Hi Martyn
I had a track that I wanted an authentic "soul" brass section and the virtual instruments I have are absolutely awful for this type of brass Sad
After MUCH research I narrowed down my choices to NI Session Horns and Chris Hein Horns Compact
To my ears the Chris Hein Horns are absolutey AWESOME! and even though they are more expensive than Session Horns (£145 as opposed to £99) the sound and options are just incredible
Session Horns did have a nice feature where it would automatically split chords across the different horns
However, as with all automatic processes it is not 100% so doing it manually is probably the way to go
The other keys to authentic horns (IMHO) are…
Make sure your MIDI notes are not perfectly lined up – it is the subtle timing differences that give that authentic “feel”
During held notes/chords spend some time adding volume automation to provide “swells”, crescendos, subtle variations on each instrument etc.
If you have access to “articulations” make sure you throw some in – eg rips, falls etc.
You could also experiment with micro tuning adjustments, which may help to “thicken” the sound and add to the realism
I would also be very wary of adding too many horns (depending on the style you are working on) – in soul, funk etc. the horn section is usually quite small
You might be “fooling” yourself into thinking that adding more instruments is improving the sound – it might just be the volume increase making it sound "better"
You may be better off spending your time tweaking the sounds
Here are a few tracks where I have put this in to practice:
Nice Guys
https://soundcloud.com/boydiemusic/nice-guys-1Mr Bad News
https://soundcloud.com/boydiemusic/mr-bad-news?in=boydiemusic/sets/boydie-original-songs I also recorded some "sax" on a track for NEIL C using my guitar synth that had a little more of a jazzy feel:
Sleeping With Strangers
https://soundcloud.com/neilconnor-2/sleeping-with-starngers-demo-master-26-may-2014As with most things "production wise" it is attention to lots of little details that add up to make the biggest difference
I hope this helps
What “horns” instrument are you using?