LOL @ John.
 
That's what I'm afraid of too.

And yes...it's good to see you back with us Brandon.
 
Thanks for the link...although I'll have to do a lot more high dollar sessions to get those horns :) .

all the really good stuff is expensive, 

Assume you mean pop/rock/R&B, in which case the suggestions above are good.  Vienna's Dimension Brass is awesome but expensive and is more orchestral in nature.

Guitarhacker
The secret to emulating ANY instrument with sampled synths is in the articulations and the details.... basically, you need to be able to get inside the head of how a real player of that instrument would play it, then, be able to translate that to midi.
 
Lacking that, the best samples will sound fake.
 
On the other hand, using a halfway decent sample or midi patch, (TTS or GPO) put the details where they should be and you will have a very convincing track.

very true..but the TTS and GPO lack dramatically in articulations. especially for the bluesier stuff.
 

I'm a big fan of Kurzweil, find it works pretty well for a number of situations (all sections). I find a bit of attention to articulation helps, but might depend on what you consider "authentic". Had a client that preferred a patch from a Korg MI. Go figure...

twisted6s
Session Horns for Kontakt 5 ( I believe it works with the free Kontakt player as well)

Yes I think if you already have Kontakt, then NI's Session Horns may not be the absolute best but are very good for the money.
 
Andy

Using Chris Hein Horns Pro Complete here. Also use a breath controller for swells and brightness. Each horn part is recorded separately on its own track.
 
Kind regards,
Rick

My suggestions based on personal experience...
 
* If you need authentic, well-worn phrases/swells/falls/chord voicings/etc. then consider a loop/phrase library... Zero-G Phantom Horns is cheap and good, Ilio Memphis Horns is good too and at least the audio CD-ROM version is cheapish...
 
* Chris Hein Horns... lots of horn types, articulation, scripting... if you don't need the massive full product, you can buy individual horns & sections here:  http://www.soundsondemand.com/ (search for "chris hein")... he also released "CHH Compact", which is a cheaper slice of the overall product line... FWIW, I think a small chunk of Chris Hein Horns were used in the Kontakt 4/5 factory library, IIRC...
 
* Vir2 Mojo ... has some features for humanizing playback, if you don't want to be bothered with making your tracks sound human the old fashioned way...
 
* Wallander Brass... designed more for orchestral, but certainly capable of most styles... also has a cheaper "Wivi Band
" product... Wallander is nice because everything is modeled, but keep in mind extensive control over model params is only available in the more expensive player
 
* Sample Modelling... the older Kontakt-based brass and saxes and the newer "SWAM" based saxes are all excellent, given what they attempt to replicate...
 
 
 
 
 

rabeach
yamaha's VL70-m with the patchman chip upgrade along with a wind controller is about as good as it gets.

That's what I use too. Along with a few roland units and alesis with the patchman windcontroller patches. Works awesome.
 
I used a sax patch from the vl70-m on a track fort a client a few months ago and they are still raving about the sax. Never told them it wasn't a real sax. :)