Love my Legere Signature on alto. I gig every night and practice everyday, and they work for me. And yes--I can get a good straight ahead sound on them as well as a contemporary sound if I push it. Maybe not for everyone but works for me. And not a newbie--been playing professionally for 40 plus years.

I'm no Oracle but I agree with the review. I occasionally use the clear brand as a backup. I tried to use it as my main reed but it just didn't sound or feel as good as cane to me. I now use cane 99.9% of the time.

Thanks for the clarification.

Great review. Great channel. Great content. My own two cents worth- As an amateur/hobbyist I have found synthetic reeds a great fit for me. Too much time wasted trying to get the great cane reed of yesterday to be a great cane reed today and a lot of faffing around before actually doing some practice. They don't require any care or break in time other than a quick wash under the tap at the end of practice /gig. I've got up to six months of playing from a single synthetic reed. I've also peared some down with a blade with some degree of success if I got the strength wrong when ordering. Downside - they become softer over time so what started out as a 3 will turn into something less than a 3 over extended use with reducing satisfaction with the sound. It then takes time to adjust to your new 3. The tip is just a prone to damage as a cane reed and so mistakes are expensive. I use the clear ones with the quarter increments. They are very consistent. Some synthetic brands are less consistent in their stated strengths.

I am a beginner player. To be precise, I have spent only 60 hours tooting on three mouth pieces using two cane Reed strengths (1-1/2 and 2). I wanted to try a different brand to see if I could get more consistent tones at low and high air volume but ran into a recent phenomenon where stores are only stocking synthetic reeds at a beginning strength of 2-1/2. Apparently, the local teachers are prescribing these for their new students! I know you demonstrated with cane reeds that some inconsistencies occur with lower strength reeds, but wondering what you think of this new starting point for beginner players?

I do like how edgy the American Cut are, but if you liked the Legere generally maybe try the Signature if you haven't? Still has some of the problems you mentioned, but gets rid of some of that brightness. I've had problems with the Venn's and getting the right strength too. I ended up filing down the heart of an alto one and that did improve it's response a fair bit, but I don't want to have to work a $30 reed. *Never burnt through a Legere in 40 hours though lol, always just eventually break it. Have only worn out a soft bari reed, and that was after like a year lol. My first teacher said he had an alto reed last him 2 years once.

I have tried a few different synthetic reeds, hoping to find consistent durability along with a good sound, but so far have been disappointed. I play an Otto Link Tone Edge #7 mouthpiece and none of the synthetic reeds were suitable for me. However I do like the D'Addario Plasticover reeds for consistency, even if there is a slight sacrifice in tone & dynamics. Recently I tried the Venn reed on a Rousseau 4R mouthpiece and it played well and had a good tone. But until the technology improves I will continue to stick to cane.

Very good points; nice video! I too have invested many hundreds of dollars over the past several years, trying most of the bigger names in synthetic reeds, but finally settled on the two reeds you mention here. I play "the clear brand" on soprano and "the other brand" on tenor and alto and love them. As much as I'd love to be a cane reed guru, as a family man, business owner, and dog parent, I simply don't have the time (plus, humidity is high where I live). Sustainability is another consideration for me, and I believe that synthetic reeds (generally speaking) MAY have a smaller carbon footprint than cane mostly because the user goes through less of them and there are fewer plastic reed sleeves that end up in landfills (again, this is just my suspicion...I am not an expert on energy use intensity nor have I performed a life cycle cost analysis on reeds or their manufacturing process). When I do play cane, however, I find that a) flattening the table of the reed with a ReedGeek solves many/most of the problems, and b) a certain French brand whose name begins with 'R' is very, very consistent. Thanks again!

My clear synthetic read plays as smooth a glass. It feels so great. The problem is that it is cold as ice. Damn ugly.

I use Legere signature have done for 21/2 years each last for up to 3 months I practice 11/2 hrs per day on each reed (tenor then bari) I find Studio cut too bright, the signature is dark enough on my tenor to leech some light out of the room😉. I still use Regoti Gold but prefer the Legere, but I'm a newbie so what do I know?

there are more than a couple of videos out with pro's with mostly 20+ years playing on reed canes that review synthetic ones and the results are more predictable than the quality of a cane reed fresh out of a box :D so there must be some truth in it I guess... for the pro's I think it's more or less a no brainer which reed to use, but I am curious if that differs from amateur players which maybe have some different needs?

Hello, master, can you tell me the truth: is plastic reed harmful ore dangerous for our health?.?

I personally don't like the sound of them and I'll stick to cane. I've always said that plastic reeds weren't around at the times of the great sax players. Young players need to familiarise themselves with the sounds of the great players using cane. That clear brand sounded "dry and woollen" to me. I'll stick to Rico Royal as they give me the fine tone of Parker on alto and a crisp tone on my tenor. I play for a very long time on my cane.

HEY SAXOPHONE ORACLE HAVE U TRYED FIBRACELL. I PLAY FIBRACELL FOR YEARS AND THEY ARE GREAT AS LONG U HAVE THE RIGHT SIZE ANY WAY I HOPE U GIVE THAT ONE A TRY I THINK U WOULD BE VERY SURPRISED ALL THE BEST MIKE