The Sound Board

"Trailer Strings shares the same mantra its portly, brassy cousin follows: LOUD, HUGE, AGGRESSIVE. 60-string ensemble: 18 violins, 16 violas, 14 cellos and 12 double basses recorded separately in the same concert hall as Trailer Brass. We've also incorporated our wide/centered seating arrangement to help achieve the same modern, oversized aesthetic we were going for.

What you get is a useful array of short and long articulations, but with a size and clarity that's specifically geared towards hugantic (hugh-jan-tik), over-the-top productions. As with the brass, we really pushed the players to give us everything they had with the triple-forte dynamic. After a series of unrelenting requests demanding "MORE!" volume, the players really sailed through with inspired, bow hair-snapping performances.
What you may not expect with this release is that the dynamic range is quite wide. In addition to the fortississimo dynamic, we went all the way down to piano. Feathery spiccatos, pillowy staccatos and smooth marcatos performed a la dolce. Tasty.

And the sustains? Six dynamics deep. The softest two performed sul tasto (over the fingerboard) to get that whispered, feathery tone.
We've also included our "Adventure" patch programming for all four sections, a cool asset for on-the-fly, pompous string lines. Seriously, load up the basses/cellos Adventure patches, set the basses an octave down, arm both tracks and get your pomposity on. See? You're smiling.
Also included in the basses and cellos are three cluster effects patches. "Snap and Grunt" provides an arsenal of atonal snap pizzicatos, spiccatos/staccato chugs and behind-the-bridge scrapes. "The Brooding" includes subtle, low-range aleatoric meanderings (good for: "alligator sneaking up on prey"). "Behind the Bridge!" is exactly that, tremelo'd (good for: "alligator eats prey")."
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Introductory full price: $249 (changes to $299 on March 21st)
Introductory price for those who already own Trailer Brass: $199 (changes to $249 on March 21st)
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The demos have an awful lot going on around the strings, but oddly they don't sound very good to me. Maybe it's too many players recorded from too close? They don't have that organic, breathing quality that I love about the string orchestra. In the beginning of Blakus' demo you hear the strings most clearly. At around 10 seconds in (bassi entrance) - it's personal preference, but thats not a strings sound I 'm too fond of. Doesn't sound like anything you could encounter in a live concert. Maybe that's the current trend in trailer music, this upfront in your face kind of sound.

That together with the somewhat spartanic articulations set (no legato?) - are these all the articulations you need for trailer? - make it not too enticing for me personally. Not that it matters much. Apparently the library strucks a chord for many others, if the other forum is any indication.

Walkthrough sounds better to me than the overprocessed demos. I like the playability of Adventuer Brass and it would be interesting if the Trailer Strings are as good.

In my opinion Aaron Sapp achieved the perfect string sound of large ensembles with this library. If he considers recording more articulations like legato, pizzicato, tremolo etc. for an expansion or Trailer Strings 2, this library can be a game-changer for me.

Yeah I raved about the 1st demo on VIC but I'm much less enamored after hearing the walkthrough. The sound is nice and aggressive but there's something off about the releases - too fast and dry. Together with the limited artics, the "Do I really need another string lib" factor, and the fact that I still haven't turned a profit on Trailer Brass, I'm probably passing on this one. To be real, the timbre is so chunky and symphonic it reminds me a bit of EWQLSO, Majestica, etc.

That track "Hammerhead" is killer tho! It sounds like TB+TS playing together blows Ark out of the water.

I like the fx's a lot but other than that I don't think I need something like this...