BBCSO Core Deep Dive: Brass & Percussion - Hit or Miss?

[@micwarren21]

I agree completely about brass being weak. Your evaluation of core and demo are great and informative. I do own the library and its price for what you do get is excellent. Thanks for the review.

[@SamuFL]

I agree. Value for money is excellent! I am a really happy owner. Thank you for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it!

[@alphalyr_ae6990]

Thank you

[@charlesyateschalfant]

I own the core version and considering going Pro. I'm not after cinematic action sound, more documentary scoring sound so feel it may be worthwhile.

[@SamuFL]

For me the biggest feature are the additional woodwinds and the string section leaders. The section leaders give much needed detail for the mix. And the additional woodwinds give great flexibility.

[@GoOKuSj33]

I think the brassy thing was a intentional choice. In the symphonic world, brass don't usually play legato in a brassy manner, but way mellower, in fact, it's hard to sustain a fff note for way too long, that makes mockups sound artificial. This library is aiming for a concert sound and not the typical movie trailer stuff, which is kinda rare.

[@SamuFL]

It might. I agree that BBCSO is capturing not the hollywood big sound, but the more classic symphonic sound. And it does that phantastically. And yes, in a classic symphonic orchestra you usually don't play fff brass all the time. As you mentioned, it's tough!

[@jeuxdeau2009]

The video intro theme song sounds great !

[@SamuFL]

Thank you very much - that is actually my original work 😃

[@simonebianchini1205]

Thanks, nice review

[@MartinJG100]

Good reviews on Core. Learned a few things.

[@SamuFL]

Thank you!

[@CraigRodmellMusic]

I hadn't noticed the timpani roll that was a hit yet. I would imagine it was probably a mistake. Thanks for giving us your take on the library.

[@SamuFL]

Yah, the missing high D timapni roll. No clue why... It's anyway just a really minor detail.

[@mozumastering6662]

Which company would you say does make the best brass section?

[@SamuFL]

Ouff... I'm sweating now 😆 Seriously, I am not qualified to answer that question. I can tell you what works for me. But that is in no way "the best" or something. I like using cinebrass core and cinebrass sonore (both included in Musio 1) as my bread and butter. I like layering every now and then some 8dio century brass patches for more aggression. I use BBCSO horns when I want that specific mellow close voiced chords sound. And I use spitfire Abbey Road One Thematic Trumpets, when I want the superhero sound. And... I'm saving some money to get Metropolis Arc 1, specifically because the sound of the brass appears to be really nice, loud and powerful. Is that a somewhat useful answer? I guess -- I haven't yet found my "go to" brass library. And I think brass is somehow particularly hard to sample well. Dunno, just my feeling.

[@toddfrombethesda6963]

Cinematic studio brass is the best I’ve used.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

I think we all agree that Brass are the weak point of the BBCSO (core or pro). I invested in the Berlin Brass that are way more versatile and powerfull. And they fit very well with the BBC SO

[@SamuFL]

Yes, indeed. I think we all agree. I added CineBrass and that one works also quite well with BBCSO. Berlin Brass is, as far I heard, phantastic.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@SamuFL Yes, they are ! This also, I think, the only library that allows to write for 4 different horns, 3 different trumpets, etc... The result is amazing. The choice of articulation is enormous. But you need a lot of RAM...

[@danielrennie8444]

I also agree with the weakness of the brass. You may have seen these videos, but here are a couple of tutorials I found on making the brass more powerful (even though I don't yet own the Core Version). kzbin.info/www/bejne/eITKc5unjtGZhaM kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4e8eWaJeql8bLc Maybe you could figure out how it would work best for you to make the brass sound bigger and make a tutorial on your method for the rest of us! Just an idea. Thanks again for making such good videos even though I only discovered your channel yesterday! Keep up the good work!

[@SamuFL]

Those are great tips! Thank you! I figured out over time myself a few things. But most of the time, I end up using Cinebrass in the end. Except! If I want that beautiful chorale horn sound. That one is just great from bbcso.