Well, the normal suggestion would be to get the Special Edition (Volume 1 contains the solo strings). Note that there is a special offer that ends exactly today - you buy 2 volumes, you get one free. But as your budget is very tight, this might not be an option, as one volume is around 300$. 

So your options could be either to buy Special Edition Volume 1 to get the whole Orchestra, or to buy Special Edition Sections Strings AND Strings Plus

As you specifically want to start writing string quartets, another option would be to buy Solo Strings Standard (from Instrument Collections) - you can upgrade to Full Library by buying extended at a later point.

Note, that if a special offer ends, more than often another offer comes in, evry fall of the last couple of years has seen a student/teacher discount of 30% on all products, so waiting a couple of days could pay off ...

Which Version of EWQLSO do you have? Silver and Gold are recorded with reverb. All VSL Samples are dry, so you might find it difficult to find a reverb that matches the built in EW-room.

The Platinum Version offers dry samples, so here you can use the same reverb on both libraries, this will work fine.

You can compare the patches of each product by clicking on "sample content" on the individual product page.

The patches of SE Vol. 1 - Strings are the same as SE Vol. 1 - except that you'll get ONLY Strings, hence the low price. Therefore, you can additionally afford to buy SE Vol. 1 - Strings PLUS, which will give you a lot more articulations.

If you compare the combined Solo String content of SE Vol. 1 - Strings and Strings Plus to the content of Solo Strings I Standard lib. you might think, that the latter does not give you much more benefit, in fact, there are even some patches in the SEs that are not in SS Std. (col legno), but there are some main advantages:

1. You need SS Std. to have the option to upgrade to Solo Strings Full, and the additional patches which are in the extended lib. are worth every penny. You cannot get them within the Special Edition path.

2. The Special edition uses 1 sample per whole tone while the Instrument Collections have 1 sample per semitone.

3. The Instrument Collections have more velocity layers

Beside that, of course with the SE Vol. 1 Strings you do get not only Solo Strings, but the same samples for the orchestral Strings as well. So you must decide if your afore mentioned string quartets are your main goal, or if you want to take a general dip into the vienesse world.

@MassMover said:

Which Version of EWQLSO do you have? Silver and Gold are recorded with reverb. All VSL Samples are dry, so you might find it difficult to find a reverb that matches the built in EW-room.

The Platinum Version offers dry samples, so here you can use the same reverb on both libraries, this will work fine.

EWQLSO offers "close" mic samples, but some aren't dry like VSL samples. I just tested "close" EWQLSO flute ensemble, and it's night-and-day wet compared with VSL flute ensemble. That said, I am happy mixing EWQLSO and VSL, because for me, getting everything to sound like it's in the same room is rarely a priority.

@MassMover said:

2. The Special edition uses 1 sample per whole tone while the Instrument Collections have 1 sample per semitone.

3. The Instrument Collections have more velocity layers

For string quartets, Solo Strings I would give you the best results, even if you can only afford the standard version. You can always buy the extended version later. Just listen to the demos if you have any doubts. You could get Vol 1 SE Strings and the + version as well, but you will probably find the number of articulations limiting.

You'll also want to get at least one version of MIRx at some point, regardless of which string collection you get. You can demo it for free once you purchase a VSL instrument.

Also, if you don't already have one, you'll have to factor in the price of an eLicenser too.

Michael

I think you now have come to a point where only you can make the right decision depending on your demands.

a warning:

The appassionata Strings in vol. 2 are marked as "bonus material". If you look at the sample content youl find that there are just 2 articulations: staccato and sustained. Therefore, vol. 2 Strings is cheaper - but still not cheap enough in my opinion, as you in fact only get the chamber strings.

So, if I was you, I would ask myself: Do I get along with my EWQLSO strings and just want the VSL solo strings, or do I also want to use the string sections (Orchestral Strings) from the VSL library?

If you only want solo strings, get the Instrument Collection Solo Strings I Standard - you later have the opportunity to upgrade to full lib - and the Solo Strings are considered as one of the best libs VSL have ever made

If you also want a string ensemble from VSL, get SE Vol.1 Strings and SE Vol.1 Strings Plus.

As MassMover said, only you can decide which option is best...

FWIW, I have both the SE 1 and 1+ and the full solo strings (standard + extended).  Long term, if you really do want to get into the intricate world of writing string quartets, I would strongly suggest getting the full solo strings library over SE, if you can afford it.  The wealth of articulations in the full library will really with getting more realistic results.

Note that I also have used EWQLSO Gold in the past.  Especially for string quartets, I strongly favor VSL.  As a strings player (double-bass) I found the EWQL string sound to be lacking a true "classical" period sound ("classical" used in the narrow sense).  I have found VSL to be much more suited for traditional orchestral writing.

Also, if your budget limits you to the SE version, once you have learned the basic VI player, strongly consider getting VI Pro.  VI Pro allows you to create new articulations based on existing samples through the use of the "stretch" function, and that can enable you to create modified articulations that can help give greater variety to the SE samples.  If you do get the full strings library, I would still strongly recommend VI Pro as it will be even more useful with the full library.

I have all of the EWQL orchestral libraries, and they're very good for what they are, but I'm planning to go all VSL. I also think your best bet would be Solo Strings, as it's a top of the line VSL library. It's quite affordable if you start with the Standard library, and then you can extend it later on.  The extended libraries give you loads of extra articulations, but the Standard collections are still fairly full-featured.

- with that budget, I would get the solo strings, having already ensembles of strings.