I'm glad I took a punt on the Adagio Violas at $28 after reading this thread. As difficult as the Cinematic Studio Strings legato is, I would probably have thrown Adagio out the window had I picked it up for primary use. My quick tour with the Adagio Violas does make me feel it is great for new shades and colours though (without getting into esoteric articulations).
The Colin's Favourite legato layers well with CSS's legato and after collapsing the field and a bit of EQ to pull some of the resonances from Adagio, they sound like one section, though I wouldn't use them this way in reality. Good fun was had loading the solo, divisi, ensemble and CSS violas together.
I barely noticed the stereo issues in legato on the ensemble patches but it is certainly present on the solo viola. The divisi and solo instruments are lovely in tone but the lack of consistent articulations, especially the absence of the sordino shorts.
I've yet to get my head around some of the different legato styles; the Colin's Favourite, Sordino and Sweet Slur work to my ears but I struggle to define a difference between Instinct, Perdition and Village.
The dynamic bowing patches, while wonderful in sound, probably won't fit my workflow so well. I've yet to understand exactly what the Loure patches and articulations even do. The minor and major tremolos are certain to enter my template. The Ambiences are certainly noises, and like every sound design patch, will gather dust since I don't write music that way.
Somewhat of a ramble, but my appetite is whetted for the rest of Adagio, especially Celli. The try pack of Agitato Grandiose Legato doesn't thrill me but I feel like it probably isn't the best sampling of that library. If there are further flash sales at that much of a discount, I'm in.
Are there any patches in the Violas (or the rest of Adagio and Agitato) that people really love, or shine brighter than the rest? Also, how does the 2nd Violins switch work?