# Announcing Cinematic Strings



## Alex W (Jul 5, 2009)

I'm proud to announce the imminent release of my new string sample library: Cinematic Strings.

The samples were recorded in one of Australia's premiere concert halls, and provide the perfect balance of clarity, warmth and intimacy.

Distribution will be via download only.

Please see the poster for more details.

Demos and more info coming soon.

-Alex Wallbank
www.cinematicstrings.com


http://www.cinematicstrings.com/images/csposter.jpg


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## Ashermusic (Jul 5, 2009)

Alex W @ Sun Jul 05 said:


> I'm proud to announce the imminent release of my new string sample library: Cinematic Strings.
> 
> The samples were recorded in one of Australia's premiere concert halls, and provide the perfect balance of clarity, warmth and intimacy.
> 
> ...



Wow, talk about timing, a little like releasing a movie the same day a Harry Potter film opens.

But hopefully it's good.


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## José Herring (Jul 5, 2009)

How far are you along in the development of the library? What's your price going to be?

best,

Jose


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## Niah (Jul 5, 2009)

wow Alex your library came to mind a couple of days ago but I thought "hmm maybe the new string releases scared it away"

but it looks like you pulled it through 

looking forward to the demos 8)


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## Alex W (Jul 5, 2009)

Jose: I'm aiming for an early August release. Demos before then.

Standard version - $599
Pro version - $699

(more info in the poster)

http://www.cinematicstrings.com/images/csposter.jpg

Niah - nah, other releases motivate me more!


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## José Herring (Jul 5, 2009)

Looks good Alex. I remember the demo you did of the French Horns legato using EW samples. I have high hopes for this library.

Are you planing on recording horns in the future?

best,

Jose


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## Alex W (Jul 5, 2009)

Yeah I definitely want to do brass pretty soon, but first things first


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## Pzy-Clone (Jul 5, 2009)

woah, its just raining strings these days :D

thats sounds very promising, a good ( i assume :D ) string lib for 699USD is great news indeed.

And a big big pluss for making it Dloadable.

Kewl!! me likes.


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## choc0thrax (Jul 5, 2009)

It's a string library battle royale! The Bela D Media-esque poster scares me a little but the price is very interesting.


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## Pzy-Clone (Jul 5, 2009)

haha yeah, its a undead string library, see?

nah, its great to see more string libs coming up, hope to hear some demos of this soon.


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## choc0thrax (Jul 5, 2009)

Yes...demos soon. Tough position, Alex probably wants time to make demos but with LASS going on sale in 2 days I wonder how many who've been itching to buy LASS will put off their purchase until hearing this new lib. I wish this library luck cause it's in my price range. 8)


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## tripit (Jul 5, 2009)

Bring them on, the more choices we have, the better.


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## Christian Marcussen (Jul 5, 2009)

Demos! 

I like that it's downloadable.

More info would also be great... Velocities, sections, RR, etc, etc...


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## Shantar (Jul 5, 2009)

Wow. These are indeed exiting times for us. I´m looking forward to hear some demos. And more information please. :D


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## scottbuckley (Jul 6, 2009)

Aussie Oi! I'm excited to hear what comes of this one... Choco said it - a good price range! Glad to support fellow Aussies as well .

Demos please!!


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## IvanP (Jul 6, 2009)

Thank you, Alex, 

Can you tell us what's the difference between Pro and normal version?


Thks, 

Iván


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## Alex W (Jul 6, 2009)

Standard will be a mix of the 3òž   §‚óŸ   §‚øŸ   §‚ùŸ   §‚úŸ   §‚ûŸ   §‚üŸ   §‚ýŸ   §‚þŸ   §‚ÿŸ   §ƒ Ÿ   §ƒŸ   §ƒŸ   §ƒŸ   §ƒŸ   §ƒŸ   §ƒ


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## lux (Jul 6, 2009)

man, great times for mockupers

nice to hear about it Alex, i have very good expectations.

Luca


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## Simon Ravn (Jul 6, 2009)

Great, Alex! We're really getting spoiled with three new string libraries coming out insideò¶   §†{¶   §†|¶   §†}¶   §†~¶   §†¶   §†€¶   §†¶


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## Alex W (Jul 6, 2009)

noiseboyuk @ Mon Jul 06 said:


> Hi Alex, any idea of how resource hungry this product will be? Will all sections run comfortably in one instance of Kontakt, for example, on a regular Quad Core and 4gb of RAM?
> 
> Also is the list of articulations in the poster definitive or are there more standard ones such as Maracato / Sordino etc?



With the standard version, yes, but the pro version will be better split over 2 computers.

Marcato is well covered by the way I'm programming it, but no sordino. Doesn't mean it wont be added at a later date though.


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## Christian Marcussen (Jul 6, 2009)

Hal @ Mon Jul 06 said:


> EW also announced their string library few months ago so now what ?!
> is it the strings season !?



And about time...


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## synthetic (Jul 6, 2009)

I'm hoping for French Horn season sometime soon...


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## choc0thrax (Jul 6, 2009)

synthetic @ Mon Jul 06 said:


> I'm hoping for French Horn season sometime soon...



I'm hoping string season lasts long enough for someone to finally give us warm lush strings. Then french horn season could commence.


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## dogforester (Jul 6, 2009)

:shock: holy shit ! This one came out the blue, I also enjoyed your horn demo from way back , so am definitely looking forward to what come up with.

best of luck Alex, wish you great success.


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## Justus (Jul 6, 2009)

Which horn demo?


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## nomogo (Jul 6, 2009)

Whats the difference between standard and pro? For only $100 more it seems that most would go for the pro version...


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## mixolydian (Jul 6, 2009)

The poster is a winner on its own. I like to have it in higher resolution and without the head lines.



ETM Dude @ Mon Jul 06 said:


> Whats the difference between standard and pro? For only $100 more it seems that most would go for the pro version...


As Alex said:



Alex W @ Mon Jul 06 said:


> Standard will be a mix of the 3 mic distances.
> 
> Pro will include this mixed version, but also contain separate patches for each mic distance so you can mix it the way you want.


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## dogforester (Jul 7, 2009)

Justus @ Mon Jul 06 said:


> Which horn demo?



Alex did some cool legato scripts for horn and strings awhile back. If I remember right the samples weren't custom just the scripts, they sounded good though.


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2009)

I'm all for String season. Bring it on. But, there really isn't a horn library out there that even comes close to sounding like horns imo. I found that Alex's example was as close to sounding like real horns that I've heard. That he did it using EW samples and clever scripting was even more remarkable.

Jose


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## Ashermusic (Jul 7, 2009)

josejherring @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> I'm all for String season. Bring it on. But, there really isn't a horn library out there that even comes close to sounding like horns imo. I found that Alex's example was as close to sounding like real horns that I've heard. That he did it using EW samples and clever scripting was even more remarkable.
> 
> Jose



I am surprised to see you say that Jose as I think there are a number of great sounding horns. What there are not IMHO are great, ballsy sounding trumpets and trombones.


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2009)

Ashermusic @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> josejherring @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm all for String season. Bring it on. But, there really isn't a horn library out there that even comes close to sounding like horns imo. I found that Alex's example was as close to sounding like real horns that I've heard. That he did it using EW samples and clever scripting was even more remarkable.
> ...



What are your favorites? I'm leaning towards getting Epic horns but I'm not good with the dryness of the samples in general. I like EW horns but the inconsistent programming kind of throws me. Sonic Implants sound nice, but some of the attacks get to me. So I'm still searching. Sam sounds good but a little thin to me.

Jose


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## synthetic (Jul 7, 2009)

I'm hoping that Sample Modeling will do a horn to go with their trumpet. (Sorry for the off topic.) :oops:


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## Ashermusic (Jul 7, 2009)

josejherring @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> Ashermusic @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> 
> 
> > josejherring @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> ...



I love the Sam horns , and I mix them with SISC and Kirk Hunter Ruby.


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## choc0thrax (Jul 7, 2009)

Horns are fine, it's strings that have always been what we're lacking. Horns were taken care of the day Epic Horns came out. I don't know why it's hard to throw some reverb on them. You either throw on some reverb or stick with EW horns that sound like...ok I've run out of ways to express how bad they are.


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## Niah (Jul 7, 2009)

choc0thrax @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> Horns are fine, it's strings that have always been what we're lacking. Horns were taken care of the day Epic Horns came out. I don't know why it's hard to throw some reverb on them. .



cuz they're dry !

I also agree that brass is very well covered right now, especially horns


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## synthetic (Jul 7, 2009)

Maybe as an ex-brass player I'm extra critical. I actually considered buying a horn but don't want to spend the next year practicing to become a mediocre player.


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## Niah (Jul 7, 2009)

synthetic @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> Maybe as an ex-brass player I'm extra critical. I actually considered buying a horn but don't want to spend the next year practicing to become a mediocre player.



yes when you are speaking of SOLO french horn yea I agree that samplemodeling needs to do something about it 

although I would say Wallander solo french horn isn't too bad.


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## Jack Weaver (Jul 7, 2009)

Mr. Jay Asher, King of All that is True and Right said:


> What there are not IMHO are great, ballsy sounding trumpets and trombones.



You betcha!


.


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## NYC Composer (Jul 8, 2009)

Ashermusic @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> josejherring @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Ashermusic @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> ...



Jay, you are slowly but surely selling me on Kirk Hunter. I read your posts, go back and listen, ponder, read more posts, go back and listen....

does Kirk know you're his stealth salesman? :wink:


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## Niah (Jul 8, 2009)

kirk if you are reading, write his man a check because he deserves it :mrgreen:


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## choc0thrax (Jul 8, 2009)

I'm sure Kirk is already writing the checks, otherwise we'd never hear about his libraries. o-[][]-o


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## synthetic (Jul 8, 2009)

Niah @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> synthetic @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe as an ex-brass player I'm extra critical. I actually considered buying a horn but don't want to spend the next year practicing to become a mediocre player.
> ...



WIVI has no soul, it's as cold as a DX7 in space to me. Westgate didn't bowl me over. I'l give VSL another listen, though VSL all sounds like they were recorded in a dead room with crummy mics. I've put up with them because they were the only interval legato libraries in town, but no longer. (Hey VSL, rent some M50s. You're in freaking Austria, there must be M50s around. Then MOVE THEM BACK about 50 feet.) 

SAM horns really have the tone I'm looking for. Of course it's one of the oldest libraries around, so the realism leaves something to be desired. Maybe I'll wait for EW/Murphy Brass. Or Cinematic Brass.


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## mixolydian (Jul 8, 2009)

synthetic @ Wed Jul 08 said:


> I've put up with them because they were the only interval legato libraries in town, but no longer.


Just for the record, Westgate libraries have recorded legato transitions too. No?


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## Jack Weaver (Jul 8, 2009)

Synthetic opined:


> Hey VSL, rent some M50s. You're in freaking Austria, there must be M50s around. Then MOVE THEM BACK about 50 feet.



Right on. And get some new players on trombones. 
And about that Silent Stage...

.


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## Ashermusic (Jul 8, 2009)

choc0thrax @ Wed Jul 08 said:


> I'm sure Kirk is already writing the checks, otherwise we'd never hear about his libraries. o-[][]-o



Kirk writes me no checks, unfortunately. I just like his stuff. I am the guys as many of you know, who talked him into doing his libraries for the EXS24 when I met him a NAMM years ago. I thought his Kontakt libraries sounded great, had lots of articulations and were so affordable, that we could address the one glaring missing ingredient in the Logic Pro package at that time, which was decent orchestral stuff.

At first, he did not think the EXS24 was up to his demands, but I introduced him to the brilliant Andrea Gozzi of Redmatica, who knows the EXS24 better than anyone alive, and Andrea convinced him that things like round robin, etc. in could in fact be done with the EXS24.

Once he did them and I worked with them, I grew to love not only their sound, but their ease of use and how quickly they got me in the ballpark of where I wanted the music to end up.

So yes, I promote his libraries for no monetary reward, although he does in fact give them to me as NFRs, and I am proud to have played a role in it's development.


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## dcoscina (Jul 8, 2009)

Simon Ravn @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> choc0thrax @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> 
> 
> > Horns are fine, it's strings that have always been what we're lacking. Horns were taken care of the day Epic Horns came out. I don't know why it's hard to throw some reverb on them. You either throw on some reverb or stick with EW horns that sound like...ok I've run out of ways to express how bad they are.
> ...



I totally agree. The mid range of dynamics are terrific for Epic Horns but there are not enough layers to effectively go from mp to ff. It is very sudden on VSL SE. I even bought the Epic Horns as a download and it's still hard to get a good fff from them without a blatty sound. 

Simon, are you using the new SAM Classical Brass or the old Giga SAM horns?


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## Lex (Jul 9, 2009)

Simon Ravn @ Tue Jul 07 said:


> I only use Epic Horns for some legato lines, mainly the mp ones. The FF ones don't always sound good in the transitions. I find myself using SI and SAM horns much more than VSL... There's still room for better horns than the ones currently on the market.



+1

aLex


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## Simon Ravn (Jul 9, 2009)

dcoscina @ Thu Jul 09 said:


> Simon Ravn @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> 
> 
> > choc0thrax @ Tue Jul 07 said:
> ...



I only use Epic Horns for some legato lines, mainly the mp ones. The FF ones don't always sound good in the transitionsòªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   žªÂ   ž ªÂ   ž!ªÂ   ž"ªÂ   ž#ªÂ   ž$ªÂ   ž%ªÂ   ž&ªÂ   ž'ªÂ   ž(ªÂ   ž)ªÂ   ž*ªÂ   ž+ªÂ   ž,ªÂ   ž-ªÂ   ž.ªÂ   ž/ªÂ   ž0ªÂ   ž1ªÂ   ž2ªÂ   ž3ªÂ   ž4ªÂ   ž5ªÂ   ž6ªÂ   ž7ªÂ   ž8ªÂ   ž9ªÂ   ž:ªÂ   ž;ªÂ   ž<ªÃ   ž=ªÃ   ž>ªÃ   ž?ªÃ   ž@ªÃ   žAªÃ   žBªÃ   žCªÃ   žDªÃ   žEªÃ   žFªÃ   žGªÃ   žHªÃ   žIªÃ   žJªÃ   žKªÃ   žLªÃ   žMªÃ   žNªÃ   žOªÃ   žPªÃ   žQªÃ   žRªÃ


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## Peter Alexander (Jul 9, 2009)

Rob Kral used WIVI brass quite extensively in the animated feature Superman: Doomsday.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 9, 2009)

"WIVI has no soul, it's as cold as a DX7 in space to me."

I'd describe the same thing you're talking about differently. The *sound* is sterile, since it's not recorded in a space by a human. But the performances have plenty of soul if you play them with an EWI. That's why I'd never use it for an entire ensemble, but it works really well for a couple of parts. The brass, that is.

I actually have to try recording it through my tiny Peavey keyboard amp. That might be the answer.


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## José Herring (Jul 9, 2009)

Peter Alexander @ Thu Jul 09 said:


> Rob Kral used WIVI brass quite extensively in the animated feature Superman: Doomsday.



Is there a place where we could here it?


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## Niah (Jul 9, 2009)

Peter Alexander @ Thu Jul 09 said:


> Rob Kral used WIVI brass quite extensively in the animated feature Superman: Doomsday.



I actually didn't find that impressive.

Wallander is very expressive yes but it lacks in sound. Althought it's very customizable and you get far if you work at it.

but as I said I really like their horn. I would never use wallander for all my brass, but layering the wallander french horn with a horn section from other libraries it not a bad combo IMO.

anyway ,

cinematic strings demos, when?


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## choc0thrax (Jul 9, 2009)

Yeah demos when? 8) Got to bring this back on topic.


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## Stevie (Jul 9, 2009)

Yeah, demos when?


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## Guy Bacos (Jul 11, 2009)

Sorry about that.


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## Alex W (Jul 11, 2009)

Hi Guy, could you get rid of that please? I haven't launched the site yet.

Cheers.


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## NYC Composer (Jul 11, 2009)

The pricing seem quite reasonable.


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## Christian Marcussen (Jul 11, 2009)

Alex W @ Sat Jul 11 said:


> Hi Guy, could you get rid of that please? I haven't launched the site yet.
> 
> Cheers.



What did I miss? :D

Oh... and do you have an estimation of when you will have demos? Preferably demos with only the strings playing.


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## Stevie (Jul 12, 2009)

Yeah what did we miss? Damn you gotta be really fast on VI nowadays


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## NYC Composer (Jul 13, 2009)

( pricing for both versions had a default setting of one dollar)


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## Rob Elliott (Jul 13, 2009)

This Library release will certainly be something to keep an eye out for. I didn't read through all the posts - but an update on demos?


Rob


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## artinro (Jul 13, 2009)

Rob Elliott @ Mon Jul 13 said:


> ....any update on demos?
> 
> 
> Rob



+1. Some demos would be great, Alex...even some really short, single line ones. All the best for a successful launch!


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## tripit (Jul 13, 2009)

NYC Composer @ Mon Jul 13 said:


> ( pricing for both versions had a default setting of one dollar)



and the problem with that is.....?


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## Guy Bacos (Jul 13, 2009)

NYC Composer @ Mon Jul 13 said:


> ( pricing for both versions had a default setting of one dollar)



And you could have a coupon! 50 cents!

Seriously folks, I stumbled by accident on that site which was in progress and not meant to be public yet, the real price was obviously not yet printed. I d'like to respect the hard work of Cinematic Strings and not ruin anything for them.


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## choc0thrax (Jul 13, 2009)

Unfortunately you have to go to NS to get more useful information. This is what he posted there about demos:

"This will come very soon (I'd say within the next 10 days). If you're after really warm sounding lush strings, then you're gonna want this library."

He posted that on the 8th so by the 18th we'll have demos. Interesting about the warm lush strings. I hope he's somehow pulled that off cause that's the one thing all libraries have been lacking.


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## choc0thrax (Jul 17, 2009)

Well the 18th is tomorrow, hopefully his prediction for the demos is right.


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## scottbuckley (Jul 17, 2009)

Drum roll please...


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## MNovy (Jul 18, 2009)

Page is still offline (o)


Mike
________________________________________
http://projectmike.the-composers-approach.com


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## dcoscina (Jul 18, 2009)

Fine with me. I will keep saving until EWQL HS comes out. This way, it's easier for me to save my money and not be tempted. LASS is very good but, for my budget and needs, I'm not going to pay that price even if it's a "steal". I will wait. With these, if they are good, I will think about them but there's no "introductory deal" so I'm not in any hurry.


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## Christian Marcussen (Jul 18, 2009)

Is there any price estimate on HS yet?


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## MacQ (Jul 18, 2009)

I saw a cached version of the in-development site from July 9th, and the Flash intro was amazing ... looked very expensive and inspiring. So clearly the page is close ... and it looked great, too. No audio demos, though.

~Stu


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## mixolydian (Jul 18, 2009)

MNovy @ Sat Jul 18 said:


> Page is still offline (o)


Cinematicstrings.com? Still running.


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## dannthr (Jul 18, 2009)

choc0thrax @ Fri Jul 17 said:


> Well the 18th is tomorrow, hopefully his prediction for the demos is right.



Not anymore, now the 18th is today!


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## dcoscina (Jul 18, 2009)

ugh, my credit line just got upped on my Mastercard. Just what I needed. More temptation.... Still, I'm waiting for demos from this and EW HS before committing.


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## Craig Sharmat (Jul 20, 2009)

Mockups can make or break a library as far as commercial success. My guess is Alex is being very careful at this point as he probably needs to be.


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## dcoscina (Jul 22, 2009)

All is quiet from the land down under....Still holding off on LASS to hear this library......anyone? ? Beuller


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## scottbuckley (Jul 22, 2009)

Craig Sharmat @ Tue Jul 21 said:


> My guess is Alex is being very careful at this point as he probably needs to be.



Indeed. Take yur time Alex... just not too much time .


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