MODERN SCORING, INSPIRED BY THE PAST

A celebration of un-notated traditions passed down through generations, and captured through the magic of sampling, Albion Solstice explores the visionary artistry from modern, folk, and heritage instruments. Passionately curated, this library transcends genre to give you everything you need to create modern cinematic scores.

The breadth of instrumentation and alternative techniques that forms the nucleus of this composing toolkit is staggering. Inspired by our rich and varied musical heritage, Solstice is a wellspring of opportunities featuring strings, brass, and woodwind accompanied by unique instruments from nyckelharpa, Celtic fiddles, hurdy-gurdy, and modern synthesizers, percussion performances, and much more. This is not a library to create folk music with, but simply everything you need to create cinematic scores for today, inspired by the past.

Recorded at the legendary Castlesound Studios in Edinburgh, Scotland, Albion Solstice is an ultra-intimate and dynamic selection of uniquely workshopped ensembles, featuring highly specialised players and sound smiths from a cross-section of classical, folk, Celtic, Gaelic, and other traditions, mixed with modern instrumentation such as analog synthesisers, Eurorack modular, electric guitar textures, tuned percussion, and distinctive audio processing. This folk noir library is a deep wellspring of endless inspiration, stemming from the organic sounds of modern and heritage instruments from across the United Kingdom, treated, blended, and unleashed to create extraordinary soundworlds fit for modern scoring.

Formed to be a vast and powerful scoring toolkit with everything you could need to create incredible cinematic tracks in one box. The sounds in this NKS-compatible library are grouped into three distinct sections: The Solstice Orchestra, the organic core featuring 10 expertly curated ensembles and 1 solo instrument, The Cassette Orchestra with 750 tape-warped, affected organic sounds available for you to expand upon using the intuitive eDNA GUI, and The Drone Grid, an almost infinite pool of stunning and unique textural evolutions to offer composers never-ending inspiration.

By design, the Albion series offers you everything you need to create film scores, helping you instantly jump-start ideas with sounds that support the writing process, allowing you to move beyond the blank page. With Albion Solstice, the approach to recontextualise folk and traditional instruments allows you to transcend genre, creating modern scores where anything is possible. Helmed by Spitfire Audio's co-founder Christian Henson, who expertly curated and workshopped each section over two years, Solstice is our boldest Albion yet.

THE SOLSTICE VERNACULAR

The Elders (Traditional Strings, Classic Strings, Solo Bass) - The Callers (Brass & Winds) - The Mystics (Whistles) - The Blaggards (Band) - The Hosts (Choir) - The Generator Trio (Electric Guitars) - The Gut Circle (Acoustic Guitars) - The Nursery (Bells & Mallets) - The Marauders (Percussion)

THE SOLSTICE ORCHESTRA

Featuring 10 ensembles and a soloist, 235 articulations, 78 of which are found in the two string sections, including legatos, The Solstice Orchestra is a collection of folk and contemporary instrument ensembles presented in an achingly honest and truthful light. The beating heart of Albion Solstice, these organic sounds are hand-selected by Christian Henson, working closely with a carefully selected group of players from the traditional music scenes in Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. Offering new, intimate, and sometimes provoking sounds imbued with raw emotion, evoking past, present, and future at once.

Discover strings, brass and woodwinds, a choir, percussion, whistles, synths, and guitars, presented in pre-orchestrated ensembles, featuring single hits, common and alternative techniques, motors (rhythmic performances that sync to your host tempo), evolutions, drones, textures and much more. Introduce yourself to the lamenting performances of The Callers, a unique brass and woodwinds section featuring soprano sax, clarinet, tenor trombone, baritone sax, tuba, and contrabass clarinet. Create indie-like textures and tones with help from The Generator Trio, an ensemble of 2 electric guitars and electric bass, creating momentum with strummed, plucked, and e-bowed performances. The Blaggards bring a totally unique and useful grouping of drones and movements, an ensemble comprised of traditional folk instruments including accordions, bass harmonica, nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy, harmonium, and clàrsach (Celtic harps), the folk core of the library - but we've made it cinematic. Compose with The Elders, a pair of string sections, the Classic Strings Octet offers a raw beauty featuring more common techniques, whereas the Traditional Strings Sextet provides more Celtic, Gaelic, and folk colours to their Classic counterparts. Each section inside The Solstice Orchestra has been orchestrated to allow you the time to just write with confidence in your tools.

Jump right in using the broadcast-ready mix created by the award-winning film, tv, and game engineer Jake Jackson, or tweak signals to meet your needs using the intuitive GUI, featuring 3 microphone positions and a cinematic impulse response reverb, unique to Solstice and formulated by Christan Henson and the Spitfire Audio Development team, giving you brilliant control over the dry, tight nature of Castle Sound and allowing you to mix with any orchestral library.

For a full overview of what is inside The Solstice Orchestra see the What's Included section at the bottom of this page. We also highly recommend you watch Paul Thompson's Walkthrough below.

PRODUCT INFO

~74286 SAMPLES

73.0 GB DOWNLOAD SIZE

73.00 GB DISK SPACE REQUIRED DURING INSTALL

MAC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Mac OS X 10.10 or later. Minimum: 2.8GHz i5 minimum (quad-core), 8GB RAM. Recommended: 2.8GHz I7 (six-core), 16GB RAM. Apple Silicon/ARM not yet supported but available via Rosetta 2. Machine must be connected to the internet during install.

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit) Minimum: Intel 2.8 GHz i5 (quad-core) or AMD Ryzen 5. Recommended: Intel 2.8 GHz i7 (six-core) or AMD R7 2700. Machine must be connected to the internet during install.

KONTAKT VERSION REQUIREMENTS

Kontakt Version 5.6.8 or above required

FREE KONTAKT PLAYER

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