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  3. Classical Saxophone Demo ?

  • Classical Saxophone Demo ?

    S
    S
    Herb : I'm looking for a classical saxphone demo, where can I find it ?

    Thanks [[;)]]
  • H
    H
    I've here a mockup of the "Castello" of "Pictures of an exhibition"

    You hear a tenor sax (original it's scored for alto),
    and it's a layout mix (arranged and produced by Christian Kardeis),
    no final production.

    http://vsl.co.at/upload/forum/04_castello.mp3

    best
    Herb
  • S
    S
    Thanks ... it's great !

    Could it be possible to hear the sax alto when available ? [:)]

    Oh !! Why not a sax quartet like this :

    http://www.saxema.com/charts/Le%20Petit%20Negre.zip
  • J
    J
    This demo has certainly increased my interest in the saxophones... will there be some sort of bundle pricing to get both I and II when they are available?
  • S
    S
    Thanks for putting this together...I still think the tone is too jazzy for classical, but that's just me... I'm a picky saxophonist.

    Here listen to some classical tenor:

    http://www.reedmusic.com/audio/mauk_tenor_excursions/pasquale_sonata_1.mov

    or quartet:
    http://www.reedmusic.com/audio/krefelder_sax_quartet_4sax/debussy_quartet_g-minor.mov


    or here's me playing classical bari (very rusty):
    http://web2k.mtco.com/neavor4/recital8b.mp3
  • S
    S
    jazzy ? no ... it's the "classical" sound I would like to have with VSL [:)]
  • S
    S
    Let me know how that vibrato and attack on stac notes blends with your wind ensemble, and then get back to me. It sounds great for a Michael Kamen Lethal Weapon sound, but we couldn't get it to sit convincingly in a mix of VSL winds. I'm trying to remember if it even had non-vibrato sustains?? I think everything but swells had vibrato...that more than the tone made it impossible to mix into a wind ensemble. Saxes use vibrato non-stop in solo work...but not in ensemble playing in a concert band or wind ensemble. The tone would be very workable if there were better velocity switches, and samples without vibrato. You start having all the saxes play wide vibrato on ensemble sections, and your band starts to sound like a Hammond Organ. The Pictures sounds good because the horn is soloing with vibrato.
  • S
    S
    You don't really need section sax for a wind ensemble. I heard an ensemble with one (good) player for each sax. Sounds very well ...

    Yes, a wide vibrato doesn't sound very good in a wind ensemble mix BUT I think that Saxophone II will have some addons for soprano and tenor saxs.

    Herb : do you plan a non-vibrato patch ?

    Of course, a good sax sound (with or without vibrato) is better than a out-of-tune or mechanical sounds sampler ... [:)]
  • S
    S
    You are correct, a wind ensemble only has one sax on each part. I meant ensemble playing, as in not a solo featured line. A concert band typically has larger instrumentation, and a marching band is out of control.

    I direct a wind ensemble, a concert band, a jazz band, and a marching band. The things I'm temping are either orchestral, or for my groups. Let me say, the VSL woodwind ensembles are the best woodwinds for bands I've ever heard. I only have the Opus 2 Bonus Files, but I will be snagging the full package eventually...wow. I don't mean my stubborness to sound like I'm dogging VSL...look at Northern Sounds....I'm defending you there. I just think that the VSL saxophones have the potential to be the best wind ensemble package available, and that the current product misses the mark. I'm also not sure how much wind music most of you hear on a daily basis. I'm immersed in it year-round, and I'm a professional saxophonist too. So, I'm actually just lobbying to get Herb to record some more samples. I can't think of any other VSL area that doesn't produce the sound I expect. And maybe this is why they released the less needed horns first...to learn from the venture and get it right with the second edition. If the horns were smoking classical samples, then I would have expected the original demos to include one classical, and they didn't...they were all great jazz demos. You can't do jazz and classical with the same sounds....the library was done on a remake of vintage Mark VI (the old VI's are in all the jazzers arsenals, but like the King Super 20's not the predominant in classical playing due to the tone) with a Lawton mouthpiece. If your a sax player, you know that is a straight jazz set-up. My jazz mouthpieces are Lawtons. I think my Lawton bari mouthpiece cost me almost $500...its a 5 pound bullet of bronze dipped in Gold. You'd think I would want to use it for everything...but I don't. There is a proper mouthpiece for concert and classical, and a Lawton is not it. You'd never play a classical gig on a Lawton, or a Meyer, or a Berg Larsen, or Otto Link. Now record a Selmer S80 Series III with a Selmer C* mouthpiece or some other classical piece, and you'll get the right sound. I'd kill one of my sax players if they played a jazz mouthpiece for wind ensemble or concert band.

    If Saxophones II comes with non-vibrato tenor patches on a non-jazz set-up, and maybe some art files for smoother transitions between velocities, then I might buy the set. But, with the current samples, it doesn't work well. As I said, my friend who owns Saxophones I uses samples of me instead, and I'm no VSL. I know Herb is capable of producing what you want.
    I'll keep my fingers crossed for Saxophones II.
  • JBacalJ
    JBacalJ
    Saxophone4-- I really enjoyed your recital! The tone of your bari at the very beginning sounded almost like a haunting cello. Lovely.

    Best,
    Jay
  • S
    S
    Thank you.