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Creating Trailer Music With ONE Sample Library Only (Tutorial/Review)

Today we’ll answer the question of whether you can compose an entire trailer music piece using only one single sample library (spoiler alert: damn yes, you can!)

I received a review copy of Symphobia 4: Pandora from ProjectSAM a while ago to write a review article about the library and its cool new version 1.1 features. However, pretty soon after the download had finished, I found myself fiddling around in awe with all the amazing sounds, presets, and sound design functions. This made me wonder if I could write a full-fledged trailer/action/thriller cue using only Symphobia 4: Pandora.

So in place of a written review, here is a little walkthrough of how I composed this hybrid orchestral type of trailer cue, using just one single sample library – Symphobia 4 Pandora in this case.

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Creating Trailer Music with ONE Sample Library Only

Symphobia 4: Pandora is a cinematic orchestral sample library filled to the brim with great-sounding, hybrid orchestral instruments and sound effects. You find dark pulses, risers, falls crescendos, and effects that all masterfully smudge the line between orchestral and synthetic sounding. Pandora is perfectly suited to scoring action, thrillers, sci-fi, and horror and offers a comprehensive set of customizable features.

Most notable is ProjectSAM’s proprietary Adaptive Sync function, which automatically picks the best matching recording from the library’s database and intelligently adjusts it to match your tempo and hit points. This allows you to create perfectly tempo-sync’d risers, crescendos, and transitions.

Another hugely exciting feature is the Sound Design Mode which ProjectSAM introduces with Symphobia 4: Pandora. With it, you can directly manipulate a selection of a selected sample using a smart waveform control. You can jump-start sample positions, reverse playback, reverse sync to downbeat, time-stretch, and more – a sound designer’s dream come true.

Although Adaptive Sync and the Sound Design mode are both incredible features, it seems like they add to the loading times and occasional CPU-hungriness of the library here and there.

Symphobia 4: Pandora is an amazing library featuring high-quality sounds, a clearly structured interface engine, and a huge set of customization features. Pandora is a perfect match for both media composers and sound designers alike who like to create hybrid orchestral scores.

Pros

  • Great sound quality
  • Comprehensive set of instruments & articulations
  • Clear interface
  • Adaptive Sync feature
  • Sound design mode

Cons

  • Pandora can be a bit CPU-intense at times, especially when many instances are loaded

RECOMMENDED: 9/10

Symphobia 4: Pandora is available as a download through ProjectSAM’s online shop and comes in two different editions, Pandora ($499) & Pandora Core ($239). While Pandora features the complete scope of available content, Pandora Core represents a lite version with a reduced count of instruments, presets, and microphone positions.

Symphobia 4: Pandora vs. Pandora Core

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