Kirk Hunter Concert Strings 3

Concert Strings 3 is set to release next month. It features up to 16 players and you can control the number of players(8,4,1,7, etc). It also features quite few different articulations and features which you can read about here. You can also check out some videos of it.
 
http://youtu.be/JsJW4LmfF9A
http://youtu.be/dECCftFwEHw
http://youtu.be/p41B18WkyHs
http://youtu.be/p41B18WkyHs
 
The best part is, there is also a demo available. http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/signup_cs3_free_trial.php . It requires the full version of kontakt 5.
 
I played with the demo a little today and it sounds really good. I like the different articulations, the customization options and the sound. I compared this demo with the 8dio Agiato demo from a few months back and the tone is similar with Agiato having a little more top end. I like the tone of this better personally, but of course that's my personal opinion. Check it out for yourself.
 
The violins will be released next month and the violas, cellos and basses will be released later. There will be 2 versions, a lite version and a full version. The video and demo use the light version. People that purchased Spotlight strings will have an upgrade path to the light version. I hope it's a good deal. I'm excited.

It looks Really good but the upgrade price is probably going to be the determining factor for me.

I'm going to have to upgrade Kontakt before I can consider CS3. Half the features in CS2 are unavailable to me anyway, so I've no choice. Kontakt is the Microsoft of the music software world: you can say no more updates but eventually they're gonna getcha.
 
Fortunately, I have a gig this weekend that'll cover the K5 purchase. It was supposed to help cover the credit card bill I ran up this month for CS2 and ST3. Oh well, eventually I'll kick the bucket owing MasterCard a lot of money, but it won't be my problem.

So looks like the pricing is highly variable. There are 5 editions of CS3, and each edition has a "lite" and "full" samples variant. The cheapest is $200. Each edition up adds $50, and going to full samples adds $100 giving $500 as the top price.
 
There are also two specials happening related to it. Anyone can preorder the full samples edition 5 and get a 15% discount, this lasts until it launches but the discount is only for the full edition 5, nothing else can be ordered. So $424. If you are an existing customer, you can then take 10% more off, for a total of $381.
 
However, Kirk Hunter also offers tiered discounts for customers, based on how much you've spend total in the past. Those start at 10% and go up to 50%. If that discount is more than the 25% off, you get it instead. So like in my case, I get 45% off. That discount, being a general customer discount, should apply even to the other versions once they are released.
 
So basically getting CS3 could cost you as little as $100 or as much as $500, depending on the options you want, and the discount you have :D. A bit overly confusing, but I guess he wanted to offer flexibility.
 
In terms of differences lite samples are 10GB, full samples are 75GB total. I'm not sure what lite cuts out, that isn't specified. Probably some round robins, halftones, maybe some dynamic levels.
 
The editions are just how many features you get. The Edition 5 gets you everything. Edition 4 drops the sordini and portamento playing styles, and the ability to do custom runs and fills. Edition 3 also further drops trills, and separate control of ensemble chairs. Edition 2 further drops volume and pan controls for ensemble chairs, and control over tightness of section. Edition 1 further drops connected bowing, hand position shift, tremolo, intervals between overlapped notes, and microphone distance control.

I'm struggling with that email right now. I want edition 5 but with the lite samples and I don't see the price for that on the website.
 
Also, I'm not sure how to figure out my discount even if I buy at full price because I purchased some on group buy and others at full price...
 
Guess I just need to send him an email and he will sort it for me.

I just received an email back from Kirk. Looks like Edition 5 is $381 for the Full Samples or $315 for the Lite samples. That's 75GB vs. 10 GB in size difference.
 
Which would you go for? (be nice)

I got it wrong above. It was $315 for Edition 5 Full Samples. I bought it. Happy New Year!
 
I hope I am not going to start the New Year out on a spending spree...
 

Ya Kirk does go a little overboard. However, I loves the sound. Better than EastWest in my opinion and I don't have to deal with Play so win/win :D.
 
The simplicity of the rompler thing is why Roland can still sell their Integra-7 for $2000 to some people. There is something to be said for a device that has a bunch of patches, nicely categorized, that just work, no loading, no versions, etc. Not $2000 nice, at least for me, but I can understand. I still have my SD-20.