British Drama Toolkit: Brass and Reeds

Name: British Drama Toolkit: Brass and Reeds
Price: 199 USD
Author: Spitfire Audio

by Spitfire Audio · Instrument · Solo brass and woodwind library

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British Drama Toolkit: Brass and Reeds by Spitfire Audio

A collection of 17 solo brass and woodwind instruments made with composer Samuel Sim and recorded at Castlesound Studios in Edinburgh.

It has 99 patches, three velocity layers and close and tree mixes, for $199.

Best for: Acoustic Instruments. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic.

Keywords: brass, woodwinds, film & game audio, multisampled, leads, textures, ensemble, cinematic, intimate, musical, pads, sample-based.

What it does

British Drama Toolkit: Brass and Reeds is a collection of solo and ensemble wind and brass made by Spitfire Audio with TV composer Samuel Sim. The idea is to let you play a whole drama cue from one patch, with velocity changing the character of the sound, and to "remove the barriers between musical ideas and their realisation."

Instruments: 17 in all: oboe, cor anglais, contrabassoon and a double reed ensemble; a recorder ensemble; alto/soprano sax, bass/baritone sax and a sax ensemble; flugelhorn, tenor horn, bass/tenor trombone, tuba and a brass ensemble.
Patches: 99 patches, including 15 Combi patches that layer several instruments for quick results.
Three velocity layers: Texture for pads, pulsing repetitions and re-blowing; Soft for muted tones under dialogue; Loud for more expressive lead lines.
Articulations: longs, shorts, rounded shorts, swells and performance patches.
Extended techniques: recorder flutters and chiffs, tuba multiphonics, saxophone growls, contrabassoon and sax chatters, bending vibrato and sforzando variations.
Controls: Expression, Attack and Release, plus a Dynamics slider that sets how strongly velocity drives the sound.
Mics and recording: Close and Tree signals, recorded with UK session players at Castlesound Studios in Edinburgh.

There is a 40% discount for students and educators; audio demos are on the product page, but no trial is mentioned.

Source: Spitfire Audio product page

When to use it

British Drama Toolkit: Brass and Reeds is the better pick when you want small, breathy wind and brass colours rather than an orchestra. Compared with BBC Symphony Orchestra Core and Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition, it has far fewer instruments and no full sections, but it adds unusual players such as tenor horn, recorders, bass sax and contrabassoon, plus growls, chatters and multiphonics those libraries don't focus on. Its velocity layers make it faster than those big libraries for textural beds, since one patch moves from soft pulses to a louder line. It is weaker than them for legato melodies and traditional solo leads, which MusicRadar also noted.

Best for: textural beds, pulsing ostinatos and intimate wind and brass colour under dialogue in TV drama and documentary.
Genres: cinematic, TV and documentary scoring, ambient.
Look elsewhere if: you need full brass and woodwind sections or expressive legato leads; BBC Symphony Orchestra Core or Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition cover those.
Tip: start with the 15 Combi patches for quick results, then move to the single-instrument patches when you need more control (MusicRadar).

What producers say

The one full review we found was positive, praising the unusual instrument choice and instant playability, with reservations about leads and round robins.

MusicRadar (Dave Gale, 2023) called it "instantly usable for anyone who enjoys British drama" and praised the layered Combis and the way velocity shifts the colour, saying it can sound "mellow and angsty".
Criticisms: some patches lack round robins, which can cause tuning drift on repeats; the sax chatter articulation leaves a lot of silence; and it isn't suited to legato phrases or traditional leads.

MusicRadar review

Where to buy

Spitfire Audio: $199
PluginFox: $199

Tutorials and reviews

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