I love spitfire stuff, but not being able to write for individual string sections is not enough flexibility for me. All of their products sound so great though!

I'm a massive LASS fan personally, because of the massive flexibility. Can mix and match ensemble sizes. I have heard nothing but good things about Cinematic Strings 2 though and it is pretty awesome for the price.

LASS is out of the question for me at the moment, unfortunately. I'm not so sure if I need extensive divi though. I'm less interested in making orchestral pieces than pieces with orchestral elements.

Here's a work in progress (not much mixing done yet) with Kirk Hunter Diamond Strings.

http://db.tt/BNDeWkbh

Most people seem to dislike them. So, I basically need a good lead and pad that can play at varying speeds. (I use a lot of swells at some points and staccatos at others. Cinematic Strings 2.0 has fewer articulations than does Diamond, but I assume that the sound and playability would compensate.)

I don't actually have orchestral percussion/woodwinds/brass other than: Battery 3 orchestral sound pack/Diamond Orchestra/Kirk Hunter Brass II (not very good for my style really).

So...I'll need the other two eventually as well. Ideally I'd purchase Cinebrass and Cinewoods, but those would be additional expenditures that I cannot make within a short period of time.

Bump.

Couldn't you get what you want in the Kirk Hunter Conecert Strings II maybe? It has all the different sections and combinations. Seems to have a wide range of possible sounds. There is also a deal going on right now that gives you a heck of a lot of stuff discounted.

Note also that Synful Orchestra is 50% off for anyone in school. It's not quite as realistic of a sound (since it's mainly physical modelling and some sampling), however the expression is much more realistic than sample based orchestras. And it uses nospace. It also has all articulations and if you hit 'delay for expression' it puts a 1 second delay to analyze the notes played to make the transitions more realistic. Sounds quite amazing in terms of expression when you add this (and then offset your track by a second in your DAW).

I have Kirk Hunter Diamond, and no, I don't think that the cellos, violas, and basses meet my standards. The violins are okay.

Sure but I was talking about KH Concert Strings II. Is this not a significant improvement over diamond?

I've listened to Concert Strings II and no, it's not a significant improvement because I think Diamond has a richer sound than does Concert Strings II despite the latter's superior scripting.

Just in response to the last few posts...

I have KH Concert Strings 2 and I use it for adding depth to arrangements that primarily rely on EWQLSO strings. I can't get Concert Strings 2 to sound great on their own. The exception are the spicc violins which do sound good.

I'm at a point of deciding between HS Gold and Cinematic Strings 2.

Little bumpy, I'm interesting in this too.

I've been listening to the Cinematic Strings 2 demos on their site and it's an incredible sound which I just have to have.

Though at almost $500, how does a more complete library like EWQL Gold compare? Or the similarly priced LASS Lite? Another choice is EWQL Hollywood Strings, but it's hard to know how these compare without trying them.

Do you have an educational discount, by any chance? Cinematic Strings 2.0 is a lot more affordable if you are eligible.
I wouldn't purchase East West products because the samples are recorded wet. As for LASS, I haven't tried it, but from what i can tell it's very good, but because it has a different sort of sound.

In case you're curious, I decided to purchase VSL Solo Strings since I lacked any real "good ones". I don't regret my purchase.

I ended up with CS2 and I'm really, really happy. The only things I miss are sordino and spiccato but hopefully they will be released in the future. I may end up getting LASS Lite as well for blending purposes.

@Synchronizer Actually, as far as the EWQL products, it depends on which version you buy. EWQL Platinum gives you close, stage and surround mics and the close mics aren't as dry as for example VSL (since EWQL was recorded in a symphonic hall in Seattle instead of a silent soundstage) that is also true of several of the other libraries discussed in this thread.