For me, it depends not only on the choice of products, but above all on how you intend to use them.
Since yesterday, listening to the demos (which one must "trust" yes or no depending on the case) from 8Dio productions, especially regarding Adagio strings, I thought about using (if I am able to purchase it in the future) sample players, Kontakt in this case, just as you are using (I think you do it this way) East West's Play player, but also Kontakt, as a VST/DX for software like Cubase, Logic, Sonar, and even notation software like Sibelius and Finale.
I have never used software the way it was conceived, but I have tried to shape it to my liking, limiting its use of features that I consider secondary or optional, and prioritizing the compositional aspect; this certainly, with adjustments that caused the sample quality to lose a bit of its quality, but gaining from the perspective of RAM, CPU, and hard disk space saved, and I continue like this with a PC with 2 GHz of RAM, a 2.8 dual-core CPU, moreover at 32-bit, so I cannot even use more RAM in a total way.
However, I found a way to save on memory precisely, and I still do it this way.
Of course, it is more Machiavellian, but the system still holds up.
Think how long ago (then I abdicated to give priority to more important things, but certainly less pleasant ones) I was about to get a cassette recorder (even!), precisely to have that truly dirty sound, but more "full" than recording on a hard disk; I would have done it to use with a small system equipped with a 6-channel mixer, 2/3 hardware synthesizers, and indeed recording on a recorder like the Tascam you write about; in that way, the person writing is "forced" to actually play on the synthesizers (I am not one to use tricks that make life easier but make it flatter and more predictable, like a random arpeggiator—unless I create the pattern myself, then it changes things), and especially during the recording phase, perhaps with a monophonic synth "playing" solo parts without trying to play tricks with triads etc..., but precisely by optimizing every aspect of both composition and sound; this is to re-acquire a direct relationship with the instrument, something that is usually lost with a PC, if not entirely, in exchange for greater possibilities to explore sounds, record for hours in high quality, and much more.
The investment you have made can last quite a while if you manage to optimize the qualities of the libraries you have and will have at your disposal; there are some sounds from Giga—the library seems to be Dan Dean—they are for orchestra, they cost a bit if I remember correctly, they are a few years old, it seems to me they sound not bad, but even there one must know how to, or at least try to shape them according to one's specific needs.
Almost every library, except for those that make an impact right away, is like a synthesizer where one dwells on the presets; maybe they aren't spectacular, but imagining what we could do with them and putting this into practice, the quality could increase, precisely because of our specific approach to the same library.
I continue to say that many demos on the VSL website are obscene, I say it quite frankly; with such potential, they haven't cared for the sound—anyone can, obviously—but they used the samples as they are, without modifying attack, decay, release, sustain, small adjustments that can improve the starting sample, and this is noticeable when listening.
Therefore, like everything, one must know its qualities and its flaws to obtain the maximum possible.
In the next 30 [years/months?], there could be an absurd upheaval, just as it has been in these last 10/15, but much faster and higher quality, with the danger (for those who do not know how to navigate a wide range of choices) of not knowing how to choose what can truly be helpful; I found what I need in the string library from 8Dio productions (obviously not the solo violin one, where pre-packaged phrases are available), even if with hindsight—meaning that after having written the pieces, I now find sounds that could perfectly suit my intentions, but I didn't know it before now.
The thing that is interesting in a certain sense, even if difficult in certain contexts, is finding an equilibrium between different producers: VSL, East West, 8Dio, and others, from which for the moment I exclude Garritan and others due to the significant difference in the quality of the available samples.
If I had sounds that were so to speak "dirty," not perfect, I would be even happier, because if we are talking about realism, even acoustic imperfections contribute to the success of a sample or sound.
Someone might tell you that 4 GB (as you yourself write) are not only few, but negligible if one wants to...
total control of what is being done, but to have a setup that holds up there are always workarounds, even in the most absurd situations; for 3/4 years I made pieces with 60 or more tracks on a PC with 475 MB of RAM and a 450 MHz processor, fine, that's exaggerated, to load a piece the PC took 45 minutes (if it was very resource-intensive), then to listen to them, not to mention the ordeal, in snippets, entering small parts and listening to them (practically on delay), but that way I prepared many things; now I'm doing a bit better, but I've already reached the limits of the specifications available to me, there is no doubt about this, but I still had to find solutions to overcome the mess.
