The demos of Hollywood Strings are a turnoff instantly to me.  The sound is not as good as the Appassionata right up front.  

But also the interface of Vienna Ensemble has become essential to me.  I hate having to use something else that is inevitably less elegant.

And the fact that all the VSL strings in general are not one library, but a whole combination of libraries that are diffferent and have been amassed over a long time - the Solo Strings, Chamber Strings, Orchestral Strings, Appassionata Strings - it is a huge variety of sound you don't get elsewhere.  And  Dimension Strings are probably the next step...

wow that's amazing news. yes I can see how much more could be made of the existing material with modeling and manipulation.

exciting times!

after reading all these responses I've modified my opinion now. I'm starting to think that the quality of the HS sound is in some ways a slight cheat - in that , it sounds great out of the box, without much work, but then, with VSL you can do a lot more, it just takes more work and knowledge. I have to admit, I've always felt too in a rush to properly look under the surface, beyond creating a few fairly straightforward custom patches in VI Pro.

Also, while HS does fill a real gap, creating a rich, expensive, lush American sound, if you were being unkind you could also say that the sound is a bit distant, unfocused, too chorusy, rich and fruity with its slightly out of tune moments.

Personally though, I'm very happy to have both!

For me, the only things that VSL needs to record are molto vibrato patches for Orchestral Strings, and to make the App Strings have as many articulations (as well as non vibrato) as the Orchestral Strings. The rest could be dealt with by careful editing, which because of the locked nature of the sample pool, would have to be done by VSL

There are a few things that I personally would like (as a string player), but for most people they would be more of a hindrance than a help, I think. [;)]

DG

I would also like for VSL to add the ability to increase vibrato on the fly like HS.  That is one nice feature that EW did.  Sadly, even with the update, I cannot use this library much.  It's just not working well for me.  VSL just works.  And at the end of the day, isn't that what we pay for?  

p.s. LASS works beautifully in tandem with VSL strings.  

@Another User said:

For me, the only things that VSL needs to record are molto vibrato patches for Orchestral Strings, and to make the App Strings have as many articulations (as well as non vibrato) as the Orchestral Strings.

+1

@DG said:

...make the App Strings have as many articulations (as well as non vibrato) as the Orchestral Strings.

I really agree with this and wish it would be done since the Appassionata strings are so great.  It is interesting that VSL did the Appassionata as a supplement to the other strings, but they sound so good that people have started to use them exclusively. And so as DG notes it would be good to have all the highly detailed articulations that the Orchestral strings have, even though from the standpoint of the original intention, it is redundant.  I admit that I have done some substituting of Orchestral for Appassionata on certain artiulcations (like ponticello, etc.)  that is not strictly speaking "correct" but was an essential workaround.

One other thing that occurred to me  concerning more recordings not being needed - isn't using a lot of scripting with the samples that already exist basically against the whole philosophy of VSL?  It's "pristine" approach to recording authentic samples of everything?  I agree it could be done of course, but it seems against the whole approach of VSL.  But maybe they will change that philosophy as things progress. 

I don't know what will be the future but the answer of this question could hold in three words : Vienna Dimension Strings [H]

* Vienna Dimension Strings.  (The Next Generation of Strings from VSL)

* Appassionata Strings 2.   (More Articulations that complement Appas. Str. I)

* Any other New Strings from VSL would be Great  !

Hopefully It won't be too long before something of this nature is announced  [:D]

Cheers,

Muziksculp

Agreed!

I love the sound of VSL strings. By todays standards, however, its 2-speed legato is nowhere near enough compared to LA Scoring Strings or Hollywood Strings. So many pieces one may need to write will inevitably fall somewhere in between these 2 speeds. IMO, LASS's legato speed control presets are by far the best out there; better than Hollywood Strings, and certainly much better and more flexible than VSL. You can get a 4-part string piece written and articulated in no time compared the all the tweaks and adjustments you need to do to make certain pieces play well with VSL's 2 legato speed choices (and that is not saying it can even be done, because the choices simply do not exist). VSL needs to get back in the game with this. After all, they were the pioneers in this and you would think they'd be on it to compete in a big way. Unfortunately, however, I did read a post on this forum a few months ago where someone from VSL said they didn't think they were going to do a new string library like dimension strings. I hope they do something. I own the entire VSL library but I only use the woodwinds and elements these days...

I'd be happy with Divisi samples!

@garylionelli said:

certainly much better and more flexible than VSL. You can get a 4-part string piece written and articulated in no time compared the all the tweaks and adjustments you need to do to make certain pieces play well with VSL's 2 legato speed choices (and that is not saying it can even be done, because the choices simply do not exist). VSL needs to get back in the game with this. After all, they were the pioneers in this and you would think they'd be on it to compete in a big way.

I totally disagree with that.  You're going on about techniques and the use of different legato speeds, etc. 

But when a person steps back and listen to the final product the sound is what matters, and so far no other strings sound as good and natural in a mix as Appassionata. 

I do agree it would be nice to have MORE articulations, MORE layers, MORE sounds, MORE strings, yeah! 

Appassionata strings needs to have the same articulations as the original libraries... there are many that are missed! They are such a beautiful library, I wish they hadn't left those articulations out...

Lets have a vote: who votes for Dimension strings!!!? Come on... it would be great. VSL are the innovator, in this case the hollywood strings method is definitely on to something...

Ochestral Strings, in Divisi (the solo instruments are already done), and Appassionata Strings in Divisi. If you need to choose which one to do first, do Appassionata strings in divisi first, then orchestral strings.

 Hi Miklos!  How are you?

You're right it would be great to have all those Orchestral articulations, divisi and the popularly demanded  Appassionata sound in ...

VIenna Dimension Strings with Auto-Divisi and ULTRA LEGATO...

I'm good thanks for asking ;) How are you? What have you been up to?

@garylionelli said:

certainly much better and more flexible than VSL. You can get a 4-part string piece written and articulated in no time compared the all the tweaks and adjustments you need to do to make certain pieces play well with VSL's 2 legato speed choices (and that is not saying it can even be done, because the choices simply do not exist). VSL needs to get back in the game with this. After all, they were the pioneers in this and you would think they'd be on it to compete in a big way.

I totally disagree with that.  You're going on about techniques and the use of different legato speeds, etc. 

But when a person steps back and listen to the final product the sound is what matters, and so far no other strings sound as good and natural in a mix as Appassionata. 

I do agree it would be nice to have MORE articulations, MORE layers, MORE sounds, MORE strings, yeah! 

 It is possible to control the legato speed with Vienna Instruments with using the Start Offset controller.

DG

 Well the speed of legato would be nice to have more variations, yes.  Like in a pp line to have a slower but not actually portamento legato would be good I agree. 

However what I was saying was that legato speed is far less important than the overall sound of the strings in the mix, which is just not as good with LASS.  They sound more artificial to me in just the sustaining tone.  So those extra legatos don't make much difference, especially since you have portamento as well as sul/bowed legato with the Appassionata.  But I do agree it would be good to have more variations.