Comments on: Synful Orchestra Now Available For FREE

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 09:10:44 +0000

I mean it DOES sound convincing and it feels so usable, I am really shocked!
I mean, big thanks!

By: Tsunekio

Tsunekio — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 17:51:48 +0000

Bizarre! This plugin has been clearly been maintained past the 2000 era. It installs with a clean VST3 JUCE interface that doesn’t look out of place at all in FL Studio. Size is just fine on 4k display following FL GUI scaling. I don’t know why this review or the developer site shows a screenshot of an ancient version. 146MB download and auto installed in “C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\SynfulOrchestra.vst3”

Looking through the documentation, the architecture is of this plugin fascinating. It’s an advance sampler that performs re-synthesis to get live expression. The horn rips / glissandos this can perform are impressive.

I don’t understand how this plug-in has never come across my radar before. Even for someone not interested in orchestral patches, the re-synthesis engine can bend the built-in patches into really unique sounding instruments.

I think it would be worth doing a follow up review article after installing and testing the software (or at least update the screenshot for this article.)

Looks like a hidden gem. Thanks for highlighting this!

By: Rafael

Rafael — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 22:45:20 +0000

Wish it’d let me choose where to install the files. Is there any way to put them anywhere else and choose where the vst should point the files at?

By: Numanoid

Numanoid — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 16:39:14 +0000

I note that the original plugin was released as far back as 2004/2005
There seems to have been little development done on it during the last 10-15 years, it is still useable of course, but a bigger GUI is needed now

By: Darryl Lim

Darryl Lim — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 16:25:32 +0000

Sounds a bit unnatural in places, but the most impressive thing about this for me, are the natural-sounding quick transitions between notes (legato & such) of each instrument, which is hard to find properly replicated on sample-based instruments (at least with the free ones).

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 15:36:06 +0000

This is great! I could care less about realism (though many of the sounds sound pretty decent in a mix). There is definitely an “uncanny valley” vibe about them and they work extremely well with fx for sound design. Drench the horn sounds in Solaris reverb and you’re in Blade Runner territory without spending a dime! Awesome.

By: bbb

bbb — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 10:18:05 +0000

As a user of some “professional” sample libraries, I have to acknowledge that this is a very interesting alternative or a welcome addition, especially because of the completely different approach of sound generation. And it doesn’t need much space on the hard drive!

A small note: to listen to the DAW-examples, I had to change the permissions of the example folders to listen to them as a standard user.