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Spitfire Appreciation Thread

Is this even necessary? Any successful composer uses Spitfire daily... I own all their libraries and I can't think about how my life would be without them. Sure I have my own private stuff and a lot from other brands (they all do excellent stuff in their own style) but....

I am VERY grateful this company exists and also several other companies like 8Dio, Orchestral Tools, Cinesamples, ProjectSAM, Audiobro, EastWest, cinematic Studio Series, Performance Samples, Audio Ollie, Tari, SonusScore, (not entering the hybrid style/ percussion specialists design devs, which are so many!!) ... (maybe I forgot some, though but my apologies)...

One company inspires the other and that just makes our life better and better.

Remember that you shouldn't try to force samples to sound in a way they were not designed to sound. Hear the samples and adapt yourself to what you can do with them.

Sometimes I hear people using a clearly slow legato patch and try to make a string run with it...

On my side, thank you so much to all hard working sample developers!
 
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That's a nice idea. Let's not forget that the devs are people too and like reading positive feedback from time to time.

It's not even about affirming devs, though that's a nice thing to do also. It's that some threads are, quite legitimately, devoted to exposing and focusing on the issue and limitations within libraries, and on pressuring for devs to fix issues, give us better libraries. And there's a point at which some thread seem to loose the possibility of any from genuinely constructive engagement, and become rallying cries marshalling consumer protest in the crusade for a world in which Better Sample Libraries are Possible. And I can appreciate even some of the most scathing critiques through this lens as legitimate, and frequently useful.

But sometime it feels like what gets lots in a crusade for better libraries is the appreciating of just how great the actually existing libraries that we have actually are, when taken at their best, and for what they are.


And stepping back and appreciating what we do have doesn't have to mean abandoning our critical selves and our most demanding consumer hats.


I guess I feel that the demand that we wear these most demanding consumer hats relentlessly to press developers to up their game (and the toxic death spirals this risks), risks crushing everything into the lens of purchasing decisions. And that this can come at a cost suppressing a of less critical, but more constructive (and more fun) kind of discourse.

There are been lots of great threads in which both consumer criticism and really fun musical engagement have happily coexisted (LCO, Time Macro, many etc). But certain recent threads have set a tone where I no longer feel it's possible to do both.

So I don't think it's necessary to go as far as an explicit "Spitfire Appreciation Thread". But I think that a thread that creates space for positive engagement with a library as it is, not suppressing negative critique, but bracketing it (in the Husserelian sense) in favour of engaging with the libraries as their best selves is a pretty good idea.

It's not that I don't support the cause of relentlessly pressing devs for more better sample libraries. Its just that there's a point at which I hit the 'I don't want to be a part of your revolution if I can't dance' barrier.


There's precedent, now that I think of it (and I'm guilty of some of what I describe here myself). Case in point - there was a recent thread on the 8dio violas that led me to revisit the library, and engage with it through a more constructive lens, aided some really excellent community contributions. This is a library that had driven me crazy, partly because I had incorrect expectations, and well there's marketing issues that are legitimately critiqued elsewhere ... but the point is that letting go of that and reengaging with the library as it actually is, without all the noice of complaint (including my own) was helpful, fun, and I will write better music as a result of the space created by that thread. (Which now that I think of it was created by @Parsifal666 - so again, thanks!).


And silliness aside, I'm completely sincere in that last comment on the G . It really was one of those moment that justifies all the energy I put into sample library as a musician. While simultaneously inspiring me to abandon sample libraries altogether and learn to just play the cello instead. And I would trade all my sample libraries for the ability to ability play the cello like that in AIR in a heartbeat.

(I want a performance patch to this cello to match the violin in the library, incidentally. So there's a certain "squeaky wheel" logic by which the crusade for more better sample libraries would be better served by instead bitching and moaning about its inadequacies - and I'm perfectly capably of critiquing what this cello can't do. But this is so far beyond my "I don't want to be a part of you revolutions if I can't dance " line that it its just silly.)

And I have a similar story involving, emblematically, I think it's a A, in an Embertone library. Sublime is not too strong a term.
 
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I've thrown quite a bit of money at Spitfire over the last four years (SSO w/expansions, SCS, Solo Strings, all the Albions, LCOS, a few Evo Grids, HZ Percussion Pro, SF Percussion, Ricotti Mallets, EW Choir, eDNA Earth, etc.) And I have regretted not a bit of it. Spitfire libraries continue to be at the very core of my music-making efforts, more than those of any other company. Whatever small issues may appear from time to time pale in importance when compared to the breathtaking capabilities they have provided. My life wouldn't be the same without what Paul, Christian and their friends have created, and I'm very thankful.
 
If anything I'm team Orchestral Tools since I've always picked them when faced with a choice (for example Albion One or Metropolis Ark 1), however the founders of Spitfire frequent the forums as well as their customer services account so I thought it'd be nice to have a thread devoted to highlighting only the positives for a change.
I like both companies' products and find that they play quite well together. I appreciate that.

So many good libraries from SF. I'll mention, because it gets so little love, the solo strings, which continually show me attractive new faces. I use them all the time and usually with little fuss. It is true they don't work for everything and when they don't work they often really don't work. But they cover a lot of ground for me (and ground that the Virharmonic instruments, which I also have and like, do not) and I find them great for just adding a little solo string detail here or there.
 
Reflecting on what Spitfire has accomplished .. for us geront-ocrats weaned on DX7s and MPU401s, our coming-of-age seems even more striking. First we had monophonic organ sounds, then FM, finally sample-playback (with FX!) in the Korg M1. As one of the earliest users of Notion, I felt I was in a new realm. But then when I stumbled onto the Spitfire site and listened to the demos, I was stunned. And we have VI-C to commune with others. We’ve truly come a long way.
 
With all of the drama around here recently regarding a well known British company
Are we talking recent drama or drama from over a year ago? I guess I haven't been paying attention. But here's my praise for Spitfire: I'm glad they finally started producing more dry libraries and their Studio series looks and sounds terrific.
 
The Albion's were my gateway to composing, and I've been fairly happy with everything I've purchased from Spitfire, even if lately I've been exploring other options.
 
Are we talking recent drama or drama from over a year ago? I guess I haven't been paying attention. But here's my praise for Spitfire: I'm glad they finally started producing more dry libraries and their Studio series looks and sounds terrific.

The perpetual drama :speechless:

Agree with the dry libraries comment. I used to own VSL SE and hated it. It was far too dry and I had a lot of trouble making it sound realistic (probably my fault) but Spitfire seem to have the right idea by introducing a little bit of the room.
 
I never went down the Spitfire rabbit hole, but this latest Wishlist sale opened my eyes to a whole new world or string writing. I grabbed Studio Strings and Brass (core), not expecting much for that price. Wow! They sound great, and will certainly be useful in my templates. When I watched the Spitfire walkthroughs from Paul and Christian, I was thinking "are they using smoke and mirrors to make these sound better in the videos?". The answer is NO. They are giving an honest, true demo of the libraries. They sound exactly the same on my end. Noe sure why people stomp their feet demanding more demos...SF has provided everything you need to hear...right there on YouTube.
 
I'm going to +1 on the support guys. I didn't get my wishlist email last Xmas and one of the support regulars here PM'd me and got them to me so I could get what I wanted. I also really like the sound of SSO. Sounds pretty good just out of the box.

I also love the Labs stuff. Back when SA was too expensive for me, I still had all their Lab products at $3 a pop - it went to charity so I didn't mind paying.

I also appreciate that they put out videos on how they make sample libraries sound good. It is really helpful for us newbies to see these things, as I probably wouldn't figure it out on my own.
 
The first library I ever bought from Spitfire was their Bernard Herrmann composer toolkit. Love it! It's a great way of putting myself into a different mindset when composing. The Hans Zimmer piano, and the Symphonic Brass libraries followed. No regrets at all. I'm keeping all my fingers crossed they'll one day do a John Williams composer toolkit...
 
I really like the SCS, LCO, EVOs, Swarm...anything chamber-sized, with a great room tone, and with movement baked in is fantastic. I hope they keep pushing in that direction.
 
The first library I ever bought from Spitfire was their Bernard Herrmann composer toolkit. Love it! It's a great way of putting myself into a different mindset when composing. The Hans Zimmer piano, and the Symphonic Brass libraries followed. No regrets at all. I'm keeping all my fingers crossed they'll one day do a John Williams composer toolkit...
Jerry Goldsmith...or Gustav Mahler Composer Toolkit.
 
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