Roland's orchestral strings certainly sound great. In my opinion, if a Roland synth could duplicate the type of articulation that a high-end virtual orchestra synth possesses, the Roland Orchestrals would hold their own compared to the vst. The only thing Roland's orchestra lacks is a decent sounding violin. I actually liked the Motif's violins more, but overall, Roland's orchestras and brasses sound way better than the Motif's. Sorry, just rambling a little. grin. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bryan Smart To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 9:47 PM Subject: [ddots-l] Re: question about strings The most important thing to think about is what sort of strings do you want? What if someone asked what is the best guitar? You'll get a million opinions, and they will be largely influenced by that person's favorite styles of music and other personal tastes. The Garitan ones are probably the best for symphonic arrangements, as they sound like they were recorded in a hall, are mixed very neutral, and have typical symphonic articulations. If you try to use them in a pop song, though, they won't be the best. Pop strings are brighter, are recorded with mics at closer range, and are often layered with themselves or synth pads (at least to some degree). This is the sort of preset that is included with DSF Studio Orchestra, and so it is best for pop and contemporary songs. The whole idea of the "Studio Orchestra" pack is to sound like the takes that you get in the real world when you bring orchestral players in for overdubs, not when you record them in the symphony hall. The E-Mu Proteus Virtuoso has a very different sort of strings. They're pretty good quality (long loops, multiple velocity layers), but are mostly mono. Why would anyone want them, you might ask? From the mid 80's to the turn of the century, if you were composing for film or television with a computer, and you were serious about it, you had E-Mu and Kurzweil gear. The sounds, even with their flaws, are very recognizable. Sometimes, you might want to use those sounds for the point of adding a certain type of nostalgic or retro flavor to a composition. Some people that sequenced with them back then also swear by a few particular presets. I know people that absolutely love the Roland orchestral strings, available via the old SR-JV expansions, on the Fantom series via SRX cards, and, on the computer, mostly, through the old Edirol Orchestral softsynth. Some of them sound very nice to me, but I think they're more lush pop sounding than typical symphonic. It doesn't matter as much what they should be for, though, as much as it matters if they're usable by you. In any case, I really don't like the Dimension Pro factory strings. The Full Strings preset is fair, but that's about it. I can't ever get an attack for the factory presets that aI like. They either end up sounding too sluggish or too syntheticly sharp. Some of the string samples are recorded dry, which is very wrong in any scenario. Cakewalk tried to sample their own stuff, instead of licensing it from pro libraries, like most other companies do. It saved them money, of course, but the results are very poor. Without expansions, Dimension Pro has very weak sounds for a 7GB library. Bryan From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Omar Binno Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 5:59 PM To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ddots-l] Re: question about strings Based on what i've heard about garritan, and after hearing its demos, and based on my own experience with dimention, I'd definitely say garritan over dimention. ----- Original Message ----- From: Greg Brayton To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: midi mag Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 5:56 PM Subject: [ddots-l] question about strings I have a couple soft synths that I like a lot, the dimension studio orchestra ex pack, and omnisphere. I've heard a lot about gariton and just wondered is it lots better than dimension, or are they pretty close? Or is there something else that you like? Just interested.