SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud User Manual

June 1, 2024
SPITFIRE AUDIO

SPITFIRE PERCUSSION SWARM
SPITFIRE AUDIO – PERCUSSION SWARM
USER MANUAL

CONGRATULATIONS

Thank you for purchasing Spitfire Percussion Swarm. Percussion Swarm is a one- of-a-kind, encyclopaedic collection of beautiful cloudlike evolutions, pointillistic textures and single hits created from tuned and untuned percussion. This new world of dynamic  sounds is a collaboration with three of the world’s most renowned percussionists, equipped with their enviably rare and extensive range of instruments. Following the same groundbreaking concept as our celebrated Swarm series, various techniques were  performed simultaneously at random intervals in the inimitable resonance of The Hall at AIR Studios — resulting in undulating textures and swarm-like swells ranging in sparsity and density, with a staggering 16 signals to choose from. Percussion Swarm also  offers you 30 warped pads and rhythmic textures, and 235 snapshots, presented in our Mercury Synth engine.

Quick Specs

  • Number of samples: 51354
  • Download Size – 59.60GB
  • 61GBs Disk space required
  • MAC OS 10.10 | Intel Core Duo
  • Windows 7, 8, or 10 | Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2
  • NKS Ready
  • Free Kontakt Player Included
  • Kontakt 5.6.8 or Higher

WELCOME

WIDESCREEN PERCUSSION INNOVATION
A distillation of months of musical experimentation and innovation, this epic and versatile set of tools follows the blueprint of our celebrated Swarm libraries, designed to add movement, depth and a modern edge to your TV, film or game scores. We have taken all of the sampling techniques we learned over the last four years and applied it to percussion, asking ourselves, what if you take percussion instruments, and play them as if they are strings? Percussion Swarm features truly stunning performances from  some of the world’s finest percussionists, equipped with their enviably rare instrument collections: Paul Clarvis, Frank Ricotti and Gary Patel, who have performed on our existing percussion libraries and are renowned for their prolific film work.

UNCHARTED TERRITORIES
We selected a huge range of both well-known and lesser heard tuned and untuned percussion instruments, from Glockenspiels and Tubular Bells to Angklungs and Udus, most of which do not sustain naturally. Using performances and the resonance of the world-renowned Hall at AIR Studios combined with unconventional playing techniques, including bows and rubber balls to lengthen each sound, we have added breadth, depth and harmonic range to each instrument, transforming them into a liquid-like  form  that dances along the picture. Expertly recorded by engineer Jake Jackson, these sounds will blend seamlessly with our other orchestral and percussion libraries, providing the perfect textural addition to any orchestral composition.
We offer plenty of room for your own experimentation and fine-tuning with 16 signals: six standard microphone positions from Close to Ambient, plus the Close Pans section, allowing you to hone in on any of the equally spaced three players or mix and match, for more immediacy and detail. We also give you four distinct mixes curated by Jake Jackson, for instant playability. Use the speed control to vary between a glorious patina of uneven repeated hits, to single hits, to thunderous rolls and metallic sheens, where each individual hit is imperceptible. Percussion Swarm offers you a unique experience impossible to replicate live, adding something truly unexpected to your scores, whether it be for films, TV or games.

THE MERCURY SYNTH
The warped section takes these organic sounds to a completely new place, giving you 30 warped sounds and 235 snapshots created by our expert team of developers. Made using granular synthesis, guitar pedals and other outboard gear, discover an extensive  range of otherworldly pads, evolving swells and atonal rhythmic textures, all presented in our Mercury Synth engine.

DOWNLOADING & INSTALLING

If you are new to this kind of thing you can get up to speed here: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/basics/
Our app enables you to download libraries. Install the ‘Spitfire Audio App’ from this link: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/library-manager/

THE SPITFIRE AUDIO APP

When you launch the app you will be prompted to login using the same details you use at our site. Then you’ll see the page pictured below:

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - APP
2

If this is your first time using the Spitfire Audio App for a download you may wish to first navigate to the Settings tab and make sure that the Default Content location is set to the location where you wish to download your libraries.
Here you can also enable Auto Login to save time in future.

Once you are happy with your Settings, click the Install button, either directly on the My Products tab, or by clicking on the library image you wish to install and then clicking the install button on the page that appears.
Clicking either of these will prompt you for a loca- tion, the default content location in your settings will be suggested but you can select any suitable location.
Once you are happy with the location click Install.

After clicking install you will be directed to the Downloads tab where you can watch the progress. You can leave the Downloads tab and start other downloads but at this point you should leave the Spitfire App open until the download completes.
As this is a Kontakt player library, once it is downloaded you will need to activate it by following the steps on the next page.

REGISTERING WITH KONTAKT PLAYER

If you have never used one of our libraries before and you don’t own a copy of Native Instruments Kontakt, you’ll need to download the free “Kontakt Player” here:
https://www.native- instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-6-player/

If you’d like to find out more about the differences between Kontakt and Kontakt Player) go to Appendix A.
If you’d also like to know what we recommend as an optimal set up please go to Appendix B.

  1. Install Kontakt Player (skip this step if you already have it)

  2. Open Kontakt Player (or Kontakt 6 full version if you have that) and click Manage Libraries in the library browser window, then click Launch Native Access in the window that opens:
    SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud -
Libraries

  3. Once you have opened Native Access, click Add Serial in the top left of the window.

  4. Enter the serial number in this format:
    SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - Add
Serial…It can be found in your ‘ready to download’ email and at the following link:
    https://www.spitfireaudio.com/my-account/serial-numbers

  5. You will then be prompted to navigate to the not installed products in Native Access. From here, add library for Percussion Swarm. Browse for your downloaded Spitfire Audio – Percussion Swarm folder and select this to complete the authorisation.
    SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - add
library

  6. Your library is authorised.
    If you have never used Kontakt before we recommend that you familiarise yourself with the basics of patch (or instrument) loading, multi management, outputting and midi routing detailed in the Kontakt user-manual and native instruments website:
    https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-6/
    If you are an established Kontakt user please make sure you absolutely have the latest version of it downloaded via Native Access.
    For more information about NKS and integration with Native Instruments hardware controllers and keyboards please checkout their online support content:
    https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000053697 -Software-Help

FOLDER STRUCTURE

When you open the main folder of Percussion Swarm you will find 21 patches and 2 folders: Advanced and Warps. The main patches are named by instrument and each patch contains a variety of techniques.
The Warped folder contains the Mercury Synth sounds for this library.

The above advanced folder features two folders, Close Pans and Extras and Mixes.
Close Pans – Feature 6 close microphones for each patch. These wrap around the stereo image with L C R panning.
Extras and Mixes – These feature, 4 additional signals for each patch. Stereo pickups, Ribbon Pair, Mid Mix and a Small Mix.

OPENING YOUR FIRST INSTRUMENT.

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - OPENING YOUR
FIRST INSTRUMENT

Double click an ‘nki’ file to load a patch. A patch has a file .nki extension and a little keyboard icon. Alternatively drag the instrument from the left pane into the right pane.
If you can’t hear anything double check first that the midi channel you are transmitting with your keyboard is the same as the one in the Kontakt Instrument.

THE ‘GENERAL OVERVIEW’ PANEL

SWITCHING VIEWS
When you first load a standard GUI patch you’ll be greeted with the simple view. This is one of 3 pages that you can switch between  using the panel switcher.

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - SWITCHING
VIEWS

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud -
VIEWS

All GUI controls can be assigned a unique controller number so you can adjust via an external controller. To unassign, assign, or just to see what CC number is assigned to any control, RIGHT or CTRL CLICK.

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud -
controller

  1. SIDE BAR
    Tells you what articulation you’re playing.

  2. EASY MIXER
    Percussion Swarm has a lot of different microphone options. The main patches feature, SC, CV, MI, T, A and O. Moving this control creates a quick blend, either closer, or more ambient.
    SC – Super Close
    CV – Close Valve
    Mi – Mix
    T – Tree
    A – Ambient
    O – Outriggers

  3. EXPRESSION CONTROLS
    DYNAMICS – Moving this crossfades the different dynamics between loud and soft. (CC#1)
    VARIATION – This control adjusts the start time of the sample. This changes the loop points in the sample, and its start point. (CC#21)
    REVERB- Toggle switch for reverb. Increase the reverb amount by turning to the right. (CC#18)
    EXPRESSION – Instrument trim that adjusts the volume within the dynamics. (CC#11)

THE EXPERT VIEW

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - THE EXPERT
VIEW

  1. SIDE BAR
    The ‘Expert View’ has some additional functions compared to the general overview page.
    1a. “KEYBOARD SHIMMIER” – This shifts your bank of keyswitches left or right on the keyboard. Click on the icon and drag your cursor left or right and you’ll see the pink bank of keyswitches follow. Where you stop, those will be the new keyswitches to change articulation.
    1b. “KEYSWITCH TO CC SELECTOR” – Use this to assign a CC controller to act as articulation/ keyswitcher. Click on “CC” and you’ll be prompted to move the controller you wish to use in order for the instrument to “learn” how you’d like to select   articulations.
    1c. “ARTICULATION LOCKER” – This selection allows you to lock the articulation switching method.
    UNLOCKED ARTIC’ – Is the standard setting, select articulations via the front panel or associated keyswitch.
    LOCKED ARTIC’ – This locks your articulation so it doesn’t change either via front panel or keyswitch.
    LOCKED KS – This locks your articulation via keyswitch but you’re free to switch via the front panel.
    LOCKED TO UACC – This standard was developed by Spitfire and more information is found here. The default controller channel is #32 but this can be changed by right/ CTRL clicking on the CC (1b)
    LOCKED TO UACC KS – The functionality of UACC triggered via KS. When activated, a single keyswitch is available. Pressing this key at varying velocities (according to UACC standards) changes articulation. Learn more about UACC KS here.
    SHARED KS – This setting allows you to spread keyswitches across multiple articulations and multiple patches.

  2. RTICULATION SWITCHER
    This works the same as it does in the ‘General Overview’ panel, with the addition of ‘load chips’ beneath each articulations. These load them in and out of memory as you wish… Remember before playing an articulation you make sure it’s fully loaded!
    LOAD STATUS
    LAYERING ARTICULATIONS – To layer sounds within the articulation press ‘SHIFT’ and click on your next articulation. The front panel shows (and edits) only the most recently layered ar- ticulation.
    TRIGGERING – For triggering options, CTRL (Win) or COMMAND (Mac) click on the articulation icon:
    SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud -
TRIGGERING“BY CC RANGE” – This allows you to use a controller channel to switch between articulations. You can fine tune on your MIDI event list, or by using a midi controller.
    “BY KS” – The default setting. The library won’t switch mid note but wait ‘til the next note-on event before switching. This means you’re able to play the key switch whilst playing a long note and have it switch to a short on your next note.
    “BY VELOCITY RANGE” – This allows you to change the articulation via how hard or soft you hit the keys.
    “BY MIDI CHANNEL” – MIDI channel lets the instrument change articulation based on the incoming MIDI channel. Set the instrument Midi Ch. to ‘Omni’ mode in Kontakt to use this feature.
    “BY SPEED OF PLAYING” – This allows you to switch articulations based on the playing speed of your performance. When selected, it provides options to specify a triggering time-range in milliseconds.
    When an articulation has a ‘trigger’ assigned to it, it shows a little short- cut icon above to let you know that it has been customised.
    Holding down ALT/MENU (PC/MAC) and clicking an articulation with this short- cut above it will toggle the trigger between enabled and disabled.
    TRIGGER PANEL – Reset will clear the trigger for this articulation, allowing you to set it to a different type or disable it permanently.
    “LEGATO INTERVALS ONLY” – are not used in this library. .
    “GROUP” – allows you to group together triggers. When set, the trigger only occurs when an articulation in the same group is currently active.
    OTHER WAYS TO SWITCH ARTICULATIONS
    Alongside switching your articulations manually by hand, via keyswitch or via the advanced methods mentioned above you may also want to try UACC (universal articulation controller channel).
    Each style of articulation has been given a unique CC data number on CC#32. See the below link for extended tutorials.
    https://spitfireaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002450966-What-is-UACC- and-how-do-I-use-it-

  3. MICROPHONE MIXER
    Giving you greater control over the blends of microphone positions for your work.
    Use the chips beneath the faders to load & unload different microphones. The faders above tweak the balance of Microphones.
    Turn a fader all the way down to unload the mics and back up to reload.
    Right click on the faders to assign CC controllers so you can mix these live.
    Click on the mic letters to change Kontakt channel/output assignment.
    On the top right of the mixer controller section are some deeper mixing options.
    3a VELOCITY RESPONSE
    Pick from 5 different velocity curves to suit your controller.
    3b CLOSE PAN MIC COLLAPSER
    The mics are a stereo mix and this collapser allows you to refine how the stereo image is handled. Percussion Swarm was recorded in-situ, giving you a fantastic natural sound when putting all the elements together, which helps define the detail. This  panning tool helps you to manage and tweak this to your own tastes/ needs.
    STEREO WIDTH – Allows you to control how far the stereo image reaches. All the way to the right would be like having your two pan pots panned hard. All the way to the left would be like having both pots centre, STEREO PAN – allows you to control   where in the stereo field the centre of this image is placed.
    3c MIC MIX TO ARTICULATION LINKER
    The small notation symbol locks the microphone mix or tweak you’ve made to the articulation selected. This means if you want to smooth any perceived inconsistencies in volume articulations, or if you want to roll off some of the ambience for a short versus the long articulations, this is how to fine tune.
    3d MIXER PRESETS
    How transfer mixer settings between patches, or save and load presets to disk.
    AUTOMATING MIXER FADERS – Each mixer fader has a dedicated #CC. To change this to suit your MIDI controller or surface, simply right click (on PC) or command click (on Mac) on the fader itself to “learn” the new controller.
    ROUTING MIC MIXES – To route each mic mixer channel to unique Kontakt channels simply click on the Mic acronym. Great for putting your ambient mics in the surround for example. Also good for tracklaying individual mics for your engineer to  control  in your final mix sessions.

  4. GENERAL CONTROLS
    OPTIONS
    PRESETS – This allows you to load predetermined sets of articulations. Use this to optimise your system quickly for essential articulations or to start building templates using empty “shells”.
    PURGE UNUSED – This control keeps unloading any samples you are not using to keep your memory usage as low as possible.
    TRANSPOSE – Toggle this on and tweak the number to the right to transpose your instrument.
    Note this is not the same as tuning, the instrument will actually offset the samples to the selected pitch.
    CC MAPPED VEL(OCITY) – For short articulations only, click this to control note velocity with the Dynamics slider.
    ROUND ROBINS
    NO EXTRA FUNCTIONALITY(NEIGHBOURING ZONES) – Next to this lies a pop-down menu with the round robin options.
    “NO EXTRA FUCNTIONALITY” – Is the standard default where round robins are used as they were intended.
    “NEIGHBOURING ZONES” – pulls from neighbouring zones, so for an ‘8RR’ instrument, you effectively cycle through up to 24 different sounding notes when pressing a key.
    It’s still just playing the one RR at a time, though giving you more of them.
    “2x ROUND ROBIN WITH SKIP” – plays two RR simultaneously, so you get a thicker sound, it’s the equivalent of placing two notes on top of each other in your DAW. This process drops the overall volume -6db so that the levels remain the same but it  sounds thicker.
    NB THIS IS NOT AVAILABLE TO LEGATO TRANSITIONS.
    This plays the pairs and moves ahead by 2 RR. In this mode RR is effectively halved. eg, if you press a note it would play RR1/RR2 then RR3/RR4 ,etc.
    “LAYER 2x ROUND ROBINS WITH NO SKIP” – As above but this plays a pair and doesn’t move ahead by 2. This means the RR isn’t halved. So if you press a note it would play RR1/RR2, then RR2/ RR3, then RR3/RR4.
    ROUND ROBINS – This refers to the number of round robins (multiple recordings of the same notes that cycle around as you repeatedly play a note) your instrument uses, the number can be dragged up and down (1-8) to save you memory.
    RESET FROM G-1 – This enables you to control the round robin cycle (so it sounds identical every time you play) toggle on & play the key selected (default G-1) to reset.
    RESET ON TRANSPORT – As above but resets every time you press play in the DAW.

  5. EXPRESSION CONTROLS
    DYNAMICS – Moving this crossfades the different dynamics between loud and soft. (CC#1)
    Tightness – This cuts further into the note to make it tighter. Worth increasing when playing in, then loosening and adding a negative delay into your DAW to compensate for ultimate reality. This only applies to short techniques. (CC#17) (CC#16)
    RELEASE – Allows you to change the amount of release trigger audible. This only applies to long techniques. (CC#17)
    VARIATION – This control adjusts the start time of the sample. This changes the loop points in the sample, and its start point. (CC#21) REVERB- Toggle switch for reverb. Increase the reverb amount by turning to the right. (CC#18)
    EXPRESSION – Instrument trim that adjusts the volume within the dynamics. (CC#11)

THE OSTINATUM

Best used with short articulations, this ever evolving device can offer instant chaotic inspiration or be used to create scientifically designed rhythms, ostinati and arpeggiated sequences as well as shimmering tremolando effects.

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - THE
OSTINATUM

  1. SETTINGS
    MODE – Selects how the Ostinatum will interpret your playing. Ostinatum will sequence a maximum of 10 notes (one for each of your fingers). It needs to arrange them into a note order “1-10” and this determines how it does that.
    OFF – The default position Ostinatum remains dormant. ORDER PRESSED – This will organise the notes in the order you pressed them.
    ASCENDING – From bottom to top.
    DESCENDING – From top to bottom.
    CONTROL KEYSWITCHES – Allows you to set up a section of the keyboard that controls the state of the ostinatum. These keyswitch let you turn it off, or set the Mode.
    SOLO KEYSWITCHES – dedicated keyswitches that solo each ostinatum track. The first keyswitch turns all tracks on, the following keyswitches solo each individual track.
    CHORD MODE – This ignores any note order and simply plays everything polyphonically.

  2. RHYTHM COMPUTER
    NOTE MENU – Click these to place a note into the computer at the length you desire. Click the trash can to delete, or choose a preset from the drop down on the right. The cog allows you further fine tuning and configuration tools.
    LENGTH – This displays the note lengths in sequence that you have selected from the Note Menu. Drag down here to create rest versions of the note length.
    KEY – Under each note you can then select which key (displayed in real time in the Transport) this note is attached to. Scroll up and down to select.
    LEVEL – Adjust these bars up and down to adjust the velocity levels of each notes, this will bring your rhythm sequence to life and provide you with all sorts of surprising syncopated accents.
    LOAD/ SAVE – Allows you to store your previously made Ostinati.

  3. PATTERN SELECTOR
    With the Ostinatum machine, there’s a dropdown on the rhythm computer allowing you to switch between (and create) up to 8 different patterns.
    By default these layer on top of each other, but you can also configure them to be solo using either the Ostinatum track options:

THE MERCURY SYNTH

SPITFIRE AUDIO 51354 Spitfire Percussion Swarm Sound Cloud - THE MERCURY
SYNTH

  1. GENERAL CONTROLS
    Lo & Hi Pass Filters 
    Adjust the graph on the LPF to reduce the top end frequencies.
    Adjust the HPF to reduce off the bottom end frequencies.
    A.D.S.R.
    Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. These knobs adjust the shape of the sounds volume over time.
    ATTACK – The attack time is how long it takes for the sound to fade in to its maximum volume.
    DECAY – This control is how long it takes for the maximum attack level to reach the sustain level.
    SUSTAIN – The main volume of the sound occurring after the attack time. This occurs whilst holding down a key.
    RELEASE – Release is how long it takes for the sound to decay to 0db having let go of a key.

  2. WOBBLES
    The 3 different LFOs ,
    VOLUME – Increase AMT % to modulate the sound via amplitude.
    Click and drag up/down in the back box to adjust LFO speed.
    PITCH – Increase AMT % to modulate the sound via pitch. Click and drag up/down in the back box to adjust LFO speed
    FILTER – Increase AMT % to modulate the sound filter cut off.
    Click and drag up/down in the back box to adjust LFO speed

  3. FX PARAMETER DISPLAY

We’ve pre-loaded a selection of FX. Activate by clicking the FX icons along this bar then CMD/CTRL click to display the controls.

…and if you wish to have a real-time control map ALT click on the controllers to map an FX to the Yoke control.

  1. THE YOKE
    The Yoke is a dual FX controller that adjusts your FX parameters in real time for fantastic sequencing options. Y = vertical controller, X = horizontal.
    You can also alter the FX parameters further and map them direct to the Yoke controller. Command/ CTRL Click on the FX Icon you’d like to access additional parameters for.
    You can map them to the yoke by ALT-clicking on the name of the parameter or by selecting the parameter just under the yoke itself.
    Yoke X&Y FX Parameter Selector determines which parameter from your selected FX you wish to map to the X or Y yoke controller.

APPENDIX A – KONTAKT vs. KONTAKT PLAYER

Kontakt Player is a free version of the Kontakt sample playback engine available to download:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-6/
It works with libraries that the developer has paid a license fee for.
Essentially, you’ve bought this playback engine along with your library.
The Kontakt player gives you full access to all the sounds and all the editable parameters on the front panel. Also, unlike non-Player libraries, these libraries will also have a banner that appears on the Kontakt Libraries pane.
If you want to go deeper into editing you’ll need a full version. As you will already own the free Kontakt player and have bought one of our ‘player’ libraries you will be eligible for a discount upgrade to Kontakt via the NI website. See here for more details:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/sam-plers/kontakt-6 /pricing-kontakt-5/crossgrade-offer/
If the library you want to use is NOT a ‘Player’ library then you need to buy the full retail version of Kontakt.
Then you can also load ‘non-Player’ libraries like some of our other ranges, Harp, Piano, Harpsichord, etc.
Please note that non-Player library instruments will not appear on the Kontakt libraries pane and so can’t be added as a library as Player libraries need to be. Instead, these libraries will simply need to be loaded via the Kontakt files browser or you can add the  library as a favourite to the Kontakt Quick Load window.

APPENDIX B – RECOMMENDED TECH SPECS

IF YOU PLAN TO USE THIS LIBRARY WITH THE FULL VERSION OF KONTAKT PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST VERSION OF KONTAKT 6 INSTALLED.
RECOMMENDED SPEC:
The better your computer, the better the performance of any Spitfire module. But not to worry if you’re not spec’d up to the hilt.
All programs are provided with a set of parameters that enable you to dial back the CPU demands of any given patch. But moving forward, we’re confident this module will keep your computer busy for many years to come! We recommend a combination of high  processor speeds, a good chunk of memory and a devoted SSD eSata, USB3, or Thunderbolt drive. The more memory you have, the less demand placed on your drive, and having a totally devoted drive gives you the chance to load less into memory and reduce load times. The higher the speed of your CPU, the more capable your computer will be to deal with some of the amazing, but complicated scripts we’ve written.
PCs: We recommend Windows 7 or later (latest Service Pack, 32/64 Bit), Intel Core Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2, 16 GB RAM (8 GB minimum).

MAC: We recommend Mac OS X 10.10 or later. Intel Core 2 Duo, 16 GB RAM DRIVES: USB3, Thunderbolt, or eSata SSDs. Ask your dealer for drives that are suitable for “AV use”. If you use an SSD drive instead of HDD, this will massively increase the power of  your system. Instead of 7-9ms seek time, the usual seek time is <0.1ms.
These are fast enough to run a patch ‘Purged’ of all its samples, and they can load on the fly as you play the notes. You can also reduce your sampler’s “pre-load” buffer tenfold meaning you’ll be able to load enormous orchestral palettes into a single machine.
HOST: The Kontakt 6 platform should work comfortably on most commonly found platforms and DAWs. As always make sure you’re as up-to-date as you can afford! If your main DAW is not a newish machine, or has a limited spec, and you’re planning on building or adding Spitfire to an already large orchestral palette, you could consider running your library independently of your DAW, either on your host computer (e.g. via Re-Wire) or on a slave device (e.g. via Midi or MOL). This will assist your loading times, and will allow your DAW to do what it does best, sort out all your note ons and note offs!

APPENDIX C – FULL ARTICULATIONS LIST

XYLOPHONES
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Sticks
Short Soft Sticks
Pitched Cloud Hot Rod
Swarmed Sticks Hot Rod
Short Soft Sticks Hot Rod| HAND BELL CAROUSEL
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Bows
Twirls
Short Soft Sticks
---|---
GLOCKENSPIELS
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Sticks
Short Soft Sticks| DAFS
Atonal Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Soft Sticks
Short Hard Sticks
GLASS GLOCKENSPIELS
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Sticks
Short Soft Sticks| DAMARUS
Atonal Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Soft Sticks
KALIMBAS
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Sticks
Short Soft Sticks| RAMMANAS
Atonal Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Soft Sticks
MARIMBAS
Pitched Cloud
Pitched Cloud Fingered
Swarmed Bows
Atonal Cloud
Short Soft Sticks| BATAS
Atonal Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Soft Sticks
TUBULAR BELLS
Pitched Cloud
Superball Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Swarmed Superball
Short Soft Sticks
Short Superball| UDUS
Atonal Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Hits
Short Soft Hits
TUBULAR BELLS METAL STICKS
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Sticks
Short Metal Sticks| UDUS
Atonal Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Hits
Short Soft Hits
CHIMES & PHONES
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Bows
Short Soft Sticks| ROTOTOMS
Swarmed Bows
Pitched Cloud
Short Soft Sticks
WAH CHIMES
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Bows
Short Soft Bows| PANTAM
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Soft Sticks
ANGKLUNGS
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Sticks
Short Soft Sticks| TONGUE DRUM STICKS
Pitched Cloud
Superball Cloud
Swarmed Sticks
Swarmed Superball
Short Soft Sticks
Short Superball
CROTALES
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Bows| TONGUE DRUM FINGERS
Pitched Cloud
Swarmed Fingers
Short Soft Sticks

WARPED

Laurasia
Pangaea
Euramerica
Gondwana
Pannotia
Avalonia
Protolaurasia
Rodinia
Cimmeria
Baltica
Laurentia
Nuna
Nena
Atlantica
India
Siberia
Sclavia
Kenorland
Ur
Congo
Vaalbara
Eurasia
America
Amasia
Aurica
Novopangaea
Amazonia
Artica
Chilenia
Kalaharia

APPENDIX D – MIC & MIX ACRONYMS

Standard Mics & Mixes
SC – Super Close
CV – Close Valve
Mi – Mids
T – Tree
A – Ambient
O – Outriggers

Close Pans
Super Close Panned (L)
Super Close Panned (R)
Super Close Panned (C)
Close Valve Panned (L)
Close Valve Panned (R)
Close Valve Panned (C)

Extras and Mixes
Stereo Pickups
Ribbon Pair
Mid Mix
Small Mix

APPENDIX E – FAQS & TROUBLESHOOTING

Q: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KONTAKT AND KONTAKT PLAYER?

See appendix A

Q: HOW CAN I REDOWNLOAD A PRODUCT?

With the continuous improvements to our Spitfire App, we have incorporated the ability to reset your own downloads, be it the entire library or the most recent update! This can easily be done via your Spitfire App. To reset both your entire library download or the latest update; Open up the Spitfire App and log in with your account email and password. • Select the download you wish to re-download • In the cog menu choose Reset Download > Entire Download/Latest Update • This will reset your whole download/your latest update You can repeat this process for any of the libraries you own. Note that there is a limit to how many times you can reset your downloads in a certain time frame. If you do exceed your reset limit please get in touch.

Q: DIFFICULTIES IN DOWNLOADING / INSTALLING

Customers may find that they have some difficulties in the downloading process. If you find that you are having some trouble, please check the list below for possible causes. • The formatting of your drive, if it is FAT32 this will cause errors, because there is a maximum file size with this format of 4GB and our download files will exceed this limit. To solve this problem, reformat your drive to a more modern format, or use a different drive. We recommend NTFS on PC and Mac OS Extended (journaled) on Mac. • Free space on your hard drive, please allow slightly more space than the library size for your install. Other issues; • Spitfire App freezes in the “Extracting” stage for hours. This may be because our libraries are often very large files, and this is the stage where the compressed files are extracted and placed in their final locations on the hard drive. There could be hundreds of GB of content to unpack, so it really can take hours. If you’re unsure whether it has crashed or is simply extracting files, visit the installation folder you chose when you started the install. If everything is working normally you’ll see various files appearing in the folder (or one of its sub-folders). • If your download gets stuck and is continually cycling and not resuming, please get in touch with us, giving us as much detail as possible about your set up. It would be helpful if you can tell us: Your operating system, where you are downloading from (your country, and also whether you’re at home or work), your ISP, and whether there are any proxy servers or firewalls between your computer and the internet.

Q: I’VE LOST MY INSTRUMENT FILES

In some cases, instrument files may get lost when transferring libraries from one place to another, or if an update has gone wrong. If this happens, the best way forward is to re-download the library in question. This will ensure you will get all of the content you are missing.

Q: WHAT IS YOUR REFUNDS / RETURNS POLICY?

If you have NOT completed the download / installation process, then we CAN refund/return your product, please contact support with your account email address and order number so we can handle this quickly. If you HAVE completed the installation process (even if you’ve not yet registered your serial number), please see our EULA in regards to why we do not accept refunds and returns. We can refund hard drive orders up until the point when the drive is dispatched from our office. This is usually 1-2 days after you order.

Q: I’VE FORGOTTEN MY PASSWORD?

If you have forgotten your password, please see this link, and click ‘Forgotten Password’. If at some point in the past you asked us to merge two or more accounts but have since forgotten, you MAY find that the forgotten password isn’t working for the email address you asked us to merge FROM. In this case, please contact support with your name, and any email addresses you think we might know about, and we’ll work out what has happened.

Q: WHAT IS THE NCW COMPRESSED FORMAT?

This is Native Instrument’s new lossless compressed sample format – we have managed to reduce the sample data pool by around 55% and this also shows a benefit in streaming for you, along with reduced hard disk space required.

Q: I HAVE FAST INTERNET, WHY IS MY DOWNLOAD SLOW?

We have no direct influence on your actual download speeds, our libraries are hosted on Cloudfront servers which are normally very quick but it may well be that at certain times of the day when traffic is particularly busy, your ISP may throttle your connection speeds. We would advise you to leave your download running overnight as speeds should ramp up at less busy times. Our Spitfire App downloader aims to use as much of the available bandwidth as possible to give you the quickest possible speeds, and may take several minutes to reach its peak.

Q: CAN I INSTALL ON MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER?

With our products you have two installs. This means that you are allowed to download and install on two computers you own, say your main rig and your mobile rig. The best way to get your library on both of your machines is to copy it from one to another via an external HDD. It saves you from having to re-download the whole library again!

Q: CAN I TRY BEFORE I BUY?

No - it is not possible to demo our products. If you go to our You- tube Channel you’ll see many walkthroughs containing detailed info about all our products -- you can hear them being played in real time with no smoke and mirrors!

Q: MY LIBRARIES ARE NOT SHOWING UP IN MY SPITFIRE APP?

A handful of customers may find that when they log into their Spitfire App, some of their previous purchased products do not show up in the ‘Installed’ section or in the ‘Not Installed’ section either. It may be that you have purchased these under another email address. Checking other possible email addresses for your previous purchases may help to find these missing products. If this is not the case, and these missing products were purchased a few years ago, please create a support ticket telling us your account email address, and any serial numbers you may have to go with these missing products. Our support team can also merge one or more accounts together if you’d like to consolidate all your purchases in one place. The more information, the quicker we can get you back up and running!

Q: HOW DO I UPDATE MY PRODUCTS?

The main premise of downloading our products is that our Spitfire App downloads into the folder you choose, so it is always good to choose the folder above where you want the download to go. The best file path for our products is something very simple, a long file path will cause errors as there is a character limit on how far the Spitfire App can read. We advise a file path of something along the lines of: Samples Drive > Spitfire Audio - always point the downloader to the folder ‘Spitfire Audio’ (the folder above the library) for all downloads and updates. When it comes to downloading/updating

  • if you have a folder called ‘Spitfire Audio’ always point the Spitfire App to the folder Spitfire Audio - never go into this folder and choose the actual library in question.

Q: I’VE BEEN WAITING AGES FOR MY DOWNLOAD LINKS?

We run all our orders through a fraud checking process. The automatic fraud check takes 20 minutes (but can take up to an hour during a very busy period, eg. Black Friday), but if your order gets caught at this stage, we run a manual order check, and this can delay the processing of your order for up to 24 hours (though this would be a rare and exceptional case). You should however receive an order confirmation email IMMEDIATELY upon placing your order. This confirms that your order has successfully been logged in our system and that your payment was successfully taken. Please check your junk folders before contacting our support. The message will come from do_not_reply@spitfireaudio.com if you’d like to add us to your whitelist.

Q: CAN I DOWNLOAD ON A PC, THEN TRANSFER TO A MAC OR VICE VERSA?

All of our libraries are compatible on both PC and Mac computers (as they run inside Kontakt). You can download all of our libraries on either PC or Mac and they will work if you need to transfer them across to the other operating system. We advise to do this by copying the library you want to move across to an external HDD and then copying it to and then copying it to your other machine.

Q: ‘SAMPLES MISSING’ ERROR MESSAGES

In some cases, samples files may get lost when transferring libraries from one place to another, or if an update has gone wrong. You may also get this error in some cases if you installed library on a drive with just under the minimum necessary amount of space to install the library (remember that you need DOUBLE the size of the final library to install successfully - see above). If this happens, the best way forward is to re-download the library in question. That will ensure you will get all of the content you are missing. For more information on how to re-download a product, please see the beginning of this appendix.

Q: HOW TO BATCH RESAVE A LIBRARY?

There are two main reasons to batch resave: First it speeds up the loading of patches and secondly, it can help you find missing samples and relink them to the patches so that you don’t need to search every time you load a patch. Bear in mind that it can sometimes take a few attempts to batch resave, and if Kontakt crashes the first time you try, you could go into the instruments folder and batch resave a bit at a time -- go by sub folders for example, just to lessen the load on Kontakt.

Q: I WANT TO BUY A COLLECTION, BUT I ALREADY OWN ONE OR MORE OF THE PRODUCTS IN IT?

Our cart will intelligently deduct the proportional cost of any products you already own from the total price when you get to the checkout.

Q: I’VE LOST MY SERIAL NUMBER FOR PRODUCT ACTIVATION

Emails get misplaced and you might find that you are out of luck when you need to find a past serial number. The best place to find all of your serial numbers would be to log into your Spitfire Account HERE. Under there you will find all of your Spitfire Audio serial numbers. If you find that the serial number you are looking for is not there, please contact us at www.spitfireaudio.com/support with all of the relevant information.

Q: I THINK I HAVE FOUND A BUG

In some cases we can’t squash them all and bugs shamefully make their way through. If you think you have found a bug, please contact us with all the relevant information; • A description of the bug you have found • A screencast (video) of the bug happening, or an audio example • The exact patch name (or patches) in question and also the library giving us as much detail as possible will help us get to the bottom of the issue.

© SPITFIRE AUDIO HOLDINGS LTD
MMXXIII

References

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