I’ve been getting really amazing vst sax sounds out of my rig, and they sound absolutely real. It really helps to know how a real sax is played to make it sound real. I have heard many keyboardists slaughter a sax vst just because they play it like a keyboard.
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That’s true of sampled anything almost- drums, strings, you name it. That plus the keyboard is a lousy controller for a lot of things. I’ve heard a fairly lousy sax sample sound real just because it was being played from a wind controller. Luckily, really amazing programming is making our lives easier, getting closer to a good real time performance without using a hundred keyswitches!!
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I’ll throw my two and a half cents in and agree about SaxLab. Terry suggested it and though there is no real support for it anymore, you can’t beat the price. If you experiment with different sounds, you can layer several to achieve a pretty realistic sax. I have created several different racks of sax sounds that way. I have a “gritty” rack that combines tenor growl and tenor gritty (36 and 37 I believe…I’m on the road at the moment so not sure of the numbers) It works real well when you need some real grit in your solo. I have a mellow legato one for nice slow solos, etc. You can create sax sections by layering until you get the mix you are looking for.
However, I agree with Corky that playing style is huge when it comes to making a sax sound realistic. Breath control is probably one of the harder aspects to recreate. That’s why it is a wind instrument. I’ve been looking into a breath controller as soon as $ will allow. There was one mentioned on the forum a short while back that I have been thinking about. It was another discussion about sax VST’s. I’m on my iPad and can’t really search, but I’m certain someone will be Johnny on the spot and post the link.
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Hello,
Everyone, my friend is searching for the best saxophone brands, I recommended the Selmer Alto Saxophone brand, but he said to me that Yamaha saxophone is best, that time I was confused, So I need to know that which saxophone brands are the best for a beginner…? He is right or I’m right?
Wow Deja Vu . Once again, the discussion is on VIRTUAL Saxophone VST plugins. This is what I posted to you Oct. 29th:
The site I referenced for you to visit should have led you down a path you are wanting to go. Since you are a beginner, Selmer and Yamaha will do just fine. Many school bands still use Conn. As far as the best, I suggest you develop your chops for awhile, and once you become fantastic, move up to the more expensive and better brands. The “best” is always relative to the user. I know many sax players and guitar players…when they get to a certain level. they can make a cheap instrument sound great. AND, this time visit the site I referenced earlier.
Regards (from the past)
Corky
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Thanks for your helpful direction…
so, sorry for again… I checked this was good for me…
Thanks again
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Don’t forget to check out the CMusic saxes, the saxes in Chris Heins Horns Compact and Wallander’s WIVI band VST.
http://www.cmusic.pro/
http://www.chrishein.net/web/CHH-C_Overview.html
http://www.wallanderinstruments.com/?mode=products&lang=en
http://www.audiomodeling.com/
http://www.samplemodeling.com
Tony Ostinato has some interesting videos featuring the WIVI instruments.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpz13flik43pmbH4wzZhMSA
WIVI instruments are based on actual modeling. Despite their names, Audiomodeling and Samplemodeling use samples with extremely sophisticated scripts. Wallander has a great “try before you buy” demo. Just remember that the interface you get with the budget package IS NOT the interface in the demo.
Samplemodeling has split into two companies, Audiomodeling and Samplemodeling, the former selling SWAM based instruments (proprietary host) and the latter Kontakt based instruments. The Samplemodeling and Audiomodeling Saxes are the holy grail, mainly because of the number of elements that can be controlled. They’re also somewhat expensive, but the packages includes multiple instruments. Audiomodeling’s bundle includes bari, tenor, alto and soprano. Samplemodeling leaves out the soprano. They require a “mod” controller and won’t make a sound until you move the controller that you have designated as the mod wheel. The biggest issue is controlling all the parameters that make a sax performance sound real, ideally, with a breath controller.
The one company that I would avoid is Fable Sounds and their “Broadway Lites” product. I never warmed up to the sound, I’ve found intonation issues and the company itself is a disaster. Overpriced and lots of promises …
The WIVI horns were interesting- sort of great and sort of awful. They went well in ensembles but didn’t seem to do well as solo instruments. I think they would have sounded better using a wind controller. I never bought them… Haven’t tried the Wallander saxes yet though.
I have a breath controller on order and I’m considering the SWAM Saxophones. My typical set lists are already at about 6 gig on my 8 gig machine though. How much RAM do they use?
To the best of my knowledge, they’re gentle. IIRC the plugin themselves are under a Gb each and I don’t think they load tons of junk into RAM. If you have 2 Gb free I’m guessing you’d have no issues but might be good to vcheck around further.
Since there is not a thread for trumpet VSTs here, and I am a sax player, I will put this post in here. I am primarily a sax player who always dreamed of being a one-man horn section since 1978, back when the only devices were MXR and Eventide harmonizers, yet who could afford one? Fast forward to now. I started out with a TC Helicon VoiceLive 2 as a processor/harmonizer for my sax which is very versatile and does great harmonization…for the sax. …but I wanted to harmonize with a trumpet.
Now I am running a Shadow 4001 tranducer off my sax mouthpiece which drives a Sonuus i2M Musicport pitch-to-midi converter, which then controls GSi MilesTone trumpet VST. MilesTone is considered an older VST and might not work for some people. In my situational, it works in Cantabile and in my V-Machine, but the main reason I chose it because it can do really good screaming trumpet, and sounds great when EQ, reverb, & delay are added in the chain and tweaked properly. I was able to find only one other trumpet VST that did the screaming trumpet better but they were asking $400 for it.
GSi MilesTone sample clip
At this point, I am getting quite comfortable with using the GSi MilesTone VST. If anyone knows of any other good brass VSTs that do screaming trumpet really well, I would love to hear about it.
Look at this video:
“Audio Modeling SWAM” and “Samplemodeling” products harmonized through “MIDI real-time Harmonizer”, played using AKAI EWI 4000S.
That was a neat demo of the GigPerformer. I’ll have to take a deeper look into it. I do have an update. I did find one product for trumpet that has literally everything. It’s called “Screaming Trumpet” by Realitone, which not only has a very good screaming trumpet sound, but has all kinds of pre and post articulations to choose from. and seems to be completely programmable/configurable for live performance use. The catch is that it is a Kontakt library which can only be used in the full version of Kontakt (not Kontakt Player). …which means it can be used running Kontakt in most major DAWS, but not being a true VST, unable to be used in Cantabile as far as I know.
Didn’t know that one, gotta check it out! Realitone has a lot of cool stuff- RealiBanjo is the bomb.
which means it can be used running Kontakt in most major DAWS, but not being a true VST, unable to be used in Cantabile as far as I know.
I don’t understand what you mean by this. Why would it not run in Cantabile? Kontakt itself is a VST that can be run in Cantabile.
Wow, I finally realized that I haven’t been on here in many years. Here’s an update in case anyone was wondering. Guido with GSi (Genuine Soundware) did a complete makeover (engine) for their trumpet vst I mentioned on this string. It was released several years ago. It’s no longer called Milestone, he’s renamed it Solo Trumpet. Updated to 64b version, works well with Win 11 and macOS. Basically the same feature set as before, but a little better sound quality, and I still have my screaming trumpet lead note in my harmonies.