As soon as iS sees this, he'll chime in with his
faves...;)
My ears were burning.
I use bits and pieces from many different libraries. For me, there's no one library that has all the right textures, articulations, etc. for any one instrument.
I recently purchased the Kirk Hunter EXS24 library. Most of the brass, strings, and woodwinds are superb. The caveat here is that almost all samples were recorded in some kind of hall or soundstage, so as with other libraries that were sampled with ambience, it can sometimes be problematic if you're going after a dryer sound. Depending on the sound, careful tweaking of the release time can minimize that effect.
So yes, I endorse Kirk Hunter. Bang-for-buck quotient is great ($325).
GPO -- I use their woodwinds and harp, the occasional solo string sound, percussion (the xylophone and celeste are wonderful). But the strings are pathetic and the brass poor. Still, for $250 it's an astounding deal, and worth it for the woodwinds/harp alone. It's paid for itself 50x over.
A favorite for strings are Sonic Implants. My copy went through a Gigasampler -->EXS conversion and I love them to death.
EWQLSO are not a fave. I've heard good things about Gold though.
Vienna... I've never been impressed with any of their demos. Well crafted but flat and lifeless sounding. I think the fault is with the demos and not the actual samples. Anyway, a friend recently realized a part for me using some of their specialty brass sounds and it was exactly what the doctor ordered! One day I'll invest in VSL and add it to the arsenal.
