The Sound Board

Unprofessional. I hope Native Instruments get a lot of backlash and have to take back the decision.

Now would be a good time for Incirios to release. I've been a beta tester, and it promises to be a great alternative to Kontakt.

Thank you for the heads up Piet. I appreciate it. But not to worry. I'll get the Nashville Scoring Strings simply for the pizzicati. Anything else that I use them for will be just a bonus. Dimension Strings, for me, are actually an unlearned taste. I used to use them a lot, as you know, for their fl...

Some time ago I started making a point using all new libraries I bought in at least one track of library music. I guess that's 'cheating' too. In many cases I could probably have used a different library instead and it would have worked as well. But for a few years now, I have found it difficult to ...

Thank you for your first impressions Piet. I think I am going to join Larry and you. Even if they don't make it into my template and I'll only use the pizzicati here and there, that's not such a terrible price for that. Geoff, there's also Black Friday in between. So there are probably more deals co...

As always I would have been interested to hear your opinion Piet. I am glad you can relate Larry. It's one of the main reasons why I don't buy as many libraries as I used to. I haven't even managed to integrate Cineperc completely into my template. Still, Nashville Scoring Strings stay tempting at t...

Audio Ollie's 'Nashville Scoring Strings' are on sale for $60 through Pulse: https://pulse.audio/product/nashville-scoring-strings-by-audio-ollie/ The deal lasts until 3rd November 2023. Pros and cons of the library are known by now. I was tempted to pick them up just for the pizzicati alone. And th...

LASS 3 sordino sounds almost broken next to Duality here. They have an odd buzzing and nasal sound. Duality Con Sordino sounds quite lovely.

Thank you Guy. The library is great to work with.

Just finished writing a long review of the library. It should be published soon. There is no point in reproducing it here. But I would like to share the mockup I made to familiarise myself with the library. It's four instances of ARO: 1st Violins, for first and second violins, each with divisi. The ...

The demos sound ok to very good to me. With the exception of the Tchaikowsky demo. That one sound insufferably bad to me. Despite that I am not really interested. The reason is that I rarely need sordino strings. And for the times I do, I have Sonokinetic's Sordino Strings that I got for free during...

The library has been released. Spitfire Audio provided an NFR copy for me, as I am writing a review. I am downloading now.

Thanks for the tip Kohima. I will try that. I thought of it more as a plugin of the masterbus, but I will try using it (sparingly) on every channel as well.

Bought the Studer A800 emulation. I'm not sure I'll l have much use for it. But at $39 it's worth it even if it is only sporadically useful.

So UAD does not only step away from their hardware dsp, but also their boutique pricing. The Studer A800 is interesting to me. Perhaps I will pick it up at 39$.

Yes, that's the question Yasin. If this is the culmination of what's possible with current sampling technology, where to go for Spitfire Audio after the Abbey Road Orchestra has been completed? Continuing in the same way will not be possible. They will be forced to innovate one way or another, or fi...

Tough crowd indeed. I am pleasantly surprised by the sound. Simon Rhodes seems to have done amazing work. The Mix 1 is too wet for me, and that's why I was not wowed by the Paul Thomson teaser. Mix 2 is more to my tastes. And with the microphone options - all of which sounding pristine - I am sure y...

What the heck sculp. An antisemite, rightwing, conspiracy theorist in the sampling world? Just what we needed...

Anyway, the pre-order will start coming Thursday. I guess we will see more informations about the library then.

Well, I think the bet that Spitfire have going with their Abbey Road Orchestra is that if you keep their current technology, and max out the specs of everything, you will get the pinnacle of sample libraries. The problem ist that it is not necessarily true. VSL Synchron Strings have 8 dynamic layers...

It's too soon to tell of course, but I share the sentiment that this first teaser does not give too much reason for excitement. Even if a sample libraries with no corners cut/no expenses spared is interesting, the proof is in the pudding. It could be a culmination of current sampling technology. Thi...

Spitfire Audio have announced Abbey Road Orchestra - Violins 1:



No other information available at the moment. I couldn't listen to the announcement yet. Will do so later and share my impressions.

It's not just you. I hear the same Piet. It reminds me of the Bohemian violin. It seems to be a sound made to cut through mixes with a lot of high frequency content without taking up too much space in the midrange. For the music I tend to write, a solo violin should have more body. I'm also not a fa...

Two very good points here. As Piet writes, other developers have found ways to provide new sounds that were not available in sample libraries. VSL seems to be looking for new ways to deliver the same. With Duality, they have embraced a concept that has not been widely used in the world of orchestral...

Thank you Piet! That's very helpful. I did listen to all the demos again. And while I think they are nice, I don't hear anyhting special that sets Duality apart. I'll save me some time and not test these.

No hurry Piet. I could try the library, as VSL offers a refund. Trying to decide if I want to put in the time, and some trusted opinions would help.

Piet, are you willing to share your first impressions of this library? I am curious to hear wat you make of it. Does it do lightfooted scherzo-esque music?