dannthr

Yeah, the SID guy left Scarbee: http://www.chocolateaudio.com/ But they're still for sale.

All I'm listening to with Battery is that one, individual sample--for which there is a demo. And it sounds better than JABB's.

It's not the same, a nylon string guitar is actually shaped differently--with different spacings on the fretboard.

Yeah, their circular sweep seems to be the same as a stir, but there aren't any demos Battery 3 sounds pretty good.

What I need is a drum library that can yes, do all the rock stuff, etc, etc, but I also need a drum library that has not just brush hits, but brush STIRS!!! Neither NS_kit7 nor DfH:C&V have demos showing this as a sample asset. Doesn't anyone do jazz anymore? Only JABB seems to have a brush stir and I'm not too fond of JABB's sound.

For me, and maybe it's just my personal hitch, but I can't buy actual musical instruments online, bro. I have to go into the store and try them out. That's what I'd suggest. Personally, I have a $300 or so Washburn Steelstring. The recording is total shit and I'm not much of a player, but this is the softer side: http://www.dannthr.com/samples/live/Dan_guitar_open_mic_live_crap.mp3 Like all steel-strings it can get pretty loud if I use a pick and wail away at it. However, some of the softness/warmth/etc depends on the equipment you use to record it, you can get a lot of tones out of different mics. The steelstrings going to give you the biggest variety of sound, but with my tastes, I sometimes wish I'd gotten a nylon.

I agree with Zircon, also, you might want to cut a little back on the verb--let them be a bit more upfront. You're going to find that the wetter a track is, the farther away it seems. Likewise, the dryer, the closer. You need to change the spatial position. If you don't want to compress it, you could also try just raising it a bit--maybe some mild normalization. You just need to bring it out more, it'll sound solid when you do. Also, if you decide to mono it, don't mono your chorus, they sound great.

I'll definitely upgrade if they fix their 64bit code. 6 was consistently horrible: http://www.dawbench.com/blofelds-xp-v-vista2.htm I'm also looking forward to the sound to midi app. Sometimes I'm writing and I just want to sketch stuff out fast--hopefully, I'll be able to lay down some quick sketches with it.

Because if your source is at 44.1 khz, then it needs to resample it to change the hertz. Otherwise it'll just stretch it out to make it 22. I use the LAME encoder embedded in SONAR, it has a few sound quality options, if you'd like, I'd be willing to give it a shot, just put the wave somewhere.

Heheh, no problem man

Hey man, Really great textures! The only thing I would suggest is when you're trying to blend several different libraries together, really pay attention to the spatial qualities of each library. For example, in TRUTH 44, you have like... a portato string line in the last quarter of the piece (when the percussion joins)--it's a great line, but the strings aren't fitting spatially with that beginning ambience. There's hardly any verb and so they stick out like a sore thumb. Try to match the spatial qualities of those strings to the pizz strings you have earlier on, or even the preceeding legato line. In the FORSAKEN piece, you've got a really great build, really nice, very actiony! The mono, however, is killing me. I think you're using some stereo samples and when you throw them into mono there are some serious phasing issues. Is there any specific reason this is mono? Anyway, man, I would LOVE to hear this in the kind of stereo you had for TRUTH 44. TUTORIAL has a great Sim City/early-Howard-Shore feel with a little Elfman spice. So along the lines of Elfman, what I would suggest to get twice as much out of it is to actually modulate the second half and give it some melodic or textural variation. Listen to the Desperate Housewives theme song to see how Danny Elfman basically recycles the same 7 seconds of music like a dozen times. Keep up the good work, man!

I used the ol' fashioned mouse/click method and lots of little tweaks here or there to tempo and quantization.

Heheh, sorry guys, I should have been clearer--the library is new out... it came out like... a couple of weeks ago or something. It's made by a couple of people in my Guild so I got to hear about it before hand, which is neat. http://www.tsaikodrums.com/ It's produced by a guy named Sean Beeson--I remember his name because like... last year he released a free music pack for indy game devers on gamedev.net. Personally, I love taiko drums and most taiko drum libraries are kind of lame--like they're all very THUNDEROUS for Zimmer-ish soundtracks, which is fine for some people--and Tsaiko can do that too, but I wanted something like what I always thought of as taiko music, which is you know... the more natural sounding concert style, like Joji Hirota or Pete Lockett.

I got to do a user demo for a new sample library called Tsaiko Drums and I wanted to do something that had the feel of a good ol' fashioned taiko drum concert as an homage to my favorite taikoist, Joji Hirota (so it's definitely ala his style): Lifestream (1:22) Any comments or crits are appreciated!

Yeah, man, sorry, I should've been more clear about that: Click over to the DataBase tab, then hit REBUILD DATABASE and then you should be able to browse for all your samples in the Database browser window as full instruments like you would access in the Kompakt or Intakt versions.

The last Novation keyboard I used had no action at all, which is usually appropriate for synthstations. My main MIDI controller is a CME UF8 which has weighted action (like a piano) and has a selection of velocity curves so I can pick a response appropriate to the instrument I might be pretending to play. The CMEs are a bit more expensive than the M-Audios, at least when I was shopping, but they have a few more options. They're fully weighted and the M-Audios are semi-weighted, and also, I think, though I'm not sure, the M-Audios don't have aftertouch, which is a controller I actually use from time to time.

Yeah, the MacBookPros are nice--I've been using a friend's infrequently. Also macs, I hear tell, have better RAM addressing--which is kind of messy now in PCs with the transition to 64bit. I'm converting my sample machine to Win XP 64bit and I'm not sure how well it's going to go... ...but there are plenty of great mac solutions. However, if you have a higher inclination one way or the other when it comes to your own comfortability--that's also important to listen to. You want to make sure that the workflow jives with your own creative process and while both PC and Macs are likely adaptable to whatever your needs might be, you may simply work better with one or the other. Despite my frequent encounters with macs of all kinds, I still can't flippin' type on their keyboards for the life of me. I am also fairly comfortable diagnosing PC error issues and don't really like Mac's mystery integer error codes. When building or choosing computer components--do your research and take your time. The best time to buy new computer components is the latest possible moment because of that depreciation. However, if you pay attention to trends you can buy components with future upgrades in mind. For example, if you're choosing a motherboard, try to pick one that has sockets that seem like they'll be around a bit longer. You can still buy a cheap CPU and then when you need to upgrade, hopefully you'll find a much better CPU at again, a reasonable price. Most sampler software isn't actually CPU intensive, it's usually plug-ins and software fx and VSTs that start demanding more CPU time. etc, etc Thanks for the history lesson, Yoozer, you make some great points!

After you've rebuilt your database, and ONLY after you've rebuilt your database, you must switch to the DATABASE tab on your browser. The Files tab is just a file browser and you're looking at the raw samples.

True that, there are often no substitutes for good, warm, analog filtering. In fact, I'm pretty sure the 5050 has some analog filters but it uses sampled waves.

I suppose if he want's to make music on a plane or in a car or something, I can definitely appreciate the need for a laptop--but he can't bring a big hardware rompler or sampler on a plane... so I have to ask, where is he making music that he can't have a desktop but where it would be appropriate to bring a Yamaha? As far as I could tell, the guy's core problem wasn't that he couldn't decide between a laptop or a motif, but that he couldn't decide between a laptop or a motif because he didn't have enough money. What good is my advice? What good is advising him to save money and possibly get more than he expected? I suppose I'm too stupid to evaluate my advice--but I offer it to him because he's the one that'll decide whether or not it helps him. A lot of people get trapped into an either/or buying situation, and I've seen (and made my own) mistakes when (myself or) the purchaser doesn't broaden their possibilities. The potential to exploit free software and synths doesn't disappear when you have a custom built desktop and the potential to exploit COMMERCIAL software increases when you do. To the OP: When I began working with romplers seven years ago, I found the learning curve--like with anything new to your mind--a bit steep. If you want to go the hardware route, which is fine (but is slowly on the way out) I suggest choosing a synth or workstation that has accompanying software to assist you in programming new patches, drums, instruments, and ensembles, etc. Once I felt extremely comfortable with my workstation and basically (then) interfacing completely via MIDI cable, I was able to program my own leads, basses, sounds, drums, kicks, snares, etc and really tweak and be exact about the sound I wanted. I'd probably say it took me a full year and a half of working just with that specific rompler just to get to that level. Personally, and this is largely influenced by the kinds of music I want to make now, I've gone completely the way of the software sampler. However, my workflow hasn't changed all that much because I use a separate computer dedicated to running my sample software exclusively. Being able to devote my system resources to the rendering of audio completely on one separate machine really let me abuse how much I could work with when it came to "polyphony" and sample size. My workflow, however, remains fairly unchanged with the exception that I can simply DO more and SOUND better. I'm sure you can understand why I'm an advocate of computer based sampling/synthesis. However, I don't know what your goals are and I made assumptions about what I thought would be a money saving choice since I perceived your problems to be focused on that problem. Personally, I would love a laptop. Instead, however, I'm going to be saving my money as best as I can and I'll be looking at building another computer instead and donating my least performing machine to my mom since she's using a desktop from 1998 This computer will have: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 256MB GeForce vid card (which I wouldn't normally get, except it has to do more than just music recording) 2GB of RAM 320GB 7200 rpm HD (for system programs and all my non-music files and apps) 150GB 10000 rpm HD (for the odd VSTi samples) My other machine is the sample machine, but there are a few virtual instruments I want to have on my main machine for workflow purposes. This computer will cost me, with legitimate OS, about $760 (S&H not included) and that's with all the components coming from newegg (and spending $140 on a legit copy of windows) without even shopping around at zipzoomfly or tigerdirect. Now, the big reason, aside from the money (which is significant in my opinion), that I haven't gone with a laptop is that it's nearly impossible to find a laptop with at least a 7200rpm HD, most are 5400rpm which is just too slow for me--even for regular use. I don't know what the other stats look like, the laptop market seems quite varied depending on the reputation of the manufacturer. I hope I was helpful, and if not, good luck and more power to you.

I must be daft, could you explain that one to me, Zircon?

Well first of all, you should start out by rebuilding your database so that your browser knows you have some SD files and then you should select .nki files from your browser which are full instruments (often multi-sample/multi-key instruments) and that will be the most similar to the Kompakt instrument selection process. I think that's what you're trying to achieve. Otherwise, you might be trying to build your own patch out of the SD samples?

I guess I'm a bit biased as I used to use external Romplers and Samplers and program them via computer interface software--but have since enjoyed creating my own external hardware samplers with computers for cheaper. There is little difference between my old JVs and my external sampler slave computer except for the exceptional difference in sample quality and sample control. Unless of course 5.3ms of total latency is too slow for your live performance. I don't care if you buy your laptop but if you SERIOUSLY want to talk about stretching a dollar, Laptops aren't it.

If you're serious about making music then you won't buy a laptop--you'll build a custom desktop yourself and you'll save money by buying a 3000 dollar turnkey desktop for a third of the price by building it yourself. Then you'll have money left over for a synth, some sample libraries or synth softwares (which are just as good), and maybe some monitoring equipment--depends on how you want to prioritize your setup.

Well, Kompakt can't play Intakt-rhythm loops and does not have the rhythm loop management features that Intakt has. The one to get is Kontakt 2 (or possibly Kontakt 3). Kompakt and Intakt aren't "gettable" because they come bundled with NI-licensed virtual instruments. You don't have to worry about "getting" Kompakt or Intakt. Kontakt can play all Kompakt and Intakt bundled virtual instruments and any other Native Instruments native samples as well as a multitude of others.