I wouldn't mind hearing someones fat Brass arrangement using only TTS-1. Just for curiousity sakes. Sometimes I have been pleasantly surprised by the sounds achieved with lower priced librarys in the hands of talented midi orchestrators. Take Garriton for example, out of the box I think it sounds aweful, but in the hands of a knowledgable Garriton user, it can sound pretty decent. If you are simply adding a brass or string section "pad" to your arrangement, you can easily get away with Garriton out of the box or even TTS-1. Layered, panned, verbed...etc. But if you are doing a big band swing song with lots of neat brass articulations, you will have to invest in a decent library to be realistic. Chris Hein horns sound amazing in the demo's.

 
+1.. we have a couple of members that are pretty good at it. (have'nt heard from them for a while) and yeah for jazz and the more bluesier type stuff, Chris Hein Horns is the ticket. in conjunction with Kontakt's AET, you can come up with some very covincing parts. (it still takes a long time though)

I have a question about Chris Hein's horns. One possibility I'm considering, in addition to the direct sample approach mentioned, is to get the CHH compact package (it's cheaper).

...but, I don't have any Kontact based synths at the moment. Do I need to buy some sort of Kontact player first or does Chris Hein horns package come with the player - like the Garritan libraries (they come with Aria)?

thanks!

Do I need to buy some sort of Kontact player first or does Chris Hein horns package come with the player - like the Garritan libraries (they come with Aria)?

 
 
no not at all.. you can download the the Kontakt player for free at the NI site.

Thanks for all the comments guys, you've given plenty to get my teeth into!