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!
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.
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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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??
Hollow Sun release Novachord Booster Packs and free Novachord samples!
So, if you haven’t bought Hollow Sun’s Novachord library yet, why the hell not??
Make amends and GO HERE NOW!!!
Now that we have remedied that little situation, you can now get your hands on some extra patches to further increase your Novachord experience! Two sets of ten extra programs that expand the library’s sonic pallette.
Note that these are the programs only and do not contain any samples. Thus they will only work if you have the Novachord library.
And if you’re still dithering, saving up your pennies or just a tight wad (!), you can get some free samples and programs for Kontakt HERE!
This is what you get….
Enjoy
Hollow Sun Novachord now available in EXS24 format
The master of sampling, Steve Howell, has been busy beavering away in the lofty confines of Hollow Sun Towers, fashioning new formats of his unique and superb Novachord library. You may recall from previous posts that Steve has been collaborating with Dan Wilson, owner of Novachord NC346, and has come up with a library of beautifully haunting samples, presented both in their original form and also with new and exciting twists programmed in. Until recently, they have only been available in Kontakt 3 format, but Steve did promise more formats, including EXS24, Pro Tools Structure, Akai (S5/6000, MPC4/5000, Z Series) & Alesis Fusion.
The EXS24 offering is available now at the Hollow Sun store for the measly sum of $90 USD/£59 GBP.
The EXS24 version can also be imported into Kontakt 3 but will need patching up and some tweaking of certain parameters, but the mapping and basic amp envelopes are there, making it a good entry level pack for those Kontakt 3 users prepared to put the work in and get jiggy with their samplers!
