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Spitfire Studio Brass

Being new to Spitfire, I realize I have a lot to learn. Great info (& opinions) in this thread!
 
A bit annoying that there's no Legato articulation in the Basic Set, once you go to the Advanced patches directory. Luckily, for section work vs. solo work, I don't necessarily need a lot of articulations, so I'm back to the main preset for the Horns and Trombones.

The Legato articulation(s) is/are on their own. It was too late at night for me to have the energy to figure out whether that specific preset includes ALL of the Legato patches, or just one (as in the main preset). The pop-up help seemed to indicate that it collects several Legatos, even with just one icon for manual selection, but I didn't see additional key switches; maybe it's done via Note On Velocity for the key switch itself, as in the KS versions of UACC.

I may find the Extended Set (or whatever it's called; I'm doing this from memory with no access to any sources to look at), useful for some upcoming work. The thing is, I rarely use this stuff in isolation, and I do NOT want to set up Multi's in Kontakt and have more than one note track per part -- that's how I used to do things before I got more adept at VSL's more advanced techniques.
 
If the pop-up help is mentioning more legato articulations that you're not seeing anywhere, I think that would be an oversight. The same UI and help system are used in a lot of other Spitfire libraries, some of which do have more legato artics that can be switched between.
 
It's possible that the brass only have one legato available. I was looking at the UACC list to try to get an overview of what all is likely to be available. I'll see if I can find consolidated and library-specific articulation lists in the user docs, and if not there, on the web (not my preference while doing work, as browsers are resource-heavy). I've really been spoiled by focusing mostly on VSL for so long. :)
 
I haven't tried the solo brass yet; I'll be doing that this weekend. I'm wrapping up final rendering of ensemble and section work first, as that's where I felt VSL was a bit weak in terms of realism of phrasing (though probably it's just my incompetence). I am astounded at the quality of legatos even in the brass sections in this Spitfire library, so I look forward to trying the Solo Trumpet legato!
 
  • The naming conventions are inconsistent; for example staccatissimo in the GUI maps to spiccato in the UACC spec, so this leads to further disconnects and opportunity for error (i.e. no samples loaded)
  • Unless one is working only with libraries that implement UACC, one has to start from scratch rather than quickly map key switches between different vendors when comparing and/or doubling
For what it's worth, I partially covered those points in this thread that features my UACC reworked list provided you use Logic Pro X.
https://vi-control.net/community/th...ulations-plist-link-to-dl.81945/#post-4386986

SStB has one type of legato for each instrument. Generally, for each instruments, I did a separate Kontakt instance featuring Legato + Core + Decorative techniques triggered by UACC KS.
Still I get annoyed sometimes by having 2 patches playing even after choosing 1 artic (typically, the legato patch plays along another artic). I'm far from expert in Kontakt & Logic Pro X.
I found out that clicking on the small <-CC-> symbol bottom left of the interface fixes the unwanted legato.
Besides, my system runs at the edge of possible performance, with saturated RAM & heavy CPU work (due to saturated RAM...). So my glitches might come from overall performance issue.
 
Cool; I missed that thread the first time around (probably not understanding its title at the time, or maybe because I don't use Logic except for certain MIDI conversion functions such as Note On Velocity to MIDI CC, and for Alchemy access).

I'll take a look at it tonight or this weekend anyway though. I'm terrible at Logic (I use DP, and also own S1 and Cubase but rarely use those two either). But I might be able to gain some insight and useful lessons from what you did nonetheless.

And yes, I also discovered the utility of the small "<-CC->" button last night. :)
 
Good call-out on the "bells up" articulation, which I hadn't noticed until it was mentioned here. I tried it a couple of nights ago on the Horn Section, but it was well past midnight and I was using monitors at super-low volume vs. headphones. I was surprised by the subtlety of the difference, but I'll try that articulation on other brass soon, and at higher volume (and or stronger dynamic layer).
 
Don't mean to necro this thread, but I was wondering if anyone here uses Spitfire Studio Brass as their core brass library? I have Studio Strings (core version, not pro) and they are pretty nice, for the price especially. I am in need of brass, and dont have a big budget. I have seen a lot of bashing of Spitfire Studio Brass on here and Cory was also not too optimistic about it in his review, so I am hesitating to get it. Do you guys think the core version of SStB could make for a good core brass library?
 
Definitely not. It is very limited in that regard (even the pro version). It's really good for flourishes and embellishments, but that's pretty much it. As a core library, I would look at something like Hollywood Brass Gold or Cinematic Studio Brass.

I see. Could you give me a TLDR of why that is? Does it not handle the basic articulations well? Or a problem with dynamics?
 
I see. Could you give me a TLDR of why that is? Does it not handle the basic articulations well? Or a problem with dynamics?
I find Studio Brass very quirky (I have the pro version). Poorly matched levels between shorts and sustains (a general issue with the Studio series), the sustain and legato patches have very bumpy transitions between dynamic layers (much more so than the strings or woodwinds), sour notes here and there, and I personally dislike the sound of both of the solo horns. I bought the library as a supplement to SSB (since Studio Brass Pro has articulations (especially mutes) and some additional instruments not included in SSB), and for that purpose it works well. But compared to other libraries I think Studio Brass would take a lot of work to use as a base library.
 
I find Studio Brass very quirky (I have the pro version). Poorly matched levels between shorts and sustains (a general issue with the Studio series), the sustain and legato patches have very bumpy transitions between dynamic layers (much more so than the strings or woodwinds), sour notes here and there, and I personally dislike the sound of both of the solo horns. I bought the library as a supplement to SSB (since Studio Brass Pro has articulations (especially mutes) and some additional instruments not included in SSB), and for that purpose it works well. But compared to other libraries I think Studio Brass would take a lot of work to use as a base library.

Thanks, that's good to know. I think I will skip out on it then. I have the strings I find them to be quite alright and they have a lot of articulations (even the core version, which I have). Do you make good use of the strings or woodwinds from the studio series, if you happen to have those?
 
If you are interested in seeing it working in context Sevensuns, have a look here:



Also this month's Sound on Sound has a useful overview of the whole Studio line.
 
Thanks, that's good to know. I think I will skip out on it then. I have the strings I find them to be quite alright and they have a lot of articulations (even the core version, which I have). Do you make good use of the strings or woodwinds from the studio series, if you happen to have those?
I don't have the woodwinds but do have the strings. I've been pleasantly surprised by the strings. Picked them up only because they were part of a big discount package when SF did their May wishlist sale but have found them a good addition to my string libraries. I have a similar issue in matching shorts and longs (which I mostly dealt with by going into Kontakt and modifying the keyboard response curve on the shorts).
 
I see. Could you give me a TLDR of why that is? Does it not handle the basic articulations well? Or a problem with dynamics?

I agree with everything @jbuhler mentioned. The "horn" patches are strange, they almost sound like a synth or something. Probably the best patch is the solo trumpet, which sounds very realistic.

The Strings and Woodwinds are excellent IMO.
 
This is actually kind of funny. It is usually the woodwinds that sound awful.
Opinion has been quite divided on the Studio Woodwinds library.

That's a shame, horns are my favorite brass instrument as well.
The extended individual articulations on the solo horns (horns up, stopped, etc.) are quite nice, and the four horn legato and sustain is much better imho than either of the solo versions. But yes overall the horns are a disappointment. The euphonium is also excellent (but only available in the pro version).
 
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