IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik

Studied composition at York University and have been using MIDI instruments since 1984. I own various plug-in orchestra libraries including
- EWQLSO Gold & Silver Pro XP
- Steinberg HALion Symphonic Orchestra
- MOTU Symphonic Instrument
- Kontakt 2 VSL library
- Apple Jam packs
- Garritan J&BB and Strad 2
- Korg Digital Legacy Collection
- NI Bandstand
- Arturia CS80V

I am currently running Miroslav Philharmonik 1.1 Universal Binary with my iMac Intel Core 2 Duo on Digital Performer 5.1

I compose orchestral music in a film scoring vein.

IK Multimedia uses SampleTank2 engine which for me is perhaps the most elegant and easy-to-use interface. Loading samples is a snap and manipulating them is even easier. While it's not as easy as MOTU Symphonic Instrument in assigning controllers or ranges for multis/combis it's still a much better interface than Native Instruments Kontakt player.

Initial copy-protection was a iLok but the newest update eschews that in favor or challenge-response. Note that the user has up to 4 authorizations. This is unprecedented as most CR only allow for 2 authorizations.

The manual is a good reference for some of the more in depth features. It's nice to have that fold-out poster of the entire orchestra ranges for each instrument.

Sounds quite good especially in the strings (non looped) as well as the winds. Brass and percussion suffer a little bit from age but are still fairly authentic and usable. French Horns do have too much vibrato for film score work though.

There are tons of articulations and combination patches to choose from. Also, the library is CPU friendly and doesn't create too much problems when writing dense orchestral music on a single PC (unlike bigger libraries).

Max polyphony is 124 voice per instrument. More than enough.

Initially I didn't like this library. I had just purchased EWQLSO Gold Pro XP and thought this library was so much inferior. however, after the most recent update that has allowed me to use this library on my Mac, I am in love with the sounds. The whole package is easy to use and the interface is elegant and invisible which means the composer can get to the music rather than get delayed in the technology.

It's never crashed and always works quickly and efficiently.

I play keyboards guitars drums etc. Studied music at Huddersfield Uni. I got the Miroslav for use in soundtrack recordings.

Once you have the latency sorted out and all the mucking about getting Cubase to track to it (my inexperience with VST plugins NOT miroslav's fault!)

Then you simply select what instrument goes on what channel and play it!.

Mostly awesome at least a 10 in fact bar the following point I'll give it 11... BUT

I am going to drop a couple of points here because of a stupid oversight.

In Western music the French horn is never played with vibrato. You hear vibrato in any of the film soundtracks you hear? no! In fact the only time you really hear horns with vibrato is in a brass band.

Unfortunately the opposite is true in East European music. And all the horns have been recorded with vibrato. It is impossible to remove and totally screws up one of the most important sounds I need to use for soundtrack work!

Thanks IK for not giving us the choice! I suggest you get some Western Horn players in and redo the section as a free upgrade!

Yes it is well worth the money. There is nothing remotely similar on the market. I was looking at various expensive and inadequate orchestral libraries when I stumbled across an advert for this. A trip to the website convinced me the outlay was well worth it. will be using it hopefully for many years to come. As long as the USB dongle holds out!

I've spent the last 20 years making music, I began playing the bass, then guitar and I ended using a compter and sequencers to play difficult parts instead of me. This is version 1.00 of Miroslav Philharmonik and I got it at a bargain introductory price. It comes for both the Mac and Win platforms and support any host app (Cubase, ProTools, Live, Logic Pro...). I personally use a PowerMac 2xG5 with 4GB of RAM and a Yamaha 01x mixing desk / sound card. I monitor my stuff through a stereo ensemble which consists of an Albarry PP1 amp and a pair of Castle Trent speakers.

MP is very easy to use and its interface is quite intuitive. Just remember to set the proper channel or multimode in the host app otherwise you'll only have one instrument sounding at a time (which could also be what you want). The sound is no less than perfect. Warm, not aggressive.

As a classical composer, you might not want to alter MP's sound. Miroslav even got his musicians to perform it from their real location in the Dvorak Symphony Hall (Praha) so that you won't even have to pan or readjust its volume... but if you feel iconoclastic, well, you've got all what it takes to destrox this otherwise excellent sound. Max polyphony is 256 and bit depth is 20bit, IIRC.

350 ? for 7GB of sounds, including a complete orchestra, a grand piano, a church organ and a choir... Well, if you find this abusive, then show me the planet you come from... Don't listen to the original demoes, they were not made by real classic composers. Find some enthousiasts on "Northern Sounds" and you'll see: Perfect for Romantic, Modern, Movie soundtrack...
I'd buy it again.