Spitfire @ Abbey Road !/?

[NoamL]

So Spitfire sent out a marketing email with a vague countdown to tomorrow morning, but the image is very clearly of Abbey Road Studio 1.

As well, Abbey Road has also "announced an announcement" for tomorrow Oct 22.

Putting the pieces together this may be some kind of orchestral product recorded at Abbey Road... exciting!

[kpc]

The only (last?) time I will say this - their marketing shenanigans really turn me off. It's to the point where I see an announcement of an announcement of an announcement kind of thing and just cringe. It must work for them, but not me. I haven't bought anything from them in a long time - mostly because of their marketing and renaming schemes. I know - silly old bear.

But nice to hear you're excited about it. You'll have to let us know what you think when it's announced.

[NoamL]

I totally get the "just tell me when you actually have a product" approach to marketing. Their approach turns me off a bit as well.

However, this just might be a monumental step for sampling. If they've done something SERIOUS with this opportunity (like an Albion or SSO style product, not just something like their British Drama Toolkit) it will join SSO and Cinesamples as the only publicly released samples to be recorded with the same musicians used in real major films and on the same stages real major composers use. I use a lot of Cinematic Studio libraries right now, a lot of Hollywood Orchestra and a fair bit of Berlin, and none of those stages (Trackdown, Teldex, EW Studio 1) are actually used by the top end composers for recording big symphonic scores.

[kpc]

Understood.

[Guy Rowland]

However, this just might be a monumental step for sampling. If they've done something SERIOUS with this opportunity (like an Albion or SSO style product, not just something like their British Drama Toolkit) it will join SSO and Cinesamples as the only publicly released samples to be recorded with the same musicians used in real major films and on the same stages real major composers use. I use a lot of Cinematic Studio libraries right now, a lot of Hollywood Orchestra and a fair bit of Berlin, and none of those stages (Trackdown, Teldex, EW Studio 1) are actually used by the top end composers for recording big symphonic scores.

Hmmm.... really? They've sold their range for a decade or so on having the best musicians in the best venue (Air). Air and Abbey Road sound different of course, but everywhere does. I can't get too excited about another great venue if I'm honest.

But you know what would excite me? An announcement that they've quadrupled their QC budget.

[Tanuj Tiku]

They have everything going for them except scripting and catching up on realism in terms of phrasing etc.

Without that, this will be yet another set of mic positions from Abbey Road.

They are a brilliant company - just lagging behind in a specific side of tech at the moment.

Other things they do phenomenally well. I just got percussion swarm and it sounds incredible and very useful as well.

[Muziksculp]

I'm very excited about the upcoming Spitfire Audio Announcement tomorrow, Oct. 22nd.

If it is another comprehensive orchestral library, similar to the BBCSO, but recorded in Abbey Road Studio 1, It would be very interesting to compare the two orchestras, and see how different they sound, and if they have done something different as far as the number of vel-layers for the sampled instruments, number of Mics it offers compared to the BBCSO Pro version, Size of the Orchestra compared to BBCSO, ..etc. etc.

It could also be more of a Chamber sized orchestra compared to a larger one like the BBCSO. Which would make sense.

We shall know tomorrow.

[Tanuj Tiku]

I would guess that it is not an orchestral sample library as they have many active products - BBC being very recent.

I could be wrong.

If it is indeed an orchestra, I would be very interested because I have always liked the sound of the recordings from Abbey road over Air (though it is also excellent).

However, personally I would love to see a new development in scripting/sampling/phrasing possibilities.

[Linos]

Wasn't BBCSO their last monumental step for sampling? And now they are doing the same thing at Abbey Road? So that would be their third line of large symphonic orchestral libraries. Somehow hard to believe. Anyway, if they don't step up their quality control big time, and cut some corners again like they did with BBCSO dynamic layers, it will just be yet another Spitfire library for me.

Also, Noam I can't quite share your believe that being recorded at one of these venues, with possibly some of the same musicians, will make that much of a difference. It's still a sample library after all. BBCSO was recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, mind you! Yet the mockups won't sound like a BBCSO recording. The programming, consistency, and playability will have a much larger influence on the outcome of a piece. That's why I think that other libraries are much better suited for mockups of romantic symphonic music than BBCSO. The Cinematic Studio Series, for instance. Simply because it has better programming and is much more consistent.

[bbunker]

I'd bet anything that if there is an announcement, and it involves Abbey Road, that it'll definitely be an Orchestral library. How long was the thread for BBCSO? And how long was it for the Joey Santiago guitar thing? Nope - if they've got AR Studio 1, they're going to record some flautandos there.

Not to cut too fine a mold on the Spitters of Fire, but their thing is pretty much taking the same process and the same approach and the same ideas and moving them to a different room with moar mics, and they keep punting that boat down the canal as long as it'll sell. And Abbey Road is enough of a name that even people who are done jumping the shark with the BBCSO series will still at least give whatever it ends up being a look. So I fully anticipate finding out tomorrow how the redefining sampling that was done with the BBCSO has now been rereredefined with the LPOAR or RPOAR or whatever. Now with hyper-flautando.

[Muziksculp]

One important detail, Spitfire Audio has to try to convince BBCSO owners to shell more money for yet another orchestral library recorded in AR-Studio 1, and if it sounds very similar to the BBCSO, it won't be an easy sell.

I think it has to be quite a bit different, that's why I mentioned a smaller, chamber sized orchestra this time in Abbey Road, Studio 1.

[bbunker]

@Muziksculp:

I don't necessarily disagree, to a point. Honestly, if it were me running Spitfire, I'd grab the biggest Orchestra I could legally socially distance and put them in Studio One and make sure they blow the doors off the place. Really the biggest thorn (as I see it, of course) in the Spitfire side is that they don't have anything with vaguely the same wallop as Ark or Jaeger have. While I'd ordinarily be pretty bored with yet another festival of the flautando, if they recorded a big group obliterating themselves - oh, and it's in AR Studio One? - Yeah, I'd have a listen.

I'm sure whatever it is, it's something that I'll end up begrudgingly getting because I hear some promise in it, and then regretting for the remainder of those electrons' lives on my hard drive. And electrons are not forgetful.

[Geoff Grace]

I've refrained from speculation so far, but it occurs to me that no one has made a Beatles themed orchestral library at this point. The band certainly used more than the typical rock instrumentation in songs like "A Day in the Life," "Eleanor Rigby," and "Penny Lane."

Spitfire has covered the past before with its Bernard Herrmann library. George Martin was equally illustrious.

Best,

Geoff

[Mikeybabes]

Another Orchestral Library ?

That would make it their fourth one..... and we are still awaiting the SSO reboot that has been promised for several years now.

I'd be surprised if it is another full orchestra.

[Lawrence]

“NOW with USEABLE LEGATO!!”

[NoamL]

You have to ignore their marketing guff and look at the straight specs. BBCSO was always a basic product, just higher than an Albion really. It was an easy pass IMO after hearing some demos. Sure you can write some great music with it, but it wouldn't hold up if you tried to synthestrate everything with just that one product. That's how I think about a lot of their recent stuff. It's a bunch of neat flavors and add-ons, which you can buy a la carte as you need it (the winds in Iceni have repaid me for that product tenfold haha) but it's not a core flagship product like BML was. At the same time, BML/SSO was recorded almost a decade ago. Since then they have certainly been lapped on scripting (and GUI) by other developers. By doing "SSO 2 @ Abbey Road" more or less, it would offer them so many advantages. They get to produce a full orchestra on a REAL (not marketing hype) scoring stage which no one else has done besides themselves and CineSamples more than 8 years ago. And they get to incorporate all the lessons learned from 10+ years of developing samples.

BTW I don't believe they are neglecting SSO 1 either. Perhaps the aux mics and usability upgrades will come out around the same time.

[Linos]

The hints suggest it'll most probably be Albion Two, recorded at Abbey Road Studio 1. Might be interesting for some.

[Tanuj Tiku]

Well, it sounds incredible actually. Abbey Road One. For me, their Air series is now redundant. This is the sound I have always liked and the samples sound very good and a bit more consistent than usual.

Unfortunately, this is an ensemble library but they promised a detailed modular line up is coming ahead.

This could be a really great library to get (after more careful listening and QC checks). Unfortunately, no legatos. Surprising and a slightly painful omission.

[Guy Rowland]

Yes, very nice sound - the trumpets seem particularly good. Overall its another oddly balanced release though, with 10 mic positions but all ensembles and no legatos. That's just plain weird to me, such a bizarre set of priorities.

[Linos]

For now, an Albion without legato recorded at Abbey Road Studio 1. Wondering where that leaves BBCSO. They shouted 'This is just the beginning' after all. And now, this release is 'just the start'. Oh well.

That Spitfire is working on a new BML, recorded at Abbey Roads, could potentially be interesting in the future. It will certainly take time, probably years, to release the whole package. We'll see what it'll bring to the table once the first installment drops. I have to say though that Spitfire's ideas of useful and comprehensive sample libraries don't align too well with my own recently. 'Let's sample a world class symphony orchestra, but only with two dynamic layers' - and 'lets record at Abbey Roads, but leave out legato' don't really make much sense to me.

[Tanuj Tiku]

Yes, very nice sound - the trumpets seem particularly good. Overall its another oddly balanced release though, with 10 mic positions but all ensembles and no legatos. That's just plain weird to me, such a bizarre set of priorities.

Guy, I very much agree. It is a shame that there is still no connectivity in their scripting - may be the modular orchestra will be more to our liking and for the pro market. The demos have great sound but it all sounds washy and disconnected because you still can't phrase is accurately outside of short samples (of which there is not much variation).

Not having legato in 2020 is painful. They are doing brilliant work but they must catch up with the likes of Performance Samples/CSS and others who are miles ahead in connected performances at the moment.

I really like the sound and dynamics but it's frustrating to think that it won't be accurately useful for our work.

[Muziksculp]

Abbey Road One, Orchestral Foundations is new Albion One type of library. Which I don't need. (PASS)>

Now, it all depends on what they release next year that's recorded in Abbey R. One. I hope a professional Strings Library, not ensembles, with very good legatos, and lots short articulation options. That to me is an important foundation of an orchestra. Then release more for the other orchestral families or instruments, this could take another year, or more to complete. So, I guess Orch. Foundations was one way to deliver the entire orchestral sections fast, and ready to play, but in ensemble form.

I'm currently impressed with VSL's latest Strings Library, Synchron Strings Pro (Full version)., and looking forward to see them release VSL Synchron Woodwinds Pro, and Synchron Brass Pro, and then Sordino Strings, and Solo Strings. to have a complete Synchron Stage based Orchestral Library. They already have quite a few Synchron Perc. libraries available.

I'm guessing there are many musicians that will find A.R.1 Orch. Foundations useful, especially if they don't have Albion 1.

[NoamL]

I'm way more excited for Abbey Road BML than Abbey Road Albion, but this is still a good sounding product.

[Lawrence]

Well, they've solved their perennial legato problem. Interesting solution!

[wst3]

I was not expecting to be wow'd, but whattayaknow... I am impressed.

I don't think I need another Albion style library, I don't use the Albions nears as much as I once did, but they do have their sound, just like the Symphobias. What I'd love is the individual instruments recorded in Abbey Road, and it sounds like they are headed there. I'm curious about what they are adding to the Foundation, especially at $49/pop. Might be more detailed instruments???

I am probably going to pass for now, but it does sound gorgeous!!!