With the prolific output from Spitfire Audio one of their products, BML Sable Ensembles, has been overlooked in the noise of their summer blockbuster releases.
BML SABLE ENSEMBLES
Under the hood is Spitfire’s easy to use GUI, presenting their trademark close, tree, ambient and outrigger mic positioning options playing the following articulations:
Longs Con Sordino
Longs Flautando
Longs Sul Tasto
Longs Harmonics
Longs Sul Ponticello
Short Spiccato
Short Staccato
Short Pizzicato
Short Pizzicato Bartok
Short Con Sordino
Short Col Legno
Tremolando
Trills Maj 2nd
Trills Min 2nd
What is BML Sable Ensembles?
The BML Sable library has already established itself as the finest chamber sample library to date used on many film, television and video game scores and with four different articulation libraries in the Sable range it is an exceptionally comprehensive array of string samples, but sometimes you need a quick route in hence the release of Sable Ensembles.
Many of you may wonder why the need for an ensembles version of the Sable range when the Albion 2 library, whose strings focus primarily on the chamber string section, has already got an ensembles patch with various articulations that works very well indeed.
Well, to give a short answer to that I would say it’s all in the higher level of detail of the recordings and the range of articulations in the Sable range compared to the Albion range.
Don’t get me wrong Albion 2 is one of my favorite sample libraries of all time and Albion 2 is no lesser to Sable Ensembles vice versa , just very different.
On some compositions the smokey sound of Albion 2 is more appropriate but, if going towards a more classical approach, whilst blending with other libraries from the BML range, the Sable Ensembles has a level of detail to match the accompanying libraries…..yet all Spitfire products blend perfectly well anyway so the real decider is on mood and tone of the specific composition you are working on.
As well as a range of excellent samples for scoring, Sable Ensembles also serves as a most effective and quick way of measuring tone for the larger Sable range, so it acts as a sketching tool before going back to add the finer detail at a later date; a most useful aspect in it’s own right.
Audio Quality
As realistic as you’re going to get due to the exceptional recording chain and capture of both musician and the natural reverberation in the Air Studios hall…. but please note that, even though I state the obvious here, there is a difference between a symphonic orchestral sound and a chamber orchestral sound.
If you want a more intimate sound then Sable Ensembles is a great place to go but don’t take my word for it, go and have a listen to the demos over at the Spitfire Audio website.
Value for Money
Well worth the money for what you are getting, which is a library of some of the world’s finest musicians performing with various modes of expression that you yourself can use and manipulate to create your own scores.
Conclusion
A condensed version of the BML Sable range at an affordable price that offers plenty of articulations to get your teeth into. Great for producing a beautiful, highly detailed chamber sound and worth buying just for the haunting Longs Flautando articulation.
I give the BML Sable Ensembles a rating of 8/10
