Firstly, the song is Ok, short and sweet and to the point, doesn't outstay it's welcome. I quite like it. I couldn't identify the horns but whatever those sounds at the end, I liked them. They rounded the song off well.
I kind of agree with dintymoore on this, though the drums sound 'fake', the issue is really to do with whether they work or not and in my opinion, they do on this track. I've recently come to realize that there are tons of songs from the last 50 years that I love that have drum sounds {more particularly snare sounds} that I'm no fan of. But that doesn't stop me digging the song. Same with other instruments.
VSTs were a Godsend for me. I began recording on a multitrack in '92 and for years I dreamed of meeting horn players, strings players, sitarists etc. I used to pass music academies trying to pluck up the courage to go in there and ask if there were any players that could help me with my hobby but I never did. It just sounded so lame !
I play bass, guitar and percussion and could turn my hand to mandolin, various keyboards under pressure {and with much varispeed cheating
}, double bass and cello. I had friends that sing, play keyboards, drums, flutes, clarinets, varied percussion, violins so I'd use their skills where I could. But the organizing was a pain in the patootie.
Then I heard about VSTs in 2004 and when I actually played some and heard some, I was nearly blown away. I say nearly because not all VSTs are particularly good. I'm a real stickler for authentic sounds. In the 80s and 90s, the instrument sounds on synths were, in my opinion, hopeless. To put it bluntly, if their authenticity of sound was required to save my life.............I'd be dead
. Good VSTs, being actual samples of someone actually playing said instrument, are on a different level altogether. Bozmillar makes a great point when he says that he spends most of his brain power getting VSTs to sound real when he records. It took me a long time to really get that together in my head. Each instrument has a series of parameters that need to be tweaked to one's satisfaction. And you can't play them like a keyboard or they sound unreal. And what's the point of going to the trouble of having, say, a trumpet sound if it's not going to sound like one ?!? I find it useful to put myself in the mind of, for example, a french horn player, if I'm 'playing' the french horn. Play the keys as though I'm blowing. Record each instrument separately {if you're doing, say, a brass section} like dintymoore suggested. Be aware of things like the attack of an instrument. And in the final mix, try not to have something too upfront unless it sounds 100% genuine, which things can. Mix it into the general soundscape with the treble cut slightly so it's not too bright.
I still use as many real instruments as is available, with a little colouring done by the VSTs. There are good VST packages out there like Miroslav philharmonic {GPO was the first VST I ever got and I liked it. Then I heard Miroslav....}, Sampletank {a good general one with loads of good sounds}, Zero - G harmonica, Swar systems {if you like Indian stuff}, First call horns, M-TRON {mellotron}, B4 {organ}, Lounge lizard {electiric piano}, Celtic instruments and alot more besides.
The one that came with Cubase 5 (Halion) wasn't so hot in my opinion.
It's interesting just how many songs out there in pro-land use fake sounding instruments. Sometimes they actually are real but recorded to sound a particular way ! I treat the sampled 'drums' in just about all post early 90s R&B that I have as an instrument in itself.