What is in Spitfire Symphony Orchestra?
Spitfire Symphony Orchestra features a full symphonic string, symphonic brass and symphonic woodwind sections including solo instruments, plus harp, piano and all core elements of percussion needed to complete the band — giving your music the professional sounds that stand out.
NOV 2025 v1.4.7 UPDATE:
MOTIF BRASS
Our most substantial update yet, with 7.8 GB of meticulously recorded samples from three fantastic brass ensembles: Trumpets a3, Horns a4 and Trombones a5 (3 tenors, 2 basses), for that authentic heroic fanfare typical of Holst’s Mars or classic John Williams.
Featuring Staccatissimo patches for trumpets and trombones, as well as new Motif Performance Legato - a new version of performance mode legatos, which have been simplified for easier melodic sketching. These Motif Brass performance patches use more sophisticated programming to select articulations and are less reliant on hitting the correct velocity. All this to help add precision, power and realism to your orchestrations.
FEB 2025 v1.3.3 UPDATE:
The February 2025 update of Spitfire Symphony Orchestra includes the addition of three remarkable soloists:
Solo Violin: World-renowned violinist Andrew Haveron’s impressive career includes leading roles with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Brodsky Quartet, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Philharmonia Orchestra. His virtuosity shines through in a dedicated performance patch with fingered, bowed, and portamento legatos, longs, staccatos, pizzicatos, and harmonics.
Solo Viola: With an astounding number of film, TV, video game, and recording credits, Bruce White is one of the most sought-after violists in the world. His rich and expressive playing is captured in wonderful detail.
Solo Cello: One of the most in-demand session cellists in the world, Caroline Dale brings her exceptional talent and experience to SSO. Principal cellist for the English Chamber Orchestra and London Metropolitan Orchestra, Dale has performed with leading orchestras and artists worldwide. Her contributions to film scores, including the Oscar-winning "Atonement," are legendary, not to mention her long list of performance credits alongside Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Oasis, Joan Armatrading, Peter Gabriel, David Gilmour and U2.
What are the different types of Performance Legatos now available in Spitfire Symphony Orchestra?
Early-Stage Perf Patches (Woods & Brass)
When we re-released SSO, many of the woodwind and brass instruments were built with a single-speed legato system. These patches are designed to sound natural across a variety of playing speeds – the clarinet is a good example.
Each of these patches includes:
Attack options
Smooth (tenuto-style)
Staccato attack
Release options
Normal release: a natural end to a sustained note
Phrase-ending release: adds a short “conclusion” note to finish a phrase (e.g. “Daa-da”)
Mid-Level Perf Patches (Strings & Motif Brass)
The next tier includes the ensemble strings and Motif brass patches.
The ensemble strings are close to True Performance (TP) patches, featuring multiple transition speeds and more nuanced legato behaviour, though still missing a few of the final refinements.
The Motif brass performance patches take a different approach – they are less reliant on hitting the correct velocity and are therefore easier to use. For example, in the Total Performance patches, you will have staccato and marcato at fixed velocities, so you have to decide how and when to shape the attack - however, with Motif Brass Performance patches, those decisions are intelligently handled by the patch itself. This reflects real brass playing styles and works best for ensemble brass, due to the complex layering involved. It’s not currently used for solo instruments.
Total Performance (TP) Patches
The TP patches represent the most advanced stage of SSO’s performance system, offering greater realism, responsiveness, and control.
Attack types
Smooth Tenuto
Staccato/Spiccato
Marcato
Performance features
Shorter, faster attacks trigger automatically when playing at higher speeds
Two transition types that adapt to your playing speed
Additional long articulations (such as tremolo or flutter) that can be crossfaded within sustained notes
Is this library from new or existing content?
We are relaunched our cornerstone libraries, with updated UI, reviewed content and providing in a single more user friendly package.
These libraries include Spitfire Symphonic Strings, Spitfire Symphonic Brass, Spitfire Symphonic Woodwinds, Spitfire Percussion, Spitfire Harp, Orchestral Grand and Masse.
If Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is content from existing libraries, what's new?
With this relaunch you can now explore the stunning performances of these incredible musicians, in one place with a new UI, a review of all sample content, all-new legatos created by Andrew Blaney, and all presented in Native Instrument’s latest Kontakt versions.
Feb 2025 v1.3.3 update saw the addition of improved programming for ensemble Violins, Violas, Celli and Basses.
Nov 2025 v1.4.7 saw the addition of improved programming for the Performance patches (Tenor trombone solo, Tuba Solo, Basses, Celli, Violas, Violins 1, Violins 2,
Oboe Solo, Oboe Principal)
This SSO library is also NKS-ready.
The consolidation of our Symphonic range, Spitfire Percussion, Harp and Orchestral Grand also means that you can have everything from the six recording blocks at Air Studios in one place.
I already own SSS/SSW/SSB/Spitfire Percussion/Spitfire Harp, and I want Spitfire Symphony Orchestra. How do I get it?
If you already own Symphonic Woodwinds, Symphonic Brass, Symphonic Strings and Spitfire Percussion, you will have received Spitfire Symphony Orchestra completely free of charge on the day of release.
Combinations of other owned products featured in this library will still entitle you to special upgrade pricing for Spitfire Symphony Orchestra. Place Spitfire Symphony Orchestra in your shopping cart on our site and your upgrade price will be worked out for you automatically. Please make sure you are logged in to get your specific upgrade price.
Will the separate libraries that make up Spitfire Symphony Orchestra remain available to purchase?
Apart from Spitfire Harp, which will remain available to buy separately, the rest of the range (Symphonic Strings, Symphonic Woodwinds, Symphonic Brass, Spitfire Percussion, Orchestral Grand) are discontinued and not available to purchase.
I have the original SSO libraries in older projects, will installing the newer version affect them?
As Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is a new product, registered and installed with it's own entry in Kontakt, this will not affect any project containing the legacy versions.
We also provide a file of the legacy patches of all included libraries on this page of our support site, should you wish to install these to load alongside the newer UI patches.
Is Spitfire Symphony Orchestra still hoested in Kontakt/Kontakt Player, or your dedicated Spitfire Audio plugin?
Spitfire Symphony Orchestra is hosted in and will run in both Kontakt Full and Kontakt Player.
What are the system requirements and specifications for this product?
Compatible and tested with all major DAWs.
MAC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Intel Macs (i5 or higher): macOS 11-15 (latest update). Apple Silicon Macs (via Rosetta 2 & natively on ARM in Standalone or in hosts that support it): macOS 11, 12 or 13 (latest update). 4 GB RAM (6 GB recommended for large KONTAKT Instruments).
PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Windows 10 or 11 (latest Service Pack), Intel Core i5 or equivalent CPU. 4 GB RAM (6 GB recommended for large KONTAKT Instruments). 64 bit DAW required (32 bit DAWs not supported)
Download Size: ~368GB (PCs may report this size lower)
Min Kontakt version is 7.5.2
NKS Compatible
Is this product available with an Educational Discount?
Yes, this library will be available with an educational discount. Request your educational discount here. The Educational Discount will apply to the full RRP of the library, any codes received during any promotional period will only “top up” the discount to 30%.
Can I use this library on more than one computer?
Yes, our license allows for up to two installations at a time for a single user.
How do I move this library to another computer?
You can find a handy guide on how to install on your second system here.