# Spitfire Studio Strings Professional - Review



## BeneJ

After the five days it’s taken to download 210GBs, I’ve finally had the chance to play with Spitfire Studio Strings Pro - I can finally share some initial opinions.

Before launching into how bad it is and why I regret buying it, I’d better quickly confess my limited credentials. I’m not the titular “professional” and among the industry sectors in which I’ll probably never participate, are the Hollywood movie biz. I do however want to record songs which use precisely the palette of sounds on offer in Studio Strings, and I bought this after having been sufficiently impressed by Spitfire Orchestral Swarm and Alternative Solo Strings (all bought during their release-window discount periods). I also have Cinesamples Cinestrings Core and play the violin.

I’ve heard some libraries being described as “nutty” or “woody”; I’d describe the Air Studio 1 sound as “stoney” or like slate. It’s a sound I’m happy with; it seems to contain a sense of the jangling of loose shale. With analogue synthesisers, they might describe this sound as having lots of harmonics; though I haven't heard orchestral instruments described much that way. The EQ visualiser reveals some comb-shaped waveforms for higher register violins.
Someone less charitable may describe the signal path as resulting in something that sounds a little “tinny”. However, these are better recordings than I can produce with my own gear, scratching away on the fiddle.

I’ve never understood why piano modelling VSTs pack in so many features to make a piano sound not like a piano; yet I love prepared pianos. It’s like hacking or circuit-bending the instrument to get a sound that its designers never intended you to hear. I’m relatively fresh to the novelty that all these articulations arguably equate to a kind of “prepared” aesthetic. Anything with a Sul or Con or Col prefix are immediately more interesting than boring old longs - yet the characteristic playing styles all sound familiar and useful, not necessarily noveltyish. I also have 8Dio’s CASE and CAGE string effects libraries, which explore the insane outer limits of what can be achieved with bowed instruments. I regard this whole Studio Strings (perhaps the whole of Spitfire Audio) as a sort of wacky effects toolkit. Ironically, the “FX” patches on Studio Strings are fairly unremarkable, conceivably practical in obscure situations, but I wouldn't anticipate these articulations receiving much use, except for the exciting glissando rip-effect which we all heard on the walkthrough.

This library had me at “dry”. I love Eleanor Rigby and other parched things. Cinesamples’ close mics are pleasantly dry. I dislike 8Dio Century Brass because its close mics aren’t dry enough. I love Vienna Symphonic Instrument’s 12-year-old Woodwinds because they are dry as bones. I’ve been put off Spitfire’s previous orchestral ranges because even their close mic positions sound infamously clammy. While movie cue composers want libraries to be recorded in correct seating with a choice of hall reverbs - I, on the other hand, want it to be recorded in a Sahara strewn about with dehumidifiers - which is basically what this library promises and delivers. The two close mics do sound great together! : ) Then they provide a further 4 microphones which aren’t dry. Just like the hypothetical piano VST packed with ways to not sound like a piano, I find these mic positions incongruent in a library that celebrates departure from its former moisture with a promise of aridity, only to make it wet anyway. Why would I want these wet mic positions in a dry library? Unless for fear of it downloading too quickly.

There aren’t enough short articulations and the legatos sound bad, so you’ll be limited by what music you can generate convincingly with Studio Strings. You couldn’t recreate, to pick a song at random, Elenor Rigby - due to the essential missing short articulations. There are some things you just can’t do with a Time Machine (think _The Lake House_, not _Primer_). However, Studio Strings has plenty more to offer. It plugs plenty of gaps in my orchestral range and will certainly receive plenty of use. But, I wish I hadn’t bought it, and I’ll explain why.

At a push, I wish I’d bought the standard version of Studio Strings instead, although I then wouldn’t have had the close mics (for this dry library). I bought the pro version mainly for the multitude of divisi sections; I didn’t notice that these divisi sections don’t include all the more adventurous articulations that I like.

Last year, I came so close to buying Spitfire’s LCO and I can't help wishing I’d bought that instead.

My decision to buy Spitfire Studio Strings was heavily influenced by the ingenius promise of forthcoming Brass and Woodwinds editions to this new, dry chapter. Would I buy either of those after having played this? Perhaps..


----------



## D Halgren

I love Primer, and LCO is excellent


----------



## Shad0wLandsUK

BeneJ said:


> I, on the other hand, want it to be recorded in a Sahara strewn about with dehumidifiers


Love this ^

Sounds like the sort of 'poetic joy' you would read in an article about someone's response to a Local council or something


----------



## Alex Fraser

I love the Studio Series. My OCD however demands a Spitfire Studio Percussion library to go with it. (Weird that SF haven't done another "normal" percussion library for years now, and outside of the hall..)


----------



## BeneJ

Iswhatitis said:


> Not every project demands such a large scale orchestra, hence this is where SStO Pro excels.


After playing with SStS for over a year now, i must confess that it’s my go-to strings library. My previous go-to strings were CineStrings Core but SStS offer SO much beyond the initially disappointed legato and limited velocity layers. I’ve since supplemented SStS with Bernard Herman and LCO Strings; togeather these form a monumental palette.
I had intended to jump on Spitfire Studio Brass and Woodwinds too but appear not to have done. I’d be interested to know whether these all compliment each other in any remarkable way?


----------



## Alex Fraser

BeneJ said:


> Studio Brass and Woodwinds too but appear not to have done. I’d be interested to know whether these all compliment each other in any remarkable way?


They do, in that they share the same recording space. The brass and winds are set a little further back than the strings (as you'd expect) but it all blends nicely. And you can "complete the collection" with Spitfire, so there's no financial penalty for coming to the other products later in the game.


----------



## BeneJ

Alex Fraser said:


> you can "complete the collection" with Spitfire, so there's no financial penalty for coming to the other products later in the game.



Cheers, but guess now I've missed the window + got to wait until Black Friday 2020


----------



## Alex Fraser

BeneJ said:


> Cheers, but guess now I've missed the window + got to wait until Black Friday 2020


There's usually some sort of xmas Spitfire sale.. 
Edit: Also worth pointing out that you can complete a collection any time of the year - just make sure you're logged into your account as you browse the SF site.


----------

