SWAM Saxophones - how to get a warmer/fuller sound?

[mrjoey09]

Hello all! I bought the SWAM Saxophones a couple years back and I've long been wondering how to get a fuller sound on them, particularly on the alto and baritone saxes, because they sound a little thin, particularly in the lower range. Not that they don't sound good right out the box-- they're awesome! It's just that I've heard demos from other people, mainly on YouTube, that feature a rounder/warmer/fuller/thicker/fatter sound than what I can get out of it, and I want to know what kinds of settings can be used.
So what do y'all think? Thanks in advance!

[jamcat]

[TheMaestro]

That sounds like a morph between a sax and a clarinet.

I've tried some of the SWAM instruments, and I could never get them to sound anything but fake, metallic, and meh.

[digitalboytn]

Change the reed and your embrochure

[mrjoey09]

That sounds like a morph between a sax and a clarinet.

I can't help but agree, haha.
But hopefully there is some way to make the saxes sound less fake, metallic, and meh. That's my exact problem! I guess for the time being, I'll keep experimenting a bit with the different parameters.

[jamcat]

That particular video is for getting a classical saxophone tone, which sounds closer to a clarinet. Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, was a clarinetist, and he designed the saxophone to be an orchestral instrument, combining the agility of a woodwind with the power of a brass instrument. The saxophone is of course a single-reed woodwind, like the clarinet.

I don't think the saxophone itself is any different for classical, just the performance style, which is more in line with how it was originally intended to be played, before all that jazz.

This particular tone fits mrjoey's description of "rounder/warmer/fuller" etc.

Here is an example of classical saxophone. You'll find the SWAM tone actually nails it pretty spot on.

[martiu]

Use Output Thermal

[Dirk Diggler]

How about EQ, effects, and maybe even an amplifier simulator of some sort?

[TheMaestro]

That particular video is for getting a classical saxophone tone, which sounds closer to a clarinet. Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, was a clarinetist, and he designed the saxophone to be an orchestral instrument, combining the agility of a woodwind with the power of a brass instrument. The saxophone is of course a single-reed woodwind, like the clarinet.

I don't think the saxophone itself is any different for classical, just the performance style, which is more in line with how it was originally intended to be played, before all that jazz.

This particular tone fits mrjoey's description of "rounder/warmer/fuller" etc.

Here is an example of classical saxophone. You'll find the SWAM tone actually nails it pretty spot on.

You're right!
And I was right in actually hearing the difference.
I've read now that the mouth piece is different from classical and jazz sax, and that create the difference.

[mrjoey09]

Hey all, I realize I'm reviving a fairly old thread here but hear me out!
After playing around with some of the different controls, I learned quite a bit about the different possible tone colors you can get with the SWAM saxes. Only now, though, I'm still curious about to get a fuller, jazz/funk-like tone (at least one that's not as metallic-sounding ) particularly with the alto sax and the baritone sax. I'm not sure which settings to tweak or even if it's a velocity thing. Tenor sounds perfect imo-- it's almost like it could do no wrong.
What do you all think?

[tapper mike]

Mouthpieces make all the difference


Not that it resolves your question. But SWAN needs to address this at the modeling stage.

[mrjoey09]

Truth, and also what I was thinking. Hopefully SWAM will add stuff like different mouthpieces in a future version!