Hi Dave
Really sorry to hear of your loss - lost my Sister and Dad over 25 years ago but my mum only a recently - I thought it may get easier, but it doesn't seem to - being busy on one thing or another, especially music, always helped me. Hope all goes well, you are in my thoughts
Nigel

Music is excellent therapy for such losses & other tough times, but I'm sure you know that already.
 
For anyone's curiosity I'll chime in with 2 things about GPO.
 
1. I got GPO many years ago in a deal thru Cakewalk here for $99.00. The Key Card license system is just a .png image that you just drag & drop onto the GUI and it's good to go from there on.
 
I don't imagine that's changed since then, as it's all too easy. I wish all were like that.
 
2. The one thing that I [and some others according to their forums] didn't like, was that there was no way to control the amount of vibrato on the solo violins. It's always on. Same amount, same intensity.
 
IIRC, I believe there is a short delay before it kicks in to emulate what most players would do, however in reality, not every player would employ vibrato each and every single time on every passage they play. On rare occasion, they wouldn't.
But this option is not provided.
Even Gary Garritan chimed in on the forum after numerous requests and said that it would be way to hard to implement an update to offer this as an option, so it won't ever be done - not without re-recording the samples - which of course would be way to expensive to do - like basically starting all over. He said that when recording the players, that's how they played it and no one thought to ask for straight none-vibrato samples at the time, so none were recorded.
 
For this reason, I only use it for things other than strings, ie; the piano is actually quite good, as are the flutes, etc.
 
I switched to Kirk Hunter's Concert Strings 2 and the newest Solo Strings. I got them during one of his 2 sales this year - both at 50% off.
I've since picked up Concert Brass as well.
 
@ Bit: If you're still looking, check out Kirk Hunter's stuff - it's actually a pretty good deal - when on sale.
 
[Concert Strings 2 & Concert Brass work in Kontakt 4 while Solo Strings requires K5.]
 
 
 

Hey Bit, I thought you had Kontakt 4.
 
I wasn't even gonna upgrade to K5 - but - last December NI had the upgrade to K5 on for $49.
 
Perhaps you can watch for another upgrade deal for what ever version you have. Chances are they'll do that again in December.

bitflipper
I skipped the K5 upgrade even when it was $49...
...Plan B: live like a pauper for the next year and then go for the full VSL or LA Scoring Strings package. The first part of that plan is already in motion...

Living like a pauper - Haha - I think most of us are doing that or at least have done it.  And you're lookin' at a guy who bought not one but 2 school busses, gutted them out made them into motorhomes and lived in them for a total of 10 years straight. And I built the first one while I was technically unemployed. I was quite amazed at how many people contributed spare parts and other building supplies to the project.
 
So I can sure relate to livin' like a pauper there Bit.
 
Back on topic: If you do have K4, Kirk Hunter's Concert Strings II works in K4. I just fired it up about an hour ago. Just FYI. 
 
That is of course unless he's changed or updated it to require K5.
 
Just checked - 50% off most products until Dec. 15.
 
http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/
 
Looks like Pop/Rock Strings works in K4 too.
http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/req.html
 
 

Real easy - no Eq, no compression - just straight out of the box is good for me - at least to start with. I like to try to leave everything sounding as natural as possible, and don't mess with it until mix time forces me to do just a bit here & there.
 
But 50% off is awfully tempting, isn't it?

Just looking at the requirements list and it's kind of confusing.
 
I'd want to contact Kirk just to be sure. There's still 4 days left for the sale to do so.

Chandler
Kirk said he's coming out with a new library by the end of the year. You might want to wait for that before you decide. It has fully controllable vibrato. You can control the speed and depth in real time...

A few things to note:
 
1. The thing to ask him though, is will this new library be for K4 or K5?
 
Because of K5's new scripting abilities, many are now writing for that version, instead of K4.
 
Kirk did this for Spot Light Strings.
 
Bit doesn't have K5.
 
2. Concert Strings 2 has controllable vibrato as well, which is why I went for it over GPO.
 
3. Kirk offers upgrade paths which I believe are just the price differences, so one could get CS 2 if it still works in K4, and always upgrade later. That way, the sale price can be had for now, and in case the new library is only for K5, then Concert Strings 2 was the safe purchase to go with right now while on sale.
 
 

Some more information about SC3 here: http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/cs3.html
 
Some cool new features:

• Mic distance from 5 to 38 feet
• Loosen each player's entrance
• Run and fill sequencer
• Full vibrato control
• Individual volume and panning for each instrument in an ensemble
• New articulations (e.g. Dolce Largo, I don't know what it is but I'm going to look it up)

Still no firm release date or pricing information, though.
 

bitflipper
I skipped the K5 upgrade even when it was $49 because the update brought almost nothing new to the game - not even any new factory content - and my favorite library developers were/are still K4-compatible.

I think that the enhanced scripts, the new filters, and Retro Machines is well worth $49

I wonder if EastWest Hollywood isn't a possible competitor here, now you can combine BOGOF and an additional $100 discount ?

I'm afraid so, Bit.
I got one free with a controller so I tried it out. Also went for some Slate stuff. Guess I even prefer iLok above Waves' WUP, although quite different things, of course.
And I'm hoping more companies will end their dongle love, or at least go for an internet version, as some do. Even SoundToys will soon.

Damn right :)

I wont wup for any weeson - thats why waves wost all my business
 
 
 
 

What about Concert Strings 3, Bit, any news?

Apparently, CS3 will be released in pieces, starting with violins, probably next month. A good place to start, as it's always the violins that are the best indicator of a string library's quality, especially the solo instruments.
 
The new vibrato control should be frickin' awesome for solo violin. Reading through the change logs for past TVEC versions (TVEC = Total Virtuoso Expression Control, what they call their scripting package), a major focus of every revision has been to improve vibrato control. It's the holy grail of realistic-sounding sampled strings.
 
Longtime KH users assure me there's always been an upgrade/intro offer on new products.
 
Day 2 of the download. It's been running for 20 hours now and I have 8 of the 34 files. Wednesday was apparently an overly-optimistic ETA.