Definitely nicely stretching the stylemaker capabilities of BiaB in terms of time signatures and syncopation. The soprano sax is nice - initially I thought it sounded like an oboe, but I listened to the original and Mariano has a different tone than a lot of soprano players - that "ECM" sound - so puts it more oboe-like IMHO. (And reminds me of my favorite jazz oboist, Paul McCandless, who has worked with Weber on several projects). So, nicely done.

For me, it's the technique that makes a synthetic instrument sound more believable. Gino Vanelli had some amazing albums in the early 70s that were all keyboards except for the drums. And this is way before MIDI sequencing, VST plugins, etc. His brother Ross was the arranger and one of the keyboardists. This track from Powerful People has a "trumpet" part at 1:14 and 2:15 that is obviously a synthesizer. But his technique - keyboard virtuosity, modulation/pitch bend, etc. makes me think "TRUMPET" even though my ears tell me differently. (And there is the suggestion of a "sax" at 1:40 - only lasts a couple of seconds, but it's enough to perk my ears up every time, and I've been listening frequently to this song for 46 years) So whether a part is played in real time or meticulously step/event edited, there has to be a good understanding of how a real player would play that specific instrument. Some plugins seem to be doing a good job of providing scripted functionality that helps with the realism - I mentioned being impressed by the Ample Sound acoustic guitars.

https://youtu.be/027HcOsmsic

I guess everyone's criteria is different. I don't expect that I or other musicians would always be fooled by a synthetic instrument, but my goal would that be a fairly sophisticated non-musician listener wouldn't be distracted by something not sounding realistic.

Chuck Wiggins

BIAB 2023 Win UltraPak, Cakewalk, Windows 10 Pro
Custom AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core, Focusrite Scarlett 4x4 interface

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