carl
Don't retire EW, supplement your existing libraries by adding Albion One.
I layer libraries, my templates are made up of a dozen or so different libs made by different companys.
Some work better than others (or together) for different projects or situations.

Only as my main orchestra ;) I love to layer my strings. My go to is the EW for the actual strings and I use Session Strings Pro from NI to add precence. Works really well. Sometimes I like using synths strings to add some balls to it and so forth. So, retire my EW as main orchestra library and start using it as an add on to Albion would be cool. The Albion demo here sounds fantastic! And the price isn't too bad either!

For layering check out Solid State Symphony from Indiginus. I use it for general writing, getting ideas down quickly or as a pad behind other libs. Useful creative tool.
http://www.indiginus.com/solidstatehome.html

noynekker
Now, is it my imagination ? . . . or does the new Albion One actually sound better than the older Albion Vol 1 ?

Well, I should hope so! I'd be pretty disappointed if Spitfire went through the trouble of re-recording the entire library with a 109-piece orchestra and four years of sample library making experience since Albion Legacy was made and it somehow ended up sounding worse. :P

skitch_84

noynekker
Now, is it my imagination ? . . . or does the new Albion One actually sound better than the older Albion Vol 1 ?

Well, I should hope so! I'd be pretty disappointed if Spitfire went through the trouble of re-recording the entire library with a 109-piece orchestra and four years of sample library making experience since Albion Legacy was made and it somehow ended up sounding worse. :P

Ha! Sorry, forgot my tongue in cheek sideways happy face in my previous post  :P
 
One thing to be sure is it looks better, I like the new interface, more contrast instead of grey on beige.

 
It took me a little bit of playing around and watching video tutorials to get the hang of Spitfire's UI, but I like it. It's very compact, but there is a whole lot of depth in it. And I agree that the new colors look great :)

They've been up for a few days now, so you've probably already heard them, but just in case, Spitfire put up some audio demos of the legato for high strings, low strings, high brass, and low brass for Albion One.

https://soundcloud.com/sp..reaudio/sets/albion-one

Well, shoot.  Out comes the credit card again.
 
Little Johnny, thank your Uncle Carl for the fact your new braces will be homemade instead of from the dentist.
 
Little Johnny (confused):  "Thanks, Uncle Carl!".

Hmmm.... this sounds too good... I'm buying this! Thank the gods of freelancing for tax write-offs!

Even if you don't upgrade to Albion One getting the soon to be retired Albion at the low price now is a good choice.
 

I think they retired Albion Vol 1 first of October, or do you know of other places to get it other than Spitfire's site ?
Funny, skitch_84's link above to Soundcloud sounds amazing, but the Spitfire site video playlist is still dead ?
Seems they do like to be mysterious, but I have to say they have taken orchestral sampling to a new level.