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Spitfire Symphony Orchestra Review (2025 Updated) – Is It Worth It?

Spitfire Symphony Orchestra 2025 – complete orchestral sample library with Solo Strings and Motif Brass for film and trailer composers

UPDATED APRIL 2026: This review has been updated to cover the two major free updates released in 2025 – Solo Strings and Motif Brass.

What is the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra?

The Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the best orchestral sample libraries available, and the 2025 version, now expanded with the two new volumes Solo Strings and Motif Brass, makes that case stronger than ever.

Recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Hall with 123 world-class musicians and covering every orchestral section from strings to percussion, SSO is the go-to choice for film, TV, trailer, and game composers who need a professional, cinematic sound in one package.

In this review, I cover what changed in 2024 and 2025, how the new SSO sounds, how it compares to Spitfire Audio’s BBCSO and other orchestral libraries on the market, and whether it’s worth your money in 2025.

I updated my initial 2021 review of the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra to accommodate the features and concepts of the new 2025 version.

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Spitfire Symphony Orchestra – Trailer

★★★★★ EPICOMPOSER VERDICT: 9/10 – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The 2024 relaunch of Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is one of the best quality-to-price deals in orchestral sampling right now. This updated (and upgraded) version of a classic library offers a complete 345 GB orchestral toolkit, including strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, harp, and piano. All recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Hall, featuring Performance Legato scripting and a significantly reduced price tag.

Best for: Film, TV, trailer, and game composers looking for a complete, professional-sounding orchestral library.

At a Glance

SpecDetail
DeveloperSpitfire Audio
FormatKontakt (free Kontakt Player compatible)
Size~368 GB (incl. 2025 updates)
Price£499 / €569 (upgrade pricing available)
Sections includedStrings + Solo Strings, Brass + Motif Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion, Harp, Piano, Curated Ensembles
Recorded atAIR Lyndhurst Hall, London, United Kingdom
Articulations600+ (across all sections)
Updated2025 (Solo Strings + Motif Brass added as free updates)
Rating9/10 – Highly recommended

What’s New in the 2024 Relaunch?

The 2024 version of Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is a major update to the original 2021 version of SSO. Here’s what changed:

  • All Symphonic AIR Lyndhurst libraries consolidated into one package (strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, harp, piano, and Curated Ensembles)
  • New Performance Legato patches by Andy Blaney that automatically adapt to your playing speed and style
  • Redesigned interface using Kontakt’s new graphic capabilities
  • Revised and balanced CTAO microphone array (Close, Tree, Ambient, Outriggers)
  • 368 GB total install size, significantly streamlined from the previous individual-library setup
  • Heavily reduced price: now a fraction of what the individual libraries costed together
  • Comprehensive audio sample fixes and legato transition improvements throughout

Note: If you already own the original Symphonic Strings, Symphonic Brass, Symphonic Woodwinds, and Spitfire Percussion, you receive SSO as a free upgrade. Partial ownership qualifies for special upgrade pricing.

2025 Updates: Solo Strings & Motif Brass

Spitfire made good on their promise to keep SSO a living library. In 2025, two substantial free updates were released for all SSO owners, adding roughly 10 GB of new content and addressing some of the library’s previously noted weaknesses.

Solo Strings (2025)

SSO now includes dedicated solo string instruments: Solo Violin, Solo Violin 2, Solo Viola, and Solo Cello. These recordings were originally made in 2010–2011 with three internationally acclaimed soloists: Andrew Haveron (violin), Bruce White (viola), and Caroline Dale (cello). The recordings were freshly reprogrammed by Andy Blaney for the 2025 release, and they sound exceptional.

Each solo instrument comes with dedicated Performance patches covering fingered legato, bowed legato, portamento, longs, spiccato, staccato, pizzicato, and harmonics. A particularly useful addition is the bow emphasis control. It’s a subtle CC-assignable effect that adds a slight, realistic bow articulation at the start of new notes within a legato phrase, and it genuinely elevates the realism of solo melodic lines.

The close mic signal on these patches is surprisingly dry and tight, given the reverberant hall, making it easy to place solo instruments in any acoustic environment without fighting the room.

My take: This was a highly requested addition. Solo strings are essential for lyrical themes, intimate moments, and layering over the full ensemble sections. I particularly like layering the spiccato articulations of the solo strings with ensemble spiccatos to bring out the bite and detail of my short strings in a crowded mix. The sound quality is excellent. These were recorded with first-call session players, and it shows.

Motif Brass (2025)

The Motif Brass update is the most substantial addition yet: 7.8 GB of brand new recordings from three brass ensembles: Trumpets a3, Horns a4, and Trombones a5 (3 tenor, 2 bass). These are designed specifically for thematic, melodic playing – the kind of bold, heroic brass lines made famous by classic John Williams scores.

Each ensemble comes with both a Performance patch and an All Techniques patch. The Performance patch is the standout of this addition. As with the other performance patches of the library, articulation is controlled entirely by how you play. Short notes become staccatissimo, slightly longer notes become marcato, and sustained, connected notes deliver full legato lines. Playing fast repetitions triggers an agile, realistic repeated-note response. No key switches required.

The Motif Brass also introduces proper Staccatissimo patches for trumpets and trombones, something the original SSO notably lacked. This directly addresses the criticism about the absence of proper short articulations in the brass section.

Here is a quick demo I created with just the Motif Brass performance patches, heavily copying the march of a certain dark space lord with breathing issues:

It perfectly shows the agility and bite of the new Motif Brass patches. I used a combination of the Close, Tree, and Ambient mics and no additional processing.

My take: Motif Brass is genuinely transformative for anyone writing action, adventure, or epic cues. Where the original brass patches required careful programming to achieve natural thematic lines, the Motif Performance patches let you play them directly. The trombones in particular are a revelation because of their rich, powerful, and beautifully responsive sound across the full range.

Performance Patch Improvements (2025)

Alongside the new instruments, Spitfire updated the performance patches for Violins 1 & 2, Violas, Celli, Basses, Oboe Solo, Oboe Principal, Solo Tenor Trombone, and Tuba Solo. These updates improve the smoothness and consistency of playing throughout.

OVERVIEW

In this latest iteration, Spitfire Symphony Orchestra has become a complete set of libraries covering all orchestral instrument families: Spitfire Symphonic Strings, Spitfire Symphonic Brass, Spitfire Symphonic Woodwinds, Spitfire Percussion (including piano and harp), Spitfire Masse – a clever set of layered ensembles for immediate cinematic sketching – and, as of 2025, a dedicated Solo Strings section.

All sections have been recorded at the famous AIR Lyndhurst Hall, one of the world’s largest recording facilities. Built from a converted church and featuring peculiar acoustics controlled by a huge moving ceiling panel, it has been (and still is!) used to record many famous scores over the last few decades, including Gladiator, Harry Potter, and How to Train Your Dragon. Spitfire’s goal in recording here and by hiring the same players used in these blockbuster productions is to give composers a library capable of rendering convincing orchestral works for movies, TV, and video games.

 The movable ceiling panel at AIR Lyndhurst Hall (Photo by Spitfire Audio)

Spitfire Symphonic Strings features 60 players, including 16 first violins, 14 second violins, 12 violas, 10 celli, and 8 double basses, with over 175 articulations comprising 94 longs, 59 shorts, and 9 legato types. The brass section covers the full range from solo instruments through a2 sections up to powerful a6 ensemble patches for Horns, Trombones, and Trumpets — and now also includes the new Motif Brass ensembles (Trumpets a3, Horns a4, Trombones a5) added in 2025.

Woodwinds are equally comprehensive, with solo and a2 patches for every instrument that can be combined into a3 sections, complemented by the full range from piccolo to contrabassoon. Percussion, performed by Joby Burgess, rounds out the package with tuned instruments, drums, orchestral piano, and a particularly beautiful harp.

Finally, Spitfire Masse contains layered ensembles from the three libraries, covering strings, brass, and woodwind sections, along with a tutti. Each ensemble features several distinct “themes”, which correspond to various playing techniques assembled for a massive and cinematic sound.

AIR Lyndhurst Hall (Photo by Spitfire Audio)

INTERFACE

The 2024 interface is a significant step forward. Built on Kontakt’s updated graphics system, it’s clean, modern, and spacious. The most-used controls, dynamics, vibrato, and expression sit right at the top of the screen. Technique selection sits in the center, a mic position selector and mix options are at the bottom.

Spitfire Symphony Orchestra – Clarinet Solo GUI

Everything is assignable to CCs and keyswitches, making live performance and template-based workflows practical. The Performance Legato patches deserve special mention here: they react intelligently to how you play, switching between spiccatos, legato lines, and portamento automatically based on your velocity and note overlap. For composers writing directly to picture, this is a real time-saver.

How Does SSO Sound?

SSO’s sonic identity is not only defined by the exceptional players but also by the AIR Lyndhurst Hall. This iconic scoring stage is a converted church with one of the world’s most coveted natural reverb sounds. This particular sound can be heard in countless award-winning movie soundtracks of the last two decades. The Lyndhurst Hall adds a cinematic depth and warmth that is hard to replicate with artificial reverb – though if you want to get close, Spitfire’s own AIR Studios Reverb plugin is definitely worth a look.

The SSO strings sound natural, lush, and full-bodied. The long articulations are particularly beautiful. They deliver a kind of sound that sits naturally in a mix without the need of heavy processing. The brass section, along with the new Motif Brass patches, is powerful without being harsh, and the a6 ensemble patches have genuine gravitas for epic, trailer-style film scoring.

The woodwinds are expressive and detailed, especially in the solo and a2 registers. The woodwind runs are among the most natural-sounding I’ve heard in a sample library.

The harp is a genuine highlight. It sits beautifully within the full orchestral texture, blending naturally with the room. If you pull up the Close mic, it steps forward effortlessly for exposed solo passages. This makes SSO’s harp a kind of instrument that works in the background and in the spotlight of an orchestral arrangement equally well.

The percussion sampled for the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra benefits enormously from the aforementioned Lyndhurst Hall acoustic. The diffuse, enveloping room makes every instrument sound larger and more powerful than it has any right to: timpani hits with real weight, and even subtler textures carry that sense of space. The tuned percussion is a particular standout: the glockenspiel and celeste, with Tree and Ambient mics blended in, instantly evoke the kind of magical, orchestral shimmer you’d expect from a Harry Potter cue.

Articulations & Playing Techniques

With over 600 articulations across all sections, SSO covers virtually every playing technique a film or trailer composer could need. As soon as you open Spitfire Symphony Orchestra in the Kontakt browser, you can immediately see the impressive number of articulations and playing techniques included.

These are organized into the four main orchestral sections, while two additional folders exist for individual techniques and legacy patches (Spitfire decided to include some of the previous patches in this edition for added flexibility). Within the four main sections, the patches are further divided into “All techniques”, “Core Techniques”, “Decorative Techniques”, and “Performance” (i.e., “Performance Legato”, more on this below).

Looking deeper into the content, I can see that Spitfire Symphonic Strings has the largest number of patches of all three main libraries. The string section’s long articulation patches are beautifully recorded and show Spitfire’s dedication to offering a truly cinematic-oriented sound. From Normale, Flautando, to Con Sordino, the sampled articulations represent an excellent palette of different techniques and textures to choose from.

A lot of these textures are, in fact, very relevant in today’s music for media. Our favorites among these textural patches include the Con Sordino Blend, Flautando, Harmonics, and Super Sul Tasto. Most of these patches offer several dynamic layers, as to be expected. Where appropriate, you have access to two to three vibrato layers, ranging from non-vib to molto vib. Half-note and whole-note Trills as well as Tremolos have also been sampled across the string sections.

Performance Legato

One of SSO’s most talked-about features deserves its own mention. The Performance Legato patches, which are available for strings, brass, and woodwinds, automatically adapt to your playing speed and style, switching between spiccatos, legato lines, and portamento without requiring a single keyswitch. For composers writing directly to picture, this is a significant workflow advantage. The 2025 Motif Brass update introduced its own Motif Performance Legato, which responds even more intelligently to melodic, thematic playing.

There are nine dedicated string legato types included. The first five are found in the standard legato patches: Bowed, Fingered, Portamento, Runs, and Sul G/C.
The other four are found in the Performance Legato patch. Available for the brass and woodwind sections as well, these Performance Legato patches automatically adapt to our playing speed and switch between different articulations and legato techniques accordingly. This makes it possible to write an entire musical phrase within the same patch, from short spiccatos to slow lyrical legato lines.

In this new version of the Symphony Orchestra, Spitfire Audio addressed a common request: they added the missing intermediate vibrato layer to the legato patches, giving us access to the full expressivity of the recorded samples. The legato transitions have also been reworked and now crossfade much more smoothly, bringing them in line with more recent Spitfire Audio releases.

The string section’s short articulations are numerous and include Spiccatos, Short Brushed, Pizzicato, Short CS, and more. They are distributed coherently across all the sections. The different Brushed Shorts and Pizzicati are particularly beautiful and really show the quality of the hall in their lush release tails.

Instead of sampling Marcato and Staccato techniques, Spitfire Audio preferred to opt for so-called Short 0’5 and Short 1’0 articulations that vary in length. The number refers to the length of the recorded sample. These two articulations were captured in p/m/f, and their attack is controllable with a Tightness slider. I would have preferred to see proper staccato and marcato articulations, though, as I feel the end result sounds more like a compromise between the two, even with the Tightness slider set fully to one side. It is worth noting that the 2025 Motif Brass update addresses this for the brass section, introducing proper Staccatissimo patches for Trumpets and Trombones.

Overall, the same comments apply to the woodwind section. In our tests, the woodwinds were a particularly good match for the strings, and the sound of the AIR Lyndhurst Hall yielded beautiful results. The fact that the library is offering solo and a2 patches adds a lot to its flexibility. The woodwind recordings are indeed very expressive and suit emotional statements as well as orchestral accompaniments.

It is nice to see that the long techniques allow for a certain amount of vibrato control, scaling from non-vib to vib. The woodwind runs presented in Spitfire Symphonic Woodwinds sound particularly good, too.

Moving on to the brass section, here again, Spitfire Audio offers patches both in solo and a2, and even includes a6 ensembles for Trumpets, Horns, and Trombones. This provides the brass section with a great deal of tonal flexibility. The sampled dynamic range sounds to be around piano (p) to fortissimo (ff), which nicely represents the traditional orchestral dynamic range. Cuivre and bells up performances are also included to provide more timbre variations. The a6 ensemble patches in particular are truly powerful, and the low brass resonates well in the recording hall.

The lower dynamics and mellow registers are sampled exceptionally well. If there is anything to criticize for us, it would clearly be the absence of legato articulations for the solo Trombone (a feature that was announced for a future update a few years ago). Anyway, to keep a sense of proportion, these minor flaws would not necessarily be obvious in the context of a full musical piece.

Next is the percussion instrument family. This section used to be covered by a separate product (Spitfire Percussion) but is now included in the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra package. The range of percussive instruments covered is astonishing, ranging from thunderous timpanis to delicate glockenspiels. The percussion section even includes unusual percussive “toys”.

All performances are very well recorded and respond superbly to the Air Lyndhurst Hall. An orchestral piano and a harp are now also part of the range. While the piano is functional in context, the harp is a highlight and able to deliver fragile and delicate performances that work well within the room.

Similarly, the library previously called Spitfire Masse is now labeled “Curated Ensembles” and became part of the Symphony Orchestra package. It contains pre-orchestrated and pre-mixed sections that allow for great ease of use and maximum impact. The available patches cover the strings, brass, and woodwind sections as well as all sections playing together as Tutti. They are programmed using several dynamics and vibrato intensities. Among those patches, some of our favorite ones are the Cool Strings, the Ligeti Strings, the Woodwind Chorus Long, and the Orchestrator Longs, with an honorable mention to the Brass Beast Shorts. Overall, these curated ensembles are a really useful tool to quickly sketch ideas with convincing, cinematic colors, or as an additional layer to give the main three libraries even more gravitas.

MICROPHONE MIXES

The 2024 relaunch introduced a new, balanced set of microphone signals. Although there are slight differences within the library, the set revolves around the well-known CTAO combination: Close, Tree, Ambient, and Outriggers signals. Some of the sections have an additional signal: a leader microphone in the strings section for example. This overall reshuffle involves the loss of the previous ready-to-use stereo mixes but also streamlines the microphone array. Given the hard drive space these numerous signals take, Spitfire Audio had to make a difficult choice here, as they undoubtedly wanted to offer a cheaper, lighter package. Having said that, the CTAO combination was also a staple in previous Spitfire products and is very easy to balance.

The advantage of the new programming is that all the signals are available within a single patch, contrary to the previous edition of the orchestra.

To review these different signals in detail, I transcribed a part of the main title of The Queen’s Gambit, composed by Carlos Rafael Rivera. All the examples below were created using out-of-the-box patches that feature just one microphone signal at a time. No panning and no additional reverb were applied; just a limiter was added to the mix bus for some quick gain staging.

CLOSE MIC

The Close (C) mic is useful to add definition to musical lines while offering a rather narrow stereo image. Since the hall the samples were captured in is very reverberant, the Close mic still retains a healthy amount of roominess. The resulting sound is focused on the players and adds a lot of detail and presence to the mix.

TREE MIC

The Tree (T) is a signal taken from a so-called Decca Tree microphone array, placed above the conductor of the orchestra. This results in a balanced representation of both the definition of the instruments and the recording hall’s sound. Compared to the Close mics, you can hear a clear and wider stereo image.

AMBIENT MIC

The Ambient (A) mics, placed further away from the orchestra, are more about the ambience and acoustics of the hall. The stereo imaging is a bit less focused as the reverberance of the room becomes far more prominent. While it isn’t a mic position I would use on its own, it is very useful in combination with other, more defined mics, in order to make the orchestra sound bigger and wider.

OUTRIGGER MICS

The Outriggers (O) having significantly more distance between each other than the Tree, offer a very wide, almost separated, stereo image at the expense of a bit of definition. They are a great fit for strings and brass in cinematic music, as they leave a sonic space in the middle for dialog.

Here’s a starting point I’d recommend: Load the Tree mic as your primary signal. Add Close at -6 dB for detail, Outriggers at -6 dB for width. For the tuned percussion – particularly glockenspiel and celeste – try blending Tree and Ambient for that instant orchestral shimmer.

SSO (2025)BBC SO ProHollywood Orchestra Opus EditionBerlin Orchestra Pro
DeveloperSpitfire AudioSpitfire AudioEastWestOrchestral Tools
Recording VenueAIR Lyndhurst Hall, LondonMaida Vale Studios, LondonEastWest Studio One, HollywoodTeldex Studio, Berlin
Sound CharacterWarm, cinematic, lushCohesive, natural, symphonicBold, punchy, Hollywood sheenNeutral, detailed, versatile
Size~368 GB~600 GB~944 GB~602 GB (compressed data)
Instruments101 incl. soloists67 incl. solo strings67 incl. soloists141 incl. soloists
Articulations600+468500+1,200+
LegatoExcellent-sounding Performance + Motif LegatoExcellent, natural legatos that sing also in quiet dynamicsGreat-sounding classic Hollywood legatos, woodwinds a little weakerExcellent adaptive legatos, full round robins, a little less pronounced
Mic Positions4 (CTAO) + Leader11 + 5 Spill signals5 + predesigned Mood mixesup to 7, incl. Spot mics
PlayerKontakt Player (free)Spitfire Plugin (free)OPUS Engine (free)SINE Player (free)
Price$629 / £499 / €569$999/ £899 / €999$399 / ~£320 / ~€370 (with regular heavy discounts)~$1,500/ ~£1,190 / €1,399
Sale Priceup to ~$335 / ~£270 / ~€310up to ~$600 / ~£600 / ~€700up to $129 / ~£100 / ~€115occasionally

All four libraries are professional-grade tools used on major productions. The differences come down to sonic character, workflow, and what kind of music you write most.

SSO and BBCSO Pro are both Spitfire products recorded in London, but they serve different purposes. SSO’s AIR Lyndhurst Hall delivers a warmer, more cinematic depth that sits naturally in cinematic and epic scoring contexts. BBCSO Pro, recorded at Maida Vale Studios with the world-famous BBC Symphony Orchestra, has a more cohesive, natural symphonic sound and is described by many composers as the most realistic out-of-the-box orchestral library available. Its legatos are exceptional and sing convincingly even at quiet dynamic levels. Where BBCSO Pro has the edge for modern classical and symphonic realism, SSO wins for cinematic immediacy and the sheer range of its 2025 updates.

Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition is recorded at EastWest’s iconic Studio One in Hollywood by engineer Shawn Murphy, and it delivers that classic punchy, wide American orchestral sound. The brass section is widely considered a highlight with its raspy and aggressive sound. The woodwinds are its acknowledged weak point, and the proprietary OPUS engine has divided users over the years. On sale, which is frequent, it represents exceptional value.

Berlin Orchestra Pro is the professional standard for composers who need maximum articulation depth and genre versatility. With over 1,200 articulations, full round robins, Adaptive Legato, and a lush, yet more neutral Teldex acoustic, it blends across styles more easily than the three room-heavy alternatives. It is the most expensive at full price, and the most technically demanding to master, but for A-list composers, it is often the daily driver of choice.

We have reviewed EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition, and the Berlin Series Bundle by Orchestral Tools separately. Click through for our in-depth takes on each.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need the full version of Kontakt to use SSO?

No. Spitfire Symphony Orchestra runs in the free Kontakt Player (version 7.5.2 or higher). You do not need the paid version of Kontakt.

Is Spitfire Symphony Orchestra good for cinematic music?

Yes, it’s one of the strongest choices available. The Motif Brass ensembles (added in 2025) are particularly well-suited for heroic, thematic trailer writing. The a6 brass ensemble patches, Brass Beast Shorts in the Curated Ensembles, and the lush Lyndhurst reverb all lend themselves naturally to epic orchestral scoring. It’s less specialized than a dedicated trailer library like Audio Imperia Jaeger, but far more versatile.

What are the 2025 updates, and are they free?

Yes, both 2025 updates are completely free for all SSO owners. The Solo Strings update adds Solo Violin, Solo Violin 2, Solo Viola, and Solo Cello performed by internationally acclaimed soloists. The Motif Brass update adds Trumpets a3, Horns a4, and Trombones a5 with new intelligent Performance patches and proper Staccatissimo articulations. Download both via the Spitfire Audio App.

Does SSO now have solo strings?

Yes. As of the 2025 update, SSO includes Solo Violin, Solo Violin 2, Solo Viola, and Solo Cello – all with dedicated Performance patches covering multiple legato types, longs, shorts, pizzicato, and harmonics. They were recorded by Andrew Haveron, Bruce White, and Caroline Dale.

Did Spitfire fix the solo trombone legato issue?

Yes. The 2025 update includes a Total Performance patch for the Solo Tenor Trombone, which was a frequently noted gap in the original library. The Motif Brass update also adds a full Trombones a5 ensemble with its own Performance patch.

How does the 2025 version compare to BBCSO?

Both are excellent. SSO’s AIR Lyndhurst sound is warmer and more cinematic out of the box. BBCSO Pro has a slight edge for classical and orchestral realism due to its more neutral acoustic. SSO now has solo strings and more brass ensemble options, while BBCSO Pro remains the go-to for detailed solo instrument work. For media composers, SSO offers better value at its price point.

What DAWs and systems does SSO support?

SSO works in any DAW that supports Kontakt Player 7.5.2 or higher. macOS 11 through macOS 26 (Sequoia) are supported, as are Intel and Apple Silicon Macs natively. Windows 10 and 11 are supported. Minimum CPU is Intel i5 or equivalent, 4 GB RAM (6 GB recommended).

CONCLUSION

With this relaunch of the Spitfire Symphony Orchestra, Spitfire Audio further refines one of its most classic and timeless libraries. All the sections share a great tone and a wonderful hall ambience, as many existing users will already know. They also have an excellent array of articulations – in particular the long ones which allow composers to build a wide range of intricate orchestral textures.

Spitfire Symphony Orchestra makes for a very solid orchestral palette, particularly if the quality and color of the hall ambience is a point of consideration. While the absence of the ready-to-use stereo mixes is regrettable, the revised microphone array is well-balanced, in particular for media composers who have to dial in sounds quickly. The reduced price (a little over a third of the original price) and streamlined size of the whole package are also clear highlights.

The recording quality, sheer number of articulations, and the new price point all contribute to presenting Spitfire Symphony Orchestra with one of the best quality-to-price ratios in the market today.

Pros

  • New Performance legato scripting
  • Smooth legato transitions
  • Great hall ambience
  • Solid and balanced microphone array

Cons

  • Some inconsistencies in the selection of techniques across the woodwind sections
  • The RAM-efficient stereo mixes were scraped in the 2024 version

RECOMMENDED: 9/10

The Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is available for $629 / £499 / €569 through Spitfire Audio’s online shop. If you already own Symphonic Woodwinds, Symphonic Brass, Symphonic Strings, and Spitfire Percussion, you will receive Spitfire Symphony Orchestra completely free of charge. Combinations of other owned products featured in this library will still entitle you to special upgrade pricing for Spitfire Symphony Orchestra.

SPITFIRE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VIDEO WALKTHROUGH

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SCORING THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT WITH SSO PROFESSIONAL

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3 comments on “Spitfire Symphony Orchestra Review (2025 Updated) – Is It Worth It?

  1. Alasdair Malloy

    Shameful.

    Why do professional musicians allow themes to be exploited in this way?

    I am a professional musician and have always turned down such sampling sessions and am dismayed at my colleagues who have taken them on.

    Shameful

    • Hi Alasdair, as a professional musician and composer myself, I understand your concerns about exploitation but I also see some things very differently. The reality is that the music industry is evolving. Adaptation and exploration of new opportunities, like sampling sessions, are vital for musicians seeking to thrive in this dynamic environment. Far from taking away jobs, I am convinced these sessions offer alternative avenues for professional growth, creativity, and financial stability. Here are some reasons why:
      1) Few aspiring composers actually receive the opportunity to work with a real orchestra in their early career, whether it’s because of budget limitations of the client or out of logistic reasons. Giving those composers the chance to learn and work with the sound of an orchestra through sample libraries makes them get better in their art and craft and ultimately, when those composers finally get to a stage where working with real (orchestra) musicians is viable, they know where to look and how to work with them. I learned about composing for film and orchestration solely through sample libraries when I started out and I believe that now that I do have the opportunity to work with real musicians and orchestras quite regularly, I am much more appreciative and better prepared. Knowing the benefits but also the weak points of sample based production helps with deciding when hiring real musicians is the way to go – at least in my experience.
      2) For musicians, sampling sessions provide them with additional income streams beyond live performances, teaching, or studio session work. This financial diversification is crucial, especially in an industry known for its fluctuating demand and income stability.
      3) In the case of Spitfire Audio, the developer behind the product you commented on, I know that they give out royalties of their sales to all musicians that participated on their sampling sessions. While I don’t have any insights into how much you would earn as a single musician, I know that Spitfire Audio paid over 20 milliion pounds to musicians and collaborators to date according to their website.
      Looking forward to hear your opinion on this.
      Best,
      Martin

    • What an ignorant comment.

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