Figured a month for 30 bucks was worth a shot, since you can cancel at any time. After a two hour download of Hollywood Brass, I think I'm already out.  The Play interface makes me feel stupid, and I've been at this for 20 years. Once I got the library to show up in the browser, it turns out you cannot just load the entire set of instruments and articulations, you have to navigate thru so many layers of files and menus, and you have to already know which ones you want and what they do--I don't have time for all that!  The most obscure thing I've ever seen, and I've seen more than a few. Although there are manuals, galore, I read thru all of them and it was very little help. Sounds pretty good, but frankly, not worth the trouble. Guess I wasted my $30.00, but I just had to know. The downloads alone will take so many hours even on my high speed connection. Not for me. Guess I'll consider some alternatives. Lesson learned, yet again. What seems too good to be true, usually isn't. Or is it just me? 

As you still have your month's worth, you may want to try the piano libraries. And also Fab Four, for Beatles tunes.

Give it a few days. Just like anything it takes time to get used to something new. I love play and Hollywood Brass is just awesome. Just don't start with Hollywood Strings! If you think Brass is bad... However if you try Symphonic Orchestra you will have keyswitch instruments and will be much easier to use.

Thanks, I may indeed give it another go, but my initial impression was so bad I went ahead and stopped the auto bill renewal for now. And the downloading is so tedious, much slower than usual. But we'll see. I have many wonderful piano libraries, and I really wanted mostly the Strings and Brass, which apparently are the worst libraries to get used to. Just can't make sense of the approach of the software. I like to "lock and load" and use various keyswitches, etc. and just play the darn thing...I do appreciate the feedback. 

YIKES!  I was just about to fire up the 10-day trial of this, with the intention of giving it a go.
 
I am primarily interested in getting a good solo violin sound, as I am recording midi versions of some of the Dixie Dregs tunes.
 
I will do some more digging into the matter - still might end up with this, but will also look at other options.

Bob Bone
 

Hollywood is a series that is designed for professional orchestral composers. That means knowing the articulation you want in which parts you want it, note by note. This is what makes Hollywood the most versatile library on the market today because it's not at all dumbed down and restricted by what the library allows you to do or thinks you want. It also sounds terrible if you don't spend time working on the CC values.
 
Yes, there are times I want to kick Hollywood in the teeth and use something simpler but nothing worth doing is easy (so I've been told). The results you'll get with Hollywood vs other libraries is well worth the work you need to put into it.
 
I do believe your gripe about it is the same one I had when I first got it. They claim it's for pros but then market it to everyone. I had no idea what I was getting into when I bought Symphonic Orchestra years upon years ago but it was priced right and everyone raved about it so I bought it only to find out it was far more complex than anything else on the market and had no real resources available in order to learn how to use it. When I would ask I would get snarky replies like "you should know how to use it or not buy it" or "we're not giving away our trade secrets". I was bitter for a long time over that till I spent time with it and got some courses on orchestration (highly recommend Peter Alexander's stuff).
 
Apart from Hollywood, Stormdrum 2 & 3 are freaking fantastic and I use them on a ton of projects. Silk and RA are also pretty damn amazing though starting to show their age a bit. Still very relevant. Choirs, while a bit dated as well, are still amazing and have the only word builder that actually works... kinda. Pianos are still my go-to even with all the others I have, EW Pianos top the bill in my book and Spaces... I use Spaces on EVERYTHING. Orchestral, Rock, Pop, Industrial, New Age... everything I make has Spaces on it because it's hands down the best convolution reverb you can buy.

robert_e_bone

I am primarily interested in getting a good solo violin sound, as I am recording midi versions of some of the Dixie Dregs tunes.
 

You'll find a berry nice juan in the Gypsy library.

robert_e_bone
YIKES!  I was just about to fire up the 10-day trial of this, with the intention of giving it a go.
 
I am primarily interested in getting a good solo violin sound, as I am recording midi versions of some of the Dixie Dregs tunes.
 
I will do some more digging into the matter - still might end up with this, but will also look at other options.

Bob Bone
 

If you have Kontakt, check out the solo violin over at Embertone.
 
Dan
 

thepianist53
Once I got the library to show up in the browser, it turns out you cannot just load the entire set of instruments and articulations, you have to navigate thru so many layers of files and menus, and you have to already know which ones you want and what they do--I don't have time for all that!  

In most cases there is a keyswitched preset with the most common articulations mapped. If I look at the French Horns for example in folder 07 Keyswitched you will find two keyswitched presets, one for "normal" notes sustains, stacattos and the like with 9 articulations and one for effects with 10 articulations. Most of the other libraries have a similar folder. These are the one I use most of the time.
 
I think the many presets with single articulations are there to cut down resource requirments and loading time, If you just want one articulation.
 
 

Fleer

robert_e_bone

I am primarily interested in getting a good solo violin sound, as I am recording midi versions of some of the Dixie Dregs tunes.
 

You'll find a berry nice juan in the Gypsy library.

Or the Hardanger Fiddle in the Europe section of the Ra library.
The EW solo violin is very nice, but its a classical violin.