Now that Syntheway has released its virtual brass instrument plugin Aeternus Brass (Windows), you can audition your solo and ensemble parts for nearly every brass instrument at your leisure. With this plugin, you won't have to wait for players to empty spit valves or retune, tell them to stop laughing, or remind them to sit still and focus long enough to get through a rehearsal.

Aeternus Brass features the sounds of solo trumpet, cornet, trombone, tuba, French horn, flugelhorn, full brass sections, and orchestral brass ensembles. Using the Brass Mode Selector, you can switch between brass sections and individual instruments.

The plugin offers a Vibrato Section, which contains an LFO with modulation depth, frequency, and offset. An ADSR envelope generator with attack, sustain, decay, and release parameters is also included so that you can fine-tune each sound and get a realistic performance. MIDI automation with complete MIDI continuous controller commands is provided as well.

Aeternus Brass is available as a VST instrument for $33.90 from the Syntheway Web site.