In this video Peter is playing a short piece using the SWAM Big Band Template. Throughout the whole performance only a single Divisimate Orchestration Preset ist used. In the left hand Peter is playing the bass line through voice 1, while in the right hand he is playing the full big band with 4 trumpets, 5 saxophones and 4 trombones in the melody range. He is only playing single notes here, but through a combination of different transposers on the instruments a full big band voicing is created.
You can download the preset used here:
Each instrument of the brass and saxophones has a transposer which is locked to the scale of A harmonic minor. The transpositions for the individual instruments are as follows:
| Instruments | Transpositions |
|---|---|
| Trumpet 1, Alto Sax 1 | 0 (Original Pitch) |
| Trumpet 2 | -2 scale degrees (down a third) |
| Trumpet 3, Alto Sax 2 | -3 scale degrees (down a fourth) |
| Trumpet 4, Tenor Sax 1 | -5 scale degrees (down a sixth) |
| Trombone 1, Tenor Sax 2 | -7 (down an octave) |
| Trombone 2, Baritone Sax | -9 (down a third and an octave) |
| Trombone 3 | -10 (down a fourth and an octave) |
| Bass Trombone | -12 (down a sixth and an octave) |
When we look at the the three sections individually, we get a better idea of the relationship of the resulting voicings. Here are the resulting chords within the sections with the top note A.
- Notice how the scale Peter chose was "A Harmonic Minor" - this results in very interesting colorations, like the 6# in the example above. That's part of what makes this preset effective.
Want to learn more about these kinds of voicings? Check out this article:
