Would love to hear everyone's preference for lush strings ( no animations or patterns ) just the best for making layered music beds etc. Thanks for any suggestions , I'm guessing mostly speaking Kontakt instruments here.

 

Output analog strings are great for layering

 

Last edited: Jun 8, 2017

Listen here.

 

Completely depends on the song. General orchestration I'd use VSL, Cinematic, 8dio stuff. Pop VSL Chamber, NI stuff. Synthy EDM stuff whatever works. Could be fake Jupiter strings or any of the above. Hard to answer a question without an exact knowledge of the song I would be layering...

 

Nothing is LUSH like synthetic ones in Gforce VSM.. killer
I have a professional musician that always asks what strings I use... thinks that he already, have but cannot sound right.
An old sample playback/synth can do wonders but you must drink lots of coffee.

 

8dio and sonokinektic, hands down.

 

Pick & choose from ur VA synth du jour for (dry) synth strings; christ even good old Omnisphere has some good S&S type things. For sampled libs? I dunno, I guess check out Youtube demos of myriad stuff from Spitfire & OTB? Runs the full gamut. Well, I guess OTB runs the full gamut from A thru to B, but y'know.

 

If you are just making pad like effects use something like Nexus or Omnisphere.

As for orchestral libraries I would avoid CineSamples CineStrings CORE/SOLO as they sound like fuzzy garbage with hardly any dynamic range and very limited articulations, and East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra because they lack realistic legato, sound dated, and are cumbersome to use.

Audiobro LA Scoring Strings is great for smooth legato passages as well as those driving rhythm detached passages you see in just about every action film score. They might be overkill and require too much of an investment of time to learn though for what you need.

Vienna Symphonic Library has some nice dry samples that give you freedom in mixing. They may come off as a bit lifeless and dull compared to most modern libraries though, and require a bit of mixing finesse to get a good sound from.

If you want some solo strings check out Chris Hein's and Embertone's offerings. Both create very realistic sounding libraries with pretty much every articulation you could need.