# Spitfire harp pre order- demos.. last chance to get discount this weekend!



## Synesthesia (Mar 1, 2011)

Hi everyone - 

DISCOUNT ENDS MONDAY 8AM GMT!! DON'T MISS OUT!

But we are delighted to announce that the Harp featuring the incredible *SKAILA KANGA* is *very nearly* ready for release. We are beta testing and doing the final *noise reduction tests* - - we are, as with the percussion lib, slowly dialing it in to find the optimum level.

Release date is set for *14th March*. All preorders get a free gift - *Harpospheres* - our little fun package of interesting sound design patches based on the Harp material! The links for this will be sent out at the start of next week.

More details will be added to this thread as we progress through the week and final testing. We are VERY excited about this library!

All purchases will be verified and watermarked with the purchaser's details in order to protect the buyers' investment in the library and our investment of passion and hard work in creating this new tool for our clients.

This library requires the full copy of Kontakt 4.

So - here is a screengrab of the main patch work in progress:







And a very quick mic position noodle.. 

http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws. ... Noodle.mov

And without further preamble, two teaser demos from two enormously talented composers - 

First up - the naked Harp. This shows how it sounds if you load and play - no tweaks or anything. Just all 3 mics up at full level, then just the close mic. 


*IMAGES (ALL MICS) - ANDY BLANEY*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20Images-%20ALL%20MICS-V5.mp3[/mp3]

*IMAGES (CLOSE MIC) - ANDY BLANEY*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20Images%20-%20CLOSE%20MIC.mp3[/mp3]

*RSI (ALL MICS) - ANDY BLANEY*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20RSI%20-%20ALL%20MICS%20V5.mp3[/mp3]

*RSI (CLOSE MIC) - ANDY BLANEY*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20RSI%20-%20CLOSE%20MIC.mp3[/mp3]


And second up - the Harp in context with some background material - this showcases the lowest dynamics giving you a feel for the 8 RR and the expressive nature of the instrument.

*SOLITUDE by Colin O'Malley*

[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/C_OMalley_Solitude(2)320kbps.mp3[/mp3]

Enjoy!

As we complete the final stages of tweaking we will add a few more demos and a few videos showing the Harp in action.


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## Sforzando (Mar 1, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

I really love the air you guys managed to capture.


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## Danny_Owen (Mar 1, 2011)

Kudos. Serious Kudos. 

The Colin O'Malley was particularly stunning, right down my street. The Andy Blaney one really shows off the dynamics off the library as and what can be achieved. Both have an amazing air as Sforzando said, and both sound like a true master is playing.

Nice work


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## Alex Temple (Mar 1, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

The sound is amazing. Great work Andy and Colin too. If I wasn't already saving money for the percussion library I'd pull out my credit card right now!


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## Synesthesia (Mar 1, 2011)

Thanks guys! Your feedback is much appreciated.


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## jlb (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Brilliant. As expected

 jlb


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## IvanP (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

If you'd also include the non noise reduced version I may chip in


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## Andy B (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*



IvanP @ Wed Mar 02 said:


> If you'd also include the non noise reduced version I may chip in



I know that NR has a bad name, but the noise reduction that's been used on the samples hasn't taken away any of the character or air of the samples. I've heard the before and after and without the reduction, the noise build up when holding the sus pedal down is unacceptable - and that's coming from someone who loves samples to sound dirty. :D 

Andy.


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## Stephen Baysted (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Put me down for one Paul. =o


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## Mike Connelly (Mar 2, 2011)

Just curious, how big is it and are the sample files big monoliths or individual ones?


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## germancomponist (Mar 2, 2011)

Nice!


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## Synesthesia (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

haha! Thanks guys! :oops: 

You are all very kind!

Mike - its going to be about 14GB I think, its difficult to to be exact at the moment before fully done and ncw-ed..!

I should know by the end of the week.


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## IvanP (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Is there any chance to keep the pre-order price until release?

Gotta check my pocket and projects coming in or not


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## Ed (Mar 2, 2011)

when does the pre order end???


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## Rob Elliott (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Brilliant Paul. Just when I thought I had enough harps. :wink: Andy and Colin - very well done on your demos showing off the library. Love the compositions.


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## SvK (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

great sound...
Alan , Colin wonderful pieces.


could you guys do a demo with 1 repeated note @ pp doing some sort of pattern...

SvK


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## Ed (Mar 2, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*



SvK @ Wed Mar 02 said:


> could you guys do a demo with 1 repeated note @ pp doing some sort of pattern...



You read my mind! :D


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## EwigWanderer (Mar 2, 2011)

Synesthesia @ 3.3.2011 said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> Preorder price will end on 13th March.
> 
> Hal - honestly there is no point having a version with no NR. The tools we have now are absolutely transparent. Without any NR most libs would be unusable!



Damn...any hope to get that to 16th? It's my payday.. 8)


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## stevenson-again (Mar 3, 2011)

i quite like VSL harp although i get frustrated shaping it to fit on a stage. 2 things sell this harp to me based on the demos - 1) the staging 2) air lyndhurst.

i know i am not alone in liking libraries with a nice room baked in, and they don't come better than air lyndhurst.

what sort of battery of flourishes and glisses does it come with? nice and comprehensive? the SAM harp comes with some nice ones but it's a touch limited.


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## Synesthesia (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Hi Rohan,

We have a fantastic gliss patch (see below) : in the C1 octave you select the root note, and in the C2 octave you select the scale from:

Major
Minor Harmonic
Minor Melodic
Pentatonic
Diminished
Wholetone

Then the modwheel selects up or down gliss (this can be right clicked and reassigned if you desire) and we have divided the Harp into 4 registers: we have these glisses:

C4 (middle C) - - R1 Fast up/down as per MW/whatever up.down controller says
D4 - - R2 Fast up/down
E4 - - R3 Fast up/down
F4 - - R4 Fast up/down

A4 - - FULL fast up/down


C5 - - R1 Slow up/down
D5 - - R2 Slow up/down
E5 - - R3 Slow up/down
F5 - - R4 Slow up/down

A5 - - FULL slow up/down

C6 - - Swirly up/down


We also have in development (will be an update if it works as expected!) a 'runmaker' developed in such a way that you can program your run as actual notes and the patch has the samples recorded/arranged in such a way that it reproduces the gliss as a played gliss would sound. This is obviously quite voice intensive but it does sound different to just playing a gliss on plucked notes.

But as I say - thats in development for an update and we still have to get it perfect, if its not perfect we won't release it!


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## reid (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

The soft dynamics are beautiful - exactly what I've been missing from other libs. That in combination with the room sound....... :D


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## Synesthesia (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Hi chaps!

Thanks for all the comments - we will have a close demo up soon, just finessing over here and getting things tightened up.

In the meantime - first request was for a repeated notes demo - the ever resourceful Andy Blaney has composed the following demo for you!

*REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURY IN A MINOR - Andy Blaney*

[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/AB_RSIinAmin.mp3[/mp3]

Enjoy!

More news soon! :mrgreen:


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## IvanP (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Sold! To ye nice spanish gentleman smiling in the background :mrgreen:


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## Mike Connelly (Mar 3, 2011)

Gorgeous demos, can't wait to hear what the close mics sound like.


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## SvK (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Thanx for semi repetitive note demo 

A classic use for Harp is the simple following of the celli line doing a 1,5,10,1,5....
or ...... as in JNH "In The Subtext" 1, 3 , 9, 5 rep3 from King Kong.......

Might be a good Idea to do such a demo.
As this shows of the RRs and also how Harps are mostly used in larger compositions.

ps:i already bought mine 

SvK


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## Synesthesia (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Hi everyone - 

OK we are getting close! 


Check out the following - Andy has re bounced his demos using the latest hot from the sample forge..

*IMAGES (ALL MICS)*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20Images-%20ALL%20MICS-V5.mp3[/mp3]

*IMAGES (CLOSE MIC)*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20Images%20-%20CLOSE%20MIC.mp3[/mp3]

*RSI (ALL MICS)*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20RSI%20-%20ALL%20MICS%20V5.mp3[/mp3]

*RSI (CLOSE MIC)*
[mp3]http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/SF%20Harp%20RSI%20-%20CLOSE%20MIC.mp3[/mp3]


Enjoy! :D


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## OB.one (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

:wink: 

I don't regret having pushed the "buy" button 2 hours ago ...

Please a demo with harmonics and bisbigliando !

Best Regards from Paris

Olivier aka OB.one
http://www.myspace.com/obonemusic
http://www.littlegrandstudio.com/


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## Synesthesia (Mar 9, 2011)

Hi Stephen,

Sorry - only just saw your post!

Were the links not on the email you received after purchase?

Let me know if not and I'll resend. 

Cheers!

Paul


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## jc5 (Mar 10, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Sounds very nice, might be time for a new harp - any chance we can get to hear the middle and distant mic positions on their own as well?

Also, was an articulation list already posted anywhere that I may have missed?

Thanks!


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## Stephen Baysted (Mar 10, 2011)

Synesthesia @ Thu Mar 10 said:


> Hi Stephen,
> 
> Sorry - only just saw your post!
> 
> ...



No worries - no links (tbh I thought I'd missed them as it's been a little busy here). 

Cheers

Stephen


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## Synesthesia (Mar 10, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Great - Stephen - resent your email - see the installer link near the bottom and code (for the freebie?) let me know if you don't see it!

Now - jc5 - I just spent a few minutes noodling in the different mic positions so you can hear the basic sound: please don't expect anything meaningful, its just noodling... :D

http://spitfire-webassets.s3.amazonaws. ... Noodle.mov

This is just the normale playing style.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Paul


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## Ed (Mar 10, 2011)

That demo is so cool, *love *the sound especially of the soft stuff

*Is there a demo of the freebie pre-order stuff?*


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## Synesthesia (Mar 10, 2011)

Thanks Ed!

I'll do a quick demo of the freebie stuff in the morning - check back in 11am ish tomorrow!

Cheers,

Paul


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## renegade (Mar 10, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Hi, bought the Harp yesterday

I have some examples/demos of the freebie harp and can post it here if that's ok?

Cheers


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## Synesthesia (Mar 10, 2011)

Hi Renegade,

Of course! Feel free to post something. 

Thanks!

Paul


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## renegade (Mar 10, 2011)

*Re: Spitfire Harp pre order open! Teaser demos..*

Ok 

Not great music, but you get an idea of how some of these sounds are

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12948366/Harpospheres%20naked.mp3

Same tune with different other instr. added:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12948366/Harpospheres.mp3

A little impro (harp sounds only):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12948366/Harpospheres2.mp3

Cheers, looking forward to the actual harp


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## Synesthesia (Mar 11, 2011)

Nice stuff Renegade!

OK so I don't really need to add much I guess! :D

Well - there are 17 patches in Harpospheres, all patches have controls for 3 band eq, distortion (and damped distortion) chorus (with controls) and you can control reverb with the modwheel with many of the more 'paddy' sounds.

Sample content is abou 130 MB in compressed ncw format, was about 250 MB in WAV format before compression.

Hope that helps!


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## Synesthesia (Mar 12, 2011)

Not long to go now to get the Harp at a discount!

Pre order price good for today and tomorrow, but at 8am Monday GMT the price goes up and we commence our release.

Cheers!

Paul


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## Synesthesia (Mar 13, 2011)

tick tock....


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## Pedro Camacho (Mar 14, 2011)

just saw this post for the first time... guess I missed this one :(


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## drpenguen (Mar 14, 2011)

if you consider Spitfire quality, full price is not that hight, 
Harpospheres it self would well cover the difference. its amazing, 
just started to download the full library :D

EDIT: 

ooops, Harpospheres was for the pre_orders only...


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## Ed (Mar 14, 2011)

4 and a bit more parts to download, urgh. I have no patience.


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## sarobin (Mar 14, 2011)

Downloaded and installed just now! Sounds incredible so far from my intial playing - such a different quality to any other harp lib out there. 

The glissando patch is particularly impressive. I really hope the "runmaker" function in development works out, as I can't wait to be able to use such a function to add even more realism to the playing.


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## drpenguen (Mar 14, 2011)

:D 
installed here too

one question, mine doesnt show in library listing, i have to load from files menu !!!


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## Ed (Mar 14, 2011)

OK love it. Best sampled harp ever!

BUT...

Any way to change the microphone positions to be more than just off and on, so we can tweak how much we want ot each signal?
_
edit: stupid sustain pedal wasnt working properly anyway doh!_


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## drpenguen (Mar 14, 2011)

drag the white columns, up/down for mixing mics..


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## Ed (Mar 14, 2011)

I literally just noticed that thanks :D

The manual doesn't seem to say what "sons etouffes" and "laissez vibrer" mean. It switched back and forth when I play but Im not sure what its doing. I swear also sometimes it plays double notes, Im not sure if this is meant to be a feature or not.


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## Synesthesia (Mar 14, 2011)

Thanks guys!

Drpenguen - this is not a Kontakt Player lib, so it won't show there. We used Watermarking to secure this lib rather than the NI encoding.

Ed - just click and drag the slider graphic next to the on off switch for each mic. 

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Paul


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## sarobin (Mar 14, 2011)

> The manual doesn't seem to say what "sons etouffes" and "laissez vibrer" mean



I think these just light up to show you whether you have the sus pedal down or not - since "laissez vibrer" means to "let ring" so this only lights up when you have the pedal down


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## sarobin (Mar 14, 2011)

Actually - I think I have found what may possibly be a problem - sometimes if you have the sus pedal down, and play a slow arpeggio one of the notes may not play.


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## Ed (Mar 14, 2011)

blakerobinson @ Mon Mar 14 said:


> You can also right click the sliders and use _Learn Midi CC# Automation_ to assign them to a CC to change these levels with a controller or in your sequencer



OMG I did not know you could do that! That is so cooll


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## Pedro Camacho (Mar 17, 2011)

What a breathtaking library.... best orchestral harp EVER! (and I do own many harp libraries)


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## MikeH (Mar 26, 2011)

Absolutely gorgeous. So happy I made this purchase.

I am having one issue-- whenever the Close Mics are enabled I keep randomly losing note attacks. For example, I'll be playing along and every now and then the attack of a note will drop out and all I'll be left with is the release. It'll just drop notes randomly. This only happens with the Close mics. I've raised polyphony and voice count in Kontakt to see if that was the issue but it's not. 

Any ideas?

*EDIT*
Ok, so I did some more troubleshooting and I think it is something within Kontakt 4. The problem started disappearing after I restarted memory servor a number of times and also after I reloaded the patches whenever opening a saved project. There was actually one time when I opened up a project and all that played were the release samples (no attacks). When I closed that instrument and re-loaded a new one the problem was solved. Still curious though. 

Now that I've re-saved a new instance of the instrument, the problem seems to be solved. 


This harp is so beautiful. Thanks again!!


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## Synesthesia (Mar 27, 2011)

Thanks guys for the wonderful feedback and comments. We really appreciate it!

We have been looking into the occasional dropped note with the close mics, and have isolated the source of the problem.

An update is being uploaded to our servers overnight tonight, and tomorrow we will email out everyone individually with a new Instruments folder.

Thanks to Sarobin for giving us the heads up!


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## Mike Connelly (Mar 28, 2011)

Did you guys catch the few glisses that have the up/down switched?


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## Synesthesia (Mar 29, 2011)

Hi Mike,

I have been through them all but I must have missed a few.. Will revisit this week and try and catch any stragglers..!

Just a general - the upload is out now, with the attack problem fixed.

Cheers!

Paul


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