Eb Alto Saxophone C#4 accuracy.
Eb Alto Saxophone has some issues in the software (and website) where a C#4 has a 'soft' sound like the notes above it. On a real Alto Sax, a C#4 has a 'straighter' sound like the pitches below it. I do understand that synthesizing saxophones is a lot harder than other instruments. Aside, this is an annoying issue, especially when creating chords with other saxophones. Are there any other instruments that have note 'tone accuracy' issues? This is a problem with both SoundFonts, the default and the font for pre-Musescore 2.0.
Comments
There are several sound issues in the standard sound fonts on various instruments. People are attempting to create better sound fonts all the time. If you find a sound font you like for the instrument you can install that sound font and use it for that instrument if you like.
You can fix it yourself by selecting the note, looking at the inspector and changing the velocity (which is the volume). In the current version you must do it one at a time, in 2.1 you will be able to do all at once if you want the same volume on all of them.
Alto Saxophone is unique in tone and seems not to be used for orchestral work in the early days. This is due to the pitch being incompatible with other purely temperate wind instruments. However, taking advantage of this characteristic, Bizet has successfully incorporated it into orchestral works. The tone of “L'Arlésienne" Alto Saxophone is a soft mellow tone which is impossible in midi from the beginning. The sound of Billy Born can not be put out by midi because of pitch. As a device, if you cover with a horn it sounds like the pitch has been modified, it will be a close tone, but the sound of the attack can not be issued. It is impossible for midi to play violin or viola's mute tone. Label exquisitely combines piccolo, celesta, horn to give pipe organ tone in “Boléro”.
In reply to Alto Saxophone is unique in by Yuzuru Murayama
With the correct sound font (which may not even exist) you can make the playback of any instrument in any style you like. The problem is the sample of a note is singular and cannot be changed over multiple occurrences of the same note without changing sound fonts in mid staff. If the sample is of a jazz musician playing a high energy jazz note on a saxophone, it will never sound right for L'Arlesienne. If the same is recorded from a soft attack playing mp it will not sound right on a high energy jazz band piece. The phenomenon is not unique to the saxophone, it is true of every instrument, in every range. There are different methods and sounds on every instrument such as the violin (when it's called a fiddle) and the trumpet. A trumpet in a jazz band just sounds different than the exact same instrument and musician in a symphonic band. Both sounds are obviously trumpets, they just sound different due to playing technique.
For some reason, the saxophone never caught on as an orchestral instrument, probably because Beethoven did not have it as an option. I say this because the vast majority classical music since Beethoven has used the instruments he used. There are isolated exceptions and people write classical music for every instrument, but for the most part the instrumentation is what Beethoven used with only the number of instruments varying. The most common exceptions being the addition of certain percussion instruments and harps.
Thank you for your comment.
The saxophone appeared since 1840 so it was a musical instrument that was not in Beethoven's era.
The playing style which is frequently used by genre is based on how to output harmonics, and jazz etc. seems to have a lot of playing style that emphasizes overtone (gives out a lot).
In classical music, it is mostly performed with the original tone of the instrument, but horn uses the gesturing style called “gestopft” and "half stop", and violin and viola produce harmonic overrides by "fraziolet". Horn is famous for the gestopft(in fact the "half stop") of Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in 2 movement.
The solo of the violin "fraziolet" is effectively used in Debussy's "La Mer".
By the way, horn which is originally a musical instrument of common people is hardly used in jazz because sound is extremely beautiful and performance is difficult.
When I need to change sound fonts in the middle of a song I will apply several lines to the same instrument. And if I use odd harmonic instruments, such as clarinet or xylophone, if I need a soft tone then use even harmonic overtone instruments.