regarding Garritan Strings:

One of my ongoing frustrations in the quest for realistic MIDI is that in order to achieve all the sounds an instrument can make, it takes more than one patch. Strings especially use a lot of different expressive techniques in any given passage, and no single patch will be right for the whole passage.

I've noticed, however, that the Garritan Solo strings seem to have more built-in intelligence than some other string alternatives. For example, if the soloist plays a series of notes, some of which are held longer than others, after a certain time the soloist automatically introduces vibrato (which is what a real soloist would probably do on a sustained note)

I also like the fact that the Aria engine gives me a lot of options for tweaking the sound without having to resort to piano roll CC adjustments. And the options that are available for tweaking seem to be different depending on the instrument.

If more control is needed, it seems to respond to the continuous controllers too. Especially at the reduced price offered about a month ago, this was a good buy for my use. Like most of these toys, you can go broke pretty quickly if you buy everything that's good at full price.

I'm hoping that people who are on various mailing lists will advise the rest of us when a product that is potentially useful to this crowd goes on sale.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0