Thanks so much for this, especially for the demonstration pieces, so chock full of spooky goodness! It is where I aspire to live. I'm not angling to move in with you. I surely realize I need to start building my own house, but these frequent visits to your place really do inspire me. And yes to MPE! The Roli products have opened up this world to ordinary hobbyist folks like me. It used to be just a hopeless fantasy, when your only options were huge and expensive, like the Yamaha CS80. By the way, I loved Spitfires demos and bought the library immediately.
I was actually wondering on the MPE/Polyphonic aftertouch capabilities of such Spitfire instruments. Thanks for stating it, I also think it's a big missing opportunity which could bring the expressiveness of them way beyond what they are right now (especially considering their prices). Thanks for pointing out the issues/bugs as well, it's rare and valuable to see unbias reviews.
Very cool. As you know I personally prefer less control and fewer choices so this looks good for me. I wonder however if since this was made from a film score of every creation would end up sounding like the original score.
Want MPE? I suspect that'd involve a lot more sampling and programming. Be prepared to pay for it. This library fills a niche for quickly creating a certain kind of dark, emotive, ambient underscoring. For its price, it's more than fine for what it does - as your excellent demo shows. As you demonstrate, the CC components are vital for getting the most out of this library. I've seen reviewers of Spitfire libraries completely miss the functionality provided by the big button. I think it would be better to expose all the sliders instead - although that wouldn't be as aesthetically pleasing. Hopefully, Spitfire will fix the bugs in a timely manner. They are shoving out a lot of libraries though, including another of their bigger offerings this week, so I doubt it will be a priority. The $29 libraries seem more aimed at those people who want to take a step beyond Spitfire's LABS offerings. One can go a long way with the free and $29 ones before having to fork out hundreds of dollars on a library that might hardly get used.
You have to also understand that Spitfire built its own "template maker" for such instruments. Considering their success, the engineering costs have already been absorbed and only remains paying the artist. Getting more knobs per function does not mean sacrificing the user experience. Just matter of good design and this would be super valuable. I think they do it a bit more in depth for some more expensive instruments they offer tho.
