Swing More! Thoughts

Eat celery with peanutbutter on it?

eph221
Eat celery with peanutbutter on it?

Add raisins....Ant's on a Log...

That Larry show is a HOOT! 

If I got the keyswitches right, sustain and staccato alto sax
 
http://www.mediafire.com/file/58p0nne0rwddbbp/Swing_More_-_Alto_Sax_-_Stac_Sus.wav
http://www.mediafire.com/...o_Sax_-_S_S_Softer.wav
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4fizqquiizc5vvr/Swing_More_-_Alto_Sax_-_S_S_Softerer.wav
This is the stage mic preset. The first is mf to f, the second is one midi track p to mf and the other mf to f (I forgot about the other track), the third is both midi tracks p to mf.
 
http://www.mediafire.com/file/nzczb9u2x2m433f/SM_-_Alto_Sax_-_Sustain_Stac_-_Close.wav
http://www.mediafire.com/file/69jubx9nf21xxoz/SM_-_Alto_Sax_-_S_S_Softer_-_Close.wav
And the close preset.
 
What if someone went a little nuts and tried marcatto in place of staccato and the crescendo / fall patch instead of sustain especially since the two track have different velocities and the crec/fall patch is velocity sensitive?
http://www.mediafire.com/file/61f67nff2c9jjut/SM_-_Alto_Sax_-_Marc_SFZ_-_Close.wav
 
Fragment of a random midi found on the digital roadside of Bye Bye Blackbird
 
Trying to figure out legato with a sad (in more ways than one) self penned tune, still alto sax
http://www.mediafire.com/file/sq6lg2uoaqpl9o3/Too_Bluff_-_SM_Legato_Soft.wav
http://www.mediafire.com/file/d1kd2v7brkoka6o/Too_Bluff_-_SM_Legato.wav
 
 

The Saxophones can really take your breath away. I fell in love with the tone of the Alto Sax and surprised myself by really liking the various vibrato articulations. I'm not a fan of everything in the world needed vibrato 100% of the time (I'm looking at you string patches), but it really works well. The Tenor wasn't quite as enthralling, likely just personal taste, but the growl of the Baritone really got me. The Soprano Sax also surprised me, the upper register of some instruments makes me flinch, as in some violins sound like a cat in pain in the top octave, but this sounded pleasant and solid.

The Staccato and Marcato articulations tend to have 6 round robins and Falls from 3 to 6. Oddly the Sustain doesn't have round robins. The Staccato has 3 velocity layers and the others 2. There are also Bend Ups, Slurs, SFZs, Trills and I'm probably missing some. There are all kinds of fun patches that can be a bit surprising. Don't assume that the 'Longs' patch is just the Sustain articulation from the 'Basics' patch. It often isn't exactly the same. For instance the Soprana Sax has a slur at the top in basics and a marcato on top in longs. Also the 'Basics' patch usually has Staccato and Marcato while the 'Shorts' patch might add short gliss or bend articulations as well or maybe that famous DuhDab articulation.

The Legatos work in general but take some getting used to. The Multi-Dynamic is what you expect, the Soft and Versatile are not. Note that the volume control activates the three types of legato, but you can control the volume with the mod wheel even though it is labeled 'Filter Open' and 'Filer Close'. Some of the SFZ-Cresc legatos seem to respond oddly to the mod wheel however. With some practice I think you can get some really cool legato lines out of all this, but it might take that practice to really get the feel. The Versatile legato has Run and sometimes something like Slur or Lazy. Wow lots of stuff. What makes this all work i think is that the transitions within an octave up and down all seem to be sampled. If like me you like to poke around in the guts of instruments, you can see the sample groups flash as you make the transition. This also explains the 5000 samples in some of the legato patches.

I've looked at the guts of a lot of instruments, played with scripts, listened to a lot of samples sample by sample and rarely have I been as impressed with the work that went into instruments as I am with the saxes in this product. Fun, cool, swinging saxes that sound lovely!

The Banjo, Mandolin and Uke all seem to be about what you would expect. The Banjo has a basic patch plus strums and a groove patch. The Mandolin and Uke have long and short articulations with the shorts giving you a really nice 'plink' sound. They tend to have slides at the top velocity. Mandolin has a Strums and a Tremolo Sync patch. 2 mics. 2 to 4 round robins. Most have a slide on top and then one velocity layer below that. The Uke has two velocity layers in addition to the slide. I like these types of instruments so I'm having fun with them.
 
The Jazz Guitar takes some getting used to. i think I just have a different preconception about what a guitar should sound like. It has quite a few patches for things like strums, grooves and phrases. I'm learning that slides are definitely important for this type of music. The basic patch has long, long vib, short and mute. Again slide on top and then a single normal velocity layer. It seems to have a good tone and the mute is good.
 
With the understanding I don't know what I'm doing, I found this midi by Andy Bakke and tried a little mockup just using whatever articulation seemed to work since I was too lazy for keyswitches...
http://www.mediafire.com/file/d9f9z70sfbm63en/When_the_Saints_-_Swing_More%21.wav
 
Found this midi from Don Carroll with drums and fretless bass, some banjo in there including a banjo / bass / drums bit...
http://www.mediafire.com/file/huqz48aoqud43sf/Saints_-_Swing_More%21.wav
 

I'm not really huge fan of the orchestra plays chords patches, but I must admit the whole band, well 4 trumpets, 4 trombones and 5 saxes, playing something like 10 to 12 chord types in any key with 6 voicings does sound pretty nice. I'll really have to figure out how that works. The only note would be that they sound real in that some instruments come in a bit early or late and drop off a bit early so probably using exactly the same chord over and over would sound artificial, but as I say there are a fair number of variants so that shouldn't be a problem. A touch under 10000 samples and 1.75 gigs in the one patch. Sustain and staccato or both together. 3 mics. Though no round robins and 1 velocity layer. Just looking at my little chord chart and playing the various chords was surprisingly fun as was looking at chord charts for songs and playing those.
 
A very similar arrangement for Trombone chords except you seem to get a slur at the hardest velocity level of the staccato. Probably not a patch I would have picked, but hey its there if you want it. Generally 4 voicings here.
 
Proving this review of sorts has no rhyme or reason I took a look at the percussion next.
The Vibrophone is surprisingly heavily sampled and has a nice feel to it. Sustain (pedal down) and staccato both have 6 velocity layers. 2 RR for sustain and 6 for staccatto. Also Tremolo and Octave Run articulations though not as heavily sampled.
 
Small Percussion has Maraca, Cabaso, Agogo, various Shakers and chromatic Chimes. Everything but the chimes have round robins. Chimes have both individual and long running articulations. I'm not really a percussion guy but they seem to sound right and there seems to be a lot of variety.
 
Bongos and Congos seem to have lots of single hits and some multi hit samples. Tons of round robins and velocity layers. Again is sounds right to me. If you need Bongos and Congos you got a good set here.