Solo Instrument Library (Not For Making Mockups -- Just For High Quality While Using A Keyboard Controller To Compose)?

I have some weird priorities in my search for a sample library.  I would really appreciate advice from people who know the offerings better than I do.

- I don't want to make mockups of pieces.  All I care about is hitting keys on my keyboard and hearing a high quality solo instrument sound come out of my computer with little latency.

- My system resources (4GB RAM, 1.8 GHz Core i7, SSD) wouldn't handle anything too demanding, and I'm not planning to have a dedicated 2nd machine for this.

- I don't need any special articulations (not even pizz).  I can hear the effects and bowings I want; I just want a nice legato sound while I play around.

- I only need western orchestral instruments (I do need wind doublings, at least down to alto fl, bass cl, english horn & contrabassoon).  For percussion, I only need vibr, mar & glock.


I was even thinking about just buying a good standalone grand piano instrument (so it would be as if I were just using an acoustic piano for composing -- not trying to have other instrument sounds at all).  But I thought I'd ask here to see if there's some broader library I might like.  

Budget:  I haven't done enough research yet to know what my budget needs to be.  (I just heard about some prize money and could use all of it for this [1000 USD] if I had to.)  

I'm not interested in buying Sibelius 7 for its sounds (was suggested in another thread).

Thank you for any thoughts!
 

I may have overlooked it but I dont believe you specified which program/DAW you use?

That would really be the basis of this if you dont already have one.
(Ill assume you do though for now)

I dont really know any instrument effects that DONT come with articulations and what not.

But my own personal suggestion would be "Miroslav Philharmonik" Alot of people give it a bad write up but from my experience its more than capable! The only thing is the Glissandos, sound clearly fake.
But the rest i absolutely love.

Its a really old program by now so im sure its going for cheap!

(As for DAWS, My personal preference is protools 10, but there are many alternatives.)


ps. Your comp specs seem easily capable of running most instrument effects ive seen.

Happy Hunting!

I may have overlooked it but I dont believe you specified which program/DAW you use?

That would really be the basis of this if you dont already have one.

(Ill assume you do though for now)

I dont really know any instrument effects that DONT come with articulations and what not.

But my own personal suggestion would be "Miroslav Philharmonik" Alot of people give it a bad write up but from my experience its more than capable! The only thing is the Glissandos, sound clearly fake.

But the rest i absolutely love.

Its a really old program by now so im sure its going for cheap!

(As for DAWS, My personal preference is protools 10, but there are many alternatives.)

ps. Your comp specs seem easily capable of running most instrument effects ive seen.

Happy Hunting!

Oh, I just reread. I dont believe you wish to record with it?

Wel, the Miroslav Philharmonik Orchestra includes a standalone version. So that you dont need a DAW or anything else. Just simply run it, chose your instruments and hear them back as you play.

Thank you!  Yes, I'm not interested in anything other than live playing for myself (I know great-sounding mockups can be had with learning & effort, but that's not my priority personally).

It does look like I will need to learn about current vs. outdated sampling methods -- people on this board are saying Miroslav sounds are very good independently but not sampled in a way that facilitates natural-sounding legato lines (my first priority):

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/449941-ik-multimedia-miroslav-philharmonik-review.html

EWQLSO Silver is only $150 now ($100 for the library and standalone player + $50 for the iLok).  It seems to be the best value relative to quality for my purposes. 

I'll try either that or EWQLSO Gold ($300 total) once I study the instrument lists and decide how much it's worth to me to have the missing instruments and options in Gold.

I have Gold, and you don't really even "need" a sequencer to do what you described you want to do. The Play Edition allows you to open the program, select your instrument (or mulitple) and play on your keyboard. You get a lot more out of the samples with a sequencer, but many times I load the great piano samples and just play without using Cubase.