Best String VSTi for Realism?

[CPhoenix]

For Realism? There's only two that get my attention.

1) Garritan's Stradivari (& Gofriller). They're older libraries... but in terms of realistically playing a violin, I don't think there's anything that comes close to comparing. I don't care how much EW Symphonic Gold or all of these other libraries cost... the playability on these are second to none. Using the mod/pitch wheel... u can make the most realistic solos... and keystroke between different playing styles. Garritan does a lot of the polyphonic work for u too.

2) For steady sustained strings.... AudioBro's LA Scoring Strings sounds unbelievably good. I don't know if you can get more natural here.

[Benmrx]

Originally Posted by DrDoctor

So I've searched the forums, but don't see any up-to-date thoughts on this.

What's everyone's favorite VSTi for realistic sounding strings? I have NI Session Strings, but I don't love it. Would love to know what else is out there.

Depends on what you need. The whole string section, or just violins? Looking for solos, small ensemble or traditional film score sizes? Want a zillion articulations (require more work) or an out of the box, easy to play library?

[DrDoctor]

Probably looking for more small ensemble, but could use solo and film score size as well. I'd prefer something easy to play, out of the box.

[Benmrx]

Originally Posted by DrDoctor

Probably looking for more small ensemble, but could use solo and film score size as well. I'd prefer something easy to play, out of the box.

Haha.... Then you need all of them..lol!

I suggest you look at Albion or Loegria then by Spitfire. The strings in Loegria are gorgeous! And give you 1/2 size options for smaller ensembles too. Though no solo instruments in either package. Adagio is also amazing IMO, but has a quirky workflow with the legatos... And it's only violins.

LASS if you want go deeper down the rabbit hole, and VSL if you want to go even further.

[AlinaStjerna]

East West Hollywood Strings are the best sounding by some way, some of the playability programming is fantastic too, although you are stuck with a large ''Hollywood'' sound and the interface can be fairly buggy.

I often use LA Scoring strings for staccatos though, as long as it's not crossing over with a Hollywood Strings line. Playability isn't as good as EW HS and LASS still has a lot of characteristics that make them standout as clearly being fake.

Vienna Symphonic Library sounds quite dated and very fake these days, although there is quite a lot of control over the instruments.

I own all 3, the older EW Symphonic strings and Cinematic Strings, and Hollywood Strings are by far my favourite. Also, Jerry Goldsmith was fooled by Hollywood Strings on first listen! Many others who work directly with live orchestras/string ensembles will list it as the one sample library that fooled them too.

Generally they all have their advantages, and a mix of them is the best!

[Dave.R]

a good programmer will take NI Session Strings and make them sound good/real

you can take any of the top 3 or 4 string libs out there and if you don't know how to program strings they will all sound fake, even to the casual listener

just pick any one (or two) and learn the programming well. it really doesn't matter which you buy

in fact, learn to program NI Session Strings as best you can first. make sure you can squeeze out every bit of nuance they are capable of before getting another lib

[davey boy]

LASS is excellent but as mentioned, if you're not good at arranging strings then NI's offering is great.


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[frankymax]

I've been listening to all the new string libraries lately as I'm getting ready to upgrade from Vienna Special Edition, East-West QL Strings Gold, Miroslav (old Gigastudio format) and I gotta say my fav new library is Cinema Strings. They are easy to use right out of the box and I think they sound the most realistic and to my ears, musical, compared to LASS, Hollywood Stgs, Albion, and Symphobia. But everyone has different tastes, and thank Gawd for that!!