Spitfire Audio “This is London Calling” - BBC Symphony Orchestra

[Alex Fraser]

Just a quick post on the perceived monetary value of this library.
"Value" is a moving target:

Spend £2K on a library but use it most days for a decade? Good value.

Spend £50 on a library in a Black Friday sale but never use it? Not good value.

Spend £800 on BBCSO and spend hours complaining about it on a forum instead of using it?
Not good value.

 

[Uiroo]

Well, the SSO is at 1700€ right know, if you add Spitfire percussion it's 2100€.
That would be a full orchestra like BBCSO, but without first chairs.

I feel like there where hopes that BBCSO would have the same quality as SSO for half the price.

 

[sostenuto]

Spent $0. __ xxx hours viewing ~6000 posts __ multiple 7-hour stretches watching DJ videos ??
Still not able to 'value'

Player may be current issue of most concern.

 

[Pontus Rufelt]

for me BBCSO is looking like it’ll be another lovely color in the palette. It doesn’t cover all bases but does some things very well. It particularly comes together very nicely, sounding lush and full, when putting together all the sections of the orchestra, something a lot of other orchestral libraries don’t really offer the same way.

my doodling continues!

 

[synkrotron]

Still not able to 'value'

You buy it, let us know how you get on

 

[redlester]

But isn't that basically what the pre-launch hype was telling us? I certainly had that impression, that we'd no longer need to mix libraries. And in fact looking at the keynote again it states "What if a single product could become the common ground for a generation of composers?"

and the comments certainly were excited about that.

I feel I'll end up getting it anyway, the demos I've heard sound great and I'm sure most of the niggles will be sorted out (although I'm a little concerned how much I'll be able to do with 32Gb RAM) but for a lot of us the feedback we've heard really wasn't what we expected.

Regarding the pre-launch hype, and as an addendum to DJ’s excellent post above, one of the very first things Christian said in his vlog I think the week before the announcement was “it won’t be for everyone”. Never a truer word!

 

[Saigen]

Just a quick post on the perceived monetary value of this library.
"Value" is a moving target:

Spend £2K on a library but use it most days for a decade? Good value.

Spend £50 on a library in a Black Friday sale but never use it? Not good value.

Spend £800 on BBCSO and spend hours complaining about it on a forum instead of using it?
Not good value.

Spend £800 on BBCSO and not being able to use it because of RAM issues with Windows 10? Yep. That's where I am right now.

Quality wise of the library itself, I have no complaints in the world. It sounds gorgeous to my ears, and that's all that matters.

I arranged this part of Jenova Complete from the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds Concert using BBC. All the while facing issues of course.

 

[Michaelt]

If you are a beginner you are so much better off getting Kontakt 6 full.

See, but even this isn't really true in every case. When I was a beginner, I had orchestral samples around the level of those in the KFL, and it was a nightmare... it would have been far better for me in a number of ways to have had something like BBCSO available. It all depends on what you're a beginner at, I guess.

I'm not a beginner anymore, and this is still something I'm probably going to invest in as my core tool. There are of course many options out there, all better and worse than BBCSO and each other in different regards, but this one just feels like it's made for me more than any of the rest.

 

[SupremeFist]

If you are a beginner you are so much better off getting Kontakt 6 full. You get a full sampler which has incredible support, you get a full orchestral library to get you started, you have ethnic instruments, choir, band, organs....the works.

If a beginner is interested in doing pro-quality orchestral mockups (which is why they might be interested in BBCSO in the first place), this is really terrible advice. Remember Spitfire still do Albion One for much cheaper.

 

[Bluemount Score]

See, but even this isn't really true in every case. When I was a beginner, I had orchestral samples around the level of those in the KFL, and it was a nightmare... it would have been far better for me in a number of ways to have had something like BBCSO available. It all depends on what you're a beginner at, I guess.

KFL has some gems, but overall is of course waaay below BBCSO. You don't even have different mic positions, let alone legato (except very few exceptions) in KFL. And Kontakt full is still $399.

 

[redlester]

..speaking of which, did you get your prize? Amazon says it was delivered.

Gratefully received sir, you are an absolute gent.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

Just because one’s staring out, doesn’t mean they should settle for an inferior library...like the orchestral sections of Komplete.

 

[Michaelt]

Just because one’s staring out, doesn’t mean they should settle for an inferior library...like the orchestral sections of Komplete.

Exactly. I spent too many years with certain libraries which I won't name... and all this time later, I'm *still* waiting for the right one to come along and sweep me off my feet. BBCSO seems like a lovely lady in this respect....

 

[redlester]

BBCSO seems like a lovely lady in this respect....

Though in some situations she has memory lapses?

 

[paulthomson]

@paulthomson point well made about trailer sounds! Super-trailer-guy Mark Petrie often mentions a plugin called "Xfer OTT." It is a multiband dynamic compressor+expander that can turn anything into a brick. Even light settings will turn brass sustains into a very searing and consistent sound.

Some Bruckner very quickly sketched using Spitfire Albion 1 strings + Albion 3 brass -



And now with some Xfer OTT on the brass bus:



Apocalyptic brass sound! :dodgy:

Watch out for noisy decays though, just like any compressor.

PS: Stravinsky once said there are two kinds of music - "the good kind, and Bruckner." Even 100 years ago trailer composers were getting no respect!!!

haha!! This sounds great! I’ll have to check that out - not heard of that plug..

 

[Michaelt]

Though in some situations she has memory lapses?

That has the makings of a charming romcom.

 

[paulthomson]

erm..? Months of bad press like the cover story on SOS..?
I’ll take that bad press!

 

[ed buller]

Paul...............I Freaking LOVE this Library ...But Respectfully either something happened to the brightness of the top Horns Stacc layer during programing...................or this was recorded AFTER lunch ?

BBCSO then STUDIO BRASS

all the best

ed

 

[NoamL]

By today's standards, I think $1k for a full orchestra is absolutely cheap....

I think it's super worth it even at $1.5k if you have nothing else. I mean look at the competition for deep sampled orchestras and what their prices are (and this is a deep sampled product even if there are some things that could be improved - I don't see the point of comparing it to Nucleus or to Albion for that matter, it's so much deeper than those products).

If you already have other libraries then what you're really buying is either converting your entire sound to this library, or picking and choosing some stuff from this library to add to your template.

Anyway I'm not gonna post more because I decided not to buy and I'm just crowding out posts by people who are trying to bring technical issues to SF's attention. It's good to hear they are working hard on updates like extended legato!

 

[Jack Weaver]

I think any thread that goes anywhere near this long tends to engender posts that tend to bring up issues with products.

Spitfire has done well to create this much buzz and only have this much blowback.

Will there always be some drawbacks with such a large collection? Probably, yeah.

.