Spitfire Symphony Re-issue vs. BBCSO

[@TPOID]

Perfect timing! Just got done watching your last video about the Re-issue and asked myself the question.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

:)

[@cjthomasmusic]

I’ve owned BBCSO Pro for a while and recently picked up the SSO. To me, BBC is a more well behaved library. Very “down the middle” sound. Easy to program. Sounds great out of the box. But I’m preferring the SSO because it’s less behaved. It feels a bit more alive to me. Feels more dynamic and detailed. A bit more bite.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

that is bang on

[@MrCrompz]

Yeah, I own BBCSO Core and I do sometimes feel it sound slightly too ‘classical’ for what I’m going for. However, I do prefer it to libraries like Albion, as I hate it when you don’t get control of individual instruments and only get variants on ‘woodwind section’ or something (although overall, the sound of Albion style libraries generally is more suited to what I’m going for… maybe I should try it at some point)

[@LotusEater14]

You're such a legend. Really enjoy your videos. Please keep it up, you're a highlight to my day.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

thank you

[@connollytunes]

"There may be trouble ahead...", but while there's Spitfire and music and Guy with his silly hood-eeeee - there ain't no trouble at all. Pure enjoyment. Thanks, Guy!

[@acdms]

I never get bored watching your channel. You have great music

[@briancollins1475]

This was really good timing. Thank you. I had just completed the Sampled Orchestration course using my trusty BBCSO Core and that had made me to hanker after something more "complete" in terms of instruments and mic positions. So I was planning to move up to Pro when I try eventually to complete Cinematic Orchestration (from way back - not the relaunch). But it seems totally clear to me that my best course of action is to buy SSO rather than upgrade to Pro. 1. I get a lot more instruments and articulations. 2. I get the *useful* mic positions rather than an enormous number that I would not use. 3. I still get to keep and use my BBCSO Core to blend in as appropriate. 4. SSO uses Kontakt, which I trust, rather than the Spitfire Player (where I have three unresolved support tickets!). 5. And I am still spending the same ££. In this upgrade scenario, SSO seems a no-brainer.

[@RobertRodriguezMusic]

Love a VS video! 🙌 Excited to watch this one!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

it was good fun to do :)

[@gtholt2816]

Your videos make me so happy, I love it, also great review, keep up the amazing work!!

[@squeakD]

Guy makes it all look so easy. It’s funny because those of us that have been playing a long time are used to people saying that to us.., but we also say it to other great musicians as well. Guy is very good at what he does.

YES ! Exactly what we needed!

[@shubus]

This vid is just what we needed. I'm now convinced now that BBCSO Pro is fine for my needs--especially since I already have it. And now for the Tip Of The Month: How can we easily spot music created on a DAW? Answer: Look for an opening ostinato.

[@jaywoelfel9228]

I just talked to a friend how is very musically interested but not talented or able to compose himself this week. He says he's now done some, in his words, very convincing, songs using AI. He said country songs seem to work very well. Anyway a prebuilt ostinato is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure you see the trend of many sample libraries now of "textures." These sometimes openly just say, hold down one note or a chord and you can immediately get minutes of score without moving a muscle.

[@shubus]

@@jaywoelfel9228And it's going to all start sounding the same---as with all AI generated content.

[@tsenkov]

Subscribed a few weeks ago and this is becoming a favourite channel. Thank you for the great content!

[@sonicart1808]

Great as always Guy thanks, Talking of the BBC, I work for a TV company and I was conforming some old Blankety Blank episodes recently and noticed a familiar contestant on one of them 😆 he looks better now, to be honest😏

[@HankAstral]

The conclusion is they work great together. Great tune guy

[@animeshsankat3119]

Learning from you is always a joy, especially sitting here in India❤

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Greetings!

[@MikJames-d1g]

Incredible work as always Guy, don't ever change 🙂

[@JanBLarsson]

Nice video, and now I have bought the course too. There will be old breadcrumbs to eat until Easter 😂. I'm sure it's worth it. Bought the two required scores as well. Hopefully Spitfire SO will be a great companion alongside everything. ❤

[@umatgeratonleik2584]

Timestamps for myself: Quick comparison SSO 2:48 BBCSO 3:17

[@powerbastion1083]

Thank you again for an excellent review - my fellow Sussex man.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

:)

[@mymusicbox1322]

I still watch “Daw 2 Score” when I’m in a rut for inspiration. Great series.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Ha - happy days

[@LorenFagen]

"cathedral of wonderfullness" I love it!!

[@Absolute585]

Thank you! Finally an answer to one thing of the many things we wish to know. There so many of these orchestral libraries. All of these companies have the same marketing campaign. Always talking about how they captured every detail while recording and the wonderful rich, deep and warm ambiance of whichever famous space it was recorded in. Also the amount of microphones they used. That it is the only library you need. I could go and ramble on, but I think you get the gist. We don't need perfection. We don't like marketing. I personally think getting results fast is more important. We spend hundreds of dollars on these things. Take your (potential) customers seriously. Honesty and ambition can coexist if done right.

[@TemmeSikkema]

Thanks

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Thank you very kind

[@FLH3official]

Thanks for the review, Guy. I already own BBC SO Pro and I'm thinking to expand my orchestral palette with the Spitifire Symphony "At A New Reasonable Price". I'm still hesitating but I heard it could be a nice "enlarged" complement. 18:20 I love the story about the ney and the qanun player 😅 But now we need to know how you used and orchestrated the qanun instead of a ney!

[@JoelEverettComposer]

I havr BBC Pro and just picked up SSO. For my take I find the expanded techniques a nice complement to the BBC SO

[@DJSkyracer]

I love these videos. I’m building a new studio, and I’m gonna go with Spitfire! 😁👍🏼

[@timravesteijn]

Love your video’s! Just bought the SSO 2024 library. Really love it! On your website you offer a cubase template for the library. Any change you also have one for logic? It’s really hard to come by 😅

[@justincox1685]

this is therapy of the best kind...ty

[@stevem-h3562]

I've not long invested in BBCSO Core.....liking it a lot.....

[@CraigRodmellMusic]

I've had Core for about 18 months now, and loving it. Very good value.

[@bobloomis246]

Guy, what happened to your 'game changing' NI MK3? Back to the Arturia or are you using all of them. Wondering because I'm thinking about a new board and trying to decide. Great vid as always!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Thats a 61 note keyboard I use with my protable rig - I havent got the Mk3 S88 yet

[@Eye1hoe]

Recently NI has had frequent problems with their software, either bugs or weird design mistakes. I recommend a keyboard that is fully functional on its own without requiring a host app on your computer like NI's things do.

[@bobloomis246]

Yup. That's what I was digging for, but it sounds like Guy is still satisfied with the 61. I run Kontakt 6 and have had zero problems but hear others are running into issues with Kontakt 7 and NI boards. Maybe I just need to stand pat for now.@@Eye1hoe

[@RudalPL]

HA! Very timely video. I own the BBC SO and was just wondering what's really the difference between the two.

[@nealegordon]

Nice vid thanks Guy. Reminded me a bit of a “potter esque” section

[@dogukanseren]

Hello, first of all, thank you for the video. Can SSO be used in Kontakt 6 as well? 🤔

[@maleake56]

No, the original version can, of course, but this updated release requires Kontakt 7, though you can use the free version.

[@alainlabonte6750]

I love your videos, educational with a touch of humor, if you ever want to take a tour of your home studio, learn about the choice of hardware and plugins…THANKS

[@CraigRodmellMusic]

18:40 No, I haven't had a lost Bassoon crisis, but I HAVE had a lost Double Bass crisis. While scoring in BBCSO Core one day last year, I noticed that the Bass part had just vanished. Curiously, though, the missing Bass part was still somehow playing back, even though it wasn't there. I had inadvertently pressed a key combination that caused the track to be hidden.

[@chrismoule7242]

Been there...

[@TrevorWesleyOfficial]

Man! you are amazing bro!

[@design1569]

Thanks for this informative and (as always!) humor- and energy-filled video! Mainly for money reasons, I'll buy BBCSO (I can buy BBC core today on sale for $269, vs $498 for SSO). Also, since I have little to no experience with orchestration, SSO has a bit too much choice (there's a TED Talk by psychologist Barry Schwartz on the downside of too much choice if that is of interest). Another reason that I'm going with BBC is that it's easier to add reverb to BBC than it is to remove reverb from SSO!

[@MikeGeorgia]

Great video. Thank you. BBCSO does have muted brass. I believe they are loaded as a separate instrument rather than as an articulation.

[@Bonamici]

Beautiful piece Guy!! 💛💙

[@rodterrell304]

This is an excellent video Guy, if I were to buy another sample library, I would get the BBCO core due to price. I'm just an armature hobbyist. The tip on Trombone voicing was very helpful.

[@MikJames-d1g]

I really leaned into Spitfire's questionable product pricing/discontinuances over the last few years, but they've really proved me wrong in the past year. Bringing back all these classics at affordable prices, rather than discontinuing things and offering half baked versions for Originals (I like originals, but it shouldn't be the only offering of these legendary products). They've really shaped up and expressed a desire to remain competitive. I'd imagine they may even be working on some sort of subscription based service as well. So warm and inviting, so Spitfire!

[@donstevenson3960]

Loved that one. Sounds like a John Williams Star Wars theme!

[@simonreglar7261]

Another amazing video, Guy, thank you!

[@JonahTrojek]

Hi, I am now 18 and I am thinking about the music composing carreer, bcs I started playing piano at 7 yo and started "writting" music when I was like 15. Now I am looking for some projects or just ways to practice scoring for videos/films, but I cant seem to find anything. Is there anyway to practice scoring when you are not yet proffesional enought to work on a REAl works? And one more question. Is it worth to go to collage for bachelor's degree in music? or just study something more reliable and than get Masters in music composing? Ty for any answers

[@dbmusicproductions9181]

There are multiple paths and the one that takes you the furthest is the correct path. It depends upon you. I highly recommend choosing something that makes you work the most at what you want to do. If you hope to be a composer, go straight into composing. The right university would be a fine choice.

[@therealmikeward]

If it's your passion, studying music is never a bad move. If doing it at college is too much of a stretch, you don't have to go that route. I'm on a Master's currently with Guy and the team at Thinkspace and it's really great. My undergrad was computer science, but I have many years of musical experience in lieu of an undergrad music degree. To your specific point, two bits of immediate advice: check out The Cue Tube for some films to score, also look out for scoring competitions, they're great to practice; and practice playing with other people as much as you can. Join bands, groups, orchestras, whatever you can find. It's a great way of learning how music "works". Good luck!

[@therealmikeward]

Oh, the Thinkspace short courses are good too. Worth checking out!

[@raeloonja4832]

Thanks a lot for this video and this lovely little piece of faery demo piece 😉 I own BBCSO and i was wondering if it was worth buying SSO. In the end, I feel that both are worthwhile. But that it's not essential to want to quickly replace one with the other. In any case, I'll end up buying it sooner or later!

[@ianriddle9502]

Great video as always Guy. Think the Symphony sounds better than the BBC. Bought the BBC Core last month on offer. And being a hobbyist can't really justify buying the Symphony. Will have to wait for Black Friday 🙂. Think the music escaped from Hogwarts🤣.

[@anatomicallymodernhuman5175]

It's astonishing how good that quick sketch sounds. BBC sounds more like music. But SSO has more clarity and definition, especially in the pitched percussion. Plus, as I understand it, it has an extra dynamic layer. I have BBC Pro, and wish I could justify adding SSO to my template.

[@doodle6497]

I think for strings at least, BBCSO has consistently three dynamic layers, where SSO strings sometimes are a blend of a piano layer and a forte layer (I speak as someone who spent way too much time under the hood mainly fussing about where the velocity layers divvied up, and that's how I discovered this. There's variance along the way, but some articulations have only two - even only one - dynamic layers.)

[@5ammy13]

Guy, you had BBCSO Core open when you loaded the French Horns, which is why when you shifted to the Pro version you didn't see the mutes. You could either have gone to the articulation selection option or have reloaded the the French Horns from the Pro version. The FH and Brass do come with mutes 😃

[@saalasruokangas4206]

Core also has mutes! Something else went wrong there 🤔

[@JohnSk82]

Dude .... THE THUMBNAIL hahah. Love you mate ,always a trol

[@BackSlashJvb125]

i loves Guys excitement over new libraries

[@nicholaswheeler1311]

Looking forward to watching this. The “old” Spitfire Symphony orchestra is at a significant discount to its previous prices.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

It is great value now

[@garymagnusen6500]

Did you get rid of your NI Kontrol keyboard?

[@anatomicallymodernhuman5175]

It's in his other studio. Video about it a few months back.

[@trentwaterman7049]

THANKYOU for this sir!

[@flyme-z7b]

Does the SSO play nice with the Kontrol MK3 S61 as N.I. product would in Kontakt 7, such as showing the screen images, controls, and play instrument demos sounds as you scroll through them? If I'm sold! Another great presentation, Guy.

[@MaxiCortezProducciones]

Tremendas librerías... y lo tuyo es excelente!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

They are

[@cinematic_monkey]

Glad I inspired You to do that one.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Thank you :)

[@ramonmff5158]

You made the video we all imagined in our heads 😂

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

HA! Well never say I dont respond to comments!

[@ramonmff5158]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation sir, I would never! 😉

[@MichaelDowComposer]

Just coming back to this to make a decision on the old BF sales... the piece REALLY sounds like the PS1 game Medieval :) LOVE it

[@StevBarretMusic]

I like a lot your vibes !

[@adriendecroy7254]

I bought the original SSO, and it was about $3000 NZD. I couldn't really use it until NotePerformer 4 came out with support for it, and now I love it. Unfortunately NotePerformer 4.4 doesn't yet support the re-issue. Thankfully Spitfire kindly gave me a free upgrade.

[@roddenis01]

It does now :)

[@jaywoelfel9228]

I really like BBC PRO, which I got awhile ago. The only thing I find is some of the smaller voices, like the harp and celeste for instance, of BBC has some rumble and unwanted room noise in them, perhaps even traffic noise?? And when you add a couple of mics together this type of thing can add up to be distracting. Spitfire has always seemed to me to make you use the modwheel more than I'd like on any long notes. The BBC PRO strings are pretty great, you can a little additional verb from wherever you like outside of Spitfire if/when you need it.

[@MsJovanijovani]

Hello to you, I have a small question if you allow. As someone who wishes to compose grand orchestral music for opera, film, or video games in the style of Hans Zimmer or John Williams, which orchestra would be most suitable between the BBC Core Orchestra and the Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra? To provide further guidance, I am ideally looking for an orchestra equipped with the greatest number of articulations and instruments, with a soft and warm sound for emotional music, featuring solo instruments that sound good and realistic. This orchestra will be paired with the Metropolis Ark One from Orchestral Tools to add the power it might lack during climactic moments. Thank you in advance for your response, and best wishes! 🎶

[@chloecohensound]

For large cinematic sound, most people recommend Albion One, although it only has ensembles which make the arrange the chords for you, so you lack voicing choices.

[@muiscman807]

That's two videos you have done on this library Guy and have not mentioned the 345 gig download...

[@Julzantoine]

Hi Guy! Jules from TSE here… nice demonstration, thank you! I have a question though : did you set all the appropriate tracks delay so that everything blends together ? Or do you don’t care about it because you play so much by hand? Or because it is a quick sketch, you would simply clean up the whole thing afterwards (or give it to Brad 😆) ?

[@league6]

This is by far the best demo of the two libraries I've seen! It was really enjoyable and so informative. SSO with the ambient reverb of Air Lyndhurst seems to have quite a tail to it, which is no doubt suited to epic blockbuster orchestrations, but I guess you can't remove it if you wanted to replace it with something else. I was just thinking, what would you do if a professional mixing engineer wanted totally dry stems from you??

[@dirtyandnasty9011]

If he wants totaly dry stems when your samples were recorded at lyndhurst you should probably question the "engineer", not the samples. Mix the close mics higher if you like your mix more "in your face" but it is a waste to delete the room and add a reverb later imho.

[@markbutcher4100]

I wonder if an upgrade of bbc core to pro might price drop. But I might need another Ssd even more ram… and so it goes

[@NickWendelsGuitarLessons]

Hey Guy, Nick from the MA PMC. What about 'Swam' by Stefano Lucato. It's the latest Audio Modeling software. How do you think about this plugin? It is 500 dollars and seems on the video's from Namm 24 really impressive!

[@Lesit12]

thank you for the template! I want to know what you are doing in your session? more than anything

[@Lauschangriff13]

Hey great Video as always. But what about cpu utilization? There are so many tracks to put the plugin on, isnt it very cpu intens?? In Kontakt i know, i can load different instruments and put them on different audio outputs. That will save cpu power.

[@alexpapas99]

Like holyyyy.... I was just thinking of s comparison between these two...

[@jmurray2018]

It’s that adorable guy with the rock star sunglasses again…. So a spitfire battle, a symphony of flight and might! - So is it gonna be a kinda Dam Busters theme written for King Fishers v’s Jacamar’s ? Guess I’ll have to watch and finds out wish me luck

[@PinChuang-ro3mo]

How about Spitfire Tutti? Is there any chance to review it?

[@craigmoran893]

When you changed sunglasses, i subscribed.

[@daviddas]

Request: remove the colons in your time stamps (in your description field) so that KZbin can properly index the chapters.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Ah - really?

[@brentmarquez9057]

Can someone explain to me what Kontakt is? I thought it was another library at first, but I hear people talking about it as if it is some kind of base tool or plugin(?) or something that you use with another library. As I'm researching VSTs, I keep seeing it mentioned sometimes used with libraries, sometimes without and I'm confused on whether it's needed, when to incorporate or use it and what it's for. I've heard it called a "player" now - what is that and what is the difference between that and say a DAW?

[@MikeSheehan727]

Kontakt is a plugin by Native Instruments for running sample libraries and sample-based virtual instruments. So all Spitfire libraries (unless they have their own plugin, which some do) run in Kontakt. There is a free version called Kontakt player, which is just a more limited version of the plugin. but for many sample libraries you do need the full version of Kontakt. so both Kontakt and Kontakt Player are plugins, but not a DAW in itself.

[@brentmarquez9057]

@@MikeSheehan727 thanks. Looking into this whole world a bit more, it seems like I need the free version of Kontakt to use some Spitfire libs like Symphony Orchestra, but BBCSO comes with it's own player apparently. So I guess a "player" is some kind of software that the DAW needs to convert sample information into audio signal.

[@Paszczakoformis]

Someday you could try out audio modeling SWAM instruments, if you didn't already. They are not sampled instruments but still sound nice. From what I know generally speaking they are modelled in real time by cpu, work similar like synthesisers. Best to use with expression pedal or those funny breath controllers. I don't think those instruments can replace great sampled libraries, but for solos, fast legatos, or music such like jazz for example work pretty good. Give them a try someday because I'm curious what you will come up with. 🙂

[@ArtmanBass]

Nice comparison of the two libraries from Spitfire! I appreciate your sample library reviews. A long time ago I purchased Spitfire Studio Strings - any thoughts or former reviews of that library7?

[@paul_meulemans]

I have both. Only have to do the upgrade of the Symphonic Symphony . It's only 99,- for me. :-)

[@rafaelhernandez5550]

All good and now my question why Spitfire not have divisi strings? Thanks

[@craigturb]

Thanks Guy! If I already have BBCSO Core, would I get more value from upgrading to Pro? Or buying SSO instead?

[@Lol4you22]

Once the basson lines came in this reminded me of Elfman's original Batman theme.

[@HARMONYWAVEmarko]

Bless you!

[@-Deena.]

As of 17/03/24 the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is now back at the full price of £499. Damn. I'm so annoyed I missed the discount. I guess it's turn the heating off for two months time 😁

[@Po1itica11yNcorrect]

Are there any differences in load time? Because BBCSO Pro instrument load times are a nightmare.

[@talnomix3164]

For me, SSO is the clear Winner, better Legato patches and the brass has a wider dynamic range and bite for epic themes like stat wars, clear winner for me

[@eylam9690]

Funny nobody else mentioned that. The legato in BBCSO brass is just subpar. I never use them.

[@Morkai101]

Do you think the performance patches in SSO are worth the price? Quite like the idea of loading up one patch that works without key switches?

[@moonlessproject]

I own the BBC pro and use the NI S88 mkII. The light guide doesn’t work anymore since I’ve updated my macOS. Does anyone have any suggestions to make the light guide work again when you run the bbc into Komplete Kontrol?

[@JudgeFredd]

Great video

[@Daring2Win]

I've been primarily an 8Dio user for years with Audio Modeling for solo/smaller sections. Is Spitfire superior, or is it another instance of taste?

[@SamAllenComposer]

You gotta stop convincing me to buy more libraries Guy! ha

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Ha! Sorry

[@craigturb]

Can you just add a reverb plugin to BBCSO to make it sound like SSO?

[@ianai787]

Is there a way I could use my mouse for strings ? By moving it back and forth ?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

You mean instead of the mod wheel? You can use a pencil tool and draw controller data in - that works

[@ianai787]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation hmmm… I really just wanna be able to do it with a midi and my mouse. I don’t think I’m at a buying a keyboard stage yet, I’ll consider a pencil.

[@9stitchesimages268]

The pencil tool referred to is a tool in your DAW that you can draw notes and automation (etc) in with. And yes you can use it with a mouse. Check the documentation that came with your recording software.

[@StephSancia]

I bought the Spitfire Cinematic ORIGINALS 2 weeks ago and I think the SPITFIRE ORIGINALS Collection is Beautiful

[@StephSancia]

PS, I see you have an Arturia keyboard. I so wish I'd have bought one instead of my S61 Mk2 from Germany

[@riccardominelli2720]

Do i have to buy kontakt to use the SSO?

[@janpacino7089]

No, you can use the free Kontakt "Player" version

[@keithgardner8000]

Arturia keyboard and not the S61?

[@signumscaler]

Where can we download the finished music. It sounds amazing.

[@thurrafork]

Ooh, I'm very curious about this SSO deal! I have HOOPUS - which is good, but sometimes a bit of a struggle to get the sound I want. Obviously combining things gives new opportunities, but, for a traditional orchestral sound (dense orchestrations like JW), which would you say is the better single library: HOOPUS or this rereleased SSO?

[@ΥπερδιαγαλαξιακόςΑστροπολεμιστ]

OPUS is 1st grade orchesta for instant Hollywood sound.You can not compare these libraries.Opus is more powerfull,detailed and sound.

[@thurrafork]

@@ΥπερδιαγαλαξιακόςΑστροπολεμιστ Yeah, HOOPUS is great, and certainly powerful and detailed, and yet I often get the impression that some pros much prefer SSO. Hmmmm.

[@ΥπερδιαγαλαξιακόςΑστροπολεμιστ]

@@thurrafork it gives diferent flavour to your sound

[@TalmoTheSell]

I really like the sound and tone of HOOPUS, but it’s such a pain to program and it’s hard to get the sound you want, in my personal experience. I’m also not really much of a spitfire guy, but in general I’ve had better experiences with spitfire. Spitfire also has better legatos and Air Lyndhurst is awesome, which would work great for JW style scores

[@lovelymikeb]

How come the Harp is so "present" in that mix - I always lose the Harp when it is playing with almost anything else.....?!

[@d_lydian]

Thanks Guy! You're videos are always a pleasure :) Don't you have issues with Kontakt 7 and the GUI size of SSO? I have to scroll down & up all the time. And the default view of Kontakt 7 is so annoying and ugly, I can't change it.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Not often - I do have an issue where the UI flickers on a second monitor but nothing serious

[@ClassicCaleb]

Overall I generally like Kontakt, but noticed on a 4k monitor the GUI for SSO doesn't seem to scale well and is very tiny indeed.

[@whittymusic]

Why upgrade if you already have the professional previous version, is it really worth it?

[@timrourke6737]

But now bbc core is available for £239, do I go for symphony (currently at £399 again) or core. Makes it a hard decision again!