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

[Garry]

I wouldn't at all say they're running out of ideas, but they're clearly trying to do something different recently, and that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

But what option do they have, given their now extensive product range? They sample the whole orchestra, with full size, then with chamber size; then solo instruments; with Albion's, they went loud, they went quiet, they went deep; with Evos, BDT, Swarm & Olafur Arnolds, they covered soft/emotional and with movement; with BHCT they covered the orchestra in a different style. Then, with the Air Lyndhurst reverb as their key selling point, they went dry to cater to all those who didn't want reverb baked in, and did the whole orchestra again. Then they went the opposite direction, and sampled an orchestra in a freakin' hangar (LCO textures)!! They did quirky and artisan (alternative solo strings). They collaborated with top brand names (Whitacre, Zimmer, others...), and brought on new voices too. They did synth style (BT Phobos, Earth).

So where on earth do you go next??!!!

I have many of the Spitfire libraries referenced in that paragraph above, and love them, but if they're going to do something different, they're going to need to take a different direction, and that means sometimes they will leave some of us (me included) behind. They have to do that to stay alive, and keep appealing to new customers. It's exactly what you would do if you owned their business. But it's no wonder that on a forum like VI-C, where there is a clear orchestral leaning, these new libraries aren't going to be what a lot of us are looking for.

Actually, for those who don't like the new libraries they're producing, I'm entirely sure Spitfire would like to hear from you: what DO you want next? Let them know - they are clearly listening to their customers. For me, the problem is, even as someone who hasn't been the target audience for their last few libraries, I'm not sure I could sufficiently articulate what I do want from them next; I'm starting to feel like I'm covered for most of everything I either need or would be able to get use out of. I get the impression I'm not alone in this, and the market is becoming saturated.

Is the GAS finally running out??!!!

... nah, not long now til Black Friday, and I'll be all over again!!

 

[windyweekend]

I wouldn't at all say they're running out of ideas, but they're clearly trying to do something different recently, and that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

But what option do they have, given their now extensive product range? They sample the whole orchestra, with full size, then with chamber size; then solo instruments; with Albion's, they went loud, they went quite, they went deep; with Evos, BDT, Swarm & Olafur Arnolds, they covered soft/emotional and with movement; with BHCT they covered the orchestra in a different style. Then, with the Air Lyndhurst reverb as their key selling point, they went dry to cater to all those who didn't want reverb baked in, and did the whole orchestra again. They collaborated with top brand names (Whitacre, Zimmer, others...), and brought no new voices too. They did synth style (BT Phobos, Earth).

So where on earth do you go next??!!!

I have many of the Spitfire libraries referenced in that paragraph above, and love them, but if they're going to do something different, they're going to need to take a different direction, and that means sometimes they will leave some of us (me included) behind. They have to do that to stay alive, and keep appealing to new customers. It's exactly what you would do if you owned their business. But it's no wonder that on a forum like VI-C, where there is a clear orchestral leaning, these new libraries aren't going to be what a lot of us are looking for.

Actually, for those who don't like the new libraries they're producing, I'm entirely sure Spitfire would like to hear from you: what DO you want next? Let them know - they are clearly listening to their customers. For me, the problem is, even as someone who hasn't been the target audience for their last few libraries, I'm not sure I could sufficiently articulate what I do want from them next; I'm starting to feel like I'm covered for most of everything I either need or would be able to get use out of. I get the impression I'm not alone in this, and the market is becoming saturated.

Is the GAS finally running out??!!!

... nah, not long now til Black Friday, and I'll be all over again!!

Good point Garry. One thing they’re good at is not just catering for the masses and just orchestral music. They do like to stick to the edge of what’s really needed out there, which is what I need. At some point when everyone’s using all the same libraries, it makes it much harder to find an edge to stand out. This is what libraries like this and LCO and others do. They provide new sonic palettes that might not exist anywhere else. A lot of folks really get stuck on the presets, which undervalues these. There’s so much more that can be done with them with some personalising and tailoring to get your own unique sound. I’m still blown away with the depths of Phobos and know I’ll never find out what it’s really capable of without stopping work altogether and spending the rest of my days on a mountaintop. Orbis looks very similar. I suspect the hidden estuaries it could take you down maybtake a long time to truly discover.

 

[jbuhler]

they're necessarily going to have to throw some filler libraries in the mix.

I don't think the libraries are filler so much as niche.

 

[Lee Blaske]

I think the ongoing dilemma is going to be whether or not to make libraries that are playable instruments, or content that's really just a sub-assemblies of music (phrases, patterns, loops, etc.) that someone else conceived and created that you roll into your project. There's quite a market out there for musical sub-assemblies because there are a lot of people assembling, rather than composing music (and there's going to be more and more of that as AI develops).

 

[AllanH]

Sometimes listening to recorded phrases played by musicians who know the instruments can be inspiring. I generally don't use phrases, and I would rather have the instruments as playable without a lot of baked-in FX.

 

[JohnG]

On the plus side, anybody who does buy it will serve as a beta tester for their new engine. I for one think/hope they're not going to discontinue the Kontakt versions of SSO/SCS/etc before the new engine is *thoroughly* tested

I think you raise an important issue, but I'm pretty sure the eDNA engine has been used on several libraries, and for some time now. So it's not brand new; no doubt it will get refinements over time but this is not the first library of theirs I have that uses it, and I don't own everything from Spitfire.

As far as "running out of ideas," I guess I think that's pretty close to impossible when it comes to music. If you picture just one instrument -- say, the cello -- think of ALL the interesting sounds it can make. And if you expand it to world music or found objects or things like Geo noises that other libraries have used, of course it's almost infinite.

I respect the Spitfire team's breadth of products and openness to new / different ideas from far afield, as this library reflects.

The other aspect of modern scoring that I enjoy is its eclecticism. In a single show it's not unusual to hear warped sound design, traditional instruments played fairly traditionally, and forthright synth sounds.

Of course Spitfire don't have a monopoly on all that, so "hats off!" also to Spectrasonics, East West, AudioBro, Sonicouture, u-he, Soundiron, The Unfinished -- when I think of the riches available now, for so little money compared with former times, I really have nothing but gratitude. And besides, at this point I"m keen for niche libraries like this one just for some new sounds.

Kind regards,

John

 

[emasters]

I enjoy seeing companies take a creative approach with new sample libraries. Though clearly not going to appeal to everyone. Having so many traditional instrument libraries now, I find it challenging to cost-justify yet another string/brass/woodwind library purchase. Something different is welcome.

 

[tomosane]

I think you raise an important issue, but I'm pretty sure the eDNA engine has been used on several libraries, and for some time now. So it's not brand new; no doubt it will get refinements over time but this is not the first library of theirs I have that uses it, and I don't own everything from Spitfire.

Sorry, that was a poor choice of words on my part. With "the new engine" I wasn't referring to eDNA, but rather the new player they used for Hans Zimmer Strings, Eric Whitacre Choir and now this library. It's probably fair to say that SFA is (understandably) looking to gradually move away from NI's ecosystem.

HSZ was released around a year ago, and IIRC it wasn't without its fair share of technical issues (judging by forum posts, I don't own any of said libraries). That's why I raised the point I did, reliability for me is one of the most important aspects of a virtual instruments and some of us who rely extensively on Kontakt may have started to take it for granted. The world of audio software is however littered horrible coding.

 

[windyweekend]

Sorry, that was a poor choice of words on my part. With "the new engine" I wasn't referring to eDNA, but rather the new player they used for Hans Zimmer Strings, Eric Whitacre Choir and now this library. It's probably fair to say that SFA is (understandably) looking to gradually move away from NI's ecosystem.

HSZ was released around a year ago, and IIRC it wasn't without its fair share of technical issues (judging by forum posts, I don't own any of said libraries). That's why I raised the point I did, reliability for me is one of the most important aspects of a virtual instruments and some of us who rely extensively on Kontakt may have started to take it for granted. The world of audio software is however littered horrible coding.

I own both HZS and EWC and have never experienced one single technical isssue. This UI is bomber and very well QA’d. The only issues I’ve heard of was user malfunctions selecting the wrong install paths (nothing wrong with the software).

Spitfire’s new proprietary systems are way more solid than Kontakt, EW Player, or other’s out there. Plus they’re way more beautiful. I don’t have Orbis yet, but the UI is the last thing I’d be concerned about. In fact, my only reservations with HZS was that is used up too much real estate on the screen, when personally I prefer things tight and small, which is just a personal preference. It looks like this is precisely the functional improvement they’ve made on Orbis, though I suspect it may be just to accommodate eDNA.

 

[curtisschweitzer]

Spitfire’s new proprietary systems are way more solid than Kontakt, EW Player, or other’s out there. Plus they’re way more beautiful. I don’t have Orbis yet, but the UI is the last thing I’d be concerned about.

I like the Spitfire player quite a bit, and would like to see it on all of their libraries eventually, however, it still has its fair share of problems in my experience. (This after an expected period of early infancy after HZS when I felt like it had more problems). I would definitely say that by now it is "as reliable" as Kontakt or PLAY, but definitely not "more reliable".

Bought Orbis day 1, and so far already found some neat uses for it.