Bit, thanks for the listen, I agree with you. I do have Kirk Hunter Spotlight Strings, which is excellent, haven't used it much lately, but off and on--got it on a group buy a while back for a pittance, BTW.
As far as opening up new avenues of musical exploration, I did think of that as well, although at the moment I'm up against it with some retro-60's music project from my high school days (geezer alert!), so it would be some time before I could begin to explore--maybe when I get ready to do my 4th CD of jazz fusion stuff I'll re-examine going off on the synth train--Omnisphere has always intrigued me, but the cost vs. how much I have time to explore it make it not a great investment right now.
Appreciate all the comments, suggestions, etc., it is quite helpful.