Inside The DAW

Spitfire Audio added a new piano VST to their Labs catalogue. Labs is a series of completely free VST instruments. The Labs Soft Piano has long been a favorite of many composers for its beautiful, delicate tone. This time it's not a felt piano, but it's equally suited for softer music. Glass Piano is a VST version of famous composer Philip Glass's own piano that he used for over 30 years. All of his incredible music has been written on this piano. Spitfire visited him at his home in New York City to record the samples. It's a baby grand with lots of character and a sound that ranges from classic and beautiful to soft and atmospheric. I was really surprised that Spitfire decided to give this piano away for free, since it would be easy to market something with a name like Philip Glass attached to it. Glass Piano includes 6 articulations: Anthem, Floe, Glass Grand, Glass Grand Soft, Metamorphosis and North Star. Glass Grand and Glass Grand Soft are the most straightforward...

Spitfire Originals Intimate Strings is an ensemble strings VST for just 29$. Considering how expensive most of the bigger string libraries are, you might be skeptical about the quality of such an affordable package. To go straight to the point, Intimate Strings sounds incredibly beautiful. As the name suggests, you get a very delicate and detailed string sound that is perfect for softer compositions. The reason for this amazing sound is that Intimate Strings actually uses samples from an older Spitfire library called Albion Loegria, which was a full premium library at the time with lots of content. Albion Loegria is now retired and not available anymore, but many people really loved the beautiful sound of it, so I think it was a very smart move from Spitfire to release the string section of Loegria separately for a very affordable price. This gives upcoming composers the opportunity to use these stunning samples right at the beginning of their journey without spending all of their savi...