@Tarknin I should say that at the moment, I don’t use use generally legato as the default for woodwind because the actual “long” sound is OK for when you don’t actually specifically want a legato. The biggest reason for needing to get rid of it with strings is simply that their long patch is simply so inflexible and often sounds wrong. It is better to invoke it manually with a custom p.t for polyphony or certain rare occasions where it is actually the correct sound as you do. Brass is quite complex and I’m still experimenting. Again I use the BBC SO so there may be some differences with SSO though the basic programming ideas seem similar.
@MiloDC important point on Spitfire “legato” interpreting incoming MIDI and altering playback intelligently, including taking account of exact note length and starting point. This is one of the joys of Spitfire – it can phrase completely naturally and dynamically without you doing anything. The problems when they exists tend to lie with the first and last notes of phrases. Repeated notes also often have to be manually separated (at least with the BBC SO) with the degree of separation sometimes making for big differences in playback.