Sax Soundfonts: Realistic?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mark4man
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mark4man

mark4man

MoonMix Studios
People,

Need a gutsy Sax break for a Rock & Roll track; & was wondering . . . how realistic are Soundfonts in this area?

I used a few (Soundfonts) about three years ago working in Pro Audio 9, but have not heard any of late (& I understand there is a Library somewhere on The SONAR XL CD, but haven't had a chance to bust into it, yet.)

And how about Samples, would that be worth my while?

Or, Maybe MIDI with Breath Controllers?

Thanks,

mark4man
 
Hi there,

Firstly - good luck. I have found wind and brass the hardest instruments to get realistic sounds for.

My current favourites are the higher timbre sax's from Reason 2.0's NNXT sampler. A good trick for lower tone sax's can be to use a trombone patch and some creative controller effects.

Moskus recently posted this link, http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/real/6.asp, which I found really informative. I looks at how to better program the sounds to get a more realistic result from whatever patch you are using.

The best sax sound font I have is in a 144.3Mb Real Soundfont V3 pack. I can't remember from where I downloaded it, but it would have been linked off from this BBS. Do a search and you will find it and other soundfont search sites.

Good luck,

:) Q.
 
The problem is not so much that the sounds are unrealistic. The problem is that expecting just Note On, Velocity, and Note Off messages to be able to capture the nuances of the way a saxophone is actually played is crazy. The amount of work involved in really making a MIDI track sound like it was really played by a saxophonist is daunting. No one sample set of any format will get you around that simple fact. Using a wind controller is helpful...
 
Agree with Chuck...

Sometimes, it even takes several patch combined to build "one saxophone sound" (breath, harsh, gutz, vibe, etc etc...).
 
Check out that link from Moskus in my previous posts. It details how to achieve some of the pointers that Al and James mention.

:) Q.
 
I've heard brass patches that sounded pretty real but I've never heard a sax patch that sounded real.
Best thing to do is ask a sax player to do it for you.
Of course they can be hard to find..........;)
 
Lt. Bob said:
Best thing to do is ask a sax player to do it for you.
Of course they can be hard to find..........;)
Click to expand...

Lt. Bob rules ok!

:) Q.
 
Lt. Bob said:
I've heard brass patches that sounded pretty real but I've never heard a sax patch that sounded real.
Best thing to do is ask a sax player to do it for you.
Of course they can be hard to find..........;)
Click to expand...
I've been told that if you leave bottles of vodka laying around the house, you can lure them out and trap them. :)

(Or was that bass players? :confused: )
 
dachay2tnr said:
I've been told that if you leave bottles of vodka laying around the house, you can lure them out and trap them. :)
Click to expand...

Some prefer whisky and pie...


:confused: Pie??
 
dachay2tnr said:
I've been told that if you leave bottles of vodka laying around the house, you can lure them out and trap them. :)
Click to expand...
That worked for me... (until he found out it was water in the bottles :D)
 
dachay2tnr said:
I've been told that if you leave bottles of vodka laying around the house, you can lure them out and trap them. :)
Click to expand...
:D Johnny Walker Black Label works better! :D
 
Thanks, everyone . . .

Moskus recently posted this link, http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/real/6.asp, which I found really informative. I looks at how to better program the sounds to get a more realistic result from whatever patch you are using.
Click to expand...
Qwerty,

That link's not working for me . . . is it still active?
Sometimes, it even takes several patch combined to build "one saxophone sound" (breath, harsh, gutz, vibe, etc etc...)
Click to expand...
Jaymz,

Any good tutorials around on how to apply the Controllers?

Best thing to do is ask a sax player to do it for you.
Of course they can be hard to find..........
Click to expand...
Lt. Bob,

Where might I find such an individual. I have money (some, anyway.)

mark4man
 
LOL......I don't need no money man....(well i do, but not for recording)
If you got something you'd like me to play on I'll be glad to.....I just have to put it in the pipeline.
let me know.
 
Hey Lt. Bob, why don't you take a look at the 'Hey Moskus' thread? Your services are needed! :)
 
Bugger - looks like the link is down :(

It was up the other day - maybe later....

Q.
 
As a sax player, I can tell you that you wont be able to string together a series of samples and make it sound like a "real sax".

There's too much going on with the reed, the mouthpiece, the body of the sax and the throat of the player to make it sound right.

The closest you can get is to use a windsynth. I have a Yamaha WX-5 wind controller and a Yamaha VLm-70 synth box that sounds great because they use a form of synthesis that physically models the horn and throat to produce the sound. Great brass and woodwind sound. But the rig is $1200 and you still have to have a sax player to play it.

Hunt around, there's a bunch of us sax players around... get one to record your part for you.
 
BloodShark said:
Hey Lt. Bob, why don't you take a look at the 'Hey Moskus' thread? Your services are needed! :)
Click to expand...
Steve, this is the same project I already spoke to you about, so no need to respond.

I'll see if I can rustle up some Black Label and we can negotiate the expected delivery date. :D
 
Lt. Bob,

Thanx a bazillion for the generous offer ! ! !

I have an idea . . . Most of my Rhythm Tracks are built from MIDI Sequences (I actually play Tenor Guitar & Digital Drums, as well as vocalize & compose . . . but I'm one hell of a MIDI programmer.)

(although, even though I wasn't up to speed on the Controllers thing, I experimented with the various types last night & this morning; & everyone is right in this regard . . . there is nothing like a real sax solo.)

I have all the basic instrumentation for the tune in question set up as sequences; & the same is true for the Tenor Sax solo. I also separated out the sax solo notation in Staff View for reference.

If I e-mailed you the SONAR (XL 2.2) MIDI file (.cwp w/ MIDI only), would you play the solo verbatim, improvise at will through the remainder of the tune (I'm also one hell of a Sample meister), burn it to CD w/ the audio as .bun file; & send it back through the U.S. mail?

Let me know !

Thanks again (& thanks also to everyone else for their input),

mark4man
http://www.moonjams.com
 
Actually, since I don't record on my 'puter......I don't even know what most of that means.....much less can I do it.
What I've always done is get an MP3 of the tracks......play with that and then burn my tracks to CD and mail that.
 
Lt. Bob,

That's fine too.

Can you record a sax only track, with no crosstalk from the mp3 track?

(BTW - I know that sounds like a stupid question, but it's because I'm not familiar with your studio setup.)

I can e-mail you an mp3 of the tune; & a Word file of the sax solo music. Is that cool?

Thanks,

mark4man
 
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