Fable Sound BBB 48 hours 48% off

[FriFlo]

http://fablesounds.com/webshop.htm

Looks like there is another chance to get BBB for almost half the price off. 48 hours seems like little bit of a rush to me, but I am considering it. I would like to know from people already owning it, how much use it gets vs sample modeling brass and saxes. In my experience a mix of ambient recordings (like BBB with its multiple mic positions seems to be) and more controllable dryer libraries like SM or VSL will mostly make better mock ups than one or the other exclusively. So, how and with how much success do you guys use it either alone or in combination?

[Piet De Ridder]

BBB is actually pretty dry, Fri. Even its most distant microphones never suggest anything much bigger than a mid-size studio.

Also: none of these instruments have anything resembling a classical orchestral sound. If you bring them into a (conventional) orchestral arrangement, they will stand out and their presence suggests you want to say something 'non orchestral', like for example something in this vein (Kurt Weill's "Kleine Dreigroschenmusik", a style of music for which I think the BBB's are very well suited). Or perhaps something like Milhaud's "La Création Du Monde" or Stravinsky's "Concertino For 12 Instruments", etc. ...

I don't hear the BBB's fitting quite as well in a lush, widescreen, Hollywood-ish type of orchestral sound. They will work as the odd reinforcement (or added definition) of some brass section or other, yes, but not really as substitues for genuine orchestral instruments, let alone soloists.

_

[Lawrence]

I keep passing on this instrument because of the pricing, and my belief that any updated version will be released at a time TBD no matter what is said, so it's hard to factor it in.

Now that there's "about to be" a public beta, maybe Jay can tell us how Fabulous it is (pun intended.)

[FriFlo]

No, that's a misunderstanding, Piet. I was not suggesting, there is a ton of natural reverb on it, neither am I planning to use it in orchestral context (with maybe a few exceptions). I just meant, it seems to sound smoother than SM with a little bit more studio air and distant mics. An I would use it in combination with SM mostly for bigbandish stuff. So, my question regarding better mock ups and blending was just in regards to that. Thanks for the link!I will give it a listen later today. What do use mostly for big band stuff? SM, CH or BBB? If you wouldn't have BBB, would you buy it again for the current offering price?

[Guy Rowland]

I've teased it into orchestral stuff when you need that orchestral big band Incredibles type sound. ProjectSAM's Swing helps there too, but it's annoyingly incomplete.

Like it seems most people, I usually end up layering several libraries for the least awful results.

I see Yuval is now saying v2 will be announced in under 24 hours. Multiplying that by the Fable (what an apt name that is, really) Delay Factor FDF = 24xFDF, I reckon we should get something by October now - exciting times!

[Piet De Ridder]

No, that's a misunderstanding, Piet. I was not suggesting, there is a ton of natural reverb on it, neither am I planning to use it in orchestral context (with maybe a few exceptions). I just meant, it seems to sound smoother than SM with a little bit more studio air and distant mics. An I would use it in combination with SM mostly for bigbandish stuff. So, my question regarding better mock ups and blending was just in regards to that. Thanks for the link!I will give it a listen later today. What do use mostly for big band stuff? SM, CH or BBB? If you wouldn't have BBB, would you buy it again for the current offering price?

Flo, sorry about the misunderstanding.

Anyway. Owing it (and knowing it) and also knowing that I haven’t actually used it all that often in all these years, the wise thing to say, I guess, is that I don’t think I’d buy it again. BUT … every single time I hear this demo I would instantly want to buy the library that that piece was made with.

- - -

I’m a bit concerned about the v2 update, to be honest. Not so much the fact that it takes forever to materialize, but the fear (based on the first announcement video that emerged some years ago) that it might turn out to be basically the same library as what we have now, but burdened with tons of complex “pseudo-intelligent” performance scripting to allow for things like auto-divisi, mock-ensembles and lots of other stuff I have no interest in whatsoever.

A v2 which I, personally, would be waiting for with a lot more giddy excitement would be a version that simply adds more samples: extra velocity layers, more round robins, additional samples for soft articulations, etc. … Most of the wind instruments, for example, have quite a few regrettable timbral gaps in their dynamic range. Much rather see those filled, than have this fine library transformed into yet another one of those unwieldy, script-infested abominations that take all the fun out of trying to make music with them.

And a more authentic drum kit would be welcome too. Because its current kit doesn't really blend or gel well with its brass, I find. Sounds like a different time and place altogether, I always thought. (Which is illustrated quite clearly in that demo which I linked to in the first paragraph. Don't you find that the drums "don't belong" in that production?)
But as I have plenty of vintage-sounding drums already, this drum remark is only a minor thing.

- - -

I haven’t done all that much mock-up big band stuff, I have to confess. (And I don’t really believe in the concept either, to tell the truth.) My interest in BBB (and Straight Ahead’s Jazz Horns) has always been primarily for that Kurt Weill-ish cabaret or early 20th century chamber sound, which I love.
If ever I should do mock-up big bands though, it would definitely be with SampleModeling and BBB, *not* with anything from the Chris Hein stable because, to my ears, all the jazz brass instruments that carry CH-signature sound too much Las Vegas-y for my taste. And that’s a take on the ‘big band sound’ which I don’t particularly care for. (Having said that, in dedicated and capable hands, Chris Hein’s libraries seem to be quite useful and powerful tools.)

_

[Lawrence]

I get the feeling Yuval wished SampleModeling didn't exist . For me, it and a bit of CH's extended articulations and thickening have been pretty successful for what I've wanted to achieve, which is indeed a more Vegas-styled sound.

[FriFlo]

Thanks for the valuable input, Piet! I actually tried the BBBs quite some time ago and I agree from what I remember, there were some bigger priorities regarding an update than poly legato and that sort of stuff. As I have tried some scripting myself, i could easily imagine how someone who is not the very best scripter in the world, could easily get lost in trying to make something happen, that is rather impossible to do perfectly. Control of the microphone position from single patches would be the thing I would miss the most and it seems to be beyond me, how anyone could actually like the keyswitching system in those patches (given, that I tried the lastest version up to this point, which I don't know for sure ...).
I already have all SM stuff and this leaves not much to desire, except for some "edge" and "character" here and these, which the BBB samples do have from my memory. So, given the price of this library and the fact, that you would describe it rather incomplete in terms of timbre (although it seems quite big in content), I think I will pass this time. I would definitively pay the price for a library of that size (at least the discounted), if it would satisfy most of my desires in that style. But I would want some time to decide and await some user reactions after v2.0. I don't think we will ever see any additional recordings surface for BBB. Hasn't it been licensed/sold to Fable Sound by Sonic Implants? I don't suppose, they will ever do additional recordings to library, that has been shelved for quite some time, do you? Here lies another problem, IMO: I don't think they have a very good idea how to market their product and therefor, I don't have much faith in its future success and further maintenance ...

[Lawrence]

Other way around, Fri. S.I. was the distributor.

[FriFlo]

Interesting! Thanks for the correction. So, Yuval Shrem recorded this library and licensed it to S.I. in the beginning? And then S.I. lost interest in the product?

[Ashermusic]

Interesting! Thanks for the correction. So, Yuval Shrem recorded this library and licensed it to S.I. in the beginning? And then S.I. lost interest in the product?

According to Yuval at the time, he lost interest in doing business with S.I.

Of course, it is now different ownership than then.

[mr anxiety]

BBB has a great vibe to it for jazz/big band/pop music. It's "rough around the edges" concept makes it work really well in these styles. Orchestral stuff is not it's forte. I also agree with Piet and others regarding updates to the existing library. The dynamic crossfading is seriously lacking compared to most other libraries. What it does well, it does extremely well. As surgical SM is, BBB comes from the complete other side and they blend very well together. If only SM had more of the ornaments that BBB has........

Hope this helps! Mr A

[FriFlo]

Thanks for another opinion on is library. That description of yours (rough around the edges) pretty much sums up what I would expect from this library as there are only few libraries available that seem to provide this. As great as SM brass (and with certain limitations the saxes) may be ... To me it seems like there is missing something with a certain edge but roundness when using them exclusively for mockups.
That being said, I followed the huge delays of updates announced by Fable Sound (the name seems to be the program). With the discounted price being still over 1000€, I would like to wait for credible users comments on what this v2.0 brings to the usability of this library. So, I decided to let this go for now. Also, Yuval said, he might release a walkthrough before the flash sale ends, which seems not have worked out ... again. Well, maybe the next sale might persuade me. :-) Maybe some of you guys already owning the library can comment on the value of this upgrade, as soon as it is available ... whenever that might happen ...

[Lawrence]

Fri- you saw the incredible deal on BBB Lite?

[FriFlo]

Thanks for the hint, Lawrence. I have seen it, but I am gonna pass on that, too, for now. All or nothing ... :-)

[Lawrence]

Wow-ok!