The Sound Board

One two. TESTING, ONE TWO. That's what they should have called it. So then you'd have Albion 1, Albion ONE and Albion ONE 2. That wouldn't have confused anyone.

This is a free update to the Albion ONE library that adds newly recorded upper dynamics to Strings and Brass. I'm a fan of ONE (never liked the original 1), it's buttery smooth strings and legatos are really magic. It's definitely at the polite end of things, so it's nice to have these new ff options.

They've optionally layered the patches with the originals. Unfortunately no legatos are included, but one cannot grumble about free. Perhaps the standout to me is the aggressive long strings, has a really useful hard front end. It's a shame this isn't programmed to be switched on key velocity while retaining CC1 for other dynamics, that's a more logical way to play I find. But again, one cannot grumble at new free stuff.

Once installed, the new update seems to be around 7GB bringing the entire library to 59GB. It remains Kontakt Player.

It's worth adding what Paul posted over at VI-Control:

Paul Thomson wrote:All of the brass is self contained and all new - the strings are a top layer dynamic added to the existing patches.

I'm looking forward to exploring the new material.

Best,

Geoff

I have the classic Albion, and I very very rarely use it. Never bought One though there have probably been some interim offers to upgrade/purchase at a discount.

Happy to receive a major update to a library released a few years ago. The additional layers are especially appreciated. People often complain that Spitfire doesn’t do enough to fix minor bugs in their libraries so, for some, this release was probably unexpected.

I was surprised, really, at the differences between the original Albion release and Albion ONE. I did not want to give up that much disc space so I only have "Albion ONE" installed. I had a list of things I liked better in the original release, but I can't find it at the moment.

I do use the Albion family a little bit. For a while I was on a kick to get better at working with ensemble style libraries (Project Sam, Orchestral Tools Ark, etc) but that comes and goes. There is no question in my mind that all three, but especially Project Sam, have a quality I can't quite pin down, but I attribute it to recording everyone at once.

I still use them to fill out arrangements, but I still struggle with using them by themselves.

I will definitely take advantage of the upgrade, but I don't see myself adding any other Albion libraries to my kit.

Oh, thanks for the head up !
I don’t receive news anymore from SA, though I never unsuscribed. Pros : I don’t get swamped by the never ending marketing stunts. Cons : I have no idea what they’re up to, bug fixes wise.
But now that I am on the way to having a proper rig to « compose » and produce some awkward music with orchestral touches (pads n’stabs) in it, I’ll have to connect back to SA and their peers. I spent delirious amount of cash in libraries, it’ll be time I have some good use out of them.