A good horn section synth or sample

Hey all,
I am looking for some advice on a good (and cheap, if possible) synth or sample library for doing horns. I am looking for an R&B-esque, soul-type sound for some projects I'm working on. I don't need anything fancy-just a good decent horn section sound. Any recommendations?

Thanks
Southpaw

Although this may be out of your price range, the best synth/sampler for trumpet and tenor sax i've found is sample modeling's 'the trumpet' and 'mr. t'. Mr Trumpet even comes with several different types of trumpet's to help build sections.

www.samplemodeling.com

Yeah, Ive had the best results playing 1 part at a time, and de-tuning all but one of the parts. Makes for a very realistic sounding horn section.

I downloaded the DSK Brass, but its more orchestral sounding. You might just want to try Brass1 or Brass2 in TTS-1. Getting a realistic brass section (or any real instrument) sound has more to do with how you play it than the quality of the sample. although that helps. Tommy Mars with Zappa got GREAT horn section sounds using a Yamaha CS-80 and those weren't even sampled sounds. He just knew how to attack, swell, bend, fall, etc.

perhaps the best way to do horns is the tried and true way: Write out the parts and hire a small section for studio recording.

As a former horn player, that's without a doubt the best way to get a realistic horn section. There are things a horn player can do that no synth can emulate (and vice-versa). However, it not the easiest or most cost effective.

I hate getting to the party late, but I have to chime in here... I just picked up the Sax and Brass Soundpack, and it is awesome. Of all the tools I've tried this gets about as close to a room full of players as I've found!

Specifically...

The solo instruments are OK, actually a little better than OK, and I would not hesitate to use them.

The Sections sound glorious! The recordings are really good, and in fact this has pushed me over the edge... my next purchase will be CHH horns (from whence these samples came.)

BUT, it is the ensembles that make this thing scream! I'm still finding new and interesting ways to use these, and frankly they could have done a lot better with their documentation, but the Big Band ensembles are just outstandingly useful. NI has taken a page from the Garritan playbook - forget about tens of Gigabyte libraries, give the user a small library with 80% the choices they are likely to need, and then make it really simple to use.

There are articulations and effects missing here that you will find in a huge library, but the time it takes to find those things, and learn to use them is often more time than I care to spend. If I reach the point where I am recording a composition for Television, Film, or even Radio then I'll have the budget to hire live players, and it'll sound even better.

But for mock-ups, demo CDs, amateur theatrical productions, student films, etc... I don't see how anyone could go wrong with this library.

I'm not suggesting that it is a complete replacement for all other horn libraries, it isn't. I still use the Ensoniq Chicago library, the QL Brass, and the Akai version of Jason Miles Horns, but I almost always start with Sax and Brass now.

Of course in three months the novelty may have worn off<G>... but for the last several weeks I've been having a blast!

Chris Hein horns does a decent job. For audio samples I use Greg Adams Big Band. Greg was the arranger for Tower of Power for 30 Years. If you are looking for that kind of brass, it is also a decent product.

All the samplemodeling products are very good. First Call Horns also great. I'm waiting on Vir2's new MOJO Horn package (which is probably based on the First Call Horns). Check out the demos at www.vir2.com

Not cheap tho.

OK, now I'm a bit confused... I own that library, and all I remember about it was loops. And the loops are really good, if you happen to be Greg Adams<G>! It probably is me, but I've just never gotten the hang of working with loops... it always comes out sounding like somebody else wrote it!

But I guess now I have to dig out that library and see how I missed the individual samples!

ORIGINAL: michaelrb
Chris Hein horns does a decent job. For audio samples I use Greg Adams Big Band. Greg was the arranger for Tower of Power for 30 Years. If you are looking for that kind of brass, it is also a decent product.