Spitfire Audio’s new Abbey Road Orchestra series is said to be the company’s most detailed library to date, utilising new recording and development techniques to capture some of London’s top film and TV session players performing in the legendary Studio One at Abbey Road Studios. Following on from the release of First Violins, Abbey Road Orchestra: Cellos provides a 10-player cello section performing a total of 25 articulations.
As with the range’s previous strings offering, the new library will be available in two versions: Core and Professional. Core features a single signal option — a pre-mixed mic selection created by Simon Rhodes — along with a slightly reduced set of 18 articulations that include a pair of legato techniques (Performance and Lyrical). Professional, meanwhile, includes some additional Extended techniques along with eight legato variations, extending the articulation count to 25, as well as a full complement of 16 signals comprising two pre-configured mixes and 14 individual microphone options that allow users to create their own detailed mixes.
Spitfire say that the library offers smooth and expressive transitions between notes, emulating the natural way a performer shifts from one note to another without breaks, and has been designed to vastly improve playability and responsiveness, boasting multiple dynamic legato intervals and flexible interval types that can be triggered by playing speed and/or velocity.
Compatibility
Abbey Road Orchestra: Cellos is housed in Spitfire’s own player, which is supported on PCs running Windows 7 and above, and Macs running macOS 10.13 and higher. It is available in VST2, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in formats. The download size for Core is 4GB, and Professional requires 92.68GB of free space.
Pricing & Availability
Abbey Road Orchestra: Cellos is available to pre-order now, and will be available to download on 13 November 2023. Those who purchase the library before 16 November 2023 will benefit from a 20% discount, and crossgrade prices will be available to all Abbey Road Orchestra and Orchestral Foundations product owners until 16 October 2023. Prices are as follows:
- Core: $149£119 including VAT / €134 (usually $189£149 including VAT / €169)
- Professional: $244£199 including VAT / €229 (usually $309£249 including VAT/ / €289)
