New sample library - "Impact Steel" - very cool!

[zircon]

Some of you may remember bustatunez (aka Will Roget, II) lurking around on these forums and IRC. He's recently come out with a sample library called "Impact Steel" that he recorded, edited, and programmed himself. It's a metallic percussion library with a focus on extensive sampling on a select few instruments, rather than a couple samples of a lot of instruments. The end result are some extremely cool, highly playable patches with a sort of ethnic/cinematic timbre to them. There are also bonus patches like "Clang Ensemble" (simulating multiple players), various processed sounds, and "FX" patches which are like Spectrasonics-level sound design. IMO some of the presets like "Nuclear Reactor" are worth the price alone.

Demos and more info here.

It's $79 for a download version and $89 for the physical CD - Kontakt 2 format, so you do need something that can play that, but it looks like Giga and maybe EXS are both on the list. If you like the big, dramatic sound of libraries like Stormdrum or the intricate percussive sampling of stuff like RA, this is a no-brainer as it's significantly cheaper but very detailed. I highly recommend it, so check it out!

[Compyfox]

Not to complain or anything, but 89USD for a CD version (10bucks off for download) sure is a bit much if I look at what's available out there.

For free there's the G-Town orchestra project, then you can get Rare Instruments (if you're still lucky) for dirt cheap. Then we can go up in price to get Banchetto Musicale, Flying Handpercussion, Silk Road, Project SAM TrueStrike, Stormdrum 1, not to mention Stylus RMX's internal soundfactory, Nucleus Soundlab Ambient Drums (for Wusik and SF2), Ambience and Drones (Zero-G or was it EWQL, discontinued however).

All of them kinda feature more, and are better in terms of price/effort deals. It does sound nice however. That introductionary demo sure gave me the chills and sounded very good. Didn't like the Clang Ensemble though (as if it's flanged). I'm sure Bear McCreary would love this stuff, if he didn't have access to real players already for the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack.

It's tempting. Call me a cheapstake, but I'd like to see a bit more in it for that price to be honest. I will keep an eye on it however. Thanks for the scoop.

[bustatunez]

Hey Compy, thanks for checkin' it out! Glad you liked the demos

About the flanging in the Clang Ensemble, it's intentional and added in realtime within Kontakt. I liked the way that it altered the tone, especially in context. But, of course, you can always remove it from the effects rack. I haven't heard any complaints about it from customers yet (in fact it seems to be a favorite so far!), but in the event that people want something like that changed, I've set up an Impact: Steel forum on the site where people can post suggestions and I can upload updated patches. It's a sample library developed by a composer for composers, so I understand how different people can have wildly different tastes for stuff.

And well about the pricing, you are right that there's lots of other percussion libraries out there. What sets Impact: Steel apart though is that it has a unique soundset with over 70 different articulations, recorded in 24-bit and with up to 9 velocities and 3 round robin variations per hit. In fact, I own most of the libraries you've mentioned, and have used their metal hits extensively in my film scores before... but the fact that they weren't very multisampled or usable as individual instruments (as opposed to just sound menus) is why I recorded Impact: Steel in the first place. And in addition to just the hits, you also get several banks of evocative sweeps, textures, and giant hits. It's diverse but remains within the scope of a metallic sound world.

So my final thought? If you're looking for a general "survey" experience with percussive sounds, I'd strongly recommend Stormdrum or TrueStrike-2 / Stormdrum-2 (once they finally release it ). They're several times more expensive, but they're full of tons and tons of diverse material across the board. However, if you're looking for something unique and evocative, and are attracted to shiny objects like I am, give Impact: Steel a shot.

[Compyfox]

That some of that material from other libraries isn't really playable is a sad fact unfortunately, and I'd have loved to if that G-Town stuff would have been without recorded reverb already (the anvils are massive indeed!). Or if there'd be one "ultimate" pack of percussion types (including more traditional japanese instruments and not only Taikos with medium size till ultra large). I like the idea with round robin and different pitches (lefthand hit/righthand hit - if this is what's possible with your pack).

But it's also a fact that those upper mentioned samplepacks only cost a fraction more in some cases, especially if there're deals available again and feature three times as much material. This is bugging me a bit though - and if I look on my always limited budget, it is a point to hesitate for me.

Also what's wondering me is the audiodemo material. Of course it is intentional to let it sound as loud and good as possible, but this really stinged my eye. 48kHz MP3 demos with the same loudness as most popsongs on the radio. To me it looks like you added additional mastering to your material. While this certainly no critism or anything, it's just that due to that I bought a couple of samplepacks already, and later I had to feel the negative sideeffect on it, that my productions sounded only partially better, but not as advertised unless I compressed the hell out of it.

Anyway, like I said... I keep an eye on Impact:Steel. It really is tempting and sometimes what I'm looking for (especially for a project I'm planning for years now), though I could only get it if I had more money at my disposal at the moment, or if there'd be some sort of introductionary price.

[bustatunez]

Also what's wondering me is the audiodemo material. Of course it is intentional to let it sound as loud and good as possible, but this really stinged my eye. 48kHz MP3 demos with the same loudness as most popsongs on the radio. To me it looks like you added additional mastering to your material.

Nope! The demos specified as being "dry" have no reverb or processing whatsoever. That's the advantage of recording and sampling in 24-bit, from what I've experienced - things mix so much easier, and the I:S samples just "fit" really naturally in both small/acoustic and large orchestral mixes.

[Compyfox]

Well, partially - I just analysed the files and both the dry and "reverbed" ones hit the 0dB range (sometimes even go over), the processed ones even exceed K-12's 0-point and go as hot as +5dB in this system. So indeed the "mastering" is a bit prominent. With only normalizing, you won't get as hot though.

Anyway, in direct comparision it's okay. Still I'm not convinced in terms of price. Futhermore, how is the "physical" CD made? Just a simple CD/DVD (how big is the content anyway?) with a printed/sticker label or really professional looking with pressed DVDs, imprints, box, etc?

[bustatunez]

Hey guys -

I'm pleased to announce that Impact: Steel is now available for Giga 3!

(Kontakt 1 and Halion 3 formats coming soon too)

Also, I was interviewed by CreateDigitalMusic.com in an article that will talk about what goes into sample development, my inspiration for Impact: Steel, and so on. I'll post the link as soon as it goes online!

[bustatunez]

Here's the CreateDigitalMusic interview:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/06/20/interview-indie-sample-library-impactsteels-developer-wilbert-roget-ii/