sylva
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Garritan JABB
Greetings everyone!
I am not exactly a newbie, but not an expert at this either, i'd say I'm a beginner at JABB. I managed to get the Fluegelhorn to sound pretty well for what I need in my newest piece of music.
HOWEVER:
The trumpet sounds awful. Should it sound so awful when just imported into Kontact 2.2.4? It sounds like a wimper of a duck. I tweaked to death for the whole of last afternoon and still sounds awful. For DAW I have SHS XL 6 (great program).
I'd appreciate some input, I am sure I am doing many things wrong.
Thanks, Sylva.
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munmun
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/06 11:52:56
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Yes JABB needs a lot of tweaking. That said I too found the trumpet to be beyond lame.
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sylva
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/06 13:36:17
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Munmun,
I agree, did not want to use such strong terms, thinking I am a dummy beginner who doesn't know better. But I kinda know how a trumpet should sound for I am also a trumpet player. Yeah, JABB's trumpet is lame beyond belief and it appears to be unusable. I can't fathom how the people who have done demos for the Garritan site dealt with it and so well at that. I am inclined to believe that the demos have been done with some other package, say Vienna or EWQL, but I think those packages don't have jazz instruments.
Did you have some better results or quit hoping? I also baught GPO, but now don't even dare open it.
Sylva
PS: Love yours picture :)
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munmun
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/06 14:48:45
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I like GPO. My use is for orchestral instruments in a pop setting so it is quite adequate. If you go to the Garritan site you will see that people do some amazing things with it. Yes I have given up with the JABB trumpet.
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haydn12
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/06 17:08:43
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Which JABB Trumpet are you using? There are 5 different trumpets. All JABB demos were done with the included trumpets. Make sure you read the manual so you understand the programming behind the instruments. Heavy use of CC1 (modulation) is required for expression. CC1 changes both the volume and timbre. The amount of attack is controlled by velocity. Aftertouch controls vibrato. I believe CC17 controls the speed of vibrato. CC15 controls release samples such as doits, kisses and falloffs.
I'm not sure what you mean by just importing into Kontakt 2.2.4. You should not have to import into Kontakt 2.2.4 if you're using the Kontakt 2 Player version. Make sure you have downloaded the update to Kontakt 2 Player if you are using the older Kontakt 1.5.3 version. The library will not sound right if imported from the older version. It was reprogrammed for the Kontakt 2 Player.
I'd recommend to get The Trumpet from Sample Modeling. This instrument costs as much as the whole JABB library but is much more flexible. I like to layer this trumpet with the JABB instruments and get great Chicago/BS&T type brass sections. Also, they have a new Tenor Sax available.
Jim
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sylva
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/07 22:44:45
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Thanks Haydn.
I read the manual top to bottom several times, at least 5 times and made annotations. When I read a manual I sit at the computer and try what the manual says. The main problem with the trumpet is that it sounds very bad from the get go. One would expect a somewhat decent sound at the time it's loaded and if it's not exactly the sound one wants THEN one may proceede with modifying it. Yes, it's Kontakt Player 2.2.4, not Kontakt. I tried Trumpet 1 & 2 so far. Yesterday I made some progress in that I managed to make them sound like early Baroque trumpets, such as used by Monteverdi in his operas (especially in the Coronation of Poppea and Orfeo). This means that I obtained that characteristic dark, muffled sound, very close to what Baroque trumpets sound like. But this, of course, is VERY far from the big band trumpet sound. I can't get samples from other manufacturers. Cost is a paramount factor for me. The sound of the trumpets in the demos is very good so if I can obtain anything close, that'll do for me.
Yeah, CC1 changes the volume but not enough the timbre to make it into a jazz trumpet. Besides the CCs, I work extensively with the effects, combining and tweaking them to death, along with Sonar's own Sonitus paragraphic EQ. There's another problem, in that the registers don't have a uniform sound. One might argue that this is the case with the real trumpet. True enough, but not nearly as pronounced and with my lips I can immediately rectify this, which with the Garritan trumpet was not yet possible so far. I am at the beginning of my endeavor, so in no way am I in the mood to be giving up on anything. I tried trombones, which are pretty decent. Ditto for the Tuba, but doesn't go down far enough. Will need to borrow the Contrabass Tuba from GPO. Saxes I didn't try yet. Guitars are good, but they need some tweaking, especially the accoustic. It needs more finger noise and plucking friction noise (if there is anything like this in JABB), among other. However, it also needs some timbre tweaking. It's pretty good though.
Thing is, there's a learning curve which is not very mild. The manual is scant, it probably assums that if one buys an orchestral package, he/she knows about the minutiae of smaple based machinery. I know a lot about music and computers, but haven't much worked with sample libraries. This is why I am asking around.
Sylva.
post edited by sylva - 2009/02/07 22:54:47
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Tap
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/08 15:53:47
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Hi all,
I do a bit of composing in Jazz and have inquired about what synths would work good for my style of music and many have recommended JABB. Seeing as there are a couple of owners here of JABB, I was interested in your overall take on it. Is it just the Trumpets that need work?
Thanks for any comments on the synths.
-- TAP --
MC4 - M-Audio FW410 / Behringer UCA202 - Fender Strat / Jazzmaster / DuoSonic / Washburn / Peavy Foundation M-Audio Radium 49 Roland Juno 106 / JazzChorus / Seymore Duncan Convertible - HP A1230N ( AMD Athalon 3800+ 2G Ram + 200G HD ) http://soundclick.com/cut2thechaise
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haydn12
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/08 19:00:33
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I'm wondering if you have an installation issue with your JABB. Trumpet 1 should be very bright and definitely isn't dark and muffled sounding on my system. I actually think that Trumpet 1 is a little thin sounding but that is probably because the musician playing on the samples is a high note specialist. Trumpet 2 is not as bright as Trumpet 1 as it's a different trumpet and musician. It's pretty normal for trumpets to change into the upper registers. Most of these instruments are chromatically sampled with the same musician and instrument. There are a few samples stretched here and there.
Jim
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sylva
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RE: Garritan JABB
2009/02/08 21:04:27
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I did NOT say Trumpet 1 was dark from the get go. I said, quote "Yesterday I made some progress in that I managed to MAKE THEM sound like early Baroque trumpets." meaning, the trumpet sounded very badly (thin at the very least) and I managed to turn its sound into something else, which at least was trumpet like, albeit in an historical period from long ago. From the get go, as you said, Trumpet 1 is thin. If it were only that, one could make it mellower with effects. It's not the case, at least so far. The low register resembles trumpet sound, but even here some of the sounds (G, Gb and F) remind one of Donald's qwacks. As I stated above, an instrument should sound close to what its name implies from the get go. Then, to make it more realistic, one can tweak it. But here this appears to be a remote possibility SO FAR. I am definitely going to work a lot at it, maybe there is a possibility to get real trumpets after all. Your suggestions are appreciated.
TAP: I did not call up all the instrument groups yet. As I stated, Trombones and Tuba are good. The Tuba goes only till Eb1 which is not low enough for my piece ((I need Db), so I am going to boroow the ContrabassTuba from GPO. Flugelhorns need lots of tweaking. Although they sound closer to what a real horn sounds like, they don't exhibit the mellow sound that's characteristic to these instruments when you call them up raw. So one must fiddle with the effets' curves. Though I obtained the specific sound I need, I could not replicate what people did in their Fluegelhorn demos, except for the lower registers.
Sylva.
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