For me it's #1. I had to decide between #1 and #5 at the end, but to me #1 gives me a clearer image of the positioning of the players in the room (don't know how to word that differently). The others feel a little bit too disconnected for my taste
I like 1 and 4, seems the most controllable in a mix. 1 cuts better, but 4 has a nice balance to it. Both useable, 1 in a dense mix, 4 in a lighter mix. Imo
I thought there would be a winner for this battle but apparently the votes are well divided. That's interesting!
I agree with many of the remarks made here. I am just a little surprised about what some of you think about the reverb.
Horns don't have an "ideal" sound in dry environment. At least for me.
They do sound slightly different, but listen to that high end bite there. Are you sure you didn't - maybe by accident - mix in some of the same samples there? Because it REALLY sounds like 4,5,6 share some of the same samples.
I like the tone of 2 best and overall it sounded most natural to me.
Let me add: the shorts on #2 seems to have an unnatural reverb, almost like an echo.
I don’t really love any of them. Sounds like the same library with different treatment to me, or very similarly recorded super dry. Performance sounds decent in all, but it’s got that SM vibe going on - choked sound where unnatural resonances poke through especially in higher dynamics. The “room” isn’t convincing to me either. Loving the arrangement though!
This was an interesting experiment! As of today you've had over 100 votes and many insightful comments. When do you plan to reveal the instruments/setups used to create these five versions?