I have a project coming up which will involve notating a number of pieces for a Saxophone Orchestra, then creating audio playback files for members practices.
Can anyone recommend any good quality VST instruments that could cover the full range of Saxes? I have Spitfire BBC orchestra, but there doesn’t seem to be any Saxophones in the library and of course the Halion Orchestra. I’ve seen that the Vienna Orchestra has a Sax section, but I’ve never used it.
I forgot Noteperformer has Sopranino through Bass Saxophones too.
I don’t use it much for jazz as it is really particular about articulations/slurs/phrasing. Most of the time I don’t write all of that in and leave quite a bit up to the performer’s interpretation, but it probably would be good for a saxophone orchestra piece, and it’s quite reasonably priced too.
why not try out some of the demos of the VSL collection unless you already know you don’t like it. Prices have come down quite a bit for the VI libraries.
Or a cut down version is included wit the Special Edition vol. 2
I use NI’s Session Horns Pro and Project Sam’s Swing More! Saxes. The former are more than capable workhorses that do a good job, the latter sound sensational but are really made for performance rather than programming. I’ve looked many, many times at Mojo 2: Horns but haven’t made the jump yet.
Looking at the offerings maybe VSL is the one for me. I’ve avoided them because of the price, but I could start nibbling my way in. Anyhow, can somebody explain the plugin system? I want to see the UI. It looks like now they have a Synchron plugin, but does that work for all of their products? If not then what is the plugin? Searching around trying to understand how they do this is just making it more confusing. Thanks!
They are fairly terrible for jazz/pop stuff IMO so I would only use them in a more classical type of setting. The Parker’s Mood example on their site (really a Blues For Alice / Parker’s Mood medley) is particularly cringe-worthy.
as far as i can see, there is not yet a Synchron-ized version of the Saxophones library so your choices are the Special Edition volume 2 or the older VI player version of the sax alone. I have the complete vol2 and find the saxophones more than adequate for sax use in a classical orchestra but if you don’t want most of the other vol2 instruments (I did), it might not be ideal. With the VI library, you’d be more on your own with the Expression Maps or probably Symphonic Riot support them. VSL as well as a number of people here (myself included) have written maps for the Synchron-ized Special Edition.
I guess VSL updated their saxophones and there’s a new SYNCRON-ized library. Unfortunately, they are still leading with their “9th grader playing Blues for Alice” demo, ugh!
Also, whatever AI software they are using for graphics has no idea what a saxophone actually looks like, LOL!
I’m actually kind of bummed. I really like VSL stuff in general, and had high hopes that they would come out with a reasonable big band collection soon, but these are pretty terrible for jazz. Oh well. Could be useful for classical I suppose.
