Nord User Forum

I'm trying to find or create a decent Sax for Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit" I've tried tweaking the Nord Tenor Sax sample on my Stage 3 without much success. Do you know of any really good 3rd party samples that I could purchase?
Thanks Jon

Our band plays the song, but I took the easy way out. I use one of the standard sax samples as a base, then run it through unison to thicken it up, then add chorus, delay and some compression. It works OK live, wouldn't want to hear it recorded

Hi Jon,
Sax is a really difficult instrument to sample or play on a keyboard. The intensity of the breath, especially the infinite possibilities of in- and decreasing its pressure, make it rather impossible to sound good when played on a keyboard. I had a roland srx board appr. 15 years ago which was quite good, but never since found anything acceptable. The nord samples are only „toy“ sounds for me. If unavoidable I use the iPad app Heavy Brass or a sound in my korg X50 with a good portion of Delay.
Cheers from Germany

I could amend that a real Sax is the most erotic instrument for me. Live on stage, if you are the Sax solo player, you are the king. If I‘d be reborn one day, I wish I‘d either be good looking or a brilliant Sax player

A quick search for "sax" at the Nord User Sounds site ( https://nordusersounds.com/sounds ) will yield quite a few samples you can check out as well.

Thanks for your replies. You are correct the Sax player always gets the best girl. With that said I will look into the iPad Heavy Brass App..
Thank you

cphollis wrote:Our band plays the song, but I took the easy way out. I use one of the standard sax samples as a base, then run it through unison to thicken it up, then add chorus, delay and some compression. It works OK live, wouldn't want to hear it recorded

Would you share your program?

Sorry for the delay, was traveling away from my rig ...

The program is based on the "Saxophone Forte" sample. Unison is on 2. Velocity on 2. Aftertouch morph modulates the filter and drive sections so you can get some decent expression by pressing hard. Organ section is adding a bit of soft fill at 16' and 8' just to give it some substance. Add a slow, thick chorus and goopy delay -- and voila -- good enough for a gig that pays less than $100.

Do you have the program to share it here so I can take a look? Interested in listening to it. Thanks!

The alto sax is my main instrument.
It is true that the sax sound is one of the more difficult horn sounds to emulate via keyboard, and emulating a "normal" sax sound is difficult.
John Helliwell's sax sound is not a normal sax sound - it is a kick-ass, shrieking sax sound that sounds great on those Supertramp songs.
I would not want my band to try to play any of those Supertramp songs that had one of his signature sax solos, because I will never be able to make a sound that resembles his, not even with a real sax in my hands.
The same applies for Clarence Clemons sax solos.
So I have difficulty imagining how I could make a decent sax sound for a Supertramp song from a keyboard.