Benjamin Wallfisch Strings vs Lux Orchestral Strings

[Linos]

Two strings libraries that sound very good, going by the demos. We haven't discussed either library here. With Orchestral Tools' Black Friday discount, both are in the same ballpark price-wise (at l ast foe me, after vat deduction on Lux).

I'm not sure if I need Wallfisch Strings or Lux. But I am curious. Wallfisch Strings sound very live to me. Divisi sections are great. Same for up- and down-bow samples. I'm not sure if unlooped sustains are worth the additional ressources. No portamenti, and the legatos seem to be erratic.

Lux sounds warm and lush. It has huge strings sections. It has more articulations than BWS, and articulation blending looks neat. It looks like the more complete library of the two.

Curious to hear what you all think.

[Tanuj Tiku]

I have to say that the LUX strings sound quite bad in terms of musicality. It actually takes me back to the very early VSL days. They do have a warm and silky sound but the legatos and phrasing capability is from 20 years ago from the sound of it.

I did listen to Wallfsich strings at the time of launch and did not hear anything wildly different from what I already have. Although, it is probably more musical than LUX. It seems there is a bit of hype for these new strings from sonuscore but sound very synthy to me!

[Linos]

Interesting. Lux sounds good to me. Warm, or maybe dense, because of the huge sections. The legato isn't anything special, but to me it doesn't sound any worse than that of most competitors. Good point about the musicality, though. Sonuscore has great demo composers, yet the demos still sound static. It's possible that the dynamic range does not allow for musical phrasing.

As an aside, I don't know why developers insist on providing just one transition speed when CSS has long since proven that having three speeds is far superior. It's no wonder that CSS's legato is unbeaten — other developers don't even try.

[Tanuj Tiku]

Interesting. Lux sounds good to me. Warm, or maybe dense, because of the huge sections. The legato isn't anything special, but to me it doesn't sound any worse than that of most competitors. Good point about the musicality, though. Sonuscore has great demo composers, yet the demos still sound static. It's possible that the dynamic range does not allow for musical phrasing.

As an aside, I don't know why developers insist on providing just one transition speed when CSS has long since proven that having three speeds is far superior. It's no wonder that CSS's legato is unbeaten — other developers don't even try.

Yes, I agree with you - CSS and Performance Samples are still the gold standard. For me, the musicality and phrasing capability is more important than the sound because I need directors to quickly understand the ideas which then pays for sessions with an orchestra. However, I do understand that people have different needs and it may be useful to have another colour for a specific sound when needed in a sample only production.

[Markus K]

I got Pacific Strings recently since I wanted a bigger sized library than what I already have and feel more comfortable with than SSO and HW Strings. And I must say I'm surprised how well they work and how musical you can phrase with it with little effort.
Also for sketching out something the full ensemble is the best I came across until now. It's so well balanced that you can hear pretty good how a chord might sound if worked out in detail IMO.