I am on the look out for solo violin vst. When I first got back to music I bought a Yamaha MX61, which was light years ahead of the keyboards I played some 30 years earlier! As such I liked the violin and cello voices on the keyboard, but quickly found them unsatisfying, especially if I was playing lead or melody lines with them - they just seemed a little unrealistic. I have tried a number of orchestral strings vsts, and eventually invested in Sonixinema’s Contemporary Violin and Cello offerings. They are very dry, and somewhat thin and scratchy, but I have managed to get a really good Cello sound. But the Violin vst is almost unusable. I have looked at a number of “competitors”, with many of them beyond the power of my laptop, and want to know if any of you can recommend something for me?
If you are looking for real expressiveness, think of something like Audio Modeling SWAM Violin. Too bad they don’t have a demo version.
SWAM can yield very good results but needs care and tweaking to not sound sterile imo. I’ve not found a universal violin, they’re all good for some things and not others. This thing is AMAZING for live playing…
I’ve played the Falcon version but apparently it’s a stand-alone vst now.
“The virtual instrument that became a real boy”
Love their marketing! The demo’s are amazing. You could calm down Young Frankenstein with this:
Thanks so far - I have looked at both of these. I gave the problem that my laptop is a mere i5, 1.0 GHz with 8Gb of RAM. The SWARM sounds good but is too demanding for my unit. I an waiting a reply from Virharmonics.
Hopefully I will return with good news!
Try to find a copy of Synful Orchestra. It does not get any more ‘real’ than this!!! (IOW, you just can’t tell the difference between Synful and the real thing; no REALLY!) Flute and horns the same. If you can get a copy past v2.5, it includes VERY realistic ‘section’ strings. They went out of business, (too expensive), but you can still find it. Sorry I can’t provide a link, but Synful is still out there…
Wow, Synful! It was interesting in its day for sure. I remember some sound issues though, and iirc it couldn’t really be played in real time; it needed about a 1 second delay to add its expressive transitions. I also seem to remember that the winds and brass were the real show stoppers.
Wow, indeed. WinXP and DXi plugins era 
I have actually gone for the Friedlander Violin plug-in. It is excellent, and comes from the same stable as the Joshua Bell Violin vst, which is incredible, but when I looked it was £300, so above my budget. Ironically it is now down to £200, with an “essentials” version at £99, but the Friedlander is well good enough for, actually above and beyond what I want.
Freidlander is quite groovy.
SWAM violin or viola ! Learn to play it with TEC Breath and Bite controller *)
Then you don’t need to use aftertouch or expression wheels. I play viola with my right hand, and since I am a church organist, I use left hand and feet for accompaniment. This video shows it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtK0kVIETgA Playing becomes so natural and expressive!
(* https://www.tecontrol.se/products/usb-midi-breath-bite-controller-2
Thanks for that. I had a look at Swam violin but it looked more processor-hungry than my laptop could support.