# 8DIO Century Brass



## jamwerks (Jul 27, 2015)

Did any of you take part in sending in requests? I had a few but didn't get around to sending them.

I listened to the audio blog (75+ minutes) by Troels and Colin. Very interesting! I have a few remarks. Thoughts from any of you vi controllers?


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## vicontrolu (Jul 27, 2015)

Can you make a summary of the audio blog please? 

I just wish they did Samplemodelling features with way better sound


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## jamwerks (Jul 27, 2015)

Funny that you should say that! They are apparently developing something called fusion sampling iinm. The blog where they talk in depth about the upcoming library is very(!) interesting. So much so that I'll be putting on hold any futher brass purchases until then!


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## synthetic (Jul 27, 2015)

Their strings work in a similar way. They use a morphing filter to control dynamics and it sounds very nice IMO.


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## donbodin (Jul 27, 2015)

The fusion sampling does sound really cool in the demo I heard. I am excited to get a chance to hear more /check it out as well.


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## vicontrolu (Jul 28, 2015)

where´s this demo?


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## Deleted member 8496 (Jul 28, 2015)

I have the Electric Violin, and fusion modelling works like a charm.


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## SymphonicSamples (Jul 29, 2015)

I must say I really enjoyed listening to the discussion between Troels and Colin . I even found myself laughing when they discuss trumpets and breaking the sound barrier  It made admire the company more after hearing their clear passion and desire to create a Brass library that's designed for the future and push the boudaries , and it's nice to see that human side to those mysterious developers discussing with somewhat honesty about what they have done in the past and learned from the experience of developing their previous libraries to date . Very much looking forward to hearing more over the next few months .


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## vicontrolu (Jul 30, 2015)

Watch out with 8Dio and the song of the mermaids effect.

In any case, i am pretty excited of what they they come up with.


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## jamwerks (Jul 30, 2015)

SymphonicSamples said:


> I must say I really enjoyed listening to the discussion between Troels and Colin . I even found myself laughing when they discuss trumpets and breaking the sound barrier  It made admire the company more after hearing their clear passion and desire to create a Brass library that's designed for the future and push the boudaries , and it's nice to see that human side to those mysterious developers discussing with somewhat honesty about what they have done in the past and learned from the experience of developing their previous libraries to date . Very much looking forward to hearing more over the next few months .



+1!


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## jamwerks (Aug 12, 2015)

Apparently they've finished the recording already!


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## jamwerks (Oct 23, 2015)

Just listened to an Alpha version of the solo trumpet, posted about a month ago on their site. Sounds really fantastic! Really looking forward to this one!


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## Tatu (Dec 10, 2015)

There's a new, short alpha-demo for what appears to be "6 horns fanfare legato".


Sounds like a very laggy one to work with, but it's a bit too early to judge this.


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## Mike Marino (Dec 11, 2015)

Alpha demo set:


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## erica-grace (Dec 11, 2015)

Mike Marino said:


> Alpha demo set:



Ewww... that doesn't sound good at all. 

You can actually hear the dynamic transitions - not smooth at all.


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## Zhao Shen (Dec 11, 2015)

erica-grace said:


> Ewww... that doesn't sound good at all.
> 
> You can actually hear the dynamic transitions - not smooth at all.


To be fair, they're alpha tests.


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## Zhao Shen (May 17, 2016)

New preview released. My opinion of 8Dio has constantly been on the decline, but man does this exposed arrangement sound good!


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## shakuman (May 17, 2016)

erica-grace said:


> Ewww... that doesn't sound good at all.
> 
> You can actually hear the dynamic transitions - not smooth at all.



+1..


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## jamwerks (May 18, 2016)

Sounds very promising. Can't wait to get me hands on it.

That's only an Alpha, so in may not be tomorrow?


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## gjelul (May 18, 2016)

shakuman said:


> +1..




It does sound great, indeed.


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## Gabriel Oliveira (May 20, 2016)




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## Rodney Money (May 20, 2016)

From their blog, "8Dio Century Brass is the most comprehensive collection of deep-sampled expressive Brass ever created." Alrighty then, we shall see. Maybe they could start off by spelling flugelhorn correctly? (Or the cool way: flügelhorn.)


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## Zhao Shen (May 20, 2016)

Rodney Money said:


> From their blog, "8Dio Century Brass is the most comprehensive collection of deep-sampled expressive Brass ever created." Alrighty then, we shall see. Maybe they could start off by spelling flugelhorn correctly? (Or the cool way: flügelhorn.)


Ah, the struggles of having non-musical PR/online managers...

I dislike 8Dio for a lot of their practices, but I'll be damned if I don't admit that these alpha demos sound really good.


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## erica-grace (May 20, 2016)

gjelul said:


> It does sound great, indeed.



Umm, I think he was agreeing with me that it doesn't sound good at all.


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## erica-grace (May 20, 2016)

Zhao Shen said:


> New preview released. My opinion of 8Dio has constantly been on the decline, but man does this exposed arrangement sound good!



So, that soundcloud example does not sound good to my ears either. I am not trying to hate on 8D, in fact, I have several of their libraries which I think are really good. But this example is riddled with problems.... do the rest of you not hear the "bump" in almost all the notes right before the transitions? I understand the library can not be perfect, but that is a bit too obvious. Hopefully they will fix this and make it more useable.


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## mickeyl (May 20, 2016)

Hmm... I like the tone. Much more than, say, the NI brass ensemble.


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## Ian Dorsch (May 20, 2016)

I wasn't too knocked out by the alpha demos from 6 months ago, but I find a lot to like about the new ones. Tone is gorgeous, legato and dynamic transitions are expressive and sound much smoother, and I don't hear any more of those weird stereo positioning issues. My interest is definitely piqued.


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## Zhao Shen (May 20, 2016)

erica-grace said:


> So, that soundcloud example does not sound good to my ears either. I am not trying to hate on 8D, in fact, I have several of their libraries which I think are really good. But this example is riddled with problems.... do the rest of you not hear the "bump" in almost all the notes right before the transitions? I understand the library can not be perfect, but that is a bit too obvious. Hopefully they will fix this and make it more useable.


The demos aren't of the finished product, they're not even in beta yet. So far, the signs of a great brass library are there - gorgeous tone, expressiveness, etc. 8Dio's sample game has been up for a while now, I think they know better than to program instruments with audible transitions.


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## SymphonicSamples (May 20, 2016)

It's the first Brass library I've heard that could take over the long standing goto role that Hollywood Brass has held for me. It certainly has it's own character and tone which I'm drawn to. Could be the first library I've thought about buying for a long time.


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## jamwerks (May 21, 2016)

I totally agree! Almost strange that a 5-7 year old HB still hasn't been topped. I'll undoubtedly be buying two brass libraries this year (this and BB).


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## Gabriel Oliveira (May 21, 2016)

jamwerks said:


> Almost strange that a 5-7 year old HB still hasn't been topped



Hasn't? Cinebrass, Spitfire BML Brass?


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## jamwerks (May 21, 2016)

I like the tone of Cinebrass, but it's so "generic" articulation wise imo. HB has tons of arts that get me closer to real performances. I like BML brass also, but they still haven't sorted out the attacks for the long notes, 2 years later!!...


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## trumpoz (May 22, 2016)

SymphonicSamples said:


> It's the first Brass library I've heard that could take over the long standing goto role that Hollywood Brass has held for me. It certainly has it's own character and tone which I'm drawn to.



I'm with you on that one Matt. I really want to hear a solo trumpet and solo trombone patch. Its the one thing that was a big let down for me with HB. If 8Dio can get them right, and $$$ allow then I will buy it. The horn and tpt ensemble patches have a great tone. Am I the only one here who doesn't like the flugel demo? (It could just be my concept of a flugel sound is different to 8Dio's)


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## Ashermusic (May 22, 2016)

Really? I love the HB trumpet and I use it all the time for that "Glory" kind of thing.


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## prodigalson (May 22, 2016)

This is not really helpful but I recently discovered the solo trumpet patch in Symphobia 2 and it is absolutely perfect for that Saving Private Ryan, americana "glory" type thing. just the right amount of vibrato. For a recent project I harmonized it with the solo trumpet from HB and it sounds great for that kind of style.


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## trumpoz (May 22, 2016)

Jay - it is personal taste. My disappointment is at higher dynamics towards the top of and above the stave - it just misses the brilliance and richness that I want from an orchestral trumpet a la Malcolm McNabb, Bud Herseth, Tim Morrison, Phil Smith. Given they are/were some of the greatest orchestral trumpet players on the planet it may be harder to capture in a sample library. Any library that can capture the richness and brilliance similar to those guys will have my money. Maybe I'll get closer to that with the close mics that come with CCX - i'll have to investigate more.


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## Nick Garrett (May 23, 2016)

I hope I'm not the only one waiting for Orchestral Tools Brass. It's going to be magnificent.


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## BenHicks (May 25, 2016)

I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this lib, but tbh, I'm more interested in OT BB, mainly because I already have their strings and WW's.


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## JPQ (May 25, 2016)

mickeyl said:


> Hmm... I like the tone. Much more than, say, the NI brass ensemble.



So true actually some how i dont like much in audiodemos at least new orchestral series and i dont talk only brass.


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## Lawson. (May 25, 2016)

BenHicks said:


> I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this lib, but tbh, I'm more interested in OT BB, mainly because I already have their strings and WW's.



Yeah, I absolutely can't wait for BBR. OT really has the pressure on them, though, as people have been hyping on this library for like 4 years. I have faith that they'll deliver something amazing, and hopefully I'm not wrong! My OT orchestra will finally be complete (though a Berlin Choir would be awesome)! My template feels so empty to have BWW, BPC, and BST, but no BBR. 

That all being said, the fact that only a non-released, speculated library is making me consider not using Hollywood Brass as my main brass is pretty crazy.

And to stay on topic, I do look forward towards checking out the Century Brass; however it doesn't have the hype that BBR does which I think gives it a bit of a marketing disadvantage. Can you imagine if they were released at similar times? The mythical BERLIN BRASS released versus a new 8dio library. Century could be better, but so many people have been waiting for BBR that I feel like Century wouldn't get a fair shot.


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## The Darris (May 25, 2016)

I've finally been able to catch up on current news. I listened to all of these alpha demos on here and I have to say I am not overly impressed. Okay, yes, they are "alpha." But, I am certain that one aspect that won't change to much is the character of the sound. I just feel like l've heard this sound in sampled brass before. Where I am hoping to be surprised is by the features and functionality. 

I've been working on my next review of Chris Hein's Orchestral Brass library. I am not going to get into my thoughts other than mention the functionality of that library. Chris has integrated dynamic articulations into the fray that allow you to intuitively switch back and forth between them and other straight sounding samples. It just brings life into your performances without the use of CC curves that exploit the major issues of sampled brass, the differences in timbre in the low and high dynamic ranges of each instrument. This problem is found heavily in CineBrass, BML Brass, as well as most other brass libraries. The best way to confront this is with "swell" and "crescendo" samples that other developers have been including in their libraries for a while now. The hardest part is sequencing them. Finding a simple and easy way to integrate them into more performance friendly environment would certainly live up to any major hype developers use on their products. 

Now to completely contradict myself. I have a lot of libraries that I have both bought and received for review. I can honestly say that there isn't ONE library that can do it all. I believe Century Brass isn't immune to this and there will be some really awesome aspects of it but also some really bland ones as well. A few years back, I used to be a developer fan boy and sought to just own their orchestra palette and realized that I was limiting myself to just one sound and character in my music. Having expanded outward, I've found a mix of libraries that work well for me and the sound I want.


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## Rodney Money (May 25, 2016)

The Darris said:


> It just brings life into your performances without the use of CC curves that exploit the major issues of sampled brass, the differences in timbre in the low and high dynamic ranges of each instrument. This problem is found heavily in CineBrass, BML Brass, as well as most other brass libraries.


Not really following you, my friend. Those timbre changes are there because people who use samples for renderings want to hear that bright, piercing laser tone when they reach fortissimo and a mellow tone in the lower dynamics. (The "curse" of the epic sound?) Are you saying you want the dynamics of brass be like CineBrass Core's trumpet solo where it stays soft then barely reaching a mf? If you want the timbre to stay constant, why not just adjust volume and not mess with cc1? I am a brass player, and I can play loud but with a mellow sound, but I noticed most people working in media are not familiar with that warm but full sound. For example, we are playing loud but still warm here:

Maybe with brass libraries regular patches, they need warm patches that stay dark and warm without becoming bright and strident in the 127 CC1 dynamic range?


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## Rodney Money (May 25, 2016)

Speaking of warm brass, I wish that a developer would make this patch called "conical warm brass." It would be an ensemble from top to bottom: tubas, euphoniums, alto horns, and flugelhorns that could play gorgeous warm chords, beautiful mournful hymns, or very touching melodies in legato passages. Yes I know Spitfire has a patch with euphoniums and horns mixed but horns still have an edge "buzz" to the sound and this conical warm brass would be simply breath taking and almost choir-like.


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## prodigalson (May 25, 2016)

I think he's talking more about the sudden shifts in timbre and phasing that can happen when transitioning into the dynamic layers of sampled brass. Not necessarily saying that he doesn't want those timbres at all.


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## gjelul (May 25, 2016)

erica-grace said:


> Umm, I think he was agreeing with me that it doesn't sound good at all.





IMO, issue with 8Dio is that they just talk too much... and not let the product do the talking. It would be more beneficial if so. Just try to watch one of the 'walkthroughs'... a never ending monologue. However, I have purchased a lot of their stuff... maybe because of that 'too much talk'


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## The Darris (May 25, 2016)

@Rodney Money; As @prodigalson mentioned, I am speaking about how the timbre and tone of a Brass instrument changes when playing from pianissimo to fortissimo. You get a significant change in timbre which is hard to pull off in dynamic cross-fades that most developers use. CineBrass really suffers from this in their ensemble patches. You get to around 30-40 tilt on CC1 and you have this blend of brassy and soft brass which just doesn't sound good. There is a reason the 8Dio demos only show their brass playing at one dynamic range without any automation, they simply don't have the feature programmed yet or they haven't figured out how to address this inherent issue. The best way to fight this issue is with properly recorded swells and crescendo samples. It isn't about a "constant timbre" it is about getting the transition from timbres to actually sound right. Because, after all, that is how brass instruments work. This issue is really prominent in saxophones as their timbre and color change dramatically. That is why the majority of saxophone libraries on the market sound bad. 

I am not trying to call any developer out directly but just mention the inherent issues in sampling brass. Strings aren't as hard because their timbre and color doesn't dramatically change when playing pp or fff. So, in my open and honest opinion, the issue of how to control dynamics with Brass samples so that you don't hear the dodgy blend of timbres is what developers should be focusing their energy on. Fixing that issue will truly be ground breaking. This applies to many other instruments as well.


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## stonzthro (May 25, 2016)

Not hearing the love over here either. No reason to buy it yet...

Christoper (@The Darris) - I think Sample Modeling is as close to what you are describing as there is on the market. Have you had a chance to play with the new Horns lib from SM? Fantastic and very flexible!


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## The Darris (May 25, 2016)

stonzthro said:


> Not hearing the love over here either. No reason to buy it yet...
> 
> Christoper (@The Darris) - I think Sample Modeling is as close to what you are describing as there is on the market. Have you had a chance to play with the new Horns lib from SM? Fantastic and very flexible!


Personally, I am not a big fan of Sample Modelling. I own the trumpet and I rarely use it. I know quite a few composers who can use their libraries insanely well but I am not one of them, hahah. I do agree that they have answered that issue but with modelling versus sampling which is quite a different beast. There is a level of user friendliness that I am not getting with SM's stuff, I feel like I am spending more time sequencing and tweaking than I am writing. Chris Hein's Brass has made some advancements in this department which I will cover more in my review [I can't give any spoilers]. But, my point is that the issue developers face when sampling brass instruments in large spaces is this timbre issue. It's a beast to figure out.


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## stonzthro (May 25, 2016)

Looking forward to your review!


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## higgs (May 25, 2016)

Lawson. said:


> That all being said, the fact that only a non-released, speculated library is making me consider not using Hollywood Brass as my main brass is pretty crazy.


Is it just me, or does the brass in Ark not quell any concerns about the quality or likelihood of a speculated library's release? I mean what they do have for brass in Ark sounds good enough for me to be excited about a complete standalone brass library from OT


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## chibear (May 25, 2016)

Rodney Money said:


> Those timbre changes are there because people who use samples for renderings want to hear that bright, piercing laser tone when they reach fortissimo and a mellow tone in the lower dynamics. (The "curse" of the epic sound?) .......... I am a brass player, and I can play loud but with a mellow sound, but I noticed most people working in media are not familiar with that warm but full sound. .....



Or will not even admit it is possible. Right on Rodney

This is a bit off-topic, long, and an industry wide problem, so not to focus on 8Dio. Therefore to all an apology.

*HOWEVER*

There is a general misconception in the sample industry that in brass instruments sound color is a function of volume as seen in velocity layers or modwheel-volume-color adjustments. This can be true but is not always true. Fact of the matter is the performer has a LOT more control over brightness (edge, razzle) than for some reason developers want to admit.

Let us first look at how edge and volume interact and _if _there is a firm relationship between the two. In amateur and poor players there definitely is because they know no better. However once players begin post-secondary training they find (depending on the teacher) this is no longer true nor acceptable. Various methods have been developed to overcome this. I am most familiar with the work of Arnold Jacobs as I studied with him for more than a decade and incorporated his pedagogy into the university curriculum I taught.

One of his studies was how&what actually happened to the sound when edge was introduced. First of all edge is distortion. It is produced either by overblowing the instrument or distorting the embouchure (cuivre in French music). Neither of these are very efficient tone production and can be injurious over the long term. Now for an experiment you can duplicate: Seat a horn player (good player, not a hack)in a large room and stand 10 to 15 meters away with a decible meter. Have the player go from soft to loud, maintaining a round warm tone, watching the meter. Now do the same introducing edge in the upper dynamics. You will find that once the edge is introduced the projected resonance actually drops. (Underline the fact this isn't my work or the result of a Google search, but a result of a study done by Arnold Jacobs with many horn players of which I was one). Probably documented somewhere. So this introduced edge only really works when there is a mic less than 3 meters from you (results varied with instruments, being more pronounced in the nickel-silver Conn 8Ds favored in Hollywood & New York and less so in brass horns like Geyers or Yamahas. Point being, tying edge to volume is *NOT* real in a real performance scenario and a sample industry which is obsessed by realism should take note.

At this point more than one person are going to point to videos they've seen which demonstrates just the opposite. One is an interview with a horn player who (a little too) diplomatically states that horn players prefer a "noble forte" which is interpreted as "See the timbre changes with volume" by some, somehow. Another example often used is a poor bass clarinet player doing a crescendo to distortion who if she played like that in a 'real' orchestra would be fired soon after. SO why play like that? Because they are asked to and more importantly paid to, not because of the inherit characteristics of their instruments. Same goes for the edgy example from 8Dio posted above: While it may get by or even sound 'wonderful' in the epic realm, it won't fly in the concert hall. 

I mention 'epic' because that's where this trend seems to have started big time, made popular by big name composers who don't really understand the characteristics of the instruments they are writing for, rather just acoustical extensions of their electronic concepts.

There is also another factor that should be considered and that's the effect this type of sample writing is having on students of the instruments you are writing for. Shortly before I retired a student played well-known excerpt for me that was the edgiest, ugliest thing I had ever heard. I asked him what the %^&* he called that and he said "Heard it in a movie" Samples with volume attached to edge I found out later. When I did the Bleeding Fingers competition I rerecorded Zimmer's horn stem so it sounded like horns. I'm sure he appreciated it  I should also thank him and some of his cronies for setting horn pedagogy back a generation.

So what is the purpose of edge? It is an expressive tool like volume and vibrato to be used tastefully by the performer, not in an algorithm 'cause that ain't realistic. This was underlined in my studies with Dale Clevenger when he suggested I put a bit of 'razzle' in the sound here and remove it there.

How to incorporate this into sample libraries is actually quite simple: Just assign edge a CC# and let the performers put it in where and when they think it's right. The only library I've encountered so far that addresses it in this manner (albeit imperfectly) is Kirk Hunter's Concert Brass 2 with his Mod Bright option.

End of rant. If you made it this far thank you for your patience.


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## Lawson. (May 25, 2016)

higgs said:


> Is it just me, or does the brass in Ark not quell any concerns about the quality or likelihood of a speculated library's release? I mean what they do have for brass in Ark sounds good enough for me to be excited about a complete standalone brass library from OT



Oh true; I forgot about that! And of course there's also BBR Exp. C (Horn FX) from a while ago that is quite possibly the nicest sampled horns I've ever heard. I KNEW there was a reason this mystical library was luring me in!


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## The Darris (May 26, 2016)

Right on @chibear 

Basically everything you said is what I am concerned about. As you mentioned, the fact is that developers attach the brightness/brassiness to louder dynamics and then fail at giving you a proper sounding transition from the warm to harsh sound. This is the biggest problem I have with virtually every brass library I own that offers dynamic xfade control. I am hoping 8Dio and Orchestral Tools are addressing this issue as they seem to have the "big" releases coming up this year for Brass libraries.

Cheers,

Chris


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## Ian Dorsch (May 26, 2016)

chibear said:


> How to incorporate this into sample libraries is actually quite simple: Just assign edge a CC# and let the performers put it in where and when they think it's right. The only library I've encountered so far that addresses it in this manner (albeit imperfectly) is Kirk Hunter's Concert Brass 2 with his Mod Bright option.



I almost hate to bring it up, but they also tried to approach the horns in GPO like that, with a separate overlay instrument for edge.


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## chibear (May 26, 2016)

Ian Dorsch said:


> I almost hate to bring it up, but they also tried to approach the horns in GPO like that, with a separate overlay instrument for edge.


They never seem to share their UI so can't say for sure. Garritan never seems to be short of good ideas, thinking specifically of the old solo violin that Dan Kury did the mockup of the Thais Meditation with. Always, though they seem to fall short in the final product, like they get tired of working on it with great sounds mixed with gawdaweful ones. I'm hoping someone else will run with the idea.


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## Ian Dorsch (May 26, 2016)

In the first edition of GPO, back when it was a Kontakt lib, you had to load the horns and the edge overlay separately--two individual Kontakt instruments. I haven't used it since the first edition, so I have no idea how they do things these days.


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## trumpoz (May 26, 2016)

You had me at 'i studied under Arnold Jacobs for a decade'.

Great post.


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## procreative (May 27, 2016)

I think these type of discussions hinge on your approach. 

Either you are a classically trained composer looking to recreate pieces using samples and require an orchestral approach with classical techniques performed accurately.

Or you use whatever tools you have to create a piece and use orchestral instruments but not necessarily in an accurate or orchestral way, but a simulation of this.

If you are in the former camp, then you will be looking for a library that best emulates what players do in [most] traditional orchestral settings. However you will probably be the hardest to please as nothing is quite like the real thing (when played well and recorded well).

I do sometimes think we need to remember how far things have come. I remember being blown away by my JV-880 with its strings patches like "Soaring Strings" and "Marcato Strings" that utilised a few PCM samples spread over the range. 

I guess developers need to concentrate on the "Epic" and "Hybrid" market because thats where their main market is. We must remember there are many composers that still write with a Piano and Score with their imagination with the end goal of it being performed by a real orchestra, they probably do not need fully blown samples or 100% accuracy.


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## mickeyl (May 27, 2016)

Here's the newest teaser:


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## erica-grace (May 27, 2016)

mickeyl said:


> Here's the newest teaser:



Ok, that sounds pretty good. But it's too center. Needs to be off to the left more. I know you can pan, but if you do that, you pan the ambience as well, which generally rally is not a good thing. I guess they did not record the horns in position?


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## mickeyl (May 27, 2016)

erica-grace said:


> Ok, that sounds pretty good. But it's too center. Needs to be off to the left more. I know you can pan, but if you do that, you pan the ambience as well, which generally rally is not a good thing. I guess they did not record the horns in position?



Good question... with that much of reverb I can't tell other than that it sounds great overall...


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## jamwerks (May 27, 2016)

They've said Century Strings won't be in-position, so I imagine that also this brass library will be centered


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## Zhao Shen (Jul 9, 2016)

I've been pretty impressed by some of the previous previews but this one is a bit poor IMO. Don't like those legato transitions at all - they shout "I'M A SAMPLE LIBRARY." Pretty sure CineBrass solo trumpets (in both CORE and PRO) have better legato. Also scares me that they took the "alpha/beta" out of the title... Is this the final product?

Nevertheless, big fan of the concept of these showcases. These naked examples and the walkthroughs are pretty much the only things I measure 8Dio's libraries by when I'm looking to snag something from their catalog - never demos. These two tracks are Exhibit A - it would be so easy to mask the mediocre legato here with lots of percussion, ambience, pulses, etc. 8Dio's demos always sound so good, but they're also much less telling to what the libraries can actually do since most are smothered in 50 layers of other VSTs.


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## lucor (Jul 9, 2016)

Yup, those legato transitions sound absolutely terrible. I hope this isn't finished.


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## rottoy (Jul 9, 2016)

I immediately noticed those transitions as well. Sounds like two trumpets playing for a second.


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## prodigalson (Jul 9, 2016)

yikes...


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## airflamesred (Jul 9, 2016)

Ooh dear.


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## Zhao Shen (Jul 9, 2016)

Honestly, I could probably get the same level of legato by overlapping sustains...


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## rottoy (Jul 9, 2016)

I really hope Troels & Colin are working hard to tweak those patches.


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## noxtenebrae17 (Jul 9, 2016)

I'll just say that I'm excited to see what Alex Wallbank does with Cinematic Studio Brass. There is a Solo Trumpet is his "Ringworld" demo for CSS that sounds pretty terrific. I'm hoping that is a preview of what is to come for CSB.


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## jamwerks (Jul 9, 2016)

I like this last trumpet example. Seems to me that we're hearing what brass legato really sounds like. 

Fingered legato on strings is of course very smooth, but brass instruments are a different story....


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## Zhao Shen (Jul 9, 2016)

jamwerks said:


> I like this last trumpet example. Seems to me that we're hearing what brass legato really sounds like.
> 
> Fingered legato on strings is of course very smooth, but brass instruments are a different story....


As a former trumpet player and fan of brass in general, I can guarantee you that brass does not sound like sustains overlapping. Yes, there are a lot more factors involved, but that 8Dio example isn't striving for "extra realism," it's just sloppy programming. Legato transitions for solo trumpet should not sound like 2 trumpets.


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## jamwerks (Jul 9, 2016)

Not a trumpet player here, but aren't we just hearing the player go through the overtones? Putting two sustain samples side but side is far from what I'm hearing. 

They've probably done these legati as in Adagio-Agitato where the transition & landing note are all in one (ie no transitions crossfading to sustains). So we should never hear any phasing or double instruments. 

We'll see! Hope it's soon!!


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## Brendon Williams (Jul 9, 2016)

I heard these on Soundcloud last night. There's a very strong 2-instruments effect going on here because of those legato transitions.


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## jamwerks (Jul 9, 2016)

I listened again with headphones on my smartphone. Thought you guys were talking about the transitions.

Think these have just been mislabelled. That's definitely a "2 trumpets" patch, as you can constantly hear the two instruments...

The transitions sound ok to me.


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## JohnBMears (Jul 14, 2016)

Sounds like a big improvement to my ears already.


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## rottoy (Jul 14, 2016)

JohnBMears said:


> Sounds like a big improvement to my ears already.



Definitely.


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## Zhao Shen (Jul 14, 2016)

JohnBMears said:


> Sounds like a big improvement to my ears already.



Now _that's _a good-sounding solo trumpet! Gorgeous stuff - sounds like it's years ahead of the last demos.


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## noxtenebrae17 (Jul 14, 2016)

Yes, this is much better. Releases are a bit cut off on some of the sustained notes, but overall this is miles ahead of the last demo. Hopefully this trend of improvement makes its way around the rest of the library.


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## mickeyl (Jul 14, 2016)

Yeah!


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## NoamL (Jul 15, 2016)

Some of you may recall I am very bullish on *Hollywood Brass Gold* in these forums. If you ask me it's EWQL's best library ever (well HWB Diamond probably is, but you get the idea). Playing that 6 HN Legato Slur Accent patch has been enchanting and mesmerizing since the first time I loaded it and moments later discovered 2 hours had gone by.

I created a showdown between 8dio Century Brass alpha/beta demos (panned left) and HWB Gold main mics + Spaces (panned right). No fx on either track. But I did feel it was fair to use multiple articulations in HWB.

I was pretty sure HWB would spank these demos before I actually made the comparison. I agree with the above posts that some of the legato transitions in these 8dio alpha demos are NOT good, and should not be released until they are in better shape.

BUT... tone and expression are king.

To put it simply, the HWB horns stood up to the 8dio horns easily, with only a little tweaking of CCs & velocities after performing a freehand copy of the demos. I find that the HWB horns feel a little warmer/darker, and the 8dio horns have a little more "hear the players" personality.

The HWB trumpets did not get in field goal range, even with a lot of MIDI/CC massaging... a lot. Like 15-20 minutes sitting there trying artic after artic, penciling in CC1 to try to find the sample that was loud but not loud-and-too-accented, etc.

Judge for yourself.

*LINK because Soundcloud won't let me post 8dio's audio*


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## vicontrolu (Jul 15, 2016)

Love the tone. It will all come down to usability and number of articulations. Having Cinebrass, Spitfire´s and Samplemodelling its gonna be hard to find a reason to buy more brasses.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jul 16, 2016)

First One :D :D sorry...

Some more demos. Trumpet section size comparisons.




To me the 1 trumpet example sounds a bit weird, the 2 and 4 trumpets sound cool. But strange how some of the interacting samples sound dryer or wetter than the others.


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## jsp21 (Jul 16, 2016)

Wow, Century Brass does _not_ sound very good. It seems to me they have over-processed the samples too.

Whatever the case, if this is close to the final product, I'd recommend even the ol' EWQLSO over this—and that's a 12 year old library!



NoamL said:


> Some of you may recall I am very bullish on *Hollywood Brass Gold* in these forums. If you ask me it's EWQL's best library ever (well HWB Diamond probably is, but you get the idea). Playing that 6 HN Legato Slur Accent patch has been enchanting and mesmerizing since the first time I loaded it and moments later discovered 2 hours had gone by.
> 
> I created a showdown between 8dio Century Brass alpha/beta demos (panned left) and HWB Gold main mics + Spaces (panned right). No fx on either track. But I did feel it was fair to use multiple articulations in HWB.
> 
> ...



Big fan of HB here too.


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## erica-grace (Jul 16, 2016)

Is it just me, but do some of the samples (from the same audio example) not sound like they fit in with the rest? Like they were recorded on different days, with different players in a different room?


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## studioj (Jul 16, 2016)

I think those trumpets sound really good, especially considering they are in isolation. There aren't very many great trumpet instruments out there... especially ones that can move pretty fluidly between accents / legato / dynamics with any sort of realism. I think the space doesn't sound weird, accents are going to activate the space a little differently than smooth sustained tones. Anyway I think they sound better than what I can get with Cinebrass or HWB. And they seem to have a little more fullness and life than the spitfire's...although I haven't spent a lot of time with those.


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## lucor (Jul 16, 2016)

erica-grace said:


> Is it just me, but do some of the samples (from the same audio example) not sound like they fit in with the rest? Like they were recorded on different days, with different players in a different room?



Yep, I'm hearing the same thing. They also seem to jump around in the stereo spectrum. I don't like the sound of this library at all. :(


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## Johnny (Jul 16, 2016)

lucor said:


> Yep, I'm hearing the same thing. They also seem to jump around in the stereo spectrum. I don't like the sound of this library at all. :(


That is a signature complaint of all 8Dio strings and most likely their upcoming brass and century series. Some people dig it and others do not? They like to capture an extremely wide stereo image, which I'm sure poses its challenges when adding multiple microphone positions (and legato transitions), all into an extensive collection of several dynamic layers. It's all good buried in a mix : )


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## NoamL (Jul 17, 2016)

The 2tpt and 4tpt I hear the same problems as HWB: _really _obvious articulation switches. 

Why are trumpets so hard to sample :(


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## The Darris (Jul 17, 2016)

Johnny said:


> It's all good buried in a mix : )


The fundamental issue I have with this. To be perfectly honest, I haven't heard anything in these alpha demos that are revolutionary compared to what is on the market now. The nicest thing I can say about it at this point is the fact that they sampled multiple sized sections which will definitely give you more flexibility than any current gen library. 

Only time will tell with this one.

-C


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jul 17, 2016)

Yup, trumpets seem to be a really tricky thing to do sample wise. The only convincing legato trumpet I heard is Samplemodeling's. But from what I heard I think it's not usable for everything (big symphonic stuff), even with a lot of trickery. But it should be great for layering. Could elevate a library that sounds great but doesn't convince programming wise (like Hollywood Brass).


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## jamwerks (Jul 17, 2016)

I really like the timbre captured. I also like the editing. The different arts used sound very musical.

I am though hearing the moving around in the stereo field. The shortest notes are noticeably more left! With Adagio these movements are less of a problem since in the end we reduce the width, before panning. But with Century Brass (like Claire) we won't be reducing the width (just panning a bit), so these jumps will continue being there. Too bad.


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## trumpoz (Jul 17, 2016)

The tone of the solo trumpet in the Jurassic Park Fanfare........ wow. The overtones in the longs are beautiful. 

Not such a big fan of the 2 and 4 trumpet offerings in terms of tone.


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## SymphonicSamples (Jul 17, 2016)

trumpoz said:


> The tone of the solo trumpet in the Jurassic Park Fanfare........ wow. The overtones in the longs are beautiful.


Totally agree, ultimately it will come down to what articulations the instruments offer, the interface and it's flexibility. With a few other developers Brass releases incoming things could get very interesting indeed.


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## Maxime Luft (Jul 17, 2016)

Hey guys, just had a try with a pretty old library I still love to use. I think that _there_, they recorded everything the same day in the same room and well... I'm pretty satisfied with it !
Maybe I let you guess which one it is ?

I btw think that these demos are quite representative for 8dio's sound in general ... which I find a bit over-processed.

[AUDIOPLUS=http://vi-control.net/community/attachments/160717-mp3.5848/][/AUDIOPLUS]


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Jul 17, 2016)

Maxime Luft said:


> Hey guys, just had a try with a pretty old library I still love to use. I think that _there_, they recorded everything the same day in the same room and well... I'm pretty satisfied with it !
> Maybe I let you guess which one it is ?
> 
> I btw think that these demos are quite representative for 8dio's sound in general ... which I find a bit over-processed.
> ...



Sorry, what? While the programming of your line is good, the sound and depth and stereo imaging hurts major butt and fails completely against the 1 trumpet example from 8dio solo trp. I hope you don´t mean that serious..because you are really wrong thinking that this is close or even a bit close. It is nothing close not even somewhere. Side note: I hope your wrong notes were done deliberately on purpose.


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## Maxime Luft (Jul 17, 2016)

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> I hope you don´t mean that serious..



No worries, just wanted to share it for the room's sensation. Of course I won't be talking about the sound itself


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Jul 17, 2016)

Maxime Luft said:


> No worries, just wanted to share it for the room's sensation. Of course I won't be talking about the sound itself


And why you write that "I btw think that these demos are quite representative for 8dio's sound in general" then??  Or do you mean the demos from 8 dio. Then my fault.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jul 17, 2016)

Maxime Luft said:


> Hey guys, just had a try with a pretty old library I still love to use. I think that _there_, they recorded everything the same day in the same room and well... I'm pretty satisfied with it !
> Maybe I let you guess which one it is ?
> 
> I btw think that these demos are quite representative for 8dio's sound in general ... which I find a bit over-processed.
> ...



Library guessing, yea... Maybe... Project Sam Classical Brass?


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## Johnny (Jul 17, 2016)

DarkestShadow said:


> Library guessing, yea... Maybe... Project Sam Classical Brass?


Cage Brass Marcatos?


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## Lionel Schmitt (Jul 17, 2016)

Johnny said:


> Cage Brass Marcatos?


naw, he wrote it's a pretty old library.


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## Johnny (Jul 17, 2016)

DarkestShadow said:


> naw, he wrote it's a pretty old library.


Ahhh true!


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## noxtenebrae17 (Jul 17, 2016)

The Century Solo Trumpet sounds best here. The 2 and 4 ensembles are very average IMO. Not horrible, but not good either.

I'm definitely more excited to hear Cinematic Studio Brass and Berlin Brass in action. Hopefully we'll get both by the end of this year.


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## Vartio (Jul 17, 2016)

I'm still waiting for something to blow my hair back and sound really amazing, that hasn't really happened in years and everything seems kinda shitty coming out nowadays (except for very few special libraries here and there). and this is not a exception to that. im sure Troels and guys are working their butts off for this but the results aren't sounding like anything id like to use anywhere. such a shame.


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## jamwerks (Jul 17, 2016)

Brass players con only play maybe 5-6 hours a day. So per instrument, I'm sure there are several days of sampling, no matter what library!


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## jamwerks (Jul 17, 2016)

trumpoz said:


> The tone of the solo trumpet in the Jurassic Park Fanfare........ wow. The overtones in the longs are beautiful. Not such a big fan of the 2 and 4 trumpet offerings in terms of tone.


You being a trumpet play, talk about the tone of the a2 & a4!


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## JohnBMears (Jul 17, 2016)

As a trombone player, I feel that the biggest part of the problem with brass is the flexible usability (or not) of legato patches. I feel the above 8dio solo trumpet line is using mostly a legato patch. So it sounds consistent in recording, but odd in its lack of variation of tonguing/accent. The 2 trumpet line sounds similar, but less raw. It sounds to me that the 4 trumpet pass is using several different articulations which is making it sound tonally more erratic, but musicianship-wise probably more 'accurately played'. Like with CineBrass. The legato scripting is good in my opinion, and you have all these note 'lengths' to go with your performance. To me this example sounds right as a brass player, but it sounds inconsistent in tone due to recording, etc. (this is done with CineBrass)

[AUDIOPLUS=http://vi-control.net/community/attachments/jurassic-tpt-mp3.5849/][/AUDIOPLUS]


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## trumpoz (Jul 18, 2016)

jamwerks said:


> You being a trumpet play, talk about the tone of the a2 & a4!



Mine is only one opinion and as a brass player, a harsh one.

For me - the a2 and a4 sound like 2 or 4 different players playing at once as opposed to a trumpet section of 2 or 4 players. I was surprised at the lack of blend among the players sampled, particularly with some of the shorts where there was one tone noticably more dominant that others. Its personal taste - and may be something that can be fixed in a mix or 'drench it with reverb and it will be fine'.

I'd love to hear the other sections to see if it is something consistent across the library.

On current demo's if the Solo Trumpet was made available separately, I'd buy it without a second thought.


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## JohnBMears (Sep 1, 2016)

Any Updates on CENTURY BRASS?


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## Rodney Money (Sep 2, 2016)

I just listen to their 1 hour long podcast. The way they talked it would sound as though they were going to make the most perfect brass library ever especially with the focus not only on the epic, but also the warm, choral, William's Saving Private Ryan sound, but so far in their demos, there's been a lot of talk the talk but not a lot of walk the walk. Maybe their intentions are good, but they simply don't know how to pull off the type of library they truly want? I hope their final product though proves my doubts incorrect, because if they do succeed in their goals it will be a true win for sampling and for us.


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## g.c. (Sep 2, 2016)

shakuman said:


> +1..


Just my 2 cents, for I haven't heard the demos---
When we play "Dynamic Transitions" we do it by keeping a constant but continually adjusting air stream. The stream does not stop. Without it, in the real world, there will be no transition. So I'm not sure that being able to hear "air movement" in a slur is a bad thing. If the transitions are recorded, not scripted, it's not possible to create these movements, without using the flow of air.
For wind instrument, the vibration of air is the prerequisite for sound.
For what it's worth---
g.c.


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## g.c. (Sep 2, 2016)

trumpoz said:


> I'm with you on that one Matt. I really want to hear a solo trumpet and solo trombone patch. Its the one thing that was a big let down for me with HB. If 8Dio can get them right, and $$$ allow then I will buy it. The horn and tpt ensemble patches have a great tone. Am I the only one here who doesn't like the flugel demo? (It could just be my concept of a flugel sound is different to 8Dio's)


I agree about the Fluegel sound. It's not that in between F Hns 7 Bones I'd want.


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## g.c. (Sep 2, 2016)

The Darris said:


> Personally, I am not a big fan of Sample Modelling. I own the trumpet and I rarely use it. I know quite a few composers who can use their libraries insanely well but I am not one of them, hahah. I do agree that they have answered that issue but with modelling versus sampling which is quite a different beast. There is a level of user friendliness that I am not getting with SM's stuff, I feel like I am spending more time sequencing and tweaking than I am writing. Chris Hein's Brass has made some advancements in this department which I will cover more in my review [I can't give any spoilers]. But, my point is that the issue developers face when sampling brass instruments in large spaces is this timbre issue. It's a beast to figure out.


It probably can't happen until someone develops a way to link velocity transitions to air stream, the vels responding to the airflow controlling the vels similar as to how air through metal or reed creates, warms and releases tension (ie velocity layers). We would play samples with TEC's et al.
g.c.


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## SymphonicSamples (Sep 2, 2016)

Rodney Money said:


> I just listen to their 1 hour long podcast. The way they talked it would sound as though they were going to make the most perfect brass library ever especially with the focus not only on the epic, but also the warm, choral, William's Saving Private Ryan sound


I remember listening to one last year where the team were certainly passionate about what they'd learned though making all their previous orchestral libraries and what some of the positive / negative were in other Brass libraries, intern what they needed to do to get the definitive Brass collection. For 8dio, and all Brass libraries it's dangerous to blow your own horn unless you produce Gold  I still remain positive as I'm sure Adventure Brass has given them some food for thought which could produce something more special...


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## jamwerks (Sep 15, 2016)

It's been a year now since their first posted Alpha demo, and over 4 months with nothing new. Did they go back and rerecord so stuff maybe? They have some interesting patches: Horns a1, a2, a3 a6 & a12. And trumpets a1, a2, a3 & a4.

With details now available about SBR & BBR, looking forward to hearing more info here!


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## Zhao Shen (Feb 12, 2017)

Not going to lie, this sounds pretty damn good.


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## Niah2 (Feb 12, 2017)

Yes it does Zhao, I'm liking it !


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## jamwerks (Feb 12, 2017)

Had almost forgotten about this one!


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## airflamesred (Feb 12, 2017)

jamwerks said:


> Had almost forgotten about this one!


I suggest, Sir, that you prepare for your game to be changed!


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## jamwerks (Feb 12, 2017)

airflamesred said:


> I suggest, Sir, that you prepare for your game to be changed!


Ah, so that's what Spitfire meant when saying "It's all about to change"? Now I get it !... 

On a more serious note, what could have happened that caused 8dio to delay this product by almost a year? Maybe a new legato programming feature? Can't wait to see and hear it !


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## airflamesred (Feb 12, 2017)

jamwerks said:


> Ah, so that's what Spitfire meant when saying "It's all about to change"? Now I get it !...
> 
> On a more serious note, what could have happened that caused 8dio to delay this product by almost a year? Maybe a new legato programming feature? Can't wait to see and hear it !


I don't really know but the endless sale seems to be dragging on, almost as though they also have game changing stuff on the way as well.
I'm assuming both Spitfire and 8dio are working at some level, on some sort of sample modeling as that does seem the logical step forward and with a crowded market, I should imagine timing is of the essence.


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## artinro (Feb 17, 2017)

Looks like a new "MP trumpet legato" was just posted:


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## ctsai89 (Feb 17, 2017)

artinro said:


> Looks like a new "MP trumpet legato" was just posted:




um ok. but that's not something that every brass library already can do. Need to hear it xfade from ppp to fff smoothly.


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## NoamL (Feb 17, 2017)

Those transitions seem really prominent and strange to my ear?

The tone is gorgeous.


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## artinro (May 9, 2017)

New example...thoughts?


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## mickeyl (May 9, 2017)

I like it a lot!


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## JohnBMears (May 9, 2017)

So is this recorded in a hall? Studio? Church? As a trombone player I find it odd that the newer brass libraries get, the more prominence they are putting on the audible-ness of the legato transition. Trombones cannot always "slur" the way that valved instruments can, but it seems like some trumpet and horn demos I hear have un-naturally loud transitions. If this is due to not enough timbral dynamics being sampled, then that really should be the goal of the next library to come out. Fewer articulations, more dynamic layers.

I suppose it also doesn't help that this legato cue is all on one breath (so it sounds) which isn't really gonna happen in the real world.


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## lucor (May 9, 2017)

The vibrato sounds really bad and artificial in some places, but these short demos are definitely constantly improving!


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## amorphosynthesis (May 9, 2017)

artinro said:


> New example...thoughts?



Wonder if this is a single legato patch with roundrobin repetitions....for attack notes


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## erica-grace (May 9, 2017)

Dont like the tone, and the vibrato sounds scripted, not played. Maybe it's not scripted - I have no idea, but it sure sounds it.


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## Niah2 (May 9, 2017)

All these examples sound very good and very weird at the same time...


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## Zhao Shen (May 9, 2017)

JohnBMears said:


> So is this recorded in a hall? Studio? Church? As a trombone player I find it odd that the newer brass libraries get, the more prominence they are putting on the audible-ness of the legato transition. Trombones cannot always "slur" the way that valved instruments can, but it seems like some trumpet and horn demos I hear have un-naturally loud transitions. If this is due to not enough timbral dynamics being sampled, then that really should be the goal of the next library to come out. Fewer articulations, more dynamic layers.
> 
> I suppose it also doesn't help that this legato cue is all on one breath (so it sounds) which isn't really gonna happen in the real world.


YES. I think one way sample developers could start blowing us away is with more focus on attacks and releases. There's a lot of stuff that could be added in that area to enhance realism.


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## jamwerks (May 9, 2017)

Yes wondering if VSL will have any new "release-technology" with their upcoming libraries like that found in the Syncron Percussion?


----------



## ctsai89 (May 9, 2017)

artinro said:


> New example...thoughts?




Starting to sound a bit more promising.


----------



## Karl Feuerstake (May 9, 2017)

Wow, that really does not sound like a Trumpet :/


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## airflamesred (May 11, 2017)

Does anyone have any incite into what's going on with this lib. This thread is just shy of 2 years old. Are they waiting for some sort of mass approval here before release?


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## Mike Marino (May 11, 2017)

airflamesred said:


> Does anyone have any incite into what's going on with this lib. This thread is just shy of 2 years old. Are they waiting for some sort of mass approval here before release?


8dio doesn't really "go here" at this point....so I'm quite certain they're not waiting for any approval here. I think they're probably just taking their time on this release, trying to make sure that they don't rush it to market for the sake of just having it out there. It seems that everything that's been posted as demos so far are still just Alpha demos. There could be a number of reasons why things are taking so long.....from re-recording source material to changing sample scripting (and everything in between).



JohnBMears said:


> I suppose it also doesn't help that this legato cue is all on one breath (so it sounds) which isn't really gonna happen in the real world.


Looks and sounds like a break in playing at the :08 second mark. Second phrase is certainly feels longer than would normally be however. In terms of the volume of the legato transitions, I know in the string libraries there's a volume knob on the gui that controls the volume of the legato transitions. If the same is true with the brass library it should be easily tweaked to be less abrasive (or more abrasive) since it can be midi cc assigned.



Zhao Shen said:


> I think one way sample developers could start blowing us away is with more focus on attacks and releases.


I agree. It can be a slippery slope though. They sort of introduced this idea (I think) with the Adagio libraries. Dynamic bowings and multiple dynamically performed arcs. Remember the amount of pushback on that? That so many people wanted to just use the stock XFade patch instead. I think the challenge sits with trying to create a GUI and workflow functionality that matches the lion's share of the way many composers might work. Who knows. Maybe that's part of what's taking them longer? Not sure.


----------



## Zhao Shen (May 11, 2017)

Mike Marino said:


> I agree. It can be a slippery slope though. They sort of introduced this idea (I think) with the Adagio libraries. Dynamic bowings and multiple dynamically performed arcs. Remember the amount of pushback on that? That so many people wanted to just use the stock XFade patch instead. I think the challenge sits with trying to create a GUI and workflow functionality that matches the lion's share of the way many composers might work. Who knows. Maybe that's part of what's taking them longer? Not sure.



I think the most useful application of improved implementation of attacks and releases would be in writing passages that aren't just all slurred. There's only so much you can write given a modern legato patch. Combining legato slurs and marcatos/staccatos/other articulations in a realistic way is the next step.


----------



## Mike Marino (May 11, 2017)

Zhao Shen said:


> I think the most useful application of improved implementation of attacks and releases would be in writing passages that aren't just all slurred. There's only so much you can write given a modern legato patch. Combining legato slurs and marcatos/staccatos/other articulations in a realistic way is the next step.


I don't disagree with what you're saying. I think that's what everybody's after. Maybe that's part of what's taking them so long; trying to crack the code..


----------



## artinro (May 21, 2017)

Hidden in the walkthrough of 8dio's new choir library, there are two brief snippets of century brass's solo horn and solo flugelhorn:


----------



## Brendon Williams (May 22, 2017)

artinro said:


> Hidden in the walkthrough of 8dio's new choir library, there are two brief snippets of century brass's solo horn and solo flugelhorn:




Those are some of the best sounding examples I've heard from this yet! Though they're also some of the most simple and easy to achieve with existing libraries as well.


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## Zhao Shen (May 22, 2017)

Brendon Williams said:


> Those are some of the best sounding examples I've heard from this yet! Though they're also some of the most simple and easy to achieve with existing libraries as well.


They certainly sound well-scripted, but there's something about the tone that's disconcerting to me... Something about the brassiness of it, though I can't quite place my finger on it.


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## JohnBMears (May 22, 2017)

Might be the video but that horn sounds odd to me.


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## DDK (May 24, 2017)

Hi
Which patches did u use for HS?


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## Lawson. (Jun 8, 2017)

OF COURSE that's what got played to show the legato.


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## Zhao Shen (Jun 8, 2017)

Lawson. said:


> OF COURSE that's what got played to show the legato.




Holy shit, loving the articulations provided.

Also, I think I'm getting closer to figuring out why the horn sounds odd to me. It has that brassy bite to it (which is great because a lot of libraries lack that), but it sounds like it's sampled at a close perspective while the rest of the samples sound significantly more lush/distant. Also hearing some slight issues with matching the dynamics of the sustain with that of the legato transition.

All in all though, pretty excited for a more in-depth walkthrough.


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## jamwerks (Jun 8, 2017)

Where did you find that? Looks like a roll-out announcement


----------



## Ian Dorsch (Jun 8, 2017)

jamwerks said:


> Where did you find that? Looks like a roll-out announcement



It showed up on Facebook, with a release date of June 22.


----------



## ghandizilla (Jun 8, 2017)

Idem here, saw that on Facebook. Look not bad at all, but... nothing revolutionnary!


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## lucor (Jun 8, 2017)

The highest dynamics sound weird, and I heard some wonky dynamic transitions in the legato patch.
Overall still pretty good though, I think.


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## mac (Jun 8, 2017)

I might have missed it, but does it have any kind of intelligent articulation switching, similar to the musical sampling series?


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## jamwerks (Jun 8, 2017)

If the GUI is like Anthology (as it appears to be), the articulation management has actually taken a step back compared to their 3 year old Agitato GUI, and very much behind the SF Kontakt GUI. Sad!


----------



## muziksculp (Jun 8, 2017)

jamwerks said:


> If the GUI is like Anthology (as it appears to be), the articulation management has actually taken a step back compared to their 3 year old Agitato GUI, and very much behind the SF Kontakt GUI. Sad!



Actually, I like the Anthology GUI, and this one looks pretty good to me. 

I also like what I hear in the Solo Brass Teaser.


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## jamwerks (Jun 8, 2017)

muziksculp said:


> Actually, I like the Anthology GUI, and this one looks pretty good to me


Not sure why you quoted me? So you like that articulation management took a step back? Do you just like how it looks? Do you have Agitato?


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## muziksculp (Jun 8, 2017)

jamwerks said:


> Not sure why you quoted me? So you like that articulation management took a step back? Do you just like how it looks? Do you have Agitato?



I quoted you because I have a different opinion than yours, and Yes, I like the Anthology Style GUI design. It's easty to on the eye, clean design, and straight forward to understand it's functionality. 

What exactly is it that you don't like about the GUI design ? or are there specific functions that you feel are missing in the GUI ?


----------



## Quasar (Jun 8, 2017)

airflamesred said:


> Does anyone have any incite into what's going on with this lib. This thread is just shy of 2 years old. Are they waiting for some sort of mass approval here before release?


Maybe it's called "Century" Brass because it's a 100 year development project.


----------



## Tatu (Jun 8, 2017)

I wonder if they'll release it in modules.. some things, suchs as "Century Solo Brass" and "Solo Brass Horn Coming.. " suggests so.


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## kavinsky (Jun 10, 2017)

WIth the new Cimbasso video, looks like it would be a Solo Brass library.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Nov 12, 2017)




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## Zhao Shen (Nov 14, 2017)

https://8dio.com/2017/11/13/century-countdown/

Looks like there will be a freebie package, that'll be great for figuring out if the tone of the library is for you.


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## CT (Nov 14, 2017)

Gosh, the first half of Troels' demo....


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## krops (Nov 17, 2017)

Am I the only one who thinks CB sounds amazing? (Judging by the new demos) I've always had a harder time playing brass and wood libraries, but this one looks really intuitive. I like the no-nonsense GUI too.


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## axb312 (Mar 5, 2018)

Guys, can anyone post or direct me to a detailed review of this library?


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## JoelS (Mar 5, 2018)

I can't direct you to a detailed review, but I will give you a somewhat thorough opinion on Century Solo and Ensemble Brass.

Century Brass is the first brass library I've used that plays how I want it to and sounds how I feel brass ought to sound. I am happier with my CB purchase than with any other brass set to date.

I like using the modwheel to shape the dynamics of my notes. Most libraries allow for this, but aren't entirely successful at capturing the feel I want. This is, of course, entirely subjective. Sample Modeling's brass instruments are very expressive (I love the act of just playing them), but don't quite have the timbre I want or the bite I'm after. Berlin Brass is a wonderful set, but it's a too tame when I want aggression and requires a lot more keyswitching than CB to get lines shaped the way I want... and even at that, the articulations often sound more disconnected than I'd prefer. It's also much more resource-hungry than CB. The Metropolis series has its merits and flaws, but is very situational in its use for me. Adventure Brass is wonderfully playable, but a bit limited in its expressive capacity. It's great at certain kinds of music (like... adventure tracks, go figure) but the sound isn't quite what I had hoped. Trailer Brass is playable and has a unique tone, but isn't detailed or all that expressive. Hollywood Brass has a great Low Brass patch, and the rest is ok. For me, it's long since been surpassed.

Each of the many brass libraries noted above have situations in which they excel and I may still turn to them for very specific tracks that happen to best suit their strengths. After using CB on about a dozen tracks since it came out, I feel like I could replace all of them outside of very narrow situations.

It took me a bit of work to figure out how to get CB to sound and play precisely how I wanted it to. The legato patches crossfade very smoothly and have excellent dynamic range. They also have a crisp attack. They are very responsive to modwheel input. This fits my workflow perfectly, and I do not feel in most cases that I need to switch to other articulations to get expressive lines. In Berlin Brass, to get a line shaped the way I want, I might have to keyswitch through legato, marcatos of different lengths, short notes and a crescendo. In CB, I just play the line legato and use the modwheel to shape the line. It is a much more creative and inspiring way to play, for me. CB delivers the emotional arc that I am trying to extract from my head into the sequencer.

When I initially tried the CB instruments I was a little underwhelmed with the sound. It wasn't bad, but wasn't a leap beyond Berlin Brass, which I was using extensively on several projects at the time. I was surprised at that, so I started messing around and began stacking up the sections and solo instruments on the same MIDI channel. That was what blew the roof off for me and really made things sing. For instance, I stacked up the 6, 2, and 1 French Horn legatos, adjusted their panning and levels, and let them rip. I had found the FH sound I have always wanted. Again, this is very subjective, but the variety of section sizes and mics allow wide latitude in finding a sound that fits your personal preference.

I will admit that there are some aspects of CB that mystify and annoy me. The 'soaring' patches, marcatos, sfz, and crescendos behave in a way that is very much outside my preferred workflow. The notes don't end with the key-up, they play through their whole length and there is no way to easily change the release characteristics. You adjust their length with the 'speed' knob. It's weird and makes no sense to me, but ultimately I don't especially care because I don't need those articulations to get the emotions and line shapes I'm after. Even at that, I have found that occasionally they are just the thing for a single note here and there. Maybe that's how they are intended, as a sporadic ornament. In other libraries, marcatos are the workhorse (going way back to the old SAM brass, their selection of marcatos back then was game changing). CB is just different. Once I realized I could get the sound I wanted out of the legato patches, I really didn't lose any sleep over the... unique handling of other articulations.

That's my opinion of Century Brass. I'm really glad I bought it. What fits one composer's workflow and what pleases one's ears isn't a universal thing, but I feel comfortable in trumpeting some praises for these libraries.


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## axb312 (Mar 6, 2018)

JoelS said:


> I can't direct you to a detailed review, but I will give you a somewhat thorough opinion on Century Solo and Ensemble Brass.
> 
> Century Brass is the first brass library I've used that plays how I want it to and sounds how I feel brass ought to sound. I am happier with my CB purchase than with any other brass set to date.
> 
> ...



Thank you for that. Sounds similar to what I expect from Cinematic Studio Brass as well - so I will wait a little longer for that.

Can you post some of the tracks you've done with Century Brass though - aren't many of those around (except 8dio's own demos)....


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Mar 6, 2018)

JoelS said:


> I can't direct you to a detailed review, but I will give you a somewhat thorough opinion on Century Solo and Ensemble Brass.
> 
> Century Brass is the first brass library I've used that plays how I want it to and sounds how I feel brass ought to sound. I am happier with my CB purchase than with any other brass set to date.
> 
> ...



Thank you. Could you post some sound examples which back ups a bit your review here? You praise the library which is fine and I would be interested to hear some examples if possible.


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## JoelS (Mar 6, 2018)

These tracks use 100% Century Brass*





*the sole exception is in a few instances I used the Trumpet Ensemble Triplets articulation from Berlin Brass because CB's repetitions and/or stacs weren't quite as clearly defined at very high tempos.

You can listen to 8 more tracks using CB here (seems I can't just embed a 'private' playlist in the forum post or I would have)

In case it's of interest, other libraries used include...


Spoiler: Library List



Strings:
Century Strings - nearly everything
Adventure Strings - layered with CS shorts
Spitfire SCS - just the V1 Staccato Digs artic layered with CS shorts
Metropolis Ark 3 - high string repetitions

Woodwinds:
8Dio Claire flute, piccolo
CineSamples Hollywoodwinds
Metropolis Ark 3 - high ww repetitions

Perc:
8Dio 8W timpani, toms, anvils, cymbals
8Dio Studio Suspended Non-Tonal
True Strike glock, xylo, chimes

Vocals:
8Dio Jenifer
Performance Samples Oceania

Misc:
8Dio 1928 piano
8Dio Hybrid Tools Neo
Wavesfactory W-Harpsichord
SampleOddity Thrash DI guitar - disclosure: that's my company/library/guitar



Hopefully you can more effectively contextualize my opinions on CB now!


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## muziksculp (Mar 9, 2018)

Here is a new, and interesting review of 8dio Century Brass :


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## jamwerks (Mar 9, 2018)

Had they done those "in-place" (plus centered ortf's) they would have got my money.

I imagine some woodwinds will be coming soon. Those are naturally quite centered anyway so I'll be quite interested to hear those!


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## mikeh-375 (Mar 9, 2018)

Thanks Muziksculp, I've been itching to get this but needed some more info. Am I an old f***er or is 12 horns acceptable in the real world these days? Jeez, whatever happened to budgets and musicians or a sense of perspective in the acoustic spectrum and orchestration? (Spitfire!) In my day...la.la la..etc...hic.
The missus is away for the weekend so if I pull the trigger and get into trouble, I'll just blame you, you irresponsible, reckless with my weakness, composer.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Mar 9, 2018)

JoelS said:


> These tracks use 100% Century Brass*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



OF TOPIC: That's some great stirring music you have there Joel!

TOPIC: Just want to remind everyone that there is a free try pack by 8dio where you can try two of the legato instruments. https://8dio.com/instrument/century-brass-freebie


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## Colin O'Malley (Mar 9, 2018)

Guys, 

Just a quick note regarding both Century Brass, Strings and Sordino Strings. We're working on a free Century 2.0 update that contains the following:

1)A Second Mix option which is more ambient and warm (closer to some of the other major commercial libraries). All Instruments will be "pre placed" into traditional orchestral seating positions within this mix. 

2)Presets, and "performance" patches, designed for quick template building. Ensemble patches for Strings. 

3)EQ presets from Colin and Troels templates (using Fabfilter and others) to MIX Century effectively with other major orchestral libraries. 

Thanks, 

Colin


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## Ian Dorsch (Mar 9, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Just a quick note regarding both Century Brass, Strings and Sordino Strings. We're working on a free Century 2.0 update that contains the following:



These updates sound great. I've been holding off on the Century libs, but these will go a long way toward making them more attractive to me.


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## Saxer (Mar 9, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Guys,
> 
> Just a quick note regarding both Century Brass, Strings and Sordino Strings. We're working on a free Century 2.0 update that contains the following:
> 
> ...


Sounds great! Would it be possible to add non-one-shot versions of the marcatos in strings and brass? They would be sooo useful if they would stop (i.e. fade into release like sustains) after note off.


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## JoelS (Mar 9, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Just a quick note regarding both Century Brass, Strings and Sordino Strings. We're working on a free Century 2.0 update that contains the following:


*edit:* apparently Saxer types faster than me, we want the same thing...

Is there any chance that you could also add in versions of certain articulations which currently do not respond to key-release to have a more standard response? For example, the Crescendo Sfz patches play all the way through the note regardless of when you release it. Very often, I only want that particular attack, the Sfz portion of the articulation, and it's cumbersome to set it up to cut off the crescendo via CC11 or whatever so that I can blend it into a melodic line. That shape of attack has a particular character that is great, but it's really hard for me to use it presently. The Marcato articulations have a similar issue.

@DarkestShadow , thanks! I've found it easier to achieve stirring, emotional results with CB than with other libraries I've used, so I'm glad that comes through. The Thinkspace review mentioned how smooth the crossfades are, and noted the very bright loud dynamics. That's a combination I have never had in my palette before now. Those two elements on their own have made me enthusiastic enough about CB to post here.


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## Colin O'Malley (Mar 9, 2018)

I designed the marcatos for Century a bit different from most libraries. The speed knob controls the length in most cases. It does this by moving sample starts within the center of the note. This enables you to have the full attack and final “push” off the note at various lengths. Traditional release triggers sacrifice some of this. You’re potentially missing the final “push” off if you release quickly. This new method keeps the natural dynamic shape of the marcatos intact at multiple lengths.

This same approach was used for Arcs and makes them much more flexible. 

Having said that, I definitely understand what you mean, particularly from a playable perspective. We’ll look at traditional ”release” versions of both marcato and Sfz cresc, but still try the speed knob 

Thanks

Colin


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## givemenoughrope (Mar 9, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Guys,
> 
> Just a quick note regarding both Century Brass, Strings and Sordino Strings. We're working on a free Century 2.0 update that contains the following:
> 
> ...



Maybe some of the same for Adagio/Agitato...?


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## jamwerks (Mar 9, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Guys,
> 
> Just a quick note regarding both Century Brass, Strings and Sordino Strings. We're working on a free Century 2.0 update that contains the following:
> 
> 1)A Second Mix option which is more ambient and warm (closer to some of the other major commercial libraries). All Instruments will be "pre placed" into traditional orchestral seating positions within this mix.


This sounds interesting. Wonder if they would try to "bounce" these new mix positions through something like SPAT in order to get the "correct" réflexions baked in ?


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## givemenoughrope (Mar 9, 2018)

jamwerks said:


> This sounds interesting. Wonder if they would try to "bounce" these new mix positions through something like SPAT in order to get the "correct" réflexions baked in ?



Maybe they can give up the SPAT presets as well. I’m always trying to get other libraries to sit with...other “roomier” and “Air-ier” libraries. 

wink

...

wink


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## Colin O'Malley (Mar 10, 2018)

givemenoughrope said:


> Maybe they can give up the SPAT presets as well. I’m always trying to get other libraries to sit with...other “roomier” and “Air-ier” libraries.
> 
> wink
> 
> ...



We'll share everything we have with any plugin we use. A ton of this work is just me getting Century, Spitfire, Cinematic Strings, Agitato, Cinesamples exactly as I want them in my own template, just like everybody else.... 

Please keep the update requests coming. I'm so used to the workflow in Century, it's easy to overlook the way other composers approach things sometimes. 

Thanks, 

Colin


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## robgb (Mar 10, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> All Instruments will be "pre placed" into traditional orchestral seating positions within this mix.


I really don't understand why people get hung up on this. It really takes very little effort to place the instruments yourself. The spoon feeding of musicians is turning us into cookie cutter engineers.


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## Colin O'Malley (Mar 10, 2018)

robgb said:


> I really don't understand why people get hung up on this. It really takes very little effort to place the instruments yourself. The spoon feeding of musicians is turning us into cookie cutter engineers.


Oh no! I'm not trying to dumb anybody down  I'll do more with the placement and mix than just a typical pan/balance, so hopefully it will be a useful option, even for more experienced engineer/composers like robgb. For this update it's more about just making this library work out of the box, and play well with other prominent commercial libraries to save people time. Thanks - Colin


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## robgb (Mar 10, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Oh no! I'm not trying to dumb anybody down  I'll do more with the placement and mix than just a typical pan/balance, so hopefully it will be a useful option, even for more experienced engineer/composers like robgb.


I wasn't criticizing 8Dio. I just find it disheartening that so many composers feel the need to be spoon Fed. Learn your craft for godsakes.


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## Lionel Schmitt (Mar 10, 2018)

robgb said:


> I wasn't criticizing 8Dio. I just find it disheartening that so many composers feel the need to be spoon Fed. Learn your craft for godsakes.


I don't entirely disagree that people often make it to easy on themselves - on the other hand a lot of us don't have the time to mess around with technicalities of libraries, adjust release/attack parameters, figure out ways to smoothly pan sound without it sounding like the entire room is just shifted to the right/left etc...


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## axb312 (Mar 10, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> We'll share everything we have with any plugin we use. A ton of this work is just me getting Century, Spitfire, Cinematic Strings, Agitato, Cinesamples exactly as I want them in my own template, just like everybody else....
> 
> Please keep the update requests coming. I'm so used to the workflow in Century, it's easy to overlook the way other composers approach things sometimes.
> 
> ...


May I say, it's good to have you here and listening...


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## jamwerks (Mar 10, 2018)

robgb said:


> I really don't understand why people get hung up on this. It really takes very little effort to place the instruments yourself.


Yes of course anybody can pan instruments. I'm hoping Colin is speaking of adding early reflections simulating a room, probably with a Bricasti or SPAT. If such is the case, doing some with a more modern seating with V2's far right, Celli left-center and Viole right center would probably be enough to get me on board!


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## robgb (Mar 10, 2018)

DarkestShadow said:


> I don't entirely disagree that people often make it to easy on themselves - on the other hand a lot of us don't have the time to mess around with technicalities of libraries, adjust release/attack parameters, figure out ways to smoothly pan sound without it sounding like the entire room is just shifted to the right/left etc...


Sigh. A) No library is perfect, so adjustments are almost always mandatory; B) This reads to me as "A lot of us don't have time to learn our craft." 



jamwerks said:


> Yes of course anybody can pan instruments.


It isn't just a matter of panning instruments, but learning to place them in 3D space using EQ, compression, panning, etc. If the placement of the instruments in a sample library is all that's keeping you from getting on board... 

I don't know. I just find the lack of curiosity and need to learn about the craft of mixing—which these days goes hand in hand with the production of any kind of music—extremely disturbing. It reminds me of the novelists I know who say, "I don't have time to learn the ins and outs of the publishing business. I just want to write my books."

Okay, I'm done ranting. I'll leave you folks in peace.


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## Ian Dorsch (Mar 10, 2018)

jamwerks said:


> Yes of course anybody can pan instruments. I'm hoping Colin is speaking of adding early reflections simulating a room, probably with a Bricasti or SPAT. If such is the case, doing some with a more modern seating with V2's far right, Celli left-center and Viole right center would probably be enough to get me on board!



Exactly this. I own all Adagio/Agitato/Anthology and am familiar with the 8dio approach, but except for a few specific articulations those libraries have slowly been edged out of my template by in situ libs like Spitfire and CSS. If I'm going to drop the cash on a premium-priced library like Century, I want to know that it will fit into my template without hours of painstaking mix-related trial and error.


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## Jack Weaver (Mar 10, 2018)

Colin -

Are there dynamics on Ho2 arcs?

I like the swell. Sounds great. 
I'd just like to have the swells be able to not increase the volume & timbre of the swell to the same level all the time. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the change the speed of the swells with the Speed knob. 

.


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## Colin O'Malley (Mar 10, 2018)

Jack Weaver said:


> Colin -
> 
> Are there dynamics on Ho2 arcs?
> 
> ...


All the arcs for both Century Brass and Strings have multiple dynamics (at least 3, depending on which art you're using, sometimes there are 4). These are triggered by velocity (p-mp triggers at low velocities, hard velocity triggers mf-ff etc. etc). 

All Arcs (Brass and Strings) and Soaring Marcatos (for brass) are programmed so the speed knob alters the length. The length is NOT altered by Time Machine or simply jumping to a release trigger. Time Machine can screw up the vibrato and sound pretty wonky beyond a 10-15% change in length. Regular release triggers don't give you the natural shape of the note. They just jump to release at whatever point you stop playing, so you lose the full shape of the note. For example, release halfway through a note, and you lose the natural decrescendo of the arc or the final "push" off of the note in a soaring marcato. That push is everything to me for epic emotional brass marcatos. I want DaaaaaaAAAAAH! Not Daaaaa....meeep  

For Century, individual arcs and soaring marcatos are split in multiple groups with a very nuanced set of envelopes. The speed knob alters multiple sample starts and envelopes within each group. It only took about 8 months to figure it out  So you have a "natural" performance (vs. a crossfade) that allows you to change the length organically, without artifacts. Length change on the Century speed knob is up to around 30-40% depending on art, so way beyond Time Machine capability. There are short and long variations of all these as well. In my experience I can get away from crossfading sustains and cover just about anything I want in the the typical "long" category, but now using natural organic performances. The end result is significantly better to my ears vs. sustains (even the smoothest sustains). It's not subtle, they just sound a lot better. I will only use sustains if I'm short on time, honestly (which I know most of you are!!!!). So sustain away, but this is also an option to consider!

I feel this is the number one feature of Century that is overlooked. I really thought it was going to be something that everybody loved....but THUD  I think we haven't done enough video tutorials emphasizing this feature. It's definitely a different workflow, but worth it in my opinion.

Colin


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## Lionel Schmitt (Mar 10, 2018)

robgb said:


> Sigh. A) No library is perfect, so adjustments are almost always mandatory; B) This reads to me as "A lot of us don't have time to learn our craft."


No library is perfect but some libraries are more perfect than others. Forgive the weird sentence. 
And a composers craft to my knowledge is primarly writing music not necessarily not making the tools used work... I'd like the developers to spend maximum effort on that so I can focus on writing music instead rather than such technicalities. Of course mastering sound design/mixing is very useful, propably even required in modern day music production. At the same time I think it is also important that your tools are as great sounding and workable as possible straight up - then you can spend more time writing the actual music with them - or making them sound _even better_ rather than having to make _workable _to begin with.
Not sure if that was an understandable english sentence. :D Not a native speaker.
We may have to agree to disagree.

And just so this post isn't entirely off topic - here is some walkthorough and live composing by Dirk Ehlert which I think hasn't been shared here yet.


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## Jack Weaver (Mar 10, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> All the arcs for both Century Brass and Strings have multiple dynamics (at least 3, depending on which art you're using, sometimes there are 4). These are triggered by velocity (p-mp triggers at low velocities, hard velocity triggers mf-ff etc. etc).
> 
> All Arcs (Brass and Strings) and Soaring Marcatos (for brass) are programmed so the speed knob alters the length. The length is NOT altered by Time Machine or simply jumping to a release trigger. Time Machine can screw up the vibrato and sound pretty wonky beyond a 10-15% change in length. Regular release triggers don't give you the natural shape of the note. They just jump to release at whatever point you stop playing, so you lose the full shape of the note. For example, release halfway through a note, and you lose the natural decrescendo of the arc or the final "push" off of the note in a soaring marcato. That push is everything to me for epic emotional brass marcatos. I want DaaaaaaAAAAAH! Not Daaaaa....meeep
> 
> ...



Colin,

Thanks for the detailed description.

What I've heard of this feature set has sounded great in various recent videos. Looking forward to hearing it up close and personal soon.

I like the overall 'Bravo' tone of the library. Should be a great counterpoint to my existing libs.

.


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## muziksculp (Mar 10, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> I feel this is the number one feature of Century that is overlooked. I really thought it was going to be something that everybody loved....but THUD  I think we haven't done enough video tutorials emphasizing this feature. It's definitely a different workflow, but worth it in my opinion.
> 
> Colin



Hi Colin, 

Thanks for the helpful feedback. Yes, some more video tutorials about this feature (the Century speed knob) , and how it fits into the library's functionality would be very helpful too. 

Any additional video tutorials for Century Strings would also be super useful, i.e. their use in various string writing scenarios, ..etc. 

Cheers,
Muziksculp


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## NoamL (Mar 10, 2018)

robgb said:


> I really don't understand why people get hung up on this. It really takes very little effort to place the instruments yourself. The spoon feeding of musicians is turning us into cookie cutter engineers.



Colin and Troels are in the best position to do this work because they know the exact dimensions of the hall they used, the seating of players during recording sessions, and the placement of microphones. The rest of us can only guess at these variables by listening.

I wish such data would be publicly released for every orchestral library, at least a PDF floor plan of the recording sessions. It would be fascinating and also very useful. However, there are reasons why not. For example EWQLSO was recorded incognito and they are contractually not allowed to tell us what symphony hall they used. The world class engineers like Alan Meyerson and Geoff Foster who worked with Spitfire on HZ01 and HZS might have some "secret sauce" regarding micing that they don't want to spill to the world.


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## robgb (Mar 10, 2018)

NoamL said:


> The rest of us can only guess at these variables by listening.


Which is why I always stress using the driest samples possible when mixing. Then you can create your own hall/room.


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## jamwerks (Mar 10, 2018)

robgb said:


> It isn't just a matter of panning instruments, but learning to place them in 3D space using EQ, compression, panningp...


You can take "dry" samples and put them in a room with panning, eq & compression? You don't hear the difference between that and Spitfire or Berlin's room sound?


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## aaronventure (Mar 10, 2018)

jamwerks said:


> You can take "dry" samples and put them in a room with panning, eq & compression? You don't hear the difference between that and Spitfire or Berlin's room sound?



One thing you can definitely hear on Spitfire and Berlin (own both) is ambiance issues with weird releases, "phrase connecting" and fast modwheel movements.

It's all fakery anyway . I'll take playability and quickness over actual recorded ambiance that causes nothing but trouble any day of the week. 99% of people didn't notice that the VSL samples are "fake" 15 years ago. Whichever scoring stage you take and record an orchestra in, the engineer will use reverb on the mics. Abbey road recordings - they get reverb slapped on them.

Spitfire libraries are processed. I believe they EQ their libraries, use compression per dynamic layer then bounce it and put it into Kontakt and you crossfade between processed layers. The clues are there in the samples. They sound good out of the box, but they take control away from you and with that come all the problems that these libraries have and that people have complained about. (*EDIT:* It was an assumption, official comment is that this isn't how they're treated.)

The "room shifting with panning" is just nonsense . You can use a simple delay and create another tap of your panned Century Brass instrument, pan that tap all the way to the other side and delay it by ~15ms, slap some reverb on top of it, leave it and come back again tomorrow, and you won't even recognize that it wasn't recorded in place.

Here's what I slapped up in 2 minutes with ripped audio from the Youtube walkthrough of Century Brass:

1. Centered - out of the box
2. Just panned
3. Delay - 1st tap 0ms 50% left, 2nd tap 18ms 100% right + Reverb on top of it all.

You can play with volume of the delayed 2nd tap to emphasize or reduce the effect.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/century-2fh-mp3.12351/][/AUDIOPLUS]


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## jamwerks (Mar 10, 2018)

aaronventure said:


> 99% of people didn't notice that the VSL samples are "fake" 15 years ago.


15 years ago VSL was all we had so we all just used them and that was it. Mixing engineers have always understood the problems with VSL (and other libraries) but you won't find much high-level mixing talk on vst forums. 

I don't think SF eq's or compresses their samples but if they did it has nothing to do with "creating" a room.

You're audio example though is quit well done and exactly what I'm speaking about (and I hope also Colin!)

Here on the forum, I asked for something similar 5 years ago for Adagio. When bouncing their new stereo mixes for Century they'd want to add varying degrees of delays and ambience to the different mic positions before bouncing. Doing it right would be pretty complex. Here's to hoping they sound good!


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## vicontrolu (Mar 10, 2018)

The thing is the dry mix on CB still has a lot of the room tail in there. It's less problematic in CS. I am sceptic of the results Colin or anybody is able to achieve with such a wet chunk of audio embedded on the source. 

Looking forward to it though!


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## jamwerks (Mar 11, 2018)

Yeah we'll see what they can come up with. It's great having Colin in on the discussion!


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## Paul Thomson (Mar 11, 2018)

aaronventure said:


> Spitfire libraries are processed. I believe they EQ their libraries, use compression per dynamic layer then bounce it and put it into Kontakt and you crossfade between processed layers. The clues are there in the samples. They sound good out of the box, but they take control away from you and with that come all the problems that these libraries have and that people have complained about.



This is categorically untrue. 

Unless we publicize the specific processing by an artist - eg: HZ percussion - 

Our orchestral libraries recorded at Air are not “post processed” in the way alleged above. 

Paul


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## robgb (Mar 11, 2018)

Would it matter if they were? Isn't the final product what's most important?


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Mar 11, 2018)

Has the Baked-In vs Dry debate finally replaced the Real Legato debate?


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## robgb (Mar 11, 2018)

Ned Bouhalassa said:


> Has the Baked-In vs Dry debate finally replaced the Real Legato debate?


There's no debate.


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## Paul Thomson (Mar 11, 2018)

robgb said:


> Would it matter if they were? Isn't the final product what's most important?



If the intention is to produce something as natural and pure sounding as possible, then of course it matters.

Obviously this only applies where the intention is not to produce something “hyped” deliberately.


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## robgb (Mar 11, 2018)

Paul Thomson said:


> If the intention is to produce something as natural and pure sounding as possible, then of course it matters.


The point I'm making, of course, is that the chef's method is irrelevant as long as the food is delicious.


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## Paul Thomson (Mar 11, 2018)

robgb said:


> The point I'm making, of course, is that the chef's method is irrelevant as long as the food is delicious.



Not if you care about what you’re eating. Anyway I can see this will run and run so I’ll check out. 

Just wanted to correct the wrong info.


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## aaronventure (Mar 11, 2018)

Paul Thomson said:


> This is categorically untrue.
> 
> Unless we publicize the specific processing by an artist - eg: HZ percussion -
> 
> Paul



Fair enough, it was an assumption based on some sample behavior. Edited my post. 



Paul Thomson said:


> Our orchestral libraries recorded at Air are not “post processed” in the way alleged above.



If you're at liberty to say, in what way are they processed, then (there's obviously some post given the difference between Albion 1 Legacy and ONE)? What about non-Air libraries? I'm just curious.


----------



## Paul Thomson (Mar 11, 2018)

aaronventure said:


> Fair enough, it was an assumption based on some sample behavior. Edited my post.
> 
> 
> 
> If you're at liberty to say, in what way are they processed, then (there's obviously some post given the difference between Albion 1 Legacy and ONE)? What about non-Air libraries? I'm just curious.



Of course. Albion ONE specifically is different from all the other Albions and the SSO as we deliberately processed and cleaned that up - as stated in all the publicity materials - to create the more “hybrid” scoring style. 

That’s the exception though. 

If there is any post processing to essentially “change” the natural sound we always state that.


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## aaronventure (Mar 11, 2018)

Here's another trick, folks. This would be a cleaner approach than my previous post.

Decca Tree is usually panned the way it's set up - left mic all the way to the left, middle to the middle, right to the right. Due to the fact that they're not in the same position, they don't output the same signal.

Since the mid mic is in the middle, it's essentially mono - and you can isolate it with Mid/Side processing (it being the Mid channel). Which means that Side is comprised of left and right mics.

So you can split your Decca mic from Century into 3 tracks - Left, Mid and Right! Now if you simply decrease the volume of the right mic (or the left), you can move the horns as you wish while maintaining the wide Decca stereo image. Also decrease the volume of the mid mic a little bit to compensate for the change of balance. Now you just add in Close and Ambient mics on a different output and pan them as you wish (close and ambient seem to both be AB setups - so just panned hard left and right, meaning you can simply use the pan knob and it will adjust the balance properly). If you wanna delve deeper, you can play with the delays introduced to different mics as the instruments move around the room.

Here are the results - same figure from the video, just the Decca mic + 4th run is Run 3 with Close and Ambient mics simply panned on the mixer and volume adjusted.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/2fh-midside-mp3.12354/][/AUDIOPLUS]

Bottom line:

Nothing is impossible. By being recorded centre, you get absolute control over positioning. The Mid/Side decoding isn't perfect, but you decide if you think it does the trick. The know-how is a different thing and since these products aren't being aimed at engineers or people who like to fiddle around with audio and processing, it would be nice to have some "official" controls and no need for this sort of trickery.

Since 8D have the master recordings, I believe their upcoming update with "in place" instruments won't be just Decca mic panned, but they'll use the actual individual Decca recordings the way I demonstrated here, it'll just be more accurate and clean because there will be no M/S decoding involved.

What would've solved it in the first place is them simply having Decca Mid and Decca Side mic positions instead of a single Decca, much like United Strings of Europe has.






Nevertheless, the update is coming and I'm sure everyone will be happy.


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## jamwerks (Mar 11, 2018)

aaronventure said:


> Here are the results...


Sounds quite good!


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## storyteller (Mar 11, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> I feel this is the number one feature of Century that is overlooked. I really thought it was going to be something that everybody loved....but THUD  I think we haven't done enough video tutorials emphasizing this feature. It's definitely a different workflow, but worth it in my opinion.


This was actually one of the things that attracted me to Century Series Brass/Strings. Workflow is different, yes, but it is a really great (and easy to use) feature when you get the hang of how to use it. Colin - just wanted to let you know that the feature wasn't missed completely. Surprisingly so, considering the number one complaint I've seen written from Adagio users was the lack of control on the arcs... ha. Finicky bunch here I guess.


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## dhlkid (Apr 22, 2018)

So, is century brass still worth it?


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## composingkeys (Apr 24, 2018)

Anyone have any other thoughts on if Century Brass is worth having? What do you think of the sound? How easy is it to get musical results? Pros/Cons?


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## dhlkid (Apr 24, 2018)

composingkeys said:


> Anyone have any other thoughts on if Century Brass is worth having? What do you think of the sound? How easy is it to get musical results? Pros/Cons?



I wanna know too
Although the free pack doesn't sound amazing, some tutorial in YouTube sounds quite good.


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## Consona (Apr 25, 2018)

Tried the free pack. The sound is nice but it feels like the lowest dynamic layers are not there. The knob says "pp" but that sound is not pp. The included mic position sounds really mono. And I don't know whether it's a Kontakt thing or Century Brass thing but I can hear the mod wheel moving in the sound of the instrument while playing the legato.


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## nik (Apr 25, 2018)

DarkestShadow said:


> No library is perfect but some libraries are more perfect than others. Forgive the weird sentence.
> And a composers craft to my knowledge is primarly writing music not necessarily not making the tools used work... I'd like the developers to spend maximum effort on that so I can focus on writing music instead rather than such technicalities. Of course mastering sound design/mixing is very useful, propably even required in modern day music production. At the same time I think it is also important that your tools are as great sounding and workable as possible straight up - then you can spend more time writing the actual music with them - or making them sound _even better_ rather than having to make _workable _to begin with.
> Not sure if that was an understandable english sentence. :D Not a native speaker.
> We may have to agree to disagree.
> ...



Hey anybody kno what Strings Dirk is using in his Video for Century Brass?


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## dhlkid (Apr 25, 2018)

nik said:


> Hey anybody kno what Strings Dirk is using in his Video for Century Brass?


I think Adagio


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## Dirk Ehlert (Apr 25, 2018)

nik said:


> Hey anybody kno what Strings Dirk is using in his Video for Century Brass?


In this track I used Agitato Legatos and Adagio for the shorts and trems.


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## nik (Apr 26, 2018)

de_signs said:


> In this track I used Agitato Legatos and Adagio for the shorts and trems.[/QGreat,thanks


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## nik (Jun 2, 2018)

@Colin O'Malley
hi Colin ,
after playin with century brass a little bit i wanted tpo share some impressions.
I tried to play in some John Williams Lines like Indiana Jones .
The Trombones worked great for the rythm and the sound is awsome in my opinion. That being said, i tried to get a convincin line out of the 4 trumpets patch, but after quiet some time i just switched to another library. I just dont get how to use the marcatos in the 4 trumpets patch. There is no option to influence the length of the note.
I then checked Hollywood Brass for some comparison and the marcato patch there was just like i remebered: accented,note stops when i want. Easy results in no time. Honestly, i am no pro yet and if there is anything i am missing i apologize. I just think a real good trumpets patch is necessary in a library like this. i will keep posting my impressions.I dont wnat to be rude or anything, just thought workin together could maybe improve the library?
best regards


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## Saxer (Jun 2, 2018)

nik said:


> There is no option to influence the length of the note.


Excuse me for chiming in. There's the speed dial which alters the length of the one shot samples (i.e. selects longer or shorter recorded samples). But I'm also looking forward to the promised century updates with the option to stop notes via note off.


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## vicontrolu (Jun 2, 2018)

I really can't understand what they were thinking with the speed knob. No artificial release sample? OK, but fiddling with another to get a note right cc is just not worth it. At least they should have provided the option for note off IMHO.


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## Critz (Jun 2, 2018)

Paul Thomson said:


> Our orchestral libraries recorded at Air are not “post processed” in the way alleged above.
> 
> Paul



That means they ARE "post processed", just not the way he described 

You can tell us for example there isn't any kind of saturation or eq in the samples we play?

Thanks for your time.


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## nik (Jun 2, 2018)

Saxer said:


> Excuse me for chiming in. There's the speed dial which alters the length of the one shot samples (i.e. selects longer or shorter recorded samples). But I'm also looking forward to the promised century updates with the option to stop notes via note off.


HI thanks for chimning in Yeah to be honest i could not get a good result with that. Its so hard to get the right length of the note (at least for me)Its just frustrating to me:-(


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## Saxer (Jun 2, 2018)

It's hard for developers to establish new workflows (even if they are good) because we are so used to things we already use. Especially when using combinations of libraries with layering etc... creating the same musical content with different CCs and note length is always time consuming.


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## Colin O'Malley (Jun 2, 2018)

Century 2.0 will have standard release triggers on marcatos as a second option. We're not abandoning the speed knob approach. Once you get used to it, it does sound better IMO. That final crescendo "push" off of a marcato is not the same with a standard release trigger, but I understand the workflow is different, and users need quicker results sometimes. 

You also have 6 different marcato variations in the 4 trumpets patch (7 with staccato). Make sure you try all of those as well!

2.0 is not far away. 

Best, 

Colin


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## nik (Aug 10, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Century 2.0 will have standard release triggers on marcatos as a second option. We're not abandoning the speed knob approach. Once you get used to it, it does sound better IMO. That final crescendo "push" off of a marcato is not the same with a standard release trigger, but I understand the workflow is different, and users need quicker results sometimes.
> 
> You also have 6 different marcato variations in the 4 trumpets patch (7 with staccato). Make sure you try all of those as well!
> 
> ...


@Colin O'Malley hey colin, when can we expect the century brass update? u said its not far away


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## jamwerks (Aug 11, 2018)

Looking forward to this as well!


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Aug 11, 2018)

Are we getting a Century Strings 2.0 as well? 

Wouldn't mind some new features for them


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## jamwerks (Aug 11, 2018)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> Wouldn't mind some new features for them


Colin announced some great new features in the Century Strings thread. And that does sound exciting!


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## musicisum (Aug 11, 2018)

Looking forward to the updates, thanks for letting us know Colin  So far I'm more than satisfied with the century brass but any improvement is welcome.


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## muziksculp (Aug 11, 2018)

I wonder if they will also be updating Century Strings to ver. 2.0 ? and what will the update add, and/or improve to the current version of Century Strings. Also looking forward to Century Brass 2.0


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## reids (Aug 11, 2018)

muziksculp said:


> I wonder if they will also be updating Century Strings to ver. 2.0 ? and what will the update add, and/or improve to the current version of Century Strings. Also looking forward to Century Brass 2.0



I am still waiting for the Century Strings ver 2.0 update as well. It's been some time now. Hope we get some news very soon.


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## nik (Sep 10, 2018)

@Colin O'Malley Any news on the Century Brass update?
thanks


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## jamwerks (Sep 11, 2018)

More than 3 months ago it was reportedly not far off. I'm thinking they might have opted for a more elaborate stage placement tool for the whole Century series that's taking some time?


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## amorphosynthesis (Sep 11, 2018)

nik said:


> Any news on the Century Brass update?
> thanks


@Colin O'Malley and while there any news in century strings as well?


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## nik (Oct 5, 2018)

@Colin O'Malley any news on the century brass update? thanks


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## bfreepro (Oct 8, 2018)

I've been meaning to write this for a while but have been waiting on the promised updates, however I finally just gave in as I needed to get a lot of products reviewed and have been sitting on this one so, here is an in depth and honest review of this library, and addresses some of the quirks some other users have mentioned, etc.
https://www.bfreemusic.com/news/2018/10/9/review-8dio-century-brass-ensemble


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## Colin O'Malley (Oct 11, 2018)

Guys, 

Here is an update on the progress of Century Brass 2.0 (and Strings!!!!!). I've just finished two new mixes, placing all of the instruments in traditional orchestral seating positions. The first new mix is a tight, punchy, Alan Sylvestri type of sound. The second is a more spacious Abbey Road mix. I imagine most Century users will end up using one of these new mixes, but the individual mics are still included for my fellow obsessive nerds....Separate patches for each mix/mic are included to address issues with loading times on some systems. We've had some users creating individual patches themselves, and I don't want them to have to do that in 2.0. 

The other addition I've been working on are release trigger versions of Arcs and Marcatos. The speed knob versions are still there (again, just for my fellow obsessive nerds), but the release triggers versions sound great and are more playable. 

I'm also working on new mixes for Century Strings and Century Strings Sordino. Both Century Brass and Strings will have the same 2.0 updates. Current Century users can attest, the libraries are quite LARGE. Re-mixing and programming takes a long time. The brass is essentially 9 different libraries in and of itself, each requiring a different mix approach etc. #FUN!!! Century Brass 2.0 will be released first, followed by strings 2.0. I'll announce date as we get closer.

My *ONLY* work with 8Dio currently is this 2.0 update. I'm not producing any new libraries until this is complete. Please be assured that we will get the updates out as soon as we possibly can. The libraries are just over 1 year old, and 2.0 (so far) is making a big difference! I think our users will be happy. 

Best, 

Colin


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## artomatic (Oct 11, 2018)

Thanks for the update of the forthcoming update! Looking forward to it.


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## bfreepro (Oct 11, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Guys,
> 
> Here is an update on the progress of Century Brass 2.0 (and Strings!!!!!). I've just finished two new mixes, placing all of the instruments in traditional orchestral seating positions. The first new mix is a tight, punchy, Alan Sylvestri type of sound. The second is a more spacious Abbey Road mix. I imagine most Century users will end up using one of these new mixes, but the individual mics are still included for my fellow obsessive nerds....Separate patches for each mix/mic are included to address issues with loading times on some systems. We've had some users creating individual patches themselves, and I don't want them to have to do that in 2.0.
> 
> ...


Sounds really nice and I look forward to this! Thank you for the update, Colin.


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## Francis Bourre (Oct 11, 2018)

Nice to read! These libraries sound like an investment now. Thanks for that.


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## jamwerks (Oct 11, 2018)

Thanks for the update Colin. Sounds like a winner. You should get plenty of new Century customers with all these new features (me for one)!

Release triggers for the arcs could really be a game changer!


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## muziksculp (Oct 11, 2018)

@Colin O'Malley ,

Thanks for updating us on the status of the version 2.0 updates for both Century Strings, and Century Brass. Both are great sounding libraries, and I'm sure will get even better with the 2.0 update.

Looking forward to the 2.0 updates.


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## Niah2 (Oct 11, 2018)

Thank you Colin, always happy to see you here posting !


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## nik (Oct 11, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Guys,
> 
> Here is an update on the progress of Century Brass 2.0 (and Strings!!!!!). I've just finished two new mixes, placing all of the instruments in traditional orchestral seating positions. The first new mix is a tight, punchy, Alan Sylvestri type of sound. The second is a more spacious Abbey Road mix. I imagine most Century users will end up using one of these new mixes, but the individual mics are still included for my fellow obsessive nerds....Separate patches for each mix/mic are included to address issues with loading times on some systems. We've had some users creating individual patches themselves, and I don't want them to have to do that in 2.0.
> 
> ...


awsome! thanks for the update!! cant wait!!


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## composingkeys (Oct 11, 2018)

Excited for this new update!

I hope the Century Brass 2 and Century Strings 2 also have a way do global keyswitching. If you want to move the keys up an octave for example, you have to select each articulation separately, and move your mouse up or down to change the keyswitch. This gets real old needing to do this for every articulation and then every instrument/section. I hope there is a way to either global keyswitch all articulations up or down or at least allow one to right click and then press in the key that you want the keyswitch too. If there isn't, I imagine we will have to manually need to do this all over again for the new version 2 patches which would be a real pain. 

Beyond that, I'm excited about all the new enhancements planned for these so thanks 8dio for sticking behind your product and making them even better.


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## jamwerks (Oct 11, 2018)

Unfortunately, their new gui is actually a step back in articulation control compared to their previous gui on the Agitato series!


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## amorphosynthesis (Oct 12, 2018)

Colin O'Malley said:


> the libraries are quite LARGE


Hi there,thanx for the update,but ...
will the new libraries be...like VERY large?do I need a new drive?


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## spiderfingers (Nov 5, 2018)

@colin: Is there a way you could connect the dynamics (CC1) and expression (CC11) like you did in earlier libraries (I think Agitato/Adagio Strings had this feature)? People with big, smooth MIDI-Faders probably won't bother about that a lot, but for people like me not having this luxury this is a nuisance, because you can't record everything in one go...


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## jamwerks (Nov 12, 2018)

I just bought Century Brass, and I have to say I'm glad I did. It sounds fantastic, and the wealth of articulations make lots of things possible. I'm running each instrument (Mix mic's) through 2C Precedence for left-right positioning.


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## amorphosynthesis (Nov 13, 2018)

spiderfingers said:


> Is there a way you could connect the dynamics (CC1) and expression (CC11)


simply right click on expression-select learn and then move the mod-wheel.That should do it instantly!


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## Bill the Lesser (Nov 13, 2018)

I'm late to the party, so a couple questions...

--How soon do we expect to see Version 2 of Century Strings and Century Brass?

--What has been 8Dio's policy on upgrades from previous versions?

THX!


----------



## Lionel Schmitt (Nov 13, 2018)

Bill the Lesser said:


> --What has been 8Dio's policy on upgrades from previous versions?
> THX!


Policy?
You can't pirate it... I think. Just as an example... lol

You mean if it's free or not? Most of their updates were free as far as I know - sometimes with bigger products they charged a small (8 dollar) fee to cover server costs.


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## spiderfingers (Dec 10, 2018)

amorphosynthesis said:


> simply right click on expression-select learn and then move the mod-wheel.That should do it instantly!



Thanks, I am aware of this option, but this is a little too extreme. I am rather looking for a way to achieve a "normal" dynamic range. VSL and Orchestral Tools have options in their interface to adjust the maximum dynamic range, 8dio at least had a switch which connected expression to a certain, fixed degree to dynamics in their older products. I'd like to have such an option and honestly, this is just an additional button/slider on the interface and a couple of lines of code in the script, which would be a HUGE improvement. The current dynamic range on many articulations is just too small (and very unrealistic) without additional CC11.

And by the way: Cinematic Studio Brass was just released a couple of hours ago and Alex pointed out the huge dynamic range!


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## jamwerks (Dec 10, 2018)

Don't forget to put Kontakt at +12 dB.


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## Saxer (Dec 10, 2018)

spiderfingers said:


> The current dynamic range on many articulations is just too small (and very unrealistic) without additional CC11.


You can simply learn a CC to the Kontakt volume and set the strength in the midi automation TAB of Kontakt in %. That way you can add dynamic to the mod wheel (i.e. CC1 to volume from 30 to 60%). Takes just a few seconds per patch. I do this with a lot of libraries (including CSS).


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## I like music (Dec 10, 2018)

Saxer said:


> You can simply learn a CC to the Kontakt volume and set the strength in the midi automation TAB of Kontakt in %. That way you can add dynamic to the mod wheel (i.e. CC1 to volume from 30 to 60%). Takes just a few seconds per patch. I do this with a lot of libraries (including CSS).



Wait. Am I understanding you correctly here?

So you're saying that by moving CC1 up and down you can put a rule in which also raises CC11 within certain bounds (or at a different rate?). So when you have CC1 right up, it automatically kicks the volume up along a different line/curve?

If that's the case, that would fricking solve a lot of headaches for me.


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## jamwerks (Dec 10, 2018)

You can assign dynamic & volumn to the same controller.


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## Saxer (Dec 10, 2018)

I like music said:


> Wait. Am I understanding you correctly here?
> 
> So you're saying that by moving CC1 up and down you can put a rule in which also raises CC11 within certain bounds (or at a different rate?). So when you have CC1 right up, it automatically kicks the volume up along a different line/curve?



It doesn't create CC11 but the result is the same...

I wrote it here...
https://vi-control.net/community/th...mplitude-specifically-css.56525/#post-4002493


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## spiderfingers (Dec 10, 2018)

@Saxer: that’s a valuable piece of information, thanks a lot!


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## I like music (Dec 10, 2018)

Saxer said:


> It doesn't create CC11 but the result is the same...
> 
> I wrote it here...
> https://vi-control.net/community/th...mplitude-specifically-css.56525/#post-4002493



Thank you. I literally have no idea what is happening technically, but I'll try it to see how it sounds (and how it reacts) to see if it does what I think it'll do!


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## muziksculp (Dec 23, 2018)

Hi,

Any news regarding when the 2.0 Updates for _8Dio_ Century Brass, and Century Strings will be released ? 

Looking forward to the 2.0 update releases. 

*** Happy Holidays and New Year ! ***

Cheers,
Muziksculp


----------



## HBen (Dec 24, 2018)

The last update about the v2.0 GUI was updated as below...


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## jamwerks (Dec 24, 2018)

Looks like they're further developing the gui. I hope that "splacement" is a real tool (with delays) and not just panning! 

Looking forward to this!


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## jamwerks (Dec 24, 2018)

Also hoping that we can assign a value for the CC for the slot control. That was possible with Agitato but since disappeared!


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## AllanH (Dec 24, 2018)

The GUI update looks interesting. I'm using Century Brass on most of my new tracks.


----------



## storyteller (Dec 24, 2018)

HBen said:


> The last update about the v2.0 GUI was updated as below...


This looks incredible. Can’t wait!


----------



## composingkeys (Dec 24, 2018)

HBen said:


> The last update about the v2.0 GUI was updated as below...


Hi HBen,

Are you sure about this? Last I recall, I believe these GUI screenshots were actually different designs 8dio were testing with before deciding the final looks with what we have for version 1.0.


----------



## vewilya (Dec 24, 2018)

composingkeys said:


> Hi HBen,
> 
> Are you sure about this? Last I recall, I believe these GUI screenshots were actually different designs 8dio were testing with before deciding the final looks with what we have for version 1.0.


Yes. You’re Right. No GUI update my friends. Colin is working on new mixes for the Century libraries.


----------



## HBen (Dec 24, 2018)

composingkeys said:


> Hi HBen,
> 
> Are you sure about this? Last I recall, I believe these GUI screenshots were actually different designs 8dio were testing with before deciding the final looks with what we have for version 1.0.



Not sure about this, I just cited them from 8Dio's facebook page...


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## jamwerks (Dec 24, 2018)

That pretty much has to be new. There's more features than on anything that I've already seen.


----------



## vewilya (Dec 24, 2018)

jamwerks said:


> That pretty much has to be new. There's more features than on anything that I've already seen.



....all got canned and for good reason!!!


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## jaketanner (Jan 27, 2019)

vewilya said:


> Yes. You’re Right. No GUI update my friends. Colin is working on new mixes for the Century libraries.



I truly hope they do not do to Century Brass what they did with Adagio and Agitato with the move to Anthology. The library sounds worse. I’m afraid they’re gonna do some weird panning thing and then the sound changes. I haven’t purchased it yet, but now I have reservations even more.


----------



## jamwerks (Jan 27, 2019)

They've laid out here on several posts seemingly exactly what they're doing. Should be a very positive update!


----------



## jaketanner (Jan 27, 2019)

Colin O'Malley said:


> Guys,
> 
> Just a quick note regarding both Century Brass, Strings and Sordino Strings. We're working on a free Century 2.0 update that contains the following:
> 
> ...




Colin,

As I am getting ready to purchase this library, I have a question about the update. I also have the Adagio/Agitato series and Anthology as well. I sincerely hope, that the you will not do what you did with the Anthology series to get the "proper" panning of the instruments. Whatever happened to Anthology, was in my opinion, a degradation of the beautiful rich sound of the adagio/Agitato libraries. Please please...do not go down this route just to make some changes in panning...If you can assure me the sound will not be altered in any way from the current library, I will bite 

Hopefully you will also address the release samples and other little bugs that the majority of people are complaining about.  Thank you!!!


----------



## Johnny (Jan 28, 2019)

jaketanner said:


> Colin,
> 
> As I am getting ready to purchase this library, I have a question about the update. I also have the Adagio/Agitato series and Anthology as well. I sincerely hope, that the you will not do what you did with the Anthology series to get the "proper" panning of the instruments. Whatever happened to Anthology, was in my opinion, a degradation of the beautiful rich sound of the adagio/Agitato libraries. Please please...do not go down this route just to make some changes in panning...If you can assure me the sound will not be altered in any way from the current library, I will bite
> 
> Hopefully you will also address the release samples and other little bugs that the majority of people are complaining about.  Thank you!!!


Should be O.K. Anthology was using algorithm concepts similar to the Virtual Sound Stage plugin by Parallax Audio. (If not, the software's technology might have been integrated into Anthology as a quick solution?) Regardless, anytime you crush beautiful wide samples into a more refined stereo field there is going to be inherent phase shifting... That issue is unavoidable... However, I believe to combat this Colin was manually going to be panning Century to taste from what I recall? (At least that was how I interpreted his last status update : ) Manually panning thousands of samples for each mic position would definitely take a while to accomplish- hence the wait : )


----------



## jaketanner (Jan 28, 2019)

Johnny said:


> Should be O.K. Anthology was using algorithm concepts similar to the Virtual Sound Stage plugin by Parallax Audio. (If not, the software's technology might have been integrated into Anthology as a quick solution?) Regardless, anytime you crush beautiful wide samples into a more refined stereo field there is going to be inherent phase shifting... That issue is unavoidable... However, I believe to combat this Colin was manually going to be panning Century to taste from what I recall? (At least that was how I interpreted his last status update : ) Manually panning thousands of samples for each mic position would definitely take a while to accomplish- hence the wait : )



The wait is fine, just don’t wanna go backwards in tone.  thanks for the reply


----------



## Johnny (Jan 29, 2019)

jaketanner said:


> The wait is fine, just don’t wanna go backwards in tone.  thanks for the reply


Me too : ) Eagerly waiting


----------



## muziksculp (Feb 26, 2019)

Hi,

We are almost in March-2019 (Time Flies). 

Hopefully we are much closer to see both *Century Strings & Century Brass ver. 2.0 updates* released soon. Some videos showing the new version 2.0 in action, and what's new, and improved in version 2.0 would be awesome 

Cheers,
Muziksculp


----------



## vicontrolu (Mar 19, 2019)

Any news on these updates? are they out?


----------



## AllanH (Mar 19, 2019)

Not that I know of.


----------



## jamwerks (Mar 19, 2019)

They must have decided to go back and record some new material !


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## Johnny (Mar 20, 2019)

muziksculp said:


> Hi,
> 
> We are almost in March-2019 (Time Flies).
> 
> ...


I wonder if it will be a free update for current owners?


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## muziksculp (Mar 20, 2019)

This thread was started July 27th, 2015 . Wow !

I didn't realize this library has been out for so long. 

Hopefully it will be worth the wait for versions 2.0 of both Century Strings, and Brass.


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## Johnny (Mar 21, 2019)

muziksculp said:


> This thread was started July 27th, 2015 . Wow !
> 
> I didn't realize this library has been out for so long.
> 
> Hopefully it will be worth the wait for versions 2.0 of both Century Strings, and Brass.


Century is only a year'ish old since it's release date. (Not accounting for 3 hard years of production ;p)


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## muziksculp (Mar 21, 2019)

Johnny said:


> Century is only a year'ish old since it's release date. (Not accounting for 3 hard years of production ;p)



Thanks for the feedback. So, how many years more do we need to wait for versions 2.0 of both Century Strings, and Century Brass ? Hopefully not another 3 years 

It would be helpful if someone from 8DIO gives us some feedback on the status of version 2. of both libraries.


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## jaketanner (Mar 21, 2019)

muziksculp said:


> Thanks for the feedback. So, how many years more do we need to wait for versions 2.0 of both Century Strings, and Century Brass ? Hopefully not another 3 years
> 
> It would be helpful if someone from 8DIO gives us some feedback on the status of version 2. of both libraries.



I know they keep saying that it's in the works as we speak. 8Dio confirmed this with me about 2 months ago..LOL


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## Johnny (Mar 22, 2019)

muziksculp said:


> Thanks for the feedback. So, how many years more do we need to wait for versions 2.0 of both Century Strings, and Century Brass ? Hopefully not another 3 years
> 
> It would be helpful if someone from 8DIO gives us some feedback on the status of version 2. of both libraries.


This is true... I guess on the plus side at least we know that they already have the recordings?


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## S R Krishnan (Apr 24, 2019)

Bought it on this sale. Truly worth the money! Would love know if anybody here primarily uses century brass.


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## bfreepro (Apr 24, 2019)

S R Krishnan said:


> Bought it on this sale. Truly worth the money! Would love know if anybody here primarily uses century brass.


Yep! It's my main brass library. Century Brass and Strings are an absolutely essential part of my template at this time. The Arcs really put it above any other library I've tried to date.


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## S R Krishnan (Apr 24, 2019)

bfreepro said:


> Yep! It's my main brass library. Century Brass and Strings are an absolutely essential part of my template at this time. The Arcs really put it above any other library I've tried to date.


Great :D


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## jaketanner (Apr 24, 2019)

I love it as well...have yet to scratch the surface of it, but the potential to do whatever you need is there I think. The only reason to ever get another brass library would be if you wanted additional instruments or a different sound/room.


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## S R Krishnan (Apr 24, 2019)

jaketanner said:


> I love it as well...have yet to scratch the surface of it, but the potential to do whatever you need is there I think. The only reason to ever get another brass library would be if you wanted additional instruments or a different sound/room.


Muted articulations and solo instruments at this price point is amazing!


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## jaketanner (Apr 24, 2019)

S R Krishnan said:


> Muted articulations and solo instruments at this price point is amazing!



True. You'd need the bundle for the solo instruments, but worth it. I got it at 50% off...so extra worth it.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Apr 24, 2019)

bfreepro said:


> Yep! It's my main brass library. Century Brass and Strings are an absolutely essential part of my template at this time. The Arcs really put it above any other library I've tried to date.


As someone who has the CineBrass Collection and Hollywood Brass Diamond (with Composer Cloud Plus), I wonder if this is superior to those?

I have Century Strings BUNDLE and want to get the Woodwinds when they arrive also
But I don't have the Brass, though I love the Arcs concept

Any thoughts? Since there is a still the 42% off right now


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## S R Krishnan (Apr 24, 2019)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> As someone who has the CineBrass Collection and Hollywood Brass Diamond (with Composer Cloud Plus), I wonder if this is superior to those?
> 
> I have Century Strings BUNDLE and want to get the Woodwinds when they arrive also
> But I don't have the Brass, though I love the Arcs concept
> ...



I had Hollywood Brass in CCX. It's a great library! All the libraries that come these days are in no way a replacement of anything else. All of them are good. It only comes down to taste and usage. Another thing to look out for is what you get for the budget. If that is the case, Century brass at this price point is a steal!


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Apr 24, 2019)

S R Krishnan said:


> I had Hollywood Brass in CCX. It's a great library! All the libraries that come these days are in no way a replacement of anything else. All of them are good. It only comes down to taste and usage. Another thing to look out for is what you get for the budget. If that is the case, Century brass at this price point is a steal!


So you dropped CCX?
Because I am thinking about doing this, since I do not use all those libraries and I paid for lots of the 8DIO vocal libraries during the sales


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## S R Krishnan (Apr 24, 2019)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> So you dropped CCX?
> Because I am thinking about doing this, since I do not use all those libraries and I paid for lots of the 8DIO vocal libraries during the sales


CCX is good. But the only things I use are Hollywood brass, Spaces and Stormdrum collection. I can own them later.


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## muziksculp (May 6, 2019)

It's May, 2019, and still no 8Dio Century (Strings & Brass) version 2.0 updates. 

Any feedback on this from 8Dio would be appreciated. 

Thanks.


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## goalie composer (May 6, 2019)

muziksculp said:


> It's May, 2019, and still no 8Dio Century (Strings & Brass) version 2.0 updates.
> 
> Any feedback on this from 8Dio would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks.


Have you emailed them? I'm curious as well


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## jamwerks (May 6, 2019)

Imo either they've gone back and recorded more material or they're waiting on an update on their Gui (with maybe stage placement tools)?


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## muziksculp (May 6, 2019)

goalie composer said:


> Have you emailed them? I'm curious as well



No, I have not emailed them. 

I'm not sure if they check this thread, I'm guessing they do, but regardless, I think it would be nice to hear some feedback on when they expect the 2.0 updates to be released.


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## Johnny (Jun 24, 2019)

I wonder if the Century Brass 1.2 update is to replace the 2.0 update? Or perhaps 8Dio just released it to keep us eagerly excited for the coming of Century 2.0? I did notice that a few of the features discussed in the 2.0 update were implemented in 1.2 which is fantastic! 

I am also curious as to whether or not Colin is still investigating the idea he had on pre-EQ'd tonal balancing options to blend Century with other commercial libraries as well as the converstaions surrounding pre-panned orchestral positioning- providing film score related microphone mixes?

Thoughts and insider hints are welcome : )
Plus we can keep the steam rolling on this library as I personally feel that is was swept under the rug, underrated and wasn't properly praised for what it truly achieved.


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## Craig Sharmat (Jun 24, 2019)

Johnny said:


> I wonder if the Century Brass 1.2 update is to replace the 2.0 update? Or perhaps 8Dio just released it to keep us eagerly excited for the coming of Century 2.0? I did notice that a few of the features discussed in the 2.0 update were implemented in 1.2 which is fantastic!
> 
> I am also curious as to whether or not Colin is still investigating the idea he had on pre-EQ'd tonal balancing options to blend Century with other commercial libraries as well as the converstaions surrounding pre-panned orchestral positioning- providing film score related microphone mixes?
> 
> ...



To me maybe the most underrated brass library out there, really plays well and sounds great.


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## jaketanner (Jun 24, 2019)

Johnny said:


> I wonder if the Century Brass 1.2 update is to replace the 2.0 update? Or perhaps 8Dio just released it to keep us eagerly excited for the coming of Century 2.0? I did notice that a few of the features discussed in the 2.0 update were implemented in 1.2 which is fantastic!
> 
> I am also curious as to whether or not Colin is still investigating the idea he had on pre-EQ'd tonal balancing options to blend Century with other commercial libraries as well as the converstaions surrounding pre-panned orchestral positioning- providing film score related microphone mixes?
> 
> ...



This is just in the meantime, and the 2.0 version is still planned for later this year.


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## jamwerks (Jun 24, 2019)

Craig Sharmat said:


> To me maybe the most underrated brass library out there, really plays well and sounds great.


Agreed, sounds veeeery close to CSB. They do need release samples on some arts to be really playable. The recently released Studio Woodwinds seems to have raised the bar even further. Hoping for Century Woodwinds to at least equal that. They may be bringing Century Brass up to that same level for homogeneity? And Audiobro's recent brass may have convinced them that they really need an effective stage tool right in the gui ?...


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## goalie composer (Jun 25, 2019)

jamwerks said:


> Agreed, sounds veeeery close to CSB. They do need release samples on some arts to be really playable. The recently released Studio Woodwinds seems to have raised the bar even further. Hoping for Century Woodwinds to at least equal that. They may be bringing Century Brass up to that same level for homogeneity? And Audiobro's recent brass may have convinced them that they really need an effective stage tool right in the gui ?...


Fingers crossed.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jun 25, 2019)

Craig Sharmat said:


> To me maybe the most underrated brass library out there, really plays well and sounds great.


And one I will own the next time it goes on sale 
Then the waiting with baited breath for Century Woodwinds...


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## Johnny (Jun 25, 2019)

Craig Sharmat said:


> To me maybe the most underrated brass library out there, really plays well and sounds great.


100% Agreed!


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## AllanH (Jun 25, 2019)

Beautiful tone. Very versatile library.


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