# Spitfire Albion NEO



## Dandezebra (Jan 28, 2020)

I am genuinely surprised at the lack of conversation about this release. Is anyone using it?

Enjoying it?

Disliking it?

Loathing it?

Coveting it?

Nurtur... OK. I'll stop.


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## jbuhler (Jan 28, 2020)

Dandezebra said:


> I am genuinely surprised at the lack of conversation about this release. Is anyone using it?
> 
> Enjoying it?
> 
> ...


If only there wasn’t already a whole thread about it!


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## jbuhler (Jan 28, 2020)

I shouldn’t be quite so snarky since the other thread is in the commercial forum where we’re supposed to be on good behavior and not compare it to Ark II or IV.


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## Symfoniq (Jan 28, 2020)

I just can't bring myself to buy it, even though I qualify for the biggest possible discount (already own all the other Albions). I like the strings, but can't ever see myself using the brass or winds.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 28, 2020)

I dig the strings, but i already own a bunch of stuff that does a great job doing what i hear from Neo. I think it's just too redundant to justify the purchase.

Lovely sound though, minus the gross bacon sizzling.


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## jbuhler (Jan 28, 2020)

Symfoniq said:


> I just can't bring myself to buy it, even though I qualify for the biggest possible discount (already own all the other Albions). I like the strings, but can't ever see myself using the brass or winds.


It really depends on how you use these things. If you are using Albion One extensively for sketching or whatnot and want something similar for a chamber ensemble, Neo will fit the bill. Also if you want something like Tundra but with a smaller orchestra, Neo will again fit the bill. In the other thread, @ism suggested Neo and a good woodwind library as a starter set for non-epic media scoring. If you add to that something like Organic Samples' $2 Majestic Horn (through Orchestral Tools), you'd have a nice chamber set up.



Mike Fox said:


> Lovely sound though, minus the gross bacon sizzling.


Why do you hate breakfast?


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## 2chris (Jan 29, 2020)

I was really excited when I heard it would features smaller section sizes and new instruments. Then when I watched the walk-through for Stephson's Steamband, this was the section that blew me away. If I had to guess, I think the vocal majority here isn't buying it, and it would appear Spitfire didn't give many review copies out to get that hype going. I agree with OP, and I'm hoping we see more comments. I'm not seeing independent reviews that would push me over the edge into "buy" territory yet.


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## ism (Jan 29, 2020)

2chris said:


> I was really excited when I heard it would features smaller section sizes and new instruments. Then when I watched the walk-through for Stephson's Steamband, this was the section that blew me away. If I had to guess, I think the vocal majority here isn't buying it, and it would appear Spitfire didn't give many review copies out to get that hype going. I agree with OP, and I'm hoping we see more comments. I'm not seeing independent reviews that would push me over the edge into "buy" territory yet.



There's lots of enthusiasm for they library on the other thread (including from myself - I think it's wholly new and exciting). 

I mean, I suppose you could argue it's a bit niche. But only if you allow epic trailer music to be archetypal of the mainstream and anything deviating into softer more textured music as what's marginal. 

Which may be true on certain vi-c threads, but I really don't its true in general.


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## jbuhler (Jan 29, 2020)

ism said:


> There's lots of enthusiasm for they library on the other thread (including from myself - I think it's wholly new and exciting).
> 
> I mean, I suppose you could argue it's a bit niche. But only if you allow epic trailer music to be archetypal of the mainstream and anything deviating into softer more textured music as what's marginal.
> 
> Which may be true on certain vi-c threads, but I really don't its true in general.


I think your idea of Neo and a good woodwind library (perhaps supplemented with the $2 horn from Organic Samples) as a starter set for none epic orchestral work makes a lot of sense.


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## jtnyc (Jan 29, 2020)

Regarding the Stevenson sections, I have Albion 1 Legacy, Albion One, Albion 5 and eDNA Earth. So much of this sounds the same. There is massive redundancy throughout these. So many similar to nearly identical sounding presets. I have gone through all 4 and have boiled it down to maybe 25-30 presets for each out of the up to 2 hundred or more available in each. There are some great sounds, but fishing through folders with long lists of identical sounding presets is a painful waste of time. It pays to go though it all and make a Quickload favorite folder your favs. With that said, I have no interest in more of the same.

Neo does sound nice and if I didn’t have Tundra I might have considered it.


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## jbuhler (Jan 29, 2020)

jtnyc said:


> Regarding the Stevenson sections, I have Albion 1 Legacy, Albion One, Albion 5 and eDNA Earth. So much of this sounds the same. There is massive redundancy throughout these. So many similar to nearly identical sounding presets. I have gone through all 4 and have boiled it down to maybe 25-30 presets for each out of the up to 2 hundred or more available in each. There are some great sounds, but fishing through folders with long lists of identical sounding presets is a painful waste of time. It pays to go though it all and make a Quickload favorite folder your favs. With that said, I have no interest in more of the same.
> 
> Neo does sound nice and if I didn’t have Tundra I might have considered it.


With respect to the steamband stuff, I tend to agree, though I suspect the 25-30 presets you chose would differ from the 25-30 I chose. And I've found an overabundance of presets to be a general problem with synths. But then so many of us turn around and buy more presets, so it's hard to say that the approach of offering lots of presets is a problem the developers have created. The Segla patches are a nice addition. Some of the previous steamband stuff had done similar things, but I don't recall anything as comprehensive and it does make it an easy way to morph between the orchestral patches as well as warp them. Yes, there are other ways of doing this, but this is quick and easy.

I find Neo generally more flexible than Tundra. Neo is also a chamber sound rather than the full orchestral sound of Tundra. Tundra has a bit more variety in terms of the characteristic frail, edge of silence sounds. But it doesn't do standard shorts and longs as well as Neo does. But it does come down to what you think you will get use out of. Personally I think I will end up using Neo more than I use Tundra.


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## dzilizzi (Jan 29, 2020)

There was a Sample Talk thread on it, but it just died out after release of the actual library. Then it seems people either lost interest or moved to the official thread. 

I think it sounds nice, but I can't see any use for it right now with everything I have. More of the same really.


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## ism (Jan 29, 2020)

I'm sure that if you take the various Albion hybrid sounds though lens of "transcendent synth music" they all function pretty similarly. 

But it seems to me that the point of building synth patches on orchestral samples is precisely the spatialization and sense of presence of the original samples is (hopefully) preserved in the synth. 

A lot of synth music (in so far as I understand it) seem to me to be going quite precisely a sense of transcendence. And in this sense Albion are nothing special, or at least limited compared to the Omnispheres of this space.

Conversely, at least a certain type of orchestral music is going for a sense of "embodiment" (which is why the tree mic are so important, and probably also why I've never been able to make anything sound remotely satisfying with the VSL (absent MIR)). 


So here's my perceptual take on the Albion patches (riffing on a comment by Paul in one of the eDNA videos) : 

Insofar as the spatial presence and embodiment inherent in the orchestral samples of the Abions is preserved (ie the processing isn't so crazy as to completely obliterate it) it breaks the dichotomy of the transcendence-embodiment duality, and you get a result that, instead of participating in the duality inherent in the transcendence-embodiment spectrum, gives a more multivalent sense of simultaneous transcendence and embodiment. 

Understood in a synth-as-transcendece paradigm, the Albion are weak tea compared to the vastness of the Omnispheres or the world, and the distinction between hybrid patches across the different Albions is probably quite minimal.

But understood in terms of how the underlying orchestral samples bring this spatialization/ presence/ embodiment to a sound - assuming of course that your track is located with a musicality of embodiment rather than simply synthy-transcendence-as-usual ) - I feel the difference between the hybrid patches in Albion One, V and Neo (not sure about III) are enormous. 

That is, they offer completely difference senses of this "transcendent-embodiment".


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## ism (Jan 29, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> There was a Sample Talk thread on it, but it just died out after release of the actual library. Then it seems people either lost interest or moved to the official thread.
> 
> I think it sounds nice, but I can't see any use for it right now with everything I have. More of the same really.



Well here's the other thread. 






INTRODUCING Albion NEO. The next chapter in our bestselling Albion series.


...I think that brings up another good point. This was never meant to be a comprehensive new option for a sax wind ensemble. It's a toolset geared towards a specific style and aesthetic. If any of you were waiting for a good orchestra sax library, this just ain't it.I didn't think this was it...




vi-control.net






There's lots of good, engaged discussion on in (in addition to at least a little bit of the usual nonsense). 

And while its true that there hasn't been a post in about 4 hours, I don't think this could as a thread "dying out", and I particular don't think this warrants an interpretation of a general loss of interest in the library.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 29, 2020)

ism said:


> Well here's the other thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's the commerical announcements thread. The Sample Talk thread is the one that lost momentum.






Spitfire Albion VI??


What do you guys think this one is going to be about???




vi-control.net


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## jbuhler (Jan 29, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> That's the commerical announcements thread. The Sample Talk thread is the one that lost momentum.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That commercial thread has a lot more critical discussion than is typical for commercial threads. I kept having to remind myself that it was the commercial thread and not the sample talk thread and so I shouldn't bring up comparisons to Ark II and IV.


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## ism (Jan 29, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> That's the commerical announcements thread. The Sample Talk thread is the one that lost momentum.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ah. In which case a lot of what was discussed on there shouldn't have been. Quite a good thread for critical discussion on the whole though.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 29, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> That commercial thread has a lot more critical discussion than is typical for commercial threads. I kept having to remind myself that it was the commercial thread and not the sample talk thread and so I shouldn't bring up comparisons to Ark II and IV.


I think you're right. Probably a bit too much drama for a commercial thread, which is one reason I bounced, aside from ultimately losing interest in Neo.


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## KallumS (Jan 29, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> I think you're right. Probably a bit too much drama for a commercial thread, which is one reason I bounced, aside from ultimately losing interest in Neo.



Just wait for the next library, it's guaranteed to be a game changer.


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## artomatic (Jan 29, 2020)

I passed.


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## Celestial Aeon (Jan 29, 2020)

I started fiddling around with it. I have to say it's sort of like British Drama library but with Albion style execution. Perfect for that intimate sound.  this is the first test run I came up with out of the box in 15 minutes so it's definitely efficient tool to work with. Tried to find my inner Glass and Johannsson with that one


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## ism (Jan 29, 2020)

Celestial Aeon said:


> I started fiddling around with it. I have to say it's sort of like British Drama library but with Albion style execution. Perfect for that intimate sound.  this is the first test run I came up with out of the box in 15 minutes so it's definitely efficient tool to work with. Tried to find my inner Glass and Johannsson with that one



This really brings out a certain dimension of the sound. Intimacy and detail you could never get with Tundra, presence and embodiment you could never get with BDT. 

I’m dying to experiment with mixing them all.


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## Mike Fox (Jan 29, 2020)

I really do dig the sound of the strings in Neo. If only they sold each section individually.


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## ism (Jan 29, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> I really do dig the sound of the strings in Neo. If only they sold each section individually.


Yes - I think , branding vagarities aside, it would make an amazing OACE volume II.


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## Celestial Aeon (Jan 29, 2020)

ism said:


> This really brings out a certain dimension of the sound. Intimacy and detail you could never get with Tundra, presence and embodiment you could never get with BDT.
> 
> I’m dying to experiment with mixing them all.



For sure, Tundra, BD and NEO make a fitting trio that can pretty much yield whatever you fancy in this intimate drama kind of sound. Very beautiful combination. Add maybe Olafur Arnalds Evo to the mix and voila.


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## ism (Jan 29, 2020)

Celestial Aeon said:


> Add maybe Olafur Arnalds Evo to the mix and voila.



Read this wrong on a first pass. But I'll add that the Spitfire solo strings viola has a fabulous timbre and presence that would also fit perfectly here, especially some of the more textural articulations, which I really love.


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## ism (Jan 30, 2020)

dzilizzi said:


> This is the original discussion thread that was on Sample Talk that died out:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Quite right, I realize that now. 

But the larger point is still that I think there's been plenty of critical discussion, and it seems a reasonably good example of vi-c working quite well as a critical space while (mostly) avoiding toxic rabbit holes.


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## dzilizzi (Jan 30, 2020)

ism said:


> Quite right, I realize that now.
> 
> But the larger point is still that I think there's been plenty of critical discussion, and it seems a reasonably good example of vi-c working quite well as a critical space while (mostly) avoiding toxic rabbit holes.


This is true. The Spitfire guys (and girls?) have been pretty great about not getting too upset over criticism. And really, there isn't anything not to like about Neo, it is Kontakt after all, but nothing that game changing for me as a hobbyist.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 1, 2020)

I do wonder why there are no reviews yet, f.e. by samplelibraryreviews, strongmocha, sound on sound etc.. the library is out for a while now..


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## jonesdip (Feb 3, 2020)

Just watched Cory Pelizzari's brilliant review on YouTube. Really shows off what this VSI us all about and adds a generous number of his own tweaked patches and great multis for free. Thank you Cory! As a Loegria fan I wondered whether this would be a worthwhile addition. Thank you Cory. I'm in!


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## zeng (Feb 3, 2020)

Celestial Aeon said:


> I started fiddling around with it. I have to say it's sort of like British Drama library but with Albion style execution. Perfect for that intimate sound.  this is the first test run I came up with out of the box in 15 minutes so it's definitely efficient tool to work with. Tried to find my inner Glass and Johannsson with that one



Hi Aeon,

Are the strings at the beginning from a loop/phrase patch or did you play it?


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## TomislavEP (Feb 3, 2020)

I use the sounds from Albion Legacy, Loegria, and Tundra extensively, but it's unlikely that I will "upgrade" to One and Neo in the future. First of all, I think that the upgrade price is too high for us who've paid the full price of the legacy Albions in the past. Secondly, I prefer the more delicate orchestral sounds of Legacy and Loegria to these newer installments as the former were recorded with smaller ensembles. Also, Neo didn't bring the more detailed brass and woodwind brushes, which is what I was secretly hoping to see, with Neo being a more modern alternative to Loegria. The only thing that really intrigues me about One and Neo is the far more extensive Stephenson Steam Band section. However, I feel that I can bridge this particular gap with eDNA Earth to quite some degree.


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## jbuhler (Feb 3, 2020)

Since the intro pricing is expiring soon, a couple of short demos illustrating Neo as a kind of "Little" Albion One. "A Bit of Mischief" is a kind of sketch of a theater orchestration. "Last Days" shows it as a substitute for Loegria. (Indeed the later was sketched for Loegria awhile back and then I ported it to Neo.) These are both all Neo, out of the box (except for the bend), no reverb, and mostly mix 1.


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## jbuhler (Feb 3, 2020)

TomislavEP said:


> I use the sounds from Albion Legacy, Loegria, and Tundra extensively, but it's unlikely that I will "upgrade" to One and Neo in the future. First of all, I think that the upgrade price is too high for us who've paid the full price of the legacy Albions in the past. Secondly, I prefer the more delicate orchestral sounds of Legacy and Loegria to these newer installments as the former were recorded with smaller ensembles. Also, Neo didn't bring the more detailed brass and woodwind brushes, which is what I was secretly hoping to see, with Neo being a more modern alternative to Loegria. The only thing that really intrigues me about One and Neo is the far more extensive Stephenson Steam Band section. However, I feel that I can bridge this particular gap with eDNA Earth to quite some degree.


The strings in Neo are very small ensembles. Neo is also far more versatile than Loegria. I would have also preferred winds and brass that had the potential to go smaller, divided A/B like the strings.


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## TomislavEP (Feb 3, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> Neo is also far more versatile than Loegria. I would have also preferred winds and brass that had the potential to go smaller, divided A/B like the strings.



I'm quite sure that Neo is a no-brainer companion to One, just like Loegria is to the Legacy - especially with the more detailed strings brushes to complement the ones in the more "epic" library. Have they decided to do the same with the brass and woodwinds, it would be just about perfect. Of course, Stephenson is the world on its own, and the eDNA engine that ships with One and Neo make it even more powerful and diverse. However, considering my particular needs/taste, budget and the price tag of One and Neo for us, the legacy owners, I find it very difficult to justify this upgrade.


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## jbuhler (Feb 3, 2020)

TomislavEP said:


> I'm quite sure that Neo is a no-brainer companion to One, just like Loegria is to the Legacy - especially with the more detailed strings brushes to complement the ones in the more "epic" library. Have they decided to do the same with the brass and woodwinds, it would be just about perfect. Of course, Stephenson is the world on its own, and the eDNA engine that ships with One and Neo make it even more powerful and diverse. However, considering my particular needs/taste, budget and the price tag of One and Neo for us, the legacy owners, I find it very difficult to justify this upgrade.


The problem with Loegria is that aside from the strings and the horneuph it never was an especially good complement to Albion I legacy. And as lovely as the Loegria Strings are they are quite redundant with SCS ensemble strings. The Neo Strings neatly side step this issue. They can serve as a proxy for SCS (or Studio Strings pro) but they also have several Tundra like articulations not covered by those libraries. They can also therefore also serve as a small ensemble version of Tundra. As I’ve mentioned before the woodwinds of Neo are far more useable than those in Loegria, which has recorders, and the Neo winds serve as nice complement to those in Albion One, whether the new version or the legacy. They are not hyped or epic. The brass is more complicated. It’s very similar to the Loegria horneuph but not as flexible in my opinion.

Overall I find Neo a good value at the price I paid for it. I have all the Albions, and the redundancy is not large. The price if you own several Albions is also on par with the price they offered to existing owners of legacy Albion I when they introduced Albion One. (I’m told they did offer a better upgrade price later.) I’m not saying you should buy it of course. Just trying to make clear what Neo offers.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 3, 2020)

TomislavEP said:


> owever, considering my particular needs/taste, budget and the price tag of One and Neo for us, the legacy owners, I find it very difficult to justify this upgrade



It is not an upgrade. It is a different product.


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## jbuhler (Feb 3, 2020)

Fever Phoenix said:


> It is not an upgrade. It is a different product.


Yes! And unlike One, which was basically a remake, Neo is not a remake of Loegria. Conceptually Neo is quite distinct even if there are a few spots of overlap with Loegria.


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## Lee Blaske (Feb 3, 2020)

Really liking Neo, myself. I think the sounds are gorgeous. Here's a piece using the Neo orchestra sounds in a more typical orchestral fashion (with added Spitfire timp, harp, celesta, EW choir and a touch of Studio Woodwinds Professional flute). The low end of the Neo woodwinds are great for kind of a playful Danny Elfman-ish sound. The low WW staccatos have a really nice bite.


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## jbuhler (Feb 3, 2020)

Lee Blaske said:


> Really liking Neo, myself. I think the sounds are gorgeous. Here's a piece using the Neo orchestra sounds in a more typical orchestra fashion (with added Spitfire timp, harp, celesta, EW choir and a touch of Studio Woodwinds Professional flute). The low end of the Neo woodwinds are great for kind of a playful Danny Elfman-ish sound. The low WW staccatos have a really nice bite.



Excellent! I agree. I already find the woodwinds very nice for sketching this kind of thing. The sound is more flute centric and lighter and nimbler than Albion One. There is something about the string shorts, however, that doesn't quite have the sparkle to match the woodwinds. Neo strings have very distinctive shorts, and they great for other things, but not so much for this light, playful style. Or at least I haven't yet figured out how to get that sound from them.


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## Mike Fox (Feb 3, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> The problem with Loegria is that aside from the strings and the horneuph it never was an especially good complement to Albion I legacy. And as lovely as the Loegria Strings are they are quite redundant with SCS ensemble strings. The Neo Strings neatly side step this issue. They can serve as a proxy for SCS (or Studio Strings pro) but they also have several Tundra like articulations not covered by those libraries. They can also therefore also serve as a small ensemble version of Tundra. As I’ve mentioned before the woodwinds of Neo are far more useable than those in Loegria, which has recorders, and the Neo winds serve as nice complement to those in Albion One, whether the new version or the legacy. They are not hyped or epic. The brass is more complicated. It’s very similar to the Loegria horneuph but not as flexible in my opinion.
> 
> Overall I find Neo a good value at the price I paid for it. I have all the Albions, and the redundancy is not large. The price if you own several Albions is also on par with the price they offered to existing owners of legacy Albion I when they introduced Albion One. (I’m told they did offer a better upgrade price later.) I’m not saying you should buy it of course. Just trying to make clear what Neo offers.


You may have just said the magic words.


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## Mike Fox (Feb 3, 2020)

Lee Blaske said:


> Really liking Neo, myself. I think the sounds are gorgeous. Here's a piece using the Neo orchestra sounds in a more typical orchestral fashion (with added Spitfire timp, harp, celesta, EW choir and a touch of Studio Woodwinds Professional flute). The low end of the Neo woodwinds are great for kind of a playful Danny Elfman-ish sound. The low WW staccatos have a really nice bite.



Love it!


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## Mike Fox (Feb 3, 2020)

Anyone care to show how Neo performs in the horror department?


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## jbuhler (Feb 3, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> Anyone care to show how Neo performs in the horror department?


This is the opening of Psycho, just a really quick out of the box sketch, no reverb or EQ, no tempo map, lots of cheating on articulations (there are definitely places it could do better if I knew the library better, or if I had a lot more time), etc. But it should at least give you some sense of the sound of the string hits.


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## Celestial Aeon (Feb 3, 2020)

zeng said:


> Hi Aeon,
> 
> Are the strings at the beginning from a loop/phrase patch or did you play it?



I played it (crudely) - just pushed rec and played in on a midi keyboard, didn't really tweak the midi afterwards. With more time would be possible to make it sound more fluid and realistic for sure


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## zeng (Feb 3, 2020)

Celestial Aeon said:


> I played it (crudely) - just pushed rec and played in on a midi keyboard, didn't really tweak the midi afterwards. With more time would be possible to make it sound more fluid and realistic for sure


Wow it sounds good. Last question; which patch is this? Strings A legato or what?


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## Celestial Aeon (Feb 4, 2020)

zeng said:


> Wow it sounds good. Last question; which patch is this? Strings A legato or what?



I'd have to double check but I don't think it was legato, it was some shorter strike articulation where the length of the note was what you hear.


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## TomislavEP (Feb 4, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> I’m not saying you should buy it of course. Just trying to make clear what Neo offers.



Thanks for your insights. I have a pretty good picture of some benefits that One and Neo bring over the legacy Albions. However, as I've wrote before, the current prices are too much for me. I've bought Albion Legacy in 2015. after several years contemplating the purchase, since GBP is _the _most expensive foreign currency here in Croatia and on top of it all, we have a whopping 25% VAT rate... (I won't mention our general standards). So, after I've finally pulled the trigger on Albion I and paying the original price, shelling out additional 249€ is too much for me in order to get the One. Neo would be similarly priced, though I own the Legacy, Loegria, and Tundra. For 99€ each (One and Neo), I might go for it.


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## Mike Fox (Feb 4, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> This is the opening of Psycho, just a really quick out of the box sketch, no reverb or EQ, no tempo map, lots of cheating on articulations (there are definitely places it could do better if I knew the library better, or if I had a lot more time), etc. But it should at least give you some sense of the sound of the string hits.


Thanks for posting that! Tonally, it sounds a bit like BHCT, eh? I'm not hearing much of that Lyndhurst verb in there.


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## jbuhler (Feb 4, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> Thanks for posting that! Tonally, it sounds a bit like BHCT, eh? I'm not hearing much of that Lyndhurst verb in there.


i used mostly the close mics with a bit of the others (don’t recall which) for reverb. So, yes, you can get a reasonably dry sound if you want and even the tree is less wet than other SF libraries recorded in Air. I think it will make the library more versatile.

It didn’t apply much here but some of the articulations (the bends in particular) seem to be wetter than others.


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## yhomas (Feb 4, 2020)

Celestial Aeon said:


> I started fiddling around with it. I have to say it's sort of like British Drama library but with Albion style execution. Perfect for that intimate sound.  this is the first test run I came up with out of the box in 15 minutes so it's definitely efficient tool to work with. Tried to find my inner Glass and Johannsson with that one




Enjoyed this.


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## whiskers (Feb 5, 2020)

Hmmm. A day left to decide, still tempted...


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## Silentspace2000 (Feb 5, 2020)

Well I took the plunge yesterday and have been playing around with it. Is it a dramatically different than some other Spitfire offerings?....no. However, from my perspective it does provide enough variance for it to be another valuable arrow in my musical quiver. Could I have gotten along without it already having nearly all the other Albion libraries? Probably...but so far I'm glad I bought it. If anyone is on the fence, I think jbuhler's overview summed it up pretty well in some of his previous posts. It really is nicely recorded and I personally like the more intimate approach.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

whiskers said:


> Hmmm. A day left to decide, still tempted...


here we are, again, eh?


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

The last time I was unsure like that was for MA4.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

I want to want it but am still kind of underwhelmed by the content. Do love the chamber feel of the strings and I am sure in the end it is a high quality library. Just seems like so much overlap to other SFA products.


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## jbuhler (Feb 5, 2020)

Fever Phoenix said:


> I want to want it but am still kind of underwhelmed by the content. Do love the chamber feel of the strings and I am sure in the end it is a high quality library. Just seems like so much overlap to other SFA products.


Not trying to convince you, but so far I’ve been finding the whole is greater than the parts with Neo. Everything just kind of fits together nicely, making it very inspiring to work with. I generally use ensemble libraries like Neo for sketching, and Neo is great for that. But Neo is also a bit of its own world that can be supplemented with other libraries in a bunch of directions. So it’s also very versatile. I’ve spent several hours a day since I got the library just exploring it, layering articulations, working on little noodles and it’s just fun. I’m even growing fond of the frying bacon... 

I also have pretty much all the SF libraries Neo overlaps with and I don’t find it redundant myself. I do think others might if you are only using things like Tundra or OACE occasionally or you have SCS, SStS Pro, and/or Loegria and you are interested primarily in a core chamber strings ensemble.


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## BezO (Feb 5, 2020)

My 1st Albion, and I like it a lot. Prior to this, I could never imagine the need for combo patches like this other than for quick sketches. But there was something about the sound in the demos I really liked.

I thought I would be into the Segla, Steam Band and Brunel Loops more, but the straight orchestral stuff is just as impressive. Like many, I really like the strings. But the winds (less the spitty bits) and brass are cool too. Sax sitting in with the winds is unique, especially for me just starting to dabble in orchestral & cinematic music.

Now I just have to figure out how to use it. The non-orchestral stuff is easy as that's what got my attention initially. I'm into that kind of thing. But I'm still wondering how to use the orchestral patches as I'm not much of a sketcher. They'd probably be good in my non-orchestral music, providing just the soundscapes I've been experimenting with, not needing detailed & specific string/brass/winds patches.



jonesdip said:


> Just watched Cory Pelizzari's brilliant review on YouTube. Really shows off what this VSI us all about and adds a generous number of his own tweaked patches and great multis for free. Thank you Cory! As a Loegria fan I wondered whether this would be a worthwhile addition. Thank you Cory. I'm in!


Thanks for the link! Can you, or anyone tell me where I would store the patches he's giving away?


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> You may have just said the magic words.


and did you go for it, Mike?


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## Mike Fox (Feb 5, 2020)

Fever Phoenix said:


> and did you go for it, Mike?


I did not! I've been like 90% against it the entire time, but it's that 10% that keeps me intrigued. 

Thing is, I've purchased libraries based off that 10%, and they turned out to be my favorite libraries. Go figure.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> Not trying to convince you, but so far I’ve been finding the whole is greater than the parts with Neo. Everything just kind of fits together nicely, making it very inspiring to work with. I generally use ensemble libraries like Neo for sketching, and Neo is great for that. But Neo is also a bit of its own world that can be supplemented with other libraries in a bunch of directions. So it’s also very versatile. I’ve spent several hours a day since I got the library just exploring it, layering articulations, working on little noodles and it’s just fun. I’m even growing fond of the frying bacon...
> 
> I also have pretty much all the SF libraries Neo overlaps with and I don’t find it redundant myself. I do think others might if you are only using things like Tundra or OACE occasionally or you have SCS, SStS Pro, and/or Loegria and you are interested primarily in a core chamber strings ensemble.


thank you for the input.

You always give great advice. I remember when I was trying to find out if I should get MA 4 upon release and your expertise really was spot on. 

Will think about Neo, again 

Isn't it a lot smaller compared to the other Albions? In terms of content in diskspace and samples? Maybe that is scaring me off as well, compared to fe OT Time Macro 349.- at full price..


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> I did not! I've been like 90% against it the entire time, but it's that 10% that keeps me intrigued.
> 
> Thing is, I've purchased libraries based off that 10%, and they turned out to be my favorite libraries. Go figure.



Haha, let's write a song about it!


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## Mike Fox (Feb 5, 2020)

Fever Phoenix said:


> Haha, let's write a song about it!


Using Neo!


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## whiskers (Feb 5, 2020)

Some things never change, sigh...



> Albion NEO$296.65​Total​$296.65​Tax​$0.00​Grand Total​$296.65
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Brasart (Feb 5, 2020)

I got it too in the end, love my first day with it, I'll share a track during this week!


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## jbuhler (Feb 5, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> Using Neo!


Which means you have to buy it!


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## styledelk (Feb 5, 2020)

I've been really inspired with it so far, particularly with trying relatively new things and composition techniques. Which I'll probably bring over to other libraries.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤳🎶


.. even though I am still irritated and low key annoyed by that international pricing boloni..

look forward to take this baby for a spin, also I just finished 16 episodes since July and I deserve a treat.. 

@Mike Fox so, it's a collab then!


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## Mike Fox (Feb 5, 2020)

Fever Phoenix said:


> 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤳🎶
> 
> 
> .. even though I am still irritated and low key annoyed by that international pricing boloni..
> ...


Damn! I guess i HAVE to get it now.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 5, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> Damn! I guess i HAVE to get it now.



You don't have to do anything, my friend 
we can collab either way, eh?


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## jonesdip (Feb 6, 2020)

BezO said:


> My 1st Albion, and I like it a lot. Prior to this, I could never imagine the need for combo patches like this other than for quick sketches. But there was something about the sound in the demos I really liked.
> 
> I thought I would be into the Segla, Steam Band and Brunel Loops more, but the straight orchestral stuff is just as impressive. Like many, I really like the strings. But the winds (less the spitty bits) and brass are cool too. Sax sitting in with the winds is unique, especially for me just starting to dabble in orchestral & cinematic music.
> 
> ...



Unzip them and put them in the Instruments Folder in Kontakt. Note Kontakt 6 only


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## Akarin (Feb 6, 2020)

I really, really wanted to get it and make my Kontakt libraries tab show all the Albions... but in the end, I didn't pull the trigger:

- I have so many chamber-sized strings libraries, my needs are covered. I'm also not really good at writing with ensemble patches.
- I can't seem to find a use case for the brass.
- The synth stuff is also something that I have pretty well covered with Serum, Omnisphere, all the other Albions... ...and it is not even something that I use frequently.
- I love the sound of Tundra but I rarely find a use for them. I'm not that much into the whole "atmospheric scandi edge of silence" writing.

I really love my current Albions (Iceni being my favorite) but as much as I'd like to justify the purchase, I can't find a single reason why I'd want to get it. I tried rewriting one of the demos with what I currently have and I could do it quite easily (even with a tone that I like more). So, that's that.


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## Brasart (Feb 7, 2020)

Here's my first take on Albion NEO, all sounds are from NEO :


I thought I would go for an textural atmospheric orchestral soundscape, but ended up doing an electronic cue.
One thing to note is that while it doesn't revolutionize my world, NEO has been very inspiring to play with — and that's exactly what I was looking for.

If I didn't tried to stay within NEO only, I think I would have gone for some Phobos percussions, a richer/lusher string part with BBCSO and some electronic analog-y line using Monark.

And here's the original .wav if you prefer that to soundcloud : https://www.dropbox.com/s/mksj05jm1z280qt/Albion%20NEO%20-%20Electronic%20Cue.wav?dl=0


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## barteredbride (Feb 7, 2020)

Akarin said:


> I tried rewriting one of the demos with what I currently have and I could do it quite easily (even with a tone that I like more). So, that's that.



That's actually a good tip before any library purchase!!


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## 667 (Feb 10, 2020)

Anyone hear something weird with the Short Spiccato CS Brushed? Compare A and B groups: A sounds like it's missing a mic signal (or, B has extra mic signal?) e.g. A sounds almost highpass filtered, very dark, but B has a ton of bright bow noise and is louder.

Does it load up like this for anyone else? I'm wondering if it's possibly a Kontakt bug where the KSP should have a mic signal turned off but it's on (internally, not on the UI). Or maybe they got wrong mix of signals in the samples e.g. what is supposed to be the tree has extra signal left in by accident when they were printing.

I'm disappointed because I literally bought it for these (as one of the main reasons) because I love samples that have that kind of baked-in expression from the players.

Anyway before I bug Spitfire support about it I just want to know if it's something that's only happening for me.


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## jbuhler (Feb 10, 2020)

667 said:


> Anyone hear something weird with the Short Spiccato CS Brushed? Compare A and B groups: A sounds like it's missing a mic signal (or, B has extra mic signal?) e.g. A sounds almost highpass filtered, very dark, but B has a ton of bright bow noise and is louder.
> 
> Does it load up like this for anyone else? I'm wondering if it's possibly a Kontakt bug where the KSP should have a mic signal turned off but it's on (internally, not on the UI). Or maybe they got wrong mix of signals in the samples e.g. what is supposed to be the tree has extra signal left in by accident when they were printing.
> 
> ...


Strings A don't allow you to treat the release tails on the Brushed CS, and I've reported that inconsistency. Maybe that's related.


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## Fleer (Feb 10, 2020)

Dandezebra said:


> I am genuinely surprised at the lack of conversation about this release. Is anyone using it?
> 
> Enjoying it?
> 
> ...


Loving it!


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## Fleer (Feb 10, 2020)

Come to think of it, Albion NEO blends wonderfully with Tundra and British Drama Toolkit but also with ONE, as that one can indeed go soft and slow, lest we forget.


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## jbuhler (Feb 10, 2020)

Fleer said:


> Come to think of it, Albion NEO blends wonderfully with Tundra and British Drama Toolkit but also with ONE, as that one can indeed go soft and slow, lest we forget.


And Neo can go loud too. With One and Neo it’s more big and little rather than loud and soft.


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## BradHoyt (Feb 11, 2020)

Fleer said:


> Loving it!



As an owner of Albion One, Tundra and the Spitfire Chamber Strings, I was hesitant about Albion Neo. In the end, I decided to get it (The additional discount as an owner of the other Albion libraries + the intro discount were convincing.  ) 

I'm very happy with it. The two new string bands feel like a massive expansion of the Chamber Strings library. They go hand in hand, and I'm really looking forward to creating new music with it. I'll add that, if you were lucky enough to get it last year, Aperture Strings acts as a cool bridge between the Albion One strings and Albion Neo. Right now, I feel like Albion Neo was the missing link and that I own the entire gambit of what I need right now. I don't think I'll be investing in any new orchestral libraries for a while.


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## Fever Phoenix (Feb 11, 2020)

BradHoyt said:


> As an owner of Albion One, Tundra and the Spitfire Chamber Strings, I was hesitant about Albion Neo. In the end, I decided to get it (The additional discount as an owner of the other Albion libraries + the intro discount were convincing.  )
> 
> I'm very happy with it. The two new string bands feel like a massive expansion of the Chamber Strings library. They go hand in hand, and I'm really looking forward to creating new music with it. I'll add that, if you were lucky enough to get it last year, Aperture Strings acts as a cool bridge between the Albion One strings and Albion Neo. Right now, I feel like Albion Neo was the missing link and that I own the entire gambit of what I need right now. I don't think I'll be investing in any new orchestral libraries for a while.


yeah, blends well with Aperture


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## Mike Fox (Feb 11, 2020)

Fever Phoenix said:


> yeah, blends well with Aperture


Aperture is crazy good, considering it was, uh..."free"?

I still feel bad for the blokes that had just bought BBCO right before that deal was announced, especially since Aperture isn't just some novelty string library.


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## BradHoyt (Feb 11, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> Aperture is crazy good, considering it was, uh..."free"?
> 
> I still feel bad for the blokes that had just bought BBCO right before that deal was announced, especially since Aperture isn't just some novelty string library.


Yep.. Seems like when a company tries to navigate intro prices, special discounts and limited specials, it's basically a landmine that will invariably benefit some users over others. In the end, I'm sure the positives outweigh the negatives for the company. For me, I just accept the risk. lol. When I first started investing in libraries, I can identify at least 2 or 3 pretty big purchases that I wish I could take back. I'm much more cautious now.


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## Brasart (Feb 11, 2020)

I'm also very happy with Aperture Strings, didn't think I would use it so much... but it's actually very central to my workflow now, and those refractions patches are pure bliss when coupled with OACE's waves


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## Fleer (Feb 24, 2020)

jonesdip said:


> Just watched Cory Pelizzari's brilliant review on YouTube. Really shows off what this VSI us all about and adds a generous number of his own tweaked patches and great multis for free. Thank you Cory! As a Loegria fan I wondered whether this would be a worthwhile addition. Thank you Cory. I'm in!



Good review indeed. Interesting thoughts on NEO being better than Tundra, as far as articulations and tunings go.


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## schrodinger1612 (Feb 25, 2020)

This was something I put together over the weekend if anyone wants a general gist of how it sounds. (percussion from the BHTK)  I’m a relative newcomer to these libraries so I don’t have a huge frame of reference in terms of how it compares to others, but I can say that it sounds amazing.


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## Redsa (Feb 26, 2020)

Not sure how it compares to the others as its my first from the Albion series but love the tone of it so far!


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## Fleer (Mar 11, 2020)

MusicTech review:





Review: Spitfire Audio Albion Neo


The world’s leading media brand at the intersection of music and technology.




www.musictech.net


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## Ásta Jónsdóttir (May 25, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> The problem with Loegria is that aside from the strings and the horneuph it never was an especially good complement to Albion I legacy. And as lovely as the Loegria Strings are they are quite redundant with SCS ensemble strings. The Neo Strings neatly side step this issue. They can serve as a proxy for SCS (or Studio Strings pro) but they also have several Tundra like articulations not covered by those libraries. They can also therefore also serve as a small ensemble version of Tundra. As I’ve mentioned before the woodwinds of Neo are far more useable than those in Loegria, which has recorders, and the Neo winds serve as nice complement to those in Albion One, whether the new version or the legacy. They are not hyped or epic. The brass is more complicated. It’s very similar to the Loegria horneuph but not as flexible in my opinion.
> 
> Overall I find Neo a good value at the price I paid for it. I have all the Albions, and the redundancy is not large. The price if you own several Albions is also on par with the price they offered to existing owners of legacy Albion I when they introduced Albion One. (I’m told they did offer a better upgrade price later.) I’m not saying you should buy it of course. Just trying to make clear what Neo offers.


I see the overlap with the orchestras in Neo and Chamber Strings

If you were starting from scratch, looking for your first strings library and wanted the smaller ensemble sound, would you get the Chamber Strings library or would you get Neo for its Chamber orchestra?

Both Chamber orcestras. SCS has more Divisi samples; Neo is all ensemble patches but has a wider variety of articulations.


The real question I guess is, which Chamber orchestra sounds better? SCS or Neo?


Neo is a much much newer recording and product with well over a decade of experience poured into it. There is more than 14 years of time between when each of these libraries was created. One would think that Neo should therefore sound extremely superior to SCS sonically, but does it?

Perhaps when SCS was recorded that thing called "Passion" was more elevated than when Neo was recorded? I don't know but I am sure you do and likely ISM and some others!


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## jbuhler (May 25, 2020)

If it was me, I would go with SCS. There's not another library I would trade for it. It's the backbone of almost everything I do. Neo is a very nice library—especially the strings—and for certain kinds of things I find it indispensable but I could do without it in a way that I could not do without SCS. It lacks the detail of SCS (it has divisi but it doesn't have sections). And SCS has a far larger number of articulations and legatos. Neo is sort of like getting the ensemble version of SCS along with some ensemble versions of other instruments and some fun add ons. But just in terms of strings there is really no contest. The shorts are far superior in SCS. There are about equal in terms of flautandos and sul tasto, etc. Neo is only ensemble strings, whereas SCS has the sections as well. This gives you a lot more control.

But then it depends so much on what you are going to do with it. You may not care about the detail. You might not care about the shorts. You might find that working with sections is too fussy.


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## korgscrew2000 (May 25, 2020)

Mike Fox said:


> I dig the strings, but i already own a bunch of stuff that does a great job doing what i hear from Neo. I think it's just too redundant to justify the purchase.
> 
> Lovely sound though, minus the gross bacon sizzling.



That's exactly why I got OACE.


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## Brasart (May 25, 2020)

I don't own SCS (yet), but if you're just looking for just strings Ásta that's the one I would get; it's a gigantic library dedicated to chamber strings only, it's always going to be more versatile and resourceful than an "All-in-one" library like NEO.

That being said NEO's strings are absolutely beautiful — they're warm, detailed, precise and they fit everywhere, adding a sense of closeness when layered in bigger ensembles.
I own a lot of both regular and textural strings libraries, but NEO has its own special place in there!


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## Silentspace2000 (May 25, 2020)

jbuhler said:


> If it was me, I would go with SCS. There's not another library I would trade for it. It's the backbone of almost everything I do. Neo is a very nice library—especially the strings—and for certain kinds of things I find it indispensable but I could do without it in a way that I could not do without SCS. It lacks the detail of SCS (it has divisi but it doesn't have sections). And SCS has a far larger number of articulations and legatos. Neo is sort of like getting the ensemble version of SCS along with some ensemble versions of other instruments and some fun add ons. But just in terms of strings there is really no contest. The shorts are far superior in SCS. There are about equal in terms of flautandos and sul tasto, etc. Neo is only ensemble strings, whereas SCS has the sections as well. This gives you a lot more control.
> 
> But then it depends so much on what you are going to do with it. You may not care about the detail. You might not care about the shorts. You might find that working with sections is too fussy.


I'm going to second that SCS is far more indispensable than NEO. In fact, I would say I'm still on the fence as to whether there is enough of a unique value proposition to warrant the investment in NEO. I can't say it's a go to library for me. It's another arrow in my quiver but not one I think about going pull out first... or even second. Looking at it from Asta's perspective, if I didn't own any other Spitfire libraries then there's a better rationale for considering it but then there's all the other options SF provides that I think just provide more. I do agree that there are a few elements of it from a sketchpad perspective that validate it to some extent but for someone who owns a lot of Spitfire libraries, I think the majority of it is certainly covered somewhere else when looking holistically at what the other programs already offer.


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## szurcio (May 28, 2020)

Is there any special upgrade/crossgrade price from Loegria to NEO or is it the same price everyone else is paying ($350)?


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## dzilizzi (May 28, 2020)

szurcio said:


> Is there any special upgrade/crossgrade price from Loegria to NEO or is it the same price everyone else is paying ($350)?


Neo is supposed to be Albion 6 more that an updated Loegria from what I understand. So no upgrade paths.


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## AdamKmusic (Nov 10, 2020)

Thinking about picking this up if theres any BF or christmas sale this year. How are users finding it? fit well with your other libraries etc?


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## Kevperry777 (Nov 10, 2020)

AdamKmusic said:


> Thinking about picking this up if theres any BF or christmas sale this year. How are users finding it? fit well with your other libraries etc?



The string sound is really gorgeous. 

But honestly I could do without...not nearly as indispensable and unique to me as Tundra. Neo has virtually no percussion comparatively....the woodinds are interesting but odd, and have some noise. Brass is a very niche sound...even more so than Tundra.

So overall, I think there are better string options. Intimate strings is a great poor man's version in the same tonal direction. Listen to all the videos/demos you can of the Segla and Brunel stuff.


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## Brasart (Nov 10, 2020)

Really_ really _love the strings, NEO has my favorite pizzicato patch.
I find woodwinds and brass to be very useful in what their niche sound has to offer; they have a very unique and lovely quiet sound on the lower dynamics — they have a very special way of filling the audio spectrum when layered with other libraries, that's the way I've used them the most, really enjoy the "hollow" patches.

I don't use the synth part as much as I'd like to, but that's because of the way the patches are set up, not made for easy quick browsing, it sounds excellent otherwise!

I don't use the loops at all, but I wasn't planning to when I got the library, they sound great but it doesn't match with my way of making music. If I was doing trip-hop cues again I might get to them again for resampling though.


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## Fleer (Nov 10, 2020)

I find it a perfect companion to Tundra.


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## rmak (Nov 10, 2020)

Do you think Tundra or Neo will work well with 8DIO new century strings and brass? I am thinking about picking those up as my primary orchestral instruments and maybe use tundra or Neo as textures.


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