PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase In Your Own Backyard (Instrumental - Updated Mix)

It's not hard to do, if you've got some cash.

The saxophones are SWAM Saxophones, from a company called AudioModeling. The library contains a soprano, alto, tenor and bari sax.

The flugelhorn is from a library called The Trumpet 3, which contains three B♭ Trumpets, a cornet, flugelhorn, German trumpet and piccolo trumpet.

The two companies use different approaches in emulating the instruments. AudioModeling uses waveguide synthesis, which can be thought of as a fairly "pure" synthesis technique. SampleModeling deconstructs recording of a trumpet into overtones/partials, and then recombines them. So their technique is more reconstructive.

In addition to responding to pitch information (the note number), they require to MIDI continuous controllers to emulate breath control. That is, pressing a key on a MIDI controller isn't enough to make a sound. You also must supply the breath information using one of the following:

• Keyboard Mod wheel
• Keyboard MIDI pedal
• MIDI breath controller

Or you can choose to use a Wind Controller to provide pitch and breath information.

For example, in this video, the breath control is being supplied by a MIDI pedal: https://youtu.be/Zvih_c58Mss

In contrast, here's someone playing the same instrument with a breath controller: https://youtu.be/hOvHTuijqTE

And here's someone playing The Trumpet using an EWI wind controller: https://youtu.be/Gp6wV0nuphk

Personally, I use an USB EWI wind controller, because it was the most affordable option available at the time. But getting a breath controller is on my "To Do" list.

These instruments sound great "out of the box", and I find the wind controller a very natural and intuitive way to get a good performance from the instruments. There are additional things that can be done to add growl and falloffs and other effects. But I haven't really gotten into that yet.

For many reasons, I prefer to work in my DAW. So I create my backing tracks in BiaB, and then import them in Reaper. That's where I record the MIDI tracks as well.

For this song, I didn't have a really strong idea of what I wanted the melody to be. So I built it up in fragments. When I played in the notes, I didn't really worry about playing the right notes - just the rhythm that I wanted. I then used the MIDI editor to shifted the notes up and down until it sounded right.

I did quite a bit of fiddling around in the MIDI editor with small details. But it would have been faster (and better) to have simply played them in again. I was just too lazy to pick up my EWI.

I hope this answers some questions. If not, feel free to send a PM, and I'll be more than happy to answer questions.


Thanks!