# Spitfire Spiccato Deathmatch!



## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

Iceni vs Legendary Low Strings!


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## liquidlino (Jan 4, 2022)

For me, whilst icini has the bigger more epic sound out of the box, that's also baked in, whereas you could apply verb to low strings and get a similar outcome, but you also get the original clearer sound to use too. Are there close mic positions for both libraries? How close are they?


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

liquidlino said:


> For me, whilst icini has the bigger more epic sound out of the box, that's also baked in, whereas you could apply verb to low strings and get a similar outcome, but you also get the original clearer sound to use too. Are there close mic positions for both libraries? How close are they?


Thanks for watching!

Both libraries utilize the close mics in the examples, and they’re turned up pretty high!


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## jbuhler (Jan 4, 2022)

I like the format except the idea that there has to be a winner when the examples so far show why it's nice to have both options.


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## Soundbed (Jan 4, 2022)

jbuhler said:


> I like the format except the idea that there has to be a winner when the examples so far show why it's nice to have both options.


It’s all fun and games.


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## Bman70 (Jan 4, 2022)

I like the attack a little better on LLS, a bit less tame... although to me they both could use a slightly crazier, chaotic attack and bow noise for stuff like that. IMO for $49 no-brainer though.


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## jbuhler (Jan 4, 2022)

Soundbed said:


> It’s all fun and games.


Of course it is, and Mike does a great job with it. I do enjoy the match format all the way up to the point where I need to declare a winner or even a draw! Which of course is part of the genre, and so can't really be avoided. But I don't like that moment!


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## Bluemount Score (Jan 4, 2022)

I prefer the somewhat cleaner sound of LLS


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## Noeticus (Jan 4, 2022)

They both sound GREAT!!!


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

jbuhler said:


> I like the format except the idea that there has to be a winner when the examples so far show why it's nice to have both options.


Totally! I add a question mark to "Winner" in the video, but that doesn't help much with the poll, does it? So i added a third option: Both!


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## Sarah Mancuso (Jan 4, 2022)

In isolation I'm preferring Iceni's more lush and cavernous sound, though I can see the uses for both.


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## Mr Greg G (Jan 4, 2022)

I prefer the winner because it sounds the best!!!


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## Noeticus (Jan 4, 2022)

The WINNER is Mike Fox who has a great voice for this video and can play sample libraries in a way that sounds like a live recording!!!

Hail, Mike!


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

Noeticus said:


> The WINNER is Mike Fox who has a great voice for this video and can play sample libraries in a way that sounds like a live recording!!!
> 
> Hail, Mike!


Wow! That’s one hell of a compliment!


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## liquidlino (Jan 4, 2022)

Mike Fox said:


> Wow! That’s one hell of a compliment!


I'm very keen to learn how you do what sounds like the rapid rebowing part? Sounds like up)down)up)down. Is that just how the libraries work, or do you do something specific?


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## José Herring (Jan 4, 2022)

Man Legendary Low Strings just has "THAT" sound. And, it didn't do as badly in the shorts department as I thought it would.

Care to post the midi so that we can unofficially extend the fight to other libraries and make it a brawl?


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

liquidlino said:


> I'm very keen to learn how you do what sounds like the rapid rebowing part? Sounds like up)down)up)down. Is that just how the libraries work, or do you do something specific?


It's automatic! Well, for the most part it is. You always want to adjust the velocity for each note.

Some libraries do the fast spiccato thing better than others, but spiccatos rely heavily on finely sliced round robbins to achieve a good/tight rebowing effect.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

José Herring said:


> Man Legendary Low Strings just has "THAT" sound. And, it didn't do as badly in the shorts department as I thought it would.
> 
> Care to post the midi so that we can unofficially extend the fight to other libraries and make it a brawl?


Sure, I can post the midi when I get back to my studio. 

It's basically just phrases from Action Strings 2 with personal/custom adjustments made to them, so If you have AS2 you can definitely achieve something similar! You just have to make adjustments so that the velocities properly correspond to the individual library, if that makes sense.


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## RonOrchComp (Jan 4, 2022)

To me, the clear winner is *Legendary Iceni Low One Strings*


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## Noeticus (Jan 4, 2022)

Bring forth the MIDI.


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## ism (Jan 4, 2022)

Both of these are great. 

Is it just me or is it not quite an apples to oranges comparison though. The AIR library sounds like it has quite a bit of close mic ... and the AR road, well the room sounds absolutely fantastic, but it's odd that AIR would sound bigger than AR.

Could just me (I don't use low shorts a lot). But it could also be a difference in how the mics are engineered in the respective spaces. 


In any event, a useful and fun contrast here. Thanks!


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## Noeticus (Jan 4, 2022)

Action Strings 2 is quite impressive. I like the convenient midi editing part of it.

Are there any other midi phrase editors like it out there?


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## dunamisstudio (Jan 4, 2022)

The decision is splitting hairs for me. At first Iceni, I love the sound since I bought it. But LLS, sounds great and then introduce price, that makes it a great option.


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## Trash Panda (Jan 4, 2022)

Hard to choose, but I’m going with LLS purely because I already own it.


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## jbuhler (Jan 4, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> Hard to choose, but I’m going with LLS purely because I already own it.


Always the safest choice. I own them both which is probably why I was undecided.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

Noeticus said:


> Action Strings 2 is quite impressive. I like the convenient midi editing part of it.
> 
> Are there any other midi phrase editors like it out there?


The Orchestra Complete is the only other library i can think of. No surprise there, since they’re both made by the same developer.

Opus has Orchestrator, but the workflow is totally different, and there’s no real midi export feature, to my knowledge.

Actually, Sonokinetic may have something as well.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

ism said:


> Both of these are great.
> 
> Is it just me or is it not quite an apples to oranges comparison though. The AIR library sounds like it has quite a bit of close mic ... and the AR road, well the room sounds absolutely fantastic, but it's odd that AIR would sound bigger than AR.
> 
> ...


Yeah, different recording spaces, different mic placements, and even different stereo imaging.


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## ism (Jan 4, 2022)

The thing is though, that they each *mean* something completely different. 

Safest to just get both.


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## jbuhler (Jan 4, 2022)

ism said:


> The thing is though, that they each *mean* something completely different.
> 
> Safest to just get both.


After all, one never can have too many string libraries!


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## Soundbed (Jan 4, 2022)

Mike Fox said:


> The Orchestra Complete is the only other library i can think of. No surprise there, since they’re both made by the same developer.
> 
> Opus has Orchestrator, but the workflow is totally different, and there’s no real midi export feature, to my knowledge.
> 
> Actually, Sonokinetic may have something as well.


You can get the midi out of opus orchestrator but I think you need to “record” it iirc. I need to add that to my video list …


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## Robo Rivard (Jan 4, 2022)

They both sound great. Iceni is already prebalanced, while LLS as a very open sound, with all kinds of frequencies sticking out.

To me, the best comparison would be with Toontrack products. Iceni would be part of the EZDrummer series, with wonderful kits ready to go, and LLS would be SDX products, with raw samples needing to be tamed. Iceni would be more of an instant gratification (nothing wrong with that).


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## jamie8 (Jan 4, 2022)

as far as being able to record the midi and drag and drop i believe kirk hunter kinetic strings does this


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## Bman70 (Jan 4, 2022)

What reverb on the voiceover though? Black Hole? It sounds like an actual space somewhat, which I'm attributing to some subtle delay.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

Midi added!

Btw, for the 80bpm file, I had to tune the higher notes up half a step in Kontakt since Iceni only goes so high.

In other words, i dragged the higher notes down half a step on the grid, and tuned it up half a step in Kontakt.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 4, 2022)

Bman70 said:


> What reverb on the voiceover though? Black Hole? It sounds like an actual space somewhat, which I'm attributing to some subtle delay.


It's actually a few different reverbs: Spaces 2, Valhalla, and the built in reverb from Screenflow.


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## KEM (Jan 5, 2022)

I’m going with Iceni on this one, it sounds a lot warmer and has more of that Zimmer low strings sound that I love so much, but knowing me I’d just layer both and then compress and limit them like crazy so it has the KEM sound


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## mussnig (Jan 5, 2022)

Well, I guess for non-traditional/epic/trailer type music, Iceni would probably be a better fit due to its seating arrangement (at least when comparing these two out-of-the-box).

That being said, I think that both libraries sound great but I would have hoped that Iceni would give some "wilder" sound.


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