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

Honestly, since Maida Vale has come up a few times my dream would have been for a BBC Radiophonic Workshop Toolkit. The ultimate sound design library.
Agreed—so many possibilities, and smack dab in my own field of interest. Put it on the to-do list, Spitfire!
 
Could you guys enlight me? What is so special about maida vale? Is it as overly reverberant as air lyndhurst?
The history of the place for one. It’s been used to record some of the biggest acts in history, plus a large number of classical albums.

That the space will sound amazing is a given I think.
 
Or maybe, just because so many are saying "subscription," it's a different kind of subscription, the older model of subscription where you receive, say, an instrument a month, which you own to the extent that you own any commercial sample library, for some recurring fee (say $50 or $75) over the term that it takes (2, 3, 4 years) to release the full library. The instruments would also be available for purchase separately at a somewhat higher price. That would be one way of making it at least seem more affordable. I have no special information, of course, and I have doubts it would even be possible to do something like this, but it does manage to combine subscription and a new orchestral library.

For some reason I can't put my finger on, I do feel like there might be something unusual about the way this library is priced, even if this particular speculation is way off base.
Maybe it's a subscription where they mail you eight CDs for a penny. Great deal!

...but then they start sending you all these records you don't want and you have to mail them back each time or pay some exorbitant fee. And you can't seem to cancel and now you have all these Def Leppard and Cypress Hill records you didn't really ask for...
 
Oh this subscription stuff has me totally mystified. I just don't get why people are so certain given communication from various folks at spitfire at different times.

As for why Maida Vale is important in all this... that the Maida Vale BBC studios are being flattened is most definitely the end of an era. Just when good coffee has begun to be available in the general area too... (I'm not an addict....ha!)

Abbey Road is NOT in Maida Vale (though close, St John's Wood is NW8, BBC is I think W9 from memory).

I think all the pieces of the puzzle have been put together here long ago. (And if they're indeed wrong, then that particular project will be seen soon enough!).

As for the subscription service speculation - lets just wait and see shall we? I'm kind of mystified as to why we are seeing so much around it with spitfire and not other large companies that composers use like native instruments, VSL etc etc. (There are TONNES!) Why this rampant fervor? I'm genuinely intrigued by it!
 
Oh this subscription stuff has me totally mystified. I just don't get why people are so certain given communication from various folks at spitfire at different times.
At this point, it’s just become a running joke in this thread. I think those that have invested a lot into Spitfire products are against it for obvious reasons. And, as you say, SA have denied it publicly on this forum.

I’m on the fence, since I have a few of their libraries but can’t afford all the stuff that I’m interested in getting. To be able to use anything for a monthly subscription might be interesting.
 
At this point, it’s just become a running joke in this thread. I think those that have invested a lot into Spitfire products are against it for obvious reasons. And, as you say, SA have denied it publicly on this forum.

I’m on the fence, since I have a few of their libraries but can’t afford all the stuff that I’m interested in getting. To be able to use anything for a monthly subscription might be interesting.
But if you believe in a subscription hard enough, wondrous things can happen! Believe!

Running gags aside, I’m not sure I’d want access to all the Spitfire products at once.
First, where would I put them all? Second, I’m still integrating the Studio Orchestra into my template in order to use it in the way I like to work. If I had to do this for every SF product, I’d never get around to composing ever again.

For me, Spitfire products are something to be saved for, a treat to buy and something to explore and use when you finally get them. YMMV etc.
 
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For me, Spitfire products are something to be saved for, a treat to buy and something to explore and use when you finally get them. YMMV etc.
Well put - the same here... I got several of their libraries in one of the wishlist sales, and I am only now starting to appreciate their depth and character.
 
As a hobbiest: Let's say you invest 1000,- into spitfire libraries, at 30 bucks a month it would take you 33 months to break even with a subscription. As most of you know, that's not even much with regards to what you can spend for their products over that time period. Looking at how many libraries Spitfire releases over the course of 33 months, I'd much rather pay a subscription fee for as long as they are relevant. If they want to stay relevant, they will have to release new products. If they do, you're better off with a subscription. The moment they stop being relevant, you will want to invest into someone else's products anyway and not being stuck with then outdated libraries you once bought.

As a professional: I can see why you would have a different opinion on this as these are basically your assets for your job and not owning them feels wrong. Generally speaking not owning can put off some folks and I get that. But there are circumstances where it would be beneficial.

Personally? I mean I buy stuff regularly, just not in monthly intervals. So it kinda is...a very expensive subscription with the result of me owning things. But I'd personally be in favor of a subscription because I'd feel like the possible loss of that investment can be justified more easily than say buying Orbis and finding out it's totally useless to what I am doing. Subscription would also enable people to demo stuff first hand and if they still offered buying their libraries in addition to subscriptions, there would be more people who could afford being customers, generating a steady income and everyone else could just buy if they wanted.
 
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As a hobbiest: Let's say you invest 1000,- into spitfire libraries, at 30 bucks a month it would take you 33 months to break even with a subscription. As most of you know, that's not even much with regards to what you can spend for their products over that time period. Looking at how many libraries Spitfire releases over the course of 33 months, I'd much rather pay a subscription fee for as long as they are relevant. If they want to stay relevant, they will have to release new products. If they do, you're better off with a subscription. The moment they stop being relevant, you will want to invest into someone else's products anyway and not being stuck with then outdated libraries you once bought.
I think it depends.
I'm totally a hobbyist and one of my main constraints is not spending enough time on my hobby!

So I don't spend enough time on it to justify $30/month or whatever. Seeing that go out of the bank account every month would just depress me as I'd never feel I got value from it - a bit like the classic scenario of people having a gym membership which they rarely use.

The libraries which I've bought so far are more than enough to keep me occupied for years.

But for people who want to be able to access the full range of everything, and who can spend enough time on it to justify it, yes I can see the advantages.
 
Subscription comes with a psychological component, at least for me (non-professional). It feels different to regularly pay a monthly amount than to make a one-time purchase, regardless of the absolute cost of each option. The former involves the feeling of dependence and constant "debt". Direct purchase has something final. It feels good to own something that can't be taken away from you ("For now!", says the philosopher, thinking of the finiteness of life).

Theoretically, in the future I could find myself in a situation where I would no longer be able to pay the monthly amount. I am not so financially secure that this would be unimaginable. In this case, I would lose access to all content. That wouldn't happen if I had bought parts of it. In this sense, a direct purchase can provide for bad times.

On the other hand, as Denkii wrote, subscription would free me from sitting around on completely obsolete libraries that I no longer use anyway. Here I would even be happy if I didn't own them. And what if I lose my hearing? I'm not Beethoven, so I might just quit making music. If I had subscribed, I wouldn't have spent any money for nothing. Hurray, but deaf? Don't know...
 
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For some reason I can't put my finger on, I do feel like there might be something unusual about the way this library is priced, even if this particular speculation is way off base.

I agree actually. I'm hoping there will be a bit more imagination in how this is priced and modularised since the totality is likely to be very spendy.
 
Other sample companies price their big libraries in tiers of say basic, standard, and pro where you have access to varying amounts of mic positions, articulation detail depending on which option you go for. I know they have done this to a certain extent, but feel there is still room to offer more options. Seems like a win, since you just upgrade to the next tier when you need to. Practically all the libraries I’ve ever bought have never been fully utilised - I suspect that’s the case for everyone. I’m essentially paying for samples that I will never use.

If there was some technological solution whereby I only paid for the samples I actually want to use, then that’d be amazing. Sounds like that would be very hard to implement. Not even sure it’s possible.
 
Kind of off topic here, but received an email from SF a few minutes ago encouraging me to upgrade from Albion One to one of their "scoring" bundles. Nothing so strange about that in itself, except that I already own all the instruments in every one of the bundles they proposed to me. Seems like they should have a better algorithm for bulk email than "let's select everyone who has Albion One," especially if they are going to make it seem like it has been "personalized."
 
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