LASS Vs Hollywood Strings Part1 (General Comparison)

[Ken1Nickels1]

Thanks for your generous effort in this comparison. What sequencer did you use and why?

[Autumn6]

LASS sounded better.

[HELLSPAWN1973]

symphobia sounds like punch right in your face - love it

[HELLSPAWN1973]

LA sounds amazing! HOLLYWOOD sounds thinner and cheaper, but needs more ram and got a buggy interface

[ArtemiHophekenen]

Excellent video! When we will see a second part?

[Plowking2]

Hi - love your videos. Very informative and useful. I have a question:

You mention you prefer to generally use Symphobia - I notice you use the velocity patch for the string ensemble. Do you prefer this to the dynamic (modwheel) patch, or is it just a case by case basis? I usually only use modwheel patches - is there a good case for velocity (and perhaps using expression cc11) instead of a mod wheel patch?

Thanks

[TheNossinator]

I object to your statement of "It's such a shame that [the PLAY engine] doesn't work."

PLAY works perfectly for most of the EW product line - it's just in HS and HB that I've seen problems, and that's because it's been such a huge undertaking. PLAY isn't perfect, but 98% of the time it works fine.

I find it a little suspicious that you just "happened" to choose a patch that has a problem for your video and then proceeded to make wild claims about the engine "not working". It does. Mostly.

[sudocoda]

Are you using a Mac Pro for both the samples and sequencer? Would the latest MacBook Pro be sufficient to run Symphobia and LASS, but not Hollywood Strings? Or would anything less than server grade PC or Mac be a waste of time?

[steelandre]

Thanks for this awesome review. It is very helpful and informative. I really appreciate the time and effort you took to share this with us!

[MagnusRulerHardt]

FL Studio is better in general. I have loads of experience in both. Just thought I'd mention it because loading a VST in FL doesn't occupy the entire program.

[cyberhmoob]

EWQL biggest downfall is it's engine. It's crap. Give me Kontakt full compatibility, editing, & render and I would buy it.

[mimaxworld]

with 16 bit you got a dynamic range of 96 dB and with 24 bit you got 144 dB of dynamic range.... So more dynamic range means more expression and less distortion in amplitude.

[stihltoe]

Excellent,,, I have a question and hope that you all can help me.. I have been hearing and reading.. that the Play engine since they did the upgrade to 3.0 still has many issues and such.. also heard that East/west support staff is really less then satisfactory about getting back to there customers. they dont even show a phone number. I was really thinking of buying the brass and string libraries from HOllywood.. but after reading about there service, and the play engine.am confused? thoughts

[Ken1Nickels1]

@stihltoe I use EW Symphonic Orchestra as opposed to the more expensive Hollywood Strings, because my feet are still wet in the VI area. But to my ears, LASS strings sounded more real because of divisi, which Hollywood strings uses too but in a slightly different way. Their support needs improvement, that's true. Regarding Play, i hope that they know their weak points and are working on them.

[dom7912]

very good comparison made thanks a lot man..!

[ArGyProductions]

This deserves to go viral man.. 5 Stars

[Hewleri]

you have a lot of emotions when you play, that is beautiful.

[JohnMelasMusic]

I find the lass violin much harsher then hs one, my vote goes to ewql.

[ImphenziaMusic]

Great videos! I started with the 1h cinebrass video and I'm going through them all now and enjoying every minute. I've been making electronic music for many years but I'm also making more game music now with orchestral stuff. I've got the EWSOG library but I'm considering additional strings and brass so this is worth gold to me. Not only that, your methods to present the content gives teaches me a LOT about the compositions so I'm really thankful that you present it in the way you do.

[Manospetrucci]

If you think as a businessman/producer = time is money, well yes LASS load faster...!

As a composer = time is love for good music, then Hollywood Strings can give you the ability to imitate a real orchestra much better than LASS. And my 2nd point is that the time H/S waste on loading, the same, and I think more time could be spent to fix LASS from harshness and bad dynamics.

[Thetraveller04]

What do you think about the sonivox ones?

[robibla]

Would love to see Part 2. of this :)

[misterkeyboard]

Thank you for this video! Thank you for taking the time to do this! It helped me a lot!

[AKoribut]

LASS is definitely better.

Hollywood Strings and Symphobia are good for soundtrack music, but not for complicated classical passages, where LASS is unbeatable.

LASS sounds more realistic

[joshvelazquez]

In the transition from note 3 -5 in that line you recorded LASS sounds so much better and real than Hollywood Strings.

[RediForKing]

you're really dissing hollywood strings

[MithraMusic]

Hey, how has Play been working since the upgrade to Play 3? I've noticed a lot of improvement, so if you've given up on it try upgrading first before completely putting it away.

[Merahzel]

Very informative.

Thank you!

[GreatScores]

Really useful review - thanks for that. I have several "Play" libraries, and they make me tear my hair out - urgh. I am comemtplating banning East West products from my studio, their support is awful woeful.

[JPluth1221]

A lot of the memory usage in HS comes from the cross fading and the amount of layers, as well as some patches having different samples for each finger position and release trails

[ImageGround]

This and many other libraries won't stand a chance against IOSL's Leviathan:

iosl.webs.com/apps/webstore/pr­oducts/show/2662600

the future seems to get better!

[djmigra]

Awesome!

[Sunstatemusic]

Cool video. Nice it would be also to compare Audio impressions 70 DVZ strings with Hollywood Strings. I myself think 70 DVZ is the best on market.

[MattZildjian]

how are you controlling the mod wheel whilst playing what seems to be 2 handed phrases?

[TheMusikpoet]

Thanks great Video

[ram1757]

nice ..



[860anthony]

very informative and useful video. thanks for pointing out your systems specs as that is very important in making a decision of which these expensive vst's to buy. I personally preferred symphobia. thanks.

[jollykap]

dude, this is the best review I have seen of a product on youtube... thx a lot..

[TairyHesticles1]

How do I obtain these without spending money?

[KABAZURNA]

Where is the second video my friend??

[UDun8]

Good comparison even if it is a really basic one... w/o different mics positions in HS for example. Where you are composing, the sound of your music is really more important than the time required to load a patch. You cannot expect to have the best librairies working perfectly on a modest computer.

[rnrdjoeman]

Very helpful and interesting video. However, LASS to me personally is much more of a divisi library than it is an ensemble library. Perhaps in another video the divisis can be compared.

[ThePoint140]

Using Play in JBridge will allow you to use your DAW during loading with PLAY (also necessary for 64 bit use in FL Studio).

[RVcomposer]

Great review!

[wawispirit]

Thanks man! I am struggeling with EW "PLAY" for a while and it was a waste of money to buy the complete composer collection! Very buggy "player" and the library is almost impossible to work with. Thanks again.

Cheers,

Beshar

[jmdelsaso]

great tutorial. Congrats and thanks a million. Cheers

[YourVisualDesigner]

I can obviously hear that Hollywood Strings sounds way better! Also, the Play 2 engine may not be good, the Play 3 engine works great and all the glitches are gone. Personally, I think LASS sounds incredibly dry and unemotional...

[dmarins]

hahahahh "...you could write a poem, get a cup of coffee..."

[christerholm]

That was great, but I would have liked to hear the LP or LPG variations in LASS, against the slurs in Hollywood strings, for me, that's one of the big ideas in both of these, to get those glides right. In the beginning you did have a slur patch from HS, but from LASS, just the regular Legato patch without the slur effect.

[ancientwhale]

GOD there is no more terrible sound than abletons metronome.......

[ancientwhale]

LASS glides into each note...Hollywood strings is far to abrupt and jarring in transitions from note to note....I dont think this is subjective at all, LASS is clearly superior.

[lejmer23]

@ancientwhale HS also sampled all the strings on the instruments, meaning you can play one note up to four different ways, achieving different timbres (and they differ ALOT from each other, which real players knows and utilize very well). They also sampled the bowing techniques used by real string players, to add a bit more realism. Remember though, I love both libraries and I use both equally much. I just don't like uneducated battering on stuff when it's so clearly without merit.

[lejmer23]

@ancientwhale I don't agree at all. I use both and they flow and glide into eachother very well. In HS, it depends on how you play, and what patch you load. They all work differently. It doesn't seem like dazexus read the manual (or if he did, he forgot most of it while showing it off). Also, HS has five mic positions. That's a huge mixing advantage imo.

[gabomedellin2]

I’m sorry I don’t think I’m arguing with you I understand your point I’m just saying. What I would really like to know is how you manage to work with Ableton with the ram limit issue, for me it turn out at one point to be just impossible.

[gabomedellin2]

But what I’m trying to say is that because a lot of people makes there libraries for kontakt is one of the reasons the kontakt engine works so so good. The money is going to that software. When you see other engines, even from native instruments like akoustik pianos it has a lot of bugs because is made for just one instrument. Spectrasonic, bfd all those software that make there own engines have problems. And HS is the same price than LASS but the amount of information and detail is much bigger.

[gabomedellin2]

The reason ewql play engine works not as good as kontakt is because they decided to do ther own engine because all kontakt instruments can be cracked. Play has been imposible, so they have to spend money on the engine while a lot of people that does libraries like audiobro use kontakt because its easier i think cheaper so the price will be the same because of that reason.

[dazexus]

@gabomedellin2 If you are going to develop your own engine it will be compared to the competition, regardless of whether or not the choice was forced by piracy. If your engine is not as good as the competition then it puts you at a disadvantage.

[Clapboardstudio]

@dazexus Hi! I'm new in the whole making music and would love to learn to make orchestral music. I've seen a lot of beginner MIDI keyboards with modwheels for about 80 euros, but like i said, i'm new. I can't do anything.

Any tips/trics?

[MrJixies]

@dazexus Thats one of the reasons I did not buy Hollywood strings, but bought LASS 2 in stead!

[gabomedellin2]

For me its just really strange see you working in ableton. I used ableton and I had to migrate to sonar because of the ram issue. And sonar is just a lot more professional, when you learn how to use it is great. I mean ableton works great but it just makes me think how could you do professional work on it.

[thefangpage]

bro u rock! was really excited about gettin hollywood strings after lovin EW orchestra gold play! i discovered symphobia thanks to u and boy does it sound amazin! listen to my EW composition i did for "redmeption" got a few thousand views on it! but man u r some talented geeza!:) loving ur videos watched alot them tonite n ur london trip!:) all the best dude!;)

[Vitaetmusica]

HAhaha! Write a poem. Contemplate your purchase! Classic!

[ThomasVoMusic]

Symphobia wins :)

[dummeh]

Interesting technique of layering the libraries over Symphobia. I haven't used Symphobia much lately and not thought to try this. It's also really interesting to hear the comparison between LASS and HS. I'm an LASS user (Kontakt is my sampler of preference) so I'd always wondered what I was missing out on, but it seems like they sound pretty much the same - either could sound like the other with some tweaking. Great video. A similar comparison between HB and CineBrass would be quite interesting.

[DeXound]

eagerly waiting for part 2 , staccato pizzicato marcato etc.

This is really some neat review , but u didn't mention the three mic positions which HS offers, does this really makes a difference when compared to other libraries ?

[AugustChamplin]

Great video! Thanks for an honest look under the hood.

[rufftone]

Really nice, independent comparison, well done.

Have you considered to buy Cinematic Strings? If not, why?

[paraidy]

Congratz and thx, this is the best comparison between these 2 Great beasts!

[h4rv3st]

Solid solid review!! Thanks Daz

[Stuartkollmorgen]

Hey Daniel,

I would've responded on the VI forum but there's a ton of chatter there. I appreciate you doing this and I think your point is well taken re: load time and bloat on HS. Also Play is underbaked and I'm tired of waiting for it to catch up.

It's eye opening to see how you work because I think you get a great sound and you don't seem interested in doing the sort of "building ships ships in a bottle" midi programming anymore than I do. I'm too busy trying to make $ with music for that

[Karisigurd]

Hollywood strings are a big package, you should buy a dedicated SSD for the patches you use the most if you're planning on using it much in the future, and the ram usage is a hint at whats planned for us in the future, of course software like this will start requiring more ram as quality increases...

[mattmurray8]

Thanks Daniel, I'm real interested in the improvements of PLAY 3, which should be released sometime this week. I'm really liking my LASS purchase so far, though it takes a bit of eqing and proper reverb selection to get it to sound as good as HS. The thing about PLAY, is that they just sound good out of the box..

BTW I think you really showcased Symphobia's strength the most. Cheers.

[appezeanie]

Doesn't Kontakt stream the sounds straight from the hard drive (but loads some sounds to RAM)? Where as Play loads everything to RAM? That's why the difference in load size. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[dragonsagoth666]

@appezeanie

Nope - both Kontakt and PLAY do the same thing. PLAY simply uses more RAM by itself, and generally has more samples to load. But yeah, Kontakt is far more optimized than PLAY.

[jtmagicman25]

I think you are forgetting  that the Kontact player takes up a fair amount of memory itself. not just the 64mb that the LASS uses. a couple of Kontact players with nothing in them will clog a lot of cpu. You should watch the cpu and ram load while the samples are playing to make a fair comparison.

[batmansmk]

I've been trying intensively the demo of Hollywood Strings, and I've encountered many bugs with Ableton Live. Even heavy crash. So I do agree with you, there is no place for Hollywood Strings.

[polarisglow]

Great and and interesting video Dan!

HS has a beautiful sound but honestly I prefer the edgy LASS sound.

I'm very happy I didn't wait for HS last year and have bought LASS Lite, that I layer with EW strings from Gold.

In the last time I also prefer Kontakt4 for orchestral templates.... PLAY is just too memory consuming. In general (all features) it's like a leopard vs an elephant.

[Xtra999]

It seems that you generally prefer algo reverbs to convolution reverb, right?

[dazexus]

@Xtra999 I used to use convolution reverb when I started and it sounded great, but my system was low end so I went looking for an algo...ArtsAcocustic sounds amazing to me so I have never felt I needed to change back now I have a stronger system.

[KCJacksonMuz]

Thanks for this video. To me, it really showed me what I already know. Kontakt 4.0 is the best sampler playback engine on the market. Play is bloated and buggy. LASS probably sounds SLIGHTLY worse than Hllywood strings, but SLIGHTLY, and a lot of it has to do with what reverb settings you are using. LASS strings will cut through better than East West samples. For me . . LASS is the way to go. 311megs for a violin patch is just too much. Especially when the diff is almost nil. Great vid!

[AaronWildeMusic]

Thanks, this video was very helpful, i been waiting to hear the difference clearlly, overall i think i prefer LASS because of the memory and the fact it runs within Kontakt, i too have 6GB ram and when running around 80-100 tracks for my projects, Play takes up way too much memory, and loading times are poor, though soundwise, both sound very professional.. i swear everytime i watch your video's though, you inspire me to go and compose straight away, great stuff man, thanks again.

[dariusofwest]

This is awesome man!

Your compositions hhave always been great, and seeing this is really helpful.

Thanks!

[SEVENcatsSTUDIO]

THNX for this nice review, for me it is very useful.

((-; I am interested fast legato in HS vs LASS

[allvange]

Thanks for putting this up. I'm surprised, though, that you think the LASS / HS sound is "similar;" to me HS is much sweeter. Either way, it's a little hard to hear past the reverb.

[dazexus]

@allvange I am sorry if it wasnt clear. I think HS has a more 'premixed' sound and sounds great with Symphobia but when you have a fully orchestrated track the difference would be so minimal it would make more sense to use the patches that take up the least amount of processing power.

[TheMetallkylling]

I love your vids, man, but just one question: How the HELL did you afford this?

[dazexus]

@TheMetallkylling I am a working composer so have been able to earn all the software I use :D

[hjiuhfhrehui]

@dazexus

oooooo your a composer :D i also wanna be one ^^ / pianis/ conducter

but how long did it take to get al thaat software o.O ??

and is it the best to use a imac for that kinda software ??

i now use sibelius 6, but it souns soo fake :(