ONE-SHOTS
Nov 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
URS 1975 CLASSIC CONSOLE COMPRESSOR
PARENTS, LOCK UP YOUR DRUMS
Neve's early compressors were of a “feed-back” design, meaning the leveling circuitry would act upon a signal once it had already passed through the voltage-controlled gain-reduction amplifiers (VCAs). Later designs got their control voltage before the VCA, thus the leveling circuitry knew right away that a gain change was required, and there would therefore be an immediate response. Logically, this was known as “feed-forward” compression and is the basis of the URS 1975. Of the two designs, feed-back is more musical and sweeter, but feed-forward provides far greater accuracy over attack and release — something that is ultimately ideal for drums and other highly transient signal material. Indeed, 1975's high-resolution 48-bit “double precision” processing totally rocks on drums and percussion with an authoritative sound and enormous headroom for gain reduction without clipping. Actually, two versions are included: comp/limiter with sidechain and HP/LP filtering, and compressor-only. Both feature adjustable knee control from hard to soft, while the sidechaining version allows for both hard- and soft-knee compression and limiting independently, as well as “Brick Wall” limiting. Totally variable compression ratios and attack and release times are modern features not found on the vintage units, and because the Gain Makeup control is before the final limiter, it allows you to hit the brick wall really hard. Combined, this gave snares a powerful, woody snap without destroying their body and made toms pop without losing roundness and tone color. It sounded amazing gluing drum subgroups together and sat really well on the mix bus with a warm aggressiveness that always remained musical. The compressor-only version is three times more DSP efficient and acts as a limiter when the ratio is at least at 10:1.
URS
1975 CLASSIC CONSOLE COMPRESSOR > $499.99 TDM; $249.99 NATIVE
At a glance: Emulation of classic transformer input “feed-forward” VCA console compressor. Includes Compressor/Limiter/Sidechain and Compressor-only versions. WinXP and Mac OS X; Audio Units, RTAS and VST included in both native and TDM.
Contact: www.ursplugins.com
DISCOVERY FIRM 8 BIT FAMILY II
EVERY STUDIO NEEDS COLECOVISION
This collection is just too damn fun! Discovery Firm of Japan made a splash a few years ago with this series composed of squawky lo-fi sounds inspired by game consoles of the late '70s and early '80s. (C-64 SID chips anyone?) This second CD-ROM supplies even more vintage tones, loops, multisamples and sound effects as Acidized WAV and REX2 files — more than 530 MB of 16-bit/44.1 kHz material. Some classic one-shot samples are made to appear as though they're lifted directly from favorite game cartridges, but the real prize is the disc's original music content, which is prepared in a highly flexible cross-referenced construction-kit style. Most of the 55 kits enable users to produce complete compositions via a combination of drum (50 files), bass (45 files), synth (114 files) and a few vocal loops. These are quickly and flexibly accessible via an indexed table on disc and some helpful Battery, Kontakt and Reason RNS (3.0.4) programs, although they surprisingly don't address EXS24 or HALion users directly. A wide variety of styles and tempos abound, uniformly great for IDM, glitch, tricky hip-hop and adventurous electro-pop. There are some really cool French or Italo dance — sounding techno sequences and stiff beats along the lines of Benassi Brothers, Daft Punk and Mr. Oizo. I loved the mid- and down-tempo grooves (supplied as full mixes for auditioning) that served as wonderfully refreshing backdrops to a loungey house track with modern keys and drum beats on top. Geek-rock minimalists should also dig the synth loops that, with just the right drenching of reverb and harmonic destruction, can sound ominous and cool as “broken” background material one might expect from Coldplay, BellX1, Radiohead or Sigur Rós. Big bleeps for the bucks.
DISCOVERY FIRM
8 BIT FAMILY II > $55
At a glance: One-shot sounds and short sequences inspired by '80s game consoles. ACID, WAV, Reason/REX2, Kontakt, Battery. No EXS24 or HALion programs.
Contact: www.discoverysound.com
BIG FISH AUDIO RUSH
A HIGHER STATE OF SUBCONSCIOUSNESS
Progressive house/trance sample libraries worthy of review are rare. As connoisseur of the genres, the smell of outdated cheese puts me off before cracking the shrink wrap. However, the hypnotic tribal beats provided to back the main kick loops on Rush are worth the price of admission alone. Fifteen construction kits are arranged by key and tempo (132-140 bpm), each containing all the drum elements broken down into separate tracks (kick, snare, hats, etc.), as well as composites (full mix, drums no-kick, drums no-clap, etc.) and a full accompaniment of bass, percussion, synth and effects loops. Folders of additional drum and percussion loops, pitched instruments and synth effects augment the construction kits. With 56 kick and 71 no-kick loops, plus dozens of “thin-percussion” loops, loads of possible combinations and permutations exist. The synth arpeggios are some of the best I've heard and are definitely not cliché, while a single-shot drums folder provides five more kits. While Rush may not be packed to the gills with thousands of loops as in the mediocre catch-all discs, it makes up for its focused selection through exquisitely produced club-ready material that will likely inspire those who inspire you. If music from John Digweed, Sasha, Max Graham, Kaskade or Gabriel & Dresden tickles your eardrums, this disc will punch a hole right through them.
BIG FISH AUDIO
RUSH > $99.95
At a glance: Hypnotic progressive house and trance rhythms and full-instrument construction kits. AIFF, WAV, REX, Apple Loops.
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com
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