Why I despise the Spitfire Player...Rant alert.

[dzilizzi]

I didn't realize pirating was an issue with big kontakt libraries. If it was popular enough for me to have heard about it I probably would have done it a good amount myself by now. I suspect it was more than that, in that kontakt limits their ability to be flexible with sales and how they package things perhaps. One example of evidence for this is OT's sine player allowing them to sell instruments a-la-carte. Maybe they could have done that all along but it seems like that's the case.

I actually think it was a mic issue. Embertone mentioned that they had trouble with getting all the mics into a single Kontakt instrument for Walker, hence the separate instruments for each mic. Some kind of limit to the Kontakt engine. You notice that the HZ Strings and BBCSO both have a lot of mic options. I'm wondering if that is part of the reason for it.

I also wonder if getting an instrument approved through NI with a serial number is an issue. I've heard it can take time. I may be totally wrong about it though. This is all speculation on my part. I can see why 8Dio doesn't bother though. They have a whole lot of inexpensive libraries. They don't have to buy a bunch of serial numbers before having a sale in the hopes they sell the product. Things like that can break a business.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

This is the trade off currently, but the hope is that there is no issue with the player as it's matures.

The player works as advertised, too many complainers. It’s the exact same BS with EW Play....it works, but too many people throw it under the bus.

 

[AEF]

The player works as advertised, too many complainers. It’s the exact same BS with EW Play....it works, but too many people throw it under the bus.

it works but it loads slowly, eats cpu, and the articulation management is horrendous.

 

[jbuhler]

it works but it loads slowly, eats cpu, and the articulation management is horrendous.

I have HZS and EWC, both of which use the SF Player, as well as the Labs instruments. I haven't found any of this to be the case. For me, it takes about the same amount of time to load as Kontakt, I've noticed no particular large use of CPU, and its articulation management is fine, once it's loaded into the plugin. I will say that I don't like the patch browser at all. And I find it mystifying that they don't have it set up so that you can use UACC or UACC KS out of the box.

 

[AndyP]

My repair function has now worked again after Spitifire reset it. Now I notice that the violas staccato and spiccato are identical, the spiccatos play exactly the same samples as the staccatos ... a new surprise.

Celli as well ... Either I didn't notice before or this is new...

Violins and the Leaders are fine.

 

[CGR]

Went to load up a few SF Player based LABS Instruments in a project yesterday and was faced with numerous Error #1 & Error #5 messages. Went through the repair & update/reinstall process 3 times with no joy. Gave up in the end and found another Kontakt instrument instead. No fun. I'm glad I haven't invested many dollars in the Spitfire Player based instruments at this stage.

 

[Cinemachine]

Ok, assuming they eventually reach the point where the player is at least as good and as stable as Kontakt, then they still have to get people to "believe it", and it is still unproven what percentage of people who were pirating their Kontakt libraries would actually buy their player libraries if there was no easy way to pirate them.

I understand saying "Fuck all the drawbacks, we want to be independant from NI even at a high cost, because that dependancy is a potentially neck-breaking risk looming over our heads". I might make that choice/investment too in their position. But just as anti-piracy measure it's a huge gamble imho, one that I wouldn't make.

Well, if people say they have no issues, and it continues then that will give the boost in its reputation, and those will invest in it. The point isn't to get pirates to buy, but it's to stop them from stealing, which devalues a product.

Also, Kontakt isn't a sound bet either. I spent 8 months troubleshooting with NI, for no resolve to be found with latency/streaming issues and for it only to be overcome by the purchase of k6.

Spitfire, like OT can also tailor the player to their product needs. We've seen from OT what potential benefits this has.

 

[Cinemachine]

The player works as advertised, too many complainers. It’s the exact same BS with EW Play....it works, but too many people throw it under the bus.

For me the player is very stable. Using HZ strings is great. A few other things would be awesome, purge, easier menu accessing, etc. Spitfire have mentioned an advanced version is coming. We'll see what's in store!

 

[jononotbono]

I wish it was multi timbral.

 

[rgames]

The player works as advertised

Well then I mised the part where they advertised "You sometimes won't be able to use your libraries because of licensing issues."

It's kind of like the Apple Maps problem: you can market your way around things that don't have technical metrics - like a "fantastic user experience". But as soon as something has a clear definition of "good" vs "bad", you better be sure you have technically competent people doing it. It doesn't matter how much branding you do, if the map takes you to the wrong spot, the "fantastic user experience" of getting that bad information doesn't make up for it.

The VSL team relies a lot more on technical "cleanliness" of their products to make sales, so doing the technical work to develop a sampler is not that far of a reach, and their sampler is very good. EW and Spitfire rely a lot more on branding and, therefore, have much more of the Apple Maps problem.

Again - any developer reading this thread and thinking of making a sampler - license the one from VSL!

rgames

 

[Fleer]

Sadly that VSL look is not “my cup of tea”. I know this sounds highly subjective, which it surely is. And I quite like the look and GUI of the Spitfire app, probably because I’ve been a fan of the designers (UsTwo, the guys behind Monument Valley) since quite some time. And also because I’ve had no problems myself. Touch wood

 

[purple]

I don't know if the version that is shipped with the free labs stuff is different than that of the paid spitfire player libraries, but although the labs things are neat little niche patches, the player for them felt like what can only be described as "plastic". Like if it were a hardware rack mounted piece of gear, the whole thing would be made of cheap plastic except the screws. I like the spitfire sound sometimes, but I can't see myself investing in that player any time soon. Maybe OT will redeem themselves on that one.

 

[kitekrazy]

The player works as advertised, too many complainers. It’s the exact same BS with EW Play....it works, but too many people throw it under the bus.

This is the kind of mentality I'd expect on Steam forums. "If it works for me.....".

 

[kitekrazy]

Well then I mised the part where they advertised "You sometimes won't be able to use your libraries because of licensing issues."

It's kind of like the Apple Maps problem: you can market your way around things that don't have technical metrics - like a "fantastic user experience". But as soon as something has a clear definition of "good" vs "bad", you better be sure you have technically competent people doing it. It doesn't matter how much branding you do, if the map takes you to the wrong spot, the "fantastic user experience" of getting that bad information doesn't make up for it.

The VSL team relies a lot more on technical "cleanliness" of their products to make sales, so doing the technical work to develop a sampler is not that far of a reach, and their sampler is very good. EW and Spitfire rely a lot more on branding and, therefore, have much more of the Apple Maps problem.

Again - any developer reading this thread and thinking of making a sampler - license the one from VSL!

rgames

Soon proprietary players will equal the amount of individual download managers. I get why they are doing it. In house is more cost effective than paying a player fee I guess.

I don't see VSL allowing to use their sampler.

 

[AndyP]

My repair function has now worked again after Spitifire reset it. Now I notice that the violas staccato and spiccato are identical, the spiccatos play exactly the same samples as the staccatos ... a new surprise.

Celli as well ... Either I didn't notice before or this is new...

Violins and the Leaders are fine.

The SA support confirms to me today that this issue was reported by several users. At the same time they explain that it is the nature of these recordings and cannot be solved.
This is crazy and makes me a little speechless.

 

[Robert_G]

Dont worry. If Spitfire updates their new player as fast as they update their VIs....it will be fixed in no time

On another note they will be releasing 3 CUTTING EDGE NEVER BEFORE SEEN NEXT LEVEL libraries before Easter. So amazing youll never need anything else again....

 

[MartinH.]

On another note they will be releasing 3 CUTTING EDGE NEVER BEFORE SEEN NEXT LEVEL libraries before Easter. So amazing youll never need anything else again....

Will they be game-changing though?

 

[AndyP]

Will they be game-changing though?

So BBCSO is a game changer for me. But I don't think in the Spitfire sense.

 

[Fleer]

This is the kind of mentality I'd expect on Steam forums. "If it works for me.....".

Or: “If it doesn’t work for me ...”

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

This is the kind of mentality I'd expect on Steam forums. "If it works for me.....".

It works as advertised, there’s no smoke and mirrors here. Period.