Any Sax players in the building?

[Spsalms]

Hey since the moment my ears jizzed when I heard my first sax; I don't know what it was but I was that right there is beautiful. I've been messing around on the keyboard for quiet some time and honestly I can never get groovy or into my production. I have a STRONG Passion for production. I played the harmonica before and I truly love seeing harmonica players have seizures when they play. True passion is what I admire greatly over talent. So I was thinking man I truly love the sax why not give it go. I mean I work I can save up won't hurt. I think I like the Alto. But ofcoarse I may never know till I try them all out or get more knowledge of Jazz. So my question is which brand would be good to start off with. I'm willing to pay no more than 500 on it. I don't wanna burn cash but I don't realize to get good horns it requires some investment. Please I pray there are some real musicians out there on this site. (no offense) I could just wait till the weekly blues bar and talk to my cousin or if were lucky this blind homie that makes that sax cry. Please I would love some info. ( sorry I see some run-ons. I am taking remedial english in college hehe)

[Johnjohn]

Hey,

I started to play saxophone one year ago. I bought a cheap sax from Thomann store (famous music store in Germany). I had to fix a few things and it's not all that but it works for what I do: putting some riffs on my beats. Now I've heard about the brand Jupiter, that makes sax alto for about 700 bucks...

[bandcoach]

Jupiter/Yamaha/Selmer/Sterling/Fontaine all good to start with

[Johnjohn]

Startone SAS-75 Alto Saxophone - Cyberstore Thomann Français

Ok this is actually the one I got.

Here's an example of what I reach to do with it (putting some fx etc.):

Be With Me by Jonathan L'hostis on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

John.

[B Side Producer]

There's a few things you could try out but I'd advice renting a sax the first year or so.
I started out on a buescher from the 1950s, which got swapped pretty quickly for a study sax that was better playable. Both of the saxophones were about 700 euros. I rented them both for about 60 bucks for 3 months, a year, year and a half, at harrybakker. One of the better sax stores in NL. After about a year, year and a half, I bought myself a yanagisawa saxophone which I love.
Just recently bought myself an Akai EWI USB, toying around with it with reason. It's nice as well. Although the sax samples don't cut it with a real sax if you ask me. Got some nice refills from Bernie Kenerson for it right now. It's quite nice to do some synth work with it. But for a nice sounding sax, I rather pick up my alt sax. Samplemodeling.com does some nice sounding sax samples though.
Anyway, I would advice anyone to just rent your sax the first year and see after that what you want because it's gonna turn out to be one of two things. Or you're not gonna play anymore, which is gonna be thrown away money, or you're gonna want a better sax. An ok study sax starts at about 400 euros the bare minimum, more towards 700. Then the semi pros start at about a 1000 euros. That's even second hand I'm talking about right now, you can easily double that if you want to buy a sax new. It depends on the state of the sax, the year it got built, which brand, etc. Another reason you need a store with ppl you can trust. Sure, you can buy one for a few hundred bucks, same with other instruments, you can get a guitar for 25 bucks, but don't expect much quality from it.
Although the right kind of store will help you greatly and will tell you that saxophones don't degrade that easily if taken care of properly. My saxophone is still worth the same amount as I bought it for.
There is a big DON'T if you ask me, and that's buy your sax online. Find yourself a store at travelling distance that specialises in saxophones. You wouldn't believe the service I get for a little bit of trouble from my side, as I need to travel for about 1,5 hours to get there.
They just let me go home with about 1500 euros on mouthpieces just to give me the time to test them out for instance, etc.
Also getting the right kind of information is important, trusting the one that sells you the saxophone, having the time there to feel the saxophone to see if it fits you and your playing style, etc.
At the wrong kind of store or second hand you could end up with bent holes that don't shut properly anymore, notes being off key, which make it pretty useless for most situations, etc.
You could also check out the EWI. Great midi controller for anyone who wants a wind controller and not that expensive either.
Bernie wouldn't pick up his real sax anymore, I'm not convinced of that myself yet tbh. Still see a great use for my real sax The EWI is great fun though.
Certainly for ppl who make music with a computer.
Next to that, my keyboard playing chops aren't as good as my saxophone playing chops by far!
If you want, you can PM me with some more questions or just ask them here.

Check out the sax brothers from samplemodeling.com
Sample Modeling - The Sax Brothers


---------- Post added at 01:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 AM ----------

Check out Bernie Kenerson by the way. Great man, ready to help on the EWI. He's a professional EWI player and designs sounds for the EWI as well. Also gives skype lessons on the EWI.



Bernie Kenerson - The Art of the EWI