# Bigcat reviews Rinascimento



## bigcat1969 (Jul 6, 2017)

*Rinascimento* is quite a mouth full. It is also big pack of authentic sounding Medieval and Renaissance instruments from Fluffy Audio.

It is also my first attempt at a review.


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## rrichard63 (Jul 6, 2017)

Recommended reading for everyone interested in historic instruments. Both detailed and well-balanced. And with a sense of humor.


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## Quasar (Jul 6, 2017)

This is one of the best reviews about any sample library I've ever read. Outstanding, with a blend of end-user playability info, technical details that go under the hood, as well as containing fascinating allusions to the musical & cultural history in which these instruments can better be understood... All written with both candor and humor. Absolutely 1st rate.

If I were a big time sample library developer, you'd have to move your reviews to the compensated area forthwith... Thanks.


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## Iskra (Jul 9, 2017)

Really, really wonderful review! I enjoyed the reading very much.


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## sinkd (Jul 10, 2017)

Thanks, BigCat. I am really thinking about picking this one up.


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## ptram (Jul 10, 2017)

Excellent review!

A note about Era II: I don't find the sounds themselves 'hollywoodian'. They sound very true, and are sampled in a very accurate way. Unfortunately, the whole package (illustrations, programming aimed at realtime performance) is very 'fantasy', probably because they understood that is where the market is.

Fluffy did a very elegant work with their design, and working with their library is probably more comfortable for the classically trained composer.

Paolo


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## bigcat1969 (Jul 10, 2017)

Thanks for taking the time to read the review and all the kind words. It means a lot.

Thanks for the comment on Era II, Paolo. I appreciated the Try session, but it was the first one I had well tried and I didn't realize it was 20 minutes. I would have worked on listening to more instruments if I had realized that. The ones I did play with seemed to have more of a 'Hollywood' sheen to me while the Fluffy audio ones seemed a bit more rough hewn if you will. As you say some of that might well be the interface and style of the package. It is funny how the eyes can influence the ears. Anyway I do think Era II is a nice package and I'm sorry if I seemed to disparage or misrepresent the package.


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## afalke (Jul 15, 2018)

Thank you for the review, bigcat1969. I already own Era, but with the current sale at Fluffy Audio I am considering Rinascimento, partly for the reasons you provided. I thought you were spot on and really helped me in my considerations. I was judging merely based on the audio samples and the walk-through. So, it was good to see how your independent take confirmed my impressions.

I quite like Era's playability, but as an avid listener to Medieval and Renaissance music, its instruments did not sound as realistic to me as the ones in Rinascimento do. While they don't sound like Hollywood to me, they definitely sound smoother than the real instruments do, even with respect to tuning. So, it seems to me that if one wanted to compose more authentic folky dances or market music of the time, Rinascimento is going to do a better job. In fact, even if one wanted to offer a modernized reinterpreted version of such music, say as Corvus Corax do, it will serve better.

My only regret is the scarcity of bowed strings. While Fluffy Audio's website is right that string instruments played less of a role in that type of music, they are quite wrong as far as the less folkloristic and the more classical music of the time is concerned. Especially in southern Spain, Christian, Islamic, and Jewish music influences fused and created a blend of folk and a predecessor of classical music as we know it that relied heavily on string instruments of the gamba family. The work of Jordi Savall is an excellent introduction to that kind of music. So, I am grateful for Era's more extensive string section. But I also was delighted to hear that they added a Viola da Gamba to Rinascimento (last year, if I remember correctly), even though it would be nice to have more instruments of that family included at some point.


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## CGR (Jul 15, 2018)

Great review Bigcat. Refreshingly honest, and very thorough, and yes I agree - Paolo from Fluffy Audio _is_ one of the nicest guys in Europe!


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