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If you're asking "Is BBCSO Core good enough?", here's your answer.

If you get BBC Discover, which is free, you get an additional $50 discount from MSRP. So when it's 50% off during a sale, it comes out to a flat $200. That's where the number is coming from.


HOOPUS itself is new, but the samples themselves are very old, and I don't expect anything bigger than a 60% off sale of HOOPUS in the next year.

You're right. BBC Pro is a much closer match to HOOPUS. HOOPUS used to have a gold edition, but they stopped selling it to focus on Diamond.
Okay, my price w/discover would be £210 which is a lot more than $200 but that's SF pricing structure's fault. Not sure it's fair to quote a 24-hour sale price that has come once in SF's whole history - otherwise you could compare to the day that HWO was ~$100.

Yeah but HWO was a lot better value than HOOPUS is, or probably ever will be for the foreseeable future, after adding the player, soloist and new content.

And I just realised, the best comparison to BBC core is probably the CCX edu sub for $10/month, which gives you the gold version.
 
The answer is always "No, get Pro" as far as I have seen. I won't upgrade because unfortunately, I don't have the disk space and felt the upgrade price was too much just to get the 3 good mics that combine better than Mix1.
 
No, you're comparing a sale price to a normal price. The historical low for HOOPUS is $500 vs the historical low for BBC Core being $200 (with the Discover discount). The MSRP for HOOPUS is $995 vs MSRP for BBC Core being $449.

BBC Core is basically half the price of HOOPUS for all intents and purposes; whether HOOPUS is twice as good is up for debate (although I would suggest that the answer is "no" for beginners and intermediate level composers).
Problem is, HO is on the sale (as most EW stuff) almost all the time, this is not a BF sale lasting a week. The sale price of OPUS is practically its normal price so far. (and yeah it is better - contains way more stuff, recording sounds great, usable for epic stuff as well for more intimate writing and programming holds up ( programming in BBSCO is not anything 2021 level anyway). Ideally, you can get both, but if I have to choose one Opus all the way.

Intermediate composers definitely benefit from more stuff offered and beginners - I would never go the cheapest route if possible. The lesser your mixing skills are the more you need the Out of the box to be good. More mics (premixed) give you a nicer sound.
 
If you get BBC Discover, which is free, you get an additional $50 discount from MSRP. So when it's 50% off during a sale, it comes out to a flat $200. That's where the number is coming from.


HOOPUS itself is new, but the samples themselves are very old, and I don't expect anything bigger than a 60% off sale of HOOPUS in the next year.

You're right. BBC Pro is a much closer match to HOOPUS. HOOPUS used to have a gold edition, but they stopped selling it to focus on Diamond.
There are also new samples in HOPUS.
Plus Hopus is a much better player than Spitfire's one.
And last but not least, there's an orchestrator that's a fine piece of software.

Btw, I have both.
 
Undoubtedly true. I think the positive takeaway is for people starting out, Core is quite ample to have a pretty decent full orchestra at their fingertips especially when it's on sale. To someone who wants to write a piece like that but isn't there yet, it's more than ample. Here's to getting to the point where we outgrow Core... still many of us in that situation. ;)
This right here.

Many people compare core to pro. Yes pro can sound better but that's not to discount that Core is amazing all on its own as well.

Between BBCSO Core and other libraries with different mic positions like HOOPUS, I have a hard time justifying getting BBCSO pro, but I will.
 
This right here.

Many people compare core to pro. Yes pro can sound better but that's not to discount that Core is amazing all on its own as well.

Between BBCSO Core and other libraries with different mic positions like HOOPUS, I have a hard time justifying getting BBCSO pro, but I will.
I just looked and it's on sale for $269. Crazy. And I'll say this about the player... no other piece of software has that much potential for improvement.
;)
I actually prefer the concept for the Spitfire player and SINE... They both simply need to go from 1.X to 2.0, the sooner the better. December 1st would be nice.
 
I have BBSCO Pro and with the exception of the solo trumpet, I find the brass virtually unusable. It's definitely not a library for big, epic arrangements. OPUS (and HS) brass is still amongst the top of the heap for this.
I did too but the brass is very usable in context. You are correct, it isn't the screaming trailer brass but there are a lot of libraries that can do that.

HB/HBOPUS is perhaps some of the best brass ever created imho (well many not so humble, but certainly my opinion). But....it does fall down in the middle dynamics due to fairly weird crossfading where the ff layer buzz starts way too early. Opus improved it a bit but it's still not ideal.

BBCSO's idea was to included the loudest layer as a separate patch, the "curvé" The only problem of course is that you can't crossfade to it. Soooo....yeah, that's kind of pointless.

Thus I tend to keep Opus for the loudest stuff and BBCSO for the more mild brass work. Though I must admit these days I'm leaning a lot on Cinebrass, Century Brass and JXL. Also a bit of Caspian when I want it to be quick and dirty.
 
Hi Paulie, thank you for sharing your music, and may I say that it is a very effective piece.There was something very special about 1:23 onward - It was ethereal:) I especially loved the orchestration and the movement of the forte section right at the end. That was a masterstroke.:) I was quite excited about what you achieved with the library in your music here. Really great! Thanks again for sharing.:)
 
Hi Paulie, thank you for sharing your music, and may I say that it is a very effective piece.There was something very special about 1:23 onward - It was ethereal:) I especially loved the orchestration and the movement of the forte section right at the end. That was a masterstroke.:) I was quite excited about what you achieved with the library in your music here. Really great! Thanks again for sharing.:)
OH! It's not mine, it's one I found on YouTube! YIKES, I should have clarified that. I just really admired what the person did using one relatively inexpensive library.

Ooof, I feel like a dork now. I'd better footnote the video.
 
So the answer is no? :)

It's not bad but in many parts, it sounds like it was done with 12+ years old libraries, it has that choppy sound. Again, Hollywood Oopus would be definitely a better choice for this with the same price point.

But I definitely don't wanna discourage you, some mixing and mastering would definitely help it.
Really I was concentrating on the guy's composition, that he took Core a bit farther in that sense than many other pieces we've heard... ultimately the point was that the library doesn't matter, it's all about writing. Which also is subjective!
 
Really I was concentrating on the guy's composition, that he took Core a bit farther in that sense than many other pieces we've heard... ultimately the point was that the library doesn't matter, it's all about writing. Which also is subjective!
Well, writing definitely is most important. But this composition is mostly showing the weaknesses of the library. And I really don't see it being so good so it would sell me the lib. This guy would actually sell it to me - love his classical music like demos - BBCSO is really home in this genre.
 
OH! It's not mine, it's one I found on YouTube! YIKES, I should have clarified that. I just really admired what the person did using one relatively inexpensive library.

Ooof, I feel like a dork now. I'd better footnote the video.
Oh, Sorry, I didn't realize that. Thanks for letting me know. Steve:)
 
Well, writing definitely is most important. But this composition is mostly showing the weaknesses of the library. And I really don't see it being so good so it would sell me the lib. This guy would actually sell it to me - love his classical music like demos - BBCSO is really home in this genre.

WOW. I totally see what you're getting at now. Thank you for posting this because I didn't know what I didn't understand about your assessment; now I'm starting to get your take on the first piece. This one you posted was incredible, it sounded like musicians playing... most people would think that was a recording of an orchestra (which it is technically, lol). OK, good lesson for the day!
 
The SSO series is still the best Spitfire orchestral series to date, and is much more comparable to HOOPUS than the BBC stuff in terms of both quality and usability.
 
No, you're comparing a sale price to a normal price. The historical low for HOOPUS is $500 vs the historical low for BBC Core being $200 (with the Discover discount). The MSRP for HOOPUS is $995 vs MSRP for BBC Core being $449.

BBC Core is basically half the price of HOOPUS for all intents and purposes; whether HOOPUS is twice as good is up for debate (although I would suggest that the answer is "no" for beginners and intermediate level composers).
It's actually, you should compare the biggest options (PRO vs OOPUS, since there is no lighter version of HOOPUS than what it is).
SO it will be:
BBC: 999
HOOPUS: 995
making HOOPUS cheaper (and more content on top) ;)
 
The SSO series is still the best Spitfire orchestral series to date, and is much more comparable to HOOPUS than the BBC stuff in terms of both quality and usability.
Hehe, yeah but one section costs more than the whole HOOPUS :)
WOW. I totally see what you're getting at now. Thank you for posting this because I didn't know what I didn't understand about your assessment; now I'm starting to get your take on the first piece. This one you posted was incredible, it sounded like musicians playing... most people would think that was a recording of an orchestra (which it is technically, lol). OK, good lesson for the day!
Definitely listen to his other BBCSO demos. He really can write which of course helps but also he is making the BBCSO sound very "alive".
 
I think BBCSO Core is "good enough" to be added to anyone's symphonic arsenal, and the price is great. Unfortunately, its not good enough to be the only symphonic lib you have.
 
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