There's a great article in the new Keyboard Magazine (keyboardmag.com), a Jerry Korvarsky interview with David Paich and Steve Porcaro (of Toto) ... Anyway David is talking about how he was going about choosing sounds _ basically if it wasn't exactly right he'd just move on... But Steve would say if there's anything at all you like about it, then we can tweak it to make just right.. I'm paraphrasing but it's a very interesting discussion. Sounds "play" a certain way, they behave a certain predefined way when you trigger the key. So depending on the type of phrase you are attempting, it is either a good fit or it's not. The point being when it's not, you can adjust it to "behave" better for the particular line you are attempting to lay down. Sometimes it's a minor thing, sometimes you may have to rebuild it.

For example, many sampled saxophone sounds sound great when played as a member of a section. Say you were building a horn section with 2 trumpets, an alto, a tenor and a bari sax, if you build this section one track at a time, the individual sampled horns sound convincing and accurate (or can), but if you are attempting to play a lead or solo, then a sampled sax that works in a section may not "behave" enough as a solo instrument.

Long story short, you are looking for a sax and a flute, for some specific musical purpose. Others can tell you about great libraries, and you still may not think they work because it still depends on whether or not it has the exact "behavior" you are looking for... It's your vision.

The big step Yamaha made from four Elements to eight Elements that happened with the ES to XS series, introduced the "XA Control" concept. Expanded Articulation is a way to add more "behaviors" to your arsenal. You can bring in new and different articulations via controllers like the [AF1]/[AF2], MW, Ribbon, FC, etc.

What I'm suggesting is to narrow your search, you might want to decide what it is you are looking for, that you are not getting from the sounds you have available. Then determine if you can create the sound using the tools available. You may or may not be able to... But certainly there is no guarantee that getting a library that some recommends will leave you any closer to your goal, you may need to make adjustment to the recommended library.

Are you looking for a sound you can play "live" or is editing behavior into the file after-the-fact a possibility? There are a lot of tricks that go into making sampled saxes and flutes "play" well as solo/lead instruments... You may need to customize controllers to fit your playing style, or you may have to edit individual attack and release times of notes within a phrase. Using a Voice that has the XA CONTROL "legato" behavior, for example, can help in creating a convincing lead phrase. This will affect dramatically how the notes connect when you articulate a legato phrase (many notes on the same 'breath') It's the individual phrasing that is important. I've found some of the Ethnic Flutes "play" well as lead/solo flutes. As to sax, well, there are just too many different approaches.

Anyway, good luck in your search. But I hope what I've pointed out helps. Check out the article, there's some great stuff about sounds and synths in general.

wow Bad_Mister, how nice to hear from you!!
thank you so much!!!
I'm Chasmanian from the Motifator forum.
so much great stuff in your reply here.
so much for me to experiment and create with.
thank you again so much for the super awesome help!!!!