Anthology - Adagio
When we originally created Adagio - the idea was to create the most expressive set of orchestral strings ever sampled. Full of life, emotion and no static notes. We also designed it to be a living library series that would evolve over time.
We began the journey with Adagio Violins, Violas, Cellos and Basses, which contains 36 unique types of legato, 120 dynamic bowings and 60 loure and the most extensive set of short notes ever sampled. This alone took over 60 days of consecutive recording time to complete! We then followed up with massive updates for Adagio Violins and Cellos - where every sample was polished, since we knew we could do better! We immediately followed up with our massively popular, Adagietto - containing new ensemble patches from Adagio.
But the journey wasn't done!
We hosted a large community event where we got 1000s of comments on what to do next, which culminated in the Agitato Series, which is the follow-up to Adagio. We then went back to the same room and players and recorded our Agitato series, which began with our beautiful soaring Grandiose Williams Legato and later on we added dedicated Agitato Sordino (Muted Strings) and a unique volume for Agitato Ostinato and Arpegiations. So that was about 5 years of our life! Involving over 150 people, incl. players, conductors, contractors, engineers, producers, editors, programmers, beta-testers, demo composers.
In many ways it would be logical to conclude the Adagio and Agitato journey there. We set out to create the most expressive and alive strings ever sampled and achieved that! The libraries are featured in so many blockbusters, tv-shows, video games and top-4o productions and used by so many of our favorite composers and producers in the world.
Yet if there is one truth in music - it is that we grow over time. The reality is that our ears (and your ears) have evolved a lot since 2011. So when we started listening back to Adagio and Agitato - we realized there was so much beautiful content. We got so many things right (and a couple of things not so right), so we decided to create Anthology Strings, which is the final and concluding chapter in our Adagio and Agitato Series.
Anthology is a completely redesigned and reimagined version of both Adagio and Agitato Series with a wealth of new and unique features.
Anthology contains the best of the best from both Adagio and Agitato and puts them into one giant, affordable volume of expressive orchestral strings. Anthology Strings contains both Ensemble, Divisi and Solo Strings for both Violins, Violas, Cellos and Basses from Adagio and Agitato. Everything has been built from ground up with a completely new user interface, ability to build your own articulation matrix and combine patches, several new control schemes, including a new engine technique that allows you to control the length of arcs (aka dynamic bowings), new multi-layered and tuned legato. We also did a complete overhaul of all the solo instruments using sample modelling techniques, so they are much more nimble and easier to use.
But most importantly Anthology is incredibly easy to use and playable as silk. Every articulation has been carefully balanced and every legato polished to perfection. The entire library and all its articulations is available from one single page. In essence you have the most expressive string orchestra ever sampled right at your finger tips.
Anthology is truly a reimagined version of both Adagio and Agitato and it is our sincere intention to give all owners of Adagio and Agitato the option to part-take in Anthology, which we truly believe is the most expressive set of orchestral strings in creation. We will be announcing a lot more in weeks to come, but in essence we've created an upgrade scheme (see below) for all existing owners of Adagio and Agitato. As you may know ALL Adagio and Agitato products/bundles are currently 70% off, so we wanna make it as easy as possible for you to get Anthology.
The upgrade scheme is simple. If you own ALL Adagio and Agitato products - you will receive Anthology for FREE. If you own a certain amount of products - you get a discount based on how many products you own. Example: If you own 5 individual Adagio/Agitato products - you can upgrade to Anthology for $329 and so forth.
Anthology will be available in December 2016 and we will announce pre-orders, videos, demos and specs in days and weeks to come. But for now have fun with our 70% off sale on ALL Adagio and Agitato products and start planning your optimal upgrade path to Anthology Strings.
Feel free to send us any questions you have to support@8dio.com
Thanks for all your support! XOXO Troels, Colin and Tawnia.