BBC SO Piano?

Aaron Moon

Is the Piano patch still coming to the BBC SO, or has this changed? I know it was talked about and I believe it was more of a when than an if at one point, but I am really hoping this wasn't dropped.

David Sound Wizard

Second this!

Chuck

Dito

Nic

I'm also more interested in seeing more from the BBC venture than the Abbey Road venture.

C'mon BBC and SFA, give us what we need! :)

gregoryd

I don't recall them saying this; I think a bunch of people WANTED this. Me included.

I got the orchestral grand on piano day, and it works well. There's also a ton over on pianobook for free. Also orchestraltools has a free one in the "factory" section.

Angus

Hi @Aaron Moon and others on this thread. We understand that the addition of a Piano was alluded to in previous content online prior to 2020. However, due to the current restrictions in the UK, Maida Vale studios has been closed. This is also unfortunately coupled with the fact that Maida Vale is slowly being decommissioned, so we can no longer guarantee that a recording of a piano in the same place can take place.

That said, we would still love to add more additional content to BBC SO and are looking to get back into the studios as soon as it is safe to do so, and will update the community as and when any additional content will become available.

Nic

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/2520#Comment_2520

https://youtu.be/x4tb4BH1tM4?t=994

No, it's definitely been thrown around in videos. Christian pretty much said what Angus said, but it was a while ago and we didn't know how long Covid was gonna shut us down for at the time.

I hope they still get around to it, if not, that's fine too. :)

Richard White

I would whole heartedly agree. I’ve just purchased the Core version of the BBC SO. Having a Steinway Grand piano included seems a bit of an omission to this library, but it would be great if this was included as part of the next update. I would also like the library to be a bit more flexible in terms of being able to purchase individual solo/lead string instruments that come with the pro version, or the ability to purchase other specific instruments, without necessarily requiring the more extensive pro mic positions.

Jhon Alexis

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/2544#Comment_2544

Hello Do you have any news about new content from BBCSO? Or do you have any information about the roadmap of the new updates for the BBCSO? Will there be more updates with content or important things or will they just be optimization and maintenance? I love Spitfire but it's about time the BBCSO continues to evolve to really continue to become the starting point and standard for songwriters

Jhon Alexis

I will make you a couple of requests and please tell me how easy they can be to fulfill 1 that the BBC percussion can be played with 2 hands, for example the drummers, the timpani, the bass drums, etc. I who am a percussionist would feel much more comfortable playing my two-handed percutions since this adds to the realism 2 Will there ever be a day where all BBC instruments have extended legato? I comment on it for the brass instruments, trumpets, horns etc. 3 will the BBC ever have its own choir? I really wish the bbc was that library that one would buy and no longer need anything else I run bbc bbc orchestra bbc piano I would not love for Spitfire to risk creating something supreme in a single library like this sorry if everything I said sounds impossible but it is my dream that Spitfire fulfills the motto that appears on the bbc page a starting point and a standard for composers I await your answers, a hug from Colombia

Angus

@Jhon Alexis I do not have any updates on BBC SO currently. The next phase of updates will be to allow the plugin to be used on M1 Macs. Additional content has been difficult to produce over the past year due to the pandemic and Maida Vale studios closure as a result of this.

I cannot provide any specific updates or roadmaps for the release as this is something Spitfire never does. The reason for this is because our internal roadmap (especially due to the current climate) is constantly changing and evolving. So we do not want to promise a Piano by a specific date, if we know we are not is a position to deliver that yet.

In terms of two-handed Percussion, I have already requested this as an additional feature to be added in the future. The Product Team will review this request and make a change if they feel it is necessary.

Aaron Moon

@Angus Hey, I understand some things are out of your and Spitire's control, and I respect the things you guys have done and are doing. One of my main concerns is that these things will be dropped if unable to continue in perfect continuity.

Now I don't know what you are able to answer at this point, but one thing I wonder about is if there is a possibility and/or even talk and consideration of continuing with the BBC SO expansions/updates outside of being able to do it in exactly the same way/space/acoustics.

I currently use BBC SO heavily and would love to see more, especially the piano, even if the recording acoustics had to be different. Continuity of the mic positions/placements and articulations is still desirable in my opinion.

It's kind of like when something happens to an actor who plays a prominent role in a series and it's like maybe the replacement is not perfect but the show must go on. Yeah, as a fan of what was started with this particular collaboration, I really hope this this one is not done yet.

Thanks,

Musicmaniac84

I agree that a piano should be added to BBC SO as well. It is an amazing sounding library but it is missing a piano. I know Christian Henson mentioned it but the Pandemic complicated things. It will be quite disappointing if they cannot expand the library further.

Andrew

@Aaron Moon

Just to follow up on this, we are definitely very conscious of BBC SO updates and are doing are best to support this, even with limited options due to the pandemic (we released a nearly 40 GB content update earlier this year, for example).

That is good to know that you would rather see the library continue to expand, even if with different acoustics, although we may have to get creative on how this would fit with the library overall!

Aaron Moon

Thanks @Andrew! You all do amazing work at spitfire, and that content update is hugely appreciated by me for sure. Cheers!

p.s. I am really glad I ended up buying the BBC SO library because Spitfire did not just sell me a product at a good value, but to my surprise I was welcomed into a community and given the resources needed to confidently transition into where I now am.

OscArias

Hi everybody:

Given that we don't know if we ever going to have an official BBC Piano update, can you share your experiences on using the BBC orchestra with other piano VST...?? Which one do you think works better with that orchestra...?? How do you set the piano [volume and panning] in relation with the orchestra on a non soloist performance...??

Thank you and have a good day.

Retroblueman

Hi there @OscArias - last couple days I have been making firm friends with (and potentially falling in love with) the EastWest platinum Steinway D - I have played real Steinways and it is the first sampled one I have played that even came close to ringing that deep down bell inside me that the real ones rang - something about the roar of the low end that it has. Also, it runs on EW's free proprietary player and doesn't need full Kontakt - full Kontakt is on my priority list, but some way behind having a Steinway. All I am going to say is that I can't STOP writing music on it - pure joy. The reverb that comes "in the box" is, for my ears, awful, but I own a Fabfilter Pro-R so am set on that front

I had a tinker today with setting it to BBCSO Core strings and it sounded fine and well blended. For "non solos" the piano in a symphony orchestra would usually be sat behind the violins with the lid half closed- but it is worth thinking about how a concert grand works - the way a piano "throws" the music out is sideways (to the pianist's right) - think about the open lid as the "mouth". If sat behind the violins at an angle, with the pianist facing the conductor stand, then the "throw" is going to be pointed partly at the audience left wall of the concert hall. So you would want to pan it hard left to about 9pm and add around 25% more reverb to the piano than to the violins (for distance), possibly also with a tiny bit of echo. But if you are going for a film score vibe then anything goes, because the piano could be anywhere in the studio mix.

That said, I also think the EW piano would perform admirably as a soloist piano (centre-panned, the same, or slightly less reverb than the violins have) - there are quite intricate velocity layers on it.

Hope helpful - I could share a rough sketch from today's efforts if you want??

PS - one day I want the Spitfire Hans piano, but it has a slightly too big a GB ask for me at the moment and, in any event, HZ strings is higher up my priority list.

OscArias

Thank you @Retroblueman for you answer, I'll keep your input in mind. I haven't played on a real Steinway before, so I have no point of reference. Anyway, I'm good with any piano VST as long as it blends smoothly with the BBC orchestra. Feel free to share your work if you want to. Good advice on the non soloist mixing approach.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but maybe there's a reverb impulse response from the Maida Vale Studios [where the BBC was recorded]. I'm thinking that could help to bring the piano closer to the sound of the orchestra. I'm wondering if anyone has tried that before with a piano or other instruments.