g_randybrown
I am working up some midi versions of a few Dixie Dregs tunes
 
Wow...I wouldn't mind hearing that Bob...I consider them to be the musician's musician!
Let us know if you pull off even a reasonable facsimile please.

Well, 1st one up is Night Meets Light.  All tracking is done, except for the guitar lead at the very end of song, and then of course the mixing.
 
I did all midi for drums, violin, bass, and keyboards, only the guitar is real.  It is sounding REALLY nice.  I will shoot you a copy in its VERY unfinished form, if you send me a PM with your email address.  I am also working up midi versions of: Holdsworth Tokyo Dream, Bruford's Fainting in Coils, and UK's In the Dead of Night, as well as Jean Luc Ponty' Mirage.  So, send me your email in a PM.
 
Bob Bone
 

Some fine suggestions, for sure, but you can get a lot of mileage from what's included in X3.
I use SI Strings and DimPro most of the time. Also a little freebie called DSK Strings.
Execution is almost as important as the samples. How you approach the keyboard can have a huge impact on the sound you get from any library.
 
In this particular piece, lead violin is from SI, cello and bass are from both SI and DimPro.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10285834

One of the problems of today's marketplace I'm afraid... every library mentioned, and a bunch that weren't, are aimed at different applications. And they are all bloody expensive! So how do you choose?

Right now I use Concert Strings 2 and Spotlight Strings, mostly because I like the user interface/work flow approach.

I also use Orchestral Essentials, love the sound, still struggling with the ensemble approach.
 
And I use the content included with Komplete 7, along with a couple other string libraries I've picked up along the way.
 
I am about to jump, feet first into Vienna - the silent stage approach makes sense to me, but dang, I LOVE the sound of the Spitfire and Cinesamples and 8Dio libraries too.
 
Ultimately, if you are writing to a variety of applications, and making money doing it, I guess you need more than a couple<G>...

It is really going to depend on what you're trying to accomplish, brother.  ...and, of course, what you're willing to spend.
 

Does Garritan Personal Orchestra get any love? For the price I *think* it is a pretty strong value. But I admit to ignorance of the sound quality of East/West and other more "expensive" products.

Paul G
It is really going to depend on what you're trying to accomplish, brother.  ...and, of course, what you're willing to spend.
 

I agree.... started with EWQL platinum but have really enjoyed all the Kirk Hunter products, which are the best bang for the buck during his yearly super sales.  I've dabbled with NI's offerings, such as Action Strings but currently really love Spitfire's Albion series, in particular, Albion Iceni as it is hugely dramatic in the low end which is perfect for climate change music.
 
I'd suggest watching a couple of Daniel James exhaustive hour long evaluations of various packages... just google him on you tube... you'll learn A LOT!!!

I think Vienna Dimension Strings are awesome, but they are not cheap.
 
I also have Vienna's orchestral strings.  Also great.
 
Some libraries have subsets of Vienna's strings which are good but don't have all the articulations.

Thumbs up for Garritan as mentioned before. It is a very good starting point for those interested in learning orchestration. No, it is not as extensive a library of articulations but using the keyswitching makes it dead easy to use the ones you have. There are also free instruction courses for orchestra and jazz education. Free to ANYONE at ANYTIME! Vienna is the winner hands down for me but I still find uses for Garritan much of the time.

Thanks for all the ideas guys! I'm going to check into each of them.
 
At this point, I have very little experience with MIDI, synths, samples and all of that side of making music. I'm sure the best thing for me to do is experiment with what is included with Sonar X3 Producer and go from there.
 
I don't know much about orchestrating music, but my wife is a classically trained and highly educated musician who knows how these things should sound, having been a symphony player since she was 15. We want to be able to add this type of sound to some of our music. I'm looking for a simple, user-friendly interface with easy edit-ability, she is looking for realistic sound and control. 
 
Again, thanks for all the input!

Joel, you may not know it yet, but your wife has been orchestrating YOU for some time now, so I would think she would continue to be a valuable resource.
 
There are lots of nice things you can start with, that come with X3, and you can try out and buy things as needed as your needs grow.
 
Good luck with it all, and always know that the forum folks will try to assist you in the process of it.
 
Bob Bone