ONE-SHOTS
May 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
GALBANUM ARCHITECTURE WAVEFORMS 2
FUEL YOUR WAVETABLES
Andrew Souter's sound-design skills have played a major role on U&I MetaSynth and various Native Instruments synths. Using precision math tools and tedious editing at the single-sample level, his first collection of avant-garde, highly expressive waveshapes was the factory wavetable set of the award-winning NI Massive. In Architecture Waveforms 2, Souter expands upon the original library by adding 800 new waveforms, and making it available in Absynth, MetaSynth and universal format (for synths or samplers that can load WAV files into their oscillators). There is also a special edition coming for Cakewalk products, with other native formats also in development.
The single-cycle periodic waveforms in this collection are each 24-bit/44.1 kHz and intended to act as the most fundamental building block of synthesis. In 38 subfolders, categories include Additive, Amplitude Modulation, Classic (dozens of variants on pulse, saw, sine, square, triangle), FM, Formants, Hybrid Modulation (combining AM and FM), Lo-Fi (4, 6 and 8-bit depths), Ultra-High Frequency, Artificial/Experimental and more. The UHF families are the most interesting in terms of their complex and dense spectrums and extreme aliasing. This is a simple and inexpensive way to expand a synth's available timbre palette or transform a sampler into a bleeding-edge sound-design synth. Expect highly harmonic, ear-piercing material with waveforms that are graphically and audibly pleasing. When you load the same complex waveforms as modulation sources, such as envelope/LFO shapes and distortion curves, it opens a new world of fractal-like sound manipulation. For an exclusive $10 discount through June 1, 2007, go to www.galbanum.com and use the promotion code “RHWAVES.”
GALBANUM
ARCHITECTURE WAVEFORMS 2 > $24.95; $29.95 for UNI
At a glance: Fresh single-cycle wavetable material for Absynth, MetaSynth and universal WAV-format synths and samplers.
Contact: www.galbanum.com
EQUIPPED MUSIC SMOKERS RELIGHT DEUX
PUFF ON THIS
DVD 1 of Smokers Relight Deux is crammed with 5,012 24-bit loops and samples in Acidized-WAV format (more than 7 GB), while DVD 2 contains 1,163 24-bit REX2 (also prepared for Stylus RMX) and a huge 2 GB Reason 3 ReFill file featuring some 4,755 samples and Combinator patches. Loops are divided between folders for MPC Loops & Vinyl Breaks, Music Loops & Chord Mix, mixed percussion and other instrument loops. Everything is conveniently shoehorned into 80, 90 or 100 bpm categories, which I love because it allows you to get inspired like a jamming musician, parleying one loop off another without worrying if they'll fit. The MPC vinyl-style loops cover hip-hop/dub and trippy jazz with enormous bottom end and tidal-size swing and swagger. Themed with variations and no-kick versions, they contain just the right amount of saturation, grit and grime to dirty their soul, but not without the occasional sprinkling of sugar on top to give them a crisp, modern dub-lounge aesthetic. While the Fender Jazz bass playing sounds doped out, the chosen amp tone was a little lackluster because it hardly changed through the 225 phrases. But the 395 heavily processed flute, tenor sax, trumpet and Rhodes riffs, chords and effects were mind-blowingly cool — enough so that it made me say, “Screw the beats,” and focus on creating some minimalist pieces. Other novel treats include vintage Organ Beatbox patterns, processed reggae-dub percussion loops for accenting the main beats and a weekend's worth of single-instrument hits, chords and riffs by key. But there's more! Beatmakers will get high stuffing their samplers with the 453 kicks, 300 snares, 96 claps and 341 hi-hats and other percussion. If weed-soaked dub floats your sub, check out this joint.
EQUIPPED MUSIC (DIST. BY BIG FISH AUDIO)
SMOKERS RELIGHT DEUX > $199.95
At a glance: Enormous collection of 24-bit vinyl-style trip-jazz beats, phrases and instrument samples.
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com
LOOPMASTERS DISCO HOUSE SESSIONS
DIVAS TO THE DANCEFLOOR, PLEASE
If re-creating the genuine pre-techno sounds of the Paradise Garage and Studio 54 are on your dance card, then check out this audio/data CD two-pack, which claims to “take you back to how we used to do it.” The collection features 921 Acidized-WAV files, 446 RMX-compatible REX loops and 18 multisample patches for NN-XT, HALion, Kontakt, EXS24 and SFZ-compatible samplers — 652 MB of content in all. File organization is by instrument, not construction kit, and is subcategorized by tempo (110 to 128 bpm). The producers reportedly dissected the hits of disco's golden era element for element, using only vintage kits and instruments, classic mics and processors similar to those found in studios back in the day. However, they also produced the content to work well stylistically with modern tracks, which is why file names are designated as either purely disco or disco's remixed cousin, house. On the 350 drum and percussion loops, you can hear the warmth of fine preamp choices combined with the authenticity of live session players, and the tracks are clock-tight for today's charts. In authentic fashion, the house loops' meatier 909-style kicks have been layered into the otherwise acoustic grooves to give you that truly hybrid, live remixed vibe. Live instrument loops comprise highly funky rhythm guitar, poppin' electric bass with lots of character, gorgeous keys (compressed acoustic piano, effected Rhodes, clavinet) and useful trumpet and sax riffs. Specialty folders containing filtered brass, guitars and piano riffs, single drum hits (nearly 300), vocal shout-outs and turntable effects round out the full arrangement possibilities.
LOOPMASTERS (DIST. BY BIG FISH AUDIO)
DISCO HOUSE SESSIONS > $69.95
At a glance: Classic pre-techno sounds of '70s disco produced with modern sensibility.
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com
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