Project SAM Symphobia

I have been composing music both electronic and acoustic since I was 11 which makes 29 years in total. I generally prefer writing orchestral music but also delve into jazz, New Age and some rock/pop with a progressive rock element to it. This library comes bundled with NAtive INstruments Kontakt Player which is an offshoot of their ubiquitous Kontakt 2 sampler. Not as much access to editing using the player version but it does all right. I'm using Sony headphones and an Apogee Duet soundcard from my Macs.

Although Symphobia is what one would call a niche market item, and as such its price tag is relatively high compared to how much you get (3 DVD roms worth about 18 gb of RAM), the quality of sounds is totally worth the price tag. I did not have to choose this over another library since I own VSL's VI players instruments as well as EWQLSO PLatinum PLAY which are to the two big boys in the world of orchestral sampling. I do not own SoniVox but from what I have heard, Project SAM eclipses their sounds in terms of realism.

Unlike most sampled orchestral libs, Symphobia DOES NOT have individual solo nor section samples. String patches (staccato, spiccato, legato, etc) are all combined and mapped across the 88 keyboard range. You cannot choose simply celli or violin1 to record. Violins, violas, celli and basses are spread across the range of the keyboard and have some overlapping notes too for seamless transitions. Brass and winds are done in the same fashion. Why would Project SAM do this? Well, because Symphobia was designed to capture moments quickly. I myself had have a plethora of ideas hit me while playing one of their epic MULTI sounds.

Yes, that is right. Project SAM has single and MULTI patches. MULTI patches combine the single patches by layering brass with strings and winds. The choices of programming are inspired if you ask me. I can channel Jerry Goldsmith's sound with a couple presses of my mouse by loading up something like "Domestic Trouble:" which combines pizz. strings with muted brass. There are also some long sustained patches combined with some percussion as found on "blockbuster".

Symphobia also specializes in effects patches meaning samples of instruments playing in non traditional ways. For strings this means col legno (playing and/or hitting the strings with the wood side of the bow), tremolo, clusters (dense grouping of notes a semi tone apart), glissandi (sliding up and down the string) and more for a very unpleasant eerie sound. Brass get treated to the same playing techniques as do winds.

The only worry I have with a library like this is that the hobbyist will get it home and realize they are boxed into a corner in terms of flexibility. I use this library in tandem with VSL and EWQLSO. Those libs have solo and section samples. WIthout this, solely relying on Symphobia would result in some lazy composing. Everything is all laid out which is a terrific time saver especially if you have a director over for a spotting session or brainstorming session and you can quickly bring up one of the lovely patches. But using it for in depth composing without the benefit of other libs will lead to very one dimensional results. Because the sounds, especially the fx patches, are so specific, I can imagine that we'll hear these on tv commercials, movie trailers, even in film like we did with the Fairlight or M1 sounds in their day. It might date the library to have sounds to specific. Then again, the sustained strings are gorgeous and I plan to use them on every thing I do in the orchestral realm. Same goes for the brass. Winds are the weakest of the lot and could use a slight update whenever that comes out. The attack is okay but the sustain sounds a little flat.

Great job in general though and I highly recommend this library to film composers and game composers who need a big epic sound that even surpasses the VSL's of the world for outright realism of tone and timbre.