IK Multimedia today unveiled Miroslav Philharmonik Classik Edition (site not updated), an introductory version to the company's virtual instrument orchestral plug-in. Based on the classic Miroslav Orchestra sample collection masterpiece, Miroslav Philharmonik CE is a complete orchestral instrument that covers solo instruments and ensembles. The plug-in includes 250 orchestral sounds spanning the entire orchestra in 1.5GB of samples based on the original Miroslav Vitous Symphonic Orchestra sample collections. The plug-in requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later, and is due to ship in February for $250.

Miroslav Philharmonik CE features a 16 part multitimbral sample-based orchestral workstation; 20 Classic DSP effects; four Insert effects instrument; four Master effects with separate sends; master reverb derived from CSR; multiple synth engines including STRETCH and Pitch-Shift/Time-Stretch; a zone feature for accurate single sample editing; full MIDI control of performance parameters; part preset and Combi preset customization features; 256 notes polyphony; and availability as a VST, RTAS, or AU plug-in for Mac OS X or Windows from the same box.

"Miroslav's sounds have a musicality and playability rarely found in other orchestral sample collections. There has never been a body of work that has captured the same depth and beauty of real players putting feeling and emotion into the samples quite like the collection assembled by Miroslav Vitous," writes IK Multimedia. "A highly accomplished musician (one of the founding members of the band Weather Report), Miroslav knew how to bring the most musical aspects of the instruments and players together in a sample collection."