Amicus717

I have a hunch he did.

Daniel James walkthru is here, in case anyone is curious:

...and yeah, I really like it. Albion ONE is part of my essential collection of goto libraries, and I loved the Spitfire LABS. So after doing a lot of research into Loegria (mainly via Spitfire's demo videos and Daniel James' pretty detailed walkthru), I decided it was probably something I could use and was unable to resist the current 50% off pricing. Really glad I got it. Some gorgeous patches, and overall a really nice addition to the palette. The 1/2 size ensemble patches are lovely, and the ensemble flautando patch is freakin' gorgeous to my ears. There are some Easter Island II patches that I will probably be using a lot, and the euphonium and sackbuts are great brass patches with a unique vibe to them. Haven't had a chance to check out most of the Steam Band II patches, but the few I sampled were beautiful and haunting. Can't see me using the recorders all that much -- they are doubled up and adventurously tuned, and I have a solid set of recorder samples already across various libraries. Loegria will not replace any of my gotos, but since I use the Albion ONE strings a ton, the quieter Loegria strings -- which are recorded in the same space and using, I presume, many of the same players -- will fit in with them really well. Loegria is not for everyone, since it is really specific in what it offers. If you don't need this sort of intimate, quiet and detailed set of samples, you'll wonder why the hell you bought it. But if you need to accessorize your existing libraries with some quiet patches that have an authentic soft vibe, its a great addition. Figured I'd offer up my 5 cents worth. I find it tricky recommending libraries, since we are all really unique in what we need and like, and as always YMMV. But I'm really glad I got it, and figured I'd let folks know that Loegria is worth at least looking at before the deal ends (tomorrow evening, I believe)... Rob

Ah man. Yeah, that is irony. I've heard of that happening in other places, too. The problem with pipe organs is that they are usually way too expensive to fix if something goes sideways. What a shame.

Oh I bet that was amazing. A big pipe organ is the most powerful piece of gear you'll ever play in terms of sheer volume and space-filling ability. It can be a fun instrument. I play a lot of weddings as an organist, and once got a $100 bonus from a groom because I managed to sneak a wee bit of the Darth Vader / Imperial March theme into the wedding processional, right at the end (the bonus was null and void if the bride noticed and the poor guy got his marriage started off with a fight at the altar). Worked surprisingly well. Bride didn't notice, groom burst out laughing but passed it off as joy at seeing his wife-to-be, and I'm told the pastor glanced at me with an eye-brow raised but otherwise said nothing. So I am told NBC is confirming Notre Dame's pipe organ was NOT damaged; Great news!

I am told it was beyond description. That was the mother of all pipe organs, and the sound was apparently extraordinary. The current organ was technically installed in the mid 1800s, but had pipes from the previous two or three installation still active as part of the overall assembly, so it was several centuries worth of tones and timbres acting together. There is some word that possibly it may have survived. Apparently the interior was not as damaged as expected...https://mobile.twitter.com/areinaud/status/1117916691353067521?fbclid=IwAR3ma9YEfcrgmggR74Ri9tucUHgq0BKg1XbSnpsu9EsDRvvqyqgRW5yAHkU

Been following the horrible news out of Paris. I come from a family of liturgical musicians, and my uncle once had the privilege of playing the pipe organ at Notre Dame Cathedral. It was iconic and a really glorious instrument with a sound like no other -- a one of a kind creation to which other pipe organs were compared. And it is apparently gone, or so I am hearing. No confirmation on that yet, but I can't see how it could survive.

Replika XT...I use it for hybrid stuff (although I currently don't do a lot of that style of music). Fun to use and has lots of presets...

Playoff hockey. Also a good reason to own a TV.

For whatever reason, when I see "Bidule" I think "bidet". Which is totally not a related concept.

I was reading composer John Powell's facebook page, and he was showing off his orchestral uber-template, which is predictably huge and uses multiple computers to run multiple libraries. Someone asked him if he used VEP to run it all, and he said nope, he uses Plogue Bidule. I had not heard of this software before, and took a look at the site. Anyone here familiar with it and know how to use it, and what it is like? The description on the main product page is impressively unenlightening: https://www.plogue.com/products/bidule.html

Not to mention a crap load of TV remotes...

NASA releases a more detailed versions of its black hole images. I'm not a guitar player so I can't confirm this, but I am told that it explains a lot...?

Doesn't say if this is an intro price or the full price: https://cinesamples.com/product/cinewinds-monster-low-winds

One thing I've noticed in these forums - Cinesamples doesn't seem to get a lot of love from folks, aside from the Tina Guo library. In fact, I rarely see Cinesamples being talked about. On VI Control (and elsewhere) I've heard very mixed things about Cinebrass (some really like it, some really don't). Curious if anyone has ever used it?...

Thanks for the input, folks. Much appreciated. Tapsa, I had completely forgotten about the Studio Brass series from Spitfire Audio -- just watched the walkthrus on their site, and that might be exactly what I'm looking for. Really does sound great, and priced rather well for a Spitfire library. I've heard raves about the Cinematic Studios Brass, too (and their string libraries). I wish developers would release demo versions of their stuff -- even just a single instrument with a restricted range and lower sample count, or whatever -- so that it would be possible to a get a really good sense of how a library will perform and fit into a template. CSB sounds really good, though. It's $500+ (Canadian) for me to buy it, which is probably a fair price, but it would be great to be able to experiment with even a small portion of the library before dropping that much coin on it. Dirk Ehlert did a walkthru of it, so I'll have to give that a listen. Appreciate the suggestions.

Hi folks, I've never been entirely happy with my current roster of brass libraries, and am looking to expand my palette a bit. However, I'm finding it tough to figure out which direction go in, and I'm curious what other folks are using. I'm trying to find a brass library that will work with my existing template, which means it cannot be a resource hog, is highly configurable in terms of articulations, and covers the basics really well. I do old school orchestral stuff pretty much exclusively. My current set of libraries: Hollywood Brass - has some nice patches, but I am not a big fan of Play, and in general I don't find the library to be very efficient. HW Brass' various French Horns patches are its best feature, but I don't like its trumpets much. NI Symphony Series Brass -- the ensemble patch is quite decent as a quick and dirty way to add brass to a project, and the section patches have their moments. But I find the legatos unconvincing, and I don't find the sample set to be very deep - in particular, the trumpets have a couple of recurring samples that jump out as being different than their kindred and I find it really distracting. Albion ONE - love this library in general and use it a ton, but really don't like how they have distributed the instruments and ranges on their brass patches. And the trumpets sound thin and very synthy, and I really hate them. Da Capo - Adequate as a sketching tool, but not very configurable or detailed -- and no trumpets at all, which always struck me as a little weird. VSL Special Editions - very configurable, and they sound good (including the trumpets), but the Special Editions are quite limited and the full versions would be far more useful. However, I am very reluctant to get deeper into the VSL ecosystem, due to their draconian copy protection and licensing issues. Looking this list over, it seems to be all about trumpets. That is partially true; I don't have a trumpet patch or library that I like. But I'd also like some great horn and trombone patches, too. I'd be curious to know what other folks are using, and what you like, with the emphasis on a very traditional orchestral brass sound. Thanks! Rob

Anyone ever come across these folks before? Looks and sounds interesting -- physically modeled strings and their own touch controller (check out the Touché controller they offer). They are not on sale, or anything, but it looks like they have some intriguing products: https://www.expressivee.com/arche-collection

Had this exact same experience with my youngest son`s gaming computer. It had an SSD drive for the OS, and it just up and stopped working six weeks after we installed it. I was thinking I`d need to RMA the drive, but after testing it on a partly disassembled test rig I keep in my basement (for just these sort of occasions), I discovered the drive still worked perfectly. Swapped out the SATA cable on my son`s computer, and we were back in business. The drive has been running just fine for over a year now. SATA cables seem to be a bit fragile or failure prone, maybe...

Glad to help! Good luck.

I open my orchestral template, which is pretty comprehensive, and just start playing something on whichever track/instrument I happen to click on first, and see where it goes. The key thing for me, I find, is working fast. I've lately been setting a time limit, and then trying to create at a blistering pace without redos, overthinking and/or adjustments, and see what I come up with. And when I say time limit, I mean hardcore -- 20 minutes or less for a full orchestral mock-up that runs for a minute, and I stick to that limit like glue. I find that it turns off my self-critical faculties, and lets my creative side just kind of do its thing without worrying. The end product usually sounds like complete crap, but there are always (and I mean always) interesting ideas buried in there that I can build off of, including unexpected cord changes or melodic shifts that I never would have thought of had I been approaching this more deliberately. It's fun, and works pretty well, so far. And its great for breaking out of creative ruts.

You like the Caspian Brass? That is one of their libraries, in particular, that I was looking at. I'm good for strings -- I got more usable string libraries than I'll ever need, at this point -- but I'm never quite been happy with the brass libraries that I have, and am still looking for a one that sounds good and suits my workflow.

Does anyone have any of their libraries? They sound quite nice in the demos, but I no longer consider that sufficient reason to buy a product, especially from a developer who seems pretty new to the scene...

Yeah, I'm wondering if "Albion TWO" is in the works. No word on their site about that. I seem to recall last time when they retired an Albion library, they had already announced "Albion ONE", and were offering upgrades for folks who bought the retiring library.

Spitfire is retiring Albion II, and its on sale for 50% off: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/albion-ii-loegria/