I haven’t touched my Push2, or made stuff in Ableton for over a month now. The only thing I miss is strings (I used the free stuff from Spitfire mainly.)
I haven’t managed to make good string sounds on my A4 yet. Is the Waldorf Streichfett any good? Is there anything in hardware land you recommend for strings? Should I persevere with trying to get strings out of the A4?
Not sure I understand as Ableton has a load of strings, so you’re obviously after something specific, maybe artificial sounding strings like on vintage gear and only want it in hardware?
Maybe post some examples. Roland gear like MC-101 has a load of classic string sounds from the rave era, but is that the sound you want or something else?
I liked the Streichfett when I played one at a synth expo. Nice sounds, just not ready to spend that much for a relatively limited range. Would buy in a heart beat for a good used price.
i’m happy with MC-707.
it has many decent stock string patches that i tweaked to my taste without much hassle.
Streichfett is really good, i had an itch to buy it (second hand) for a while, but 707 strings do the job and sit in mix well, so i decided not to improve what already works.
The Waldorf is in this comparison with the best strings ever made.
For reference, all the ”strings” in this old jam of mine are made on the A4. The first sound is heavily processed through an old tape delay but the strings that follow are only slightly EQ’d with some reverb in the Octatrack.
Not the best example nor the arrangement but you can definitely get some (borderline orchestral) string sounds out of the A4. This sound was from one of the @Floppydisk_Pirates sound packs (sound called Flight something, maybe?). Can’t check which, unfortunately, as I’ve since sold the A4.
Absolutely. There is no reason you can’t get classic Prophet-5 style strings out of an A4.
How about the Expressive E Touché - it has some nice strings which you can play with lots of expressiveness.
If you’re trying to achieve strings like the Spitfire stuff, you can’t do that with a subtractive synth. A deep sampled orchestral section can’t be imitated like that. If you want it in hardware, the closest you’ll get is a high quality rompler / workstation kinda thing.
If you like synthesized ‘strings’ like the Streichfett etc make, you’ll be able to do something akin to it with almost any polysynth, A4 included.
But they’re two totally different sounds and styles, so you’ll need to clarify that for yourself / the sake of this thread being any use…
You want the sound of Spitfire (sampled) strings out of an analog synth? Not going to happen, nor is the Waldorf going to get you much closer.
While you can learn a lot from trying to make an analog synth sound like sampled strings, it is unlikely you will ever be as satisfied in the same way that Spitfire samples satisfied your needs.
This is s very helpful answer, thanks. I don’t think I know what I want yet. I think the ease /immediacy of sampled strings (a la spitfire) was something I’d reach for often.
I need to think more about what it is I want, I think it is the sense of size/ensemble that I want. The sense of many instruments.
Yeah sorry I wasn’t clear. I meant I don’t (want to) use ableton anymore, but I miss the strings from that setup.
Until the Osmose emerges in the wild, your best best is probably a hardware rompler, if you don’t want to go back to using Spitfire.
As always the answer is go OT and never look back 
just sample what you like from ableton. Or go with the DT and do the same, or go with the M:S and do the same, or go with the AR and do the same!
Jokes aside, someone else mentioned also, that you won’t get the same easy expressiveness(?). But the elektronauts answer is OT (get a midikeyobard and play the slices!) 
Ooh…that’s fighting talk!
My favourite and the one I’d say was the best. VCA per key for full articulation and more control than any other string machine I can think of. Oh, and it sounds epic
Walkthrough of string presets (some sampled, some synth focused) in Roland MC-101. While it’s had mixed reviews as a standalone sequencer/groovebox, it’s a really good rompler/VA module for the money, to pair with your favorite sequencer. See Youtube description for links to jump to specific preset demos like pizzicato strings, orchestral, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXcQZy-hyoA
Supposedly the most “realistic” (subjectively of course) sampled strings are to be found in Yamaha’s and Korg’s high-end arrangers, but I doubt anyone wants those string sounds badly enough to buy a $6000 Yamaha Genos, unless they’re already in the market for such an arranger. Genos has Articulation Element Modeling/Super Articulation 2 tech.
With a little eq and maybe some light effects (reverb, chorus, the usual stuff) many old romplers are often good cheap sources. My wife picked up a Kurzweil k1000 for at a music store for $65 a few years ago. That thing sounds so good, just remember to lift with your knees. Grab one now before vintage romplers are all the rage and start going for big bucks.
Actually, when it comes to synthesized orchestral strings, you can definitely do that, if you just put in the effort and time. Then again, with something like an A4 or indeed a Minibrute (below) multitracking pretty much becomes a necessity so one might as well open that computer and fire up those Spitfire strings.
I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that the video below was a key factor in getting me to buy my first synth, the Minibrute. Little did I know. Let’s put it this way, if I want strings these days, I definitely use sampled strings. 
