I've recently been watching a video Christian did about being a Fly On The Wall...it's an actual tracking session for a TV series he's composing for...done in Air Studios...when you hear the conductor speak, you can clearly hear how reverberant the room is...it's what makes the sound. Especially for some wind instruments...like the Oboe. If you put an oboe in a tight small room, or very open space, it's going to sound like crap...certain instruments need the acoustics and vibrations of the environment to truly "sing".
People who download Spitfire libraries in Montreal automatically get the ultra secret "Two Steps From Hell" version of the library, not the standard guff the rest of us get.
I want those versions!!
Maybe. Or you haven't tried enough of what else is out there.Wow lol. Clearly you haven't seen a lot of their libraries
More likely it's a confusion of terms.
There's a kind of subtlety that you get from VSL's willingness to sample 8 dynamic layers, for instance, which is a kind of subtlety that Spitfire isn't going to give you.
If you're like me and think that subtlety doesn't start until your library offers at least 15 types of sul tasto (20 would be better), well that's a totally different kind of subtlety.
I think that's a fair way of putting it. Though it's not just about dynamic layers. Timbre and flexibility also play a part.
Basically if you're writing trailer music, Spitfire is likely most people's "go-to", but for a more classical approach (or even John Williams) I wouldn't necessarily think Spitfire. That's all.
Exactly. VSL is a good example. I wouldn't use VSL for epic music either (though I'm sure people do), so it's just a question of using the right tool for the style.Makes sense. So definitely, for a more classical style, VSL, for instance, or Chris Hein, certainly has more attention to deep sampling to get a particular type of, well I've been called it 'expressiveness', but yes there's clearly a dimension of subtly in that.
But as someone who has no interest in trailer music, I also think that libs like SSW, SCS, OACE, LCO, BDT, SStS, SsS, OS ... and I really could go on ... have a quality of subtlety, especially in their timbre and in the overall ... 'sonority' is the best work I've come up with, but it's much more than merely tone ... that collectively represent for me the pinnacle of human achievement in this kind of subtlety, whatever it may be. And that's before we even mention Tundra.
There are definitely times I'd like to be able to access more of the 'classical' type of subtlety though. But I find it hard to get the former type of subtlety without out sacrificing the latter.
So it's the way a Beethoven String quartet has an incredibly quality of subtlety, which is very different to, and sometimes completely at right angles to, the incredible quality of subtlety in, say, an Olafur Arnalds string quartet.
(With the caveat that Sacconi, is one of the most convincing libraries for Beethoven, insofar as its ever a good idea to even think about the possibility of event attempting a Beethoven mockup).
Exactly. VSL is a good example. I wouldn't use VSL for epic music either (though I'm sure people do), so it's just a question of using the right tool for the style.
I own every cinematic studio product and anxiously awaiting the release of their woodwind program. A program I have never even heard. So you could call me a cinematic fanboy, but even then there are many times that I'll chose my twelve year old VSL SE over it. All I'm saying is that I don't think anyone can deny that Spitfire's bread and butter is creating epic sounding instruments.
here is proof I gave them more than pads to play lol. Also you can hear the beautiful tail at the end when they stop playing
Chamber strings are the shit. Was able to get them for about half off with this last wishlist sale. I can’t believe I thought I didn’t need them when I already owned symphonic strings
Funny how it works out that way haha. Symphonic is still really great. I used to not like the shorts but it just took some more programming chops to get them speakI own Chamber, and feel I need Symphonic.. LOL
CSS, to my ears has a different quality of subtlety again. And I'd generally use words like "smooth" and "creamy" to describe it, partly from the 'studio' sound, and partly from the quality of the legato. There's a wonderful CSS mock up of Elgar that to me epitomizes the particular quality of its subtlety and expressiveness of the cinematic line.
But my point was that there's another dimension of subtlety, in the libraries I mentioned above, which is timbral, and expressive has an emotional component that I wouldn't quite know how to describe, that I don't hear in CSS (lovely though it is), and that has absolutely nothing to with the epic that runs through spitfire libraries.
I mean, some of these libs are probably great for unsubtle epic trailer music also, but I'm not the one to ask about that. Although I know that Daniel rates Albion One (which I regret buying as it tends to be just too thonkingly epic for me, and has no sul tasto) as being quite far on the 'gentle' side of his spectrum. He would probably know.
(Anyone else think that a whole thread on the taxonomy of notions of subtlety might be fun, or is it just me?)
Funny how it works out that way haha. Symphonic is still really great. I used to not like the shorts but it just took some more programming chops to get them speak
Hey All,
As most of you know I had a bit of a thing with Spitfire over the past year or so. But since then I have picked up LCO Evo, Olafur Evo, Olafur Chamber Evo, British Toolkit and am currently sizing up Chamber Strings.
As I am sure you are aware it is often tough to eat your own words so publicly, but given the quality of the libraries I have recently got from them (mostly on decent sales!) and the sheer amount of work the libs are putting in for me currently I thought I would be fair and give credit where its due. These are fucking fantastic!!
Genuinely looking forward to whatever is next.
-DJ
What got me looking at SSS, was that video of Christian...loved that sound.
detail in the tone of the instrument