From list@sevush.com Thu Nov 20 07:14:41 2003
Subject:Re: Organ vs. Synth Horns

I also thought the sampled horns and strings were a Good Thing when I first
got my eager little paws on them. I've come full circle, because sampled
horns will always fall short of the real thing. I think it's possible to use
a modeled single horn, like the Analog plugin board for Yamaha gear, with a
breath controller and get an interesting monophonic part. But I'm not going
that route, because, in the end I'm a keyboard player, not a horn
replacement.

Every time I'm asked to do horns, I use the hammond sounds. For strings, I
might use the hammond or the Lead3, but it will NOT be strings, just a pad
to fill in.

When was the last time someone asked a guitarist to play choir, oboes and
occasional seagulls?

> I believe that one of the reasons that live music remains popular
> is that it
> requires the audience to 'fill in the blanks'. I long ago gave
> up trying to
> reproduce horns, strings, etc. I primarily play what I consider to be the
> 'classic' pop keyboard sounds - Rhodes, Wurly, Hammond, Clav and acoustic
> piano. No fake drums, horns or strings. I concentrate on
> voicing parts for
> the instrument I'm playing, often with very interesting results. I don't
> tell the guitar player what to play, he doesn't tell me what to play. We
> respect each other enough to accept that we'll make the best choices given
> the playing circumstances. Life's too short for cheesy horn parts. Leave
> that to the DJs.