TAXI.com

Well, they can no longer tout it as something new, and everyone who was in at $1200 probably already bought the thing, right? One imagines that with unlimited inventory and the fact that Mr. Hunter already covered his nut by paying the musicians one time, discounting isn't very difficult. I've come around to a strategy of saving my software dollars for the big sales before and after the holidays and during tax season. I have some KH stuff (Spotlight Solo Strings, to be specific) and while he seems to have a bad rep on the VI Control forum among some, I notice a lot of rock and pop guys have no issues with his stuff, and so far, neither do I. Maybe it's not as sexy as Albion or Adagio, and it doesn't work for everything, but nothing else does, either.

Just know what you are getting, in terms of articulations... A few years back it was confirmed by him that in fact the Independence Audio sampler offered a string package that was made by Kirk Hunter, and he said that it wasn't a thorough full package as his then regular series.
First thing I usually take note of is sample GB size for comparison.

80 GB* for the $99 bundle.
80 GB for the Diamond Symphony Orchestra ($400)
https://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/produ ... orchestra/

375.8 GB VSL Symphonic Cube ~$2,129
https://vsl.co.at/en/Instruments/Symphonic_Cube

Kirk Hunter also has a pop string package. 10GB for $180, but then Kontakt has a couple pop string packages also, one for $99.

I think orchestras and sections anymore seem to be more specific than a general, all-inclusive package.

What are you getting? It looks like to me that you get "concert strings (legacy) version 1.0, concert string 2 (same thing, except it's like an update, version 2.0, and then concert string 3, version 3.0?? * Smaller sizes, just x more of similar. Then it appears under comparison that the Pop Rock strings are samples taken from the concert 2 strings, and programmed differently,shoo!
That's like buying Kontakt 3,4 and 5 in a bundle, wierd,lol! That's why the diamond symphony orchestra is 80GB, but it contains the whole orchestra, probably version 3? However, an 80GB is not going to be as grand as a 375GB package.

VSL is a little easier to figure out,lol, if you know what you are looking for. Because if you only will ever need a small chamber orchestra, you can get a complete package for chamber, and not buy the huge symphony or cinematic orchestra, etc. Or there are the lesser used articulations you may never need and not have to buy. But they don't have a "Pop String set" that I know of.

I wouldn't say it's terrible though, Halion Symphonic Orchestra has 7GB for complete orchestra and is $99, now maybe 40GB of just strings for $99, not bad.

NI Session Strings and SS pro; $99 & $299

Whereas the SS core library came in at 1.63GB when installed, SSPro raises the bar considerably, coming in at 29.4GB — just over 18 times more sample data. As you'd expect, this gives SSPro plenty of scope for extra articulations, and a generally more detailed and comprehensive coverage of the string section than its predecessor. Compared to the 14 articulations of SS, SSPro provides 29. Further sampling details include up to four velocity layers (depending on the articulation), 4x 'round robins' and release samples. The round robins and release samples can be disabled if required, but as they add to the realism of SSPro, and use no less RAM when disabled, I suspect that most users will choose to leave them on.

Further complicating matters in KH's case, later versions of his sample sets also feature more elaborate scripting, which presumably nets you some more authentic bowing transitions and some control over how fast runs are articulated.

I thought I put this here as I realised only today that there is a significant discount on Adagietto: https://8dio.com/instrument/adagietto-v ... s-samples/

Cheers,
Matt

VI Control has an in-depth discussion of Kirk Hunter's current sale bundle; it'd be a great deal for anyone who already has KH Spotlight Solo Strings, cuz you'd pretty much have all the KH strings in several sizes/configurations. Note that KH mostly doesn't use velocity layers in favor of mapping expression to bow pressure, which is a bit different paradigm than some other libraries. 8DIO is also having a sale, up to 70% off stuff like Adagietto at $119USD. That might also be a must-buy, but it all depends on what you have already.