Advice Request: Session Horns (not Pro), Kontakt 7 Player, and Articulations

soundofmatt

I've read several threads here in the boards (thanks, everybody for that!) about Session Horns and how to access multiple Articulations in a single Kontakt instance. I have a workable but awkward solution, and I'm seeking input and hopefully some better suggestions.

In Kontakt 7 Player (I don't have full Kontakt) I can create multiple Session Horns instruments, each with the same section (Tp1TsTb) and configured with a different Articulation, add them all to the same multi, assign each to a different MIDI channel, and access each instrument independently. All the instruments are routed to the stereo output of Kontakt and into the DAW (PT 12.7.0 for me). Then I create multiple MIDI tracks, one for each articulation MIDI channel, record the MIDI for that articulation, and assign it to the appropriate input of Kontakt.

Doing this, I can record all the basic horn parts with (say) channel 1, then go back in on channel 2 and get all my staccato stabs, then go in on channel 3 and get my doits, channel 4 and get my fades, etc etc. When playing back, everything ends up on the same stereo track and sounds just fine.

This is all working, but ... well, it is kind of a beating. All those MIDI tracks and channel switching and re-playing parts and on and on and on. It gets even worse if I ever want to record each instrument from SH independently (there are apparently instrument editing tricks I can do to get a solo trombone, solo sax, etc instruments). Please tell me somebody has a better way of doing this other than "buy Session Horns Pro" lol