Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Spitfire Albion NEO

jbuhler said:
The problem with Loegria is that aside from the strings and the horneuph it never was an especially good complement to Albion I legacy. And as lovely as the Loegria Strings are they are quite redundant with SCS ensemble strings. The Neo Strings neatly side step this issue. They can serve as a proxy for SCS (or Studio Strings pro) but they also have several Tundra like articulations not covered by those libraries. They can also therefore also serve as a small ensemble version of Tundra. As I’ve mentioned before the woodwinds of Neo are far more useable than those in Loegria, which has recorders, and the Neo winds serve as nice complement to those in Albion One, whether the new version or the legacy. They are not hyped or epic. The brass is more complicated. It’s very similar to the Loegria horneuph but not as flexible in my opinion.

Overall I find Neo a good value at the price I paid for it. I have all the Albions, and the redundancy is not large. The price if you own several Albions is also on par with the price they offered to existing owners of legacy Albion I when they introduced Albion One. (I’m told they did offer a better upgrade price later.) I’m not saying you should buy it of course. Just trying to make clear what Neo offers.
Click to expand...
You may have just said the magic words. ;)
 
Lee Blaske said:
Really liking Neo, myself. I think the sounds are gorgeous. Here's a piece using the Neo orchestra sounds in a more typical orchestral fashion (with added Spitfire timp, harp, celesta, EW choir and a touch of Studio Woodwinds Professional flute). The low end of the Neo woodwinds are great for kind of a playful Danny Elfman-ish sound. The low WW staccatos have a really nice bite.

Click to expand...

Love it!
 
Mike Fox said:
Anyone care to show how Neo performs in the horror department?
Click to expand...
This is the opening of Psycho, just a really quick out of the box sketch, no reverb or EQ, no tempo map, lots of cheating on articulations (there are definitely places it could do better if I knew the library better, or if I had a lot more time), etc. But it should at least give you some sense of the sound of the string hits.
 

Attachments

  • Psycho Opening.mp3
    609.6 KB · Views: 275
zeng said:
Hi Aeon,

Are the strings at the beginning from a loop/phrase patch or did you play it?
Click to expand...

I played it (crudely) - just pushed rec and played in on a midi keyboard, didn't really tweak the midi afterwards. With more time would be possible to make it sound more fluid and realistic for sure
 
jbuhler said:
I’m not saying you should buy it of course. Just trying to make clear what Neo offers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your insights. I have a pretty good picture of some benefits that One and Neo bring over the legacy Albions. However, as I've wrote before, the current prices are too much for me. I've bought Albion Legacy in 2015. after several years contemplating the purchase, since GBP is the most expensive foreign currency here in Croatia and on top of it all, we have a whopping 25% VAT rate... (I won't mention our general standards). So, after I've finally pulled the trigger on Albion I and paying the original price, shelling out additional 249€ is too much for me in order to get the One. Neo would be similarly priced, though I own the Legacy, Loegria, and Tundra. For 99€ each (One and Neo), I might go for it.
 
jbuhler said:
This is the opening of Psycho, just a really quick out of the box sketch, no reverb or EQ, no tempo map, lots of cheating on articulations (there are definitely places it could do better if I knew the library better, or if I had a lot more time), etc. But it should at least give you some sense of the sound of the string hits.
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting that! Tonally, it sounds a bit like BHCT, eh? I'm not hearing much of that Lyndhurst verb in there.
 
Mike Fox said:
Thanks for posting that! Tonally, it sounds a bit like BHCT, eh? I'm not hearing much of that Lyndhurst verb in there.
Click to expand...
i used mostly the close mics with a bit of the others (don’t recall which) for reverb. So, yes, you can get a reasonably dry sound if you want and even the tree is less wet than other SF libraries recorded in Air. I think it will make the library more versatile.

It didn’t apply much here but some of the articulations (the bends in particular) seem to be wetter than others.
 
Celestial Aeon said:
I started fiddling around with it. I have to say it's sort of like British Drama library but with Albion style execution. Perfect for that intimate sound. this is the first test run I came up with out of the box in 15 minutes so it's definitely efficient tool to work with. Tried to find my inner Glass and Johannsson with that one
Click to expand...


Enjoyed this.
 
Well I took the plunge yesterday and have been playing around with it. Is it a dramatically different than some other Spitfire offerings?....no. However, from my perspective it does provide enough variance for it to be another valuable arrow in my musical quiver. Could I have gotten along without it already having nearly all the other Albion libraries? Probably...but so far I'm glad I bought it. If anyone is on the fence, I think jbuhler's overview summed it up pretty well in some of his previous posts. It really is nicely recorded and I personally like the more intimate approach.
 
I want to want it but am still kind of underwhelmed by the content. Do love the chamber feel of the strings and I am sure in the end it is a high quality library. Just seems like so much overlap to other SFA products.
 
Fever Phoenix said:
I want to want it but am still kind of underwhelmed by the content. Do love the chamber feel of the strings and I am sure in the end it is a high quality library. Just seems like so much overlap to other SFA products.
Click to expand...
Not trying to convince you, but so far I’ve been finding the whole is greater than the parts with Neo. Everything just kind of fits together nicely, making it very inspiring to work with. I generally use ensemble libraries like Neo for sketching, and Neo is great for that. But Neo is also a bit of its own world that can be supplemented with other libraries in a bunch of directions. So it’s also very versatile. I’ve spent several hours a day since I got the library just exploring it, layering articulations, working on little noodles and it’s just fun. I’m even growing fond of the frying bacon...

I also have pretty much all the SF libraries Neo overlaps with and I don’t find it redundant myself. I do think others might if you are only using things like Tundra or OACE occasionally or you have SCS, SStS Pro, and/or Loegria and you are interested primarily in a core chamber strings ensemble.
 
My 1st Albion, and I like it a lot. Prior to this, I could never imagine the need for combo patches like this other than for quick sketches. But there was something about the sound in the demos I really liked.

I thought I would be into the Segla, Steam Band and Brunel Loops more, but the straight orchestral stuff is just as impressive. Like many, I really like the strings. But the winds (less the spitty bits) and brass are cool too. Sax sitting in with the winds is unique, especially for me just starting to dabble in orchestral & cinematic music.

Now I just have to figure out how to use it. The non-orchestral stuff is easy as that's what got my attention initially. I'm into that kind of thing. But I'm still wondering how to use the orchestral patches as I'm not much of a sketcher. They'd probably be good in my non-orchestral music, providing just the soundscapes I've been experimenting with, not needing detailed & specific string/brass/winds patches.

jonesdip said:




Just watched Cory Pelizzari's brilliant review on YouTube. Really shows off what this VSI us all about and adds a generous number of his own tweaked patches and great multis for free. Thank you Cory! As a Loegria fan I wondered whether this would be a worthwhile addition. Thank you Cory. I'm in!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link! Can you, or anyone tell me where I would store the patches he's giving away?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom