Thanks for this, Dave! I've gotten a few things for free from Sonokinetic, and their quality is surprisingly good.

I don't doubt what you're saying about the Soundpaint library, but do they or 8Dio admit the library doesn't respond to velocity? That seems like a staggering oversight. I had some 8Dio freebies (and paid libraries), but I don't remember thinking too much of them.

That said, I had to help a friend find a "small" string section library a few weeks ago, and 8Dio had a library that fit the bill. Unfortunately, that "bill" was a few hundred bucks for the library, so he had to pass. The demo on the website sounded fine, but again, that was 8Dio. Maybe they're the "better" side of the 8Dio/Soundpaint coin.

I'm just really surprised anyone would release a string library that didn't respond to velocity. I know EastWest (and a few others, like VSL) handle "velocity" somewhat differently in libraries (by employing the modwheel or another controller), but sample companies have at least been faking velocity control since around 1984. There's no excuse for it now.

Steve

Thank for sharing Dave!

Man, I agree. If someone who has the Soundpaint Disco strings library can tell me where velocity is implemented, I am all ears. Cuz I sure couldn't find any velocity implementation in the library. It doesn't respond to controller 11 or the mod wheel, as most orchestral libraries do, nor does it respond to normal playing.

Soundpaint 2 (3?) just dropped but it is the same cluttered UI which I find unusable. I had the Soundpaint freebies, all poor quality. I actually trashed all the Soundpaint content from my drives and deleted the plugin. It was a bad purchase but I can write it off. I don't have a very high opinion of 8 Dio or Soundpaint anymore.

On to the Sonokinetic freebies..they are surprisingly good, although I find I have to apply some corrective EQ to some of the phrases. I own three Sonokinetic orchestral performance products (Noir, Espressivo, and Capriccio), all very good, although they are on the expensive side.

Another source for "disco strings" is Native Instruments Action Strings 2, which is all runs and phrases. You can edit the midi for any of the phrases and runs, which makes them very flexible and gives you thousands of possible variations.

The famous short string "falls" typical of "disco strings" can usually be found in the "shorts" and "effects" sections of many orchestral string libraries. Or you can simply use your pitch bend wheel to mimic them.

Check out Spitfire Chamber Strings, they got the essential Disco articulations and overall very complete and good sounding library.