What keybaord does horns well?

X

Xdrummer

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Beyond using a sampler, what performance keyboards have the "best" stock horn sounds? In particular to cover horn sections for Tower Of Power or Earth, Wind & Fire, etc.)

I know a lot of horn patches can cover brass sounds well - but trying to cover sax (alone or in a horn "section") is a much more elusive target.

I specifically mention "performance keyboards" because this is primarily for live performance in a cover band doing a lot of old school R & B. I don't need all the bells and whistles of a workstation (sequencing, etc.) - just decent presets and the ability to map out some splits with perhaps a horn section of the left and a solo sax on the right, etc.

The last time I actually shopped for a keyboard was a Rolad XP30 - so I'm really out of the loop. Naturally I have to trust my ears - but some suggestions could help my focus!

Thank in advance!
 
As a sax player (among all the instruments I play), the only thing that does a sax well is... a sax.

The sax is nearly as complex as the human voice and there are so many variations in playing that nothing has come really close yet.
 
I'm a huge Korg fan and it pains me to say this but...I'd say the motif's have the most natural sounding brass and woodwind instruments. Yamaha has been paying a lot more attention to detail when it comes to acoustic instruments.
 
Thanks for the reponses. I tried out a couple of Motif boards and listened to some on line demos - and they do seem to cover horns (in particular sax) better than anything else I'm seeing.

I have an older Kurzweil mondule (1200 Pro) which has a really authentic tenor sax with after touch to add growl when needed .......... but I don't want to haul that out of my studio. The Motiff has a similar aftertouch option.

That being said - I agree with Tim - a sax has so many variations of tone,
it has to be one of, if not the, most difficult instrument to sample (beyond the human voice). Which is no doubt why it is so hard to find a realtively decent sax sound in a keyboard/module.

I would love to add sax to the many instruments I can play - but I have failed miserably in past attempts to develop any decent tone on any horn .......... although I was able to shine my shoes (and any other nearby surface) due to the huge amount of spittle I managed to spray in every direction:eek:

There are several Motif models (and in general they ain't cheap) - so I'm keeping my eyes open to see if I can snag a used one! I don't know if the older models do sax as well - but we'll see.
 
I know you said "stock" sounds, but check out Rolands SRX-10 Big Brass expansion card if you have the chance. There are a lot of options on there as well as the diffent variations on how horns are played (falls, trills, sfortzandos, etc.)
 
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