to a DAW when I get ready to do a more quality 'mock-up'. It really is much easier to fine tune and work with complex plugins in a DAW. To me, Sibelius is great for composing and printing out scores, but it's a royal pain to fine tune and get the real potential out of third party sound Libraries.
With that in mind, before investing in a high end Sound Library with intent to use it in Sibelius consider investing in a DAW instead. Quite a few DAWs come with a robust synth/sampler option and a great set of bread and butter sounds. I.E. Cubase comes with Halion SE. Sonar comes with Diminsion. Even the $99 MixCraft comes with a good set of bread and butter sounds. Most DAWs will also include a nice slate of effect plugins, equalizers, compressor/limiters, gates, and more. The list of quality DAW Software Titles out there is vast these days, and you can find them from under $100 to as much as you care to pay. |