The Sound Board

Strong new release from Musical Sampling: Classic Brass.

"Sharing the same playability philosophy as our existing brass releases, Classic Brass elevates every aspect of the sampling process. Recorded in a large acoustic space (Besední dům in Brno, CZ), it pushes the upper dynamic range while taking contextual sampling techniques to their limits within a true concert hall environment."

The library has only four patches — 4 French Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Bass Trombones and a Solo Tuba — but thanks to the clever sampling and ingenious programming, an awful lot is possible with this quartet. Check the demos below.

"Every articulation – with the exception of latch key staccatos and staccatissimos – was captured inside thoughtfully curated phrases, aiming to preserve the musical energy and subtle chaos a live performance imparts to each note. Eminently playable, rich with personality, spanning a wide dynamic range, and leaving ample room for the sound to breathe – all meticulously programmed to feel natural under the fingers."

Intro price: $199 (from April 20th, the price will be $299), but owners of Adventure Brass, Trailer Brass, Orb Trumpets, or Orb Horns & Bones qualify for an $149 loyalty offer. And if you're subscribed to the MusicalSampling newsletter, you should also have received a mail with a loyalty code.






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It definitely sounds better than their early releases. Sadly, I have no need for this type of library at the moment and rarely get the chance to write anything in this idiom.

That said, I am surprised by the lack of sustain/legato articulations and I think that is a hugely missed opportunity.

Be curious to hear if anyone has any comments on this or other Musical Sampling offerings.

I'm liking what I'm hearing, but as a detail-obsessed pathological tweaker, I can't help but to wonder if the single performance patch design can ever really give me enough control to be satisfying. Though I suppose if it works well enough, that would be great and a huge time saver.

I've had the Adventure Series seemingly forever and even when I write with it, I end up replacing it. This sounds a bit of a step up, but despite occasional opportunities to write in this style, CSB still serves me better. When it comes to Strings, I find myself leaning into performance patches more, but for Brass I prefer more granular articulation control. Sadly, as much as I like this release (despite the lacking legato), it likely would not get used much.

Thanks Luke, that makes sense.

I did end up splurging on Pacific Brass at one point, which I suppose has a similar design philosophy, but haven't really used it on anything yet for the same reason - not enough control. The generic performance patch often just doesn't sound quite right, at least next to what I can do with other libraries. Classic Brass sounds like it has a much nicer (ie less harsh) tone though, at least to my ears.

Always been curious about CSB. Then again... between Synchron, Hollywood, Berlin and others - it's not like I actually need another brass library. Or any other type of orchestral library for that matter. But you know how it is...