WOW -A Pleasant Surprise 
by J. Hackney from Chapel Hill, NC, February 2008
Music Background:  Recording Engineer, Producer, HIP HOP Beatsmith

For this price I have to admit that I was expecting a few cheesy keyboard samples but it sounds like a symphony is in my control room. This plug in is a must have and it runs flawlessly with protools as a RTAS plug in controlled by the M-Audio Axiom49. It is too easy(am I dreaming)

  Great value, but some glitches. 
by Nathanael Davenport from Rexburg, ID, May 2007
Music Background:  Hammond Organist, Recording Engineer - Rock House Recording

This is a wonderful tool given it's price. The samples were recorded well, there is a good variety, and for light use it augments the composer/project studio setup very nicely. It is very CPU efficient, and running dozens of instances on my MacBook Pro goes without a hitch.

However, for serious usage, there are some kinks that still need to be worked out. Absence of legato articulations is the biggest one, which matters more on strings than anything, and is what is responsible for it sounding "synthesized" in delicate string parts. That's somewhat acceptable given the price and the overhead that legato inherently costs on the CPU.

What I do think is unacceptable was the sloppiness that some "lesser-used" instruments like bass clarinet, Contra Bassoon, and others (which typically are small in RAM and disk overhead), were put together - poorly. For example, I was just trying to play a pianissimo descending line on the bass clarinet sustained patch, only to have a note jump out at me at full, blaring velocity. In other words, someone forgot to include the softer samples for those notes in the programming. Other times a sour note will come out in a contrabassoon patch. It's little things like that that appear out of nowhere that can ruin a demo without some tedious work on your part.

All this has still been left unfixed as of the most current version (1.1.3). I'm going to complain to MOTU to fix these problems - until an update comes out, just be on your guard.

So, in summation: it is a great tool to supplement most pop recordings. No problems there. But if you are doing a full symphonic score and are serious about a quality demo, you may as well look to higher-end tools like the Vienna Symphonic Library or the East-West Platinum Orchestral collection. But if MOTU fixes the small glitches mentioned, it will be a great STARTER tool for those wanting to get into scoring their orchestral compositions using their DAW. It's low CPU/Disk overhead makes it a viable alternative for those on laptops or less powerful machines.

  "A MAGNIFICENT APPLICATION FOR PRODUCTIONS" 
by Ingvar Estrada from NV., April 2007
Music Background:  Singer / Tenor

I'm a singer/tenor that is earnestly pursuing a goal of International acclaim with relentless ambition and determination to achieve pinnacle success in the music industry...

As a artist / businessman-I produce from my home studio
demonstration cd recordings, dvd video presentations,
press kits, whatever it takes to achieve my goals and to
make an excellent, quality, professional, first impression.

Motu Symphonic Instruments is definately an incredible product for the quality minded producer that is conservative
and wants the best for the money.

What a great time regarding technology to be able to produce your own prerecorded symphony recordings right from your computer.

I utilize many Motu products in my studio and I'm extremely enthusiastic with the professional results that are acheived.

In addition, I've never had any problems with Motu Products
in conjuction with a Macintosh.

In conclusion,
"This product is great quality and should cost much more!"

MOTU Symphonic Instrument 
by Jim Bates , August 2005

This is quite an impressive set of orchestral sounds, including instruments like the whole range of saxs, not normally part of a symphonic orchestra. This sounds better 'straight out of the box' than many sample sets do with a lot of tweaking-so much so that I have spent the last day just auditioning the instruments without tweaking any of the advanced settings. It loads very much faster than comparable sounding samplers and has a much lower cpu overhead. If it cost $1,000 more, it would still be a good deal. At it's current price, it's a steal.

Great sounding orchestra! 
by Anonymous from Portland, OR, June 2005

This is a gem. For those that have heard GOS you will never pick it up again. This make GOS sound like a toy. Highly rec.

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