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TOMORROW 18th July - Tune in for a special announcement!

I hate to be a negative nancy but "meh". Not super impressed. The past 4 releases have been so-so from Spitfire Audio. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of 90% of their sample libraries but the last library I truely loved was LCO Textures, everything after that hasn't really piqued my interest. It's not that Kepler or HCT were bad libraries, but with Kepler's CPU HOG issues and HCT just not doing it for me - I've lost some interest. Plus ORBIS and the ambient guitars, just seem like rehashes to me. Also, $349 for this found sound library? Which is essentially an old product repackaged with a bit of extra content. Seems a bit steep to me, even with the discount price.
“You hate to be a negative nancy...” Seems like you enjoy being just that. No one’s forcing you to buy it, nor should your approval or enjoyment of their products validate them. What on Earth are you contributing here? I have little musical merit to display here, and by virtue of that I don’t sit and criticise companies who release products with the sole purpose of making it more accessible to more people to write more interesting music. “Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of 90% of their sample libraries...” Congratulations. Say something useful.
 
“You hate to be a negative nancy...” Seems like you enjoy being just that. No one’s forcing you to buy it, nor should your approval or enjoyment of their products validate them. What on Earth are you contributing here? I have little musical merit to display here, and by virtue of that I don’t sit and criticise companies who release products with the sole purpose of making it more accessible to more people to write more interesting music. “Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of 90% of their sample libraries...” Congratulations. Say something useful.

I was about to jump in and say "Hey. Don't derail the Commercial Thread"... but it's actually in Sample Talk. So go right ahead.
 
I hate to be a negative nancy but "meh". Not super impressed. The past 4 releases have been so-so from Spitfire Audio. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of 90% of their sample libraries but the last library I truely loved was LCO Textures, everything after that hasn't really piqued my interest. It's not that Kepler or HCT were bad libraries, but with Kepler's CPU HOG issues and HCT just not doing it for me - I've lost some interest. Plus ORBIS and the ambient guitars, just seem like rehashes to me. Also, $349 for this found sound library? Which is essentially an old product repackaged with a bit of extra content. Seems a bit steep to me, even with the discount price.
After watching the 3 videos, I share your feelings. Thanks for your comment, I was worry to be alone and have missed something. That's the 1st time a Spitfire walkthrough doesn't give to me any emotional feedback, from the beginning to the end. Maybe next time! On the opposite side, I really love Kepler's concept, and the sound signature of Hauschka. But, I was disappointed by ambient guitars as well. I regret to have bought this one. Lot of filler presets. Enigma was enough.
 
Lots of very high quality materiel in there, great job SF ! And very exciting to see their Spitfire sampler in such an advanced state. Seems more advanced than the Synchron player already!
 
I’ve spent the last three years putting loads of other people’s ethnic libraries through filters and fx and manually creating rhythms to get this same kind of result, all the whole wishing I had an eDNA like interface. Ton of work. This looks like it will make a massive impact for those who find the right need, much like Phobos. Don’t use it everyday, but when I do, it hits the mark (but I have to close the box pretty quickly as there’s so much in it that you can get lost for days just exploring). This looks like it could be the same. Brilliant for when you need that sound, but almost too much in the box!

Bit like Darwin’s taken LSD and now you’re in the boat with him going up the Mekong....
 
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“You hate to be a negative nancy...” Seems like you enjoy being just that. No one’s forcing you to buy it, nor should your approval or enjoyment of their products validate them. What on Earth are you contributing here? I have little musical merit to display here, and by virtue of that I don’t sit and criticise companies who release products with the sole purpose of making it more accessible to more people to write more interesting music. “Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of 90% of their sample libraries...” Congratulations. Say something useful.

First of all, he did not claim that anyone was forcing him to buy it, so why say that?

Second, what on earth he is contributing is his opinion about the product and of recent releases by Spitfire.

Third, he wasn't criticizing the company. He was just expressing some disappointment in recent releases. He actually said he likes 90% of what they do. Those are pretty positive numbers, no?

Also - the general tone of your comments are so snarky and condescending. I find this kind of harsh disrespectful tone so prevalent these days. I mean your responding to someone you don't even know on a forum. Very bad form IMO.

I would hope that respectful opinions about products positive or negative would be acceptable points of discussion for you. Your post seems to indicate otherwise. Actually while his post did contribute to the discussion at hand, yours did not. Your post was entirely off topic and only criticized him.

Personally I welcome opinions that lean skeptical. Not for the sake of it, but for the fact that a lot of these products are very expensive and are non refundable and non transferable, so opinions of all sides are helpful. If you can't handle a negative opinion, I'd suggest you just stay out of the discussion altogether.
 
“You hate to be a negative nancy...” Seems like you enjoy being just that. No one’s forcing you to buy it, nor should your approval or enjoyment of their products validate them. What on Earth are you contributing here? I have little musical merit to display here, and by virtue of that I don’t sit and criticise companies who release products with the sole purpose of making it more accessible to more people to write more interesting music. “Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of 90% of their sample libraries...” Congratulations. Say something useful.

It's not like the dude needs your approval or validation either, although you seem to think he does.
 
“You hate to be a negative nancy...” Seems like you enjoy being just that. No one’s forcing you to buy it, nor should your approval or enjoyment of their products validate them. What on Earth are you contributing here? I have little musical merit to display here, and by virtue of that I don’t sit and criticise companies who release products with the sole purpose of making it more accessible to more people to write more interesting music. “Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of 90% of their sample libraries...” Congratulations. Say something useful.

I didn’t read anything negative, just an honest opinion...which I agree with.
 
I have numerous Spitfire libraries and admittedly have been ambivalent with many of their recent releases.
I haven't even considered purchasing many of the recent Spitfire releases.
I actually expected to have the same reaction with Orbis but this really sounds fu*kin amazing to me!
I have the previous Fanshawe libraries & imo this takes it to an entirely different level.
Kudos to the late great David Fanshawe and the clever Spitfire Team!
 
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My reaction is that this library could fill a niche something akin to what LCOS does for me, except in a more ancient, world music context rather than an edgy chamber orchestra context. That is to say, I might consider using it as flavorful seasoning on top of my meat-and-potatoes orchestral libraries. On its own, I didn't think it sounded especially compelling, but it did seem to work well in an additive context.

I don't have any burning need for that particular type of flavoring right now, though, and certainly not at this price point (sorry to say it, but I've got to watch my money a bit more closely these days). If someday a paying project comes up where I think Orbis would put it over the top, then I could be interested. Or maybe if it is on a better discount at some point down the road ... if it had come in with an intro price under $200, then I might have decided to pull the trigger on it now. But for the current prices (intro or retail) I'd expect a library that can shine on its own, and I just don't have that impression of Orbis.

The standalone player version of the eDNA interface does look really sweet. Kudos on that, for sure!
 
To my ears, the sounds are wonderfully crafted.

But I have an ethical question: Are Spitfire being sensitive in their use of the source recordings? Were any of the original performers documented by Fanshawe and are they credited?

I know many composers have used folk sources in their works (e.g. Stravinsky, Bartok, Chopin, Ravel, Vaughan Williams, etc.) but I think it's easy to be unintentionally arrogant with sources like this. An example of this would be Deep Forest's "Sweet Lullaby": http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2004/11/23/turmeric-pygmies-and-piracy/

Ethnomusicology is one thing. Exploitation is another . . .
 
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