AndyP
still@work
Wow you have some great tools in your hands! After all these great libraries you have been using, it's no wonder that EW do not make you so excited!
OK I will really consider VSL then, even if EW has the lead so far (for all the reasons I mentioned)!
It's a little off topic, but could you tell me what made you feel buyer's remorse with Steinberg Iconica?
You can download Iconica from the Steinberg page and test it for 30 days. If there's a way to test it, I can only recommend it.
Read the forum, look at reviews. General questions en masse are not helpful.
I'm sorry, You don't know what you want and until you've tried one of these librarys yourself it's not appropriate to say that it's no wonder if a user doesn't like HO because he has so many other librarys. Makes no sense.
dsblais is a user who doesn't like HO that much and there are more of them. Thats fine, because that's everyone's personal experience and taste. But this is not a general statement that will get you ahead.
You will also find enough users who claim the opposite. And now? Do you seriously want to make a decision on this basis?
It's like asking if you should buy the green or the red shirt.
Budget now under 300, correct? This limits the possibilities. If I give you a recommendation and it is wrong, what then?
I have many high-quality librarys, and HO is one of them, even if it is almost given away today. I can't say anything about the EWSO, I don't have it. I decided against it when it was in the selection relatively quickly because it didn't offer what I was looking for.
Albion was suggested, is also a possibility. Nucleus, VSL SE, Kirk Hunter Ensembles, The Orchestra, and so much more... But as long as you don't even begin to know what you want, the risk of throwing money out of the window is far too great.
Which articulations are important? Which ones are a must have, which ones can be dispensed with?
Not every library has the full range of dynamic. Some go only f, others to fff. What is important to you? Punch, warmth, flexibility, timbre, quality, quantity?
There is a reason why many people have multiple librarys, think about it.
Answer these questions yourself, then the decision becomes easy because it limits the choices in a confusing market.
Save on the big solution and then you'll see if that was the right decision or not. But even there is no guarantee that you will be satisfied. I think almost every one of us has mispurchased.
I don't want to be unfriendly, somehow this won't get you anywhere until you can answer the most important questions for yourself.