Spitfire's marketing team should not forget about older libraries

Justin

Just in the past couple of days, I saw three people suggest that Spitfire should make a library for a certain instrument which actually had already been done. I had to point out the North 7 Vintage Keys library for someone asking for a Spitfire Rhodes EP*, and the HGO2 library for a different person asking for a Spitfire waterphone library**. Another user was asking for a Spitfire shakuhachi, and someone else pointed them towards the Andy Findon Kit Bag.***

Spitfire's marketing seems to be focused almost exclusively on new releases, with the monthly 30% or 40% off on a single library being pretty much the only exception. Otherwise, unless an existing library is expanded (like SSO Pro or Abbey Road One), or receives a major update (like BBCSO a few months ago), after a new library gets through its intro period, it appears to just drop off the radar.

While of course, new releases need to be marketed strongly, and will always be at the forefront of any campaign, it would seem that many customers are completely unaware of some of the existing Spitfire libraries. Some additional marketing focus on older or "forgotten" libraries might help with sales of these.

* https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/279/please-please-do-a-rhodes-piano-thats-the-only-instrument-i-would-like-to-join-the-labs-selection

** https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/290/labs-should-get-a-waterphone-pack

*** https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/1923/#Comment_1923

Angus

Hi @Justin

Thanks for the feedback- and thanks for letting the community members know about the libraries already existing.

There's two points here that I would respond with:

1. The libraries you mention all require the Full Version of Kontakt. Therefore we tend not to openly advertise these, as many customers have purchased by mistake and unfortunately find that they do not work with Kontakt Player.
2. As the library choice increases on our website, the marketing teams focus over the next year is increasing awareness of choice. In practice, that means that there will be improvements to the website and our marketing- with an increasing amount of in-house composers joining our roster... more on that soon!

All the best,

Angus

Jase Ess

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/2089#Comment_2089

Hi @Angus

Picking up on the point you mentioned about the old libraries requiring the use of the Full Kontakt player - I have to admit that if the SA library is in Kontakt, I keep scrolling.

Would you know if Spitfire Audio is going to migrate these Kontakt full libraries over to the dedicated Spitfire Audio VST UI?

Angus

Hi @Jase Ess

We do have a history of converting older Kontakt libraries into Originals (e.g. Albion II Strings/ Intimate Strings, Cimbalom, and Albion 1 Perc/ Cinematic Perc.). But I cannot confirm which libraries, if any, will be converted in the future to the dedicate plugin.

Certainly with popular libraries like Spitfire Symphony Orchestra, we have kept this as Kontakt (Player) in order to avoid customers having to completely change their templates/ workflow in order to get access to the latest updates.

Peter Kay

As a newbie, I'd love to know if there are any ethnic instruments available on the Spitfire libraries range.

Angus

@Peter Kay if by 'Ethnic' you mean instruments that are not typically associated with westernised instrumentation, then Andy Findon's Kitbag 1 and Kitbag 2 are probably the libraries for you! As I mentioned above, these require the Full Version of Kontakt.

Peter Kay

Hi Angus,

Many thanks for your help!

Unfortunately Kontakt doesn't seem to work on my laptop, which is a shame, but if Spitfire ever make a version of the Andy Findon Kitbags that don't need Kontakt then I'll be first in the queue!!

jbm

I have to admit, I'm really growing tired of Kontakt. It's true that it plays well and is fairly efficient, but the UI is just an abomination. I'd love to see old libraries ported to the new player. There are a couple I'm quite interested in, but feel very hesitant when I see that they're Kontakt only.

KristoferAlanParker

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/2123#Comment_2123

Your missing out

Gigabang

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/4756#Comment_4756

I dont care how it looks, I care how it sounds. The Kontakt SA Libraries I have sound so good, enabling me to write the music I want, thats all I really care about at the end of the day.

I find all this Kontakt bashing quite odd tbh. I get that theres a certain chunk of people who refuse to invest in that platform (and therefore restrict their soundset) but the most vocal seem to be those who only really use the free stuff cough labs cough (not labs bashing)

LMC

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/8427#Comment_8427

It's all personal choice at the end of the day and your thoughts on Kontakt are only valid to you, plenty of people write without the need for Kontakt whatsoever and it doesn't restrict their soundset at all, they just use alternative methods, SA isn't the be all and end all of Libraries!....

Kontakt is well known to be clunky and restrictive, always has been that way and those saying it isn't great are not only those that use free stuff at all, not sure where you get your info from but it's wrong, well not wrong shall we say, just your opinion....Without any evidence whatsoever.

If it works for you then great, but it doesn't for everyone, as that is their opinion, no right or wrong only what applies to you and your workflow.

LMC

I find all this Kontakt bashing quite odd tbh. I get that theres a certain chunk of people who refuse to invest in that platform (and therefore restrict their soundset) but the most vocal seem to be those who only really use the free stuff cough labs cough (not labs bashing)

Lol, that's nonsense.

Gigabang

https://community.spitfireaudio.com/discussion/comment/8450#Comment_8450

In what way? That's just the impression I've gotten from the various comments I've read online from people who openly refuse to buy Kontakt and therefore any of the products that work within that eco-system. Not necessarily this board exclusively, but Reddit for example.

jbm

Nah, I own the full version of Kontakt and have been using it for years. The UI is a horror show that should have been given a ground-up redesign a decade ago. And yes, most sample makers skin their libraries, making Kontakt's own UI irrelevant, but if you ever want to dig in behind the scenes you're back to the horror show.

Obviously the sound/content is the import thing, which is why I still use Kontakt on a daily basis, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy using it. I'd just love to see Spitfire convert everything to their own player, that's all (or, for NI to redesign their underlying UI—but I really don't see that happening).