Awesome Akai S900 Video Manual!!
Discovered by Mike Goins on the Akai Mailing List, this is an incredibly cheesy and very 80′s instructional video for the Akai S900 sampler!! Steve Howell recalls how him and his fellow UK based Akai employees recoiled with horror at the sight of this!!
Whilst it is instructional, it’s also laden with naffness, but that makes it all together more endearing.
The 7 parts to the video are playlisted below 
Indiginus Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer for Kontakt & Akai
I buried mention of this on my earlier post about the Indiginus Acoustic Guitar Collection and felt that it deserved a post of it’s own.
I often, due to nothing more than laziness I guess, refer to Tracy’s work as “sample libraries” but in all honesty, they are WAY more than that. Whilst they are indeed fine collections of samples, the detailed and intricate programming that goes into the playback instruments is superb. Be it in the Akai AKP format or Kontakt 3/4, the attention to detail is nothing short of impeccable. The use of Kontakt’s scripting features for the StrumMaker features is brilliant, and even the most ham fisted of keyboard players can sound like a competent guitarist instantly.
The very same attention to detail has been applied to their newest instrument, the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer. Available in Akai AKP & Kontakt 3/4 formats and in 16/24bit versions, this small, simple instrument has been sampled meticulously as ever, and then the same techniques used as on the AGC. Hit a note softly and it’s a stilted/muted effect. Hit it mid range and it’s a nice firm pluck (steady on!) and hit it hard and you get a lovely bend on the note. Once you have mastered the playing technique for these instruments, you would be hard pushed to tell the difference between a real Dulcimer and a sampled one. I kid you not.
Here’s what Indiginus have to say about the instrument:
The mountain dulcimer is a four stringed instrument usually played on the lap, by strumming or picking with the right hand and fretting with the left. It is normally diatonic, with the frets creating a major (or itʼs relative minor) scale. The tuning is most often D-A-D, with the two highest strings close together and in unison. When the instrument is strummed, the high strings can be used to play melody, while the low strings drone. Or, chords can be formed and strummed guitar style.
As far as anyone can tell, this type of dulcimer originated with the settlers of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States as far back as the 18th century. Itʼs cheerful sound and characteristic heart-shaped sound holes must have been a comfort in what was, for the most part, a hard life. The instrument has enjoyed a revival in recent decades, and can have a Celtic, Middle Eastern, or Oriental sound. Our sampled Mountain Dulcimer is presented chromatically, and you will see the “in between” notes on the fretboard of the Strummer instruments.
Here’s that demonstration video again:
Brilliant programming like this comes at a price. In the case of Indiginus, a very LOW price!!! This Dulcimer will set you back $30. That’s just shy of £20 and a tad over €22. That, my friends, is what we call in the business extreme value for money.
So what the bloody hell are you waiting for????? Press the BUY BUTTON now!!!
Indiginus Acoustic Guitar Collection updated for 2010
I’ve long been a fan of the Indiginus sample libraries and their amazing attention to detail and authenticity. The guitar is a very difficult instrument to recreate in an electronic environment in an authentic fashion, but Tracy Collins, the man behind Indiginus has used very clever sampling techniques, namely detailed velocity switching and multisamples, to achieve what is in my opinion, the best acoustic guitar sample library in existence. And the price of this amazing library? A mere $40 in Akai AKP (S5/6000, Z-Series, MPC4/5000) & Kontakt 3/4 format!! That, my friends, is a deal, it’s a steal, it’s sale of the fuckin’ century!!!
Last month, Tracy released an updated version of AGC with improvements to the StrumMakerII scripts in Kontakt. Having played with this now for a bit, it’s a pure joy to use. But don’t take my word for it, use the player below to watch some videos demonstrating the beauty of this sample library.
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It’s also worth mentioning here that there is a new instrument in the Indiginus portfolio now too. The Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer is, in Tracy’s words:
…. a four stringed instrument usually played on the lap, by strumming or picking with the right hand and fretting with the left. It is normally diatonic, with the frets creating a major (or itʼs relative minor) scale. The tuning is most often D-A-D, with the two highest strings close together and in unison. When the instrument is strummed, the high strings can be used to play melody, while the low strings drone. Or, chords can be formed and strummed guitar style.
As far as anyone can tell, this type of dulcimer originated with the settlers of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States as far back as the 18th century. Itʼs cheerful sound and characteristic heart-shaped sound holes must have been a comfort in what was, for the most part, a hard life. The instrument has enjoyed a revival in recent decades, and can have a Celtic, Middle Eastern, or Oriental sound. Our sampled Mountain Dulcimer is presented chromatically, and you will see the “in between” notes on the fretboard of the Strummer instruments.
Amazing stuff and only $30!! Available in Akai AKP (S5/6000, Z-Series, MPC4/5000) & Kontakt 3/4 format.
And while we’re at it, don’t forget the Indiginus Solid State Symphony library, another steal at $40, which is nothing short of stunning…
Exclusive & Exciting! Novachord in more formats!
Hollow Sun’s brilliant Novachord library is going from strength to strength by encompassing even more formats all the time, bring this exquisite library of vintage synthesis to an even wider audience.
It is looking increasingly likely that the library will soon be available in three more formats, to complement the existing EXS24 & Kontakt versions.
Last night I was given an exclusive sneaky peek at a Reason ReFill of the Novachord and it certainly looks pretty! 
I hear work is progressing apace and we should hear something very soon regarding a release date. Keep checking back here and at the Novachord website for the latest info. You can subscribe to my RSS feed right here.
Suffice to say, Reason is an extremely popular tool. It’s been my weapon of choice for some time now, with it’s immediacy and unrivalled stability. Some bemoan it’s closed format but in all these years, I have never felt restricted by it. Everyone has their own preferred tools for music making that suit their ideal work flow, and Reason ticks all my boxes
And if that wasn’t enough, it looks like we will see the Novachord gracing the Akai S5000/6000 format soon, which means instant compatibility with the MPC4000 & MPC5000 production tools as well as the legacy Z Series rack samplers. The other beauty of the Akai format is that it will be readable by many other samplers and converters so this will increase the catchment of this unique library.
And finally, the Alesis Fusion will see it’s own version of Novachord soon after. Even after it’s untimely “death”, this vastly underrated workstation, which is rapidly gaining cult status and still commanding high used prices on eBay, is still getting up to date library from not only Hollow Sun, but places like Back In Time/KPR too.
Whilst I held Hollow Sun to ransom and squeezed this info out of them, they let slip of a number of high profile users of Novachord of which they are rightly proud, so who knows where we might hear this sublime collection of sounds soon??
Failed Muso Studio Gear Sale
I figure that by posting about it, it will motivate me to actually do it.
I have recently been toying with the idea of getting back into drumming and the idea is getting more and more appealing as time goes by. I do already have a kit, but it’s a bit dated now (Yamaha DTXpress Mk.1) and a fancy something a bit more 21st century. So I have decided on an Alesis DM10 Pro which I can get at a good price via my contacts at Alesis. Sure, I’d love a Roland V-Drum kit, but I’d also love the salary to be able to afford one!
So, to raise the necessary funds, I’m going to have to sell a bunch of existing gear. This is not easy. I am a hoarder. I hate to part with stuff. I’m usually okay once I’ve done it, but it’s getting to that point which is difficult.
Anyway, this is what I plan to sell:
1x Yamaha CS1x Synth
1x Yamaha DX27 Synth
1x Yamaha RM1x Sequence Remixer
1x Yamaha SU10 Sampler
1x Roland PMA-5 Touchscreen Arranger
I also have a Marshall Keyboard Combo amp.
As much as I love these bits of gear, they rarely get used now, with their abilities being easily taken care of by other bits of gear, such as my Alesis Fusion, Akai Samplers or even just in software.
Hopefully, the sale of this stuff will generate enough funds to purchase the drum kit.
These will only be sold in the UK, after my disastrous experience with the Elka Organ I sold last year, and preferably collection only due to weight (Obviously, this won’t apply to the SU10 or PMA-5). Shipping will probably be exclusively down to the purchaser to arrange.
If you wish to make an offer, do so via email to rob@failedmuso.com. Don’t use the comments sections.
New Order/Peter Hook – The Happy One (aka Spot the synths!)
Just lately I have been re-immersing myself in the whole world that is Joy Division/New Order/Factory Records/etc.. in fact, anything from that golden age of musical renaissance that was the New Wave revolution of circa 1979. This has involved re-purchasing Joy Division back catalogue, books, documentaries and films, as well as scouring the interwebs for anything remotely JD/NO related. I’ve even bought myself a ticket to go see Peter Hook give a talk on his life & times as bassist with the aforementioned bands as well as being part owner of the legendary yet doomed Hacienda night club in Manchester.
Anyway, whilst pootling about the web tonight, I came across the following video that, albeit in poor quality, shows us the legend that is Tony Wilson (co-founder of Factory) presenting a segment on a show (The Other Side Of Midnight) that has Peter Hook playing a track called “The Happy One” live, along with a bunch of synth geekery behind him. See if you can spot anything that I haven’t already seen.
I can make out an E-MU Emulator EII, a Roland D-50, Apple Macintosh SE/30, Yamaha TX-816 & Akai S900
More new stuff from Hollow Sun – Moog Taurus Mk.1 & Speak & Spell
Moog Taurus Mk.1
This afternoon I got first dibs at the newest addition to the ever increasing catalogue of commercial releases from sample legends Hollow Sun. This pack features the iconic Moog Taurus Mk.1. This bass pedal device was originally intended for sole use underneath an organ called the Constellation, but this Moog product never surfaced. The Taurus came with a 5 octave range and 3 presets plus a single user programmable patch.
It’s woofer trembling power soon found it’s way into many classic pieces of prog rock, electronica and dance music. It was often used both as a pedal board and also mounted and played by hands.
I can confirm that this a faithful, knee tembling recreation of the legendary Taurus sound
Incidentally, Moog are hoping to have 1000 newly built Mk.1 Taurus units for sale this November.
TI Speak & Spell
The other offering to come out of Hollow Sun is the free Speak & Spell pack for Alesis Fusion, Akai S5/6000, Z Series, MPC4000 & MPC5000 and Kontakt 3.5. This weighs in at 10MB approx. and includes every sound made by the Texas Instrument Speak and Spell toy.
A great, fun set of sounds
Korg M1 Piano Samples
Remember that classic piano sound from 90′s house records? The ubiquitous Korg M1 Piano patch was the 90′s equivalent of the DX7′s EP patch or the Fairlight’s Orch5 stab.
A long time ago, a cohort on the KvR forum, a guy from Norwich by the name of Kriminal, sampled his M1 keyboard and made the piano patch available as a soundfont, I believe. Being an avid Akai user, I asked him if I could convert to the Akai S5/6000 and Z Series formats, to which he agreed. Those are still available here:
S5/6000 (16 bit)
Z Series (24 bit)
Today, Nick at SonicState.com put out a call for the M1 piano sound and he has converted them to EXS24 format and shared them accordingly:
So I thought I’d share the love too
Thanks to Kriminal, Nick and of course Korg
Things afoot at Hollow Sun
Some new and interesting developments over at Hollow Sun recently.
First up, Steve has started a blog. Now, if you know Steve as I know Steve, this is certainly not his “thing”. He views blogs, much like Twitter and any other form of Social Networking, as a lame and vacuous, self serving waste of time! Personally, I don’t agree, but that old Welsh git, purveyor of fine sampling products though he is, can be an old stick in the mud at times. So, for him to do this must mean something bigger lays behind it. And I can confirm that it does, although I can’t say what it is, but it will be good, I can guarantee you that!
Next is the Reaktor Korner, a small but perfectly formed repository of Reaktor ensembles, created over the years by Steve. Recreations of an ARP Axxe, ARP Odyssey and an emulation of classic string synths await you, all free of charge!
The following two new libraries I know VERY well! When I first met Steve, all those years ago, it was these samples that were my foot in the door, so to speak. Being a complete Fairlight whore, I wanted as many top notch samples as I could get, and Steve had loads of ‘em. It’s these samples that now feature, along with a big bunch of samples that also made me salivate uncontrollably, the Emulator EII, in his new release, Vintage Samplers.
Here’s the instrument list…
EII Arco Strings
EII Blown Bottle
EII Choir
EII Orch Chords
EII Shakuhachi
EII Strings
EII Waterphone
IIx ARR1
IIx ArrBass
IIx Bar
IIx BasClear
IIx Basso
IIx BassRick
IIx BobStrin
IIx BowdBass
IIx Drums
IIx ElBass
IIx FltCf
IIx Glock
IIx Kalim
IIx MarBlock
IIX Orch 5
IIx Piztwang
IIx Quartet
IIx Shatter
IIx StlBell
IIx Swanee
IIx V3Sus
IIx VibMid
IIx ViolHi
IIx ViolSus
IIx Wineglas
String Synths is a small, yet prefectly formed library featuring samples of such classics as a Moog Opus, Eminent 310, ARP String Ensemble, RS202 and a Roland VP330.
01 ARP String Ens
02 ARP String Ens Phaser
03 Eminent 310 Strings
04 Eminent 310 Phaser
05 Moog Opus 4′
06 Moog Opus 8′
07 Moog Opus 8+4′
08 Moog Opus 4′ Phaser
09 Moog Opus 8′ Phaser
10 Moog Opus 8+4′ Phaser
11 RS202 Strings I
12 RS202 Strings I+II
13 VP330 Choir
Finally, the Freepacks section of the Hollow Sun site now features, courtesy of Joeri Peters, the awesome PolyMoog Vox Humana patch, as well as the PolyMoog Strings I & II patches, all available in Akai, Alesis Fusion & Kontakt formats.
The True Art Of Sampling
Sampling.
Even today, some 30 or more years after digital sampling came to the world of music making, the word sampling, when used in a musical context, is viewed with equal amounts of cynicism and joy. Peter Gabriel once famously said that songs like Paul Hardcastle’s “19″ had set the art of sampling back by about 20 years. And you know what? He wasn’t far wrong.
Sampling is one of a number of electronic sound creation methods but sampling straddles the lines between other methods too. It can be a tone generator in it’s own right, but combined with other methods, can accentuate and aid them in achieving unique tones and timbres.
“19″ ushered in a desire for the novelty aspect of sampling. The ability to make silly, novel little sounds or phrases through stuttering and repetition. For a point of reference, consider the current trend of Auto-Tuning every R&B song to death. The perpetrators think it’s cool, but the listener soon tires of it and moves on.
The other thing about sampling is that during it’s early years, groups like the Musicians Union here in the UK expressed hysterical levels of concern that sampling heralded the end of real musicians and that computers would take over the world, killing or enslaving their former human overlords and rendering them obsolete.
Quite.
Anyway, back to Peter. Peter was right. The true art of sampling got set back by about 20 years or so. As soon as everybody decided they wanted to tr-tr-tr-tr-try sampling, the technique was considered too much of a novelty and no-one took it seriously. Then people started to use sampling for the sole aim of trying to accurately replicate instruments that already occurred in real life. It was seen as an easy and affordable way of having real instruments in a box, without the associated costs and logistics. Hence the Musicians Union’s stance. But nothing could replace real instruments played by real people. And to this day, nothing can. And whilst I’m sure that a time may come when machines may do an amazing job, I believe that the very thing that makes these instruments unique, the human element of free will and expression, will never be fully surpassed.
Peter, however, was a true pioneer in the field of sampling. Do a search on this blog for Peter Gabriel and Fairlight and you will turn up a number of YouTube videos showing Peter recording, and then using musically, found sounds and making great music with them too. Creating new, unheard of sounds from previously non musical sources. This was, and still is, the real art of sampling. Using the technology as a new source of sound, not one to replicate pre-existing ones.
Or is it?
As technology has advanced, samplers have become increasingly more powerful and capable of doing amazing things with sound. The advent of software samplers like Kontakt, EmulatorX, HALion, etc have ushered in a number of new and innovative ways of dealing with samples. I use the term “software samplers” very lightly here as, of all the applications that claim to be “samplers”, virtually all of them are actually better described as sample playback devices, EmulatorX from E-MU being a notable exception.
This advance in sample manipulation technology has allowed many new and wonderful things to be done but it has brought with it one awful, terrible side effect.
Bloatware.
In the “good old days”, samplists who beavered away creating libraries for the increasing amount of devices available, came up against one big problem. Size. The memory and storage capacity in those days was tiny by comparison to what we enjoy today. Today, one can purchase a 1.5 Terrabyte hard drive for £70 GBP. That’s 1500GB for the price of a Depeche Mode box set. That’s 1,500,000MB for the price of a tank of fuel in an SUV. That’s 1,073,741,824 kilobytes. Back in the day, you were lucky if you had 640kb to play with. So the samplists of the day used clever tricks and methods to shoe-horn as much in as they could, using Bonsai* sampling techniques. There was no waste, no fat, no bloat.
(* The term Bonsai Sampling courtesy of Steve Howell! ;o) )
Nowadays though, with space not being an issue, samplists have become shockingly lazy. It seems that people judge the quality of sample libraries simply by their size. a 50GB orchestra is considered to be far superior to one that fits into 100MB.
Oh that it were so.
Today’s libraries, in the main, are incredibly lazy. Vast amounts of silence at the end of each sample. No sustain loops, the master tool of the Bonsai samplist, in sight. Just fill up the space with rubbish because there’s enough room. And even then, the quality of the samples and the quality of the programming leaves much to be desired. It really is a sorry state of affairs.
Thankfully, it’s not all that bad. There are still true “old school” samplists out there who lovingly craft libraries that sound as good as or better than their bloated counterparts, but in a fraction of the space and, more importantly, a fraction of the cost. Two such examples are Hollow Sun and Indiginus.
Hollow Sun is, to all intents and purposes, the vehicle of one man, Steve Howell. Steve has been in the business since the early 70′s when he fell in love with Tony Banks’ Mellotron, amongst others. From doing roadie duties for Genesis, he swiftly moved on to synthesizers, building his own studio and hiring out his services until he started dabbling with samples and Akai samplers. Akai saw his talents and commissioned some material for their fledgling line of devices. The samples where a massive success and a long partnership ensued. Steve ended up being responsible for most of Akai’s library, also going on to design a number of the user interfaces for many of their MPC, S-Series & Z-Series product lines, as well as some of their digital recording workstations.
Hollow Sun came about as a sideline, initially to provide free or affordable samples for Akai devices and also to satisfy Steve’s love of not only the instruments but their history. His free Vintage Library is the stuff of legend. Sadly, leeching of the sounds and the actions of a few ignorant people saw that library illegally shared and with spiralling costs, Steve was forced to withdraw it. It would surface later in such things as his Nostalgia VSTi or in parts within the libraries for other instruments, such as the Alesis Fusion.
Since then, Steve has developed a modest but impeccable library, supporting not only Akai formats (S5/6000/MPC4000/5000/Alesis Fusion) but also Kontakt, Steve’s first proper departure into software sampler territory. Check out the following piece…
Steve has now added a whole new range of small, yet perfectly formed libraries to his shop, as well as making them all available for immediate download.
And Steve hasn’t forgotten how to treat his fans, so there is a wealth of free content too, including a raft of samples in various formats (just click on your preferred flavour and you will be taken to a page full of goodies) and a bunch of awesome Reaktor Ensembles.
And now Indiginus.
Like Hollow Sun, Indiginus is a one man show, that man being Tracy Collins. Tracy is a highly skilled session musician as well as a fantastic and very clever samplist. I first met Tracy a few years back when he was launching his sample libraries for the first time on Akai S5/6000 format. Back then it was just the Acoustic Guitar Collection and the then new Solid State Symphony. When I loaded the AGC into my S6000 I was blown away not only by the quality of the samples themselves but the intricate and extremely clever use of programming.
Tracy fully utilizes velocity switching in his work, which means that depending on the velocity at which the key is struck, a different sample, or blend of samples is played. How this manifests itself in his Acoustic Guitar Collection is that a very gentle touch plays a muted string, a normal touch plays a simple pluck and a very hard whack will get you a bent string. Now, this does require a bit of practice to get it sounding authentic, but once mastered, the results are nothing short of mind blowing. Just watch these videos….
As you can see in the 3rd video, Tracy has also included a Strum Maker program which makes authentic strumming an absolute breeze.
These guitar programs are so inspiring. You feel compelled to play them and tinker with the beautiful and incredibly realistic articulations.
And it’s not just guitars that Tracy has used his incredible programming techniques on. Check out this demo of his awesome Solid State Symphony package…
Solid State Symphony is also available in a smaller LE version.
As well as these two major libraries, Tracy also sells small $5 packages which include this glorious Lap Harp…
… and other electric guitars, electric pianos and session acoustic drums.
Tracy also offers some free sounds too.
So with guys like Steve & Tracy still creating original, imaginative and brilliantly constructed libraries, the true art of sampling lives on and you don’t HAVE to subscribe to investing massive amounts of $$$/£££/€€€ in big, bloated libraries which have you wading through them just to find the few hidden gems.
Every patch in a Hollow Sun or Indiginus library is a winner.
