NoamL
Winter <3
However, your comments about undervaluing the industry are unfair to a whole bunch of developers who offer great libraries at affordable prices, without cutting any corners. It's one of the reasons why CSS has become pretty much the standard, ubiquitous recommendation and daily driver for many people looking for a string library.
Hmm, I use CSS and CS2 every day at work and I'm adding Afflatus to that template.
Actually the only libraries I'm using beyond CS2/CSS are Afflatus, Adventure Strings and Iceni. All three for the same reason. I bought a lot of stuff over the years but once I settled on CSS/CS2 as my main sound, what I need beyond that is not a "backup" workhorse strings library, it's a library or combination of libraries that does everything the workhorse DOESN'T do.
This is where Afflatus really shines. The psychatto shorts are more aggressive than spiccatos I've heard in any other library because they are recorded as a standalone articulation, not just the top fortissimo layer that has to realistically match other dynamic layers in a multi-dynamic-crossfading articulation. The minimalist legato is beautifully neutral because it isn't merely the mezzo-piano layer of a multi-dynamic-crossfading sustains patch. just my 2cents... haven't even fully explored some of the other articulations yet!
Of course there is nothing wrong with seeing Afflatus as your workhorse strings either. The "lush" articulation is effectively the main legato patch and it has a lot of advantages like true divisi and very, very playable polyphonic legato which feels like MAGIC compared to other libraries (I'm still sticking with CSS/CS2 because it's become the trademark sound of the project I'm currently employed on). I'm just saying that I find good value in the library just from all the "extra bells & whistles" articulations.