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Why/how do YOU still use Albion One?

I find myself going to it only for very intense things. To be honest I would recommend BHCT over Albion One for it's versatility and range, but I do like that you get more than just Orchestral samples with Albion One.
 
Interesting how tastes differ: I often find myself asking the question the opposite way around, ie, given how good Albion is, do I need that other string library? I often then compare what I can get from Albion One, and whatever I'm thinking of buying, and think, 'close enough'.

For example, as I sit and wait for OACE to download, I'm watching OACE videos on youtube. One, here, is Ashton Gleckman - at 9:19, he mentions that the con sord patch in SCS is where he always starts if the piece has strings in, and it's the way he gets the James Newton Howard sound. So, then I fire up Albion, load the con sord patch, and to my ears: close enough! Perhaps if I had SCS and could A/B with Albion, the difference would be much clearer, but for now at least, I feel I can get what I need from Albion.

I think Albion One is actually a little TOO good strategically, in that it does what it does so well, I wonder how many others like me have looked at other products, including some of those from Spitfire, and felt that they're already covered? Sure, there are very distinct sounds (I have other Spitfire strings such as BDT/Tundra), but for a bread and butter string section, personally I find it hard to beat. YMMV.

You did had to mention OACE, didn`t you ;)
(no it doesn`t relate to my question, and i don`t need it, I really don`t ...)
 
I find myself going to it only for very intense things. To be honest I would recommend BHCT over Albion One for it's versatility and range, but I do like that you get more than just Orchestral samples with Albion One.

Ondes martenot !! Didn`t know they had it somewhere , nice.
I`m surprised you would go to another library for " very intense", this one seems to be "in the face" with lots of interesting instrument combinations.
 
I have it. If it's used as intended, meaning for the epic trailer style cues, it's fantastic. If you look at it as a realistic approach to orchestral scoring, you will be a bit disappointed in the overall sound and flexibility...but I have experimented with layering a up to 3 different shorts for epic ostinatos, and it sounds really great.

There is so much to this library, that you really need to go one by one with the patches and EDNA sound patches...etc, to find hidden gems. it's also a good sound design tool.

As with all libraries, if used to their strengths, they will work great.

NOTE: The string sordino patches are quite nice.
 
Ondes martenot !! Didn`t know they had it somewhere , nice.
I`m surprised you would go to another library for " very intense", this one seems to be "in the face" with lots of interesting instrument combinations.

Oh ya it certainly can, I prefer working with BHCT for that reason. I guess what I meant is I tend to only associate with Albion One with a certain kind of intense cinematic feel, but that's also because I tend to reach for BHCT, Tundra or the Olafur Strings first for everything else.
 
I have it. If it's used as intended, meaning for the epic trailer style cues, it's fantastic. If you look at it as a realistic approach to orchestral scoring, you will be a bit disappointed in the overall sound and flexibility...but I have experimented with layering a up to 3 different shorts for epic ostinatos, and it sounds really great.

The short strings are great yeah, but especially for the Epic part i feel it is lacking compared to what people say. This is mainly when it comes to the brass and long strings, to me they seems like they are almost there but just needs the last push for epic which is frustrating. The percussion though, oh boy that's great.
 
It is nice reading all your opinions, i will most likely give it a chance (at least for sketching), keep em coming!
 
Easter boom, cymbal1 and 2, wwinds shorts, wwind shorts arranged, some of the steam stuff in intros and transitions. I use the hi and mid legato strings as a layer once in a blue moon and the strings longs are real good for sketching! It was my first purchase last year, sketched a bulk of my adventure projects on it..!
 
I use it when I get lazy recording individual symphonic instruments/patches...there's masse, but Albion ONE has its own flair.

And the pretty versatile woodwinds shorts too.
 
This might help. he uses Albion one.





For a while I was considering the SSO CS edition, already owning SCS, that would be around € 650 - which is a good deal (percussion still missing but everything else covered in depth).

But then I reflected on context & skills and ...
I started to realise I already have some serious (if not complete) brass with Forzo, and (detailed) learning about orchestrating brass (some experience) AND woods (except for playing all kinds or historical recorders in a far past, no experience) in the course of a project would`t be feasible.

And looking at these two videos (thx for pointing out !) , it seems that Albion could very well be at the very spot where my needs and my current skills meet.
I`ll definitely bring in some great string & brass sounds from my other libraries, but I have the feeling it could be my "baseline" tool and probably a lot more than that.

So my decision has been made : Albion One will find yet another place to stay ;)

Thanks everyone for providing feedback on you personal experiences, particular uses, (dis)likes and musical examples - extremely helpful !!

Cheers,
Joh

PS 1 : not going to by any additional perc either, first checking Albion, Damage and other less used libraries ...
PS 2 : since I absolutely love creating strings textures, I put OACE on my wishlist - thx Garry ;) - I think I can fit it into the project right away, and they probably don't require a lot of additional orchestration skills to use them (unless you want to get 100% out of it of course)
 
PS 1 : not going to by any additional perc either, first checking Albion, Damage and other less used libraries ...

Definitely try the Easter Island Percussion if you haven't yet :)


While i've had a hard time loving Albion one, the percussion has always been one of the few things i've found absolutely amazing in it, the easter island hits are definitely great, and the toms are amazing too. Actually, all the percussion is great though not too complete (depending on what you need).
 
My uses for Albion One are two-fold:

1) In my main orchestral template I have some Albion One percussion tracks, and at least one track for the eDNA elements of Albion One, which I find useful for creating beds.
2) On my laptop, my "busking" template is made up exclusively of Albion One orchestral stuff. Not because I think it is the greatest, but because it is a relatively lightweight way to get a full orchestra, and I can keep just that one library installed on my laptop's (limited space) hard drive, which means I don't have to hook up my external sample drive every time I just want to throw some ideas down and don't intend on using the result as anything other than a guideline for a real project.
 
I use it a lot. Even though I have a ton of strings libraries, Albion One strings are my go-to to layer in the background for the added space in the longs and bite on the shorts. Layering it behind a dry lib like Century Strings or SStS is awesome.
 
It's simply one of the best one-address composer tools I know. For me, Albion One and Albion V Tundra are the best in the series. Very, very different, but both so inspiring that I fondly consider them to be instruments of creativity.
 
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