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Spitfire Chamber Strings VS Albion Neo Chamber Strings - both libraries offer chamber sized orchestras, SCS is 14 years old and Neo is brand new

Ásta Jónsdóttir

Active Member
Spitfire Chamber Strings is apparently a classic and one of the best, if not the best chamber sized orchestra library. It has Divisi samples and a good range of articulations. This library is now 14 years old.

Albion Neo also offers a Chamber sized orchestra. It does not have Divisi samples but feathers together the different sections of the orchestra into ensemble patches and offers and A and B variations. Neo is brand new and also offers more variety of articulations.

One would think that Neo should be much superior to SCS as it is built on 14 years of experience in making sample libraries however, I have not seen anyone comment that the Neo Chamber orchestra sounds better than the Spitfire Chamber Orchestra.

I have searched through all of the past posts and threads and there are no comments comparing the two. Only comments on how Neo is similar in that it is a Chamber sized orchestra and could play proxy to SCS.

To me, it would seem obvious to compare them since it has been 14 years since Spitfire released a Chamber sized orchestra. One would think there should be significant improvement. I have watched all of the videos of each including the walk throughs and it is very hard to tell if Neo is any better or if perhaps it is actually worse sounding than SCS.

So what are your thoughts if you own both? Which Chamber sized orchestra sounds better and why?
 
Spitfire Chamber Strings is apparently a classic and one of the best, if not the best chamber sized orchestra library. It has Divisi samples and a good range of articulations. This library is now 14 years old.

Albion Neo also offers a chamber sized orchestra. It does not have Divisi samples but feathers together the different sections of the orchestra into ensemble patches and offers and A and B variations. Neo is brand new and also offers more variety of articulations.

One would think that Neo should be much superior to SCS as it is built on 14 years of experience in making sample libraries however, I have not seen anyone comment that the Neo Chamber orchestra sounds better than the Spitfire Chamber Orchestra.

I have searched through all of the past posts and threads and there are no comments comparing the two. To me, it would seem obvious to compare them since it has been 14 years since Spitfire released a Chamber sized orchestra. One would think there should be significant improvement. I have watched all of the videos of each including the walk through and it is very hard to tell if Neo is any better or if perhaps it is worse.

So what are your thoughts if you own both? Which Chamber sized orchestra sounds better and why?

Neo offers some different and fairly unique articulations, but Spitfire Chamber Strings definitely has more articulations, and much more time and effort was put into it's production and release.

I would definitely recommend Spitfire Chamber Strings over Neo if you want chamber strings. Not sure where you got the 14 number from, but Spitfire Chamber Strings was originally called 'Sable' Strings and the first volume of that came out in early 2013, which is only 7 years ago. 3 more 'Sable Strings' volumes were released after that over the next year and Chamber Strings contains the content in all the volumes! I have both libraries. Neo is like a new set of colors with some unique articulations and an effective configuration with a Strings 1 and Strings 2 group that go well together. Spitfire Chamber Strings covers the entire range of Chamber Strings (4 violins, 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 celli and 3 double basses, plus an ensembles configuration which is similar to what you find in Neo). I just recently used the 3 violin performance legato on a recording and was really happy with the sound and playability. It should be noted that Neo has no 'performance legato' patches.

For the fun of it, I just checked both libraries, and there's a pretty big difference. :)

Here's one example: Neo has high strings and low strings standard legato patches.

Chamber Strings has 12 standard '4 violin' legato patches, 12 standard '3 violin' legato patches, 10 standard viola legato patches, 11 standard cello legato patches, 1 double bass legato patch PLUS "decorative" and "performance" legato patches for violins 1, violins 2, violas, celli and 1 double bass "performance" legato patch... (That's a total of 5 performance legato patches and 4 decorative legato patches)

That's 2 vs 54 legato patches for strings. lol

As far as 'which one sounds better' it's kind of a false comparison. The Strings in Neo are ensemble patches while Chamber Strings include all the string sections and and ensemble. Regardless of that, I think Chamber Strings sounds better because a lot more effort was put into it, and it's been updated multiple times since it was released. Chamber Strings was also Spitfire's flagship product for about a year when it was 'Sable'.

Anyway, hope that helps. :)
 
FWIW, I still mostly prefer older string libraries to the newer ones.

Whether it's Dimension Strings, Cinematic Strings 2, Hollywood Strings or SCS - they're all considered "classics" by now. The most recent string library I really really like is Cinematic Studio Strings and even that one isn't really "new" at this point.
 
SCS is like good wine : it’s ageing well.
Definitely one of the best string lib on the market, even now.
Can’t speak for Neo though as I don’t own it.
 
In my world, the Studio Pro Strings would be a better competitor to SCS than NEO. The biggest difference being the rooms.

SCS has pretty much every artic you need in a chamber instrumentaion.
Studio Pro has a chamber (3 or 4 to a part) instrumentation all the way up to full symphonic with 16 on a part (vln 1.)
NEO is two string bands comprised of two half sections with the entire string section in one go.

The confusion for most people is caused by using divisi and half section as interchangeable terms. They are not.
The half sections are semi-orchestrated across the sections by range and tonal balance. They are meant to help create pleasant sounding string parts with a minimum of work. However, you do get voice stacking that can cause unrealistic balances or timbres. This may be desirable for some people.
The main difference is that with true divisi you can decide the voice leading and sound quality to a higher degree.


SCS = hall sound with a chamber instrumentation. 4.3.3.3.3. So 4 firsts, 3 seconds, 3 violas, 3 celli and 3 basses. 16 players total on 5 possible different notes.

Studio Pro = studio sound with anything from 16 to 56 players with independent voices. You can go from massive symphonic sound to studio intimacy.
With the small divisi groups you can create a more dense harmony without ending up with a string section of thousands of players. This was the original reason to use divisi strings. The core group is 30 piece string section, 8,6,6,6,4 with the most techniques available.

NEO = hall sound with two groups divided from one larger unit. Two half sections, 4 vln1+3 vln2+etc...They have 12 players in one group and 11 in the other totaling 22 musicians. Not true divisi sections, perhaps better labeled as half sections. 4 or 5 voices before you get into unrealistic voice stacking.

There are differences in all of these libraries that I'm sure came down to decisions based on expected usage.
I use both SCS and Studio Pro and find happiness. I use them for different things but could live with either one alone and still be happy.

hope this helps. Steve
 
Spitfire Chamber Strings is apparently a classic and one of the best, if not the best chamber sized orchestra library. It has Divisi samples and a good range of articulations. This library is now 14 years old.

Albion Neo also offers a Chamber sized orchestra. It does not have Divisi samples but feathers together the different sections of the orchestra into ensemble patches and offers and A and B variations. Neo is brand new and also offers more variety of articulations.

One would think that Neo should be much superior to SCS as it is built on 14 years of experience in making sample libraries however, I have not seen anyone comment that the Neo Chamber orchestra sounds better than the Spitfire Chamber Orchestra.

I have searched through all of the past posts and threads and there are no comments comparing the two. Only comments on how Neo is similar in that it is a Chamber sized orchestra and could play proxy to SCS.

To me, it would seem obvious to compare them since it has been 14 years since Spitfire released a Chamber sized orchestra. One would think there should be significant improvement. I have watched all of the videos of each including the walk throughs and it is very hard to tell if Neo is any better or if perhaps it is actually worse sounding than SCS.

So what are your thoughts if you own both? Which Chamber sized orchestra sounds better and why?

SCS isn't really 14 years old, exactly.

True, the first recording sessions for what was to become SCS happened at AIR 14 years ago, as per that post by Paul talking about how he had found a chamber sound he loved on a soundtrack he was working on and wanted to sample it as there was nothing else at the time that could manage a remotely similar sonority.

But what is SCS today was technically released only about, I think 3 years ago. Before that it was (I think) sold in 4 separate volumes of the British Modular Library, which had been recorded and refined and polished over the previous decade.

And I know when SSW was collected in it's present form from separate BML volumes at about the same time, they also added about 30% more sample content. Not sure if this is true of SCS also, but there was significant work added to the scripting in the performance legato at this time also.

So it's not so much a 14 year old sample library, as a 3 or 4 year old library that had been in constant development for the previous 10 or 11 years.

In any event, what SCS captures is a sound. And on a technical level, the current CSS legato is still very nearly state of the art - probably only Afflatus and CSS have surpass SCS at a technical level in their legato scripting. And probably performance samples also, at the cost of much narrower expressive ranges. And of course East West is has a superb legatos for that hyper-hollywoods sound. But nothing does what SCS does better that SCS.

(So the point is it's hard to compare these things, and "state of the art" depends very much on which you notion of "art" is. Which is both want makes sample libraries so interesting, and why it's so hard to capture them in words. And ultimately why we have so many of these conversations on vi-c :) ).
 
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FWIW, I still mostly prefer older string libraries to the newer ones.

Whether it's Dimension Strings, Cinematic Strings 2, Hollywood Strings or SCS - they're all considered "classics" by now. The most recent string library I really really like is Cinematic Studio Strings and even that one isn't really "new" at this point.

Hell..I prefer old Sonic Implants strings sound-wise to most Spitfire and VSL modern string libraries and it's almost 20 years old..programming is another story though
 
Hell..I prefer old Sonic Implants strings sound-wise to most Spitfire and VSL modern string libraries and it's almost 20 years old..programming is another story though
I'll randomly give a shout out to Ben Osterhouse's Sospiro strings if you're wanting a great string sound. And it's only about 40 bucks. Nowhere near as comprehensive as SCS though.
 
Is there any package with a similar sound to NEO with strings, woodwinds and brass but not as ensemble patches? Sure, Spitfire Chamber Strings are mentioned here, but this is just strings and I think the sound texture is still a bit different to NEO, judging by listening to the demos.

I really don't need the additional sound design content, just the instruments.

I'm don't have a good basic library so far only Kontakt VSL stock and an very old EW silver. Do you think that NEO is flexible enough for this task is it not universal enough? I have watched a lot of videos and I tend to say it's not, but to hear a second opinion would be welcome.

And for the ensemble patches in NEO. Are they overlapping so that they always blend together all strings? Or can you play a certain range on the keyboard to just get a cello, viola sections for example?
 
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I have neo and have never really got into it. Something about the strings sound off to me, there is a synthy feel to my ears and while some of the articulations are fun it just hasn’t captured or inspired me. If you actually want to do chamber strings music I would go for something else. If you’re looking for a lighter feel to your sections, some interesting winds with a more modern overall texture with some extra scandi synths on top then I guess it has a lot more value.
 
Neo is a different beast really, it's got the best flautando of all the Spitfire libraries as far as I can tell but if it's not a bread and butter library. You're best bet would be getting CSS and combining it with something like Cinestrings, Hans Zimmer Strings or Berlin Strings. If you want to add some flavor I can recommend Tundra and Afflatus (actually Afflatus might cover a lot of ground).
 
Interesting Mrmonkey. Would you say it's something that you notice also in the NEO demos? OR something that you noticed after using it. Because I really like the sound I hear.


Instrugramm
I understand that they are not bread and butter. But unfortunately I can not get them all and I noticed that I'm more interested in the more neo kind of sound currently. I love the Berlin string sound too, but I think I can't get a similar sound than NEO or Tundra has, right? And Berlin strings is already my while budget for the sale. I will check Afflatus , sounds interesting.

And it's incredible difficult for me to understand the difference between NEO and Tundra. I watched all the videos, heard all the demos and had a look at the articulations. And too bad that you can't get the instrument samples cheaper. I have no use for all the loops it contains.

From the articulations it looks that NEO is even more a big ensemble patch than Tundra, Tundra has at least hi & low sections. By the way, I really don't understand why they do these sections instead of individual instruments. You could also stack them for ensemble patches, but with ensemble patches you have a lot less control I guess.

Does this mean Tundra could be used more like a symphonic library and NEO is really about these textures?

I'm also wondering how much they overlap. Does it make sense to own both?
 
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And it's incredible difficult for me to understand the difference between NEO and Tundra.
Tundra = big and expansive, but super super soft - it has large string sections, playing very soft
Neo = is more intimate, soft to moderate - it has small string sections, playing in a detailed kind of way

They are very different sounds due to the size of the band and the way they play.

Tundra is more flexible in a way, in that it is better split into sections. Neo is designed more for underscore only type of material, it seems to me (I don't have Neo, so I'm going from their walkthroughs).

By the way, I really don't understand why they do these sections instead of individual instruments.
Neo is not designed for detailed programming of parts. It's an ensemble library where you play in chords and such, but don't need to spend heaps of time working on individual sections.

Tundra is also like this, arguably, but I tend to think it has a greater use case than just mostly ensemble use.

To respond to the OP.
Neo and SCS are complely different to my ears. SCS is individual sections, with a vast array of articulations. Neo is just ensemble patches with no control over individual parts. They also sounds completely different to me. SCS is wonderful - but it does have it's flaws - the one that stands out to me is it has a bit of a nasal tone sometimes, and the vibrato can be a bit strong. Also it can't really replace large string sections like their Spitfire's Symphonic strings.
 
Is there any package with a similar sound to NEO with strings, woodwinds and brass but not as ensemble patches? Sure, Spitfire Chamber Strings are mentioned here, but this is just strings and I think the sound texture is still a bit different to NEO, judging by listening to the demos.

I really don't need the additional sound design content, just the instruments.

I'm don't have a good basic library so far only Kontakt VSL stock and an very old EW silver. Do you think that NEO is flexible enough for this task is it not universal enough? I have watched a lot of videos and I tend to say it's not, but to hear a second opinion would be welcome.

And for the ensemble patches in NEO. Are they overlapping so that they always blend together all strings? Or can you play a certain range on the keyboard to just get a cello, viola sections for example?

SCS is probalby the closest to the size and space of Neo in sections. And it does have a flautando legato.

Another thought for individual string sections might be Orchestral Tools Special Bows, which have fairly small section sizes of sul tasto legato, and significantly more deeply sampled than the single flautando legato of SCS (it being the central focus of the library, rather than one of 13 legatos in SCS). Like Neo, it is a deeply beautiful library that I, among other things, I like to imagine as adding a fine brush palette to compliment Tundra, ever finer than Neo in that the sections are wonderfully detailed in their textures. Although SCS would probably do something similar.

As for winds, if you think about it, SSW is, after all, solo and a2 winds, and in exactly the same space as Neo, if not as textural in most of the articulations. And I especially love the detail of the individual SSW winds combined with the broader-stroke wind textures of Orchestral Swarm and Tundra.
 
Interesting Mrmonkey. Would you say it's something that you notice also in the NEO demos? OR something that you noticed after using it. Because I really like the sound I hear.


Instrugramm
I understand that they are not bread and butter. But unfortunately I can not get them all and I noticed that I'm more interested in the more neo kind of sound currently. I love the Berlin string sound too, but I think I can't get a similar sound than NEO or Tundra has, right? And Berlin strings is already my while budget for the sale. I will check Afflatus , sounds interesting.

And it's incredible difficult for me to understand the difference between NEO and Tundra. I watched all the videos, heard all the demos and had a look at the articulations. And too bad that you can't get the instrument samples cheaper. I have no use for all the loops it contains.

From the articulations it looks that NEO is even more a big ensemble patch than Tundra, Tundra has at least hi & low sections. By the way, I really don't understand why they do these sections instead of individual instruments. You could also stack them for ensemble patches, but with ensemble patches you have a lot less control I guess.

Does this mean Tundra could be used more like a symphonic library and NEO is really about these textures?

I'm also wondering how much they overlap. Does it make sense to own both?
I'm right now on the fence of getting Berlin Strings as I do have most major libraries (even the Special Bows from the series), yet it might still add to the palette due to the very detailed articulations. Writing only with Tundra is hard as it's very soft and quiet in Sound therefore layering is with something else is a better option. Writing with Neo on its own might be possible but also very limiting. Afflatus will cover you for conventional and more experimental writing. It unfortunately lacks portamento (except for the Cello) but you get everything, from a Quartet, to Chamber Strings and even lush symphonic Strings with divisi. If you are on a strict budget, CSS still has the best legato (most used Patch I own) and can be tweaked to sound amazing.

It all comes down to how you write, Afflatus is ready to go awesomeness while CSS, Berlin Strings and SCS are more of a tweak and progress thing. You should probably get one of these 4 first before getting Tundra or Neo if it's mainly strings you need.
 
Ps. Keep in mind that Afflatus and the Berlin Series are normally too expensive even for sample addicted people so going for one of those might be a clever move. As for woodwinds, I like my Berlin Woodwinds the most, followed by Cinewinds and Tundra.
 
Thanks you very much for the help everyone. Really useful advice.

All this different libraries are great to have, but especially as a beginner you're totally lost and it's too expensive to just try, since you can't resell most of them, like you could do with synth and instruments.

I had days were I thought just to return to my synth and forget about orchestral music. :)
 
Spitfire Chamber Strings is apparently a classic and one of the best, if not the best chamber sized orchestra library. It has Divisi samples and a good range of articulations. This library is now 14 years old.

Albion Neo also offers a Chamber sized orchestra. It does not have Divisi samples but feathers together the different sections of the orchestra into ensemble patches and offers and A and B variations. Neo is brand new and also offers more variety of articulations.

One would think that Neo should be much superior to SCS as it is built on 14 years of experience in making sample libraries however, I have not seen anyone comment that the Neo Chamber orchestra sounds better than the Spitfire Chamber Orchestra.

I have searched through all of the past posts and threads and there are no comments comparing the two. Only comments on how Neo is similar in that it is a Chamber sized orchestra and could play proxy to SCS.

To me, it would seem obvious to compare them since it has been 14 years since Spitfire released a Chamber sized orchestra. One would think there should be significant improvement. I have watched all of the videos of each including the walk throughs and it is very hard to tell if Neo is any better or if perhaps it is actually worse sounding than SCS.

So what are your thoughts if you own both? Which Chamber sized orchestra sounds better and why?
I love SCS Pro, Neo and SStO Pro. Get all of them!!
 
Thanks you very much for the help everyone. Really useful advice.

All this different libraries are great to have, but especially as a beginner you're totally lost and it's too expensive to just try, since you can't resell most of them, like you could do with synth and instruments.

I had days were I thought just to return to my synth and forget about orchestral music. :)
What synth do you use? I am assuming you’re referring to a physical one? :)
 
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