Woodwind Collection Expanded Edition
US composer Tim Smith set up Westgate Studios to distribute his custom sound libraries. Tim's Woodwind Collection started life as a single CD, but with the addition of new instruments and articulations, it grew into a 1.52GBGigastudio two-CD set. The expanded edition includes all the first version's samples, and the two editions are separately available — for a comparison of their contents, check out his web site.
A quick listen to the oboe and English horn gives a good insight into the library's character — both have a bright, clear tone, but, being dryly recorded in mono with no release triggers, they lack the sumptuous depth of more expensively-produced libraries. However, slap on a little reverb and you're in business; the instruments' vibrato sustains have alovely lyrical quality, their positive attack and incisive timbre being ideal for poignant, expressive lead lines. Moving on, Ialso enjoyed the sweet, pastoral tone of the flute, and its marcato short notes sounded excellent in chordal passages. The flute and piccolo both play a selection of fast upward runs spanning an interval of a fourth — a useful extra, as such musical flourishes usually sound bogus when programmed with single notes. Sadly, there's no alto flute — Tim explains that this was omitted because no-one asked for it. D'oh! I've put in my request, but its probably too late now...
The whole clarinet family — 'E' flat, 'B' flat, and bass — is here, each instrument sounding bright and effective, withnice snappy staccatos and rock-steady sustains. Combining jocularity with a sad lyricism, the bassoon also soundsin the best of health, and a rich-toned, powerful contrabassoon provides some profoundly deep support. Great stuff,but there's more: the instrumentation here extends beyond the orchestral, supplying a recorder family (sopranino, twotypes of soprano, and alto), an ineffably sweet sound nowadays not much heard outside of historical documentaries. The library also has a tin whistle and a penny whistle (or flageolet), the latter contributing bends, mordents, and grace notes, very handy for programming Irish folk tunes. Overall, I was impressed by all the instruments' accurate tuningand controlled delivery, especially evident in their beautifully precise trills.
This well-organised, comprehensive package offers fifteen instruments, a well-chosen selection of performancestyles and up to four dynamic layers. None of the long notes are looped, but with sustains lasting around nine seconds that's not the end of the world. this library proves you don't need a million-dollar budget to create a good sample library, just good players, a decent recording setup, and the musical experience to know which articulations will work when sampled! If you're looking for reasonably-priced woodwind samples to supplement your favourite orchestral brass and strings, this musically solid set comes highly recommended.
Dave Stewart