Which Spitfire Audio Strings Should You Buy?

[@guyshard]

Remarkable presentation. And extremely useful as I am myself a Spitfire Audio customer and always wanted to hear a side by side comparison of their entire libraries using Strings.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Glad it was helpful!

[@booksimmersed]

Use a lot of spitfire stuff on my projects and need to evoke different composers' styles. this was hugely helpful!

[@andrewbeckett4001]

Subscribed! This is exactly the style of content I try to find and usually fail: A comparison of many libraries with nil to little bias and a simple quick example without the melodramatic descriptions and embellishments. Thank you- I learned a lot about the libraries I don’t have, mostly that I was right but a couple sing

[@LukeHuchMusic]

Great video! More impressed by your ability to walk at the end with out looking where your going! lol. Thanks!

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Ha yes so far I haven’t walked into anything but there’s always time for that!

[@Po1itica11yNcorrect]

I have 14 of these libraries and love them all. Well, most of them. Going to add a few more during the next sale.

[@alontrigger]

I have LCO strings, really good on their own for a smaller tight sound and for layering with a bigger section. In addition, it has unique modern articulations.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

The additional articulations in LCO are fantastic. Wherever I want something a bit “off-piste” I go looking there.

[@jimsanger]

Great video Stephen, the frozen strings really stand up surprisingly well compared to the bigger libraries.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Yep. Amazing value in the originals range! Obviously you only get the one ensemble patch so less flexibility to shape the sound but for this kind of soft string sound you may not need that.

[@steph1918]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Stephen.

[@critiquedard]

Thank you very much for this video. It helps me a lot.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Glad it helped!

[@sagereynolds]

Sweet video, Stephen!

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Thanks Sage!

[@Spidouz]

Just discovered your channel. Nice video, thank you. I just got the Appassionata Strings from their Summer Sales. At some point, I also plan to get (probably in that order): - Abbey Road One Collection - Abbey Road Two - Chamber Strings Pro - BBC SO Pro - Zimmer Collection That should cover most of my need from Spitfire Audio. I did a lot of researches and I did listen to a shit ton of demos to finally come to this conclusion that I can't afford to get everything and even if I could, my composer level isn't high enough to really exploit them fully, so I prefer to restraint myself to only few libraries so I won't spend my time chasing more libraries and I will instead learn to use them. So my criteria was to have libraries from different studios and from different orchestra sizes, so I could cover most of needs. I also decided to limit myself to a number of developers too, such Orchestral Tools, VSL, Spitfire and then eventually CineBrass, EW and few libs here and there to complete some eventual missing. I know it's a very controversial position to have, mainly in a world of "always more" like we can read on forums such VI-C, but someone I don't care, I just don't want to work just to pay for the next library. So thank you for taking the time to make such a video, it helps again to put a sound on the libraries I'm gonna get. Cheers

[@ricgus3]

Solstice clas sounds so good!

[@richarddwjensen]

Brilliant video. Extremely Helpful. Please tell me you've done one for short string sounds as well!

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Thanks Richard! I haven’t had the time to make one. I think if you are looking for short strings the list is slightly shorter because a number of the libraries focus on long or evolving sounds. I do love the shorts in Chamber Strings basses! But there are great choices in most the libraries that have shorts

[@dafingaz]

So many great options. Thanks for sharing!

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

It’s great to have choice but also sometimes you can be more creative when you are limited!

[@dafingaz]

@@StephenTallamyMusic Facts! Most times. LOL

[@lua_azure.jp_progressive]

Good reference, thank you so much!

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Hope it was helpful

[@LucasPosoli]

The everything drive, such a dream 😍

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

It’s quite an honour to have one!

[@sabofx]

Great comparison! thanx

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Hope you found it useful

[@ddespair]

Maybe it’s just me but i wish these library comparison videos would address when the libraries were recorded as much as where. Symphonic strings is almost 6 years old so I feel like it’s something to consider, for example, you know you won’t be getting any updates for your buck.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Certainly it’s something to consider, though my experience with most Spitfire libraries is that updates are usually only minor bug fixes rather than major new features (with a few exceptions). I’ve seen older libraries get fixes over time but nothing more than that. The easy way to spot new libraries is they are not in Kontakt.

[@redlester]

Good point, although Symphonic Strings probably not the best example as they released a massive update for it (at extra cost!) only a year or so ago with loads of extra mic options. I think this now forms the "Pro" edition.

[@eylam9690]

´Sakkoni´ strings ;) Nice comparison! It is still unclear to me what the difference is, ultimately, between OA chamber evos and Fragile evos though. It seems to be essentially the same exact concept and ensemble size. As for Tundra, it is just a thing of beauty.

[@dudleyspikeclarke1355]

@Stephen, thank you so much for this video. This is going into to my "keep" list for referencing when I want to find the right library for my inspiration. Thank you.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Glad you enjoyed it! There are some less known libraries that can be great for inspiring you. Sometimes just hearing a different performance in the samples can help kick new ideas into action.

[@dudleyspikeclarke1355]

@@StephenTallamyMusic I have a number of string libraries from Spitfire but also from Vienna and Orchestral Tools. Every single one of them have a unique character. For bedroom wanna be's it's the closest we get to running a recording session with a live orchestra

[@MBynum]

I have Appassionata and Contemporary Drama Toolkit and it's by far my favorite Spitfire libraries as it fits the intimate type of emotional music that I'm creating. Abbey Road One is probably my least favorite at the moment because of how dry the high and low strings sounds. But I am torn between getting either Albion Neo or Tundra.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Personally I would pick Neo over Tundra. It’s slightly more up to date in terms of recording standard and lots of great treats in it.

[@toddfrombethesda6963]

@@StephenTallamyMusic Disagree get Tundra, the larger sounds of the flautando and the no rosin patch is amazing, its the textual library of the eight divine.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

@@toddfrombethesda6963 I guess the real answer is: get both!

[@mariomorenomusic]

Great Video!!! with this info i can choose perfect what i need to buy. Thank you!

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Sikartaig]

Great video. I like many of them but I'm looking for strings to add to my original songs. Mainly pop ballads. Hans Zimmer sounded great but it might be overkill.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Unless you want a string quartet style sound then I imagine that Chamber Strings would be a great choice for pop ballads. There’s a new “Chamber Strings Essentials” which could be a good entry point although I’m a big fan of the full version.

[@Sikartaig]

@@StephenTallamyMusic thanks for replying. I saw essentials last night but I’m on Luna and they have the chamber strings $299 but only three people have bought it. The low purchase and bad reviews have me confused about it’s quality.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

@@Sikartaig hard to know at this point what was taken out. The full original chamber strings is my go to library and I have no regrets buying it!

[@johnb2044]

looks like Dinton pastures with the Lodden in the background ....lived Bracknell for 25 years and now last 18 here in BC Canada Now

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

This one was actually in Sandhurst though some of my other videos feature parts of Bracknell Forest. Haven't strayed as far at Lodden yet - maybe that's for a future video!

[@dimitriskaraganis]

excellent presentation!! thank u

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Thanks for watching

[@patrickleenders7031]

Well done !

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Thanks for watching

[@ManassaMusic]

Really helpful! Im looking for some dry and close individual strings. What would you rather recommend as a whole package: Abbey Road Two or Solo Strings?

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

I would say that Abbey Road Two is going to give you the most dry sound. Solo Strings were recorded in AIR Studios so naturally have the hall character (although you can get them fairly dry if you take the closer mics).

[@ChrisWeinhardt]

I've used the Chamber Strings for two years now in pretty much every song I've released (that being rock and metal) and now want to add a large string section/orchestra to my kit but man deciding on which one I like best is freaking hard

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

It’s a tough one for sure. The first question is whether, for the larger strings, do you want individual sections or whether you are happy to have only a full string ensemble patch. If you want the individual sections that narrows it down quite a bit!

[@drew6524]

The chamber strings are gorgeous. That and BBCSO pro and you have strings covered for composition and soundtracks. I still want more but honestly that’s for convenience- I can make any combo from other libraries by choosing the right signals etc

[@KazGamble]

Excellent thanks.

[@drew6524]

Directly compared the symphonic strings are more real and preferable for Williams music-but he didn’t explore the 240 articulations in Zimmer unavailable in any other library

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

The Zimmer Strings Library is on a different level, both in sound and price! It’s very good for large sound

[@kl8115]

Excellent video, really appreciate the effort man. I have BBCSO Core and am not a huge fan of the mix so virtually never use it. The idea of upgrading to professional to potentially get use out of it seems a bit much. Would love the section control from BBCSO in Abbey Road.

[@johnjoedaly]

I was in the exact same position as you. I couldn't justify the upgrade price to the BBCSO Pro, but eventually it came in at a decent price in one of the sales. I will say that having all of the mics makes the BBCSO library, so much more versatile. The mix 1 on some on the instruments made them virtually useless for me in what I was trying to achieve. The harp for example. But with the stereo wide mics it's now my go to harp. Also worth a note, that I also found that the mix 1 does work for me if I just keep the dynamics in the lower ranges, anything above 79 and it just gets a bit weird for me. Anyway, long story short, I'm happy that I upgraded to the Pro version. Compared to the cost of buying a whole new library it wasn't too bad.

[@kl8115]

@@johnjoedaly Totally agree about the harp! Even some of the Pizzicato is so boomy. And y'know I also discovered the same about the dynamics since I watched this video, they're quite nice if you keep things in low to mid region. How's the clarity of the strings on higher dynamics with Pro?

[@johnjoedaly]

@@kl8115 it's still the same with the mixes in Pro version. It's like the balance of the instruments relative to the room sound changes in a slightly unnatural way or something in the higher dynamics of the Mixes. The good news is that you can balance this to your liking when you have access to the close mics and deccatree etc. It's a bit more work but I find it rewarding.

[@kl8115]

@@johnjoedaly Hmmm, I'll reassess on Black Friday, thanks for the tip man

[@kempsynth2172]

Thanks, now I'm more confused than before 😅😆

[@KinZokuMusic]

that's rough, I was hoping for a comparison of shorts and legato sounds as well

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Ha sorry! That would have been an even longer video. That said, only a limited number of Spitfire string libraries have legato so I guess that would be quicker.

[@KinZokuMusic]

@@StephenTallamyMusic don't get me wrong, it was still a good review and I got the overall tone for each library, but would it be possible for you do do a video on the shorts of those libraries? because I'm thinking about going to spitfire for a new string library, and Spicc/Pizz are very important sounds for my line of composing, and hearing each and every one of them compared side by side would make their differences very apparent and would help me choose

[@leoestrada723]

Hello guys, excuse me what library should you recommend for music like Rob Dougan, Furious Angels Instrumental, Im not driving anymore Instrumental, and There's Only Me.. I would really appreciate it... Thanks!

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Listening to the track the strings are quite dry (not much reverb) and so if I were going to try recreate it to match that style I would probably use Studio Strings. You might need to hype the sound a bit with some saturation/distortion, particularly in the bass

[@FLH3official]

Very informative video, thank you

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@FLH3official]

@@StephenTallamyMusic In a perfect world we should have 4 strings libraries. At least. A "classic" one (like BBC SO, I own) , A "big ballsy" one (like H Zimmer, with a whole little country playing 620 celli & 453 violas), A chamber one, for our delicate side, when we wear a wig, And an "articulation/bizare play" one, for crime scenes in a scandinavian TV series. 😉 And a 5th one, we never know...

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

@@FLH3official I think I need to buy a new wig with all the Chamber Strings I use.

[@FLH3official]

@@StephenTallamyMusic 😁😁😁

[@BellsCuriosityShop]

The Originals really hit the mark with VFM for the hobbyist! Intimate and Epic for everyday and Cinematic Frozen for scoring. I upgraded BBCSO Discover to Core recently, but still find I prefer VSL Synchron Strings.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

The Originals are amazingly good libraries. I’ve not tried any of the VSL stuff but for me the BBC SO best bits are in the tuned percussion and the woodwinds!

[@landonp629]

Funny thing, no matter how hard I try, I cannot hear any major differences between most string libraries.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Often it’s more about how the library makes you feel and how you respond when playing it. Fundamentally they are tiny performances of real musicians that can inspire you when you write with them.

[@nickycigarella805]

U cant hear it until u start blending tjem together and trying to match them with other instruments/ also u need to get a variety from diff companies u cant just use a bunch from one vendor

[@Metalpazallteway]

​@@nickycigarella805That's true but the most notable thing I've noticed is Spitfire uses the highest quality microphones which is a huge difference.

[@ikaray1775]

what kind of controller do you use to controll expressiona nd dynamics? looking for one

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

For a long time I was using PalleteGear which got superseded by Monogram. I’ve recently switched to using FVDE by Audio Imperia which has longer faders (you can see it in my latest video). I’ve also used the Korg nanokontrol which is a budget option that works well enough although it has quite short faders

[@J.Livermore]

would you say that there is much difference between Angular Strings Evolutions and Symphonic strings evolutions?. Thank You for your videos.

[@Justin.Franks]

Angular String Evos: Chamber-size 14-player string section, recorded in a fairly dry space, focuses more on "tension" with wavering pitches and ricochets, runs in Spitfire's own plugin Symphonic Strings Evos: Symphonic-size 60-player string section, recorded in a very wet / reverberant space, covers more ground with both shimmering/"warm" sounds as well as some with more tension like what Angular focuses on, runs in Kontakt / Kontakt Player

[@J.Livermore]

@@Justin.Franks Splendid!, thank You!

[@cerojase]

The thing is wich one of aaaaaall the libraries could stand alone with a little tweak to perform almost everything?

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

That’s a tough one. My everyday library is still Chamber Strings as it has the individual sections and a less “glossy” sound than Symphonic. That said, I think it would be a hard library to get a very hyped sound used in car chases or trailers.

[@JamieSolan]

Which would you recommend for detail disco strings? Abbey road 2, chamber strings or studio strings?

[@redalcatel27]

There's a video on YT of a disco composition using Chamber. Also you might want to check 8dio intimate strings which is on sale for 38 and if you havent purchased from them before its easy to get the 15 off code which leaves Intimate at just 23 which is a very great price, even at 38. Just search "disco spitfire chamber" for the video.

[@ManassaMusic]

Am I tripping or Albion Neo w/ A+B patches sounds 90% similar to Chamber Strings?

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

It has a similar sound. You can think of Albion Neo Strings A as half of a Chamber Strings ensemble. When you add Strings B you’ll get a sound similar, but bare in mind that the two sections where recorded individually and so it’ll be slightly different as the players in A will not be synced exactly to players in B.

[@JamieSolan]

Can you remove the chamber sound from the chamber strings?

[@valerianmandrake]

I'm looking for a library that has super low double bass. Any suggestions? The Abbey Road Low Strings doesn't go very low, I've found...

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Do you mean deep sounding or do you mean playing notes outside the natural range of a double bass?

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Why are you using divisi sections (4A, 3A, 3A, 4) in the Studio Strings Pro ? The full versions (8,6,6,6,4) sounds bigger

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

No particular reason other than I thought it would be an interesting contrast

[@G.ProgOsto]

I already have OAE, OACE, Orchestral Swarm, Frozen Strings, . I would like to complement them with either Fragile String Evolutions or Angular String Evolutions. It is very hard for me to make a decision between the two.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

That I guess depends on the sort of music you write. For tense stuff then definitely Angular. For softer stuff then Fragile!

[@nickycigarella805]

Yes.

[@CybreSmee]

Sounds like you have the vibrato on full, makes ensemble patches sound weird.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

I loaded each patch in their default setting I believe. That usually has some amount of vibrato but I don’t think they were full on.

[@CybreSmee]

@@StephenTallamyMusic I think you'll find you did, I'm very familiar with the sound. The only thing I would personally do is ride the dynamics and expression, this gives a far more realistic comparisons between libraries as traditionally the full orchestra would never use strong vibrato when playing tutti like that.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

@@CybreSmee oh yes, expression and dynamics are key!

[@Po1itica11yNcorrect]

One library I see missing is Contemporary Drama Toolkit

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Yeah, I don’t think Spitfire listed that under their “Strings” libraries at the time. I guess maybe as it’s not really an ensemble of strings, but electric cello and violin. There are a few other libraries in the mix that have String instruments blended in them such as LCO Textures, Raven Bush, The Pool Project, etc. I think they would be difficult to compare to these ensemble ones.

[@fritsvanzanten3573]

The examples are only slow movements.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

Yes. I choose long articulations for the comparison because some of the libraries don’t have short actuations (for example Olafur Arnold’s Evolutions).

[@fritsvanzanten3573]

@@StephenTallamyMusic I am new to string libraries/samples, and was looking for strings for Motown and 70s Disco and understood those are about short articulations. Looking for an affordable one I find most reviews and demos are about broad 'cinematic' layers and indeed many, certainly more affordable libraries only have a few articulations, not the ones needed for the genres I mentioned. There are some Spitfire libraries mentioned as suitable for those, however. Thank you for the reply.

[@StephenTallamyMusic]

@@fritsvanzanten3573 yes for that style you definitely want short articulations and probably would get a most of what you need out of ensemble patches as you probably don’t need to split out each section. Also you probably would want a dry sound. This rules out quite a lot of the Spitfire stuff because it’s recorded in large halls.

[@fritsvanzanten3573]

@@StephenTallamyMusic Thank you for thinking along Those are indeed the things I'm in the process of figuring out (and I don't want to buy something to find out afterward). It makes that most comparison videos don't apply, but you can't tell from the title (hence my slightly frustrated comment). Spitfire's Chambers Strings and Intimate Stings are mentioned though. Another aspect is that libraries also may consist of loops/complete phrases, which I don't prefer.

[@fritsvanzanten3573]

@@StephenTallamyMusic Slinky Strings would be a nice (LABS?) library😉

[@TheAerovons]

They all sound like a synth patch…dissapointing.

[@GoOKuSj33]

I think your ears are dirty 😂

[@TheAerovons]

@@GoOKuSj33 My ears are just fine lol Use these if you think they sound great ....