THE ORCHESTRA COMPLETE 4 BY SONUSCORE & BEST SERVICE
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
We first took an in depth look at Sonuscore’s The Orchestra Complete back in December 2020, and in that version 2 release were impressed by it’s unique and full featured approach to orchestral scoring.
Two major updates later, Sonuscore have now released The orchestra Complete 4, and if we concluded that the package was complete back then, it’s now positively bursting at the seams, with new content that has seen it grow from 14GB to 27GB, which is reflective of the increased number of instruments, presets, and samples.
It still remains intuitive to use, with an abundance of dedicated presets that feature cleverly scripted animated full section orchestral phrases that will flexibly follow your notes and chords, orchestral rhythms, and also a shed load of Single instruments, ensembles, choirs, and very useful orchestral effects which should cover you for every orchestral scoring eventuality.
as I summarized in that last review, this really is a one stop orchestral scoring toolkit in a box, let’s lift the lid on version 4 and see what’s new!
TECH SPECS
The library runs in Kontakt version 7.10.7 or higher, either the full or free Kontakt Player edition.
It is also compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol hosting the above specified versions of Kontakt.
The library requires 27.3GB of free disk space, and utilises the NCW file format for the samples.
There is a single Orchestra Complete 4 master Kontakt NKI preset, however there are many more NKI presets available covering specific instruments and categories.
These come in the form of folders and sub folders far too numerous to document here, but top level instrument folders include:
Strings, Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion, Keys & Harp, Choirs, Strings FX, Brass FX, Woodwinds FX, Orchestra FX, & Legacy.
There are also over 400 Kontakt NKM multi presets, these are not supported directly within Komplete Kontrol, so need to be loaded directly into Kontakt separately.
these presets have been constructed by loading individual presets into separate Kontakt slots, and cover Orchestral Rhythms, Animated Orchestra, & Orchestral Voicings.
Finally, we have a large collection of 826 Kontakt NKSN snapshot presets, which are divided into the same 3 categories as the multi’s, however looking at the preset names, they do not appear to be mere duplications, making the total preset count pretty impressive!
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
Download and installation comes via the Best Service download utility, this is not particularly screen reader friendly, however the task is still achievable with some diligent use of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and a little patience!
Once finished, you will have a fully compiled Orchestra Complete 4 library folder, which if not already in situ, should be moved to your preferred third party Komplete Kontrol factory content location.
Finally, you need to go into Native Access, and register the provided serial, and then locate the folder to complete the authorisation process.
Launching Komplete Kontrol either in the standalone application, or plug-in, will auto scan the product into the factory browser, where it will be found under Best Service as the vendor.
FULL KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS CAN BE FOUND AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW, FOLLOWING THE MEDIA SECTION
ACCESSIBILITY
The NKS mappings for The Orchestra Complete 4 remain consistent with previous releases, namely access to mixing, pan, reverb, EQ, compression.
These are of course all fairly basic control functions, with the more advanced features such as sequence editing, midi data drag & drop, GUI instrument and individual slot loading still remaining outside of the realistic expectations of the NKS protocol, which unfortunately cannot be avoided.
The Orchestra Complete 4 is now compatible with NKS2, although in practical terms, this does not really translate into any noticeable changes in accessibility or workflow.
When cross referencing the parameters that have been made automatable within Kontakt via a DAW parameter list, they are the same as the NKS template, had there been more, the Kontrol MK3 keyboard I was using for this review would have automapped them as extended parameters.
It would be good to see GUI instruments selectable and loadable for each of the 5 possible slots via NKS, also the ability to double or half the playback tempo synced speed of the animated presets in relation to your DAW project tempo could be implemented. There is certainly still ample room to add more NKS pages if these extras were ever to be considered for a future release.
TOC4 – DELIVERING THE ORCHESTRA TO YOUR DAW
The premise for the animated orchestra section of TOC4 is simple, yet technically much more complex under the hood. Unlike baked-in phrase based sample libraries, TOC4 uses expertly orchestrated midi sequences and arpeggios that will faithfully follow your own choices of note and chord progressions.
The 5 instrument slots come pre-loaded with appropriate instruments for the musical genres they reflect, and you are able to adjust the relationship between them using NKS controls for volume, pan, reverb etc.
The graphical browser that sighted users would use do break the presets down into moods and styles, however via the Komplete Kontrol browser they are tied to Native Instruments own categorisation of types, sub types, and character tagging, so the preset name is the only real clue regarding genre and mood.
The presets do offer information for time signatures, which is helpful, but the ability to differentiate between the newly added content material can be a little tricky, although the newer animated orchestra presets are suffixed with the letters KS (more details of which later).
To this end, each new iteration of The Orchestra Complete has added fresh content, and although not displayed as a separate bank within the Komplete Kontrol browser, they are generally distinguishable by their names within the preset titles.
These are Strings of Winter, Horns of Hell, Woods of The Wild, and this time around we have Forces of Fury – which deliver some powerful ensemble strings and expressive cinematic percussion.
Incidentally, each are also available as individual expansion packs which can be purchased and added or run separately to any existing version of The Orchestra Complete, if for example the latest full flagship product is not required.
If you have already read our tech specs section, you may have noted the sheer volume of included factory presets, The Orchestra Complete 4 has now added a further 150 plus to this constantly expanding collection, so if you are a seasoned preset prowler, then you are definitely in for a fun time indeed!
PLAYING THE MOVIES
Working through the animated orchestra presets is a totally compelling and absorbing pastime, certainly in my case I found that 2 hours had quickly rushed by, and I had only got as far as the letter C in the alphabetical preset title list.
As always, the musical instrumentation and arrangements have been very well put together, and highly reflect the popular movie scoring styles and techniques that we are all familiar with.
You will find yourself on a musical journey through ‘Harry Potter’ & ‘Lord of the Rings’ influenced arrangements, or if Super Heroes, Rom Com, Action, Thriller, Dramas or Suspense is more your thing, then you will also be sure to find something of use here.
For me, the real beauty of TOC4, is that there still remains enough flexibility for composers to put their own stamp on a composition, whilst utilising the animated orchestra presets either in full or in part with the other included components is like having a helping hand if you happen to find yourself competing against the clock to reach a deadline.
The additional Orchestral Rhythms and Orchestral Voicings provide you with more creative flavours, where perhaps you may wish to overdub some more customised melodies, specific articulations, or special orchestral based effects into your project.
ARTICULATIONS
On the topic of articulations, the entire roll call of instruments and their included articulations does not make for light reading, the list of instruments themselves is already expansive, and generally speaking unless you require something extraordinarily exotic, the available articulations should meet the demands of most orchestral composers.
I have included a link to the manual with a full list of instruments and their related keyswitchable articulations in the media section at the end of the review.
KEYSWITCHES
As well as using the traditional keyswitche method for changing the instrument articulations, Sonuscore have now introduced their innovative song section feature into the new Orchestra Complete 4 content.
As I eluded to earlier, these are identified by the KS suffix on any of the relevant animated orchestra presets.
This useful feature breaks the pre-programmed material down into four possible musical variations, typically, intro, main A, main B, and outro, and in doing so, alters the musical instrumentation and adjusts the complexity of the arrangement appropriately, which can be a big time saver.
This feature is also common to Sonuscore’s other modern scoring library, The Score, which we reviewed back in July 2024, and also The Pulse (Electronic Music Scoring Tool),reviewed in March 2025.
TOC4 – NEW CONTENT
There is so much content within the Orchestra Complete 4, that it is probably worth at this juncture, taking a moment to jot down the main new editions.
As mentioned there are in excess of 150 new animated orchestra presets to explore.
When it comes to instruments, there are some welcome new editions:
Low String Ensemble, Unpitched Percussion (Taikos, Tom Ensemble, Gran Cassa, Tam Tam, Snare Drum, Piatti, Suspended Cymbals), Cinematic Hits, Concert Bass Drums, Concert Toms, Metal Drums, Percussion Ensemble, Snares, Special Percussion, Taiko Drums, & Wood Drums.
These are totally new recordings, with the percussion having been recorded in London, and certainly add some nice big epic sounds into the package.
Another new feature is Add 8va, this potentially allows you to add an additional plus 1 octave voice to instruments in each of the sound slots, in practice however this is not mapped as an NKS control, although I did find it as a keyswitch in some presets, for example ‘Big String Sustain Voicing 1’, this sounded fantastic, and would work very well for a final crescendo at the part of a cue to heighten the sense of emotion.
OVERALL SOUND
The sound and quality of The Orchestra Complete 4 is perfectly usable for finished projects where budgets and deadlines may be prohibitive. The samples have not been processed and polished as acutely as some libraries, but this is actually part of the appeal, they load very quickly, and work cohesively together as a whole, making them ideal for even mid range powered laptop based systems, great for travelling orchestrators.
The demos on the Sonuscore product page speak for themselves, with some fine work having been submitted to show off the potential of the library.
I would also recommend checking out the walkthrough videos to gain further understanding of how the Orchestra Complete 4 sections might work for you.
Finally, there is a wonderful opportunity to get a hands on taste of how The Orchestra Complete series works by picking up a free copy of The Orchestra Elements, this little gem is Kontakt player compatible, and includes 30 presets divided between 3 categories, a link is included in the media section.
CONCLUSION
It is quite difficult to summarise the entire Orchestra Complete 4 package in a relatively short amount of review space without feeling like I have missed something out.
I do believe that it continues to represent a great value all in one package for any composer looking for a library that can provide a good overall orchestral composition tool with a speedy workflow that is also capable of producing professional sounding results without an in depth knowledge of orchestration.
In terms of accessibility, there are certainly some more advanced features within the library that unfortunately we are unable to access, but this is true of many flagship libraries on the market, the crucial controls are present, however there are one or two features that could potentially still be added to NKS in the future to improve things just a little more for blind users.
Overall though, The Orchestra Complete 4 represents a well rounded, flexible package that can reliably form the centre of any composers orchestral scoring palette, regardless of whether they be an amateur or a seasoned professional, each will be able to readily find a viable use case for it’s place on their hard drive!
The Orchestra Complete 4 is available from the Sonuscore website for $479.00 (upgrade offers are available for existing owners – see product page)
The Orchestra Complete Product Page:
TOC 4 – Getting Started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bk1yuw-k4
TOC 4 – Preset Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEY0KY7xk9E
The Orchestra Complete 4 User Manual (including instrument & articulation list):
https://manuals.sonuscore.com/the-orchestra-complete-4.html
The Orchestra Elements (free taster library):
https://www.sonuscore.com/shop/the-orchestra-elements/?srsltid=AfmBOoqJP0bqiqBtYU2o3nUM2FEIxZ3ow-3-6zKIywDY9buDYEVO9WZd
KOMPLETE KONTROL PLUG-IN EDIT NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS
Multiple Articulation Presets
Page One – Equalisation & Reverb
Knob 1 – Equalisation On/Off
Knob 2 – Low Gain
Knob 3 – High Gain
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Reverb On/Off
Knob 6 – Reverb Mix
Knob 7 & 8 – Unallocated
Single Articulation Presets
All as per Multiple Articulation mappings (above)
The Orchestra Complete 4 Presets
Page One – Volume
Knob 1 – Slot 1 Volume
Knob 2 – Slot 2 Volume
Knob 3 – Slot 3 Volume
Knob 4 – Slot 4 Volume
Knob 5 – Slot 5 Volume
Knob 6 to 8 – Unallocated
Page Two – Panning
Knob 1 to 5 – Pan Control for Slots 1 thru 5
Page Three – Send & Reverb
Knob 1 – Slot 1 Send
Knob 2 – Slot 2 Send
Knob 3 – Slot 3 Send
Knob 4 – Slot 4 Send
Knob 5 – Slot 5 Send
Knob 6 – Unallocated
Knob 7 – Reverb On/Off
Knob 8 – Reverb Return
Page Four – Equalisation & Compressor
Knob 1 – Equalisation On/off
Knob 2 – Preset 1
Knob 3 – Preset 2
Knob 4 – Unallocated
Knob 5 – Compressor On/off
Knob 6 – Threshold
Knob 7 – Make up
Knob 8 – Unallocated
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
19TH July 2025
KK-ACCESS Our Transparency Statement
KK-Access believe in integrity, and through respect for our readers,that our product reviews should strive to be be honest and unbiased, and that any of our opinions should not be influenced by financial reward or other incentives from a plug-in or sample library developer for which a review of their wares may be a subject matter.
Therefore while offers are appreciated, we do not accept,, and will continue to decline any offers of affiliation links, for all products under review for publication on this website.
Disclaimer
The author can not accept any responsibility for subsequent purchase decisions made as a result of this review,or Any inaccuracies found therein. All opinions and product functions stated are based solely on information perceived as a blind user whilst using the product and/or gathered from official factual sources such as the developer, web or supplied product manual.
About the Author
Based in Buckinghamshire, England, Chris Ankin has worked as a freelance review writer and contributor with articles published in Sound On Sound, Home & Studio Recording and ST Format Magazines.
He has also successfully worked extensively in and around the music, recording, film Soundtrack scoring, Game & media composition, the creative arts, Charitable trusts,publishing, music streaming and property investments since 1982 whilst continuously and deliberately managing to evade any mainstream recognition under his own name by the use of various pseudonyms.
E&OE
KK-ACCESS 