Poll: Is DSF symphonic strings worth the uncertainty?

If you don't have any expensive string library, then you should get this while it is free. It is the best strings sample for Dim Pro. It is worth 149USD retail, so can't compare that to Vienna or East West that cost 5 times more.

They're not THAT bad!

Sure, they don't compare to any of the higher end libraries out there, but for use simply as a bed on a typical rock/pop song - nobody will be able to tell the difference once you've tweaked them a bit.

I wouldn't use them for an orchestral type mockup - but that isn't their intended use.

I'm not sure how much cheaper they would make this until end of life. It's already pretty danged cheap. The strings are okay. They're a little TOO clean for my taste but they are certainly usable. I've said it before, they sound like the intro to Game of Thrones. I was hoping for more of a chamber music sound. Maybe with some tweaking I can achieve that.

"discount at a later date"??... ROFL

Heh... that could be interesting but I think the Softube Saturation knob might get me a little closer to what I'm looking for personally. However might I recommend you try the Hi White (Hi Watt) sim in GR? I think that would get those strings jumpin'... perhaps like Pete. ;-)

Are they substantially different or better than the SI-Strings that come with Producer?  I don't use the SI-Strings because I have other things, but they are OK.

And really if you're planning on getting X2 at some point anyway you might as well just snag it now even if you don't want to install it right away.

Beepster


Where would I find SI strings? 

If you have X1 Producer then there are four SI virtual synths, each start the those letters. I've tried the bass guitar one and it's not too bad, if you pass it through guitar rig and stuff. I've not tried the other three.

Where would I find SI strings?

 
SI = the Studio Instruments series: Strings, Electric Piano, Bass and Drums.
 

Ah okay. I thought it might be a Studio Instruments thing but didn't realize there was one for orchestral strings. Cheers.

Heh. Yeah I haven't even opened up the SI stuff. I figure those are just leftovers from older versions and the new tools are superior. I have seen a lot of people mention the bass is pretty handy though.

Yeah I haven't even opened up the SI stuff. I figure those are just leftovers from older versions and the new tools are superior. I have seen a lot of people mention the bass is pretty handy though.

 
Given what's already in SONAR, I personally like the bass and ep the best.   The other two aren't bad, but as Konrad mentioned there isn't much flexibility in these synths.
 

OK I did a bit of A/B comparisons with a few of the other things mentioned (I don't have the full Vienna or any of the EWSL stuff, so can't comment on those) and here are my impressions: 

1) DSF pretty much blows the SI strings out of the water. Not that they're useless, just... very limited. And not very 'deep' or realistic in terms of soundstage, etc. They sound pretty plastic-y in comparison to just about anything. YMMV, but that's what I'm hearing. 

2) DSF is probably a bit better, and certainly a lot more flexible and varied, than the Garritan Pocket Orchestra that I think is included stock with Dimension. The Garritan ones are quite OK, but there's not a lot of variety. 

3) DSF is not as flexible or complete in terms of articulation as the strings in Kontakt (which are a kind of basic Vienna subset, or so I am given to understand) but they're probably easier to use if you just want to throw up a quick big ensemble quickly or are looking for a big cinematic sound.  

4) unfortunately, there are some pretty glaring tuning problems here and there in DSF, which makes some of what's there unusable (for me, at least). Again, a fair bit of it seems like filler to me to make it seem like a bigger library. I would be pretty peeved if I'd paid full price for it. 

5) However, there are some really nice-sounding sections and ensembles in there (the small sections are a nice touch), and you could do a lot with it if that's all you had. So again, if you're short on string sounds this gets you a decent palette of usable stuff, along with some annoying filler that, who knows, other people might love, for a pretty good price (free). 

and that's my two euro-cents. 

Do it!! Strings sound great...you know your going to upgrade anyway!