EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition

Plenty of orchestral libraries sound good on their own. Far fewer sound like the film. Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition is the one that has been sitting under blockbuster scores for over a decade, produced by Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, engineered by Academy Award and BAFTA winner Shawn Murphy, and captured in EastWest's Studio 1, the same room that recorded Mission: Impossible, The Godfather, Jurassic World and La La Land. Every section of the modern symphonic orchestra is here in deep detail, from 18 violins down to a solo harp, with Hollywood Orchestrator on top to build a full arrangement out of a held chord. The 2026 edition adds Movie Mix scoring profiles, Alternative Scales and refreshed artwork for every instrument. Install everything, or pick the instruments and mic positions you want and leave the rest behind. Yours for $149 on Audio Plugin Deals, down from $599, for the next few days.

Recorded in Studio 1

Studio 1 is one of the most famous orchestral rooms in the world, and the reason this library sounds like cinema rather than like samples. Sinatra, The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson recorded there. Shawn Murphy, whose credits run through Star Wars, Harry Potter, Saving Private Ryan and Titanic, engineered the sessions using the same mic techniques, players and articulations as the scores he mixed. You are not approximating the Hollywood sound. You are working with the room, the players and the engineer that made it.

Inside the Orchestra

Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition gathers every section of the modern symphonic orchestra, each one deeply sampled with individual patches for fine control and keyswitch instruments for speed. Five collections make up the library, and all of them now include the newly recorded Opus Edition additions:

• Hollywood Strings: Widely considered the most detailed string library ever recorded, with long, short, slurred and portamento articulations and individual bow changes. You get 1st and 2nd Violins, Violas, Celli, Basses and Full Strings, plus a newly recorded 18 Violins patch and a new Ensemble for instant, epic cinematic weight.
• Hollywood Brass: Fanfares, romantic melodies and monstrous low brass, with separate and combined articulations. Two and three Trumpets, two and six French Horns, Trombones, Bass Trombone and Low Brass sit alongside Solo Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn, Tuba and Cimbasso, with newly recorded Trumpets and Trombones for Opus.
• Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds: Regal, sharp and subtle, with complete command of every articulation. Flute, Piccolo, Alto and Bass Flute, Oboe, English Horn, Clarinet, Eb, Bass and Contrabass Clarinet, Bassoon and Contrabassoon, joined by newly recorded three-player Flutes, Clarinets and Bassoons for fuller section writing.
• Hollywood Orchestral Percussion: Timpani, bass drums, snares, field drums, marching ensembles, Taos drums, cymbals, plus glockenspiel, marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, celesta, crotales, chimes, anvils and a Mahler hammer. Combo kits or individual instruments, whichever you want.
• Hollywood Solo Violin, Cello and Harp: The exposed lines a section cannot play. Responsive legato with sustains, flautando, grand detache, marcato, martele, spiccato, pizzicato and pre-recorded sforzando, plus a harp with bisbigliando, harmonics, gliss technique, nail pick and plucks. Real performance detail.

Hollywood Orchestrator, Your Blockbuster Score Machine

Hold a few chords with one hand, shape expression with the other, and Hollywood Orchestrator writes the orchestration around you. Over 600 customizable presets are split into Ensembles for rich arrangements, Ostinatos for rhythmic tension and moving melodic lines, and Scores for classic Hollywood orchestrations you can lift and rework. Underneath sits the Scoring Engine, where you rewrite any step sequencer pattern or swap the instruments and voicings of any preset, and a Mixer for volume, pan, EQ and detailed reverb control. Built entirely from this library's own instruments. The Action, Adventure, Horror, Comedy and Drama expansion packs are included, adding over 100 further presets. New composers get the sound in seconds. Working composers hit deadlines.

The OPUS Engine, Storage And iLok Licensing

OPUS downloads instruments individually, so a library that reaches 950 GB with every mic position takes only the space you allow it. Five mic positions as standard, Close, Mid, Main, Surround and Vintage, with a sixth Stage mic on the Opus recordings. Runs on macOS and Windows as VST2, VST3, AU, AAX and standalone, authorized by a free iLok account, no physical key.