Korg Forums

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for good brass sounds for my cover band. We play funk music like Kool and the Gang, Earth wind and fire, Chic... or pop songs like Sledgehammer for example. I'm new on the Korg Kronos and I can't find good brass sounds for that kind of music. Maybe you can suggest me good soundfonts or help me to create great funk brass/horns for play that kind of music and songs. Thank you very much for your help.

already you've listed 4 very different brass sounds. So you need to ask yourself, do you want to program a different brass sound for every song and try to get them sounding more authentic, or do you want to program one universal brass sound?

i'll tell you in my experience, the 2nd is my preferred option. I used to try and replicate every brass sound, but the process was tedious, and never met my high standards. Instead, i opted to create one big fat punchy brass sound that suited most songs, and made minor alterations to suit.

Also the kronos brass is quite weak imo, it takes quite a bit of work to get it sounding fat. Some tips, Layering is an absolute must to get a big brass sound, find a nice fat warm sound and make that the first octave, then layer it with the same patch, but take it up an octave. Then see if you can find a sharper, brighter brass sound and add that in the high octave. Run all that through some eq to boost the low end and high mids. If you need more power, you can keep layering brass sounds, maybe a sax sound, or even add a 3rd octave. But what i like to do is search for a good full synth brass sound, and add that in there. You'll find an array of those in the fast synth category. Then if you're still unhappy, run it all through some chorus, and maybe the mulititap chorus/delay effect, and a little reverb. With some mixing, and maybe a bit more fine eq'ing, you should be able to pull a brass sound that suits

good luck!

Before you start looking into SoundFonts I would recommend that you audition by category and see if what you're looking (well, listening) for isn't already in the Kronos. Internal bank E is a great place to start also and don't count out the AL-1 for good analog brass (especially if you're looking for vintage '70's and '80's synth brass sounds). You may find that there are also a number of combinations with brass sounds close to what you're looking for that may need just a touch of tweaking (if any tweaking at all).

Good luck!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/curh01c8l66htnv/brass.PCG

try loading that combination into your kronos and see what you think. just a little something i mocked up in 5-10 minutes

Thank you very much for your answers and for the Brass PCG. Tomorrow I'll try it. You gave me good advices about creating a good brass sound... If I can have a good brass sound who suits well for different songs, it will be great.

Korgman's free PCG also has some very nice Brass programs.

Thx for your Pcg file Ctravaglini. I tried it and it sounds good. I'm sure i could use it for songs and it gives me ideas about tweaking brass sounds. I'm new on the kronos so it's not easy when you start but this workstation is so dope. Thanks for all guys.

Also, not all the brass sounds that come with the Kronos are loaded by default. There are additional brass sounds in the full EXi3 library that you may want to load.

Hi pkarr - I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, but here is a couple of links to 2 tunes I use my own brass samples in.
They are currently living in my Fantom, and i've only had the Kronos for a week now, but hope to load them sometime soon.
I think I have the Multisample thing sussed already, but not so sure on how to save the Combination with Multisamples (there are 3 multisamples in the Combi - Sax Section, Trumpet Section and Baritone Sax)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDrx1apdZIE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe6ZtbkXNFw

Hi kaptainkeyboard, I listened to your 2 links and it's exactly the kind of sounds I need . I find it sounds very goood. U did a great job on the sounds and on your covers. If you can share them, i'm really interested On the soul cover, i like the sax section u created. Congrats man. Thanks

pkarr wrote:Hi kaptainkeyboard, I listened to your 2 links and it's exactly the kind of sounds I need . I find it sounds very goood. U did a great job on the sounds and on your covers. If you can share them, i'm really interested On the soul cover, i like the sax section u created. Congrats man. Thanks

Hi pkar, I found my raw brass samples and will use them to create some Programs and assemble a Combination.

Maybe someone in the forum can tell me how to save the Combination with the Program's and their Samples - I'm sure it's simpe to do, but I am a Kronos newbie and a very old man....

I'm a newbie on the kronos too, so I can't help u. Sorry.
I'm sure someone on this forum could explain how to save the combi with the program and samples.

If you've already made up the programs, all you need to do is go to a blank combination, and select the three programs you created. to do this, first go to where you see a000 german grand, click on this and change it to the location of your first brass sample. then do the same for slot 2 and 3. then go to the timber parameter tab down the bottom of the screen and change the midi channel for slots 2 and 3 to gch (just scroll up one past 16 and you'll get it) then you can save it.

if you haven't made up the programs yet, you can make it up from a blank program which means you have to program all the filter/amp parameters yourself, or you can take a stock brass patch and switch the multi samples over to the ones you've made up

they are some killer brass sounds by the way!! i love your programming work!

you're also more than welcome to send me the raw samples and i can make up the programs/combination for you in a few minutes

Hey CT, this is what I've done so far.
Created Multisamples for the Brass Section and made a Program for each - Sax Section, Trumpet Section (both in stereo) and a Baritone Sax in mono.
I have also made a program called a Steely Dan Brass, which uses all 3 of the above multisamples.

I have made one of those User Sample things where all my samples now live.

I have also made a Combi for pkarr called Sledgehammer, which is very close to the sound I get from my Fantom X8.

This is where I get stuck....

For me to post this sound set, I assume I have to save each of the Programs (with samples) and save the Combi which references all the programs.......or do I just save the Combi and all Progs and samples with be saved in one big chunk.
I have no idea how to do this....can you help.