User Reviews
The following reviews were written as a result of a promotion we ran into the akai mailing list and into the yamaha a3000 mailing list and the GigaSampler Forum at northernsounds.com. They are being shown here unaltered. Volunteer reviewers have received free vrsound disks in return for their reviews. These people are not affiliated with vrsound in any way. We wish to thank everybody for their participation. We are putting truth back into marketing and we hope you can appreciate it.
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drums |
scott evans | jerry day | jeremy whitaker | dan selby | |
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hiphop |
moogie | duane browning | |||
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3d keys |
scott whitman | randy knaub | |||
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the piano |
lars d. terkelsen | ||||
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3d pipes |
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vrpercussion |
christian stonehouse | Joosten Kuypers | |||
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vrsound_giga_module
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rick chadwick | ||||
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vrtimpani |
| BACK TO CD ROM PRODUCTS>>>>>>>>>> |
| VRSOUND.PERCUSSION |
The vrsound.percussion sample CD contains
390 MB of sounds, consisting of 1546 samples of 68 instruments.
These are grouped into five categories as High Drums, Mid Drums,
Low Drums, Shakers& Metal and Wood & More. As Christian
Stonehouse did an excellent job of listing and describing each
instrument, I won't repeat his work, and instead I'll
refer to the instruments that highlight specific points in my
review. You can get a full list of all the instruments showing
the size in MB of the sample banks, and the number of samples
here:
http://www.vrsound.com/perc
So first a bit about where I'm coming
from. I'm not involved in music professionally, but I've been
playing music for about 12 years now, and 6 of those years I played
drums and percussion. I made the move to electronic music production
about 2 years ago, partly to spare my neighbors, and mostly because
I was getting heavily into techno,
industrial, electro and d&b. I've had the a3k for about 9
months now. I'd say I'm pretty much new to the world of sample
CD's, as this percussion CD now expands my collection to two,
the other one being the CD that came with the sampler. I have
previously gotten most of my samples from the internet, with the
excellent sample library (props to Jay and Moron) usually being
the first stop. But while I don't have a lot of experience to
draw on in terms of other sample CD's I do have experience with
"live" percussion and have played many of the instruments
on this CD.
I'm going to break this review down into four parts, starting with recording/sound quality, then move on to usability/inspiration factor. I'll talk about the diversity of sounds, and finally I'll wrap it up in a summary.
Recording/Sound Quality-
In a word, excellent. Yes, there is some
noise in many of the samples, but I feel the fantastic dynamic
range portrayed by all the instruments more than makes up for
it. Percussion is all about transients, and these samples have
that in spades. You wouldn't even really notice the noise on
most samples, except that there are nice natural fade outs to
the samples, where some noise becomes apparent as some of the
samples fade out. The only instrument that had samples I felt
were very noisy was the Pakhavaj, but I don't feel like its unusable,
in fact this one makes great mangling fodder. Also, I had some
problems with the Bass Drum instrument. While the first sample
bank sounds great, the second sample bank had some *serious*
frame buzzing (this has nothing to do with the recording by the
way). Call me a Bass Drum purist, but I think on this one, the
buzzing takes away from the impact of the low frequency sounds.
On the flip side some of the instruments that I think are recorded
beautifully, are the Bongos, Clay drum, Metal Riq, Frame Drum,
Oil Drum (The best sounding one I've ever heard- fantastic low
end), Cajon, Conga, Dumbac, Tabla (again great sounding, and perfectly
in tune), Talking Drum, Bead Pot, Cabasa, Metal Shaker, Metal
Shoes, Sleigh Bells, Triangle, Blocks/Sticks, Quika (Great recording
and great technique by the percussionist. Just a quick word on
Brad Dutz the percussionist on this CD. He is a big part of the
reason many of these instruments are as interesting and as usable
as they are. He is obviously adept at playing many styles of
music, and plays many great little "mini sequences".
More on this later...),
Spinners, and Woodlog. In fact all the instruments sound great
and to my ear sound like the instruments are supposed to, with
the one
exception of the Tambourine, which sounded a little thin and it
didn't have a nice chunky metallic sound to the metal discs.
The Riq (A Middle Eastern Tambourine) however, sounded just like
I think a tambourine should sound, so not too big a deal. I listened
to these samples through a Mackie 1402 VLZ mixer, with Acoustic
Research Powered Speakers, AKG K 240 studio headphones, and an
expensive hi-fi setup with a very flat response curve. I can
say that these samples are definitely a big step up from any drum/percussion
samples I have heard, even the Yamaha Sound Library samples sound
dull and noisy (yes these samples are about twice as noisy as
the vrsound samples, with about half the impact) in comparison
(once you switch off
the 3 band EQ, and reverb, which hides many of the shortcomings
of those samples). The vrsound samples sit well in a mix, and
I found it was pretty easy to get a nice mix with traditional
and even electronic drum samples. Many of the instruments on this
disc have a lot of high end "sizzle" which made them
punch out in my mixes. Many times this is what I wanted, and
I used no EQ at all on them. When I wanted the more metallic
rattly instruments to "play well with others", a little
cut around 10k usually did the trick. In short, aside from the
exceptions
mentioned above, I wouldn't hesitate to use any of these instruments
as *solo* instruments, much less buried in a drum mix. They sound
great.
Usability/Inspiration Factor- No doubt
about it, these instruments are FUN. Many I played around with
for hours on end. Playing the samples unaltered, pitching the
sounds up and/or down, using the filters, and probably the most
fun- running them through effects. It seem that using Autosyn
with one of the AutoWah effects is a surefire recipe for funky
chemical beats- the janglier the sound the better it works.
There's great material on this disc, even if you have no intention
of using any percussion sounds in your track. These sounds are
ripe for the mangling! Of course these sounds are great unaltered
too, and some of the stranger sounding instruments, wouldn't be
out of place "as is" in any electronic piece. Spinners,
Mrdangum, Oildrum, Fish, and Metalmosheres quickly come to mind
as complex, ethereal sounds that would be great in any trippy
dance track.
But to my mind the factor that makes many of these instruments
so inspiring and usable, is the great playing by Brad Dutz. Loading
up the
Bongos volume, is an eye-opener. There's 75 samples, and most
of those are little phrases of 2-6 notes, that act as a kind of
loop or extended phrase "construction kit". Listening
to the bongo sequence I knew I was going to be jamming on this
one for a while. You might think that using these mini phrases
to put together loops and such, you would be locked into the tempo
that they were played at. However, most of them are so short,
or smoothly retrigger, that I was able to make some loops at tempos
ranging from 90 bpm to 160 bpm with
little trouble. I didn't try tempos higher or lower than that,
but I imagine you would only run into problems at very slow tempos.
I spent lots of time using these instruments not only as "spice"
for traditional drum sounds, but I also made complete rhythm sections
using
only instruments on this disc. I was often using the Oil Drum
or Frame drum as the bass drum, the Cajon or Sakara as snare,
and using something like Metal Shoes (very industrial sounding),
Dead Metal Shaker or Triangle as the hi-hat. Very cool stuff!
My biggest problem was keeping the lines simple enough so the
instruments weren't fighting for
space in the track. I was constantly fighting the urge to just
"go off" with each instrument. Also as I started using
starnger sounds, the more it seemed that the rhythm section "came
alive". I started out using mostly the familiar sounds like
Bongos, Congas, Maracas, etc., but ended up using Mrdangum, Talking
Drum, Saw Sounding, Triple Shake, Frame Drum
and other instruments that are probably not heard very often accompanied
by synth tones. Curiously, it didn't make my music sound particularly
ethnic at all. I think the instruments blend well into whatever
kind of music they are stuck into, and being able to play almost
any rhythmic style with these instruments I think is the key.
You're not locked into African rhythms with the African instruments,
but you still have the ability to quickly put together phrases
of you own devising that sound like they're being played by a
live musician (and then mangle the hell
out of it with the a3k!) I found the sounds on this disc both
inspiring and musically useful to me. Even though I didn't think
I needed these kinds of sounds before,
now I don't want to live without them!
Diversity of Sounds-
Surprisingly, this is the one area where
I felt a little let down. Now make no mistake, there are a *lot*
of different types of instruments and sounds on this disc, but
I think there are some percussion instruments missing that are
"standards". Most of these are on the disc (bongos,
conga, maraca-shaker-like thing, tambourine, triangle, etc.),
but in my opinion there are some omissions. For instance, there
is no Timbale, Timpani, Gong(s), Marimba/Xylophone/Vibraphone,
or Udu drum instruments. ( Oh well, I guess my techno remake of
"Oye Como Va" will have to wait.) I also feel that
these instruments could have been added without increasing the
number of instruments on the disc. Not that any instruments sound
bad,
but the differences between some instruments are subtle, some
very subtle. Chinese Tambourine and Riq (a Middle Eastern tambourine)
are pretty similar. Also the Marrocan Bongos could be pretty
well simulated by pitching up the regular bongo samples. There
are eight or so shaker instruments, and some like the Maraca and
Metal Maraca I thought sounded
very similar. I would also gladly give up some of these similar
instruments, in order to get more of the great flams, triplet
figures, paradiddles and other little phrases that Brad plays
on many of these instruments. As I said before, these loop "construction
kits" are to me the great strength of this disc, and could
added even more instruments.
With that said, I think there are a lot of great sounds on this
disc, and most cultures are represented well, with Latin, African,
Asian, and
the Middle Eastern percussion all being represented. Something
else I was hoping for, but not expecting, was a nod to the electronic/dance
nature of the a3k. I thought it would have been cool
to have vinyl scratching- single "hits" as well as some
little scratched phrases. Something to bring out the turntablist
in all of us. Maybe some nice industrial and Autchere-like percussion
sounds too.
vrsound.percussion vol.2 perhaps?
Knowing the quality and effort that Franz put into this offering,
I'd buy it, that's for sure.
Summary-
Well, its probably no surprise that I
like this disc. The misgivings I have don't distract from what's
there, and there's plenty to keep all kinds of music producers
satisfied. I would definitely
recommend this disc to those of you who are creating world/ethnic
flavored music, and indeed anyone who likes new, interesting and
complex sounds, and likes creating even stranger, and more complex
sounds using the great effects, filters, envelopes, and lfo's
of the A3k. Despite the inclusion of some similar sounds, and
the exclusion of some one's I would have liked (Who gets everything
they want anyway?), I think thisCD offers excellent value.
A winner.
-Joosten Kuypers
| VRSOUND.PERCUSSION |
To the A3K List:
My Review of the latest release from VR Sound titled "Percussion"
Now before you hardcore D&B, Club
spinning DJ knob spinners delete this message, read on-you might
find out what I found out--that you can make ALL kinds of music
with this stuff! Seriously.
If it sounds like I don't point out many flaws, this is because
I had a hard time finding them.
I'll begin by breaking it down volume by volume:
Hi Drums
(by volume)
Bongo
These bongos are as good as bongos can sound.
Chinese Tam
I would have never known it was a Chinese instrument if they hadn't
have forewarned me with the name. It's just simply a nice sounding
tamboriny thing.
Chinese Tom
These sounds are very interesting. There is a liitle rattle after
many of them that is part of the drum. It makes the samples very
interesting and usable. There is 1 sample in the 15 that sounds
as if it was edited a little short possibly (The tail sounds clipped)
Clay Bongo
Again, a very nice sounding handdrum with the obvious presence
of clay in the construction
Clay Drum
Very deep and intoxicating. What I like most about this drum is
the natural ambient ring it gives off. The release times on the
individual samples are impeccably programmed! They've let them
trail off a little after the release which makes you feel like
you're actually playing the instrument. (Unlike many other percussion
CD's I've used-not to name any in particular)
Kanjira
A cool combo of skin and tam. A few of these sounds could easily
duet with a standard snare on a Max Martin track.
Morraccan Bongo
Another true recording of a diverse instrument.
Metal Riq
This one has got this industrial edge to it because of the metal
in it that would lend itself nicely to lo-fi or 8 bit action.
It's begging to be whacked out by all you Chemical Brothers! If
used straight it is defenitely ethnic to the core.
Riq
Similar to the metal Riq but without the edge. The last 2 samples
would be great as FX for sound design stuff.
Mid Drums
(by volume)
Bata
A good reproduction of a mid-sized drum. The bata drum itself
doesn't have much depth and sounds a little dull in general. But
I know that's just the sound of the drum naturally and not the
way in which they recorded it.
Cajon
Another wonderfully recorded instrument that after hearing it,
makes you wanna make music.
Claypot
The claypot sounds like its from somewhere out far east (pretty
safe guess heh?) I really love the little finger hits-superb!
The deep hit has a very cool compressed sound.......smooov.
Conga
"Conga A" is defenitely the most traditional sounding
conga here and it's as true as they come.
I like some of the twisted sounds in the "FX Bank".
Tons & tons of samples here, and a little something for everyone.
Djembe
Not as deep as some I've played but defenitely well recorded and
impeccably edited.
Dumbac
These hand sounds are wonderfully crisp & clean. As an owner
of a custom handmade dumbac, I can verify that this is actually
the instrument. The great part about these samples is the harmonic
undertone. As you hit the low note (as kick) and go immediately
to the high note (as a snare) they are in harmonic fifths of each
other (For those non-theory buffs: it's harmony)
The rolls are also very tastefully played. The only slight negative
is that there isn't tons of low end on this drum (This could quite
possibly be because it is a smaller dumbac). When played just
right on the edge of the skin on typical ceramic drums with a
flat hand you get this amazing low sound (The traditional name
for it is "Goon") This particular recording of it doesn't
have a lot of that but no bother, because it sounds like a smaller
skin size which makes the drum tighter and more likely suitable
for mainstream music.
Mrdangum
Put this one in your electronic music now! It has this distinct
buzzy/overdriven quality that would be beautiful in a D&B/techno
tune.
Pakhavaj
Noticeably more hiss on this instrument than any of the others
on the CD and I'm not sure why.
It's defenitely not an EQ/filter thing as there is no processing/filtering/EQ'ing
whatsoever.
Quika
This one is part drum, part animal. There's some hits down near
the bottom of the scale and then a bunch of animal-like bow noises
the rest of the way up (29 animal-like sounds in all) They're
very interesting to say the least. I don't know what context they'd
be put in, (other than their traditional use) but someone will
find somewhere to put them.
Sakara
A wonderful drum that shoudn't be passed up. It's played with
a stick which gives it a real punchy sound. Very cool indeed!
Tabla
Another great sounding instrument with lots of extra nuances recorded
for even better live feel.
Talking Drum
No complaints and it defenitely does alot of talking.
Tamborim
Another totally unique drum not to be mistaken with a "tamborine".
This is a drum not a thing you shake when you hear a 60's tune.
Tar
A very complex name that is practically impossible to pronounce-In
my homeland we call it pavement. Man-all I can say is where are
they finding all these crazy things to beat on. This one rocks
too! It's kind of like a deep kettle drum.
Low Drums (by volume)
Bass Drum
This drum is quite ambient and orchestral in texture. It sounds
very timpaniish
Bendir
This thing rattles more than an AMC Eagle on some Kenyan backroad.
If you want percussion that has a natural "buzz" to
it, this is defenitely the ticket.
Frame Drum
This instrument has been nailed! Very extensive sample collection.
It's hard to believe that it's the same instrument. I sent it
through the A3k FX block and started having fun. For instant gratification,
turn on 3 band eq-it really accents the right places on the drum
and it comes alive.
Once I hit noise amb I was lost for a good 10 mins. in the vibe
of the whole thing. More great sound effects on the last 3 samples.
Gaval
The low end is deep & convincing and the high end is sparkly
and light. The high rattle has a very strong rainstick quality.
There are even a few samples of just the high stuff which is very
cool to have.
Igba
I don't have a clue what this is but I think they might sell it
at Ikea.
Oil Drum
These samples instantly make me think that U2 would have used
them to create texture in some of the more atmospheric stuff they
do (like Passengers or whatever that project was called)
If you want bottom end- here it is baby.
Soogoo
Another nice deep drum with some tamborine-like top end rattle.
Surdo
This drum is big and low. I can't say I've ever really appreciated
the sound of the Surdo all that much myself, but hey that's just
the way a Surdo sounds. If messed with properly by all you A3k
geniuses out there, you'll have one wicked bass tone.
Tupan Drum
Similar to the Surdo except with more presence in the mids of
the drum.
Shakers & Metal (by volume)
Beadpot
Having not been exactly sure what a beadpot was, I didn't know
what to expect. What I found was some meaty deep shakeresque samples.
Some are played as part of a short pattern. (They are actually
at about 125 bpm) The sound of these beads rolling around is alone
worth the price of admission.
Bell
The bell is unique in that it has a very large tonal spread. It's
as if you're hearing a tone and then a strong harmonic 1 semitone
apart (especially on samples 2, 3, & 7- C#1 & D1 &
F#1). This is probably the natural sound of the bell, but it makes
it quite different. The noise floor is also more evident than
on other instruments. Having said that, it is still a very unique
sound that could be very usable.
Bellstick
Sort of sounds like forks dangling in the wind in the place of
wind chimes.
Bells/Wood
Nice and gritty-kind of like an industrial sleigh bell-not that
there is such a thing. More great use of the stereo spectrum.
Cabasa
Nice cabasa- not as brittle as most I've heard recorded. There's
a little less edge on it which is much easier on the ears. Also,
2 more short shake loops at about 135 bpm.
Cowbell
I usually hate the cowbell-it worked in the disco era & Sting
made it digestable in pop music from time to time, but overall
I usually think it sucks, but this one doesn't. It's not as "chunky"
sounding as most and you can't hear all stick which I think I
like. This one's musical and I think I just might use a cowbell
on one of my tracks someday... maybe.
Dead Metal Shaker
With 41 samples, this one's jammed. Tons of little samples. You
won't be left looking for that extra little nuance to make it
sound "live" because it's all in here! I especially
like the gritty side of it on D#1 and C#3. "Deep Forest"
to the core.
Donkey Rattle
Has this toy car kind of sound to it. At times it hints at being
a Guiro, but not completely. There are 2 distinct tones in it
(low & mid) that can be played together and seperate, both
are provided.
Maracas
Again, very convincing with lots of different varieties of shakes.
Metal Maracas
Self explanatory-basically just like above except with metallic
flare.
Metal Mospheres
This volume has all you need for that Christmassy track. (Although
sleighbells are not found in this volume) Lots of sparkle &
shine kind of top end stuff can be found in keys, woodtrees, small
belltrees, etc... Very creative & pretty (Please don't beat
me up for using that word)
Metal Shaker
I'm running out of descriptive terms so...yah this works and it's
a metal shaker.
Metal Shoes
If there's any instrument that sounds like the parts of a car
getting beaten on ala "Stomp"...
Metallic Rattle
It's metal that rattles........ vivaciously. (Yeh! I found a new
word)
Rusty Rattle
Sounds similar to the clanking of keys in your pocket except not.
Saw Sounding
There's some great sounding tremolo-like effects with the bending
of the saw. Lots of samples that sound like wind blowing by and
a few random hits that would make great industrial snares.
Shakertree
Quite brittle sounding instrument and a bit of noise in the recording
is evident, (probably because it's a quiet instrument) but still
very much usable.
Spoons
Tight short samples that will please the RAM deprived A3k users
out there. The shorter hits could easily be hi-hats and sound
very vintage drum machine-like.
Tamborin
They forgot how to spell it, but they got it down on tape so to
speak. A classic instrument that doesn't really sound quite as
traditional as some may like (Anyone remember "Mo' funky
Elements") Well, it doesn't sound that MoTowny by any means
but it works in a different way.
(Watch-I'll probably learn after doing this review that a "Tamborin"
is not actually a "Tamborine" at all, which would explain
why it doesn't sound quite as I think it should. If this happens,
treat this as a disclaimer, leave me alone & no one gets hurt.)
Triangle
Quite deep, but a decent sounding triangle overall. It sounds
as if there is some sort of slight chorusing on it which could
quite possibly the "VR Sound" spread in deep effect-either
way an o.k. sounding triangle although I would probably tune it
up a little for my liking.
Tripleshake
Very nice indeed, and more creative use of the stereo field. This
stuff is A1!
Wood & More (by volume)
Anklungs
Clicketty, clack is the noise these things make. Very 3 dimensional
recording.
Benzasard
For those of you who've searched the globe looking for the perfect
washboard/zipper hybrid sound (Please don't raise your hand!!)
Look no further, here it is.
Blocks/ Stick
Masterfully played trills and rolls on the blocks. These sound
great although I don't what know style of music you'd put them
in other than the understated (being Latin). They do sound monster
through "Tech Mod" because of their strong pitch accents.
Broom
Very shaker like with lots of high eq rattle.
Clapper Room
Sounds alot like hand claps in a room- hence the name I guess.
Devil Chaser
Interesting stick shaking stuff going on here.
Fish
This instrument sounds alot like a washboard, and a few samples
sound amazingly close to a croaking toad as wierd as that may
sound.
Ratchet
Authentic ratchet sound. It's quite bright and a little harsh,
which is the way the instrument is.
Spiketree
Has this "Born on a Bayou" kind of sound. Very neat
sounding.
Spinners
This is probably the most creative use of percussion I've ever
heard in my life. Not only is it unique it is completely captivating.
42 samples in all, each totally different. I can't even describe
these sounds all I can say is here's a great foundation for "Distorted
Reality 3" There's excellent sound effects and swirling motions
that could be easily turned into loops; the list goes on but you
just have to hear "Spinners" for yourself! This volume
WILL make excellent folly material.
Wood Log
This one basically sounds like a hollow clav (A fictional instrument-don't
go looking for one) and holds its own for what it is.
Wood Stick
This one sounds like a REAL clav, and even has subtle pitch changes
on a few notes.
Wood Whistle
Reminds me alot of an instrument I have on a recording called
a Sea Flute. It really has that deep in the jungle flute sound
(Anyone out there remember "The Mission"?) Very much
like that.
Summary:
Let me first tell you that I have used
10's upon 10's of different sample CD's both at different studio's
I've freelanced out of, and the ones that I own at home (including
"NYC Percussionworks") so I'm not a newcomer to the
sampling scene. I used Samplecell for years before I got an A-3000.
Let me make one thing clear from the get go-this is one serious
Sample CD that surprised me in a many ways. Not because I didn't
expect a great product from VR Sound, but because percussion isn't
the easiest stuff to get to record (Like slamming transients that'll
clip inputs without you even seeing it). I was absolutely blown
away by the sheer amount of intricate programming, attention to
detail (decay times, etc...), and the hundreds upon hundreds of
sonically great sounding samples that they put forth on this CD
ROM. Sure, alot of these instruments are very ethnically diverse
and you might think that to be limiting, I found that to be the
exact opposite. I became totally inspired by these sounds and
begun formulating how I was going to use them in non-traditional
ways in my modern music. (Having already used them in tracks I'm
working on now, I found this so.) To top it all off, the samples
are superb (and I don't use that word lightly) both in tone and
in sonic fidelity. And I can't forget to mention their use of
the stereo field is nothing short of amazing. I'm so tired of
hearing everything "straight up" and found alot of these
sounds more interesting and usable simply because they had movement.
I think if I would've known of some of the amazing percussion
instruments out there, I would've gone digging alot sooner.
This CD is not comprised of loops (although there are some long
phrases that could easily fit that category), but I found that
to be cool in that I would take a Clay Pot Kick, Kanjira snare,
and hi hat spoon and mix them together to make a very lovely "Loop
Soup". If you're making this at home try adding some seasoning
and you'll have some wickedly diverse sounds that'll give your
track a very cool edge. You can still use your vintage DM's for
the main part of the rhythm but with this CD as accents, this
will take your Rhythm section to the next level-and I'm not getting
paid to say this! The thing that I find about most percussion
loop CDs is that they're played by the "Real McCoy"
which can be good if you're producing an ethnic album, but for
the rest of us it's just a liitle too "out there" and
deemed unusable. What's perfect about this CD is that the potential
for mixing & matching is practically endless and it'll be
played by you so it won't be some obscure ethnic loop with the
accents in all the wrong places.
Are there any flaws you ask? Oh maybe if you count the 3 or so
samples that weren't perfectly edited at the end leaving a small
"tick". (Which of course can be quickly remedied with
AEG and/or trim/loop function.) When I put this CD up against
the rest of the pack, it not only stands up to them, it stands
out among the best. On a personal taste level, I wouldn't have
minded a few more standard shakers for pop use and also a more
vintage tam, but then again you can't do EVERYTHING right. Let
me tell you that they almost did and I would weep openly if I
misplaced this CD for more than a week. This one is easily worth
its' full retail value plus some.
My two bits worth,
| 3D DRUMS, AKAI |
VRSound: 3d Drums Volume 1, The Stingray
Kit
--------------------------------------------
Short review: If you're looking for real drum hits, this Akai-format
CD-ROM kicks ass.
== THE CD-ROM
The disc contains 7 partitions: kick, snare 1/2, hi-hats, toms,
cymbals, and 32mb kits. Each volume in the partition contains
a different sample set (for instance, different snares).
The volumes and samples are well organized, and include programs
arranged so you can load up any combination of drums you like
to build kits with a minimum of hassle. I usually use my
own program templates for drums, but these were so well-suited
to the samples that I decided to try them. Each drum always
falls in a range on the keyboard; for instance, kicks are C, snares
are D-F (and include a program for D, E, and F -- convenient when
dialing in programs on the Multi window), and so on. They
also map each drum to the same note two octaves up to aid people
that program drum parts by playing them on a keyboard (I don't).
Once you figure out the system and their notation -- one can be
only so verbose in 12 characters -- it works great.
Unfortunately, CD-ROMs kind of drive me nuts these days because
they're slow to load (I'm using my Ricoh CD burner as a reader
for now) which makes it hard to audition sounds. At least
the layout of this disc makes the CD-ROM format as painless as
possible.
== THE SOUNDS
Very impressive and very diverse. Lots of kicks, all cool.
Over 30 snares; I haven't tried them all yet, but I liked the
ones I did. Excellent cymbals and toms. The only
hits I found disappointing were the hi-hats. The sounds
themselves are great but I found their programs a little hard
to use. Hi-hats do better when they're all in the same program,
so you can assign them to the same mute group. Since "open"
and "closed" hi-hats are in different volumes (and therefore
have different programs) you can't do this without some programming.
Each sound is multisampled like crazy -- I believe some drums
have around 10 multisamples. Cool. (This is why the
provided programs are much easier to use than rolling your own.)
To my ear, the samples are all a bit dull. Dialing in some
10k on my mixer fixed that. The hits sound as though they've
already been lightly compressed, so if you don't have a ton of
outboard, you don't need it.
#1 and 1b are the same beats; all I did was change drum sounds
on the multi page. #2 shows off the cymbals and toms a little.
Of course, these sounds are only the tip of the iceberg.
They're straight from the digital out of my s3000xl to DAT, and
then into the computer through a ZA2 digital card. So this
is pretty much exactly what's coming out of the sampler -- no
effects, no EQ.
== SO...
According to the VRSound website, it's $100. It'll give
you a ton of really usable live drum hits. The best thing
about these sounds is that they have a lot of character, unlike
some of the other real drum CDs I've heard, which tend to be more
clinical. Forget drum loops... write yer own.
--
scott evans
beauty
http://www.his.com/beauty
| VRHIPHOP, AKAI |
Review
VRsounds: vrHipHop by Duane Browning
Well here it is Bam and you say G..damn! Right when you think
you've got some of the rawest hip hop sounds out there,
along comes this company that offers a few individuals the
opp to SAMPLE their SAMPLES. I can only give MHO
(myhonestopinion) I've got plenty of sounds to compare VR's to
so here goes the review that I agreed to do.........
First of all I've got a full blown MPC 2000
and a full blown ROLAND S760, (notified vr up front before I was
chosen) much to my dismay, I recieved an AKAI S3000 disc(thats
just about when I went to VR's website only to find out that they
practically specialize in the S3000 format...I briefly think to
myself, "what, no MPC formats?" you got to be kiddin'...I
thought you said HIPHOP,did you not?) Ok so then I do a double
take and head over to AKAI's website to make sure that my MPC
is compatible with S3000 sounds...confirmed.
So I drop the disc in and there it is...PHATNESS!!!
Some of the phattest KICKS and SNARES out there. (oh yea, did
I mention that I also have an E-MU PLANET PHATT...those of you
that have them or have heard them know how PHAT they are) These
sounds I would gladly pay for and my money is hard earned. I know
you don't know me personally and
your probably thinking what the HELL does he know? But keep in
mind I didn't have to tell you what I think, ultimately you have
to make up your old mind and spend your own HARD earned CASH.
I've got my own sounds as well as sounds from KID NEPRO and MIDI
MARK, and VR's HIPHOP disc is right up therewith the best of em',
oh yea NICE loops too!!
Ooh ooh! Now comes the Baaaddd nuzzzzzzz!
This CD-ROM has a whole gang of sounds on it, kicks, snares, hats,
perc, bass, guitars(acoustics & electric I'd guess) unfortunately
I can't access all of them for some reason (must be the s3000
format) The disc has 9 partitions on it...some can be partially
accessed others can't be at all. So what you have to do (interested
MPC owners) is to journey through the disc and decipher any sounds
that you can...WHAT A BUMMER. I wrote to Franz at VR, but got
no response as of yet.(TAKEN CARE OF) If he didn't get
my EMAIL then maybe he'll read my review and respond to me that
way. I think if VR makes disc for MPC users,
they'll have a
definite WINNER . I only got roughly 55% of the sounds out of
their disc and my S760 doesn't read the S3000 disc at all.
This once again is strictly my own opinion...Thanks for you time.
| VRSOUND.HIPHOP YAMAHA A3000 |
* From "Moogie" <moogie@nildram.co.uk>
vrsound.hiphop
Native A3000 Sample CDROM
Produced by Dorian Wright, 'Hiphop' is one CD from a range of
four ROMS available from the vrsound studios. The first thing
I notice about this CD is the presentation. For a professional
CDROM, the inlay seems cheaply designed and cheaply printed. The
same can be said for the actual CD.
Having removed the inlay I proceeded to open it out hoping to
find a comprehensive track listing. Instead I found nothing. The
only place I could find any content information was on the back
cover of the case. Here you are told the Volume name, and the
names and numbers of the Programs within the Volume. This in my
opinion is something that can easily be improved with very little
effort on behalf of the publishers.
My next task was to upgrade my A3000. Yes that's right; to fully
load some of the volumes on this CD, you are going to need 64Mb
of RAM. I thought to myself 'that's quite a lot but maybe there
are some really impressive multisampled instruments that need
all this memory'. In retrospect, quite simply there aren't. It
would have been easy to split some of the larger volumes, thus
opening the market for the CD to the vast number of users running
with less than 64Mb. Again another point for vrsound to think
about.
So having been initially disappointed with the presentation of
the CD and, I put these first impressions to the back of my head
and loaded the CD into the caddy.
Simply, this CD is a collection of loops, individual drum sounds,
electric and acoustic guitars, bass samples and a few sound FX
thrown in for good luck.
So firstly the loops. Not having an informative inlay to work
from I found the loops the only really intuitively named samples
on this CD, each one being named by its tempo value. The loops
themselves were of a good overall quality, using nice drum sounds,
although the actual rhythm programming of them made a few of them
sound very similar. Not enough variation here for my liking. The
loop points on all the loops were set very well, if you use this
functionality.
For me, the individual drum sounds are this CDs finest point.
There are literally hundreds of different bass drums, snare drums,
hi-hats and cymbal for you to choose from, some being completely
different sounds, whilst some being minute but useful variations
on sounds. Speaking as a drum and bass producer, I will find this
CD a highly useful resource for these drum sounds alone.
The electric guitar samples give this CD the funk element that
every CD calling itself a hip-hop CD needs to have. There are
many multi-samples and individual samples here, some of which
immediately grab you and inspire you to get funky with your composition.
Having said that, as with the loops, many of the samples sound
too samey and some extra variation would be
welcome.
Onto the Acoustic guitars. This was one of my favourite sections,
although I'm not sure how well they fit on a hip-hop CDROM. I
can see they have great potential in musical genres such as 'intelligent
d&b' but the samples provided here are not the sort of sounds
that get hip-hop crowds jumping up and down. But as I have mentioned
I am a junglist, and a lot of the chord
strums here would glue perfectly in a Bukem style track.
I loaded the 'DaBass' volume with great anticipation, but was
disappointed. I expected some huge bass samples, particularly
having read the back cover saying 'Beware of excessive low end!'.
Instead what you get is a collection of primarily bass guitar
sounds, and although they will fit well in many hip-hop tracks,
they did not inspire me. Personally I believe that too many
hip-hop tunes are based on a formula using similar sounds which
in all fairness does work, but I prefer individuality.
The few sound FX that are again OK, but the key problem here is
the word 'few'. There simply aren't enough of them. Hip-hop contains
a lot of fill sounds to provide the variation, and having a good
resource of them is important, and something that sample CD manufacturers
should not overlook.
In general, the samples and multi-samples are of a high quality,
despite finding some with slight clicks at the end of them. However
this was easily be remedied by playing with the release time.
I think anyone purchasing this CD would be well advised to follow
the tips provided by vrsound on the back cover of the case:
'We would like to encourage you to twist those knobs and customise
the patches for your performance. We can only offer a small glimpse
of all the possible variations of filter, fx, ...parameters and
realtime control.'
It seems to me that this is the only way to get real value for
money from this CD, since at $199.95 US I would
expect more. Mind you, with a 15% (this line corrected!)
discount available to list members, it seems a more attractive
option.
Having said that, this CD is one of very few available for the
A3000, and as represents a brave move on behalf of vrsound for
supporting a relatively new format in a market dominated by AKAI.
Moogie
Contact franz@vrsound.com for more information about this and other CDs
available from vrsound.
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| VRSOUND.ELECTRIC KEYS YAMAHA A3000 |
* From Scott Whitman <swhitman@topaztech.com>
Review of VR Sound's Electric Keys for the Yamaha A3000
What You Get - 64 programs:
Fender Rhodes Electric - 3 programs
Hammond Organ - 3 programs
Misc Organ - 2 programs
Stringed - 2 programs
Metal (bells) - 2 programs
Vibes/Marimba - 4 programs
Moog - 15 programs
Polymoog - 17 programs
Pads - 16 programs
There is not much documentation. All the programs are named on
the back of the CD case but that is all you get.
I don't have time to go into depth about every sound...
The first Rhodes piano is a big file. It has more character than
I'm used to. I grew up on clean and simple DX7 type Rhodes. This
one has some grunge, especially down low, presumably like the
real instrument. It also had a built in vibrato, (like the real
rhodes?) which I didn't like. Why not let me add it with the mod
wheel? The next two Rhodes sound good-you hear the hammers striking
the metal. (Hey-and only a little vibrato on number three! :)
The organ patches sounded very good, deep and full-bodied. I especially
liked the third one called "LeslieSteady". The lower
register is deep and the upper register cuts through the mix like
well oiled saber. Call some friends over and jam on the Doors
'til you Break on Through to the Other Side.
The Moog sounds essentially are all sound effects, falling bells,
rising bells, laser blast, and my personal favorite one that goes
"crackle-crackle". Nothing musical jumped to my
mind immediately but someone would find one or more of these useful,
I'm sure.
Metal - How about a good set of bells that ring forever (and even
bounce around in stereo space)? That's just the first patch. The
next two only sound good (imo) in the upper register, but they
sound really good up there. Patch two is a bell chord called "Campanile
Chord" and would make a good stab. The third patch is a wind
chime. A strum of the chimes is played on each key. I liked that.
You don't have to play a convincing strum, you just hit a key.
(If you really want to do it yourself, I suppose you could chop
up the sample. But you'd probably just want to get single chimes
from somewhere else.)
My first impression of the first in the Vibes Volume, was "wait-that's
not what a vibes patch sounds like" Every synth I've ever
owned has a vibes patch and they all sound like poo compared to
these samples. Real, live vibes and marimbas, all good and all
useful-that about sums it up.
My favorite volume by far was the PolyMoog. It contained a number
of excellent and useable sounds: "BigCombo" is a big,
drippy, bassy sound that changes character with different key
velocities. I had a pattern that I liked grooving with this sound,
then I was playing around in Cakewalk and bumped up the velocity
and got a completely different feel. I then layered "Marshall";
a screaming distorted electric guitar sound on top. That project
is coming along nicely-I'll post the Mpeg if I ever finish it...Other
standouts in this volume are "Polywave" a bright synth
sound with a soft metallic quality, "Talker" is reminiscent
of Peter Frampton Live mouthing guitar sounds through a Golden
Throat effect, "OpenIt" a lead/arpeggio sound that sounds
good across the entire keyboard. (I guess this is because the
initial sample is analog and the filter and envelopes are done
with the A3000.) I really found a lot of good stuff in this volume.
Then the Pads. A lot of great usable analog stuff here. Some bright,
some soft, String pads, Brassy pads, Breathy pads, Vocal etc...They
all hearken to vintage synth so don't expect to find the kind
of movement and complexity you would find in the average Korg
Z1 preset. I know the focus of the disk is on vintage stuff, but
since I know what's out there, I was hoping to find some pads
that would blow me away. On the other hand there is a lot of useable
stuff here and pads with less character probably fit into song
creation better (they'll lay back and form a basis or a 'pad'-yeah
that's it- for the rest of the music ;) The pads sound clean
and clear when they need to be and for the most part are looped
very well.
Would I buy this disk? Sure. I loved about 85% of it. As I said
before the Polymoog sounds a great, that alone would convince
me to buy it, but then you throw in the vibes/marimba, bells,
my favorite organ sound, all those pads and it adds up to a pretty
good buy.
---Scott
swhitman@topaztech.com
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___________________________________________________________________________
| 3D KEYS, VOL. 1 AKAI |
After receiving this CD-Rom I couldn't
wait to pop it in my drive and listen to the sounds.
Was my anticipation and excitement going to let me down?
I loaded the first samples and played the rhodes patch, and by
god it was a real rhodes complete with room sound and that crappy
buzz that makes the rhodes such a classic. The rest of the rhodes
samples are just as good. The CD gives you multiple samples at
different velocities, When I loaded the hard velocity patch
I started playing and notes weren't playing on every key, While
at first I thought that all of the samples weren't loaded so I
reloaded these but got the same result. Then I started banging
the keys real hard and got every key to play. What I realized
is that when they say hard velocity they mean HARD. It might be
a little hard for my taste, but with some tweaking you can get
this to sound great at lower velocities, or by crossfading the
hard with a soft patch. I used a Roland A90EX 88 note controller
and it seems that depending on how your controller outputs velocity,
these adjustments will vary. The rhodes patches vary in size and
variety, some had a tremolo lik!
e effect, which were excellent. The pad sounds are reminiscent
of early 80's moogs, and arps,complete with sweeps, and crazy
filters. I Personally enjoyed these sounds the best. I added just
a bit of reverb and they sounded great. Gary Wrights samples are
classic and all of the sounds in this category are Excellent!!!
The Hammond sounds were good and realistic but a little dry for
my taste by itself, but in the context of a bed of music it sounded
just fine. I had only two days to listen to these sounds because
of travel for my work, and I am writing this review from my hotel
room. When I return in 2 weeks I will listen to the last few sounds
and let everyone know how the rest of the disk sounds. From what
I had heard so far I am really impressed. My only complaint is,
I wish that were more samples and sounds especially the analog
pads sweeps and F/X. I would recommend this CD, Two thumbs up!
My Rig:
Roland A90EX 88 note controller, Yamaha EX5, Numerous modules,
Audix Nile 5 monitors, QSC 600 watt Power amp, Yamaha Promix 01
Digital Mixer
Thanks
Randy
Randy Knaub
Systems Engineer
Cabletron Systems
400 S Colorado Blvd Ste 840
Denver CO 80222
303-331-0990
Fax 303-321-5338
Email: rknaub@ctron.com
-- The Akai Samplers
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| VRSOUND.DRUMS YAMAHA A3000 |
(an email from Jerry Day, an active live performing musician from Calgary, Canada)
Hi Franz:
We arrived early for a live soundcheck yesterday so we triggered
some of your sounds from a set of drum pads. So far our favourite
kick is the Felt
Mallet Kick and a compliment of 10", 12" and 13"
open Toms. We could use 16" and 18" floor Toms also.
Do you simply detuned the 13" when you need larger toms?
I'm falling in love with the Zildjian Studio Hats. Out of
curiosity what does the name Zidjian Oct 1 stand for? The more
we work with your sounds the more we are impressed. The
realism is outstanding.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
| VRSOUND.DRUMS YAMAHA A3000 |
* From "jeremy.whitaker" <syncr@ultima.org>
VRSound's Drum CDRom
1) the basics...
2 disc set containing -- probably about 1500-2000 individual samples
of various *acoustic* drum hits.
programs: 3 example drumkits called StingRays
volumes:
disc 1 StudioKicks
PAKicks
StudioSnares
PASnares
Perspectives
disc 2 StudioHats
PAHats
StudioToms
ClubToms
StudioMetal
ClubMetal
FX
Carnival
2) the documentation...
the bare minimum. no insert info, no synopsis of what you'll find
or what special controllers to try with different banks.
what you are told:
- what volumes there are...
- different note mappings for particular sounds...i.e kicks
[c1][c3];snares[d1,e1,f1]; sidestick[d#1][d#3], etc...
* an important aspect of the CD is that all sounds have default
keys based on how they fit into a kit. this functionality allows
the user to easily build his/her own kits.
3) the samples...
the strength of this CD is in it's sheer volume of samples and
the extensive variation in hit strength, style, positioning, etc.
all of the samples are clean, high quality recordings of hits
performed and recorded for the CD. the envelopes have been edited
to produce accurate representations.
-- controller info
as far as i could tell, Velocity and PitchBend are the only controllers
that affect parameter data. this is disappointing considering
the great functionality of the A3k as a synth drum machine. simple
edits such as velocity -> cutoff/Q were overlooked as the general
goal of this CD seems to only reproduce an accurate *acoustic*
drumkit.
4) the volumes...
the volumes contain both banks and samples. no FX are used, which
IMO is a good thing because it leaves more flexibility for sound
design.
some of my favorites:
PAsnares -- 26 megs
good crisp snares, excellant variety of realistic, "it's
a real drummer!", sounds. some reverbs. lots of banks. solid
-- one of the best reasons to have this CD
Perspectives -- 23 megs
great alternative snare sounds(Piccolo, Steel), rolls, flams,
and other motion drum sounds realistic velocitys, pitch bends
lots of banks.
high points...StudioHats contains specific Hat sounds from different
manufacturers(Zildjan, Sabian, Paiste), good variety of kicks(reverbs,
thuds, pan modulation, etc)
low points...StudioSnares wouldn't load because my machine ran
out of parameter memory, FX sounds pretty weak, sample names like
4204KIFEM
5) the programs...
only 3 kits have been built for you. a relatively good smattering
of samples that use all 3 FX slots. not very functional for song
construction, unless you remove the dependancy on the FX and use
the kit for mapping only...
---------------
personally and IMO...
this is a very different CD than i would expect to be manufactured
for the a3k.
with it's strong leanings toward the electronic producer, the
a3k marketing and design leans toward younger, more experimental
musicians, or kids who just like to tweak the knobs. as one can
tell from the conversation on this list the average user is under
30, makes techno, dnb, (tr / h)iphop, or some other electronica.
on a disk for such an audience, i would expect to
find your typical smattering of 808/909/Linn/ acoustic/blurps/arp
kicks/Q pops/etc. an even better mixture would include ethnic
sample and percussive synth sounds that can be used as drums.
basically a wide variety containing, but not limited, to acoustics.
for the Emu crowd, this CD seems perfect, but for the a3k it seems
foreign. like the thought of producing rock and roll on your sampler...
now, don't get me wrong. the CD is chock full of good samples
and if are looking for a CD to use as a building block for amazing
triphop/DnB kits, this disc would make your work easy. i will
no doubt find it extremely useful material for building further
samples and constructing kits, but my general conception of this
disk is blurred by the fact that i haven't found a single electronic
sample on the thing. even more disappointing, not a single african
or asian drum can be found. no djembe, no conga, no clave, no
tambura, no gong... the only ethnic drums are the carnaval kit,
which is brazilian.
with that said, i do need to tip my cap to Franz for the sheer
number of samples, their quality, and the amount of time it must
have taken to create and organize such a task. also, i'd like
to thank him for making this product available to his peers for
their consideration. not to mention building CDs for the a3k,
a sampler with far too liitle representation in the CDRom market...
hopefully, in the future, VRSound will build a CD more aimed @
the A3k market. knowing the standard set by this CD, i will no-doubt
strongly consider buying it.
-jeremy
* From "jeremy.whitaker" <syncr@ultima.org>
i would like to add that the VRSound drums CD makes for great
waveform data for building new samples. add some filter action,
a squash the EG, boost a particular region of the EQ, add expand/dephase
and voila!
-poof*!
some intensely individual sounds that walk all around the stereo
field.
that's the beauty of this sampler man! FU*@!ng brilliant editing!
happy tweaking.
-jeremy
>i would expect to
>find your typical smattering of 808/909/Linn/ acoustic/blurps/arp
kicks/Q
>pops/etc. an even better mixture would include ethnic sample
and percussive
>synth sounds that can be used as drums. basically a wide variety
>containing, but not limited, to acoustics.
>
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| VRSOUND.DRUMS YAMAHA A3000 |
* From "Dan Selby" <dan@danselby.demon.co.uk>
Review of VRSound Drums Yamaha A3000 CD ROM by Dan Selby
msrp US$199.95
First Impressions...
This is a double CD ROM set that comes simply packaged in a jewel
case. The first thing I noticed when opening it is that
there is no booklet. The only documentation is the text
on the back of the case which reads:
"d1 Stingrays (3 example drumkits for programming reference),
StudioKicks, PAKicks, StudioSnares, PASnares, Perspectives
d2 StudioHats, PAHats, StudioToms, ClubToms, StudioMetal, ClubMetal,
FX, Carnival
load sample banks from the instrument folders, turn the banks
on, and start drumming. Please take some time to get used
to the twohanded layout. All the banks are prepared to default
on a key or range of keys. Use the example kits to learn
how the drums are organised.
Kicks [c1] [c3]; snares [d1,e1,f1] [d3,e3,f3]; sidestick [d#1][d#3]
hats [f#1,g1,g#1,a1,a#1] [f#3,g3,g#3,a3,a#3]
toms [c2,d2,e2,f2,g2] [c4,d4,e4,f4,g4] [c5,d5,e5,f5,g5]
cymbals [c#2,d#2,f#2,g#2,a2,a#2,b2] [c#4,d#4,f#4,g#4,a4,a#4,b4]
ride cymbals [b1] [b3]
special sound and effects [c#1] [c#3] [a-1-b0]
FX contains full keyboard patches for instant pitching of the
samples."
This immediately struck me as being inadequate documentation and
the more I used the disks the more apparent this became.
What You Get...
The first volume on CD1 is ‘Stingrays’. This contains
three programs (three sample kits) and, with the exception of
FX, is the only volume on either CD to have any programs.
All the subsequent volumes contain only sample banks and their
related samples. ‘StudioKicks’ contains 11 kick
drum multisamples arranged in 22 sample banks e.g. the bank "FeltMalletKickC3"
is a mulitsample kick drum mapped to the note C3 containing 10
(yes 10!) samples across the velocity range 0-127. The
same kick sound (using duplicates) can also be found already mapped
to C1 by loading "FeltMalletKickC1". ‘StudioSnares’
contains 12 different snare sets banks with good descriptive names
such as, "OpenBrassSnare" and "MutdSteelSnare".
Each of these banks contains three multisampled snare hits mapped
to D3, E3 and F3 (some using up to 12 velocity multisamples!)
which are duplicated on D1, E1 and F1 to facilitate two handed
playing - for rolls, fills flams etc. In addition to these
12 banks there are also sample banks containing the multisamples
for each key, e.g. "OpenBrassSnareE3", "MutdSteelSnareF1"
etc. This is a nice
feature which quickly enables you to load up combinations of different
snares. Having the ability to choose whether you load the
hits in their individual banks or in the global bank is really
useful. Curiously in both the kick drum volumes you can
only load the hits individually so that if you want to have the
same kick drum on C1 and C3 for playing two handed you have to
load the banks separately and thus any changes to the kick sound,
e.g. filter settings, have to be done twice. ‘PASnares’
contains banks for nine more snare sets, presumably recorded through
a mic’ed up PA, as they tend to have a bigger ambience and
heavier
feel. The layout and mapping of the banks follows the same
pattern as ‘StudioSnares’ ‘Perspectives’ contains
well over 100 sample banks of snares. There is a real mixture
of stuff here, single hits (both single sample and velocity multisamples,
snare sets, flams, rolls, fills, phat hip-hop type snares as well
as some more esoteric stuff such as velocity multisamples with
different panning (hit the key harder and the snare changes channel)
and some lovely spacially swirling effects built from snare rolls.
‘PAKicks’ contains four more kicks in eight banks -
same format as ‘StudioKicks’
The first volume on disk 2 is ‘PAHat’ Hats are
organised in sets like the snares. "PAHat1
3" consists of five hihat hits mapped onto F#3, G3,
G#3, A3 and A#3 ranging from completely closed (F#3) to wide open
(A#3). As before, each hit contains several velocity switched
samples. The bank "PAHat1 1"
is the same set but two octaves down. The idea being, once
again, that by loading both sets you can play twohanded.
As with snares, each hit can also be loaded individually from
another bank, e.g. "PAHat1 G#3", to enable you to mix
and match. There aren’t, however, banks set up, as
there are with the snares, to load a set of hats in both low and
high octaves, so if you want to play two handed any changes to
filters etc have
to be done twice. ‘StudioHats’ is organised in exactly
the same way as "PAHats". There are five more
sets of hihat hits: Sabian, Zildjian, Tight Zildjian, Paiste and
Tight Paiste.
‘StudioToms’ gives you effectively two sets of toms,
open and muted. Each set contains five velocity multisampled
hits (6", 8", 10", 12" and 13" drums),
mapped to C4, D4, E4, F4 and G4 as well as the same keys two octaves
lower so you can play two handed. In addition, for both
sets there is a flam hit of each tom on C5, D5, E5, F5 and G5.
Disappointingly, though, there are no banks set up to load an
entire set or a subset (open flams, for example) in one go - each
hit has to be loaded individually, though the lower and higher
octaves of each hit are loaded together. This means that
if, for example, you wanted to load the full set of five muted
toms with flams and have them going to a reverb on Effect3 you
have to load 10 sample banks, switch them each on and then switch
the output of each one individually to Effect3. ‘ClubToms’
is another toms set, recorded through a mic’ed up PA judging
by the names, this time the set contains only four drums: 8",
10", 12" and 14". The banks are mapped and organised
in the same way as ‘StudioToms’ ‘StudioMetal’
is your cymbals. There are six sets of six cymbal in this
volume, not including ride cymbals. Each set is split into
2 banks of three cymbals, C#4, D#4, F#4 and G#4, A4, A#4 (plus
duplicate banks mapped 2 octaves down for playing with both hands).
Rides, of which there are only two in the volume, are mapped to
B1 and B3. This time, strangely, there are no banks for
loading individual cymbals, except rides; banks with three cymbals
only ‘ClubMetal’ is two more sets of six cymbals and
another ride cymbal, all recorded through a PA. The format
and layout of the banks is the same as ‘StudioMetal’.
‘FX’ has four programs of not particularly inspiring
effects. Some big, metallic kicks and snares which might
be quite nice in an industrial setting or if used texturally,
though nothing you couldn’t knock up fairly quickly
with Sound Forge and lots of the samples from the other volumes.
A menacing hell-dog type growling, looped fader noise. A
bit of a filler volume really, out of context with the rest of
the CD, though one might use bits. The last volume, ‘Carnival’,
is also rather out of place on this CD set though, unlike ‘FX’,
I really like it. Basically it is samba loops and fills
from a Brazilian ensemble, from single instruments to the whole
group mapped across the keyboard. If you’ve listened
to volume ‘15 Symphonic’ on the CD ROM that comes with
the A3000 you’ll get the idea. Everything is at the
same tempo so you can mix and match, playing parts with each other.
Even if you’re not into Brazilian music, though I love it,
the timables or tamborim fills or the ganza or caixa loops would
work great in a house track. Besides it’s the middle
of the World Cup - ya gotta love it!
The Sounds...
On the whole I am very impressed with the quality of the
sample banks on this CD set. All the samples seem to be well recorded
with little noise. If you are after the sound of a real
drummer, playing a real kit I would think this is about as good
as you are going to get without going into a studio with a decent
live room and someone who can play. Given the range of samples
on the CDs, combined with the filtering, editing and effects of
the A3000, I don’t think you would have difficulty in producing
convincing music in just about any genre which uses a real drum
kit - providing your drum programming is up to it and you are
prepared to spend the time on the midi part. There were
one or two obvious omissions however. There were no hits
(that I could find) using either brushes, which was very surprising,
or rods. I would have liked to have seen quite a few snare
flams and rolls in the snare volumes for each of the different
snare drums used rather than just a few spurious ones mixed up
in the ‘Perspectives’ volume - these, after all, are
some of the trickiest things to program convincingly.
Programming And Layout...
This is a thoughtfully put together collection of sounds.
I really like that the different types of drum sound are always
mapped to the same keys so creating your own composite kit is
very straightforward. The double handed approach throughout
is great as well and makes recording realistic hihat lines, ghosted
snares, tom fills etc much easier. The flexibility to be
able to load individual hits and build diverse kits or load complete
sets for easy, "one stop" editing is really powerful
- I just wish this had been implemented fully in all the volumes,
particularly the toms where you have to load each drum individually.
There is also some inconsistency in the way banks are named in
different volumes which, combined with the lack of documentation,
is confusing initially and makes the learning curve steeper than
necessary. There are other, fairly minor and easily correctable,
programming discrepancies as well: the stereo placement of
sounds is sometimes unconventional and inconsistent (listen for
the hihat swapping sides when I changed sounds in the demo I uploaded),
sometimes ‘alternate group’ is used to cut off the same
instrument sound and sometimes not, all the snare banks in the
‘Perspectives’ volume which contain only one sample
seem to default to having no sensitivity to velocity, the ‘Carnival’
bank defaults to midi channel two where everything else on the
disks default to midi channel 1. Where there are small programming
oversights they are generally quick to sort out but I do feel
that this CD set wasn’t quite as "load and play"
as it could have been.
The switching of samples with velocity (remember almost all the
hits are velocity multisamples and some contain 10 or 12) is generally
smooth and sound great in the context of most drum parts.
The switching would, however, become noticeable with a "machinegun"
snare roll with a linear increase in velocity, and it is some
of the snare drum banks which are less good.
Good use of duplicates is made throughout, so that loading double
handed banks in both octaves takes up no more memory than just
loading in one. I feel it is a shame that there are so few programs
and ready made kits. It would be really nice to have several
carefully programmed programs such as ‘funk kit’, ‘rock
kit’, ‘trip-hop kit’ etc making use of appropriate
effects, filters, stereo placement and levels etc. And
while we’re at it, a couple of demo sequences showing off
these programs would be a nice introductory showcase.
Negatives...
I only have two major gripes with this CD ROM set. The first
is the size of the sample banks. A typical small kit of
one kick, one snare set (three snare hits), one hihats set (five
hihat hits), six cymbals, five toms and five tom flams can eat
up more than 25 meg!! My A3000 currently only has 32 meg,
but it is also the load times involved in these size banks - particularly
given that sample banks cannot be auditioned from disk or CD in
the way that they can from memory. I think that VRSound
really ought to have given more consideration to this issue.
I don’t think it’s too difficult to make an argument
for overkill when a kick drum contains 10 separate velocity samples
all in stereo! How much better is it going to sound in the
context of a mix than 3 mono samples with some judicious use of
a velocity sensitive hi-pass filter and maybe 8 cents random pitch
shift?
The first thing I tried to do was load program 1 from the ‘Stingrays’
volume. Eight and a half minutes later I got the out of
memory message!
The second and perhaps more important (and more easily remedied
by VRSound) problem with this set is the total lack of proper
documentation. It really took me quite a while to get my
head around how this CD set worked, how the banks are set up,
the naming system used etc. I would have liked to have seen
a proper introduction on how the sample banks are organised and
named, why the same sound can be loaded both in a set and individually
and giving examples of when you might want to use the different
loading methods. There should definitely be a section where
each sample bank is named, and given it’s size and the keys
it maps to. Ideally each sample bank should also have a
one or two line description of what it sounds like and how it
was recorded (it is really frustrating loading large bank after
large bank by pure trial and error to find the right sound for
your track).
As an example:
"SabianHat Oct3: F#3,G3,G#3,A3,A#3; 3.4meg;
recorded with a crossed pair of AKG-414s. (NO 414'S WERE USED)
This set has a less cutting attack but more ‘zing’ than
the Paiste sets. Sound great with 70s funk"
Summary...
A very high quality, on the whole well produced CD ROM set let
down by very poor documentation. If you are producing music
in any genre that needs a real drum kit, your studio doesn’t
have a live room and you have an A3000 with LOTS of ram then you
will like this product. There is also a vast amount of raw
drum material available for sonic mutilation for other types
of music.
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| THE PIANO AKAI |
Hi all,
I have made a deal with VRSound that I´d review an Akai
sample cdrom and put it on the Akai list. I hope you find this
ok - the review is a little long.
Here it goes:
Review of "The Piano" Volume 1 by Lars D. Terkelsen
Have you ever listened to a Beatles record and thought: "I
really like that piano sound", and then wondered why your
fancy piano module doesn´t even sound close. Somehow a typical
piano sampling today sounds like a close-miked string playing
a fff note. That might work for your house piano riff or your
Jerry Lee Lewis track, but it sucks if you are trying to express
yourself in a more sensitive context.
Enter "The Piano" from VRSound. This is not more of
the same, this is different. To sum it up: It sounds like a real
piano. Bravo. You get two pianos: A Boesendorfer 9´ and
a Yamaha 7´. The Boesen is the killer. They have sampled
it in 3 veloceties , - great. The real treat is this: They have
sampled it in 3 positions also: From player position, from a position
a bit from the piano (singer position), and a position further
away (big band position). This is very very usefull if you are
trying to make your piano track sound real. Big applause.... All
pianos are in a beautiful stereo perspective that the makers tells
us is 3D sound. 3D or not, - it sounds absolutely great.
And now the bad news: The first thing that alerted me was the
lack of info on the sleeve. The least you can expect is an overview
of the partions, but no. I still havn´t found out how to
use some of the programs, yet there seems to be some good intentions
there. Some explanation would come in handy since the selection
of programs can be quite confusing to the user. I would have been
able to forgive that, if the programing had been as great as the
samples themselves but.......
The programming is useless at worst, and inconsistent at best.
I am using a S3000xl wich should read S1000 format, should it
not? So if it´s not about incompability, the guys at VRSound
has done a much too hasty job that is bound to raise a lot
of complaints. In general it is the filter settings that are flawed.
On the Boesen/player/medium for example all the programs have
negative velocity value on the filter, wich means: The harder
you hit the less overtones, - bummer dude. Also velocity switching
prg´s could easily be improved to have smoother transitions.
In fact, I spent some 30 minutes fiddling with the parameters
of the soft/medium/hard Boesen/player programs, and came up with
a very satisfying and convincing and indeed playable piano. Why
oh why did VRSound not work on the programing, when they obviously
put so much work in the samples? Speaking about the samples themselves
I have one minor gripe: There is generally a bit too much hiss.
When you play one note, - no problem, but when you play a 10-note
chord the hiss can be distracting when played solo. I think I
might put my favorite piano samples in my sound editor and see
if I can kill some of that hiss.
As you can see I have very mixed feelings about "The Piano".
If VRSound had only spent a few days more on the programming and
maybe got rid of the hiss (there is very efficiant software for
that out there), they would have a winner. I don´t know
the retail price, so I can´t tell you the bang-for-the-buck
value. I can tell you however that I am very happy to have this
cdrom in my collection.
It is unique.
VRSound has asked me to tell about the equipment used in the review,
so here it is:
Keyboard controller: Yamaha SY77. Mixer: Behringer MX8000. Speakers:
Genelec nearfield and some big custom ones.
Lars D. Terkelsen
-----------------------------------------------------
The music of Skarbye and Terkelsen can be found at http://www.s-t.dk
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| vrsound_giga_module |
Some time ago I put my name down at the VR Sound website http://www.vrsound.com as a person willing to be supplied with one of their CD roms for review purposes. Not a hard commitment to make really, but I didn't expect an answer. About mid November I was informed that I could do a review, and a couple of days later the Giga Module CD rom arrived in the post. I feel obliged to say that VR Sound have not pushed me to write the review in any particular fashion, asked to vet it before posting, or even tried to tweak my opinion with flashy descriptions of their recording techniques. They just sent me a CD without liner notes and a polite request for the review. What with a sudden big job and then Christmas, I've been a bit slack putting fingers to keyboard, but here it is finally. Please excuse me if I seem to be covering the same territory as RobM did last month, but it's probably handy to have a second opinion anyway.
VR Sound's Giga Module is an example of what might be seen as a second generation of sample libraries for the Gigasampler. Initially Gigasampler users had access to conversions of libraries which were designed for Akai samplers. This was the first generation. The only problem with this was that the Gigasampler usually ended up under-utilised. Gigasampler features which were unavailable on Akai samplers could only be accessed by those intrepid enough to do further time-consuming programming after they'd converted their Akai library. As Akai samplers only use ram for sample playback most sounds sampled for the Akai were compromised to fit the limited (and relatively expensive at the time) ram. Crash cymbals were faded quickly, tuned instruments were not sampled on every note, dynamic sounds were sampled loud and then filtered, rather than sampled at mutiple velocities and switched. The Second generation ignores these boundaries.
The Giga Module has instruments which will only fit in the largest ram based samplers, combinations of these instruments will only fit in Gigasampler, and it is not unusual to find instruments which are sampled at several velocities for each note. Even crash cymbals have multiple velocity layers. VR Sound have also implemented their own ID system. Bass instruments are prefixed with 'bs', percussion with 'pn', acoustic pianos with 'pa', electric pianos with 'pe' etc. These IDs in conjunction with Gigastudio's Quicksound should make it easy to locate a favourite VR sound. This collection is not a detailed analysis of any particular instrument. It isn't Ultimate Marimbas, or the Unabridged Tin Whistle Library. It's a bit of a buffet. I haven't spoken to the sound designers, but my impression is that this CD is designed to be a good general starting point for those who aren't ready to commit to big bucks for a single instrument CD. It also supplies sounds which are missed out in some libraries. For example, there are only two basses on the CD, but they aren't the kind of basses you generally find on real or synth bass CD roms. They're eq'd and processed - designed to sit in a mix pretty much immediately. Dirty Phunk Slap Bass has a tasteful hint of amp distortion, and for every straight note in the bottom half of the keyboard, there is a funk slap exactly two octaves above. For basses, I personally prefer this approach to velocity switching - I tend to get too energetic when playing parts and unintentionally fire off sounds in the upper velocity range, so separating the sounds for right and left hands works well for me. VR LowBass is a very mellow tone across the whole range, which is a big improvement over those sampled basses which switch to new samples for strings A, D & G. This way you can play the higher notes and not get that thin bright sound of the top strings sticking out from the rest of your line which is based on the warmer E string sample. The top half of VR LowBass' range has a variety of articulations and effects which are thoughtfully processed to match the main bass sound.
The Funky and Rock drum kits are seriously multisampled and have a few alternate processed choices of kicks and snares thrown in (I love Ledrm Kick - so much character). Some sounds like the snare and kick have up to 16(!) sets of stereo velocity levels. Even the ride has five layers. The layout on these is clever too. On the snare you have two adjacent keys with similar (not identical) strikes that you can easily play realistic sounding paradiddles on. Adjacent to those is a third key with quite loud multisampled versions of the snare. For me, it was very easy to play a soft to medium pattern on the first two keys and punctuate it with all my loud hits using the third key. The layout is repeated halfway up the keyboard, with slight velocity range variations, for those who like to play drum parts two handed. The hats are also hugely multisampled, but my guess is the programming was done pre-key zone implementation, so you'll need to assign all the hats to their own region, which should take all of two minutes. Flammed toms are available in the extreme upper range of the keyboard.
The Moog 15 Sequences patch uses single shot atonal percussive filter blips and sequences which are also thoughtfully programmed in a kind of 'construction kit' manner. You have a sequenced pattern of lively non melodic filter boinks on one key, with each of the next several keys holding panned single-shots which are consistent with the full sequence - allowing you to easily roll your own sequences. This is repeated across about ninety keys.
The Organs are a mixed bag. Most are derived from a nice present hammond registration recorded with a little valve overload through a leslie. There's a main slow leslie recording, a strong fifth slow leslie, and an accelerating to fast leslie. But there is no fast only leslie recording..I'm not sure what to make of that. Theoretically you could edit the front off the accelerating samples, but it'd take a while. There is also a 'Tube Fuzz' slow leslie patch which would add some serious edge to any 'prog rock' performance (just kidding!). It's a real 'character' sound, a sound which on its own can make the difference between a straight sounding piece and something which sounds juicy and different.
The "Tokyo 7' Piano - Player" is mostly sampled every three semitones, and sampled at four velocity levels. The samples are seamlessly looped and the instrument takes up about 50 mb of disk space. When listening to this I had to keep reminding myself that it shouldn't be compared with piano libraries which use two or three CDs to hold one instrument and cost huge dollars. This piano sounds better than most I've heard on Akai libraries, but isn't a patch on something like the Steinway B. There is a separate version of the piano - called sustain, which is one layer with each sample covering about half an octave. It's richer than the other version but has a sample which stands out around F2. I found that cutting that region out altogether and filling the gap left with the regions above and below actually sounded more even.
The "Vienna 9' Piano - Player" is also sampled every few keys, but has three velocity levels instead of four. I prefer it to the Tokyo, as the sound is a little less bright, and a little 'roomier'. VR also supply a version which is sampled with distant miking. I found it quite strange to play a piano which sounded like it was actually positioned across the room from where I stood. As with the Tokyo, the Vienna 9' has a sustain version - miked similarly to the Player instrument.
The Fast Tremolo Rhodes has about two samples per octave, with two velocities layers per sample. The soft samples would work in most material needing soft Rhodes, not too dull - but also not too 'tiney'. The hard samples have a bit of bark, which some people would call clunky, but others always miss when playing a 'sampled' Rhodes. Some people may have a similar problem with a multi sampled tremolo Rhodes to that of a multi sampled Hammond through Leslie, ie it's just not possible to get perfect synch of the spacial movement across mutliple samples. However, lateral thinkers will realise that doesn't stop the unsyc'd multisampled fast tremolo effect being interesting in itself.
The Slow Tremolo Rhodes is sampled more often - one sample for every few keys, with three velocity layers per region. It's a really lovely spacious sound which ranges from soft tines to warm mids to that slightly overdriven Rhodes sound. There's a dud hard layer on the E3 region though - sounds like a damped tine, but apart from that it's all in tune and responds very naturally. As with the sustain acoustic pianos, VR Sound has included a 'bonus' Rhodes - the Octave Rhodes. Each key is actually two octaves played simultaneously with slow tremolo, one layer and two samples. It's a pretty thick sound and probably not as easy to sit in a mix as the other Rhodes, but these days it's hard to say what is or isn't musically useful. You decide.
3 Congas is about as big a misnomer as you'll ever see in relation to drum patches. The last thing anyone really wants in their Latin kit is just three conga hits (which is what I thought this patch would be until I loaded it). After I find a conga sample which fits what I'm working on, my next big problem is always that dreary mechanical repetetiveness caused by having only three samples - usually low, high and slap. You can try to convince yourself that a little creative velocity and filter control can make that high conga sound unique on every hit, but the truth is it's still the same bop over and over again for the whole piece, which probably works against the idea of using a conga part to liven things up in the first place. This patch contains over eighty stereo conga samples. Some are effects - like heel slides or flams, but most are straight tones and slaps. Again,. the programmer has chosen to spread the samples out linearly across the keyboard rather than build several16 layer velocity switched single key regions. This is what I prefer, as I can locate the samples I like quickly, and more easily visualise how to build a part around them. There are enough variations for each of these sounds (even the slides) that your conga part will continue to sound fresh and can even evolve with the mood of the piece.
The Tamborine patch contains 23 samples. Several versions of your classic hard hits, several soft touches, several rolls and a few hits which have about a quarter of a second of tambourine build before the main impact - for those pedants who want a little more realism.
I had no idea what a Tupan was when I loaded it. My first impression was that it was some kind of bass drum - which it is. Apparently Tupan is a Macedonian word for a bass drum used in Bulgaria and some Arabic countries. There are twelve samples in the patch which are laid up twice across two octaves - making it a little easier to play two handed. The hits range from very loud to quite soft and distant. Again, it's great to have several versions of the same style of hit - eg three or four soft hits or a few hard hits, instead of findong a sound you want to use, but only having that one strike to play over and over.
Polymoog Phat Bass. What it says. I personally always hated the sound of the Polymoog, which seemed more like an organ with filters than a polyphonic mini, but the Phat Bass sound is quite big. It's one four layer sample which is spread across the stereo image. It largely uses the Gigasampler filter, which means you don't get a faster filter effect as you go up octaves, and is a very thick sawtooth sound with at least two strong octaves. It's a little reminiscent of a rumbling pipe organ bass. Switching to Turbo filter seemed to de-emphasise the mids and bring out the subs.
The Synth pad called Sweet Metal Mod is warm, chorusing, slightly evolving, and sonically fits in between soft strings and synth choir. It's a very useful all-rounder. The patch is programmed using a band pass filter, and the mod wheel has a very useful brightening effect without ever getting thin and reedy.
You could describe 'Thick 3D Ana Pad' in a similar way, but the mod wheel has much more throw on the filter and as you open it you hear more of a vocoded string sound, which gets very bright and resonant. In the background you can hear a rising square wave trill which gives the patch a slightly spacey effect (more obvious when the filter is open). The patch has a one second loop which comes in after about four or five seconds. Single notes with the filter open make the loop clear, but in paddy chords you'd mainly hear a nice general motion during the loops.
Thick Slow Ana Pad also falls into the soft strings/vocoder variety. It starts out with a very slight, brief glide to pitch, and a fairly whispy top end which very slowy decays into resonant mid range. Very subtle with continuous movement.
Voicy Sizzle is a two octave pad (ie two sets of oscillators on each note - at different octaves).The bottom end is a warm square wave that's fairly generic but fills the sound out well. The top octave is where the 'character' of the patch lies. It's reminiscent of a Roland patch called Soundtrack which used pulse waves, two oscillators gliding to pitch from opposite directions, and a resonant filter sweep to create a kind of 'meow' across the first couple of seconds of the patch. The Roland patch was programmed with fifths on every note, which sounded clever but was always a pain to fit into a piece. Voicy Sizzle doesn't suffer this problem. It has a nice present mid range, 'sizzling' upper range, and a haunting lower range with digital vocal overtones. This patch would find itself at home in just about any documentary soundtrack
The Small String Ensemble sits in an unusual position. The ensemble isn't a chamber group, and it's not twenty six violins either. With the exception of the cello, each sample region covers about three semitones. The violins and violas have some vibrato, are a sweet tone and have an intimate romantic quality about them. You'll probably need to find your cellos elsewhere than this patch. There are two instruments in the bank - one with a quick release and the other which felt more natural to play has a release of about a second.
LhundrumXjii is a single sample synth effect. The patch uses what seems like a multi tap delay, with cross mod on an oscillating filter which has a negative envelope doing a quick 'zap' type close at the beginning, then slowly opening up and spending about fifteen seconds (depending on which key you play) climbing and climbing. The Star Wars type laser effect at the beginning might appeal to some, but I'd prefer to cut it off and just use the long climb, which has a really nice build. Mosfate is also a synth effect. There are two samples on either side of middle C. The lower sample is a kind of 'shooting star' slow oscillator fall with delays. The upper sample is more complex, with sharp attack, audio modulated filter, delays which increase in intensity, and a slight slow rise. Very 'Sci fi'.
The Prayer Bowl Rotation synth effect is reminiscent of a Tibetan bell or large glass bowl being resonated, with a strong panning effect which accents the timbral swirling. It works from a very low range up to A4, at which point the Gigasampler seems to run out of transpose steam. Higher notes just play back the sample at its unity note. A very ethereal ambient sound.
The last patch on the CD won't put Donnie and Sean's Ultimate Percussion Library out of business, but it's still a thoughtful addition with nice programming. The VR Timpany - Soft Mallet Close Up contains twenty four samples, twelve articulations from a tymp tuned to high A, and the same articulations from a tymp tuned to low A. You get four straight strokes from pp to f, four short rolls from pp to f, and three more longer rolls (about three to four seconds and dampled at the end) which cover p to ff. Even though the patch says 'close', the sounds are quite workable for close miked tymps, not too much of that unuseable skin smack on the loud samples, with a nice ring to the soft hits.
VR Sound make the point that their libraries contain enhanced stereo effects. As 3D positioning is very dependent on the positioning of speakers and the listener, and I've been listening on my simple home studio, I've steered away from any big judgements about spacial effects. After I get back to work I'll post some more info on VR effects. As I said earlier, I think this library was designed as an economical broad base starting point from which to branch out. It gives you a taste of a range of well recorded instruments without requiring that you mortgage the house for library to cover a single instrument. As such it fits the bill well. I haven't tried out the Conexant 500mb GM library, but my assumption is that in trying to cover the whole 127 instrument GM library specification, it's not physically possible to do it in the depth that VR have covered this group of instruments.
Although there is still an obvious need for other sounds , If I had just bought Gigastudio and was looking for some sound fodder, the Giga Module would be an easy choice.
Rick Chadwick