We consider Hermite and Laguerre β-ensembles of large N× N random matrices. For all β even, corrections to the limiting global density are obtained, and the limiting density at the soft edge is evaluated. We use the saddle point method on multidimensional integral representations of the density which are based on special realizations of the generalized (multivariate) classical orthogonal polynomials. The corrections to the bulk density are oscillatory terms that depends on β. At the edges, the

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... ensity can be expressed as a multiple integral of the Konstevich type which constitutes a β-deformation of the Airy function. This allows us to obtain the main contribution to the soft edge density when the spectral parameter tends to ±∞.