Studio Appassionata Strings

Name: Studio Appassionata Strings
Price: 396.29 USD
Author: Vienna Symphonic Library

by Vienna Symphonic Library · Instrument · Sampled large string orchestra

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Studio Appassionata Strings by Vienna Symphonic Library

A 76-player string orchestra (violins I and II, violas, cellos and basses) for the Vienna Synchron Player, aimed at a big cinematic sound.

It includes dry and reverb options for placing the ensemble in a virtual room, for €349 (about $396).

Best for: Acoustic Instruments. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic, Jazz, Acoustic & Classical.

Keywords: strings, ensemble, epic, cinematic, pads, film & game audio, monophonic, sample-based, warm, clean, gentle, lush, thick.

What it does

Studio Appassionata Strings is Vienna Symphonic Library's very large string orchestra, aimed at the "lush, larger-than-life string sound" of Hollywood scores. It is the Synchron Player edition of VSL's original Appassionata Strings I, with reworked legatos.

Ensemble: 76 players: 20 first violins, 20 second violins, 14 violas, 12 cellos and 10 double basses.
Sustains: includes non-vibrato sustains and sustains with very soft attacks for gentle note starts.
Legato: legatos and portamentos, with transitions improved over the original version.
Sound: thick, warm sections for big themes and pads; VSL pitches it as "West Coast flair" mixed with the Viennese sound.
Dry or wet: dry recordings with reverb options, including convolution reverb taken from the Synchron Stage Vienna's main hall, and balanced levels for use out of the box.
Fits the range: designed to combine with VSL's Synchron Strings I and Chamber Strings; NKS support for Komplete Kontrol and Maschine.

The library holds 37,551 samples. The Studio Series titles were previously sold as SYNCHRON-ized libraries. It is part of the Studio Series package; a muted Appassionata Strings (sordino) volume is sold separately.

Source: Vienna Symphonic Library product page

When to use it

Studio Appassionata Strings is the pick when a string line has to sound big and warm with little work. Compared with BBC Symphony Orchestra Core and Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition, it is strings only but a larger section, and it is far lighter on disk. Compared with Berlin Strings, it trades the built-in hall and deep articulation set for a dry, huge sound you place yourself. Within VSL's own range it has fewer articulations than Studio Orchestral Strings, and it cannot play small, agile parts the way Chamber Strings can.

Best for: soaring film themes, epic pads and big emotional string lines.
Genres: cinematic, trailer and classical crossover.
Look elsewhere if: you need detailed articulations or a small, agile section; Studio Orchestral or Chamber Strings suit that.
Tip: ScoreTech suggested adding reverb and EQ to seat the dry sections, and Vienna Ensemble Pro on a second computer for large templates.

What producers say

Reviewers and buyers like the sound; the limits are the narrower articulation set and the need for other libraries for smaller sections.

Best Service users rate it 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews, praising the sound quality.
ScoreTech Blog (2011, original Vienna Instruments edition of Appassionata Strings 1 and 2) called them "exceptional products", praising the clean recordings, mod-wheel performance controls and speed-adapting legato.
Criticisms: ScoreTech found the full patches limited in articulations, the matrix system slow to learn, and noted you need Chamber Strings for smaller groups.

Where to buy

Vienna Symphonic Library: $396.29 (Listed at €349; converted at €1 = $1.1355 (ECB rate, 29 Sep 2026))

Tutorials and reviews

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