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Putting your money on one developer?

StillLife

Senior Member
With all the ponderings in this time of Spring sales, I have been asking myself a question: should I focus my purchases on one developer, or should I spread out? The developer in case is Spitfire Audio, whose wishlist sale will engage tomorrow. I have practically decided I want to buy 1) unique drums (to add another flavor to my Toontrack stuff 2) versatile synth sounds 3) some real melodic instruments - Brass especially) for my indie pop/rock/singer-songwriter hobby.

So, for synths, going with Spitfire this wishlist sale I could acquire EDNA Earth + Kinematik + Martyn Ware for 178,20. 2/3 of this is NKS - a huge bonus for me.

But, I could also engage with another developer I have eyed for a long time: Output. They have a sale on their 'everything' bundle which would cost me 492. All NKS.

For drums, there's is Spitfire The Grange which demo's/walkthrough I like very much. Would cost me 149,40, and no NKS. Or maybe I should save that money and go UJAM once these are on sale again? Not sure about their NKS-compatibility.

For Brass Spitfire offers a lot: SSB would be 419,40 (SSB + SSW: 665); SStB pro 239,40 and SStB core 119,40. All NKS.
Or should I go for the CSB - once they come on sale -, as the Cinematic series gets so much love on this site? I have never dipped into this developer, yet.
There's also the new Modern Scoring Brass at Audiobro - another developer I have never got into. Still on intro, at 599. Fully NKS, but also: fairly intimidating, from the look of their webpage. Might be too much for me.

Ah, decisions, decisions. Anybody help me?
I am pretty sure I will get Spitfire's Aluphone though (29,40 - no NKS).
 
...indie pop/rock/singer-songwriter hobby.

SSB won't really cut it with that stuff, but CSB does indeed. Also, don't limit yourself to one manufacturer, as some libraries are more suitable for your needs them some others- case SSB vs CSB serving as an example. It's all about the sounds you want to use, not about what someone sells.
 
Too many variables for those questions to be answered. I would take it easy. It's incredible how much money can be absolutely wasted on sample libraries, and most of these things you can't even re-sell.

Every one of these developers has their own way of doing stuff. Their products generally come with their own interpretation of a certain vision, certain advantages and also a set of problems and annoyances which are also very often very specific for the developer.

You can't possibly know in advance. It's a jungle and folks who still don't own that much of all the stuff kind of don't know what they're getting themselves into.

I wouldn't make a huge commitment and just drop a big chunk of cash in one place. I'd rather strive to get an idea of what each developer is about, what suits me the most and which problems and quirks I can live with the easiest. From that perspective, I'd rather look out for deals and get "sample" purchases of different devs to see what it's all about.
 
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Back before vsti, musicianship used to include that you should try to get the best instrument you could find. I think it's not so much about developers, but about if they can deliver the best of the best. Usuallly developers excel in one or two things, but not in everything..
 
I can't really figure out what you want tbh. I'm really not fond of spitfire's symphonic brass - everything there sounds exactly like it was recorded in a church, something that's hard to get out of the sound if you didn't specifically want it.

How much do you actually want to invest in something it doesn't sound like you'll really be using in depth? You might as well pick up Ark 4 + berlin inspire if you just want some well produced sounds for pop/light orchestral work.
 
With all the ponderings in this time of Spring sales, I have been asking myself a question: should I focus my purchases on one developer, or should I spread out?

If you don't spread out you could lose out. Big.

Go by what your aims, ear, financial situation, etc. CONTEXT wants and/or needs. I've been doing this for over a decade and a half total and I have all kinds of stuff from different developers. Whatever suits what's mentioned in the first sentence of this paragraph.

Not all fit together, but even that can often be overcome through focus and patience.

just my opinion
 
From a personal point of view, I would say it is a matter of personal preference and budget above all. Since most of the developers, at least the biggest ones, strive to diversity, it's actually quite difficult to conclude which of them is really "better" than the others in a certain field. Personally I think that Spitfire Audio is the leader when talking about orchestral instruments, so although I often have limited means, I've aimed to purchase as many of their products I could afford myself thus far. But my primary motive was the fact that I simply like the sound and feel of their libraries and I'm often inspired by them. But the same goes for the libraries from several smaller developers, in particular Sound Dust, Exotic States, Fracture Sounds etc. But the one developer whose products I would personally recommend to the most people would probably be Native Instruments. Although one size don't necessarily fits all, I think that purchasing Komplete (standard edition) is a worthwhile investment and solid cornerstone for any composer and / or producer regardless of the musical genre they've primarily interested in.
 
Also, having spent 1300 € myself for Spitfire's Symphonic Orchestra only to use pretty much only the winds and percussion like ever, I'd also like to point out that it also doesn't mean that when you buy a product from a certain developer that all the others are as useful as well- even within the same product line.

Having been giving the Symphonic Strings an extra chance today trying out the additional mics (which I bought when they were 99 € but installed only yesterday) and fiddling (ehh) with them for half day, I. Just. Cannot. Make. Them. Sound. Good. For. Anything. I. Try. Mushy, sloppy, horrible attacks and even more horrible releases. How the hell can SCS be that good and SSS such a disappointment?
 
Also, having spent 1300 € myself for Spitfire's Symphonic Orchestra only to use pretty much only the winds and percussion like ever, I'd also like to point out that it also doesn't mean that when you buy a product from a certain developer that all the others are as useful as well- even within the same product line.

Having been giving the Symphonic Strings an extra chance today trying out the additional mics (which I bought when they were 99 € but installed only yesterday) and fiddling (ehh) with them for half day, I. Just. Cannot. Make. Them. Sound. Good. For. Anything. I. Try. Mushy, sloppy, horrible attacks and even more horrible releases. How the hell can SCS be that good and SSS such a disappointment?

I can relate.. try out some of the slider settings where you can alter the attack timings of the samples, also the tm patch function might be useful to tighten up the shorter articulations releases..hope that helps a bit.
 
If there is anything I've learned the the few years I've been doing professional mock ups is that you should never "put all your eggs in one basket."

There isn't one developer that has created a a collective catalog of libraries that work by themself without the need of others to pick up their slack. All libraries have strengths and weaknesses and it's best to have options so you can easily work around those problems when they arise.

I don't know how many times Berlin Brass saved me when CineBrass failed and vice versa, especially on my current job right now. The same goes for the Strezov Sampling horns. I don't use those that often but sometimes they are exactly what I need when my other main brass libraries fail to perform a particular motiv or phrase.

The point I'm making is to share your loyalty to the collective industry. I went full Spitfire at first and when I started branching out, my mock ups got a lot better. Obviously my skills got better over time but the real reason was one developers method of design can limit your creativity. You'll reach for the same patches in order to do that same cool thing that they can do. Doing so won't really challenging yourself. It's a form of complacency. Avoid it. I'm sure glad I did.
 
I would advise to buy the things you really need. If you think about 'well this sounds cool but..' just wait a day or two, if you still ask yourself the same question ,just don't buy it.

Also from audio engineering and sound designy perspective - if you have similar libraries or synthesizers just research how you can manipulate an audio to sound the way you want it to be / if haven't done that already of course /. Because the last thing you want is just a library that sits in kontakt and looks pretty.
 
some of the slider settings where you can alter the attack timings of the samples, also the tm patch function might be useful to tighten up the shorter articulations releases

Thanks, I actually noodled with the sliders onto the verge of madness yesterday, but decided to try out also the time machine patches this morning. While it didn't help those sustains (they are not included), one workaround is to use the Marcato Attack- patches instead of plain "longs".

[rant]
I just don't get it- why on earth they assume that "longs" mean lyrical slow-attack-slow-release playstyle and if I want to do proper, attached lines, I either have to divide them into divisi in order to use legatos (which eliminates the attack/release- problem), or then hop between marcato attack and long- patch if I want the notes to be properly attached. And I'm not talking about potteresque runs, but the "longs"- patch is struggling even in 110 bpm playing half notes.
[/rant]
 
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