Hollow Sun Vox Continental
As hinted at in a previous post, the new Hollow Sun Vox Continental was released today.
Vox Continental Demo track by Alasdair Reed
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Hollow Sun Vox Continental Panels
The Vox Continental is probably the most famous of the ‘new breed’ of transistor organs which emerged in the early ’60s.
Previously, organs were built around tone-wheel technology. This undoubtedly created a fantastic (classic) organ sound but made the instruments heavy and unwieldy (and expensive). With the advent of transistors, it was possible to create lightweight, portable organs…. in theory.
In practice, the majority sounded thin and weak by comparison. However, that sound in itself appealled to the new ‘surf’ and ‘beatnik’ music which was evolving at the time. The portability also appealled to groups. The Vox Continental was unusual in that it actually sounded quite good…. not cheap and cheesy like so many of its rivals.
These organs used ‘divide down’ technology (like the later string synths) where there is a master top octave oscillator and all subsequent octaves are achieved simply by dividing the frequency in half and then half again and so on. It allowed these transistor organs to be manufactured very cost effectively.
Although possibly better known for their amplifiers (the legendary AC30, for example), Vox actually started life as a manufacturer of ‘traditional’ home and church organs. With the emerging new micro technology of transistors, they saw the possibility to use this technology in their products.The Vox Continental was the first of these (1962) and had drawbars to create sounds. The first three white ones allowed you to adjust the levels of the 16′, 8′ and 4′ registers whilst the two maroon drawbars offered master level controls for the sine wave and a reedy sawtooth wave. The fourth white drawbar was labelled ‘IV’ (known as the ‘Rank IV’ – dunno why!) and introduced higher harmonics. Below these were the mains switch and a switch to activate a simple vibrato effect.
Of course, one distinctive feature of the Continental was the inverse keyboard. This styling served no purpose other than to make the thing look more distinctive. Another distinctive feature of the instrument was its striking, chrome ‘Z-frame’ legs – this thing just looked cool compared with the stuffy wooden organ cabinets of the time!
Vox went on to make a dual manual Continental and other variations on the theme. Later on, they produced the Jaguar but many claim that this is a poor substitute for a Continental.
The Vox Continental’s most famous user was probably Ray Manzarek of the Doors but prior to this, it was also used by UK organist Alan Price (The Animals), the Dave Clarke Five, the Tornados and countless others.
Although lacking the body and depth of a ‘proper’ tonewheel organ, the Continental has a strong and distinctive sound nonetheless and still has many devotees today. When distorting through an amp and cab, the thing can really rock!!
The Kontakt version has been carefully scripted to recreate the front panel of the original as closely as possible but with some obvious advantages too and comes with amp and cab simulation, rotary speakers as well as more modern effects such as chorus and reverb. There’s even a ‘Damage’ control to make your ‘Connie’ sound more beaten up!!
A steal at 25 of your American dollars! 
Jiggery Pokery & Forgotten Keys
Sounds like the name of some forgotten Prog Rock band, doesn’t it!
However, these are the names of two sample library developers that have come to my attention through my contact with Hollow Sun.
Jiggery Pokery is Matt Black, a guy with at least a couple of decades experience in the industry and who has most recently been converting some of the Hollow Sun libraries to the Reason ReFill format. Matt also sells his own work over at his Jiggery Pokery website. These libraries include a Farfisa, Vox Continental and B3 Tonewheel organs, each available separately or as one combined ReFill. There are also some lovely freebies to be had to whet your appetite, including demo versions of the above organs, plus the Laser Harp patch from an Elka Synthex, A Moog Taurus Bass and an Eminent 310U V2 as well as some FX Combinators and a wealth of Combinator skins.
Next up is Forgotten Keys, who, as their name suggests, specialise in “Quality downloadable low cost sound samples of old, interesting or hard-to-find electronic musical instruments.”
Here you will find .wav & Kontakt based sample libraries of an Elka Rhapsody 490, a Univox SR-95 / Keio Mini Pops MP-7 Drum Machine, Roland TR-77, Maestro Rhythm King MRK-1 Drum Machine and a couple of Yamaha FE-70 Electone Organ sets. Each of these packs are literally only a few quid each and well made too. They also have some freebies, including a small version of the MRK-1 and some impulse response samples of a Watkins Copicat for use in a convolution reverb such as SIR1 or Freeverb.
So, being a big fan of the little developers, I thoroughly recommend you go visit these guys, sample their wares (no pun intended) and support them as much as you can
New Material, Price Drops & Updates from Hollow Sun
Ok, as ever, Steve Howell has been busy as hell and he has some new goodies for you!
First of all, there has been some tweaking to the site itself, with the product pages getting a more structured layout. A single “BUY” button uncovers all the formats and their pricing which leads me on to the next update which is a revised price structure with most material dropping in price. It’s now an even better time to stock up on Hollow Sun libraries!
Here’s what Steve has to say…
Hollow Sun Nebulae
Hollow Sun Towers has had a bit of a facelift on each of the products’ pages. THIS one is a good example but they’re all pretty much the same.
More significantly, perhaps, is a price re-structuring for many of the titles with as much as a third off. They are…
- All Novachord formats (Kontakt, EXS24 and Reason Refill) are now $80. This represents a $40 saving on the award winning Hollow Sun Kontakt Novachord.
- All the $60 products are now $40 (‘Nebulae’ pad library, NewTron, CP70, Oberheim M1000, PPG, FS1R, M/01) representing a third off those titles.
- The Hollow Sun ‘Prog Pack’ is also available in Kontakt and EXS24 formats. At $100 for a bundle comprising the CP70 (and Wurli EP200, Hohner Pianet and RMI Electrapiano), NewTron, Taurus and string synths (with some steaming Hammonds thrown in for good measure), there’s a saving of $70 to be had there.
There’s also a fabulously authentic Vox Continental in the works here in Kontakt format which provides full control over drawbar settings as well as amp and cab simulation and Leslie – even a ‘Damage’ control to re-create a beaten up Conti! This will be released any day soon for a mere $20 so watch this space.
These changes mean that it’s never been more affordable – or easier – to own some of the greatest, most desirable, quirkiest and rarest electronic instruments ever made with all the samples lovingly hand-crafted to provide you with the closest experience of having ‘the real thing’ in front of you to use and abuse as you think fit.
Cheers,
Steve
Hollow Sun VP330
Hollow Sun Crumar Performer
In terms of new material, we have the Crumar Performer package, updates to the Kontakt version of Nebulae as well as a new Reason ReFill of that library (see my demo track, written with Micky Dodds) and a Roland VP330 package in Kontakt format.
As usual, the Kontakt libraries benefit from Steve’s clever use of scripting and using a uniform control method throughout all his Kontakt libraries. The Reason ReFills have been created in conjunction with Jiggery Pokery and are some of the best sounding and best value ReFills on the market.
Now, go fill yer boots!
Still here!!
Here we go again!
Yet another apologetic post, making excuses for a recent spate of silence! I’ve no proper excuse other than life just getting in the way. However, there should be some good stuff coming soon, including some new goodies from Hollow Sun, one of which is pretty massive!! Sworn to secrecy, but this could be mahooosive for Steve
Also, I’ve been, and still currently am, involved with a marketing exercise with Nokia and their Comes With Music service. 20 of us from around the globe have been recruited to download as much as we can from the Nokia Music Store and then talk about it on Facebook. Apart from giving me tons of free music and a new mobile phone, I’m getting a good insight into online music retailing and some of the good and bad things about it. Be assured that there will be an extensive review about my experience right here.
I’ve got a bit of time off work soon, so hopefully that should see a few more posts popping up! Thanks for checking back and persevering!
“El Sol, Y Mi Canto” – New track from Failed Muso & Micky D
El Sol, Y Mi Canto
Another fruit of our labour!
This track was composed and performed yet again in Reason, using the soon to be released Nebulae Refill from Hollow Sun throughout. Much props and love to Micky D, Steve Howell and Matt Black
Enjoy
Sneaky Peek – Hollow Sun EPII for Kontakt
Ok, just snuck these babies out of Hollow Sun for your delectation. Steve is still churning out update after update to his Kontakt portfolio and this is next on the line, due for release this week, if all goes to plan. It’s the Kontakt-ised version of his exemplary Yamaha CP70 library. As well as the classic CP70, it features a Hohner Pianet T, Wurlitzer EP200 and RMI Electrapiano. No audio demo’s yet, but here are some screen grabs…
Hollow Sun EPII for Kontakt
Hollow Sun EPII FX section
Using Kontakt’s highly flexible and powerful scripting, each instrument has multiple panels to tailor the sound to your liking, including phase shifter, chorus, tremolo & reverb.
I remember Steve sampling the CP70 a few years ago. He bought a good model, assembled it in his front room, had it professionally serviced and tuned, and then sampled each note at multiple velocities, before applying his expert techniques to get the best sound with the smallest footprint. The upshot of this is probably the best CP70 sample set available that loads quickly and is supremely efficient.
Visit Hollow Sun for more details.
“Journey Into The Mist” – New Track from Failed Muso & MickyD
Hollow Sun Hammond Novachord
Commissioned by Hollow Sun to demonstrate the Reason ReFill library of their Hammond Novachord. To purchase this library visit Hollow Sun
Written by myself & Micky Dodds, and created completely in Reason. The only parts that do not come from the Novachord, a valve based synthesizer from 1939, are the drums. All other sounds, including percussion, come from the Novachord.
We had a lot of fun with this one, given that we wanted to keep it 100% Novachord, but when we added the drums, we all agreed it was better for it.
Much love to Micky for his work on this, as well as Steve for the sample library!
Update to Hollow Sun String Synths! Now with Added Elka Rhapsody 490
Elka Rhapsody 490 Panel
Only a few days ago, I announced the arrival of Hollow Sun’s updated String Synth II package for Kontakt. And then yesterday Steve, who clearly has consumed some kind of sampling Viagra, added yet another classic string synth to the package at no further cost!
Now users can get all Tangerine Dreamy or Vangelis pre his love affair with the CS-80 as the classic Elka Rhapsody 490 has now been added. Courtesy of the wonderful team at Forgotten Keys, this awesome and unique sound can be had in all it’s glory. This really is a joyous sample set.
If you have already purchased the updated Kontakt version, your link should still be active and allow you to download the updated version. If not, drop Steve a line and he’ll fix you up
Purchase the String Synth package here!
More Improved Kontakt Libraries from Hollow Sun
Hollow Sun Newtron Bomb
Blimey, when Steve get’s stuck in, he gets stuck in! Hot on the heels of the String Synth package comes updated Kontakt versions of two of my all time favourite HS libraries, Vintage Samplers & Newtron Bomb.
Hollow Sun Vintage Samplers
Vintage Samplers
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Tron Boys Choir
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Tron Brass
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Tron Choir
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Tron Flute
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Tron Mixed Strings
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Tron Violins
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Tron Watcher
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Featuring the same seamlessly looped samples as the originals, Steve has created some really great programs in Kontakt, utilising it’s scripting features and powerful FX. These samples have never sounded better!
But don’t just take my word for it, try listening to the demos and then go buy these babies at next to nothing prices
New Hollow Sun Strings Synths II for Kontakt
You know the old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”?
Well, I beg to differ. I remember having many lengthy conversations with Steve Howell about “modern technology” and how it was all a pile of rubbish compared to the hardware of old. We would pontificate about how software synthesis and sampling was the realm of lazy “musos” who were probably using ripped off samples and things like software samplers were not even samplers and just plain old playback devices with FX.
But not too long ago, Steve started to dig into Kontakt, the application from Native Instruments, and began to find that it had begun to become a far more powerful tool than first thought. This exploration was made for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was the economic choice, given that so many people were using Kontakt, it was a market that couldn’t be ignored, especially as the predominantly hardware markets had begun to significantly dry up. Secondly, there was the issue of security. An Akai S5000/S6000 sample pack is made up of 2 or 3 types of file; an Akai Program and/or Multi and the .wav sample files. These can easily be taken and dumped into any sampler and with no proprietary format to break before doing so. Finally, the level at which you can manipulate samples in Kontakt now, especially with it’s new scripting features, puts it up there as a “cannot be ignored” sonic tool.
Having seen the incredible work done by Tracy Collins at Indiginus and the fantastic use of Kontakt to bring his sounds to life, Steve set about converting and creating material in this format. The Novachord package was one of the first and certainly the biggest Kontakt project undertaken and now Steve is slowly, but surely, transferring his legacy material into this format. And it’s not just a straight port either. Steve is having great fun using Kontakt’s unique features, all in the relative and increased safety of a proprietary format with a greatly reduced risk of piracy.
Hollow Sun String Synths II
In addition, we have the Solina String Ensemble, Moog Opus and Roland RS202 which Steve has coupled up with a Roland VP330 for some vocoded formant loveliness.
Using Kontakt’s scripting, Steve has enabled a wide range of FX on each instrument, and there are other layers that can be brought in to beef things up or lend a new sonic quality, such as the brass samples included with the Solina.
And to top this all off, Steve has included 3 classic PolyMoog programs, Strings I, Strings II and the incredible signature sound of Gary Numan, the Vox Humana preset. Start layering these sounds with some of the other instruments for truly mind blowing results.
Better still, this package only costs a paltry £16 / €19 / $25 and is also available in Akai & EXS24 formats, albeit without the bonus PolyMoog programs.
Another small, yet perfectly formed package from the true master of vintage synth sampling. Check out the audio demo…..
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