Although I'm pretty happy with the sound in the Garritan Personal Orchestra, I've been looking for something more "pop" sounding. I wanted something with a more "bite" and a more intimate sound, sort of like the the string octet in "Eleanor Rigby", or something from ELO.

After spending way too much time with Google, I came up with the following list of contenders:

  • Kirk Hunter Solo Strings I $100, requires Full version of Kontakt.
  • NI Sessions Strings $120, can use free Kontakt Player.
  • Dan Dean Advanced Solo Strings $150, can use free Kontakt Player.
  • London Solo Strings $150, can use free Kontakt Player.
  • Vienna Symphonic Library Solo Strings $200, has custom player and USB Vienna Key.
  • Kirk Hunter Pop/Rock Strings $250, can use free Kontakt Player.
  • NI Session Strings Pro $300, can use free Kontakt Player.
  • Spitfire Solo Strings $300, requires full version of Kontakt.
  • LASS First Chair 2 $300, can use free Kontakt Player.
Given my various constraints (not much money, not having a full version of Kontakt), the list was quickly shortened.

Deciding on which library had the "best" solo violin was difficult from the demos. I like a more "romantic" sound with a wide vibrato, but that generally doesn't blend, so most libraries go with a less dramatic approach on their solo violin. The Kirk Hunter Solo Strings I has a "Romantic Violin" patch, but the library only runs under the full version of Kontakt.

I ended up going with NI Session Strings, which doesn't offer individual instruments - I'm not even sure there's a viola in the section - because more than other library it's got that "sound" that I was looking for. Plus, it's got a nice (non-programmable) arpeggiator that's nice to play with. (The "pro" version of Session Strings is even nicer, but far beyond my budget). I've not had a chance to see how well it fits with BiaB, but I'm pleased with how it sounds.

But it lacks solo instruments, and still leaves me without the solo violin sound that I wanted. From what I've heard in the demos of the "affordable" libraries, it's not immediately clear how much better these would be from what's in GPO (which can be quite good).

Of course, when I checked this morning, I found that the Kirk Hunter Libraries half-off until September 30, 2012. (This excludes the Solo Strings libraries). I doubt it would have changed my final decision, though.

Does anyone have any experience with these libraries, and thoughts about solo violin sounds? I'm sort of hoping the Garritan comes out with an affordable solo string library at some point, but I've not heard that there's anything in the works.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?