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Oh An Untimely Death


Larry Shelby

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2 minutes ago, jim137 said:

Explain Please.

Christian was the one who was making the "Labs" releases for Spitfire, and he is no longer with the Company,
and has started his own, The Crow Hill Company.  There hasn't been a Labs release in about 8 months, so I 
think that it's pretty safe to say that Spitfire Labs is DEAD

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38 minutes ago, cclarry said:

Christian was the one who was making the "Labs" releases for Spitfire, and he is no longer with the Company,
and has started his own, The Crow Hill Company.  There hasn't been a Labs release in about 8 months, so I 
think that it's pretty safe to say that Spitfire Labs is DEAD

Oops, better get the remaining ones before they pull the plug. 

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hope this thead dont get silenced like previous thread when christian topic was brought up

1 hour ago, cclarry said:

Christian was the one who was making the "Labs" releases for Spitfire, and he is no longer with the Company,
and has started his own, The Crow Hill Company.  There hasn't been a Labs release in about 8 months, so I 
think that it's pretty safe to say that Spitfire Labs is DEAD

 

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Have to agree with Larry on this. I would suggest getting any LABS you want soon. Just in case. And I'm afraid that Pianobook may also be a victim as well. I was in Pianobook from the start. And made a demo every month for them. However it has stagnated this last year also. And despite promises about new faces and plans. Nothing has happened. There have been long gaps between uploads of new instruments. What has been posted has been somewhat limited compared to previous releases (IMO). if you look at the demos of the month which used to be refreshed every month. They are currently showing ones from June last year (2023).

Spitfire is obviously paying for hosting etc. And I'm unsure they have the will or pockets to keep paying for all the freebies. And from a business standpoint it may no longer be viable for them. And it was after all a CH project. And they may want to move on. I hope I'm wrong. But it has gone on too long now to see any other route.

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LABS used to occupy gigabytes of drive space, although I never used them. Not once since they came out. In fact, they were so uninspiring, I never felt like shopping for Spitfire libraries. I hear good things about Albion, but then again, symphonic music is way above my league.

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7 hours ago, TracingArcs said:

Have to agree with Larry on this. I would suggest getting any LABS you want soon. Just in case. And I'm afraid that Pianobook may also be a victim as well. I was in Pianobook from the start. And made a demo every month for them. However it has stagnated this last year also. And despite promises about new faces and plans. Nothing has happened. There have been long gaps between uploads of new instruments. What has been posted has been somewhat limited compared to previous releases (IMO). if you look at the demos of the month which used to be refreshed every month. They are currently showing ones from June last year (2023).

Spitfire is obviously paying for hosting etc. And I'm unsure they have the will or pockets to keep paying for all the freebies. And from a business standpoint it may no longer be viable for them. And it was after all a CH project. And they may want to move on. I hope I'm wrong. But it has gone on too long now to see any other route.

Yeah, I was just about to mention how Pianobook has basically become stagnant since Christian's departure. I don't think it necessarily means these programs are dead, Spitfire may just be struggling to find the right person to manage them. Clearly, Christian was the champion of both Pianobook and Labs and perhaps his business partner wasn't completely sold on them (as neither produces a net profit,  some business people can too easily write such ventures off). But I wouldn't necessarily jump to the conclusion that this efforts are dead, it may be a struggle to finding someone with the right talents to manage them. I'd bet that Henson put a lot of effort into both and his skills as an entrepreneur and multitasker aren't easily replaced. 

Christian did introduce a new manager at Pianobook prior to his departure. Does anyone know if she's still actively managing Pianobook? I know that there haven't been any really stellar releases on the site in a long time (just my opinion) so you can attribute that to the community,  but a mature community doesn't manage itself. I think Christian's energy and involvement inspired much of the creative activity at Pianobook and when he left, and the way he left, had a major impact (reflected in less enthusiasm and activity) for the Pianobook community-- regardless of one's opinion on the circumstances around Christian's departure. 

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At some point any company that generates free content has to justify the cost of generating / maintaining that content to its stakeholders.
Also I would imagine that over time it gets harder to generate new quality content that doesn't compete with paid product - what's next another piano? hobos singing a cappella in the rain? another acoustic instrument / synth amalgam, bug squashing percussion (varied by shoe or boot types), or ?

For Christian's new company free libraries bring much needed attention maybe not so much for Spitfire...

I hope that Spitfire at some point revives product generation of Labs stuff.
But I must admit that while I always checkout and collect their offerings I don't use it (at least not yet) - but it does keep Spitfire on my radar and maybe that kind of interest is enough for them to keep it going.  

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1 hour ago, Yan Filiatrault said:

I checked and counted around 60 free Labs libraries. Maybe it’s enough free stuff to showcase Spitfire. How many more do they really need to attract paying customers?

This.  While I'd like to keep seeing more, the reality is there is a lot there as long as they don't kill off the platform.  It remains an impressive free collection that could be a gateway to the brand.

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