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Spitfire Appassionata Strings

Spitfire Appassionata Strings features legatos offering perfectly balanced vibrato, enabling composers to intuitively write emotive lines in stunning detail.

  • Overview
  • Listen
  • Walkthrough
  • What's included
  • Tech specs
  • The next generation of string legatos

    Infuse your music with more passion than ever before with the best-sounding, most alive string legato sound available today. Ushering in the next generation of highly-detailed string legatos, Spitfire Appassionata Strings has been recorded using our new "Impulse Legato" technique – the culmination of years of intensive research and development at Spitfire Audio HQ. Delivering flowing and emotive lines, these new legatos offer perfectly balanced vibrato, enabling composers to intuitively write in a beautiful, soaring melodic style in stunning detail.

    Referencing the aesthetic of classic melodies from the scores of composers like John Williams and Thomas Newman, this medium-sized string band (8,6,6,6,4) delivers a highly sought-after style of performance, with stunningly-realistic rebowing. Crafted from years of sampling experience, Spitfire Appassionata Strings is your ultimate companion for writing with intention, emotion and – most of all – passion.

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    Our dedicated plugin

    Compatible with NKS

    String legatos

    7 mics / 4 mixes

    Dedicated plugin

    Listen to Spitfire Appassionata Strings

    Appassionata vs Albion Neo

    You don’t have to figure out key switches and controllers to make this sound like a real string section. It just sounds like a real string section right out the box.

    Paul Thomson

    Composer & co-Founder of Spitfire Audio

    Appassionata violins close up quote background

    Appassionata GUI

    Crafted from years of experience

    The legatos found inside Spitfire Appassionata Strings are the result of 15 years of research and development, from our earliest bespoke instruments right through to today. This library benefits from and is informed by those years of learning and expertise, a time in which Spitfire Audio have been crafting samples, creating a custom UI, collaborating with AIR Studios and fine tuning the process of capturing the intensity of a performance, through hours of research and development and attention to detail, culminating in a market leading finished product.
    Appassionata cellos
    • 30 top London string players
    • 5 discrete dynamic levels (pp, mp, mf, f, ff) with 4 Round Robin ‘Impulse Attacks’
    • Slurred and Bowed Legato intervals with up to 3 dynamic levels
    • A unique and intense Sul I available for the Violins 1, Violins 2 and Cellos
    • Multiple Hairpin types
    • 11 professional signals, featuring 4 expertly engineered mixes and 7 mic positions
    • Mic positions: Close, Tree, Ambient, Outrigger, Close Ribbons, Stereo Room, Mids
    • Recorded in situ using priceless valve and ribbon mics
    • Neve Montserrat Pre-amps into a Neve 88R desk
    • Recorded digitally at 96k via 2" Studer tape
    • NKS-ready

    AIR Studios microphones
    Tape machine
    AIR Studios

    What's included

    Violins 1 (8)

    • Legato (Combo)
    • Legato (Slurred)
    • Sustain
    • Glancing Attack
    • Hairpin (Short)
    • Hairpin (Medium)
    • Hairpin (rebow)

    Violins 2 (6)

    • Legato (Combo)
    • Legato (Slurred)
    • Sustain
    • Glancing Attack
    • Hairpin (Short)
    • Hairpin (Medium)
    • Hairpin (rebow)

    Violas (6)

    • Legato (Combo)
    • Legato (Slurred)
    • Sustain
    • Glancing Attack
    • Hairpin (Short)
    • Hairpin (Medium)
    • Hairpin (rebow)

    Cellos (6)

    • Legato (Combo)
    • Legato (Slurred)
    • Sustain
    • Glancing Attack
    • Hairpin (Short)
    • Hairpin (Medium)
    • Hairpin (rebow)

    Basses (4)

    • Legato (Combo)
    • Legato (Slurred)
    • Sustain
    • Glancing Attack
    • Hairpin (Short)
    • Hairpin (Medium)
    • Hairpin (rebow)

    Mixes

    • Mix 1 - A balanced mix that perfectly blends the cinematic sound of the hall together with closer details on the instruments.
    • Mix 2 - A large cinematic mix that allows the hall to really speak out.
    • Mix 3 - A tighter mix that showcases more of the instruments.
    • Mix 4 - An even more intimate but still very classic mix.

    Mics

    • Close
    • Tree
    • Ambient
    • Stereo Room
    • Mids
    • Close Ribbon
    • Outrigger

    Terminology

    Legato (Combo): The core legato technique - a combination of slurred, bowed and intense Sul I intervals with repetition based alt-attacks. (with Vibrato, 5 Dye, 4 RR, velocity controlled switching between Legato Types)

    Legato (Slurred): A slurred legato, with multiple dynamics of slurred intervals and repetition based alt-attacks. (this is split off from the main Combo patch)

    Sustain: A sustained note, recorded at 5 discrete dynamics. Cnn be played polyphonically

    Glancing Attack: A short brushed bow, ideal for accenting notes.

    Hairpin (Short): A short hairpin, utilising the alt-attacks.

    Hairpin (Medium): A medium hairpin, utilising the body of the alt-attacks.

    Hairpin (rebow): A long hairpin, featuring the bow-change used in capturing the sustain

    FAQs

    How does your dedicated plugin work?

    Our dedicated plugin libraries work as standalone instruments in your DAW, meaning that no serial number is provided and the authorisation process happens during your download. We provide an AU, VST2, VST3 and an AAX, so as long as your chosen DAW supports one of those plugin formats, you’re good to go.


    Is this product available with an educational discount?

    Yes, this library will be available with an educational discount. Request your educational discount here. The Educational Discount will apply to the full RRP of the library, not the introductory offer, so any codes received during the promotional period will only “top up” the discount to 30%.

    Read more FAQs for this product

    Tech specs

    Mac system requirements

    Mac OS X 10.15 to OS 13

    Minimum: 2.8GHz i5 minimum (quad-core), 8GB RAM

    Recommended: 2.8GHz I7 (six-core), 16GB RAM

    Both Intel and Apple Silicon/ARM are supported

    32-bit systems are not supported.

    PC system requirements

    Windows 10 or Windows 11 - (Latest Service Pack, 64-bit)

    Minimum: Intel 2.8 GHz i5 (quad-core) or AMD Ryzen 5, 8GB RAM

    Recommended: Intel Core i7 6th gen and later or AMD Ryzen 7, 16GB RAM

    32-bit systems are not supported.

    File size

    82.4 GB download size

    82.40 GB disk space required during install

    Too large to download? Choose hard drive delivery at checkout

    Spitfire Appassionata Strings sounds great with…