I finally started working with the solo strings last night (I just purchased the library a few days ago), and am very impressed by the timbre and the general musicality of phrase interpretation, but only fed it existing MIDI so far, with Note On velocities converted to EXP values using Logic Pro, and parts that have short notes would sometimes hiccup or lose the note, so I'll need to study the user manual to see if I need to do any specific CC tweaks or if it's just better to re-enter the parts in real-time vs. using MIDI that was heavily edited over time to get the best results from VSL Solo Strings.
What I especially note is how natural the detache bowing sounds!
The only solo string whose timbre may not be completely to my liking so far, is the cello. But I also need to work with it some more. The viola is the best I've ever heard, and the violin not far behind.
The difference between these solo strings and SWAM is night and day, regarding timbre. Different beasts for sure. I really only care about these sorts of approaches when doing jazz and other idiomatic styles. And though for now I am sticking with VSL for that, due to the time already spent getting deep on their products, I think for new projects I will reach first for these new solo strings, which are warm, realistic sounding, and probably just need a bit of a learning curve to get the best playing to match the needs of its algorithmic engines.
Another thing, is that these might take well to a WX5 wind controller, for the solo strings. I turned the reverb off, and the vibrato intensity to 15% or less, but ideally we'd be modulating vibrato (easier on a mouthpiece than a keyboard, in terms of detail and ergonomic feedback), along with some of the other parameters.
It's a shame that I deleted my aftertouch values (for performance reasons) after I thought I was settled on VSL Solo Strings as my final choice for my jazz and related projects. I can just re-do them though, and it's a good opportunity to try the WX5, which worked well with VL70m "strings".
I'm hoping to have some time with the ensemble strings, today or tomorrow.
