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What are your favourite Brass Libraries then?

fantasy sound

fantasy sound

New Member
How is the latency of CSB? Is it a bad idea to play it with a keyboard for recording notes?
I know CSS has huge latency and it's almost impossible to play in real time. That's OK for me, but for brass instruments, I would like to play them with my keyboard.
 
Scamper

Scamper

Sample Hooter
fantasy sound said:
How is the latency of CSB? Is it a bad idea to play it with a keyboard for recording notes?
I know CSS has huge latency and it's almost impossible to play in real time. That's OK for me, but for brass instruments, I would like to play them with my keyboard.
Click to expand...
The latency in CSB is similar to CSS, if you take away the "slow" transitions. So, there is certainly a noticeable delay in the medium and fast transitions, but I find those playable enough to get used to it and play them live, which I also wouldn't do with CSS.
 
Alexander Maas

Alexander Maas

New Member
fantasy sound said:
How is the latency of CSB? Is it a bad idea to play it with a keyboard for recording notes?
I know CSS has huge latency and it's almost impossible to play in real time. That's OK for me, but for brass instruments, I would like to play them with my keyboard.
Click to expand...
It's the same as with the strings, so strings and brass line up quite well. First I was confused as well, but I've created some macros and shortcuts with the logical editor in Cubase. So I play brass and strings with my keyboard, hit one key and the legato sounds great instantly. However, sometimes, for fast passages, I play the piano and fine-tune the dynamic for brass/strings afterwards. btw: I think you get used to the delay of CSS & CSB pretty quick. Sometimes I don't even have to move a single note.
 
constaneum

constaneum

Senior Member
AlexanderSchiborr said:
mixed..Trumpets (SM) ,horns (ib, / csb), Tenor bones (IB, SM, CSB), Bass bone (IB, SM / CSB), TUBA (CSB)
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pretty much CSB for everything eh ? ahhaha. actually the solo trumpet in CSB sounds quite good. but the 2 trumpets not so. I felt the 2 trumpet a bit thin. I always end up layering it with the solo trumpet to make it sounds fuller.
 
AlexanderSchiborr

AlexanderSchiborr

Senior Member
constaneum said:
pretty much CSB for everything eh ? ahhaha. actually the solo trumpet in CSB sounds quite good. but the 2 trumpets not so. I felt the 2 trumpet a bit thin. I always end up layering it with the solo trumpet to make it sounds fuller.
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No,csb is a bit to back up,but not the first line here. I would say that the expression and bite and fluidity is backed up a lot by ib / sm while some of the bottom end and flair of non linear not too clinical projection comes from csb. Also don´t forget that this sound is nothing like what all of these instruments do sound "out of the box". There is going on a lot of custom scripting and mixing under the hood.
 
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Bluemount Score

Bluemount Score

Senior Member
I saw Metropolis Ark 1 multiple times, but don't forget about Ark 2 as well!
It has Fluegelhorns, Bass Trumpets, Euphoniums, Wagner Tubas and Tubas. All a3 patches including legato. Didn't found anything better for those soft, non-brassy parts yet. The list of different articulations is very small, though.
 
Henu

Henu

Senior Member
Alexander Maas said:
First I was confused as well, but I've created some macros and shortcuts with the logical editor in Cubase. So I play brass and strings with my keyboard, hit one key and the legato sounds great instantly.
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I know this issue has been beaten to death and is derailing the actual topic as well, but I find it really hard to make this approach work. My biggest problem is that when you move the legato notes, many times they need to overlap the previous notes "too much".

For example: I have a semi-fast passage, and the first non-legato note needs to start on the first beat. But if the next note should come already e.g. 150 milliseconds after it, I would actually have to move the first legato note before that first note of the phrase. How do you tackle this problem with your macro?
 
OP
jononotbono

jononotbono

Luke Johnson
What's everyone's opinions on Spitfire Symphonic Brass (SSB) then? What does it do that other Brass libraries can/can't do (other than obviously sound like it's been recorded in the glorious space that is the main hall of Air Lyndhurst)? What is it great at? Bad at?

Really interested in what people think of SSB especially when there are so many choices on the market as listed by everyone in this thread but I'm especially interested to hear opinions by people that are very good at writing and arranging for Brass instruments (because I am not - and it's easy for me to be in love with the Air sound (for good reason)) and what they use SSB for and what are the frustrations of it.
 
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C

ChristopherT

New Member
Personally - I'm not a fan of the sound of SSB - one of the only Spitfire regrets for me.
To my ears it's sort of blurry and vague - lacking detail.
So I'm searching for a brass library myself - something that can sonically stand up on its own.
So far OT Brass seems to sound really huge, detailed and great room reverb.

Sniffing around before I take any expensive brass plunges :)
 
Henu

Henu

Senior Member
jononotbono said:
What is it great at? Bad at?
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I made a mock-up in the winter (well, I still haven't finished it, tbh) of World of Warcraft's Lich King- theme using deliberately only certain libraries with certain "restrictions" to find out their strenghts and weaknesses and to practice transcribing. SSB really shines in my opinion in longer fff/ quivre trombone and horn lines in the "Conan the Barbarian"- brassy style, but lacks heavily in the trumpets after mf when played straight out of the box. Especially the staccatos in general, where you'd definitely need to go time machine (which I didn't do on purpose) on faster things.

Here are a couple of snippets from the horns. The first one ("low") sounds good in my opinion, but in the second one ("full") you can spot some weaknesses as well. But as said, this is non-tweaked and non-layered except for the sound which has been mixed. The mics used were about 50-50 close and decca.

EDIT: The sections used were a6 for all but tuba (duh) and a2 for bass trombones. Because how can less be more when going full Warcraft? :D
In that sort of sense, some of the trumpets could had definitely been better using a2 instead. And naturally, the sound would had been a bit clearer using smaller sections, but what is done is done!

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/ssb_low-mp3.19639/][/AUDIOPLUS]

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/ssb_full-mp3.19640/][/AUDIOPLUS]
 

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OP
jononotbono

jononotbono

Luke Johnson
Henu said:
I made a mock-up in the winter (well, I still haven't finished it, tbh) of World of Warcraft's Lich King- theme using deliberately only certain libraries with certain "restrictions" to find out their strenghts and weaknesses and to practice transcribing. SSB really shines in my opinion in longer fff/ quivre trombone and horn lines in the "Conan the Barbarian"- brassy style, but lacks heavily in the trumpets after mf when played straight out of the box. Especially the staccatos in general, where you'd definitely need to go time machine (which I didn't do on purpose) on faster things.

Here are a couple of snippets from the horns. The first one ("low") sounds good in my opinion, but in the second one ("full") you can spot some weaknesses as well. But as said, this is non-tweaked and non-layered except for the sound which has been mixed. The mics used were about 50-50 close and decca.

EDIT: The sections used were a6 for all but tuba (duh) and a2 for bass trombones. Because how can less be more when going full Warcraft? :D
In that sort of sense, some of the trumpets could had definitely been better using a2 instead. And naturally, the sound would had been a bit clearer using smaller sections, but what is done is done!

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/ssb_low-mp3.19639/][/AUDIOPLUS]

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/ssb_full-mp3.19640/][/AUDIOPLUS]
Click to expand...
Thanks man! I do love the sound of SSB.
 
JohnG

JohnG

Senior Member
jononotbono said:
Really interested in what people think of SSB especially when there are so many choices on the market...
Click to expand...
I love it and use it all the time. Sometimes I just want something a little different so I may go for Hollywood Brass or Cinebrass. I used all three to pitch recently for a series that I landed.

People say it's "softer" and in some patches it does lack some of the scream that other libraries have, but to generalise and say it "can't do that" is not accurate. The a6 patches (formerly the Phalanx) can really rip it out, and the Spitfire trumpets are excellent.

Not as thrilled with the solo trombones, but the rest of the library is really good.

Good luck either way Jono. One needs maybe a smaller palette of brass compared with, say, strings, but having a couple / three choices is good.
 
markleake

markleake

Recovering sale addict
I've used SSB a lot (when I need brass that is) and I like it a lot. If it's not the main brass in a track, it often ends up doubling or performing supporing tasks still.

I'm far from being a good brass writer though, and I don't especially write demanding brass stuff. Nothing loud or epic, which I don't think would suit SSB anyway. It excels more at the traditional orchestral, or warm choral, or regal sounding stuff.

It blends very easily with my other Spitfire stuff, or anything really that you've got some reverb on. It has a warm smooth tone you don't easily get from other libraries. Low dynamics are great for choral stuff, which other libs can't match.

Some of the layer transitions are not as good as they could be in the longs. And the shorts at the higher mf to ff dynamics on trombones and trumpets can jump dynamics too quickly, which is annoying. But a lot of brass libraries have that problem.

It can be a bit muddy sometimes, particularly I find with the horns. You can EQ that out a bit if you need to. If you want a clear direct tone, these aren't it. But really, it's that diffused hall ambience that's so damn fantastic about them... you really need that sometimes for a good brass sound. That Air hall just does wonderful things to brass.
 
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