LONDON, UK: sound-specialising British music technology company Spitfire Audio is proud to announce The Black Weekend — with wallet-friendly discounts of up to 40% on individual products across its entire (INSTRUMENTS, ORCHESTRAS, and COLLABORATIONS) range of sample libraries and virtual instruments and up to 80% on its COLLECTIONS, engaging extra happenings on its YouTube Channel and social media channels, plus the time-limited return of The Black Edition, albeit as the-weekend-only-available APERTURE ORCHESTRA (following on from the short-lived, standout APERTURE STRINGS, which was based around the string sections of an orchestra only, from last year’s enticing event), this time allowing anyone to instantly and seamlessly move from a lower layer STRING QUARTET of players performing at the softest level right up to a top layer SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA playing at full tilt, working on the basis of an imagined aperture in sound, all in the same sample- based virtual instrument library, available for free when spending £299.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$349.00 USD/€349.00 EUR (inc. VAT) or more during The Black Weekend itself — running from November 26 through to December 1…

The Black Weekend sees Spitfire Audio applying attractive site-wide wallet-friendly discounts of up to 40% to (almost) all of its individual sample libraries and virtual instruments upon which it has established its notable name, including several creative COLLABORATIONS with Hans Zimmer — one of the most successful, influential, and prolific film composers of all time; the extensive ALBION… orchestral range; and the numerous namesake SPITFIRE… series of orchestral offerings covering all bases from solo instruments through to various full symphony orchestras and much in between, to name but a notable few. Furthermore, BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CORE — featuring the same outstanding recording quality as BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROFESSIONAL, the musical beating heart of the BBC itself, in a more streamlined, affordable package priced accordingly — is available at a 40% saving for the first time, as is BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PROFESSIONAL itself, while a selection of other products are already highlighted in advance with their 30% saving shown on The Black Weekend webpage (https://www.spitfireaudio.com/black-weekend-2020-all-products/), including the recently- updated ÓLAFUR ARNALDS STRATUS — reimagining the piano as a versatile, multidimensional tool that bends space and time through an intricate network of polyrhythmic piano performances, ÓLAFUR ARNALDS CHAMBER EVOLUTIONS — inspiring chamber strings textures using Spitfire Audio’s Evo Grid technology to make it easy to create sophisticated chamber strings music from the most simplistic of arrangements, ÓLAFUR ARNALDS EVOLUTIONS — providing an almost infinite number of outcomes using that trailblazing Evo Grid system, and ÓLAFUR ARNALDS COMPOSER TOOLKIT — an intimate and deeply personal set of tools designed for composers, producers, and songwriters, together with their associated ÓLAFUR collection (https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/olafur/); on top of that, SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC MOTIONS — an inspiring tool created by composers, for composers, offering the flexibility to design expressive shorts and intricate rhythmic patterns with ease, enhancing the realism of scores and bringing them to life — is once again available at its introductory promo price, while the time-limited introductory promo price of the recently-released ABBEY ROAD ONE: ORCHESTRAL FOUNDATIONS, created in partnership with world-famous Abbey Road Studios, showcasing the foundational film scoring sound of Studio One, ends on December 1, coinciding with the end of The Black Weekend event. 

Exclusively available during The Black Weekend, two new COLLECTIONS offer standout savings: suitably weighing in at only £100.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$100.00 USD/ €100.00 EUR (inc. VAT), THE TON (https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/the-ton/) — taking in ORCHESTRAL SWARM, RICOTTI MALLETS, and SPITFIRE HARP — makes Spitfire Audio history as the sound-specialising British music technology company’s highest discount yet with a staggering 80% saving surely ranking as absolutely unmissable, while THE BLACK WEEKEND (https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/the-black-weekend/) — comprising ALBION TUNDRA, ERIC WHITACRE CHOIR, and SPITFIRE SOLO STRINGS — is also an attractive proposition at £700.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$781.00 USD/€781.00 EUR (inc. VAT), representing a significant saving of 46% over purchasing those titles separately. Savings of 40% are applied to all other COLLECTIONS during The Black Weekend.

With so much on offer during The Black Weekend, perhaps potential purchasers can take time out to consider their options while enjoying engaging extra happenings on Spitfire Audio’s YouTube Channel and social media channels: cue a very special video created with London-born multi-instrumentalist, pianist, producer, and rapper Alfa Mist and a chosen group of musicians from the London Contemporary Orchestra (with whom Spitfire Audio has collaborated); an incredible 360-degree video with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (with whom Spitfire Audio has clearly collaborated); and the return of Spitfire Audio’s popular tombola — a game in which, for the benefit of non-British audiences, people pick tickets out of a revolving drum and certain tickets win immediate prizes — with prizes ranging from fellow British company Aston Microphones’ award-winning Spirit large-diaphragm condenser model through to the sound-specialising British music technology company’s own self- explanatory EVERYTHING hard drive-based bundle (https://www.spitfireaudio.com/everything/) that is worth well into five-figure territory; and much more besides! 

But best of all, anyone spending £299.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$349.00 USD/€349.00 EUR (inc. VAT) or more during The Black Weekend will receive APERTURE ORCHESTRA — available as a one-off weekend-only offer which will never be made available again — for free! From an intimate string quartet to rapturous symphony orchestra, APERTURE ORCHESTRA is an inspiring, world-class creative tool and a true innovation in sampling that sees Spitfire Audio harnessing the power of four different orchestral sections to release the beastly power of strings, brass, and woodwind. Move seamlessly from a lower layer STRING QUARTET of players performing at the softest level right up to a top layer SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA playing at full tilt — all in the same instrument. It is an imagined aperture in sound, expertly recorded in the hallowed (Lyndhurst) Hall at London’s legendary AIR Studios — scoring stage for Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, including Harry Potter, The Dark Knight, and Interstellar — and split into two sets of articulations. As such, RAPTOR is a collection of 16 presets ranging from intimate to action in an instant. “The concept here is that you have the ‘aperture’ available at all times, whether on the short patches simply by playing harder or on the long patches by moving the mod wheel up so you get an incredible size difference,” describes Spitfire Audio co-founder and composer Paul Thomson, before adding: “There’s nothing purist about this; I think you can tell that from the dinosaur eye crying lava on the GUI!” As a collection of 14 presets offering stunning clouds of orchestras, blooming from light and textured strings to a widescreen beautiful and effects-full orchestral ambiance, the DREADNOUGHT articulations clearly change musical tack. “There we’re really finding our way through this kind of synth-made-of-orchestras feel that you get with a lot of great crossover films scores,” says Paul Thomson.

That all being said, APERTURE ORCHESTRA offers the most explosive orchestral sample-based virtual instrument library that Spitfire Audio has ever created — one which is almost impossible to recreate live, which is all the more reason to get it for free before it is gone forever! Fortunately The Black Weekend provides plentiful opportunities to get more musical bang for the buck when spending £299.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$349.00 USD/€349.00 EUR (inc. VAT) or more — not least APERTURE ORCHESTRA… open that imagined aperture in sound to instantly and seamlessly walk between performance worlds with mind-blowing musical results. 

A selection of Spitfire Audio’s most popular individual sample libraries and virtual instruments included in The Black Weekend can conveniently be browsed and purchased via its dedicated webpage (https://www.spitfireaudio.com/black-weekend-2020-all-products/), while COLLECTIONS are already grouped here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/ranges/collections/

The following smaller Spitfire Audio libraries are excluded from The Black Weekend sale since they already represent remarkable value: DARKSTAR – HAUNTED HOUSE, ORIGINALS FIREWOOD PIANO, ORIGINALS INTIMATE STRINGS, ORIGINALS CINEMATIC SOFT PIANO, BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DISCOVER, RAVEN BUSH – MOONGLADES, ORIGINALS CINEMATIC PERCUSSION, ORIGINALS FELT PIANO, ORIGINALS EPIC BRASS AND WOODWINDS, ORIGINALS EPIC STRINGS, ALEX EPTON -ENTROPY, LEA BURTUCCI – ACOUSTIC SHADOWS, OLIVER PATRICE WEDER – OPW, ALEV LENZ – 3, and HENRIETTA SMITH-ROLLA – SPECTRUM.

Although it is not possible to purchase APERTURE ORCHESTRA, anyone spending £299.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$349.00 USD/€349.00 EUR (inc. VAT) or more from Spitfire Audio’s online store during The Black Weekend — running from November 26, 2020 through to midnight on December 1, 2020, inclusive — will receive this 6GB sample-based virtual instrument library (featuring 30 articulations and 6,378 samples) for free within 24 hours via e-mail. (Note that there is no need to spend that amount in one order, but rather make as many orders as needed to reach the threshold throughout the full six days of The Black Weekend.)

APERTURE ORCHESTRA needs Native Instruments’ KONTAKT PLAYER (5.6.8 or higher) — a free version of the KONTAKT sample playback engine (included in its purchase) — to run as a fully NKS (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD®) supporting plug-in instrument for Mac (OS X 10.10 or later) or Windows (7, 8, or 10 — latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit), while Spitfire Audio’s free Download Manager application allows anyone to buy now and download anytime.

For more in-depth information, including some superb-sounding audio demos by Spitfire Audio co-founder and composer Christian Henson and others, please visit the dedicated APERTURE ORCHESTRA webpage here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/aperture-orchestra/

Watch Spitfire Audio co-founder and composer Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ walkthrough of APERTURE ORCHESTRA here: https://youtu.be/gQkKS8MF-Vs

Watch Spitfire Audio’s eye- and ear-opening trailer video for APERTURE ORCHESTRA here: https://youtu.be/Imx7BBclJgU