Last week we released Big Growlin' Sax, the latest in our jazz and jazz-adjacent sample libraries. This highly stylized version of a saxophone is like an extension to the "New Standard" line or the second in the second generation if you will . With the JB-145: Archtop Guitar leading off the 2nd gen in December 2023 with Smart Delay 2.0 and our New Standard Dectet with Smart Delay 1.0 technology was completed earlier in 2024. But, we had one little scratch we wanted to itch before setting our sites on the exciting stuff we have on the horizon.
BGS, as we call it, takes the power of Smart Delay and the spirit of a very specific style to a new level of creativity, realism and fun! The name says exactly what it is and the sound you can expect. The biggest feature though, to me, is how it takes a basic keyboard or midi track and elevates to a three-dimensional performance that is so much more than what sample libraries of any style typically offer. Most, well let's face it, ALL other sample libraries are really just fancy keyboard sounds that you can enter notes with, or perform on your keyboard or midi controller of another type and then click away with your mouse. With our libraries, thats just where it starts. As you play in your phrase or punch in your notes, you are acting as the composer. Then, when you hit Smart Delay, hold on to your butts, you're about to hear what a real sax player would sound like. The bends, little scoops and falls, vibrato and yes the GROWL puts a big smile on your face with no more programming needed. Of course, you can override or additionally program anything your heart desires. We even put in a new keyswitch for this called "Vanilla" (see the manual for explanation). An additional note that seems especially poignant this year is that there is no AI and no modeling. Our samples are 100% authentic from the performance of a real sax player. The realism comes from the analysis of the context Smart Delay offers. It looks ahead and extracts samples that were played in that similar context: note before, note after, length, place in the measure, tempo and more. I'm probably preaching to the choir here since I expect many readers are current customers and know exactly what I'm talking about, but if you are new to us, BGS would be a great place to take the plunge and see what we're all about and it's priced to move!