Saturday, September 7, 2019

REVIEW: SYMPHONIC ORGAN by SPITFIRE AUDIO






SPITFIRE AUDIO

THE ULTIMATE CINEMATIC SYMPHONIC ORGAN 


Created to achieve that awe-inspiring cinematic sound made famous in blockbuster scores such as Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Tron. 





OVERVIEW 
This is the Main (GUI) Interface of Symphonic Organ


Its default view displays all available playing techniques, has a simple microphone mixer and includes the main feature controllers. 

EDNA ENGINE Interface 


This interface houses Spitfire Audio's sample-synthesizer engine. You can use it to combine two sounds and modulate between them with envelopes, filters and wobbles per sound, as well as a gate sequencer and a selection of go-to FX. 

“THE IDEA WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE SOUND PALETTES AND TONES THEY COULD WORK WITH, RATHER THAN TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITY OF MIXING VARIOUS STOPS AND PIPES”

— ANDY RICHARDS, COMPOSER, PRODUCER & ORGANIST



REVIEW

I'm a huge fan of Spitfire Audio, but since the announcement of Symphonic Organ, I had my doubts this library would make it one of my favorites. Oh man, I was wrong. I never had this much fun with an organ sample library and would bet this will become the pinnacle of organ Kontakt instruments. I could tell Spitfire Audio took a lot of time with this library to get it right!

Spitfire Audio stated when co-founder Paul Thomson heard the Rugby School Chapel organ that he had to sample the instrument. The organ resides in one of the oldest independent schools in Britain’s poly-chromatic chapel constructed in 1875 by architect William Butterfield. Spitfire Audio collaborated with world-class composer, producer, and organ expert Andy Richards. Mr. Richards worked with iconic artists such as Grace Jones, Rush, Pet Shop Boys, played keyboards on George Michael’s Careless Whisper and Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. His full credits as a record producer are way too long to list. However, he also set up 'Out of Eden' studios from West London and mixed several blockbuster scores including, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. Spitfire's team also worked together with Rugby School organist & Head of Academic Music James Williams to meticulously perfect this library.
Symphonic Organ features four manuals (keyboards), a total of 71 stops (55 of them are speaking stops (Controls), and a total of 3,721 gilded pipes.

When you load up the main Symphonic Organ NKI, you'll have 16 different articulations to choose from individually or even in multiples. The sound of the organ is clean, compelling, with no trace of artifacts. Anyone listening would have a hard time telling this is a sample library. Of course, you can fine-tune your mix with the various mic positions, mixes, and controls right from the front page.

One of my favorite parts of the library is the Warp section using the eDNA interface. There are 50 ready-made presets than can be altered by swapping out different sounds within sound bays A and B. You can then use the various tools like fx, gate sequencer, wobbles, filters, envelopes, note controls, mixer, to further transform your sound into something spellbinding. The warped presets offer a powerful assortment of ambient pads, evolving textures, and otherworldly soundscapes. It's almost like getting two libraries in one. I loaded up the main organ NKI, combined it with some of the warped presets, and it exhibited another level of sound design.

There are 6 other sections found in the Advanced folder including, Manuals, Pedals, Ensembles, Building Blocks, FX, and Individual Articulations.

Symphonic Organ is much more than a Kontakt instrument. It's an amazingly detailed piece of sampled beauty that can be used in almost any application. I could hear many facets of Symphonic Organ. The sheer brilliance of this library makes it a vital tool for scoring blockbuster films, documentaries, television shows, and even producing ambient or other types of electronic music.

This library is Kontakt player compatible, so you don't have to own the full version of Kontakt to use the library. I was also surprised how efficient it was on my CPU. It is a large library that contains 17,760 samples and requires 24GB to install.

Spitfire Audio's Symphonic Organ is one of my favorite releases of 2019, and I never thought I'd say that about an Organ sample library. It sounds fantastic, plays flawlessly, and is designed with plenty of depth. Not only do the possibilities seem endless, but this may be the most definitive, cinematic virtual cathedral organ ever created.

5 OUT 5 STARS!




Watch Spitfire Audio co-founder Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ video walkthrough of SYMPHONIC ORGAN here:






Written by Steve Montgomery
(INFINITE MINDSCAPE, DARKMOOD & SDM)

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