Review: Aperture Cassette Symphony by Spitfire Audio
Ever wondered what a full orchestra sampled onto cassette tape and then played back in a church studio might sound like?! Well, wonder no longer, as Spitfire Audio has done just that and wrapped it all up in a bespoke plugin for the fourth iteration of their innovative Aperture product line. Welcome to the dusty and crusty world of Aperture Cassette Symphony!
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Review: Aperture Cassette Symphony by Spitfire Audio
A few years ago, Spitfire Audio announced a unique Black Friday freebie, above a threshold spend, called Aperture. The concept was an intriguing one whereby the mod wheel controlled the size of a sample set, growing from something small and often solo to a huge and epic apex. This is achieved by adding a combination of players, microphones, and ambience as you ride up CC1. For 2022 the camera aperture idea remained the same, but the focus shifted to an orchestra deeply sampled onto cassette tape and then replayed via a bewildering array of Walkmans, cables, speakers, and custom performance controllers into a large hall studio in Glasgow to be captured again by a range of microphones.
Main Interface
Spitfire are known, not just for exemplary workhorse orchestral libraries, but also for their experimental nature in sampling. Aperture Cassette Symphony is arguably their most radical project yet and hugely ambitious. But is it merely an expensive sales gimmick, or can it stand up in its own right as a usable and inspiring composing tool? As the library is now available to buy just like any of their regular products, now is the ideal time to take a closer look.
Patch Browser
Aperture Cassette Symphony normally sells for £199 from Spitfire Audio
Thoughts
I questioned earlier whether Aperture Cassette Symphony might be more of a gimmick created for the purpose of promoting the Spitfire Audio Black Friday sale. After some time using it I think it is fair to say that although it has somewhat of a novelty element to it, it does have significant depth and usability. Moreover, it’s almost as if Spitfire have created the Mellotron 2.0, as it shares much of the timbre of the much revered vintage keyboard/sampler, but then takes it much further. Like its Aperture brethren, it certainly won’t be an everyday library and at full price, this might put it more in the range of the professional composer with the resources to acquire more niche sample libraries.
Extra Controls
Personally, I have struggled to know where to place it in my template; it’s nothing like more traditional orchestral samples, nor is it truly hybrid as it lacks any kind of synthetic side. These are not orchestral samples recorded onto studio tape via an expensive Studer; this is a crusty consumer cassette tape with a far more affected and lo-fi sound. With that in mind, it’s likely not going to be massively useful for traditional orchestral cues. However, it has plenty of scope to help craft pads, drones, melodies, and rhythms that have that elusive familiar-yet-not feel and it can blend well with both organic and more synthy compositions.
It pays off to dig around in there as certain sections do work better than others once resampled through 200 cassette players. In particular, the high woodwinds really shine on every patch with that classic mellotron flute sound reinvented for modern workflows. Other sections, like the low brass, are more suited for evolving pads using the Reels and Scattered articulations. The percussion is the only real weak area; whilst what is there sounds good there is simply not a plentiful enough range. If you got Aperture Cassette Symphony for free during Black Friday it’s a superb bonus for sure. Whether it’s for you outside of that offer, at a couple of hundred quid, will have much to do with your own musical voice and the styles you mostly work in. Regardless, as an example of how to keep pushing boundaries in the art form of sampling, Spitfire has done it again and for that alone, hats off to them.
Facts
24 GB of samples
Over 800 tapes of organic orchestral material
200 custom cassette players (Warpman) – organized and played back in classic orchestral positioning
10 custom made performance controllers
15 speakers
7 sections – High Strings, Low Strings, High Woods, Low Woods, High Brass, Low Brass and Percussion – all recorded with a full orchestral microphone setup
Recorded in a converted church
Bespoke plugin for VST, AU and AAX
NKS Compatible
Sells for £199 including tax
Aperture Cassette Symphony normally sells for £199 from Spitfire Audio
Demos of Aperture Cassette Symphony by Spitfire Audio
Videos of Aperture Cassette Symphony by Spitfire Audio
Contributor Sam Burt reviews Aperture Cassette Symphony by Spitfire Audio
“Ever wondered what a full orchestra sampled onto cassette tape and then played back in a church studio might sound like?! Well, wonder no longer, as Spitfire Audio has done just that and wrapped it all up in a bespoke plugin for the fourth iteration of their innovative Aperture product line. Welcome to the dusty and crusty world of Aperture Cassette Symphony!”
