BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional

A TRULY COHESIVE SOUND

For the first time, we have captured a full orchestra: outstanding players who have developed a precise musical affinity, rehearsing and performing some of the most challenging orchestral works together, week in, week out, to create a truly cohesive sound.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the musical beating heart of the BBC itself – the oldest entertainment organisation in the world, trusted and respected globally. With a performance heritage nearly a century old, it boasts Sir Adrian Boult, Arturo Toscanini and Sir Colin Davis among its historical conductors, championing new classical music and composers at the BBC Proms and beyond, and selling out concert halls the world over. Every note has been expertly sampled at Maida Vale Studios, a world-class recording space with a rich musical history. Built in 1909, it was one of the BBC's earliest premises — the centre of the BBC News operation during World War II, and the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1934.

THE PROFESSIONAL EDITION

Created as a universal starting point for composers and music creators of every level, BBC Symphony Orchestra now comes in three editions: Discover, Core and Professional. Professional is the definitive, comprehensive collection for writing professional, world-class orchestral music, featuring 55 different instruments recorded on world-class Millennia preamps, including groups and soloists, and 418 techniques, including 33 legatos, for each melodic instrument — as well as a staggering 20 signals.

The latest update makes it easier than ever to share and collaborate with fellow composers, collaborators and directors — whatever edition of BBCSO you own. Our groundbreaking mode switching technology makes each edition of BBC Symphony Orchestra interchangeable, so you can mock up your scores quickly and with ease. For example, start writing a piece of music using Discover, and finish it in the Core or Professional edition, with a fuller range of instruments, capabilities and versatility. It also works the other way around: write a piece in the Professional edition and a collaborator can open it in Discover, play what you’ve written (with the sounds intelligently substituted), and add to it. When you reopen their edited version, you will hear their additions alongside your original composition – with your full selection of instruments, articulations and signals. Discover and Core are free for owners of BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional.

With this philosophy in mind, we have created The Page: a singular knowledge resource created with and for our community, to learn, share and collaborate — consistently updated with exciting new BBC Symphony Orchestra material:

A NEW STANDARD IN ORCHESTRAL SAMPLING

Orchestral samples have become an essential component of modern scoring, and the range of libraries available is vast. But what if a single product could become the universal starting point for a generation of composers?

We’ve taken over a decade of sampling experience to give you this comprehensive orchestral library of epic proportions — comprising over 200 hours of recordings, to give you a staggering 1,000,000+ samples at your fingertips, sounding exactly as they would if you had the orchestra in the room.

With a beautiful, modern design by ustwo (Monument Valley, DICE), BBC Symphony Orchestra is housed in our award-winning dedicated plugin (VST2, VST3, AU, AAX & NKS ready) developed primarily for composers, by composers — easy-to-use, intuitive and inspiring.

AN INNOVATION IN SIGNALS

BBC Symphony Orchestra includes 20 signals, giving you the opportunity to tailor each sound to exactly what you need for your production, for a new level of realism, and ultimate control. The eleven microphone positions give you much more than the standard Close, Tree, Ambient and Outriggers — add Mono Close mics, used by the BBC since 1930s, for a vintage sound; Leader mics, placed above the leader in each section for a more intimate sound; Stereo Coles 1438s for a vibrant, punchy sound highlighting a particular section, Close Wides, to feature a section while occupying the whole width of the stereo field; Balcony mics for even more distance; Sides for our widest sound, and Atmos, designed for use in Dolby Atmos mixing.

The game changer on top of these is five spill signals — microphones left open from other sections which you can add in for depth, fullness and a truly three dimensional sound. We also give you two out of the box stereo mixes by Jake Jackson — one 'real', the other more 'hyped'. All the options you need, from the very driest, tightest, most upfront sound, all the way to huge, expansive ambient sounds. This is your definitive orchestra, made accessible through cutting edge technology, all in one package.

“To have all I need at my fingertips in one single plugin is a game changer.”

— Christian Henson, Spitfire Audio Founder

PLUG IN AND PLAY ON SSD

The best way to use this library is to buy it with our external SSD — a sleek 1TB Samsung 860 EVO drive housed in our bespoke Spitfire Audio hard case, giving you instant playability. This external SSD allows you to instantly use the library without having to download — just as fast and reliable, while saving you a huge amount of internal hard drive space. The library is also available to buy on our standard hard drive — you can add this to your cart at checkout.

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

The founding values of the BBC – to inform, educate and entertain – could not resonate more richly with Spitfire, making this partnership a truly exciting and defining moment. Beyond a new standard for orchestral sample libraries lies an ongoing collaboration with the BBC, providing resources – online and live – for a community of musicians ready to define the future of orchestral music and blockbuster scores.

TESTIMONIALS

“Insanely great – legatos that really sing, even in the quiet ranges, and that unmistakable sound of a world class orchestra. Bravo!"

— Benjamin Wallfisch (Bladerunner 2049, It)

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“Exquisite stuff. I've dreamt about being able to use technology like this."

— Greg Wells, composer and producer (The Greatest Showman, Adele)

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“Incredible and revolutionary — this is an epiphany for every composer with access to a computer. The stuff of childhood dreams for musicians."

— Nitin Sawhney, artist and composer (Mowgli)

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“Composers will relish its great sound, excellent performances and large, consistent articulations menu"

— SOUND ON SOUND READ THE REVIEW