Need a Horns VST recommendation

[Iconoclast]

I've been covering more songs that need some kind of horn section. Think Lido Shuffle, Long Long Way From Home (foreigner), 25 or 6 to 4, Vehicle, Into the Mystic etc.

I normally hate the inherent cheesiness of covering horns on keys but it I've just been asked to a lot more lately.  I think I draw the line at doing a sax solo or something like that. For example, Billy Joel's "You May Be Right", it's just as relevant to let some other legit instrument cover the solo as fake a sax on the keys.  But if I can lay back and add some appropriate layers I like to do that.

One of my main problems is the Logic/Mainstage horns program. It's terrible. Doesn't sound too bad but for some reason it will have an enormous amount of midi hangs that require the midi-panic button, like no kidding all the time. I have no other VSTs that cause this problem so I don't think it's some other part of my rig.  Depending on my rig, I can get horns with one of my other keys but I like to have a Mainstage Only version of everything I play.

So Hive Mind, help me: what VST's would be better than the Mainstage Horns for filling space.

[lsj]

east west Hollywood Brass. listen to their demo.  you won't be dissappointed.

[John H Carter]

If we're talking about live use I get a lot of mileage out of the brass sounds on the Korg Triton Extreme VST, also good for other bread-and-butter sounds. 

[mate stubb]

The deafening silence greeting this thread is most of us thinking "wish I had an answer for you!"  

[D. Gauss]

22 minutes ago, mate stubb said:

The deafening silence greeting this thread is most of us thinking "wish I had an answer for you!"  

that or the fact, that (at least in my world, and granted, NYC is a fickle, highly opinionated place), if you play horn parts on a keyboard you get (at the very least) the look of death from other band members, and (at the other extreme) asked to leave.   as always YMMV.

[drawback]

Although they’ve been around for years, I’ve read good things about Chris Hein horns. The “compact” version might do it.

 

 

[Reezekeys]

Chris Hein Compact are fine, imo, for the kind of section stuff you want to do. The other one I know of personally is the e-instruments Session Horns (sold by Native Instruments). They both sound good but not in mono! (Again, imo of course - but to me it makes a big difference; I think "acoustic" horn samples need "air" for their sound to come alive, and that requires a wide soundspace).

 

Session Horns has a feature where if you play a chord, the software automatically splits it to different instruments based on the notes. CHH has more instruments, and you can load individual ones into their own Kontakt Player slot, or one ensemble of multiple instruments into a single slot, with key ranges assigned in the plugin.

 

I found this youtube, linked below, which - in my biased, not-too-humble opinion – is not that informative, but might be helpful just to get a basic idea of the differences in sound. I disagree with the you-tuber's opinion as to what each plugin might be better suited to - I think the CCH have a little more bite and would work better in jazz, pop & R&B section stuff (the opposite of what John from Gospel Producers says!). There's more on youtube for both these plugins if you want to get into the nitty-gritty. You should understand that you're in a different world than just punching up a "brass section sound" on a rompler and banging away – these plugins have lots of options with regards to articulations, CC# assignments for sound control, and keyswitching. There will be a learning curve, but if you put in the time and play these through a good PA I think you (and your bandmates and audience) will be pretty happy with the results.

 

Note that I'm referring to their cut-down versions - they each have bigger versions with more samples, but they're expensive and probably more suited to studio work than doing gigs with.

 

Also, just an aside, but the video seems to be comparing the Session Horns Pro (full version) with the Chris Hein Compact – the cut down CHH version – not that it makes much of a difference the way John demonstrates them.

 

 

[Steve Nathan]

+1 for Session Horns Pro

Though I sometimes mix in single instruments from Mojo Horns and regular Session Horns, I get the most bang out of Session Horns Pro.  

[Mighty Motif Max]

AcousticSamples VHorns came out last year I think and seemed like it had a lot of good reviews.
 

When I need brass I tend to reach for the older Roland SRX-10 Brass card sections - the pop horn patches are pretty decent, or the Yamaha Motif horns with some editing. I haven’t done much with brass VI’s, but I can say don’t waste your time with EastWest Hollywood Pop Brass - I had that for a while with ComposerCloud and it was very disappointing. Their orchestral stuff is much better, but that’s not what you’re looking for anyways.

[o0Ampy0o]

I don’t think brass coming from the keyboardist is cheesy unless the gear is cheesy. If it sounds good it is impressive. If not it is frownworthy. Wix Wickens doing brass on keyboards for Paul McCartney has sounded amazing to me. I saw that done the first time by Wix and for a split second after thinking it sounded great and the surprise wore off not seeing a brass section I went back to that sounded great. Boz Skaggs has also sounded amazing with the brass coming from keyboards. When there is a brass section live it is frequently boosted by a keyboard brass contribution. Ironically if the brass section just faked it as a keyboardist supplied the sound I doubt anyone would notice even if the source was the cheesyiest sounding brass. 

 

If you are in a Kenny G tribute band you are probably stretching it using keyboards. On the other hand, Jon Carin used Richard Wright’s original trumpet patch settings and came up with something compatible and very interesting for Roger Waters’s live SOYCD. The result conjured an image of Richard Wright in a grand cave with dramatic fog whirling about. Still whether sampled, modeled or a pure synth patch replacement I suspect it would sound like elevator music.  
 

 

I have liked a few Kenny G songs……just playing on a common bias.

[Reezekeys]

6 hours ago, Mighty Motif Max said:

AcousticSamples VHorns came out last year I think and seemed like it had a lot of good reviews

 

I just checked out the demos on their page (https://www.acousticsamples.net/vhorns). We all know what opinions are like, but mine is that the Chris Hein or Session Horns are better suited for dynamic rock/r&b horn section playing. Listen for yourselves if you care. AS's solo instruments are pretty nice though. Audio Modeling's SWAM horns are good for solo work as well.