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Thinking of buying Spitfire chamber strings/brass/winds collection. Yay or nay?

I've been considering getting the Spitfire orchestra collection, in part for the woodwinds. Anything in particular that makes them a nay for you?
I can't make the legatos work well with the woodwinds. They have clunky transitions. I use Berlin woodwinds primarily and augment them with Spitfire. Some of the Spitfire woods (the oboe and the bass clarinet, for instance) sing beautifully.
 
Yea (and yay!) for all three options, but with a few provisos...

With the woods I find the main flute's tone not to my liking, so I often use an alternative. Plus sometimes I find the dynamics are hard to control with the legatos, so I'll use Berlin Woods instead. They have a very pretty tone overall though, and sound great in the hall.
With SCS, while I like this library, I use SSS far more often, and other libs like L&S Chamber, because I find SCS a bit harsh sometimes for what I prefer to write.

Spitfire Brass is fantastic, but I'd love it if they could add legato for the solo trombone.

Sidenote: is it an American thing to spell it as 'yay'? I haven't seen this use of yay before, seems odd.
I think you're right, now that you bring my attention to it. It's supposed to be yea. (I think.) Even in America.
 
I've been considering getting the Spitfire orchestra collection, in part for the woodwinds. Anything in particular that makes them a nay for you?

2nd this - what's up with the woodwinds?

I've had chamber strings for just over two months and can whole heartedly recommend the library.
 
I can't make the legatos work well with the woodwinds. They have clunky transitions. I use Berlin woodwinds primarily and augment them with Spitfire. Some of the Spitfire woods (the oboe and the bass clarinet, for instance) sing beautifully.
How does BWW vanilla oboe compare to SSW?
 
Yea (and yay!) for all three options, but with a few provisos...

With the woods I find the main flute's tone not to my liking, so I often use an alternative. Plus sometimes I find the dynamics are hard to control with the legatos, so I'll use Berlin Woods instead. They have a very pretty tone overall though, and sound great in the hall.
With SCS, while I like this library, I use SSS far more often, and other libs like L&S Chamber, because I find SCS a bit harsh sometimes for what I prefer to write.

Spitfire Brass is fantastic, but I'd love it if they could add legato for the solo trombone.

Sidenote: is it an American thing to spell it as 'yay'? I haven't seen this use of yay before, seems odd.
How else would you spell it? I'm not spelling yeah or yea or ya. Just yay. I don't know if it's an American thing (I'm Canadian) but I guess it could be a North American thing. The yay or nay is more of an expression I guess.

Anyway, you mentioned that SCS is a bit harsh for what you prefer to write. What do you prefer to write?
 
How does BWW vanilla oboe compare to SSW?
The Berlin Woodwinds have a better legato transition than Spitfire. But the Spitfire oboe sounds more beautiful. You can use the Spitfire "long" patch, don't overlap the notes, and get a beautiful oboe performance even though you're not taking advantage of the legato transitions. Here's a piece I did recently that uses Spitfire oboe throughout. In fact, all but the clarinet and the flute are Spitfire woods (Clarinet and flutes are Berlin.) But none of the Spitfire woodwinds in this piece are legato. They're all the "long" sustain patches with the midi notes butted against each other with no overlap. I used Spitfire bass clarinet, oboe and alto flute. Berlin clarinet and regular flute.
 
The Berlin Woodwinds have a better legato transition than Spitfire. But the Spitfire oboe sounds more beautiful. You can use the Spitfire "long" patch, don't overlap the notes, and get a beautiful oboe performance even though you're not taking advantage of the legato transitions. Here's a piece I did recently that uses Spitfire oboe throughout. In fact, all but the clarinet and the flute are Spitfire woods (Clarinet and flutes are Berlin.) But none of the Spitfire woodwinds in this piece are legato. They're all the "long" sustain patches with the midi notes butted against each other with no overlap. I used Spitfire bass clarinet, oboe and alto flute. Berlin clarinet and regular flute.

Thanks for that Ben, it's really helpful - isn't it cheating though when your track is amazing and I'm mesmerised by it so as to be convinced lol :P

Seriously though, I always enjoy listening to your music and thanks for sharing - and the Spitfire longs do sound good - and I was mesmerised by it. Having said that, there's a quality to the BWW oboe which I really find appealing.

I grew up with an older brother oboist (he's had a good career - filling in for Heinz Holliger etc), and there's a quality to the oboe sound which I always look for after having heard oboe being practiced on its own for many years - and the BWW oboe has it in my opinion. The SSW oboe is good but it has this fat quality to it which is probably AIR - I think it softens the sound and isn't as sharp as the BWW oboe. Hard to explain really!

We're all different though with different preferences shaped by our experiences - and I'm not saying I think the BWW is more accurate, just to my ears and experience. :)
 
In one of the Spitfire videos i think they said something about how the height of the air studios causes a really nice kind of "highcut". Sounds like what you're talking about.
 
Anyway, you mentioned that SCS is a bit harsh for what you prefer to write. What do you prefer to write?

Lots of pieces (not all) I write are slower and more relaxed, with a fuller orchestra sound where I don't want the violins for example to sound too pronounced or to stand out against the rest of the orchestra. That's why I don't use SCS much as my base library, because the violins can get a bit nasal sounding when you push the mod wheel up. Not to say SCS doesn't do well in many scenarios, it does, and I really like the library - I think it's one of the best out there. But for me at least, when I want something to blend and not stand out, I don't use SCS. Well, the main patches at least... flautando is another story.

I've been using CSSS and also (shock horror!) NI symphony strings to add detail on top of my other strings. SSS mainly is my base, or CSS or CS2 sometimes also. SCS would probably work just as well to add on top of my base library, but the CSSS legatos are better. If I want chamber sized but a more blurred sound for the violins, then L&S Chamber Strings works better for me than SCS.

But like I say, I tend to prefer writing with bigger string sections as a base, and adding in detail etc. from other libraries as needed. That's my usual approach. I'm learning to use smaller sections a bit now, so may start to use SCS more over time. So currently I may use SCS here and there, but other libraries a lot also.

Basically, I have way too many string libraries, so have to come up with excuses to use them all. ;)

Yea = yes, which is where "yea or nay" comes from. Yay = excited. I had to consult almighty google to be sure I wasn't going crazy.
 
Here's something "in action": a bounced SSW group clip from a mockup I'm doing for fun/ practice at the moment.

It's only quickly balanced and pre-mixed (not 100% tweaked, especially as they are not meant to be this "exposed" anyway) , utilizing close mics and my own reverbs. So just take it as WiP version to show how their overall cohesiveness is and how the legatos sound in general. And yes, the clarinet is freaking loud. Sue me. :D

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/ww_bounce-mp3.16307/][/AUDIOPLUS]
 

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Not to derail the discussion here, but as an example here's a mockup of some John Williams using only the SSO. I like to think it's at least a good representation of what you can expect from the libraries in this context.



There's also no Symphonic Strings in there, just the extra mics of SCS Pro. Sounds bigger right? On reflection I would have probably used SSS too, although I definitely found it interesting how big SCS can sound in the hall.
 
Yep, the SCS Pro extra mics really make a difference. :) Did you layer them with two RR's too?
I actually got all of the extra packages for their libraries when they were on the flash sale, and have thus far only used SCS which I loved and SSW which wasn't unfortunately such a difference to the original mics. When I have time, I'll definitely download and try the Brass next!
 
Thanks for that Ben, it's really helpful - isn't it cheating though when your track is amazing and I'm mesmerised by it so as to be convinced lol :P

Seriously though, I always enjoy listening to your music and thanks for sharing - and the Spitfire longs do sound good - and I was mesmerised by it. Having said that, there's a quality to the BWW oboe which I really find appealing.

I grew up with an older brother oboist (he's had a good career - filling in for Heinz Holliger etc), and there's a quality to the oboe sound which I always look for after having heard oboe being practiced on its own for many years - and the BWW oboe has it in my opinion. The SSW oboe is good but it has this fat quality to it which is probably AIR - I think it softens the sound and isn't as sharp as the BWW oboe. Hard to explain really!

We're all different though with different preferences shaped by our experiences - and I'm not saying I think the BWW is more accurate, just to my ears and experience. :)
Yeah, I think you're describing exactly what I hear between Spitfire and Berlin with the oboe. The Spitfire oboe does sound fatter, which I really like. But I'm not used to hearing real oboes like you, so for me it's more a case of, "Wow! Sounds great! I'm gonna use that!" At the end of the day, comparing Spitfire woods and Berlin woods it just feels to me like Orchestral Tools were more careful all around to ensure the best possible detail and consistency. I've said it before in these forums but BWW is just one of those libraries that when I reach for it I always feel confidant that I'm going to be able to make it do what I want it to do. Spitfire Chamber Strings is the same. Other libraries sometimes put up a fight.
 
Yep, the SCS Pro extra mics really make a difference. :) Did you layer them with two RR's too?
I actually got all of the extra packages for their libraries when they were on the flash sale, and have thus far only used SCS which I loved and SSW which wasn't unfortunately such a difference to the original mics. When I have time, I'll definitely download and try the Brass next!
No doubled RR's actually, but I did layer Solo Strings for certain lines. I think the Woodwinds benefit nicely from the Outriggers, it gives them a little more 'distance' which I love (it's also worth narrowing the stereo image slightly).
 
BWW is just one of those libraries that when I reach for it I always feel confidant that I'm going to be able to make it do what I want it to do. Spitfire Chamber Strings is the same. Other libraries sometimes put up a fight.
I feel the same way about BWW. I need to spend more time with SCS (vanilla) to get to a point where I'm relatively happy though. I'm working on a piece at the moment where the cello performance legato on one of the notes has an abrupt end to it even though there is plenty of overlap with the next note - so I'm still learning the ropes with SCS (haven't used it enough!).
 
I already have Abion ONE, CSS, and was planning on getting CSSS. Would SCS or Berlin be better for "pop" or singer songwriter strings? main use would be orchestral/hybrid but i need something for pop/singer songwriter production. I was thinking Spirtifre Studio Strings since they are dry, but I'm not sure. SO many good things said about SCS
 
The Berlin Woodwinds have a better legato transition than Spitfire. But the Spitfire oboe sounds more beautiful. You can use the Spitfire "long" patch, don't overlap the notes, and get a beautiful oboe performance even though you're not taking advantage of the legato transitions. Here's a piece I did recently that uses Spitfire oboe throughout. In fact, all but the clarinet and the flute are Spitfire woods (Clarinet and flutes are Berlin.) But none of the Spitfire woodwinds in this piece are legato. They're all the "long" sustain patches with the midi notes butted against each other with no overlap. I used Spitfire bass clarinet, oboe and alto flute. Berlin clarinet and regular flute.


Beautiful piece. Had to follow on soundcloud
 
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