Following their excellent Banjo its looks like Bolder have done it again with their "Pure Mandolin". Anyone who has the Banjo will be familiar withe the way the KSP scripts and key switches work.
 
http://www.boldersounds.net/mandolin-for-ni-kontakt-p-122.html
 
Dennis's promo/instructional video shows it all off quite well. The intro price of $44.95 is very reasonable. I don't see it mentioned anywhere when it goes back to full price ($59.95)

Well, two released on the same day. 8Dio also have one.  

http://8dio.com/#instrument/mandolin/

This is more "cinimatic" It sounds very nice in the demos but the Bolder demos sound more realistic to me. Your prefrence would depend on your intended use. My money is on Bolder.

Hey Glyn,
 
thanks for pointing these out - first time I've checked out Boulder, and they've got some really nice stuff.
 
The banjo is awesome too, and I also fell in love with the conch shells !.
 
I'm broke until next week, but I'll be heading over to Boulder on pay day :-)
 
I'd agree about the mandolin - Boulder if you're looking for authenticity, however I'm tempted to grab the 8dio one for that big variety of more cinematic type sounds.
 
Very nice !
 
Cheers - Cliff

Yup...looks like Dennis has hooked me again.  Finally a useable mandolin.  Listening to both companies demos it's fairly obvious that the folks at 8Dio don't know squat about bluegrass...thank goodness Dennis does!   The "Chop" is exactly what I've been looking for.

yorolpal


Listening to both companies demos it's fairly obvious that the folks at 8Dio don't know squat about bluegrass

Lol - you got that right.
 
If you want to do Bluegrass, Folk, a bit of Fairport Convention, a Battle of Evermore or a Rod Stewart cover Bolder is the one. If you want to something that sounds like none of these, go for 8Dio.
I shelled out ny $44.95 last night to make sure of the discount. I won't get to try it out for a while unfortunatly.

I can see using the 8Dio stuff sometimes, but it sounds very processed and New-Agey to me. In particular, their steel string guitar seems awfully unnatural compared to RealGuitar or Vir2 Acoustic Legends. RealGuitar is the ultimate six string--especially for strumming--but the Vir2 product has some great solo sounds and does offer some strumming function. Vir2 also comes with a usable mandolin and banjo, but not even in the same universe as Bolder. In fairness to Vir 2, their mandolin and banjo are listed as "bonus content" and the main focus of the product is on guitars which are done well. So, for my money, RealGuitar for six string and Bolder for mandolin and banjo. Bolder also has some other cool products.

While you're browsing Bolder Sounds be sure to check out the freebies. Try doubling the free Music Maker with acoustic guitar.