What do you think of the Essential Instrument Collection?

Martucio · Post by **Martucio** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:27 pm

I'm about to upgrade from Live 5 to Live 6, and I'm wondering if the Essential Instrument Collection is worth the additional $100...

Paying $220 for an upgrade seems too much.

leisuremuffin · Post by **leisuremuffin** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:37 pm

geeez, i don't know.

It depends on whwat you already have.

I think it's worth it if you don't have a rompler style keyboard or sound module. Or a sample collection with that kind of stuff already.

I like the quality of the multi samples. They're good. And i didn't have anything that covered those bases yet, so for me, it was worth it. It might not be for you.

.lm.

zazamoth · Post by **zazamoth** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:43 pm

Along with my East West Silver Orch, it does the trick for me..however i am still lacking a decent choir....oh what i would give for a good choir.

but i have to say..i am not to sure i would be happy with the EIC on it's own.

sgingras · Post by **sgingras** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:54 pm

If you are a Keys player...buy it. excellent grand piano and classic organ sounds. My consideration was my recent upgrade to the intel mac and the lack of available plugs....but now that I have it, I would recommend it fo sho!

Easily worth 100$

Not to mention the printed manual.....always a definate benifit to consider.

-Stefan

leisuremuffin · Post by **leisuremuffin** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 1:07 pm

Yeah, i was really impressed by the grand piano. Easily one of the best i've heard. I should have mentioned that.

.lm.

nosuch · Post by **nosuch** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:08 pm

I think it's quiet cool. all the standard sounds within live, no hassle with usability of vst sample modules. and they are light on cpu and sound good. OK, the difference between download and box is like € 80/$ 100. that's a bit steep. If you have a good sample player and collection you can pass it, though.
I bought them (the boxed upgrade) because i rewired to reason only to have a sample player for some rhodes, piano and basses. that's history now. I love how live becomes a one stop shop DAW more and more. I hope they will release additional collections from time to time _ I am not into building my own sample instruments at all.

Hoitabuam · Post by **Hoitabuam** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:05 pm

Hi Martucio,
depends on your music and skills. If you're not in "building your own sample libraries" i'd take the Essential Instrument Collection.
With other sample disks (like from http://www.bestservice.de/ ) you have to make some additional adjustments in Live.

andrewbrewer · Post by **andrewbrewer** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 12:42 am

the sound is great, but i'm getting clicks. might be a problem with my hd speed or something worse. i guess i was hoping for waves of joy, but hey we're talking computers here, nothing's perfect.

the moral of the story ... make sure your machine is pretty well spec'd, otherwise you might be underwhelmed.

Winterpark · Post by **Winterpark** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 3:08 am

I rekcon it's worth it just on the grand piano and electric keys sounds alone... not sure how much use i'm gonna get out of the bass trombone though....

Martucio · Post by **Martucio** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:10 am

Thanks much to all for the input...

I should've mentioned that I have an 88-key Yamaha S90ES, which has one of the best grand piano sounds I've ever played, as well as a couple of good electric piano sounds. I also have SampleTank (which is also well stocked with sounds, but not so great on piano) and the NI B4 (which completely covers Hammond organ sounds).

I kinda get the feeling that I should save my $100. But I welcome other comments...

Thanks again!!

lummux · Post by **lummux** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 6:56 am

One thing I don't like about it, is if you do a "Collect All and Save", it saves all the samples you are using for that song.

I ended up with a folder for one song that had Grand Piano, Trumpet and Strings Ensemble in it, that was 5Gb!

forge · Post by **forge** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:14 am

lummux wrote:One thing I don't like about it, is if you do a "Collect All and Save", it saves all the samples you are using for that song.

I ended up with a folder for one song that had Grand Piano, Trumpet and Strings Ensemble in it, that was 5Gb!

have you checked out all the options in the file manager? you can tell it what to save and what not to

lummux · Post by **lummux** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:46 am

Doesn't seem to work, the "Yes" box for importing all the samples is not highlighted, yet if I do the Collect All, it copies all the samples into the project folder

DeadlyKungFu · Post by **DeadlyKungFu** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:57 am

weird thing about the EIC is that it shows up under RACKS and SIMPLER presets, which makes total sense once you've used them a bit, but the file structure is defininininitely different. The Abes just moved the furniture around a bit.

forge · Post by **forge** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:06 am

lummux wrote:Doesn't seem to work, the "Yes" box for importing all the samples is not highlighted, yet if I do the Collect All, it copies all the samples into the project folder

that sounds like a bug, head on over to the bugs joint!