Recommendations for Dry String Samples

Question

anyone have any recommendations for dry string samples, something kind of low budget? seems most strings sound too lush to my ears- maybe I am missing something in Logic to get this sound?
Message was edited by: Weslie

Answer 1

Dry vs lush implies questions of reverb and room size, the size of the ensemble, the amount of vibrato the players are using to be expressive. Many string patches use slow attack and release times and are intended for pads (remember the 80's?) which you would consider too lush for authentic string writing. Solo strings, which combined would create the sound of a quartet, are an altogether different sound and can also be either dry, lush, and everything in between. Or you might like string ensemble sounds that use fewer players, aren't too reverberent, have reasonable quick attacks and not too much vib. Even if you don't need big and lush, there's still a very wide assortment of string sounds you'd need if you want to incorporate strings into your music.
For $400-500 consider the Vienna Special Edition, which includes all orchestral instruments, and can be expanded incrementally with more sounds and articulations. LASS is indeed great, but any small subset of their library is liable to be (very) hit or (very) miss, depending on the music at hand. For the same $$$, Kontakt is your best bet. Comes with a wide variety of good string sounds and articulations, as well as a wide variety of everything else. And it's a very flexible sampler/sound mangler, reading Akai and Giga collections you might have laying around.