(I hate to pull up long-dormant threads, but in this case, I think my comments are relevant to this thread and how the story played out.)
How did the updates turn out? More broadly, how is Symphonic Motions in 2024 for an AIR-heavy template? It looks like a specialist tool that would be better rolled into one of the Albions than priced the same as the legacy Albions, but it’s intriguing enough to me to see whether it would be worth it in a sale.
My template is around 95% AIR and I've been using SM for about a year. Here are some pros, from my own personal experience:
1. As you would hope, they sit well with other AIR libraries with minimal effort, especially Symphonic Strings and Hans Zimmer Strings. Chamber Strings, if doubled with the transposition trick to get closer to the size of SM, also work well.
2. They are a great 'time saver'; need a simple 8ths or 16ths pattern that sound tight and realistic out of the box? If so, this is the biggest reason to invest in the library, because the performances you're able to trigger will sound super authentic and consistent, and you'll get great results in seconds.
3. They take to external EQ really well. Filtering out a bit of low end and boosting a bit of high end with Pro-Q sounds great to my ears, though this is more of a personal preference.
4. Due to the ability to randomize patterns, it can serve as a great tool for inspiration. I find libraries like these, as well as the various Evo grids in other Spitfire libraries, valuable because of their ability to inspire ideas quickly.
The cons:
1. No violas. I understand the omission of basses, but choosing to exclude violas has always puzzled me, and I always wish they were there.
2. If you are using a lot of Albions in your template, or any library from the SSO Pro range, and enjoy the outrigger mics (I do), you're going to miss having them here.
3. The biggest con is how resource intensive it is. I first used SM on my old PC with 32GB of RAM. Loading up more than one microphone produced clicks, pops and lags, which I thought was strange. After upgrading to 64GB, I tried SM again and... same problem. Most strange was that after building a new PC with 128GB of RAM, which I'm currently on, the same problem persists. I've updated the library, uninstalled and reinstalled, put it on another drive, talked to support about potential workarounds, nothing has resolved the issue yet. Spitfire suggests taking the project offline then choosing your mic configuration before rendering your project, but I still don't think that this should be an acceptable resolution.
All in all, I'd recommend it if your template is primarily AIR-centric. How much you're willing to deal with the cons should determine whether or not you buy it because, outside of those, the library does what it promises, and does it very well.
community.spitfireaudio.com
