Why not? If the saxophone sounds realistic and you can play it on a keyboard to make it sound realistically accurate as far as how a saxophone should be emulated i.e. like a live saxophone player would play it, then go for it! The T4 has probably the best saxophone voices of any arranger but the trick is to play it on the keyboard in such a way as to make it sound as realistically as possible to how a real saxophone player would play the instrument. Which, needless to say, is very difficult to pull off on a keyboard with a 'sampled' voice while trying to emulate all the nuances and other things to make it sound authentic. Although if you're playing at Senior Centers or other less informal venues then "fairly authentic" is probably good enough.

All the best,
Mike

Sax still relies heavily on bends and scoops. Try listening to a master, and try to count how many notes AREN'T bent, scooped moaned, etc.. Not too many!

Even with SA2, I still find most 'one handed' sax emulations just don't QUITE nail it. If I HAVE to do something sax-y, I'll go with a whole sax section, and that doesn't require quite as much bend lever work.

Sadly (for my own good!) I am unconcerned if it impresses the Seniors... it has to impress ME first, and being a horn player, I'm hard to impress

I find for "live" gigging, the amount of bends and scoops I am able to add is realistic enough for my style of music and playing...I don't even remotely pretend to emulate a master at the saxophone...I just want another "color" to work with...harmonica is another I like to use...again, I'm no Toots Thielman...but, realistically, I'm no Toots Thielman.

I don't use SMF on gigs...I prefer style play for it's advantages, at least for my manner of playing.

For recording, the sky's the limit, as I can multi-track and my left hand is free to do much more expression, but for regular "live" work, I am very content with the amount of expression I am able to add, especially with SA/SA2 voices.

I am a perfectionist, but sometimes, perfectionism gets in the way...I can live with a few less bends, and a less than totally perfect sax emulation (especially of a master sax player) if I can have the fun and enjoyment of playing alternate sounds and not be restricted to the more traditional keyboard controlled voices such as piano, Rhodes, organ etc.

That's my take on it.

Ian

When I sit down at my keyboard I never have an audience. I'm usually practicing or recording one of my songs. It does not matter where the instrument/voice comes from... as long as it's authentic sounding in the resultant recording. Many of my songs are "Country" and I'm always looking for more authentic sounding stringed instruments. So far, I have not found a dobro "voice" and I really need one. I don't use MIDI and when I record, I don't use tracks. I simply cut and recut the song until I'm satisfied. Anybody know where I can find a dobro and other instruments/voices suitable for bluegrass and country?

On keyboard-vocal gigs, where I'm the solo act, I usually limit emulation of non kb instruments to an 8 bar solo because unless I actually 'point out' to the audience that I'm playing these parts live they usually merely assume it's a pre-recorded midi or audio backing track playing. I think Ian's humorous method of introducing the idea to the audience both entertaining and educational for them as well.


Utilizing the new Tyros 4 SA voices, I'd say all these sound pretty convincing with a minimal of effort. In fact, I rarely have to utilize the SA art buttons1/2 to get a convincingly realistic sound because expressively playing the keys alone seems to naturally trigger the SA sound realism because depending how hard you press the key or play from note to note (legato vs staccato, etc) seems to bring out the SA instrument's realism. Adding the SA buttons of course further enhances it, but even without calling on that, the expressive instr sound is pretty decent for most live situations.



On the Tyros 4, probably an instrument voice that doesn't incorporate SA2 technology.


SA Guitars.



SA Pedal Steel. Though it sounds impressive compared to other non-SA pedal steels, the emulation isn't authentic to the way an actual real steel is played (steel techinque) and heard. Yamaha needs to work with a real authentic steel player pro to support a more realistic emulation.


Saxophone ( for fills and solos) , probably because it's so similar and expressive like the human voice.

I can do a passable job on emulating several instruments including sax, harmonica, steel, piano and trumpet, but I suppose guitar is my specialty. The sound actually has less to do with it than the technique.
DonM

Yep... Technique is 90%, sound is only about 10% IMO. I was doing emulations on old DX7's and early ROMplers that didn't sound much worse than what I do now (and I still use a pretty ancient K2500 for a lot of session work).

You get the inflections dead on, the sound is just the icing on the cake. And cake without icing is still pretty yummy!

I have heard your guitar emulations, Don...I wish I could do them that well. You are certainly one of the best.

And, yes, the sound has less to do with an accurate simulation than does technique...but, is sure nice to see sounds improving in their response to player input...sounds like SA/SA2 and DNC, for example.

Also, these sounds help the average player sound at least a little more authentic.

Ian

I remember my friend Richard Wells, who is blind btw, using a clarinet sound on a little Yamaha MK100 to sound like a pedal steel. He edited the sound somewhat, but it was the way he played it that let him pull it off.
DonM

Pedal steel is one of those things that have some things that are tough to pull off. You get small tone to 1 1/2 tone regular bends, but then, every now and again, it does a big fifth to an octave swoop or dive (along with a volume pedal fade in or out) so it's tough to set ONE bend depth that works. Set up for the octave, and those tone bends are hard to do accurately. It's one of the things I like my K2500 for, because I can set the wheel for the small bends, and use the big ribbon for the big slides.

Then, there's the issue of one note bending against another, which some keyboards can do (by only bending held notes, not sustained ones) but it needs a lot of forethought and non-natural technique. Then there is the swell pedal technique, which is critical to the sound working. It's definitely a handful to pull off, and I wouldn't DREAM of doing it one handed except on the simplest of parts!

One of my little 'secrets' for a lot of emulation is my little Yamaha KX5 keytar... Just the way the strip falls under your hand (SO much better than the awkward Roland keytars) is very natural feeling, and a strip can do so much more than just bends. Hammer on's and off's, trills, non tongued note jumps, it really is amazing how easy this makes things that are next to impossible to pull off with just a wheel.

If you see one of these in a pawn shop, don't hesitate! Not the best MIDI by modern standards, but a better keytar has never been made!