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

If I was betting man, I’d say that the BBCSO is, baring a couple of new instruments and continued bug fixes, done.

No pro, no expansions. Like Paul said, this was designed to be an all in one sub 1k product. Presumably everything from the first session at Maida Vale onwards was designed around that brief.

Perhaps SF still positions SSO as the top tier, detailed library with BBCSO specifically designed to hit a lower price point

It looks like they’ve shifted an insane amount of copies so the last thing Spitfire would consider the BBCSO to be would be a “mistake” 😉
 
If I was betting man, I’d say that the BBCSO is, baring a couple of new instruments and continued bug fixes, done. No pro, no expansions.

I agree. We may see a bass flute and some other additions. I could maybe see more mixes coming down the line (though that will really strain the disk size even more).

But... additional dynamic layers? Forget it. That'll be in their next major orchestral lib.
 
I agree. We may see a bass flute and some other additions. I could maybe see more mixes coming down the line (though that will really strain the disk size even more).

But... additional dynamic layers? Forget it. That'll be in their next major orchestral lib.
Haha, probably.

To get the full "Air Lyndhurst" Spitfire experience with instrument parity, you'll be out £1779 for the "Symphony Complete" package. Add solo strings at £349 and we're squarely into organ donation territory. By comparison, the BBCSO costs £899, less than half the price and looks to be a deliberate attempt to bring the Spitfire orchestra experience to those who can't justify losing a kidney.

(And if you consider a large percentage of BBCSO sales will happen under special offer conditions, the "real" price is probably nearer £750 - 800)

It's also difficult to see what a pro version would offer. I'm not sure there are any corners left in Maida Vale to put a mic. All the base instruments are covered and some less common ones too. Solo strings? Check. Harp? Check. Piano? Soon.

Articulations? Again, the bases are covered and a pro edition would be squarely in "hairpin" territory.

More dynamic layers would be lovely, but they're not the stuff marketing dreams are made of.
My 2c anyway. Consider all the above the ramblings of someone who should be doing actual work. 😎
 
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Actually, my only complaint about their updates (and they do update) is that I usually only find out about them when I'm downloading a LABS library and see "Update Available" on a library. And maybe they do email me? I swear i am on their email list, but rarely get anything.
Yes, I definitely wish they would notify on updates. I too use the Labs libraries as a reminder to check for updates.
 
If I was betting man, I’d say that the BBCSO is, baring a couple of new instruments and continued bug fixes, done.

No pro, no expansions. Like Paul said, this was designed to be an all in one sub 1k product. Presumably everything from the first session at Maida Vale onwards was designed around that brief.
This could be. Paul did say there were some more performance legato patches to be delivered (and that none of them were planned for this release), and a few additional instruments. I wouldn't be surprised to see additional articulations (e.g., muted brass), additional round robins, and additional dynamic layers, but I wouldn't be surprised if none of these things appeared. And given the speed at which they make substantial upgrades to their other libraries it may well be years before any additions show up. But I guess I would take the point to be that we should make our choice about whether to buy on what is on offer right now, as is, not on what might be.
 
And I can assure you that none of my clients, who have heard BBCSO my latest productions, have mentioned the lack of dynamic layers ;). In fact, they would never know the difference. And really, I can't even tell the difference once everything is fully mixed.

You’re a calm voice of reason here.

Would more dynamic layers have made it sound better? Eh, maybe.

Would it have sold more units? Probably not many in reality. Most of the complaints are about the player. Only a small number seem to be about things like dynamic layers.
 
If I was betting man, I’d say that the BBCSO is, baring a couple of new instruments and continued bug fixes, done.

No pro, no expansions. Like Paul said, this was designed to be an all in one sub 1k product. Presumably everything from the first session at Maida Vale onwards was designed around that brief.

Perhaps SF still positions SSO as the top tier, detailed library with BBCSO specifically designed to hit a lower price point

It looks like they’ve shifted an insane amount of copies so the last thing Spitfire would consider the BBCSO to be would be a “mistake” 😉

Agree 100%! Given the joint venture with the BBCSO, I hardly think SF would ignore anything being hugely problematic with this library and its users, as it would also reflect on the BBCSO as an organisation.

You have to think that it is a risk for the BBCSO to have this library out in public with their “signature” sound, unless they were confident that it was a quality product.

It is positioned as an “all in one, straight out of the box experience”, and was never ever meant to be the “best in class” for all eventualities.

The BBCSO is a very busy orchestra in the UK (and probably elsewhere), so unless recordings are “in the can” from the Maida Vale sessions, I doubt SF and the BBCSO would have time to record more material, especially with all the many various requests in this thread for this or that instrument, articulation, round robins, more fffs etc.
 
Agree 100%! Given the joint venture with the BBCSO, I hardly think SF would ignore anything being hugely problematic with this library and its users, as it would also reflect on the BBCSO as an organisation.

You have to think that it is a risk for the BBCSO to have this library out in public with their “signature” sound, unless they were confident that it was a quality product.

It is positioned as an “all in one, straight out of the box experience”, and was never ever meant to be the “best in class” for all eventualities.

The BBCSO is a very busy orchestra in the UK (and probably elsewhere), so unless recordings are “in the can” from the Maida Vale sessions, I doubt SF and the BBCSO would have time to record more material, especially with all the many various requests in this thread for this or that instrument, articulation, round robins, more fffs etc.

I wish that the Spitfire BBCSO was "best in class".
 
Berlin woodwinds, which is supposed to be a cutting edge library with a high price has 2 dynamic layers.
Embertones recent bassoon also has only two recorded dynamic layers, the rest is programmed, and that Is an extremely expressive instrument, that to my ears can pull off both romantic legato lines and classic bassoon staccatos very realistically, even when soloed.

Maybe it’s different for brass but many instruments can be very expressive and realistic with only a few layers if they are very well programmed.
 
They mentioned this was only the beginning, I believe there will be many (paid) expansions.
I see where you're coming from, but I think SF were really referring to a long term collaboration with the BBC: More training, resources etc with the BBCSO library at the core.

Or maybe a whole line of "recorded at Maida Vale" treats. There's more than one soundstage..
 
I see where you're coming from, but I think SF were really referring to a long term collaboration with the BBC: More training, resources etc with the BBCSO library at the core.

Or maybe a whole line of "recorded at Maida Vale" treats. There's more than one soundstage..

I agree and I don’t think it needs a “pro” version. The pro version is effectively their other libraries like SSO and Chamber strings etc.

From my own experience of producing one short test piece, I found my first thoughts were to try the same piece using some of those other libraries. Will probably end up not doing, as next time I have a bit of time I will want to try something new, but the point is I felt while using it that it’s biggest strength was the speed of use as a sketching tool (especially with the Logic template provided), not necessarily for a finessed finished project. Although in skilful hands it obviously can be.
 
It’s closing by 2023. That’s plenty of time to record stuff.
Yep. And then there’s the Beeb’s swanky new replacement facility to come.

I reckon SF and the Beeb have their eyes on the education market too. Our local secondary (high) school has a room full of iMacs running Logic. The BBCSO would be a great teaching asset - perhaps an “education” version with less mics.

I think this is what CH was alluding to way back before the library reveal, when he talked about a new way of doing things as a sample dev. Perhaps the long game is being played here as Spitfire look to widen their market.

The benefit for us, is that the library will continue to get care and attention long past the release date, making it safe long term investment.

Exciting stuff I think.
 
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