Hello, I use VSL to compose music to be played by an ensemble. I have very little formal training, and since VSL sampled the complete range of the instruments, I sometimes write out of the instruments' "comfortable" range (this is not a big issue as this information is widely available). However, there are things I've learned from feedback from some of the players in the group that are not so easily available, such as repeatedly jumping octaves on a trumpet are hard to pull off, jumping 7ths on a trombone are tough, 2 trumpets in unison in the higher register will often times sound out of tune etc. While the music sounds fine going through VSL, having real humans play it is another matter.

So I'm wondering, if anybody out there can recommend a good book that's full of useful info like this. I have rimsky-korsakov's book and strauss' treatise on instrumentation, but both of those aren't really suited to my needs (the strauss book refers to saxophones as a new instrument and has little less than a page of info).

My group is mostly brass, winds and percussion with 2 double basses, no strings other than that. Any help will be very much appreciated!

Thanks!

Bw

Thank you! Looks like a good resource.