Moravia Reeds

Solo sampled saxophones, clarinets, & double reeds

(52 Votes)
Audio Player
5.0 (Updated 4 months ago)
856.4MB
March 07, 2022
Reaktor 6
Instrument Sampler

DESCRIPTION

V5 adds four double reed instruments, and a new GUI by Bolle. Thanks, Bolle!

Moravia Reeds is a solo reed synthesizer and includes:

* Six saxophones: soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, and contrabass.
* Four clarinets: Eb, Bb, bass, and contrabass.
* Four double reeds: oboe, English horn, bassoon, and contrabassoon.

It's a sample player and uses phase-aligned samples.

Phase-aligned samples make possible clean morphing across dynamics and pitch. Crescendos, decrescendos, slurs, and pitch bends are all free of sample-playback artifacts. The samples are looped and will play continuously.

The samples were created using SNDAN, a sound analysis program created by Prof. James W. Beauchamp. He was a research professor and professor emeritus at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He pioneered research into spectral analysis and synthesis and his career spanned 50 years.

This is a monophonic solo instrument. The dynamics are playable by a modulation wheel, foot pedal, wind controller, or breath controller:

• Mod wheel. The dynamics are controlled by CC1 and the tonguing by either the wheel or by note-on velocity.
• Foot pedal. The dynamics are controlled by CC4 and the tonguing by either the pedal or by note-on velocity.
• Wind controller. The dynamics are controlled by either CC2 or CC11 and the tonguing by note-on velocity.
• Breath controller. The dynamics are controlled by either CC2 or CC11 and the tonguing by the suddenness of the breath.

I use both a TEC breath controller from https://www.tecontrol.se/products and an AKAI EWI Solo wind controller. I think maximum expressiveness is achieved using breath, just like on the original acoustic instruments.

Features include vibrato, flutter-tonguing, subharmonics, and the speed of slurring (legato note-to-note transitions). The pitch bend goes as wide as 24 semitones so it can be played on a Linnstrument.

COMMENTS  (67)

HERVE T
1 month ago
Hi Chet, Thanks a lot for all your instruments, and i wish you an Happy New Year. Kind Regards Hervé
Brian OSullivan
3 months ago
Hey Chet. More like, when Logic needs to reload the channel, it takes a VERY long time for Reaktor to load with Moravia in it. It's happening now, that's why I'm writing this... I got one of those AU hosting errors, and when I hit 'recover', I might as well take a shower and go for a walk, it takes a long time.
Chet Singer
4 months ago
Hello Brian. I've never experienced a freeze. But this instrument does use about 1.6 GB of RAM per instance.
Brian OSullivan
4 months ago
This is a great one. Thank you Chet. One thing - I wonder if anyone else is having this happen - using it in Logic 11, I'm having freezes, I believe, with this in the instrument slot. It could be my low RAM causing jams, but maybe not?
Daniel Scott Landis
4 months ago
Thanks, Chet, for all your hard work. This is cool. I especially appreciate the Bass and Contrabass Saxes and Eb and Contrabass Clarinets.
windplayer
4 months ago
This is really a masterpiece and a "one-of-a-kind-ensemble" at this user library!!
Studiowaves
4 months ago
Really nice work Chet. I just got ver 3_1. Not sure if the benders are working or not, but they do change locations from preset to preset.
Chet Singer
5 months ago
Thanks for your kind words. I know the problem with the benders, and I'll upload a new version that fixes it within a day or two. CC1 (or CC4) =0 is treated as "not" a note-on, which is why it's not triggering. I'll have to think about that. The vibrato was designed for brass instruments, where it's pretty much impossible to have bipolar vibrato (except for trombones). If reed instruments are different perhaps, I should have a panel option for both types. It's my pleasure to build and share these instruments. Have fun!
Frigolito
5 months ago
My time just flies away playing with this! Well done! The Reaktor community is really spoiled. :P I do however have some critique (for future reference, this is version 3.0): 1. None of the faders in the 'Benders' section can be moved. Perhaps this is simply not yet implemented? 2. When setting the air input to 'Mod Wheel' or 'Foot Pedal' (the ones where the attack is not velocity controlled), if you attempt to do a crescendo from niente (striking the key while the CC fader is at 0 and then increment it), the instrument is instead completely silent during the CC value incrementation. Right now, I'm working around it by clamping the CC between 1 and 127, which works ok, except that you always get the attack when striking the key. 3. Considering that the pitch tends to drop rather than rise when the air pressure rises in single reed instruments, the vibrato – which currently does the opposite – sounds a bit unnatural. After digging into your intricate patchwork and changing the pitch in the vibrato module to go from 1 to –1 (rather than 0 to –1) and in the opposite direction to the air, it sounds very natural, especially when doing Dixieland jazz on the clarinet with a very fast vibrato. (Although my quick fix breaks the time triggered options of the 'Amt Mod' setting by initializing the pitch too flat.) In any case, to have this at your disposal as a Reaktor licensee is indeed a luxury. Thanks for sharing the fruits of your efforts with us! :)
windplayer
5 months ago
"I routed this into Jorg Holzamer's Spacetricx reverb" - Good advice. I also recommend to combine it with Vitaverb (new skin by Bolle).
Goremall
5 months ago
This sounds great! I would take this over sessions strings any day. Easier to understand, more reliable. Chet always has amazing physical modeling builds. I routed this into Jorg Holzamer's Spacetricx reverb and it's pretty unreal combo. Bravo!!
lilpil
5 months ago
This is really quite incredible. ty!
Chet Singer
5 months ago
It downloads and unzips OK for me.
windplayer
5 months ago
For me, it works. Perhaps, it has to do with the unzipper-program? Or the big data volume?
Jesse Voccia
5 months ago
I am having the unzip error too. I just downloaded again and the same problem.
bindlestiff
5 months ago
Get out the permanent marker for this UL high-water mark. What a beauty, so wonderfully smooth. Stunning results from the git go; Thanks for sharing!
Grief_Stew
5 months ago
Yep. Works now!
windplayer
5 months ago
I agree to all those positive opinions. When finishing this ensemble, it is an all-in-one package for woodwinds. Great!
Esteban Villanova
5 months ago
Thank you and Prof. James W. Beauchamp for this!
Chet Singer
5 months ago
I've uploaded it a second time. I've downloaded it and opened it successfully, so I think it's OK.
Chet Singer
5 months ago
It was corrupted during the upload somehow. I'll upload it again.
Grief_Stew
5 months ago
For some reason, every time I try to extract the file, I get a "data error."
Bolle
5 months ago
Best virtual reed instrument i have ever heard. Finally got around to exploring it more. Your average Kontakt library eats sand compared to this exquisite instrument. Happy to have played a part in the GUI design. I can't wait for a set of sopranos to be included. Also: the build is so complex and intricate, it must have taken you ages to build. So many options! LOVE it!!!
windplayer
5 months ago
Thanks for updating your saxophone-ensemble, Chet!
andrew aronson
9 months ago
neat! i first realized this property of sampling from the samples that come with the original fairlight CMI. many of its samples are remarkably coherent in phase, even though the samples are of entirely different instruments its often possible more often than not to morph between them, basically seamlessly
bindlestiff
1 year ago
Your ens keep me engaged in messing w/ breath control projects/builds. Cool things happen. ty!
bindlestiff
1 year ago
Your ens keep me engaged in messing w/ breath control projects/builds. Cool things happen. ty!
windplayer
1 year ago
Great, you did this! Nice GUI by Boll, too!
Andres Villarroya
1 year ago
Good job bro!
Chet Singer
1 year ago
Hello Quotation, the result of adding residual noise into the phase-aligned tones are phase-aligned noisy tones, which can be cross-faded across pitch and amplitude.
Chet Singer
1 year ago
Hello Javier, This is sampling tech, so those parameters aren't available here. You might want to try the Silverwood Tenor Sax, which has some of those parameters.
Javier Rodriguez
1 year ago
Excelent instrument. Any chance of having "Parameters" like in Silverwood Bb Clarinets in sax? Parameters like "Register", "Stiffness", "Aperture", "Noise" you put in Silverwood Bb Clarinets add A LOT of playability and realism. Those would be really nice in sax.
Quotation
1 year ago
Hello Chet. Thank you for the technical explanation! I don't quite understand step 4 and 5. First you make phase-aligned WAV, then do subtraction to get residual noise WAV, then add noise back to phase-aligned WAV. So the result here should be just the original WAV? Maybe I misunderstood the "residual noise" part. Could you explain more about that? Thanks.
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Excuse me, I said "Modal Bank" when I should have been saying "Sine Bank".
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Hello Wiola. You're very welcome. There's no room to post the details here, but I'll start a thread on NI's Building With Reaktor forum where I'll share the method and the scripts (Linux and Python). I should be able to begin tomorrow, Monday at the latest. Using the Modal Bank is feasible, and I've tried it. The Modal Bank results sound superior, imo, but low-pitched instruments like trombones and baritone saxophones require many harmonics, meaning a lot of CPU. This ensemble's method, using samples, sacrifices some of the quality but requires less CPU, regardless of the instrument being modeled.
Wiola Thoms
2 years ago
Chet, all your work is miles ahead of most other stuff and with this it just keeps getting farther out there. Sounds realistic and it's really playable too. I'd love to get my own wavetables like this. Can you share your workflow with Sndan? What about making wavetables with regular Additive synths or Modal Bank?
bindlestiff
2 years ago
Hey Chet, thanks for responding. But, Hey, don't change your flow for a minor gripe. I can still use the older ens for those textures, etc. I can use the new one with breath control, it has it's own dynamics and all. I like diversity, the sampletastic textures to, tho', I'm so impure I keymash what I coulda played on the real thing, but this kinda stuff is hilarious fun too https://youtu.be/EuggcDJOED8 ! Thanks for your time.
Chet Singer
2 years ago
"Growl" on the Silverwood Sax corresponds to "Subharmonics" on this one. Each effect modulates the amplitude by the bore pitch. I think it sounds a little better on the physical model than here, but this is the best I can do.
windplayer
2 years ago
At your other sax, you integrated a growl-effect. Is it possible to use it also in this ensemble?
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Skevos, thanks for your kind words. I like the idea of a Soft Air modulation source. I'll get to work on it.
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Skevos, I didn't snapshot-enable the Air Input control, meaning that once you set it, it will remain fixed from snapshot to snapshot. If that's a problem, check the "Include in Snapshots" box in that control's settings. Then, I believe it will save it in presets, too.
Skevos Mavros
2 years ago
Oh, I just noticed that when I save a Reaktor Preset File with my preferred Matrix settings etc, it doesn't seem to include the Air Input setting - I have to select Wind Controller CC#2 each time. Is that a Reaktor issue or a bug? A pretty minor one to be sure. :-)
Skevos Mavros
2 years ago
The changes made to v3 are stunning! Using it in Wind Controller CC#2 mode with my Yamaha WX5 is a terrific experience. Aligned Sax is fast, responsive, and flexible - and the mod matrix gives me so much flexibility! Almost every feature request that I had in mind is doable with the matrix. After a bit of playing around, I've added Flutter and Subharmonic effects to both Pitchbend Down and Hard Air, and it's enormous fun (and thanks for making pitchbend Up and Down as separate items in the matrix - Every wind-capable instrument should do this!). About the only thing I'd like to see added (yes, I'm greedy) is a (user-definable?) "Soft Air" line in the matrix - I'd love to attach that to the slur time so that quiet notes can have slow lazy slurs. Again, thanks for this wonderful instrument!
Chet Singer
2 years ago
bindlestiff, I'll compare this version and the previous one and look for unintended changes.
sy lion
2 years ago
great works, thank you. Would you add soprano saxophone ? I like Kenny G style soprano SAX.
sy lion
2 years ago
great works, thank you. Would you add soprano saxophone ? I like Kenny G style soprano SAX.
bindlestiff
2 years ago
This update doesn't have the same controllability as the earlier builds. I am very much enjoying experimenting with my DIY breath control, but I am far from adept, coming from a string background originally. I've also enjoyed laying down tracks with a touch controller and a simple keyboard with your first eg.'s. I've been rewarded by messing with the interesting textures as finger moves slightly across the same note range, as well as the incredibly smooth transition between notes; I thought you had brilliantly programmed it this way, for a realistic noodly lead feel? Only the - now the notes punch out at once, even with sustain and release, the next note must be triggered key mash-style, without smoothly transitioning into the note through sliding across the pad. No more cool gritty texture to dwell upon/milk etc. This doesn't just happen with hardware, even UI interfaces like the hex keyboard can do smooth slide scale transitions with your earlier builds, but not this latest. Well, at least I have those early folder uploads... until NI decides they are no longer "valid", another lovely little UI boid flown far beyond the paywall... I can't seem to tweak it into workability in this manner through the mod matrix, glide, etc. I guess I'm dumb. Appreciate your work.
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Skevos, the mod matrix will now let you modulate flutter when the breath velocity / breath amount rises above 96. Also, the reason the subharmonics sound like vibrato on low notes is that they still vibrate in the first saxophone register, and even below. Maybe I should change that.
mv audioware
2 years ago
This reminds me of SampleModeling's trumpets and strings for Kontakt, but this is a free alternative. Nice work Chet!
Softyman123
2 years ago
A few minutes with this so far, sounding great and highly playable. Thanks again for adding to the free Sax library with your excellent experiments. You've knocked it out the park again. All three sampled models sound fine, as do your physical modelled wind instruments. The only one that doesn't come up to your best standard to me is the ironically highly popular download Blocks Dannenberg Wind Oscillator. Not that it's bad or anything.
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Hello Ariel and thank you for your kind words. I learned physical modeling by reading the works of university professors who developed PM techniques in the 1990s. Names include Drs. Perry Cook, Gary Scavone, Julius Smith, Vesa Välimäki, Stefania Serafin, and Toshifumi Kunimoto. That being said, there's no PM in this instrument. This instrument plays phase-aligned samples, such as some commercial products like Chris Hein's orchestral sample libraries.
Birthday Monster
2 years ago
Bindlestiff, that is a great idea for a project, cheers! Chet this sounds unreal. The subharmonics are a great touch. How did you learn so much about DSP and physical modelling? I read some SOS articles and stuff, but they didn't go much beyond modelling using subtractive synthesis, and it was hard enough to understand that lol.
windplayer
2 years ago
Yeah, Chet, then I think I had the impression because using earphones at your first version. It is fine, you integrated some effects to add some dirt. I like to have some punch at the lower register of the baritone.
Paule
2 years ago
Reaktor and Monark are testing Chet Singer's Aligned Sax 2 Reaqktor ensemble: https://archive.org/details/aumm-nostra-11-lost-worlds
Chet Singer
2 years ago
No, the tenor sax is unchanged.
windplayer
2 years ago
Thank you! Did you also change the tenor sax? - I think, there is an improvement in sound and playability.
bindlestiff
2 years ago
Great! I was already pulling fat sounds out of this, but the updated addition of baritone has freed my inner Sandman and finds me laying down GOF-inspired grooves. Very expressive. Thanks!
Paule
2 years ago
Thank you, Chet.
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Bindlestiff, that's a really neat project!
Chet Singer
2 years ago
Hello windplayer, I'm always looking around for new synthesis methods. I studied phase-aligned samples and decided to try and make a sax. Now that the sample-generating programs are finished it's actually a lot less work to do this than to do physical modeling. I plan to add a baritone sax and then maybe try some brass.
bindlestiff
2 years ago
@Ariel Kenan Yes. I went with the dirt-cheap "AIRduino" build, which I believe was originally demoed by Timothy Anderson from U of Montana. There's a ton of resources online on how to, but I've been having fun with my own variant of this - https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/costis/arduino-breath-controller-for-cheap-usb-midi-fe3a8f?ref=search&ref_id=breath%20pressure%20sensor&offset=0 Open Source. Costs about 90 bux in fiat currency, but you can shave that down with a little innovation. Cheers.
windplayer
2 years ago
Thank you, Chet. This new experiment sounds promising! Is it your idea to create sounds with different systems? (I ask because you already created a great windcontroller-sax at the library)
Skevos Mavros
2 years ago
Sounds really good! I'm going to dig out my dusty Wind Controller and give it a whirl tomorrow. Suggestion - It would be great if the flutter could be set to engage after a certain level of Mod Wheel/Breath Velocity. Possible Bug - Below a certain note the Subharmonics start to sound like Vibrato - even if the vibrato is off.
Birthday Monster
2 years ago
@bindlestiff Cool. I get it, I've also been inspired a lot by Chet. Is there a tutorial for how you built the wind controller?
bindlestiff
2 years ago
Not only filling a UI instrument gap but with wonderfully expressive, lovely warm sound quality. Gotta love the dedication and exactitude to a pro level shared w/ the UI! This creator inspired me to DIY a wind controller and continually pushes the possibilities forward. This progression has been kinda fascinating. ty bigs
Birthday Monster
2 years ago
User library superhero
lilpil
2 years ago
This is very nice. Great sound. Can only get better. Thanks for sharing!
now