Hi All
Just a Link to the BBC Symphony Orchestra Free Version which has 33 instruments and is Free if you answer a questionaire or 49 euro if you dont .After answering the questionaire they send you the package in 14 days.Also the full pro version is on sale for 749 euro instead of 999 euro and in a dream world id buy that .....Hope it useful to you H



https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover/

thanks - will wait till the free version arrives

Thank you!
Always wanted to try some of their orchestral things.

I am always careful before downloading these types of sound libraries. Simply because I have historically filled too many hard drives with material I never do anything with. So I have now gone a long spell without any downloads and even moved on in generation of Music machines so the old unused stuff is pretty much gone.

So to make a long story short, I did some research on this offering and concluded it was well worth it to get the free version. Let you know in 14 days.

It absolutely is well worth it. You basically get instruments from their top of the line library without some of the articulations but still quite useful. The difference is where this was recorded and it is the BBC Symphony Orchestra so it is very well done. The pro version gives you something like 20 different microphone placements for every sample and all the articulations you would ever need, but this free version is still very nice.

Hi All,
Just an update I got my free version today and its great.All the instruments are super sounding .Agree with your assessement EtcJoe ,H

Thank you - this is really useful!

Hi Musicstudent
Their is also a scoring competition on that closes on June 3rd with a nice prize H

Tomorrow is day 14 as I wait for my free version to arrive. One thing you can say for the Brits is, they are punctual.

Hi MusicStudent,I dont have much in ways of strings and this is great for such a small plugin ,some of their free labs stuff is great too,Anyway I hope to have my score up in a couple of days, a mixture of spitfire ,arturia and BIAB ,H
P.s my free version came a few minutes after midnight lol very puntual

Did I mention not only are they punctual, but also polite. Here is what they sent me today!

Thank you for posting this. The questionnaire was actually pretty fun.

The quality of sound and range of instruments is nothing short of ASTOUNDING - especially considering that they are offering this for free...

The download process (using their app) is easy and simple and relatively fast.

Anyone who ever considers using orchestral instruments in a production should take advantage of this offer.
You shouldn't ever need much more...

Ditto what FJ said. I can only add, Simply BRILLIANT. The definition and new standard for a no-brainer download!

And don't miss this Reaper Template which is available.Every instrument, every articulation laid out.
https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php?p=2294254&postcount=8

OK, you sold me. Signed up and waiting!

Hi Musicstudent I missed the reaper link very good .When I am importing a midi file I have made how do I get the individual midi tracks not to make new tracks but sit on the reaper made template tracks if you know what I mean .Hugh

I think I do. One way is to drag the midi from the inserted track and then drop it on the selected track to play in the SO. In fact you don't even have to load your midi file to a separate track, reaper will support drag and drop from a .mid file.

How do you drag and drop a midi track in Reaper? Glad you asked this question because it is a little know secret. You have to hold the Cntrl-Alt keys while you drag with your mouse. Few people know this little secret.

By the way keep on eye on the Reaper Forum, the SO is likely to get a lot of press.

Good luck.
Dan

Hi Music Student thanks for the midi help,
I used Spitfire bbc discovery Violin,trumpets and Celeste,also the free labs Chello in my score link below .I used Biab and Arturia also.The free instruments were excellent I have to say ,H
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4zxO7g33_U&t=1s

Re BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover, I can't get the velocity to make a difference to the sound.
Whether the velocity is at 127 or 0 the volume is the same.
Is this a restriction of the free version or I am being dumb?
Mike

Very cool. Thanks for this info.

Hi Mike
I thought the only restrictions were the amount of Mike positions and articulations This compares all three but I dont know why that is not working for you .So you are NOT dumb nor is their a restriction lol H
https://www.spitfireaudio.com/bbcso/#compare

Mike - I think you need to use Modulation to change the volume (at least that is what I had to do...)

Thanks Floyd. I used the volume nodes (under each on track in RealBand) to change the volume in the BBC Discover, but with other instruments,I can adjust the power/impact of the notes by adjusting the velocities.
Cheers, Mike

I'm not very "MIDI-fluent"... but I think it is a matter of what a VST designates as the properties of the available CC control. In the video of Guy M demonstrating Discover, he mentions that the Mod wheel (or CC 7 ) controls volume (I don't know what CC7 usually does??). I found that the velocity did me no good either...

Thanks Floyd. I just drew some rises and falls in CC1 (the mod wheel) and it seems to work better (not as abruptly) as the volume nodes (CC7).
There are some velocity settings when you click on the three dots on the Discover interface but they don't seem to make any obvious difference.
I'll keep experimenting.
Thanks again for your help.
Stay well,
Mike

Many brass, woodwinds, and orchestral VSTis us the Mod wheel (CC1) for expression. Expression changes the volume setting based on the main volume (CC7). If CC7 is set to 127, the loudest setting, then the expression (it can be either a Mod wheel, foot pedal, or and other assignable MIDI like a slider or knob) range is from 0 - 127, i.e. no volume to max volume.

But if CC7 is set to say 90 then although the expression range is still from 0 - 127 the volume at 127 is set by the CC7 volume. In other words in this example an expression value of 127 is equal to the CC7 value of 90.

The reason for expression. If you need to raise the track volume and you used CC7 to change the volume you would need to raise each and every volume node. If you used expression for volume changes then all you need to do is to raise the CC7 volume, which should be a straight line through out the track, and the expression nodes will follow proportionally. Much easier and faster.

Apparently BBC Symphony Orchestra Free Version is not influenced by velocity; I don't know for sure as I am still waiting for mine. I do know that the sounds are one layer each so no matter what the velocity is the sound will be the same. In multi layer sounds one will get a slightly different tonal quality with each velocity range. For instance a velocity range of 0-50 may yield a soft sound with soft transients and a 100-127 range would yield a louder sound with many hard transients. This of a trumpet played softly then very loudly.

I hope this makes some sense.

Thanks Mario. I must admit I haven't used expression much. I tend to use the volume controller CC7 or the volume nodes underneath each track (CC87). And velocity of course.
I think you will enjoy the Discover when it arrives. It has great sounds and so many instruments.
Cheers,
Mike

The velocity is NOT restricted in the free version. It appears to be fully functional as needed. Here is illustration of my "velocity sensitive" keyboard for a section of soft and hard keystrokes. But has been mentioned, there is no impact to what you hear from velocity since there is only a single level. I guess that may be considered a limitation. Therefore if you want loader or softer you need to use the mod wheel which does impact volume?

I think the guys have covered this pretty well.

Dan is correct. Velocity not only does not change volume it also does not change timbre,i.e. it is the same sound regardless of velocity or volume. The mod wheel will slightly adjust the volume via expression, CC11. Note this is generally the rule for all free or entry level sound sources.

If one is looking for large volume changes, crescendos, or diminuendos using a DAW is the best option.

New Reaper template for the Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq4ZfUSXUlg

Thanks Mario and MusicStudent for your help on this.
Cheers,
Mike

Thank you.
Just got mine.
Need better speakers

I am glad that I helped you.

I got my download email today. Upon downloading the installer Windows Defender came up with a message window strongly suggesting to not run the installer??? It says it is malicious.

Has anyone experienced this? Flipped me out for sure.

Mike

Here's a video describing the template written for Reaper. There are templates for several DAWs. They're all on the Spitfire site. The Reaper one is listed in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6AR2j0SvR4&feature=youtu.be

Installed several weeks ago and can't say I remember this happening. If it did happen I would have scanned the file with another AV app. Or I would have downloaded a second time and then double scanned. Good luck.

I did not get that message. I would contact Spitfire Audio and tell them what happened. It may be a false positive or their server got infected.

no problems here.
installed and runs fine on mac osx 10.15.5 Catalina.