Native Instruments "Session Horns"

[phustedt1]

Has anyone tried the NI "session horns" sample pack?
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/pr ... ion-horns/

Looking for horn section samples that would go good for latin, funk, reggae pop type of stuff. Not expecting it to do orchestral stuff but was wondering about its playability and function and what people thought about it.

Thanks!

[mojobone]

To quote Tommy Chong, "Urine Luck!"; yeah, Session Horns will do that, so long as you know how to work a horn. Otherwise, you might need some help'.

[WeWillWriteUaSong]

I have it and i love it. Always my go-to for horns. You gotta really learn it inside and out as with most things. That being said it will NEVER compare to working with a session horn player. But when not available i use Session Horns for Kontakt.

[phustedt1]

I have it and i love it. Always my go-to for horns. You gotta really learn it inside and out as with most things. That being said it will NEVER compare to working with a session horn player. But when not available i use Session Horns for Kontakt.

Hi Thanks for the input! Do you find that it is passable (of course not as good as session player) for solo trumpet/sax lines as well as sections or is most of its power in section form?

[WeWillWriteUaSong]

Hi Thanks for the input! Do you find that it is passable (of course not as good as session player) for solo trumpet/sax lines as well as sections or is most of its power in section form?

Honesty I haven't used it for a solo or stand-out part. Usually backing horns or hook horns. I did get away with solo sections from a muted trumpet out of Reason's Orkester bank and also slid a solo thru using SaxLab cleverly.

[mojobone]

I don't know if I'd use Session Horns for solo stuff; I'd probably want something more like this: http://www.samplemodeling.com/en/products_trumpet.php

They have pretty much the best solo saxes and trombones, too. Probably the biggest difference is the transitions from ppp to fff, plus there's generally just more controls and articulations.

I'm still pretty new to Session Horns, and I haven't yet found a way to map a controller to breath pressure, which is super easy with the Samplemodeling stuff; it's designed for use with wind controllers.

[Len911]

Hi Thanks for the input! Do you find that it is passable (of course not as good as session player) for solo trumpet/sax lines as well as sections or is most of its power in section form?

If I'm not mistaken, you would need the Session Horns Pro for single instrument lines.

Session Horns Pro offers two slightly different multi-instrument interfaces, as well as ‘solo’ instrument interfaces for alto sax, baritone sax, bass trombone, flugelhorn, two types of trumpet, tenor sax, tenor trombone, tuba and a mute trumpet...The solo instrument interfaces are the simplest, as they only deal with one instrument and one channel at a time. They don’t include pre-programmed phrases, but share the same signal-processing and effect options as the multis (more on these tools later), and the same nine-key articulation setup as Keyswitch.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may15/a ... ro.htm#Top

[mojobone]

The non-pro version is minus the tuba, bari sax and fluegelhorn and maybe also the muted trumpet, but you still get single instruments, though I'm pretty sure there's fewer articulations, too. The tuba and bari alone were worth the spend, imo

[Len911]

The non-pro version is minus the tuba, bari sax and fluegelhorn and maybe also the muted trumpet, but you still get single instruments, though I'm pretty sure there's fewer articulations, too. The tuba and bari alone were worth the spend, imo

I don't really know, but I did find this in a sos review:

If the full four-piece section is not required in your arrangement, the Section Setup menu offers all the practical combinations of two or three instruments, although, oddly, there's no 'solo' option for any instrument. This is a missed opportunity, as I discovered after diving 'under the hood' and doing a bit of tweaking. Editing the group volumes of one of the trumpets in the 'Tpt 1/Tpt 2' setup to zero revealed a beautifully soulful solo trumpet — which is especially expressive when dynamics are controlled by CC#11 instead of velocity. The mod wheel also adds just the right amount of tasteful vibrato. Perhaps a future update should include solo instruments amongst the setup options, particularly for those using the Kontakt Player, which doesn't allow patch editing.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar13/a ... -horns.htm

Maybe it's just the player, and the Kontakt full you can patch edit??

[Paulie]

I have the pro version. As a horn player I wouldn't use it for solos at all,there are too many nuances required. (Although a good Harmon mute trumpet isn't that hard if you give it proper attention) Then again, I've heard some forwards with weak horn arrangements and sounds, so it's really up to you. If possible try to record at least one live horn along with the samples to give it that extra touch of realism.