TerraSin, thanks for the comprehensive reply and your take on this. I do understand completely what you are saying, and it has merit. I have done a fair amount of orchestral work in the past (it was a while ago), and have a classical background (from way back), but I prefer to "play" my parts, sculpt them, edit them, etc., and use my ears as the primary tool in my pallette. The amount of time, experimentation, and just plain busywork that it would take is not something I care to do right now, at least not until I have explored other alternatives. For that same reason, I don't spend a lot of time doing sound design, I'd rather focus on the musical relationships; melody, harmony, etc. I don't really have the patience for a lot of trial-and-error random discovery. I realize this is not necessarily typical of today's modern composers, and may limit what I do somewhat.  To my ears, I think there are other comparably sounding libraries to choose from (albeit very expensive). It remains to be seen if any of them are as good, or easier to use. If EW's  manual (and online support) was better, I would be more than willing to teach myself how to use this--but a trial-and-error method is not really my thing(yes, I actually read manuals!). I even watched a couple of videos, and once I saw them, there was not enough explanation about WHY certain articulations were chosen, they just made their choices and demonstrated it. I need a bit more hand-holding on this. But I do see your point, and perhaps I will change my mind with a little more time.
It's a matter of: do I take out a sheet of music paper and write it all down, or do I record it on my keyboard and edit it from there?  I prefer the latter, but many folks feel more creative with pen in hand. And a combination of both is ideal in some circumstances. 
I will say that since I do have a month to play around with this stuff,  it's worth persisting a little bit for the potential reward. But normally I make quick impressions of things (and people) and I am usually correct in the long run. I feel a bit like a blind pig trying to find an acorn. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't bite on purchasing any of the software, then I would really have felt burned. $30 will not be a disaster, either way. And if somehow I find enough of the products to be useful perhaps I'll decide to continue my subscription. 

And Ghost Writer is the business!

+1 for the solo violin in Gypsy. I think from your remarks you might be better off (certainly in the long run) of just identifying a few titles you like and getting those? Rather than bleed $30 a month forever. ?
 
just a thought, although when I pop for big titles it's always Black Friday somewhere . . .
 
cheers, good luck!
-Tom

emeraldsoul
+1 for the solo violin in Gypsy. I think from your remarks you might be better off (certainly in the long run) of just identifying a few titles you like and getting those? Rather than bleed $30 a month forever. ?
 
just a thought, although when I pop for big titles it's always Black Friday somewhere . . .
 
cheers, good luck!
-Tom

Same here...I've got the ones I want.
 
Dan
 

Completely understand where you're coming from there. I'm very much the same way when it comes to being able to play a part. EW's support is among the worst I've ever come across so don't expect much there. If you want answers on stuff, you usually have to send a message to EastWest Lurker on one of the many forums he's on. I believe he's on this one as well.
 
I absolutely agree there is not nearly enough learning material for any of EW's libraries which is that roadblock I hit when I first started using them. For some reason, the companies that do the deep instructional videos (Groove3, Lynda, MacProVideo) have all avoided EW products till recently when Groove3 for some reason did one on Symphonic Orchestra about 10 years too late.
 
I do all my work on keyboard. It just takes a bit of time to get it all together. Especialy being that I'm not classically trained, there is a lot of trial and error. If I had to do it over, I'm not sure I would have gone with East West on the orchestra stuff. Of course, there are many more options now than there were 10-15 years ago as well so there is that. I've learned a lot in that time using Symphonic and Hollywood that I otherwise may not have.
 
The other products I mentioned are ones I use quite frequently. You may find you like those even if you don't like the orchestral stuff.
 
 

TS, you are right on target. I downloaded the Gold Piano collection, and even though I have some lovely pianos (and am a pianist, as is obvious by my ID, I was very impressed with them. Also the solo violin.
I am going to do a little more downloading (painfully slow) and revisit some of the orchestral stuff, too, because I can and I was frustrated on the first day, less so now.
I did a lot of research on comparable stuff, and right now there are a lot of good options, although very expensive for the most part. NI's new Symphony Series looks and sounds fantastic (and I own a lot of their stuff and am a dedicated Kontakt user), and I did see some other fine stuff by Cinesamples, Cinematic Strings, Kirk Hunter (I own Spotlight Solo strings and like, it, and their Diamond Orchestra is only $150 and not even on sale), and a whole lot more, including the usual flavors of Albion, 8DIO, etc. Cost is really the issue, which is why I am hoping that the EW collections will give me the quality to try them all out without breaking the bank.
I appreciate all the comments, will update as we go. Only time is my enemy right now, but that's always the case. I would love to spring for the NI stuff, but I'm going to wait for the inevitable sale offer for now.

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
 

There are some nice solo violin libraries out there under $150.
 
 

My favourite solo violin is Embertone's Fischer. Bohemian is also good though limited due to the automatic expression.

Glyn Barnes
And Ghost Writer is the business!

Oh yes!

Fleer

Glyn Barnes
And Ghost Writer is the business!

Oh yes!

To each his own. I don't write Synth music and the (hour long?) vid I watched on Ghostwriter seemed to be VERY SYNTH ORIENTED. It did not inspire me in the least.