Well, this certainly throws an interesting kink in things, doesn't it? Paul, your music sounds first-rate, and if it's created with the same sounds as those advertised on the Spitfire pages, then you do yourself an injustice by not using your own music as the demos. However, I did not hear woodwind solos within your posted music that I could compare to those or other libraries. Maybe I just didn't hear the right ones. Then again, I suspect that most of your recordings are actually live orchestras. If they are Spitfire libraries, then you've obviously done something right. But is it worth so much more than other libraries?
My comments are about the woodwinds and brass, specifically, though I didn't find the strings to be of any higher quality than most other existing libraries. They're certainly better than the typical fare from 10 or 15 years ago. I'm not saying they're no good, just that the price is, yes, insulting for what I'm hearing in the demos. Maybe there is something tremendously easy about using them which makes the pricing more attractive? I wouldn't know; I can't afford those prices, so why would I even bother to try them?
Yes, it's a free world, and you're perfectly within your rights to produce them, post them on a website, and charge a king's ransom for them. And anyone who will go along with you is perfectly well within their rights to do so. That's fine. But I find it very odd that the price and quality do not seem inter-related. If these sounds are the secret to why your compositions sound so good, then I stand corrected. I'd still like to hear woodwind solos and brass solos that are on par with Wallander, VSL, or Tommasini's entries. My goodness, your demo of the opening solo in
L'Apres-MIDI d'une faune blows chunks! Why would you post something that bad as an example of a woodwind library that would cost us yanks close to $15,000? Where's the musical line? Is it capable of a simple crescendo spread out over the whole phrase? Why the bellows effect on every note? You said in your write-up "maybe it's a about getting the best?" Well, let's hear it.
But I suppose I've missed the point. It's a collective; a cooperative in which you're sharing the wealth with the players. Never mind the quality. This is about spreading our money around a bit more evenly. If that makes it easier to sleep at night, then it's a perfectly respectable thing to do.
Look, Paul; I believe that creating a sample library is one of the most significant undertakings possible in this business. It's difficult beyond belief. The tone of your writing on the site would indicate that you believe you've created the best there is. In spite of the incredible amount of work you obviously put into it, and the incredible costs of doing this, you've fallen short of the goal: the best. So close, but so far. Go the extra mile, and I'll sing your praises.
- [edit: after a week of my asking whether the problem was in the library or the player's version of the piece, Spitfire posted a revised demo which, I'm pleased to say, proves beyond doubt that the library is capable of very subtle expression, and that it is not hampering the player in any way. Good show, Spitfire! /edit]
But my criticism of your woodwind and brass -- which I realize costs me nothing and if unsupported could easily make me sound envious or cowardly -- stands as stated. Now let me explain why I bothered to write it. I've never been in a position to undertake something this massive, though I've considered it seriously. But I've definitely attempted to express, from a MIDI performer's point of view, when someone gets it right, or as is more often the case why so many libraries fall short even after having spent so much. I've been working at this same goal since about 1987. I only want what you do: the best. If you want to talk about that, I'm willing, but I'll spare you a treatise here in this forum. Fixing it may be very difficult (if you were to go the technical route of Tommasini and Lucato), or it may be fairly easy; I don't know the prognosis as I'm not acquainted with what you have already done. But if you want to honor your musicians with libraries that truly can be considered extensions of their own expressive abilities, then you have a bit further to go. At least in the case of your solo woodwinds or brass, your pricing and PR have leaped out of the starting gates quite a bit ahead of your technical prowess as VI library creators.
I do apologize for the harsh words: "fraud" is over-the-top, and it's not my intention to convict you and sentence you here or anywhere. After all, I want the same thing you do. I just find it extremely frustrating to see yet another library go up with the same flaws as all those that have come before it, while the PR and pricing get even more aggressive and set the wrong tone for others who may follow in your footsteps. But maybe I was hasty to be so critical without considering the total picture of your including the musicians in the bargain. And I must admit -- your percussion is really fine. Those things that simply depend on the sample itself are tremendously well-done. Where you come up short is in the stuff that has got to go through one more musician's hands and breath before it's committed to the recording. In other words, the stuff that is interpreted with expression by the MIDI artist; the composer or orchestrator. That would include solo woodwinds -- dear to my heart as a woodwind performer, and solo brass.
Thank you for coming here and standing up for what you believe in. I admire you for that. I hope that the result is that you will take another look at how you have created those expressive sounds and be sure that they give full control to the MIDI performer. Maybe in a future release. But if you're going to post demos like the Debussy, you've got to be willing to take the heat for it. If that's due to the limitations of the library, you've got a problem. If it's just the inexperience of the player, then you still have a problem, but one that's possibly fixable. But let's face it: the simplest of woodwinds has been the nemesis of many a woodwind VI library.
As for the pricing and PR, and the exclusivity of the elite and tiny group for whom this is targeted; well, that's your business. I have a right to be disappointed in the whole arrangement. Herb Tucmandl somehow hires very capable musicians and yet makes his outstanding product available to a broader group. Would that you could, too. Maybe that's what Albion is all about, eh?
Shooshie
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