Hi folks, I get asked quite a bit in private email from forum members on tips and tricks to edit or (tweek) voices. So I thought I'd share a tip with you guys every so often as the PSR's do have basic synth editing.

Today's Tips: "That Amazing Yamaha Sweet Soprano Sax..., how did they do that"?

I want to share a few tips with members on how to get an "AMAZING" more realistic solo using a soprano sax (this also applies to other saxes). First let me explain why that Yamaha Sweet Soprano makes people wet their pants. The important terms that apply are "crescendo, and decrescendo". What makes a soprono sax so beautiful is the crescendos within the solo, and how the player will modulate. Those changes in volume are controlled by the player, and when added at the right moments you'll find yourself making love to your speakers

The Sweet Soprano voice sounds so authentic because Yammie has a crescendo within the voice itself. Because of this the sound is more realistic. However, the volume change within that sound is "fixed". It is not controllable by the user. When you play this sound the crescendo will always be at the same time.

If you want to play a more realistic solo you'll need to control the crescendos manually. Yammie users I suggest not selecting the Sweet Soprono Sax for this-considering the manual volume change will not work well with that voice , so chose the normal preset soprano sax.

First you'll most likely want to make a few parameter edits to the sax sound itself. My suggestions are this:

-First make a slight adjustment to the "Attack" (in the positive direction). This way the sound will have a smoother start. Play with the Attack level until it sounds good to you--be mindful not to go too high Otherwise when you press a note you'll have time to get a cup of coffee before it reaches max level I would suggest nothing above +5.

After you play with the "Attack" you're gonna need to make a very minute change with the "Cutoff". Again "minute" is the key word there. This will round the sound out and better balance the changes made to the attack. Again adjust the cuttoff in the positve direction. Doing this will bring the "reed" sound back into it and can even make it sound stronger the further you go in the positive direction. Going in the negative direction will "darken" the sound. So unless you're going for a dark "someone just passed away solo", don't go in the negative direction

Next make effects settings that work for you. Sopranos, we often hear are drowned in reverb So don't go overboard with that effect. You may find an EQ adjustment to work well too.

Now you'll need to work the volume within this sound while playing. Yammie users if you got a "volume pedal" hook it up! Roland users if your board has a D-beam ya already got the tools. just set "Active Espression" to Volume or "Assignable" to Volume. Also for the Roland users--if you use the D-Beam I would suggest a lower "sensitivity level". If you have it set too high you'll get breaks within the sound.

Now PRACTICE and ENJOY.... Your sax solos will be much more authentic using this method, and you'll be able to play with a much higher level of expression. This will also apply to other voices like violins too. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. The result will be very rewarding.

Best Regards,
Squeak