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The relative levels of the three layers are set using controls in the instrument’s
Main section. The relative levels of the three layers also respond to MIDI note
velocity. For example, when playing soft notes, the volume level of the Air and
Keys layers increases with respect to the Main layer. This replicates the
behaviour of a real wind instrument which becomes relatively “noisier” as it is
played more quietly. When playing louder notes the Main layer becomes
proportionately louder and comes to dominate the sound.
The Main layer of each SaxLab 2 note also includes an internal four-voice
crossfade which enables smooth legato transitions from one part of a note’s
envelope to another. This crossfade also enhances note-to-note transitions
which are very important in recreating realistic wind instrument sounds.
The output of the sample-playback oscillator is routed to SaxLab 2’s Body
section. The Body section contains a filter which
modifies
the frequency
spectrum of the oscillator's output. Here the overall tonal characteristics of the
currently loaded SoundSet can be modified.
An important part of the sound of a real acoustic instrument arises from the
real-time modulation of its sound. SaxLab 2 enables the user to modulate its
sound using three sources: envelopes, LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators) and
MIDI controllers.
SaxLab 2’s Amplitude Envelope section is used to control the way that the
instrument’s amplitude varies over time and includes controls for Attack Time,
Decay Time and Release Time. A second modulation source is SaxLab’s LFO
which can be mapped to either or both of the sound’s amplitude and pitch and
so can be used to create either tremolo or vibrato effects. A third modulation
source is real-time MIDI controllers. These can be mapped to numerous
destinations. Examples include MIDI Velocity to the amplitude envelope
depth, Modulation Wheel to LFO depth and MIDI Breath Control to brightness.
Note that for a realistic emulation often the control of SaxLab “Bright” by
Velocity leads to a more realistic performance than using the “Amp” by
Velocity. Actually Velocity should control more of the brightness (“Bright”) and
less of the amplitude (“Amp”).
Another important part of the sound of a real acoustic instrument is that no
two notes are exactly the same. No matter how hard the player may try, each
note is slightly different. Our ears are very sensitive to these differences and
can easily detect when two notes are identical. For this reason, SaxLab 2
incorporates Body, Air and Pitch Deviation controls which introduce small
random variations to the Body filter, the “air” component of the sound, and to
the overall pitch of the note each time a note is triggered.
SaxLab 2’s Effects section contains two effects: Chorus and Reverb. The
Chorus effect can be used to "thicken" a single sound creating the impression
that it contains multiple voices. The Reverb effect is used to create the
impression that the instrument is being played in a real acoustic space.
The audio outputs of SaxLab 2 are automatically connected to the input of
your host software's mixer. Here you can set the pan position of SaxLab 2's
output. Hopefully, this section has given you a brief overview of how SaxLab 2
works. More detailed information can be found in the following sections.
LinPlug SaxLab User Guide 2.0.3
