![]() ![]() Also, for people who focus on less orchestral-heavy music, for example: Hybrid styles blending orchestra with rock, hiphop, electronic or pop, an ensemble library might be all you will ever need. If you are a composer or a producer who is either just starting out, or perhaps not sure if you’d ever need to be writing for individual instruments, it might be easier to simply load up a String a great-sounding ensemble patch that is more or less “out of the box” and ready to go. However, this is also where the value of ensembles come in. As you progress in your composition skills, and if you are planning to do more orchestral-based music, then, you most likely want to use section libraries. This could mean specific EQ tweaking, compression, panning and reverb in order to make each instrument “sit” within the context of the full orchestra as well as within the mix overall. ![]() Keep in mind, with this control comes more work as well! As each instrument lives inside it’s own patch, your job now expands to not only maintaining all the music and mixer routing within each part, but also, requires more production duties because now, you need to blend each instrument in a way that sounds like a single, cohesive orchestra. If you are a composer who writes specific parts for each instrument, then, you would probably need to get a section-based library for sure. It’s probably easier to understand the benefits of the section approach: why would you NOT want to have more control and be able to write for a specific instrument? And, yes, this is the main selling point of a library that provides instruments as sections. How to Choose between Ensembles and Sections? Of course, in this approach, you can write specific music for specific instruments: The viola can play something completely different from the violin. So, in this case, you would see a “bass patch”, “cello patch,” “viola patch,” and “violin 1” and “violin 2” patches as shown in the screenshot from Cinematic Strings below. This leads me to the next options: “sections.” Sections, as the name implies, is when the instruments are provided as broken-out instruments per patch. Even if you aim to do this by composing in the appropriate registers for any single instrument family, the reality is that there is cross over in their ranges eg: the higher notes of the bass overlap the lower notes of the cello, etc. Eg: the cellos will play these phrase while the basses play a different phrase. The main drawback to ensembles, is that there is no way to really write specific lines for specific instruments. Note the “String High” and “String Low” patches, as well as how the Brass and Winds are also broken out in ensembles. Screenshot below shows the patches provided in Spitfire’s Albion One (legacy). Note that I’m not 100% sure what is included in each patch, because, the idea here, is that you are getting a broad section (“String High”) vs specific instruments separated out. For example, if a sample library says that it is providing the sounds of the orchestra as “ensembles,” this usually means that they are bundling up several instruments (an ensemble) as a single unit to work with within your DAW (digital audio workstation.) Within your sample player (eg Kontakt), this unit is referred to as a “patch.” So, you might see a patch for “Strings High,” which could include all the violas and violins together, while the patch called “String Low” is likely just the bass and cellos together. What we are talking about here, is how the instruments are provided to you, the user, inside the sample library. If you are new to orchestral composition using sample libraries, you might be wondering what an ensemble is, or what a section is in the context of this work. What do we mean by “Ensemble vs Sections” in Orchestral Sample Libraries? These are some of the things I wish I understood better when I was first starting out, so I’m sharing here in hopes that it will be of help to you. ![]() As a reminder, these Intro series post are intended for beginners: those who are just starting out with orchestral composition using sample libraries. In part 1, I talked about the difference between a sample library that is recorded Wet (including the sound of the room) vs a sample library recorded dry (no room sound.) In this post, I’ll be discussing the difference ensembles and sections. Now it’s time for Part 2 of my Intro to Orchestral Sample Libraries for Beginners series.
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