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Miroslav Philharmonik brings the whole orchestra to your PC.

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Miroslav Philharmonik is billed as an 'Orchestra and Choir Workstation', but it's perhaps better described as a comprehensive classical sample library in a custom interface.

It makes sense to create special versions of sample playback engines (such as HALion, Kontakt and SampleTank) as they enable companies to copy-protect their expensively produced libraries and combine them with a dedicated user interface that's perfectly suited to the sample content.

Miroslav Philharmonik is powered by a custom version of SampleTank 2.5 and features a reverb effect that's specially designed for classical music. Although installing the software is comparatively easy, the copy-protection system is unusually over-the-top.

Miroslav Philharmonik is protected both by a Syncrosoft USB 'dongle' and an internet-based software registration procedure.

If you use another Syncrosoft-protected product (such as Cubase SX), you can reclaim a USB port by moving your Miroslav Philharmonik licence across to the other dongle, but you'll then need to reauthorise the software, which is rather annoying, to say the least.

Even if you use the original dongle, you're still required to carry out reauthorisation when using the software on another computer.

A classic revisited

In all fairness, IK Multimedia does have a lot to protect here. The original Miroslav Orchestral Sample Collection is a very expensive classical sample library, and Miroslav Philharmonik contains the whole thing. On top of this you'll also find some previously unreleased material from the original recording sessions in the Dvorak Hall in Prague.

This new content has been carefully mapped into additional presets by the engineers at IK Multimedia. But let's get to the point: Miroslav Philharmonik sounds absolutely incredible.

From the moment you play your very first notes, it's clear that you've got something very special in front of you. The samples have a warmth and depth that owes less to the recording process than it does the manner in which they were originally performed.

Often, the solo violins you'll find in generic sample libraries can be a bit cold and clinical, but this one sounds like it's been played with real passion and feeling and works beautifully when you're trying to create an authentic solo - it stands out and feels like proper performance.

This is one of the many reasons why the Miroslav Orchestral sample library has been used in film soundtracks and television commercials the world over.

IK Multimedia, for its part, has added industry-standard synth-style controls so that you can easily modify the sounds to suit your particular taste. You get a switchable multimode filter and two sets of envelope controls - one for amplitude and another for both pitch and filter cutoff modulation.

There are also two tempo-synchronised low frequency oscillators: LFO-1 has a delay control for more realistic vibrato and tremolo effects, and is depth-controlled by the modulation wheel on your MIDI keyboard; LFO-2 has a pan control for Auto-pan type effects.