I have JABB V3 (the current version. I think the saxes and various basses are pretty good. Trumpets are horrendous -- sound more like a reed organ than a trumpet.. I have worked mostly with the individual trumpet sounds of the "notation - keyswitch" category. so maybe some of the other trumpet sounds are better.
The trumpet harmon mute sound is good but I can't get any accents. The straight mute sound really isn't usable at all. Bucket is mediocre. Overall, there are basic problems with HP in this setting. The most annoying one for me is that HP doesn't observe the marcato accent (the upside down "V") correctly. In big band, this will always be an indication of a sharp punch -- never a long note -- always separation. But HP plays it as a long note that is hardly separated at all. And I can't hear any difference between a passage with out slur and with slur. These aren't little nuances. They are essential qualities of big band style. I'd say the JABB set is a little better than MIDI playback, but without hours of tweaking, it is nothing like a realistic sound. That's the critical view. Now, for the supportive view. Even though it is nothing like the hype, I personally find it a good enough quality that it does help me hear things that I would have missed with MIDI playback -- not just bad notes, but weak viocings and phrasing. I have made numerous improvements to arrangements that, realistically, I never would have had time to make if I had to run it by a live band first. So despite its shortcomings, it is worth the money for me. My own mileage varies. Craig On 5/2/2013 10:22 PM, Girard Bowe wrote: > > And has anybody heard anything more atrocious than Finale's on-board > Garritan sounds for brass? Does Garritan JABB sound any better? If so, how > much tweaking is involved? Is there another jazz band sound option which > doesn't cost an arm and a leg? > > Giz > Richmond VA _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
