# Spitfire Albion news and new videos up on Youtube



## Synesthesia (Mar 13, 2012)

Hi everyone. 

The maintenance update for Albion is now complete and just undergoing a few tests before we unleash it. We should be able to get it out within a week.

In the meantime, I've made a few videos to show some of the features and sounds in Albion - and uploaded them to our youtube channel:

Spitfire's Youtube Channel

It would be great to get some feedback on my presentational style (be kind!) ie: if I am waffling too much etc.

Let me know what you think! I'm quite enjoying doing these and I'm thinking of doing a quick compositional one using Albion if there is interest in seeing that, maybe allowing 15 minutes max from start to end in real time?

Thanks in advance for watching anyway!

Paul :D


----------



## synergy543 (Mar 13, 2012)

Paul, the largest resolution I can get is 480 resolution. It would be nice if possible to have at least 720.


----------



## Synesthesia (Mar 13, 2012)

Hmm.. not sure how to set that..?


----------



## Justus (Mar 13, 2012)

> Hi everyone.
> 
> The maintenance update for Albion is now complete and just undergoing a few tests before we unleash it. We should be able to get it out within a week.



Yay!!!! Can't wait.



> In the meantime, I've made a few videos to show some of the features and sounds in Albion - and uploaded them to our youtube channel:
> 
> Spitfire's Youtube Channel



Subscribed



> It would be great to get some feedback on my presentational style (be kind!) ie: if I am waffling too much etc.



I haven't watched all of the clips as I am already an Albion user but I enjoyed your "waffling". :wink: 



> Let me know what you think! I'm quite enjoying doing these and I'm thinking of doing a quick compositional one using Albion if there is interest in seeing that, maybe allowing 15 minutes max from start to end in real time?



By all means.



> Thanks in advance for watching anyway!
> 
> Paul :D



Pleasure!


----------



## George Caplan (Mar 13, 2012)

synergy543 @ Tue Mar 13 said:


> Paul, the largest resolution I can get is 480 resolution. It would be nice if possible to have at least 720.



480 resolution is a nightmare for people like me who have bad eyesight. 1080 should always be the resolution. even with glasses on 480 just doesnt cut it. ive asked others for this when making tube movies.


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 13, 2012)

Just the right thing before going to bed.
Looking forward to the update!

Only thing on the videos (just watched the strings yet) on some patches there are more keys marked in blue as of which there are actually playable ones in kontakt? This may be a little bit misleading for new buyers. Maybe some random kontakt error.


----------



## Ed (Mar 13, 2012)

Synesthesia @ Tue Mar 13 said:


> Hmm.. not sure how to set that..?



It means exporting the video at a certain resolution so that youtube recognises it as HD and lets you select HD video resolution.


----------



## synergy543 (Mar 13, 2012)

Synesthesia @ Tue Mar 13 said:


> Hmm.. not sure how to set that..?


What is the size of the original movies? Typical sizes are 720 x 540, 960 x 720, or 1920 x 1080. There are lots of them though. Try scolling to the bottom of this list for video resolutions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_resolutions

Hopefully its larger than 480. If you originally captured at 1:1 screen resolution then it will be larger. You'll need to upload the larger HD sizes then either 720 or 1080. Youtube hands the larger HD streams quite nicely these days.


----------



## Synesthesia (Mar 13, 2012)

aha! ok thanks guys - re-exporting now. I'll reupload them with HD in the title before I remove the others.

Thanks for the watches and comments so far!


----------



## Robse (Mar 14, 2012)

Thanks for this great videos! I enjoyed them much and as I am considering to buy Albion in the next few weeks those enforced me to buy it definetly. 



> Let me know what you think! I'm quite enjoying doing these and I'm thinking of doing a quick compositional one using Albion if there is interest in seeing that, maybe allowing 15 minutes max from start to end in real time?



Definetly interested in this and would be really appreciated .


----------



## Steve Martin (Mar 14, 2012)

Hi Paul,

yes, that would be a great idea - I'd be very interested in watching the composition process using Albion. I'm more used to composing straight into a notation program, so that would be very helpful watching someone do things a different way - that is, I am guessing that you would be composing straight into a DAW using Albion. Am I correct here?

Thanks and looking forward to hearing your thoughts in regard to this. 

best,


Steve


----------



## tokyojoe (Mar 14, 2012)

I'd definately like to see a composition put together with Albion.


----------



## Waywyn (Mar 14, 2012)

tokyojoe @ Wed Mar 14 said:


> I'd definately like to see a composition put together with Albion.



You can check out my demo "Feel the Steam":
http://www.spitfireaudio.com/demos

On my YT channel you will also find a roughly 24 mins walkthrough of what I exactly did etc: http://youtu.be/oeOnylw5sjg


----------



## EwigWanderer (Mar 14, 2012)

Waywyn @ 3.14.2012 said:


> tokyojoe @ Wed Mar 14 said:
> 
> 
> > I'd definately like to see a composition put together with Albion.
> ...



Great video! o-[][]-o 

I really love the sound of Albion!


----------



## dedersen (Mar 14, 2012)

Any detailed info on what will be included in this update? Anxious to here more, I am finding myself using Albion more and more lately.


----------



## tokyojoe (Mar 14, 2012)

Waywyn @ 3.14.2012 said:


> On my YT channel you will also find a roughly 24 mins walkthrough of what I exactly did etc: http://youtu.be/oeOnylw5sjg



Alex, thank you. Excellent walkthrough.


----------



## JT (Mar 14, 2012)

Paul,

Great job on these. I especially liked your demonstrating the less softer side of Albion. 

JT


----------



## Daniel James (Mar 14, 2012)

tokyojoe @ Wed Mar 14 said:


> I'd definately like to see a composition put together with Albion.



Of course you can also check out my Albion video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czjss4VThQA

Anyways Paul, the vids are great but just to echo the higher resolution comment everyone has mentioned.

Also I am not personally a big fan of the sound that plays when you click the mouse.

Keep it up.

Dan


----------



## George Caplan (Mar 14, 2012)

Synesthesia @ Tue Mar 13 said:


> aha! ok thanks guys - re-exporting now. I'll reupload them with HD in the title before I remove the others.



thanks paul but i cant seem to find the hd ones.


----------



## Polarity (Mar 14, 2012)

ahah, I hated that pop up sound since the first preview videos of Albion!! :lol:

I'd suggest also to make higher the volume of the videos, or at least of your speaking.

I like very much how Albion sounds...


----------



## Synesthesia (Mar 14, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback guys!

That sound is in iShowU - I'm also trying out Screenflow at the moment. I'll lose the sound.. 

I've tried to upload direct to youtube the HD videos, 1036 x something (can't remember exact figure) and they still aren't coming up as HD...? Maybe I need more youtube 'credits' to be able to set them to HD?

Its a mystery!


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 14, 2012)

> 1036 x


I think the youtube HD feature starts at 1280x720 resolution.  (->tutorial http://www.squidoo.com/youtubehd)


----------



## Ed (Mar 14, 2012)

Nah you dont need to be special to get HD Paul, its just a specific resolution you need to encode the video then youtube figures out that its HD. Im sure if you search google others have asked this question before if you need help getting it to work.

Good videos btw, made me want to check out Steam FX again! I will say you are selling yourself short on the piano, you didnt show the cool piano FX patch! Some unique little piano FX in there  Glad you showed how different the mic positions were on the percussion since its quite dramatic, having the close mics is awesome control and is great for a lot of uses. I was listening to Alien 3 soundtrack the other day and realised how close Albion perc can get to that sound. Awesome.


----------



## SPOTS (Mar 14, 2012)

Was curious to check your new video as I didn't know the Spitfire library yet. Sounds pretty cool and I may get me interested in it.

A couple comments re the video, may I dare 
- if you could get rid off that sound occuring at each mouse click, that's a winner! 
- could you please raise the volume of your voice? I find it very low in level, even with the volume all the way up on my system.

In re with posting videos on YouTube, HD indeed starts at 720p (1280x720). I don't think it's worth posting videos beyond 720p for the time being. From a couple tests I have done, although I live in an area which benefit a pretty good bandwidth, videos in 720p are not always playing smoothly, so I can't imagine in 1080p. Things will be different within a few years when we will all have optical fibre connections. But we're not there yet.
Anyway, we already get very good results in 720p. I'd recommend to priviledge a high audio bit rate over going to 1080p (after all it's the audio that you want to promote). Finally, you may have already figured that out... when you upload a video in 720p on Youtube, it makes that video available to the audience in many resolutions up to 720p so you are all good!

You were also talking of uploading a video in resolution of 1036 I think.
That is not a standard resolution. Sounds like your video was cropped a tad, maybe... I'd recommend you to stick to a standard resolution to make sure YouTube's performance remains optimal (they do recommend to upload standard resolutions for optimal compression performances).


----------



## Pivot (Mar 15, 2012)

Nice videos Paul. Thanks for that.

Could you do something about the click--mouse-sound in future videos ? it's highly annoying...


----------



## edat (Mar 15, 2012)

A few questions regarding Albion if I may...

How many velocity layers are in the strings patches?
Separating high and low strings is a nice idea but what are the ranges of these patches?

I've tried Symphobia but it's way overpriced for me, yet I'd still love to have a good sounding ensemble string patches in my palette.

I dislike products that try to give a little bit of everything and end up offering only reduced versions of patches (i.e. less velocity layers, not chromatically sampled) so I'd like to buy a full product that excels in the things it offers and I take Albion would be like this?


----------



## DynamicK (Mar 15, 2012)

Pivot @ Thu Mar 15 said:


> Nice videos Paul. Thanks for that.
> Could you do something about the click--mouse-sound in future videos ? it's highly annoying...


+1
Also the general volume is a bit low compared to other demo videos I've watched today


----------



## JT (Mar 15, 2012)

I wonder why Paul omitted a demo of the loops. I don't use loops at all, that's the one part of Albion I haven't bothered with.

Am I alone in this?


----------



## Ed (Mar 15, 2012)

JT @ Thu Mar 15 said:


> I wonder why Paul omitted a demo of the loops. I don't use loops at all, that's the one part of Albion I haven't bothered with.
> 
> Am I alone in this?



Actually the loops can be quite useful, I like to sprinkle over the top of things, sometimes they are just what is needed. Can work well. I forgot about them when I was watching these videos, he should have had a video on it. I recommend also using the tune knob, but then I do that with a lot of sounds


----------



## Niah (Mar 15, 2012)

Great!

Is it possible to videos for Spitfire's Solo Strings as well?


----------



## TuomasP (Mar 15, 2012)

Niah @ Thu Mar 15 said:


> Great!
> 
> Is it possible to videos for Spitfire's Solo Strings as well?



+1 That would be cool.


----------



## jleckie (Mar 15, 2012)

Yeah man. Sprinkle me silly with loops!


----------



## SPOTS (Mar 15, 2012)

As stated in my previous post, I just discovered the Spitfire library further to reading this thread. After checking Spitfire's website, I was surprised to see the prices of some of their libraries, which go up to 12,000£ for the Great British Brass.
There is also a Chamber Strings library priced at 3,500£ which appears as sold out.

Those as seriously expensive libraries, eh!
Are they actually selling libraries at such prices?
What do these libraries have so special?


----------



## jleckie (Mar 15, 2012)

They are by invitation only.


----------



## SPOTS (Mar 15, 2012)

What does that mean exactly? Are they just selling it to a limited number of customers?


----------



## Ed (Mar 15, 2012)

SPOTS @ Thu Mar 15 said:


> What does that mean exactly? Are they just selling it to a limited number of customers?



Its basically a custom/private library (they refer to it as bespoke). Except they have a limited number of licences available for people to buy in, hence the reason for the price.


----------



## SPOTS (Mar 15, 2012)

Thanks. I get it now. I think I will go for CineBrass then  Still curious about Their affordable libraries though


----------



## Ed (Mar 15, 2012)

SPOTS @ Thu Mar 15 said:


> Thanks. I get it now. I think I will go for CineBrass then  Still curious about Their affordable libraries though



I know you're probably joking hence the winky, but in case you aren't their commercial range is not the same as the bespoke range. I do think the difference should be more obvious on their website though.


----------



## SPOTS (Mar 18, 2012)

I spent a bit of time today to read reviews and watch videos about Spitfire Percussion and Albion. As I was saying in another thread, I was considering replacing my orchestral percussion libs (so I can get rid off SO as I don't want to upgrade to PLAY), and I am very much sold about getting Spitfire Percussion. Although not the cheapest solution (even more expensive than Project Sam's TrueStrike), it really sounds wonderful, from what I've heard.
Albion sounds like a fantastic lib as well.
I had once the plan to get a new laptop soon... oh well!!


----------



## Synesthesia (Mar 18, 2012)

Guys - 

sorry about the delay to v2 of Albion. We are having issues with disappearing zones AGAIN in K4.

I'm having to rebuild the nkis which I will be doing this evening. Hopefully we can get this out in about 48h.

If I can't resolve this issue in a timely manner I may decide to port over to K5.

Is there anyone (from a quick n dirty straw poll of anyone who reads this post!) for whom that would be a disaster?

Keeping K4 compatibility is obviously key for our non Player libs, but its proving quite hard in these more complex player libs. 

I'll do my best tonight though to stay K4 for now.

Cheers,

Paul

ps: SPOTS - thanks for the kind comments - the perc is more expensive than similar offers but with 8 way RR across the majority of the lib, and 3 mic positions mixable from the front panel, along with all the other features, it was very expensive to produce and I do think it is pretty comprehensive and still good value for money!


----------



## dcoscina (Mar 18, 2012)

Personally I don't mind if its K5 since I updated to it a while back but I cannot speak for everyone else. I love Albion. I'm hoping the few minute issues (and they are very very small) I have with its current incarnation will be rectified in the new update. Really looking forward to it. For me, of all the sample libs I have, it sounds the most realistic to my ears.


----------



## Mr. Anxiety (Mar 18, 2012)

I could upgrade to K5 if needed..... I own Komplete 8, just haven't installed on my sequencer PC yet. My Spitfire Perc and Albion reside on it.

Just give us a heads up on this as soon as you know please.

Good luck with the finishing touches!

Mr A


----------



## RobertTewes (Mar 18, 2012)

Frankly, I would welcome the port over to K5. 
I find it quite odd that people complain that they want the latest and greatest sample lib and yet try running it on last year (or olders') versions of the "brains" behind it. K5 has been out a while now. It provides greater scripting control. Others have waited to release libraries because of its more advanced features. The same might be said for those who dug in their heels unwilling to let go of Windows XP. Albion is, in my opinion, cutting edge stuff. It deserves to be housed within the best sample engine available.
PORT to K5 and don't look back!
_-)


----------



## zacnelson (Mar 18, 2012)

Just do it in K5! (Says me because I have K5 and it works beautifully!)

I'd love to know what we can expect from Albion V2, I scoured the spitfire audio website and there was nothing about it. Has there been some announcement on the VI forum which covers this?


----------



## zacnelson (Mar 18, 2012)

PS

I already have Albion - is V2 going to be a paid or a free download?


----------



## jtenney (Mar 18, 2012)

Paul, would that be K5 Player or K5 full version? Thanks!


----------



## marcotronic (Mar 18, 2012)

K5 Full would be a big problem for me at the moment! Neither have the plans nor the money to update to K5 at the moment! No problem with K5 player for me...

Marco


----------



## sevaels (Mar 18, 2012)

K5 is cool with me :D


----------



## dedersen (Mar 19, 2012)

I'm assuming it'll be K5 Player compatible? In that case, fine with me, the time machine in K5 would probably be great for the shorts in Albion. Still anxious to hear more about what will actually be in this update.


----------



## damstraversaz (Mar 19, 2012)

I don't think to update to k5 full yet, but the player could be an option, althought I prefer to use k4 for personnal multi with others instruments.


----------



## Robse (Mar 19, 2012)

I considered to buy the library within the next two weeks. If it is going to be K5 only (as I am still on K4 and will also remain there for a while) i will have to think about it (again) if I will buy it.


----------



## SPOTS (Mar 19, 2012)

Synesthesia said:


> If I can't resolve this issue in a timely manner I may decide to port over to K5...
> ... Keeping K4 compatibility is obviously key for our non Player libs, but its proving quite hard in these more complex player libs.



I read on Spitfire's website that Albion doesn't require the full version of Kontakt 4.
Is this gonna change with v2?
Paul's last post makes me think it will, hence the question.

As stated in my previous post I am SOOOO looking forward to buying Albion very soon (this kinda jumped all of sudden in the middle of my libs revamp process).
If Albion v2 runs on K5 Player, it's all good with me, although not ideal.
If it requires Kontakt 5 full, then I am stuck for a while as I won't upgrade Kontakt 'til Ni releases the new Komplete edition, later this year.

This said, in the meantime I could just stick to v1 I guess.


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 19, 2012)

Hm, i have only the K4.
But since they can exist simultan K5 should be no problem. 

Just one important question! Can i still mangle the instruments in edit mode if i use Albion togehter with the free K5 player?

Or could you release updates for K4 so far as possible and do all the updated ones on K5? Either way, would be cool if on K5, you would create a new folder (Intruments V2 ore something) so the K4 intruments don´t get deleted!


----------



## Synesthesia (Mar 19, 2012)

No No - -- its still a player library!!

We managed to make it work in K4.2.4.

If you load into K4.2.3 for some reason any zones edited in K4.2.4 go missing. We found the issue.

Of course, it still works fine in K5 too . 

So - we should be out within 24h. K4 compatible still!

Cheers,

Paul :D


----------



## ScoringFilm (Mar 19, 2012)

Synesthesia @ 19/3/2012 said:


> If you load into K4.2.3 for some reason any zones edited in K4.2.4 go missing.


Paul,

Kontakt has never been backwards compatible; an issue that has been raised with them many, many times! I'm glad you solved the problem as many of your users will, I'm sure, still be using K4.

Looking forward to the update.

Regards,

Justin


----------



## Robse (Mar 19, 2012)

Good news, thanks Paul :D


----------



## reddognoyz (Mar 19, 2012)

+1 on K5 for me.


----------



## G.R. Baumann (Mar 19, 2012)

Paul

sorry if stating the obvious, but you need iShowU HD Pro, do you have that? Also, sorry for ebing blunt, I find them unwatchable due to what was said before.... I need to turn the volume up substantially to hear you, and that mouse sound is just !(&^$!(£

Here you turn it off.


----------



## Ed (Mar 19, 2012)

I dont know what people are complaining about re: sound. I know its good to have them in HD, but the voiceover was fine here, never even thought it was a problem.

Regarding K5. I use it, personally K5 is great for me.


----------



## marcotronic (Mar 19, 2012)

Synesthesia @ Mon Mar 19 said:


> No No - -- its still a player library!!
> 
> We managed to make it work in K4.2.4.
> 
> ...



Cool!  Thx...


----------



## playz123 (Mar 19, 2012)

I guess backwards compatibility is a good thing sometimes, but personally K5 has been out for quite awhile now, it has some useful new features, the upgrade price isn't earth shattering and there are companies that are already producing software that is only K5 compatible. So my vote would have been to move to K5. But if you can still offer everything you'd planned by sticking with a K4 format, then I don't suppose anyone should complain.


----------



## dedersen (Mar 20, 2012)

Just received the update email, with some VERY exciting news about a future Albion upgrade pack in the making, with new patches. Including a french horn patch, which should be lovely with that Air ambience. 

And...all for free! Just marvelous. I've been eyeing the Spitfire percussion for a while now, and this sort of customer service is exactly the sort of thing that will push me towards the purchase button.


----------



## SPOTS (Mar 20, 2012)

Ed said:


> I dont know what people are complaining about re: sound. I know its good to have them in HD, but the voiceover was fine here, never even thought it was a problem.


Listening to a voiceover low in volume indeed makes it much harder to understand when English is not your native language. Also I don't believe those were complaints but wishes for improvements on that level 
Surely we could simply raise the volume but not with that irritating loud sound occurring at every single mouse click - now, that one was more of a complaint


----------



## adg21 (Mar 20, 2012)

I don't quite understand the naming of this update, my existing Albion had 2 versions of the same patch eg. ALB Strings Low pizz and ALB Strings Low pizz v2. But this is also called v2 not v3. Also do we really need 2 versions of the same patch anyway?


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 20, 2012)

> Just received the update email, with some VERY exciting news about a future Albion upgrade pack in the making, with new patches. Including a french horn patch, which should be lovely with that Air ambience.
> 
> And...all for free! Just marvelous.


Huh? Nothing like that in my update mail? I tought the horns would be a paid expansion?


----------



## sevaels (Mar 20, 2012)

Wow, thrilled about this. The free V3 update news as well? Thanks so much Spitfire crew!

Do you guys have any track delay offset recommendations? Before I go diving in and setting these I figured I'd ask if you guys found some sweet spots.

Thanks again guys for everything!

o-[][]-o


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 20, 2012)

Hm, i noticed something: While playing an instrument, and kontakt is still displaying samples in the instrument window, it seems i cant add ore kill any microphone positions. The little dot just keeps jumping back etc. This is something really anoying!

Is there something i can do about that?


----------



## british_bpm (Mar 20, 2012)

MA-Simon @ Tue Mar 20 said:


> > Just received the update email, with some VERY exciting news about a future Albion upgrade pack in the making, with new patches. Including a french horn patch, which should be lovely with that Air ambience.
> >
> > And...all for free! Just marvelous.
> 
> ...



Hi Simon,

You may not have received the MailChimp mail-out which preceded the Continuata mail-out with your dedicated codes.

Here's the text of our mail.

Best.

Christian.

We’re delighted to announce our first major update to our award winning Albion module. 

As you are aware Spitfire has been created by working musicians & composers who find endless updates a serious impediment to our working year. This is why we only do important and meaningful updates. We appreciate your patience regarding this.

In this update you can find fixes and improvements to the following:

** VARIOUS BUG FIXES

** SCRIPT UPDATES INCLUDING:

+ Solo Mic option removed - CMD/CTRL clicking a mic position now solos that mic
+ Sample start offset option functionality for all short patches
+ Load/Save ability added to ostinatum
+ Transpose typo on the main panel fixed
+ Transpose offset of blue keys is now shown in the Kontakt visual keyboard
+ RR reset now overlays the blue notes and is always visible
+ RR reset no longer affects sustain/legato patches
+ Ostinatum remembers the articulation type keyswitch

** PATCH RE_EDITS

+ V1V2 and VC Ostinatum patches rebuilt for tightness and more consistent sound
+ Brass Hi Longs rebuilt for tighter tuning
+ Brass Hi Shorts rebuilt for tighter tuning and timing

We’d also like to take this opportunity to announce the first upgrade pack for Albion which will be made available to download in approximately 2 months time.

Albion V3 will feature not only improved functionality but also a raft of totally new content. Including:

Albion Orchestra: All new “Mid Brass” featuring a fantastic French Horn section.
Mixed Ensembles: Devoted patches to reduce crossover voicing spikes in the previously released ensemble Multis.
Darwin Cymbals: The most monstrous collection of surround cymbal ensembles you’ve ever heard.
Brunel Loops: 10 All new loops/ instruments including Hamster Cage and Traffic Cone.
Stephenson’s Steam Band: Reverses and Transitions.

We’re doubly excited to announce this because all of this new content and added functionality - which has so far taken 6 months to program - will be available to you absolutely free.

But the improvements don’t end there. It’s come to our attention that our website is seriously deficient in demos, tutorials and walk-throughs and in some cases users are disappointed not to be getting the best out of our tools. We’re setting about rectifying this and are pleased to announce that we’ve set up a dedicated walk-through and demo channel on YouTube in order for you to get the best out of your Spitfire commercial products. Paul has started off by doing a series of walk-throughs of Albion:

http://www.youtube.com/user/spitfireaudiollp

When watching other users use Albion we have spotted several common oversights. Most of the patches have modwheel dynamic controlled if you don’t give the modwheel a wiggle you’re not going to be getting the best out of Albion, moreover with the legato patches you’ll need to do these to “wake up” a lot of the complicated scripting under the bonnet. Finally our Ostinatum patch, this is a fluid and loose patch by design, however if you wish to have a tighter version please make sure you hit keyswitch A#0.

We’ve got plenty of juicy new products coming out soon alongside all our promised new site content so please check back with us periodically. We’ll see you again in two months for the V3 update.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Christian & Paul.


----------



## playz123 (Mar 20, 2012)

In the update download, the file "Albion_info.nkc" is dated 2011-07-25, but the one already in my existing library is 2011-08-29......meaning the update one is older. Are we supposed to replace the newer one with the older one?


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 20, 2012)

> Albion Orchestra: All new “Mid Brass” featuring a fantastic French Horn section.
> Mixed Ensembles: Devoted patches to reduce crossover voicing spikes in the previously released ensemble Multis.
> Darwin Cymbals: The most monstrous collection of surround cymbal ensembles you’ve ever heard.
> Brunel Loops: 10 All new loops/ instruments including Hamster Cage and Traffic Cone.
> Stephenson’s Steam Band: Reverses and Transitions.


Thats awesome news! Thank you so much for doing these!
I was just thinking, while building something with the perc section in Albion yesterday: Wish there were some decent cymbals in here! And now there will be! Nice.

New product lines? Solo Brass & Solo Winds? :wink:


----------



## Synesthesia (Mar 20, 2012)

Hi guys,

Just a quick answer to three questions!

Sevaels - offsets: the full range of the slider is 932 samples, which is three times the delay between the close and tree/amb/outrigger mics. Its a bit source dependent but I find around halfway on the slider to be good.

MA-Simon - this is a kontakt issue: to unload groups from memory no voices can be playing. Otherwise things go wrong..!

Playz123 - thats no problem, the info.nkc file is just Kontakt's reference 'about' the library. It generally has a creation date when you installed the lib. It doesn't affect anything if you overwrite it.

Thanks so much for all the positive feedback everyone - it makes it all worthwhile!

And just to clarify, the Horns patch forthcoming is actually a fabulous blend of Horns and Bones, a great alternative to the Horns/Tpts blend already in the library, and will enable you to cover the full choir of Brass sound.

And its free!

Cheers :D

Paul


----------



## Andreas Moisa (Mar 20, 2012)

> Darwin Cymbals: The most monstrous collection of surround cymbal ensembles you’ve ever heard.
> Brunel Loops: 10 All new loops/ instruments including Hamster Cage and Traffic Cone.
> Stephenson’s Steam Band: Reverses and Transitions.



Very excited about these!


----------



## playz123 (Mar 20, 2012)

Thanks, Paul...and one more quick question if I may. In the 'new' manual, you now have a page (#26) for the "Full Patch List"....but it also says "(V1.0)". Since the manual is for "version 2", are you planning to update that page, and perhaps other sections of the manual as well? I didn't notice many changes in the new manual when compared with the original one. Cheers.


----------



## Kralc (Mar 20, 2012)

Two months away is now the most beautiful time on earth.

Thanks guys for this!


----------



## Ryan Scully (Mar 20, 2012)

Great update guys!! Ran through almost all of the new patches - Great improvements, especially with the Ostinatums!

Much thanks for this as well as the forth coming v3!!!





Ryan :D


----------



## Chriss Ons (Mar 20, 2012)

Great update & videos.
The Ostinatum patches indeed seem to work better now. 

Albion sounds just gorgeous, it's a truly inspiring instrument. Thank you so much.


----------



## Saxer (Mar 21, 2012)

great update... love the low trumpets playing in tune now (the problem with slightly out of tune samples is recognition value at the same points). beautiful that it's done!

and the walkthrough videos are a good inspiration too... watching the fast and helpful mic-mixing and listening to the effect. and i overlooked the lush/tight keyswitch up to now... good to know now! thanks!


----------



## JT (Mar 21, 2012)

Christian & Paul,

This is really existing news. I admire your loyalty to your customers. Can't wait to see what else you have planned for this year.

JT


----------



## Ed (Mar 21, 2012)

Cool a horns and bones patch will be great!


----------



## Maestro77 (Mar 22, 2012)

Forgive me if I've missed this info in another post but I have a few questions for the Spitfire folks. I'm considering buying Albion (thanks to the new walk-through videos!). I see that the V2 update is now in place and is free to all registered users. I also see an announcement for a major "upgrade" coming this spring. To me, "upgrade" sounds different than "update" so I'm wondering if it's also going to be free to all registered users?

Next question: One of my hangups in not buying Albion already is that it doesn't make use of keyswitches for the various articulations. I, like many others, don't like having to load up and switch between various patches to get all the sounds I want from the same instrument. Will V3 be addressing this? It seems like such a simple and easy change and makes all the sense in the world.

Thanks so much, I look forward to your reply and congrats on a great product!


----------



## dcoscina (Mar 22, 2012)

Albion doesn't have a lot of variety where articulations are concerned so I don't see an overwhelming need personally to have KS's. What it does do, it does very well. The sound quality is top drawer and it's like a Swiss Army Knife for me as far as sketching out pieces and filling in gaps. 

having a lot of arts probably would have driven the price up substantially and I respect the price point to quality of samples Spitfire Audio employed for this library.


----------



## british_bpm (Mar 22, 2012)

Hi Maestro,

The V3 upgrade will be free. The reason for the semantic difference is that V2 is more of a maintenance update, V3 is an upgrade of content and experience that yes, a lot of other companies would charge for, but we're going to give away in thanks for everyone's massive support and encouragement with Albion. 

We'll look into the KS idea. Although you're never going to get them to work on the legato patches as this would interfere with our complicated scripting. You'll see for example on our Solo strings that the non-leg MM patches are keyswitch the legato are not.

Thanks for the request and the interest.

Best.

Christian.


----------



## Maestro77 (Mar 22, 2012)

Thanks so much, Christian. I completely understand the scripting issues. I think that just bundling the shorts and longs (not legatos) in one patch w/keyswitches would be a great improvement. That would cut the number of patches in half. I appreciate you considering our suggestions!

Great that the V3 upgrade will be free. More evidence of your famous loyalty to your customers. Cheers.


----------



## edat (Mar 23, 2012)

Maestro77 @ Thu Mar 22 said:


> ...I think that just bundling the shorts and longs (not legatos) in one patch w/keyswitches would be a great improvement...



You can actually do this yourself in Kontakt in case you are not aware. Best of all, you can keyswitch between any patches you want!
Just create a new instrument bank in Kontakt and put the patches you want in it.
Next use the multiscript "Transform > Notes To Prog Change" and set the range of keys you want to use as switches. Done!


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 23, 2012)

> You can actually do this yourself in Kontakt in case you are not aware.


The things you learn while casually browsing a forum...! Thanks


----------



## loolaphonic (Mar 23, 2012)

MA-Simon @ Fri Mar 23 said:


> > You can actually do this yourself in Kontakt in case you are not aware.
> 
> 
> The things you learn while casually browsing a forum...! Thanks



Not such a good option. With instrument banks you can't access the front panel controls, annoyingly.


----------



## tokyojoe (Mar 23, 2012)

edat, I owe you a beer. I've spent the last week trying to solve this very issue (with VSL). Thanks mate!


----------



## edat (Mar 23, 2012)

No problem, I may well have learned this from these very same forums so just passing the favor.


----------



## adg21 (Mar 24, 2012)

One small suggestion I have is to merge the Hi and Low of each section and remove version 1 of anything that has a v2 counterpart, it feels unnecessary to have it because there aren't that many NKIs in each and the naming is such that they can be merged nicely anyway, anyway I've merged them myself. For those that don't use templates unnecessarily deep folders slows down workflow.


----------



## Joao Bernardo (Mar 24, 2012)

Great update, looking forward for V3.


----------



## Matt Christensen (Mar 29, 2012)

I am glad Paul & Christian have left the v.1 patches intact as I have projects on the go using them and their quirks are definitely a part of the charm of the library. Having said that it is great to have the option to use the patches with tighter timing and tuning for for future projects! Love that Spitfire goodness!

Cheers
Matt Christensen


----------



## adg21 (Mar 29, 2012)

Matt Christensen @ Thu Mar 29 said:


> I am glad Paul & Christian have left the v.1 patches intact as I have projects on the go using them and their quirks are definitely a part of the charm of the library.



OK cool I missed that as a newb.

One small suggestion for the update is to put one of those time machine sliders on the Albion WW Runs patch, surely a good thing for such a patch.

One final suggestion - and this would really make my day - is extensions (by pitch shift) particularly the woodwinds in order to cover more notes. I regularly use the lagato WW patch on +6 and it sounds just fine (in fact it sounds great!) so I think extension of zones (or an option for that) might be a really good idea.


----------



## MA-Simon (Mar 29, 2012)

I was just thinking about that timemachine switch. 
Would be great to have something like that on the longs to, not for the sustains, but for the attack. Don´t know if this would work tough. Gotta test this out myselfe tomorrow.

Btw. would be great to have that slider on the Solo Strings too.


----------



## Consona (Apr 1, 2012)

Does somebody know what is that strange sound in mids/highs when impacts and sub hits are playing? >>> http://youtu.be/JCY6JXtuPiA?t=1m4s


----------



## SPOTS (Apr 1, 2012)

Am still hoping for a walk through video on Solo Strings (why not the Harp too).


----------



## Robse (Apr 4, 2012)

Works for me with Kontakt 4.2.4. But sometimes I have to click several times on a mic position as it doesn't want to load/unload. Seems to be that the click area there is really small - but it definetly works.

Do you use 4.2.4 or less? In the manual is written that you should use at least 4.2.4 all versions below can cause troubles.


----------



## MA-Simon (Apr 4, 2012)

> Em why is it not possible to turn on or off any mic positions with v2. Only one position works for me, i can't add any other, did i miss something?


Try changing if the voice level count in Kontakt reaches 0.
Odd thing, since it worked just fine with the old V1 patches.


----------



## Ozymandias (Apr 5, 2012)

Hi Paul & Christian,

Having used it for a couple of weeks now I have to say V2 is fantastic, and the ability to load/save Ostinatum sequences in particular is a huge timesaver. A great update all round.

With V3, would you consider adding a standardised Albion MIDI CC map, with all/most of the controllable parameters pre-assigned? The reason I ask is that, at present, it seems there's no way for Kontakt users to quickly assign controllers across an entire library. The best I could manage is setting up Kontakt to load in 'omni' mode, filling it up with Albion instruments, and arming 'MIDI learn' in each UI so that every instrument learns a specific CC simultaneously. Even that is pretty time-consuming when dealing with a library the size of Albion.

Any other users in favour of this? I get the impression most us are using a MIDI control surface of some description - not to mention OSC devices etc.

Cheers!

Ben


----------



## Synesthesia (Apr 5, 2012)

andy.k @ Wed Apr 04 said:


> Robse @ Wed Apr 04 said:
> 
> 
> > Works for me with Kontakt 4.2.4. But sometimes I have to click several times on a mic position as it doesn't want to load/unload. Seems to be that the click area there is really small - but it definetly works.
> ...




Hi Andy - 

You don't have to click more than once - but you do have to wait until the voice count drops to zero.

This is due to an issue with Kontakt when purging samples.

Thanks!

Paul


----------



## Synesthesia (Apr 5, 2012)

Ozymandias @ Thu Apr 05 said:


> Hi Paul & Christian,
> 
> Having used it for a couple of weeks now I have to say V2 is fantastic, and the ability to load/save Ostinatum sequences in particular is a huge timesaver. A great update all round.
> 
> ...



Thanks Ben!

Good idea - we'll have a look at that for V3.

Cheers,

Paul


----------



## LT (Apr 5, 2012)

Very nice!!!!
The only thing i would like to to see in V3 is a more humanized ostinatum . In my opinion it sounds very quantized. 

Thanks.


----------



## Synesthesia (Apr 5, 2012)

Hi LT - 

Interesting! We can look at that. 

We did tighten up the V2 patches, as people felt they were too loose, so you might want to have a look at the older non V2 patch and see if you prefer that one?

But I like the idea of humanisation of the tighter patch. Leave it with us!

Cheers,

Paul


----------



## LT (Apr 6, 2012)

You are GREAT !!!!!!!!

and maybe (if its not silly) a Brass ostinatum..........


----------



## snattack (Apr 7, 2012)

Hi!

In the video demos, you kind of "skip" the runs section in the woodwinds and say "these doesn't need any further explanation" which was kind of disappointing for me since it was mainly what I wanted info about. Could you please list the different runs that are recorded in Albin's woods?

Best,
Andreas


----------



## maraskandi (Apr 7, 2012)

Ascending scales with two simultaneous lines in various modes, exactly which, not bothered to sit and note down, you can just play and listen to find what suits tbh.


You can hear them in use in this track which is all Albion apart from the piano and a single metal hit I recorded in a friends boat (and possibly an 8dio tom too, can't quite remember). I've found the wind runs (no pun intended) quite adaptable in that you can snip them yourself by audio editing to shorten, combine, whatever your mind decides sounds good in your tracks context.
http://soundcloud.com/patrickytting/vic ... -part-9-by


I can't stress enough how awesome I've found Albion to be. Sounds great, really playable, flexible, and great free updates on the way. I am definitely a happy customer, so a massive thanks to the Spitfire team, definitely.


----------



## snattack (Apr 7, 2012)

maraskandi @ Sat Apr 07 said:


> Ascending scales with two simultaneous lines in various modes, exactly which, *not bothered to sit and note down, you can just play and listen to find what suits tbh*.
> 
> 
> You can hear them in use in this track which is all Albion apart from the piano and a single metal hit I recorded in a friends boat (and possibly an 8dio tom too, can't quite remember). I've found the wind runs (no pun intended) quite adaptable in that you can snip them yourself by audio editing to shorten, combine, whatever your mind decides sounds good in your tracks context.
> ...



I'm glad you find Albion useful, it seems so to me too. But it's hard to "sit down and find what suites you" when you don't have the library in front of you, therefore if would be nice to know which modes, scales, 1-2 octaves, etc, is availble BEFORE buying =). I'll listen to the demos you linked.

Woodwinds are urgent in my template, and I'm choosing between HWW or Albion to cover the needs of tutti WW (Albion is more expensive, but then you'd get all other instruments with it too).

Best,
A


----------



## Kralc (Apr 7, 2012)

If a good selection of runs are paramount, I'd go with HWW, but Albion's WWs are _lovely_, and the rest of the library is really beautiful also. You wouldn't be at a loss if you picked up both.


----------



## Ozymandias (Apr 9, 2012)

Hi Paul,

See if you guys can reproduce this possible Ostinatum/Kontakt(4.2.4) bug... Here's what happens when I load an .nka with a different note length setting to the one I currently have selected:







It seems the note length menu changes correctly when I load the array, but the right-hand notes and actual playback speed stay the same (until you manually select a note length from the menu).

Thanks,

Ben


----------



## Ed (Apr 9, 2012)

Woodwind runs in Symphobia have up and down, Albion does not unless I missed it, only up?


----------



## maraskandi (Apr 10, 2012)

Yeah Albion is only up not counting the different effects, but none as far as I remember resemble downwards runs. 

I was thinking to try reversing the Albion runs for fun and then play around with envelopes and things, but ofcourse the likelyhood of such activity sounding something like normal downward scales is nigh, but still, could be fun, and all sorts of such editing can result in wonderful accidents.

Aren't in studio for a few days and my "demo" isn't at all a demo apart from being a user of the library.


----------



## Ed (Apr 10, 2012)

Its also only major runs unless Im deaf. Still, whats there is good!


----------



## stonzthro (Apr 10, 2012)

If you are just needing winds, HWW is a great way to go - everything is organized very well too. 

Albion is awesome too, but the runs don't cover a lot of ground. I just checked and there are Maj/Min/Dim - I think/Whole Tone/Chromatic; at least that's what it sounds like to me as they fly by at 300 kph. Ed's right though, they only go up. I don't believe they are tempo synch'd either.


----------



## Ed (Apr 14, 2012)

STUPID QUESTION:

Where can I find the update for Albion?


----------



## Chriss Ons (Apr 14, 2012)

Ed @ Sat 14 Apr said:


> STUPID QUESTION:
> 
> Where can I find the update for Albion?



I received an e-mail from support(AT)spitfireaudio(DOT)com on 20 March, which read:
_
Here is the Spitfire Albion V2 update from V1 for Spitfire Albion downloader

Please download the installer app from here:-
http://www.continuata.com/dl/app.php?id=spitfire

and use the code:_

(and then your personal code)


----------



## Ed (Apr 18, 2012)

Thanks Josquin!, I somehow misplaced that email! :D


----------

