TL;DR

• EastWest Composer Cloud (Subscription)
  • Hollywood Orchestra – One of the most established and polished studio orchestra libraries available.
  • Fantasy Orchestra – Ethnic elements of orchestral styles.
  • Symphonic Orchestra – The classic hall sound of orchestra that doesn’t get old.
  • Compose cloud includes the company’s entire selection which goes beyond orchestral instruments.  There also perpetual licenses available and often on sale.

• Spitfire Audio
  • Albion One – An epic theme and general-purpose library with a log of extras like cinematic synths and drones.
  • Symphonic Orchestra – The classic, warm orchestral sounds/
  • Studio Orchestra – The standard Hollywood studio sound and closest competitor to East West.
  • Chamber Strings – Arguably the most intimate and detailed string library of all time.
  • BBC Symphony Orchestra – the namesake standard of recording, bringing the UK studio recordings and signal chain to your DAW
• Sonuscore
  • The Orchestra Complete 4 – A Concise and effectively complete orchestra.
  • The Score – A niche library that focuses on phrases, arps, and quick inspiration
  • Time Texture Expanded

That list is what I would go for first because these brands are established and have nearly indistinguishable realism when properly arranged in the DAW.  There are other notable developers providing botique and specialized libraries such as Orchestral Tools, Cine Samples, and Strezov.  Check them out!  

Just remember that you need to LEARN your library. While most people will be satisfied with the stock settings, there’s often more available to you. Programming legato slurs, dynamics, and utilizing DIVISI settings are among some of the nuances that listeners are affected by.  Each developer has a specific way (UI/UX) of providing the features you need to tune your sound to realism.  Yes, they will and should sound great right out of the box, but any experienced composer knows that the tools always need tweaking for the specific piece. I know reading manuals is so “old-school”, but skimming over the documentation will make a difference.  Developers didn’t write it casually…they want you to understand.

Tip:

Maybe you are the musician or producer that needs the very basic of strings, brass, woodwinds and orchestral percussion for your project. First, consider what your DAW has to offer. Ableton Suite, Bitwig 5, and Logic Pro come with some very good sounds in this category that were created from some of these brands. For example, Ableton’s Orchestral Suite was provided by ProjectSAM. Bitwig features complimentary libraries by Spitfire Audio and Orchestral Tools. If possible, use those until you know what you’re missing.

– JBlongz