Albion: the legacy and the irony continues

A while ago, I wrote about my experiences during the purchase of the legendary Albion. Even today, after numerous conceptual changes and the decisions of its makers, it still remains one of the most revolutionary and top-quality packages for virtual orchestration.

Albion was originally released back in 2011. and it still holds the title of the most successful product from the portfolio of Spitfire Audio - probably the leading force in the field of orchestral virtual instruments nowadays. From the very beginning, Albion represented a certain turnover in regards to the competition. The library was built using the very best ingredients, including the acoustic space, instruments, equipment, to the players themselves - all of which were often employed in creating the music for countless film hits made in the past twenty or so years.

Albion was also among the first libraries that were aiming to make the already complicated process of virtual orchestration as simple and intuitive as possible, especially for us who compose by recording and editing the recorded performances rather than using the “traditional” method of entering notes into notation software. Furthermore, the library also includes not only the orchestral sounds and colors, but in modern times as equally important additional elements such as synth sounds, rhythmical beds, and various special effects - all in one package.

All this made Albion one of the most sought for and widely used products of its kind, but with a relatively high asking price. For this very reason, I’ve finally decided to purchase the library several years after its inception. Even today, Albion remains the single most expensive music software item in my collection, though I’ve also obtained Albion II and V libraries in the upcoming years, thanks to the available discounts.

So, naturally, I was quite surprised and disappointed by the decision of Spitfire Audio to remove its most successful product from the market in late 2015., in order for it to be re-released under a new name: “Albion One”. The reason for this move isn’t so hard to understand as to accept. They’ve wanted to make their flagship product even more interesting to the masses with an even greater incline toward the bombastic and “epic” orchestral music that overflows the modern film titles. That’s all fine, but they should pay greater respect toward the owners of the older version and offer them a free copy of Albion One, or at least an opportunity to update at some symbolic price when they decide to do so. Instead, the transition is a rather costly one, especially considering the price that many of us had to pay for the original version. This is probably the main reason why I still haven’t upgraded to Albion One.

However, the real surprise is yet to follow. A month ago, Spitfire had announced the whole “new” orchestral library series in which it offers its proven stellar quality at a bargain price. However, this is also not an entirely new product nor a streamlined version of the existing one. Surprisingly, almost five years after the official “death” of the original Albion, the company had decided to offer most of its content to the new clients for cheap. Great move! The question is: what about those who’ve paid the considering price for once a premium product before? Did we at least get the chance to update to Albion One for free? No, we’ve been given the same thing that we already have in a different package, as this new series doesn’t require Kontakt and Kontakt Player, but rather comes with its dedicated free plugin. Thank you very much. Of course, Spitfire couldn’t risk the potential diverting of the number of new clients from purchasing Albion One, which could easily happen should they’ve decided to base this new library on the current flagship rather than on a retired product.

Even though I do not regret purchasing a single of a dozen Spitfire Audio’s products to this date due to their exceptional quality and the inspiration they provide, my experience with Albion and this quite unexpected conclusion will always leave a bitter aftertaste.