One-Shots, September 2008
Sep 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
MCDSP FUTZBOX HD
THIS AIN'T YOUR DADDY'S DISTO
FutzBox is much more than a distortion plug-in. Designed for everything from post-production to remixing, it's made to turn dialog and music tracks into authentically “canned,” or lo-fi, versions of themselves. To pull that off, McDSP came up with a highly optimized processing format called SIMs (Synthetic Impulse Models). Unlike an impulse response, SIMs have no internal latency and can be adjusted in real time, which proved really cool under automation. At the top of the plug-in you can flip through more than 150 simulations, represented visually as photos of the modeled objects. Various bookshelf and television speakers, clock and transistor radios, intercoms and phones, earbuds/headphones, walkie talkies/CBs, megaphones, 8-bit game machines and more adorn the list. The models sound incredibly authentic, and the many presets make adding simulated environments to your tracks effortless.
But FutzBox is capable of brutal signal shredding as well. Quite often I'd push the peaks of the resonant filters (12 and 24 dB/octave) to incur the same rich analog saturation of McDSP's filter bank products. Other modules include sculpting EQ, distortion, noise generator with ducking capabilities and adjustable gating with AHR envelope for purposely injecting anomalies such as audio dropouts. I love that you can tailor exactly how lo-fi the simulations go by dialing in degraded sampling rates (22,050 to 1,336 Hz) and truncated bit depths down to two bits. Original and distorted audio can be blended in real time for accommodating scene changes or automating special effects. What would be really cool, particularly in a post setting, is if you could have two SIMs loaded simultaneously and morph between them. FutzBox's stand-alone (download only) asking price is a little steep. For McDSP bundle owners, a far better deal comes by way of snagging the upgrade to Emerald Pack 3.
MCDSP
FUTZBOX HD > $495 DOWNLOAD; INCLUDED IN EMERALD PACK 3
At a glance: Configurable lo-fi effects, including speaker simulation, filtering, EQ and distortion. TDM, RTAS, AudioSuite.
Contact: www.mcdsp.com
REAL SAMPLES ENGLISH HARPSICHORD
AN URBAN RENAISSANCE REVIVAL
No, we haven't flipped our powdered wigs. Admittedly, harpsichord is not the first thing you associate with urban and electronic music, but when a special remix or production calls for such a sound, one mostly finds poor specimens from keyboard workstations or grab-bag sample libraries. Teetering on 6 GB, this two-DVD set delivers impeccable multisamples of an instrument built by Jacob Kirckman in London circa 1766, with double manual design and many registers. Captured register combinations include the upper 8 feet, lower 8 feet, 4 feet and 2-by-8 feet, not to mention rare variations unique to Kirckman instruments. The ability to layer, mix and match string-length combinations within your sampler makes it exceedingly flexible. Though harpsichords lack touch sensitivity, as many as eight keystroke variations and four release samples of each note have been captured to simulate the differences in body and string resonance that make repeated notes especially sound more authentic. This instrument simply feels fantastic and has gorgeous presence.
Tonally, the lowest notes have a wonderful throaty, resonating pounce, the depth of which I haven't heard on any major keyboard workstations. Similarly, the heights of the upper registers sound purely magical without the shrillness that typically plagues ROMplers. You can actually hear the key and quill plectra “actioning” together with delicate harmonic overtones and light release. The dampened Stop presets are a terrific bonus; program in a steep resonant filter curve, add delay and you've got an exotic alternative to those stale plucked-sawtooth trance programs. Play it low for a fresh twist on hip-hop bass or for accenting a rhythm track. This makes a great choice for the one-and-only high-quality harpsichord in your collection.
REAL SAMPLES
ENGLISH HARPSICHORD > $139.95
At a glance: 24-bit multisampled English harpsichord circa 1766. HALion, EXS24, NN-XT, Kontakt 2, Vsampler 3, GigaStudio, Independence, MachFive, Structure, SoundFont.
Contact: www.realsamples.de
FUNK/SOUL PRODUCTIONS RETRO-FUNKY BREAKS
TAKING THE RHYTHM BACK TO ITS ROOTS
This latest offering from Big Fish's resident funk wizards steps back to the genre's roots — spanning the late '60s to late '70s — where soul met up with deep-groove jazz and R&B to form a powerful new form of dance music. But Retro-Funky Breaks goes one very cool step further by applying an authentic “vinyl-resourced” vibe from the perspective of a DJ today. With more than 1.28 GB of WAV material, the 26 construction kits (90 to 135 bpm) are unexpectedly wall-to-wall with a large number of source tracks. Each kit contains a dozen or more drum breaks and fills; about the same count for congas, bongos and miscellaneous percussion parts; several bass groove variants; a handful of horn and electric guitar parts; a complementary modern filtered-synth line or two; and a couple dozen well-crafted male vocal scratches.
The guitar and bass tones are era-appropriate while not being overly effected, and the players ooze enough funkiness through their pores to need deodorant. In contrast, the horns and Clav parts fell flat both in energy and vintage charm; I had hoped for juicy lo-fi brass splats, powerful section stabs and Wonder-ful comping but instead got weaselly renditions that sounded thin and cheesy, as if coming from a cheap keyboard. Fortunately, the breaks are the intended highlights, and they deliver skillful and highly inventive takes on old standards, as well as many original patterns. Heavily compressed and doused in lo-fi fuzz, they possess the gritty, invigorating character needed to stand up in everything from hip-hop to big-beat.
FUNK/SOUL PRODUCTIONS (DIST. BY BIG FISH AUDIO)
RETRO-FUNKY BREAKS > $69.95
At a glance: 26 new-millennium construction kits built on roots-funk breaks and modern cut-up vocal phrases. Apple Loops, REX, WAV, RMX.
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com
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