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INTRODUCING Albion NEO. The next chapter in our bestselling Albion series.

Puzzlefactory said:
Hmmm, can’t really see anything much since Thursday (not really interested in what people thought before getting it)...
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It´s a big thread!

Try post #372 :thumbsup:

Sums up the difference between Loegria and NEO perfectly and I think is what you´re looking for. Christian Henson chips in too.
 
Sometimes groups/mobs have too much memory. If we didn't know Loegria never existed, no one would even be making the comparison. This could just be Neo. If Spitfire hadn't made any reference to it, maybe even then it'd be fine.

I didn't have Loegria, hadn't really heard much of it before. Neo is Neo. Neo is good. Buy Neo because Neo is good. Considering it in isolation (or at least in relation to your other libraries) seems like the only sane thing to do.

I'm finally going to make a little music with it this morning.
 
Puzzlefactory said:
Ok, so I’m not sure if this has already been covered in the thread and apologies if it has.

But how similar is this to Albion 2?

I have the original and I’m wondering if this library is worth it if you already have the first one?

I get a pretty good discount for Neo (almost half price) and I do like Tundra and LCO strings (which seem to be of a similar ilk) but at the same time I can’t help wondering...

I’ve heard Daniel James did a comparison video but can’t seem to find it anywhere (and I think he’s banned from talking about Spitfire in these forums)...
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Having now spent some time with Neo, I'd say Loegria and Neo are quite different. There is some overlap in the strings, but the Neo strings are deeper and more varied. It's also really fun and inspiring playing with the two ensembles.

Neo also has the capability to serve as a small ensemble version of Albion One in a way Loegria never could. Neo can also be quieter (in this respect it's similar to Tundra with legatos for the winds and brass) and you can sketch things with it for the quieter side of the orchestra but Neo can also go reasonably loud but it has the sound of a smaller ensemble, closer to a chamber orchestra where you can hear the details of the individual instruments much more readily. In an earlier post I noted you can also get the sound of a theater orchestra with it. Neo's brass and woodwinds are not as compelling as the strings, and the woodwinds have some real technical problems at the moment—tuning and "bacon fry"—but winds and brass are sufficiently varied to make the same kind of quick broad brush piece for small orchestra that Albion One allows you to do with the full sized orchestra. In that sense Neo's a much better Albion Two than Loegria was.

But Neo is also a chamber sized complement to Tundra. As with the comparison of Neo's strings to Loegria, there is a degree of overlap with Tundra but not just with the strings but in all sections. Tundra is somewhat deeper here (more articulations) but the sensibility of Neo is more toward the chamber orchestra rather than the full orchestra playing softly. I find the shorts in Neo generally more useable than those in Tundra, and all sections in Neo have legato, allowing more lyrical playing, though the brass legato is problematically fractured by the instrumentation—there is no register where I find it sounding great the way Tundra's horneuph sounds great between C2 and G3.

I really wish SF had extended the string low legato up an octave to around G3 to allow for a full tenor (cello) range expression. As it is, the string legatos divide at F#2/G2 meaning you have to either fake this transition or be very selective in your choice of keys. I get around this easily enough by using the SCS cellos, which sit nicely with Neo. Likely any cello legato patch treated with the proper reverb and layered (or not) with one of the string longs from Neo would work fine, but it does mean futzing with another patch when one of the advantages of working with an ensemble library like the Albions is that they allow you to use a minimal number of patches to get the broad strokes of the piece. The long string articulation also sits nicely with the winds legato and you can in a sense borrow the legato from the winds to produce an effective blended lyrical line.

I'll add that the harmonium has a very appealing sound. And the Segla Textures allows you to easily morph between many of the orchestral articulations in the library. I haven’t yet explored the steam band or loops in any detail.
 
jbuhler said:
Having now spent some time with Neo, I'd say Loegria and Neo are quite different. There is some overlap in the strings, but the Neo strings are deeper and more varied. It's also really fun and inspiring playing with the two ensembles.

Neo also has the capability to serve as a small ensemble version of Albion One in a way Loegria never could. Neo can also be quieter (in this respect it's similar to Tundra with legatos for the winds and brass) and you can sketch things with it for the quieter side of the orchestra but Neo can also go reasonably loud but it has the sound of a smaller ensemble, closer to a chamber orchestra where you can hear the details of the individual instruments much more readily. In an earlier post I noted you can also get the sound of a theater orchestra with it. Neo's brass and woodwinds are not as compelling as the strings, and the woodwinds have some real technical problems at the moment—tuning and "bacon fry"—but winds and brass are sufficiently varied to make the same kind of quick broad brush piece for small orchestra that Albion One allows you to do with the full sized orchestra. In that sense Neo's a much better Albion Two than Loegria was.

But Neo is also a chamber sized complement to Tundra. As with the comparison of Neo's strings to Loegria, there is a degree of overlap with Tundra but not just with the strings but in all sections. Tundra is somewhat deeper here (more articulations) but the sensibility of Neo is more toward the chamber orchestra rather than the full orchestra playing softly. I find the shorts in Neo generally more useable than those in Tundra, and all sections in Neo have legato, allowing more lyrical playing, though the brass legato is problematically fractured by the instrumentation—there is no register where I find it sounding great the way Tundra's horneuph sounds great between C2 and G3.

I really wish SF had extended the string low legato up an octave to around G3 to allow for a full tenor (cello) range expression. As it is, the string legatos divide at F#2/G2 meaning you have to either fake this transition or be very selective in your choice of keys. I get around this easily enough by using the SCS cellos, which sit nicely with Neo. Likely any cello legato patch treated with the proper reverb and layered (or not) with one of the string longs from Neo would work fine, but it does mean futzing with another patch when one of the advantages of working with an ensemble library like the Albions is that they allow you to use a minimal number of patches to get the broad strokes of the piece. The long string articulation also sits nicely with the winds legato and you can in a sense borrow the legato from the winds to produce an effective blended lyrical line.

I'll add that the harmonium has a very appealing sound. And the Segla Textures allows you to easily morph between many of the orchestral articulations in the library. I haven’t yet explored the steam band or loops in any detail.
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Great review.

I still find it most compelling as an extension of OACE/Tundra/SCS, but it's very interesting to see how it relates to Albion One/Logria.

It's notable however that there really doesn't exist - anywhere - an Albion "start scoring films now" One analogue for softer and more dramatic film music.

For instance Loegria didn't have the winds, Albion One winds are way too aggressive, Neo winds are a bit ... idiosyncratic. Or perhaps more to the point, orchestrated to sound "harmonium-like", wheres when I try to write for winds I'm explicitly trying to prevent the "organ effect", which sounds closer to brass to my ear that the textural quality I love about.

If I had to start buying libraries again today, I think Neo + SSW would be a great starting point.

But its curious that there nowhere exists a starter library for non-epic films.
 
ism said:
Great review.

I still find it most compelling as an extension of OACE/Tundra/SCS, but it's very interesting to see how it relates to Albion One/Logria.

It's notable however that there really doesn't exist - anywhere - an Albion "start scoring films now" One analogue for softer and more dramatic film music.

For instance Loegria didn't have the winds, Albion One winds are way too aggressive, Neo winds are a bit ... idiosyncratic. Or perhaps more to the point, orchestrated to sound "harmonium-like", wheres when I try to write for winds I'm explicitly trying to prevent the "organ effect", which sounds closer to brass to my ear that the textural quality I love about.

If I had to start buying libraries again today, I think Neo + SSW would be a great starting point.

But its curious that there nowhere exists a starter library for non-epic films.
Click to expand...
I would say British Drama Toolkit is marvelous for what you describe here.
 
ism said:
Great review.

I still find it most compelling as an extension of OACE/Tundra/SCS, but it's very interesting to see how it relates to Albion One/Logria.

It's notable however that there really doesn't exist - anywhere - an Albion "start scoring films now" One analogue for softer and more dramatic film music.

For instance Loegria didn't have the winds, Albion One winds are way too aggressive, Neo winds are a bit ... idiosyncratic. Or perhaps more to the point, orchestrated to sound "harmonium-like", wheres when I try to write for winds I'm explicitly trying to prevent the "organ effect", which sounds closer to brass to my ear that the textural quality I love about.

If I had to start buying libraries again today, I think Neo + SSW would be a great starting point.

But its curious that there nowhere exists a starter library for non-epic films.
Click to expand...
I've thought about the soft Albion One (a library that runs pp-mf to complement One's mp-ff) and one issue is that the soft side generally requires a more soloistic treatment of brass and winds. Even so, I think SF might have got closer if they'd split the winds and brass into ensembles A and B like they did the strings. I find the chamber orchestra idea works and I don't find the winds to be especially harmonium like, at least not in the shorts and legato. If anything the issue is that they don't blend evenly like they do in Albion One.

Fever Phoenix said:
I would say British Drama Toolkit is marvelous for what you describe here.
Click to expand...

Yes, I wish SF would revisit BDT and add shorts at least as well as an oboe, bassoon, and a horn. I do think there is a nice overlap between BDT and Neo, though I haven't yet tried to put them together.
 
jbuhler said:
I've thought about the soft Albion One (a library that runs pp-mf to complement One's mp-ff) and one issue is that the soft side generally requires a more soloistic treatment of brass and winds. Even so, I think SF might have got closer if they'd split the winds and brass into ensembles A and B like they did the strings. I find the chamber orchestra idea works and I don't find the winds to be especially harmonium like, at least not in the shorts and legato. If anything the issue is that they don't blend evenly like they do in Albion One.



Yes, I wish SF would revisit BDT and add shorts at least as well as an oboe, bassoon, and a horn. I do think there is a nice overlap between BDT and Neo, though I haven't yet tried to put them together.
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I am still going back and forth about Albion Neo. (which usually ends up in me buying said library)
 
paulthomson said:
and also bearing in mind the two examples posted actually sound quite different.....
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they sound obviously different

maybe who brought this silly comparison went a bit deaf from too many loud horns and low brass patches?

Loegria: 8 violin1 / 6 violin2 / 4 viola / 4 cello / 3 bass
NEO A: 3 violin1 / 2 violin2 / 2 viola / 3 cello / 2 bass
NEO B: 3 violin1 / 2 violin2 / 2 viola / 3 cello / 1 bass
 
Paul Cardon said:
Here's your bacon, y'all




I'm not torn by it, I'm always a huge fan of a bit of looseness and funkiness in my libraries, but I'm sure some of you will disagree completely.
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Hi @paulthomson sorry to ask you direct, but regarding the apparent crackling / ´bacon frying´sound in the low winds.

Is this a glitch that might be fixed in a future update? Or just a quirk of the library?

I think I can hear it also in your walkthrough.

I will probably just accept this as a quirk of the samples, but as I can´t actually test the library myself before buying, I don´t know how audiable this actually is.
 
barteredbride said:
Hi @paulthomson sorry to ask you direct, but regarding the apparent crackling / ´bacon frying´sound in the low winds.

Is this a glitch that might be fixed in a future update? Or just a quirk of the library?

I think I can hear it also in your walkthrough.

I will probably just accept this as a quirk of the samples, but as I can´t actually test the library myself before buying, I don´t know how audiable this actually is.
Click to expand...
It's DEFINITELY coming from the players, so the only "fix" would be scrubbing every sample, trying to remove the sax spit without killing the rest of the top end in the samples. Probably best to assume it'll stay, not out of laziness but rather it'd be a pain in the ass to remove that stuff.

I think that brings up another good point. This was never meant to be a comprehensive new option for a sax wind ensemble. It's a toolset geared towards a specific style and aesthetic. If any of you were waiting for a good orchestra sax library, this just ain't it.
 
Paul Cardon said:
It's DEFINITELY coming from the players, so the only "fix" would be scrubbing every sample, trying to remove the sax spit without killing the rest of the top end in the samples. Probably best to assume it'll stay, not out of laziness but rather it'd be a pain in the ass to remove that stuff.

I think that brings up another good point. This was never meant to be a comprehensive new option for a sax wind ensemble. It's a toolset geared towards a specific style and aesthetic. If any of you were waiting for a good orchestra sax library, this just ain't it.
Click to expand...

I really like the sound that's there. I strongly feel like it was intended. I've already found creative uses for it.
 
Just pulled the trigger on Neo. The synth sounds and the chamber strings sound great to me (and I don't have Albion 2, Tundra or Chamber Strings).

Downloading away...
 
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