iFretless Sax

What it does

A saxophone and woodwind instrument played on strings laid out like a fretboard, the lighter strings standing in for a keyboard’s white keys and the darker ones for the black keys. Pressure sets velocity, and the note letters can be switched off. The instruments run through alto, baritone and tenor saxophones, soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet and a synth lead, and the settings page adds a mid and a bass part alongside the primary one for a three-piece section, blended or split across the strings. Volume range, sample velocity range, bend range, fret count and string count are adjustable.

In the demo

Jade plays it standalone with a little BlackHole reverb behind it, fingering the strings and a Keystep at once. She works through the instruments, pulls the velocity ranges down to take the edge off the bass clarinet, then stacks three parts and loads the preset sax section.

Worth knowing

The plug-in would not load as an audio unit in AUM or GarageBand, so the whole demo happens in the standalone app. She says she will ask the developer about it.