I finally got around to unpacking & playing the synthetics (thanks to this thread) I ordered. I got: black ("bamboo?") Forestone, BARI, and Legere Studio and Classic, and played them on my (old, brass, not stainless) Ponzol II-V-I on an early SBA. I didn't order Fibracell because I had one in the shop from long ago, that I hated, and after reading this thread I found it and played it again and still hated it (the strength felt right through the lows and the middle range, but any high notes it clamped closed and wouldn't play at all).
To cut to the chase, here are files of the Legere "Classic" (soft) vs a Rigotti Gold #2 (light). The Rigotti is a bit toward the stiffer side of the #2 light:
View: https://soundcloud.com/justsaxes/sets/cane-vs-synthetic-tenor-rigotti-vs-legere-studio
The Rigotti was a reed already selected out, that I liked, previously.
These two files were recorded on my phone voice recorder. When I played them back on my phone, the result was the opposite of what I felt when playing. When I uploaded to Soundcloud and played back on PC with headphones, the result was a lot like what I felt and heard playing live, in a small room with wood floors.
OK...important stuff noted, here is why there's only Legere Classic vs Rigotti Gold: as mentioned, I have never met a Fibracell that was playable for me, so I didn't order any. I ordered a range of BARI brand, and they played OK -- they didn't close off on high notes, and played OK throughout the range -- but for me the tone was sort of rubbery (don't know a better word for it but many will immediately know what I mean) and the pitch center was freakishly flexible to me, not in a way that I liked. To me the BARI felt, to play, like the noodle-soft (fake) rubber guitars looked in those old 1980s glam rock MTV videos. They are probably for someone (someone for whom Chu tenors are still not flexible enough for their taste), but not for me. I made the two recordings for my own reference, and I knew after 20 seconds I'm not going to be playing BARI at this point in my development, so I didn't need to hear them recorded.
I also ordered 1 of the black Forestone, and I can't speak to how good those could be for me personally as I ordered it a bit too hard. It felt pretty good, but it was just a little too stiff for me to draw a conclusion. I'll order some more a notch softer and see what happens (there's a good chance synthetic do have a place in my own development, after all -- so thanks for this thread). I didn't order the white Forestone because reviews seemed to indicate I wouldn't likely stock them or want to play them. The black have a shot, though, at least on the latter count.
Here is what I found, personally: The Legere Classic was a very balanced reed with a quick attack and even scale, subtoning pretty well -- not exceptionally well, but good enough -- and all ranges felt good. The high notes were easy to play, though maybe not as full as with Rigotti, and altissimo may have spoken a little easier than with Rigotti and most reeds in general (I go up to G, with no real G# in my bag to speak of, but am working on it). I was impressed with the LC's tone. It was a little weaker, and a little less colorful overall in the room, to me, but it had a nice medium-wide, musical personality, and I felt like I could play a little sweeter (in the room, to my own ear) than on the Rigotti. Response was quicker and easier on LC than with Rigotti, but (maybe interesting, maybe not) when I played the files back on my phone it sounded to me like the opposite was true. The Rigotti sounded cleaner to me on the phone playback, but I didn't reach a conclusion about then listening back to the Souncloud files on PC.
The Rigotti, for me, was "smokier" (which I think is about having more broken up and a slightly wider array of overtones, which comes out as a slightly broader color spectrum which I hear as greater power and richness) on PC playback. I sound better to me on Rigotti.
But the Legere was much easier to play. I didn't need to think about avoiding "bad sound" at all when playing the Legere, where I felt like with the Rigotti I had to concentrate on actual tone production itself while playing.
I think for pure study of technique (which I personally need a lot of) I'd be better off on Legere. I think the ceiling for sounding good to myself recorded is higher with Rigotti.
That's all I have for now.
Huh. I can't check right now, but I think the Legere file is mislabeled. I could be wrong. It could be a "Legere Studio" or the other one (I think there is another one?). I can double check that later.
