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Straight Ahead Samples Art of the Alto will be released May 25!

Larry Shelby

By Larry Shelby
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Larry Shelby

Larry Shelby

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We're so excited about this new library. It's a sweet and soulful alto sax that has all the realism and vibe you've come to expect from our New Standard series of instruments. Look out for it's release next Thursday, May 25th.

Check out these new demos showing Art of the Alto in two totally different settings.

Countdown to our Memorial Day 20% Off Storewide Sale!

Coinciding with release of Art of the Alto, May 25th marks the start of our 20% Off Storewide Sale. On top of that, you'll still be able to take advantage of our Build-Your-Own-Bundle option to save up to an additional 15%! With total savings at up to35% off, it'll be a perfect time to stock up on some ultra-realistic and super vibey virtual instruments. 

Learn More

*Sale begins Thursday, May 25th at 8am Eastern.

https://www.straightaheadsamples.com/art-of-the-alto

 

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jngnz

jngnz

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27 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

These dev seems to do a great job of capturing the perfect sound for small jazz groups. I love all of the demos I've heard from them. 

I don't own it yet, but they also have what seems to be the best big band library on the market.

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PavlovsCat

PavlovsCat

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Funny, I'm always really curious about everyone's musical background and interests here (please share your interests, folks! We're all here out of our passion for music). I mean, a lot of us have been coming here for many years and only a small amount of us share music we've made or even, more generally, the kinds of music we play/have played. So it's very cool to find out that some of you (jngnz and Fleer) are into jazz!

While I worked primarily as a rock drummer for more than a decade back in the day until an injury took me out, I did play a couple of jazz gigs and LOVE jazz. Also, on a side note (AKA a tangent). I got to meet and hang out with two jazz drumming greats back in the day, Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson. I even had the chance to sit in with Buddy's band (I wisely declined -- while I was a very good rock drummer, I was never a legit jazz drummer; I studied a short time with a jazz drumming teacher, but still sounded like a rock drummer attempting to play jazz).  So while my physical limitations make it impossible for me to pull of even a marginally competent jazz performance on any instrument these days (I can play drums at a mid tempo for around a minute before I'm in pain and have learned to get through slow tempo songs for recordings), I still check out these kinds of sample libraries and want to press the buy button. Between the libraries from this developer and Cinesamples Piano in Blue, I can't adequately convey how much I love those sounds.  

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Craig Fowler

Craig Fowler

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I don't have Atomic Big Band from SAS (nor do I have the two newer releases - the flute and the flugelhorn) - but I've got the earlier 4. I'm going to be jumping on this. The smart delay can be finicky to work with, and setting up articulation maps for these instruments in Cakewalk is an absolute must - but they sound amazing. The trumpet and trombone are my top two so far...I'm hoping the Alto shakes things up a bit!

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PavlovsCat

PavlovsCat

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7 hours ago, Fleer said:

Broadway Big Band

https://fablesounds.com/broadway-big-band/

 I’ve got the Lite version.

One of the customers giving a testimonial on that landing page said, "I'll take this over a live horn section anyday!"(He did add, "Unless it's that horn section" as an afterthought.) Seriously though? Talk about exaggeration. Even 8Dio videos don't go that far (okay, I could be wrong on that one).

Anyone with a real  love and appreciation for music could never make such a statement.  Sample libraries can be fantastic tools that allow composers/musicians to easily attempt arrangements and  do what may otherwise be beyond budget or inconvenient. But to say you'd prefer a sample library of horns over skilled horn players -- players who each bring something unique to a performance to a keyboardist playing horn samples? That's pretty ridiculous and demeans real artistry.  I love sample libraries, but a sample library of anyone playing an instrument that they can't play fluently in real life will never be as great as an excellent musician playing that instrument.  Tell me what sax library could replace Coltrane, what trumpet library could replace Miles Davis, what guitar library can replace Joe Pass, what bass library can replace Jaco or what drum library could replace Max Roach? Talented musicians who've mastered their instruments are always going to be the optimal choice if you have that option available to you, saying you'd prefer playing those parts on midi controller speaks volumes for one's ego and lack of appreciation for the art and craftsmanship of music.  Personally, I would never have put that testimonial up even though  the guy who said those words probably saw it a little harmless hyperbole to promote the library,  it destroyed his credibility when he said that. Rant over. ?

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