Which string library is the best? Help!

[mhschmieder]

VSL just this past Monday announced Dimension Strings, with an early introductory offer for those who buy and download the now available Violins in advance (they'll get the Violas, Celli and Bassi for free later on, saving almost 50% of the eventual package price).

The demos sound great to me, but people at vi-control had a lot of misgivings. These are small sections, but sound very human to me, and it should be easy to put together true divisi using this library.

Here's the Ilio link; I had the VSL link bookmarked at home but don't have time right now to re-find it at work. It takes a few clicks to get there, but there's only one audio demo so far. Might be cheaper to buy direct in Euros and accept the conversion rate vs. paying tax via Ilio.

http://www.ilio.com/downloads/vienna-in ... ionstrings

When I first checked the VSL site, Bassi were not mentioned, but now they are. Probably the site wasn't quite ready for prime time yet, and that likely also explains the 1-2 day delay in the email alert just received.

[Steve Steele]

I personally own LASS FC, Cinematic Strings 2, Albion I and Session Strings Pro. I don't have VSL or EW, so my statements are based on that.

LASS - If you want great solo strings, plus the ensembles with divisi, I'd would say LASS Full. The First Chair players sound GREAT to me. The cello is outstanding. Very playable. Only close mic'ing with LASS but there are ways around that - it has "Stage and Color" built in which is an easy reverb and eq feature. LASS Lite does not have divisi. I think LASS's interface could use some upgrading, but it's not bad. IMO, it's probably the most complete lib.

CS2 - Great ensemble strings. Great interface! Very good sounds. Does have separate mic'ing. Good articulations. Not too expensive. I went with Lass FC and CS2 as my string section. Pretty happy about it. There are a couple of issues with CS2. One has a work around, the other, unknown. When you load a section the patch loads all articulations at once, but not all mics, and trying to load the five sections will take up quite a bit of RAM. It's been a problem for some people, but the solution is to save instruments with articulations turned off. Then load them and turn them on as you need them. CS2 also has a stuck note problem that some people are reporting (happens to me too, and it's annoying). Could be a scripting issue. Don't know. It's a pain when it starts happening, but the strings are beautiful when running smoothly. I would recommend having more than 8GBs of RAM.

Albion (Spitfire) - They have a Solo Strings lib and a ensemble lib (Albion). But the ensemble lib has the cellos and basses on one patch and the violas and violins on another. So, it's like Symphobia in that way.

SSP - It was a cheap buy. I liked it at first for chamber strings, but don't use it much anymore.

One reason I chose LASS and CS2 is because I wanted to stick with one sample engine. EW is appealing, but I decided against the Play engine.

They all sound good. Some have certain limitations, and some are easier or harder to use, or are more restrictive, depending on how you look at it. But if I had it to do over again, I would start with LASS Full and go for it. The sound of LASS FC was key for me and divisi is too. The other features like Stage and Color, ARC, and Auto-Arranger are all good and make for an almost complete package. I'd like to see more articulations, a runs builder (which I hear they're looking into), ad a cleaner interface. but I think it's a good lib to invest in and grow with.

[mhschmieder]

I recently bought Albion II Loegria (mostly for the baroque instruments) but haven't had a chance to use it yet. Not sure if it suffers the ensemble inflexibility of Albion I, but I'll be buying that one soon too as I just purchased their percussion, Harp, and Harpsichord libraries using the Loegria discount and will then apply the Percussion discount to Albion I.

I've always loved the British string sound 9as well as British brass, and woodwinds for that matter) so in no way see this as redundant with VSL. I waited a long time to buy into the Spitfire libraries, but got pushed when the Harpsichord and Loegria libraries got released this summer.

I've wasted way too much money on bad harpsichord libraries over the years as well as Roland's earlier version of their Digital Harpsichord, and Spitfire's is the first that is both sampled well AND programmed well (most others are one or the other) and with sufficient flexibility for single vs. dual manual etc.

I threw in their cheap Piano library as well, just because I figure it will blend well in a fully orchestrated setting; just as does VSL's Vienna Imperial when using their strings for a full orchestration.

[mhschmieder]

LASS is still on my list as well, but I've blown my budget for this year by now. I remember there was an update coming but can't remember whether it would be free for people buying the first version, or whether it's more like Albion where it augments vs. replaces the original library.

[mhschmieder]

I just checked, and the Ilio price for pre-orders on VSL Dimensions Strings is better than the Euro-converted VSL website price, even after accounting for 10% California Sales Tax.

I wish I knew how long the pre-order is good for, as I have to wait a few weeks after taking advantage of so many Labour Day sales (better than any Black Friday I can ever remember).

[Steve Steele]

I recently bought Albion II Loegria (mostly for the baroque instruments) but haven't had a chance to use it yet. Not sure if it suffers the ensemble inflexibility of Albion I, but I'll be buying that one soon too as I just purchased their percussion, Harp, and Harpsichord libraries using the Loegria discount and will then apply the Percussion discount to Albion I.

I've always loved the British string sound 9as well as British brass, and woodwinds for that matter) so in no way see this as redundant with VSL. I waited a long time to buy into the Spitfire libraries, but got pushed when the Harpsichord and Loegria libraries got released this summer.

I've wasted way too much money on bad harpsichord libraries over the years as well as Roland's earlier version of their Digital Harpsichord, and Spitfire's is the first that is both sampled well AND programmed well (most others are one or the other) and with sufficient flexibility for single vs. dual manual etc.

I threw in their cheap Piano library as well, just because I figure it will blend well in a fully orchestrated setting; just as does VSL's Vienna Imperial when using their strings for a full orchestration.

Let me guess how you'll feel about Albion IIs main orch patches. At first you'll love it. Then you might be underwhelmed because it sometimes sounds dark and "underscore-ish" (gotta keep on top of CC1 and CC 7 with Albion, very sensitive to CC1). But eventually you'll find it to be very flexible, strings sit well with other libs, the brass to be outstanding and better than others at times, and generally usable (but sometimes frustratingly limited - no solo strings).

For Spitfire, too bad the exchange rate is not in our favor. And too bad LASS doesn't have any edu or other discounts at all. But it's priced about right I think. It's not "deep sampled", yeah whatever, but it's very usable. Good luck with whatever you get!