Monthly Archives: September 2021

Samples From Mars Soviet Synths From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars Soviet Synths From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars Soviet Synths From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Esoteric and Characterful Synthesizers from Behind the Iron Curtain
In the 70s and 80s, the Soviet Union produced dozens of funky, raw, and wonderfully characterful synthesizers. Because the USSR was detached from the West’s exploding synthesis technologies, these machines bore their own mark that made them uniquely different than anything else produced in that era.

We’ve always admired the unique, aesthetic beauty of these synths from afar, but were hesitant to try them, since their reputation for being heavy, finicky, hard to service, and expensive to ship has made them an intimidating purchase for the average electronic musician.

Putting our hesitation aside, we bit the bullet and ordered six classic Soviet Synths, and three drum synths. Some took over four months to arrive and others arrived needing repair, but luckily, their sound did not fail to impress. What we found is that, despite their cold exterior, these synths are capable of warm, deeply analog, characterful tones, and of course: meaty and cold psychotic mayhem.

A History of ADSRs in the USSR
In the 1970s there was no real audio industry in the USSR; the state controlled almost all aspects of production, and there were no bespoke music technology companies to create instruments that Russian electronic musicians could use. Instead, state-owned plants simply manufactured equipment as part of a broad program to increase the overall volume of goods produced for the people. A plant would manufacture anything from military grade radios to, you guessed it, synthesizers! As a result, many of these synths are built, literally, like tanks—cold, heavy and able to take (and give) a beating!

Fortunately, many of Russia’s brightest engineers were quite passionate about music technology and designed their own versions of synths to contribute to the state’s quota of manufactured goods, despite the lack of demand for them (the average Soviet citizen simply could not afford them).

Since American and Japanese gear was hard to come by, these engineers would borrow synths from touring western bands in order to learn new technologies and incorporate them into their synth designs. This explains why some Soviet synths, despite their unique nature, have some shared electro-genetic traits with western counterparts.

The Sound
Not surprisingly, this unique time period resulted in synthesizers that sound like nothing else in the world. Each of them has its own distinct sonic trademark – from militant acid bass to retro pads, warbly, and soft chords, to dusty strings, lo-fi clarinets, psychotic modulations and so much more.

The Formanta Polivoks: Dirty and Menacing
The Polivoks is by far the most popular Russian-made synth, and for good reason. It features two hefty oscillators, with pulse waveforms, cross FM modulation and a noise generator. These are held together in a massive aluminum case, is controlled by massive knobs.

The oscillators on this thing are insane; they’re reminiscent of a Memorymoog and Prophet 5’s bastard love child—menacing, unstable and pissed off. Add some modulation and together they make for a sonic nuclear explosion, which is probably why it was chosen for the creepy sound design of Doom (the video game).

But above all its other unique features, The Polivoks is best known for its massive, unapologetically dirty and fat filter. Give it a little push and it howls like wolves during a hunt.

The Aelita: Cold and Deadly Resonance
The Aelita is a three oscillator synth with basic but pronounced features, housed in a massive metal case that’s juxtaposed by colorful, horizontal sliders. Make no mistake – if you drop this thing, it will split the earth in two.

Birthed in a Soviet radio manufacturing plant (it has radio buttons), the Aelita has an unparalleled, aggressive and sharp sound, shaped by its deadly resonance and “timbre control” (cutoff). This, coupled with its “strings” FX feature and a subtle vibrato, can generate some very disturbing basses, chord stabs and epic leads.

Altair 231: The People’s Minimoog
The Altair 231 is a three oscillator mono synth that sports red, white and yellow knobs (all of these color schemes are so cool). If you can read Russian, you’d notice that the signal flow and features are nearly identical to a Minimoog.

But whether it’s the unique Russian-made circuitry or military grade engineering, the Altair 231 does not sound much like a Moog at all. Instead, it expels a vibey sound somewhere between a 101 and a drunken 2600. It is a deeply vintage sound, and, because the samples can be used polyphonically, it can produce epic strings and pads.

Estradin 230: The Zangief of Soviet Synths
The Estradin 230 was the predecessor of the Altair 231, and it’s technically identical in features and functionality. However, the Estradin 230 differs from its younger brother in that it is one of the largest monophonic synths of all time (certainly the largest we’ve ever played). It is basically a massive suitcase, with storage compartments embedded in the lid, and knobs that are big and trustworthy. Thankfully, the parameters are labeled in English!

This synth is capable of snappy, funky madness, but also excels at lush soundscapes and slow, juicy bass:

The Maestro: Digital Heart with an Analog Feel
The Maestro was the first hybrid digital/analog synth manufactured in the USSR. With a digital microprocessor at its core, it’s capable of faithfully reproducing your favorite preset sounds, like “Flute,” “Harp,” and “Clarinet”… oh and “Bass” !

But despite its primitive and slightly cheesy digital processor, the Maestro’s filter, effects, and arpeggio sections more than make up for its sound generator’s shortcomings. The tremolo and vibrato tastefully soak the synth’s output in just the right amount of sonic vodka. Its simple analog filter can generate some squelching Russian acid, and the arpeggio has a slight Crystal Castles (the Atari game) feel. It can generate some nasty pad-like glitchy textures when the rate is bumped up!

Tom 1501: Gulag Orchestra Synth
The Tom 1501 is a five part analog orchestral synthesizer with Piano, Clav, Alto, Violin and Brass sections. We’ve played a lot of these types of synths over the years, but the 1501 has something very distinct brewing in its electronic orchestra pit. It sounds like a warm and fuzzy sonic pie baked with Arp Solina, Crumar Performer, and a touch of Moog Opus—familiar but at the same time distant.

To enhance our favorite section of this synth (the strings, of course) we recorded to tape, at both regular speed and pitched down varispeed. The result: classic, lo-fi strings you can play your favorite melodies with.

From Russia with Drums
The USSR also made some weird percussion synths, and we felt we needed to include some of these. We focused on three: the Formanta UDS, LELL UDS and RMIF ELSITA. These machines have Simmons-style synthesis sections and architecture, but with an aggressive and lo-fi sonic twist.

To enhance the raw sonic quality of these funky little beatboxes, we ran them though some choice outboard gear. Two desks, the API 1608 and Studer 962, allowed us to achieve some needed clipping, and an assortment of compressors and saturators were used for additional punch and coloration. This allowed us to build an assortment of Drum Synth one shots, thus completing our Soviet sampling session.

In the End
After admiring these synths for years, too nervous to pull the trigger because we had no clue what they sounded like or whether they’d get broken in shipping, the consensus is clear: despite their cold, machine-like exterior, these synths have a wonderful amount of warmth, soul, and characterful drift. But make no mistake – they are still capable of ice cold bass, psychotic leads and downright strangeness.

The resulting sample pack captures the charm, grit and diversity of the Soviet electronic sound in the most musical and useable way possible. By focusing on each synth’s specific strengths (and neglecting their weaknesses), you get the best of everything. From basic waveforms to bizarre pads of disarray, we hand sampled 50 presets (many with multi-sampled synth parameters) and created a drum instrument loaded with meticulously curated Soviet one shots.

And now, comrades, we are at last ready to share them with you. May the sounds of the soviet synths take your productions to new, cold war-inspired heights!

Contents:

  • 50 multi-sampled synth presets from six vintage, Soviet era synths
  • 1 Drum instrument featuring 100 Soviet Drum one shots
  • Basic waveforms, chaotic leads, militant bass, retro pads, warm strings and more
  • Synths sampled: Formanta Polivoks, Aelita, Altair 231, Estradin 230, Maestro and Tom 1501
  • Drum synths sampled: Formanta UDS, LELL UDS and RMIF ELISTA
  • Clean and processed recordings with a variety of Class A gear
  • 100% hardware processing
  • Extensive modulation and FX routing on all instruments
  • Hand trimmed and looped to perfection
  • 1.8 GB Unzipped

Ready For:

  • Any 24 bit WAV Compatible DAW or Sampler
  • Ableton Live 9.7+ (Not Intro)
  • Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Not Kontakt Player)
  • Logic 9+
  • Reason 8+
  • FL Studio 20.8+

Links

Demo Preview:

Samples From Mars Sid From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars Sid From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars Sid From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Raw & Eccentric 8 Bit Synthesis
The Sidstation is a three oscillator desktop synthesizer based around the infamous 8-bit SID chip. Back in the day, the SID (Sound Interface Device) produced all of the lovely music and sounds of the Commodore 64, one of the earliest mass-produced home computer and gaming systems of the 1980s. In addition to its uncanny ability to emulate the sounds of frogs evading traffic, the Commodore had a desirable, raw and aggressive sound and featured extensive modulation capabilities for its time.

Twenty years later, the Sidstation attempted to pick up where the C64 left off. With an original (and quite rare) 6581 R4AR chip at its core, the Sidstation has all the bells and whistles of a modern synth, including 3 multi-waveform oscillators, an analog resonant filter, and four LFOs. But despite these additions, its heart and soul remain in the dusty and nostalgic past of the 1980s.

The Allure of its Flaws
Like the Commodore, the SID is known as being noisy – in fact, its oscillators never stop outputting, even when the synth isn’t being used! This inherent instability and unpredictable nature is where all of the SID’s character and sound is derived. From its pitch tracking to its envelope settings, every sampled note has a slightly different characteristic than its neighbor, making each key press dynamic and unique.

The resultant sound is no ordinary 8-bit machine, but a full-on synthesizer capable of producing all the waveforms of the C64 and further sculpting them with a 4 part LFO, and multi-mode analog filters. This gives us something much more musical than what you’d imagine is possible with only 8 bits – savage FX, Herbie inspired funk basses, drunken pads and more.

The Recording Process
To preserve the synth’s gritty, 8-bit integrity, we kept the signal path pretty clean. Alternating between an API 512C and NonLinearAudio Flexiguy mic pre, we incorporated some slight EQ and compression (courtesy of SSL and Tube-Tech) ending with a hint of saturation to achieve additional harmonics where needed.

To add some stereo width and the occasional (but subtle) pitch delay or shimmer, we employed the classic H3000. Both the Sidstation and 3000’s digital converters are known for their grainy, almost ‘analog’ sound and as a result they complement each other perfectly.

In the End
It’s doubtful that the Sidstation comes close to approaching the amazing sound of the SID in its native setting in a real Commodore 64, but that doesn’t mean it can’t produce some amazingly quirky, eccentric and musical tones, wrapped in convenient, modern synthesis.

And although digital at its core, the Sidstation’s brute strength and sonic flexibility are virtually impossible to emulate in the software format. By capturing the audio, note by note (with up to 11 seconds of sustain), we can get a lot closer to those wild but extremely musical 8-bit sounds in your own DAW.

Contents:

  • 30 Multi-Sampled SID Instruments For Ableton, Kontakt, Logic, FL Studio & 24bit WAV
  • Tight 8-bit basses, broken alien technology FX, rude leads, modulating patches
  • Heavenly to hellish pads, razor sharp leads, retro-insanity experimentation and more
  • Extensive multi-sampling, modulation and FX routing on all instruments
  • Hand trimmed and looped to perfection
  • Clean and processed recordings with a variety of Class A gear
  • 3.96 GB Unzipped Per Format

Ready For:

  • Ableton Live 9.7+ (Not Intro)
  • Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Not Kontakt Player)
  • Logic 9+
  • FL Studio 20.8+
  • 24 bit WAV Compatible DAW or Sampler

Links

Demo Preview:

Sounds To Sample Tribal House WAV

By | September 29, 2021

Sounds To Sample Tribal House WAV

Sounds To Sample Tribal House WAV

Here at S2S, summer means one thing: deep, dirty and driving tribal house! Capturing the sun-kissed vibe of afterhours fiestas around the world, Tribal House features 160+ dusky beat elements precision-designed to work together for that killer rhythmic workout.

Featuring a choice selection of subby basslines, twisted vocal loops and rhythmic music loops, your killer dancefloor hook is only a few clicks away.

The Beat Elements folder contains further subfolders for HiHats, Kicks, Percusssion and Snares. All loops are built from the ground up to work together – with precision sound design ensuring the fattest kicks, the tightest hats and the crispiest snare/clap combos.

Yet it’s the Percussion folder that delivers the meat, with 92 pared-down percussive loop elements begging to be layered for 1000s of unique grooves.

From floor-shaking toms to authentic percussive workouts, hazy shakers to slinky tops; from donked djembes to synthetic rhymatics – each loop is crafted with warmth, space and air to find its place in the sparsest – or busiest – of mixes.

Created by Spanish beat-wizard 6pod9 (Minimal & Tech House, Minimal Techno, Afterhours Techno), this pack marks a welcome, and triumphant, return to the fold.

Links

SOR FX Revolution Vol.1 MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

SOR FX Revolution Vol.1 MULTIFORMAT

SOR FX Revolution Vol.1 MULTIFORMAT

Oliver Schmitt aka Sounds Of Revolution went out in the wild only to return with “FX Revolution”, an inspiring premium collection full of detail, groove and variation!

Packed with 939 state-of-the-art effects offering a huge variety of dark cinematic atmospheres, noises, sweeps, amazing LFO madness, ground-shaking impacts/explosions, percussive & processed stuff, a huge collection of one-shots (tonal & non-tonal) and 300+ cutting edge kick free fx loops (127 & 140 bpm) never heard before – everything royalty-free.

The wide range of SOR FX Revolution Vol.1 provides ready-to-use material to the club-/dance- producer, which still leaves enough free space for own creativity. All of these professionally named and sorted for maximum usability and efficiency.

Experience once again how state-of-the-art analogue gear delivers a deep low-end and crisp sonic character all the way.

This multi-format sample pack is not only suitable to ennoble Minimal, Electro and House productions, but can also perfectly be adopted for commercials, dubbing of movies and computer games as well as for web design.

Features

  • 24 Bit Quality
  • 1.46GB
  • 939 Club Ready FX samples
  • Atmospheres
  • Noises
  • Sweeps
  • Explosions
  • Percussive and Heavily Processed Samples
  • Over 300 Kick Free FX Loops
  • Apple Loops included
  • Rex2 Files
  • 25 EXS24 Sampler patches
  • 25 Kontakt Sampler patches

Links

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Jazz Guitar Online How To Play Jazz Guitar In The Style Of Charlie Christian PDF

By | September 29, 2021

Jazz Guitar Online How To Play Jazz Guitar In The Style Of Charlie Christian PDF

Jazz Guitar Online How To Play Jazz Guitar In The Style Of Charlie Christian PDF

Charlie Christian is one of the most legendary guitarists and the father of jazz guitar. Not only did he help to bring jazz guitar soloing into the modern era, he influenced many of the great players that followed him, including Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, and Barney Kessel.

Because of his electrifying solos, innovative performances, and groundbreaking concepts, Christian is one of the most popular guitarists to study when learning jazz guitar. In this eBook, you’ll break down and learn the concepts behind Christian’s solos, dozens of lines in his playing style, and full solos over Christian’s favorite jazz standards

By working on the material in this eBook, you’ll not only get classic Christian lines under your fingers, you’ll understand the concepts behind his playing, so you can apply those ideas to any musical situation.

What Will You Learn?

  • Essential chord shapes that Christian used to build his soloing lines
  • Scale shapes that Christian used to create his most memorable phrases
  • Christian’s arpeggio fingerings that you can use to outline chords
  • Chromatic notes, phrasing, chord subs, and other Christian soloing concepts
  • Dozens of soloing lines in the style of Charlie Christian
  • Full solos that use Christian’s classic lines and phrases over his favorite tunes (Dinah, Rose Room, and Seven Come Eleven)
  • And more!

What You Get:

  • Detailed explanation of Charlie’s favorite soloing concepts laid out in easy to follow and understand language
  • More than 100 musical examples in both tab and notation to make it easy to learn Christian’s go to soloing concepts and techniques
  • Over 100 audio examples to accompany the tab and notation
  • Backing tracks, so you can practice the material in a real life manner
  • Tips on how to practice and take each Charlie Christian soloing concept further in the practice room
  • Enough concepts and material to keep any guitarist busy for months, or even years

Links

Arteria 3am WAV

By | September 29, 2021

Arteria 3am WAV

Arteria 3am WAV

Chilled Soulful keys for the early hours. 3AM provides 19 Electric Piano loops with effects, and 19 Dry to blend perfectly with your chilled hip hop, trap or soul tracks. Also suitable for house and other genres too. All at 120BPM

Links

Samples From Mars Wasp From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars Wasp From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars Wasp From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Demonic Bass, Cutting Leads & Swarming FX From the Insectile Synth
The WASP is a funky, dual-oscillator synthesizer designed by Chris Hugget in the late 70s, who would later go on to make the esteemed OSCar synthesizer. One of the earliest hybrid synths, it features two digital oscillators that feed an insane, multimode analog filter whose character lends itself to the buzzy arthropod it was named after.

And while the WASP looks more like a prop attached to a child’s bumble bee costume than a synthesizer, under its exoskeleton lies a bizarre, subtractive synthesizer capable of generating wild overtones, insane FX, slick bass lines and sweet leads.

The Recording Process
Despite its simple interface, the WASP can cover a lot of ground, holding down raw, fat waveforms, but clearly specializing in more complex, circuit bent-like screeches and screams.

Much of the sound is due to its buzzy filter, which goes a long way in shaping the sonic spectrum of the output no matter what you do. Even when the cutoff is at 100%, turning the resonance up sharpens the sound like a knife as new frequencies begin to pierce out of the filter. And by lowering the cutoff and applying some envelope modulation, this sharpness becomes warmer and punchier, yielding funky, evil analog bass.

To get more bizarre sounds, we combined LFO and envelope modulation, and in the process found some flaws in the synthesis architecture that yielded some of the weirdest (but still useable) sounds we’ve ever heard out of a conventional synthesizer.

In fact, many of the results were tonally inconsistent across the synth’s temperamental (but super funky!) electro-static keyboard. To save you the headache of navigating the WASP’s atonal qualities, we perfected and retuned all of the wonky notes, but still kept a layer of unpredictability within each instrument.

Finally, we incorporated some third party hardware to spice things up – by adding a Lexicon PCM42 delay with its own modulation, we were able to create a special, drunken sound that served as a refreshing alternative to the WASP’s otherwise sharp tone. Now, the WASP sounded like it was buzzed on some potent mead, creating dizzy swirling textures perfect for leads, pads and swirling FX.

In the End
After spending even a little time with this synth, it’s quickly apparent the WASP is more of a BEAST than an insect. With sharp leads, cutting bass, a buzzy filter, and wonky FX, it’s clear why its sounds are sprinkled all over Broadcast’s discography (we actually sampled the same one they used!). And it’s no shock that John Casale (Devo) named checks the WASP as his favorite old synthesizer, (even after stage lights melted its cheap plastic casing during a performance).

Especially when the sampling process is able to clean up the synth’s irregularities a bit, the WASP From Mars is a powerful way to inject bizarre, late 70s digital x analog synthesis into your DAW (with no risk of melting).

Contents:

  • 40 Multi-Sampled WASP Instruments
  • Drunken pads, skin-piercing leads and swarming FX
  • Raw waveforms, evil basses and deranged modulation
  • Clean and processed recordings with a variety of Class A gear
  • Extensively multi-sampled modulation and FX routing on all instruments
  • Hand trimmed and looped to perfection
  • 2.5 GB Unzipped

Ready For:

  • Any 24 bit WAV Compatible DAW or Sampler
  • Ableton Live 9.7+ (Not Intro)
  • Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Not Kontakt Player)
  • Logic 9+
  • Structure 2+
  • Reason 8+
  • FL Studio 20.8+

Links

Samples From Mars VP330 From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars VP330 From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars VP330 From Mars MULTIFORMAT

One of The Best Sounding Analog Polysynths of All Time
The Voyetra Eight is a rare, polyphonic 8 voice analog rack synth developed in New York in the early 80s that many people regard as one of the best sounding analog synthesizers ever built. Not even the Jupiters can compete with this thing in terms of sound. The patches are huge – wide open, and lush, with thick bass, juicy resonance, unique DC source modulation (which makes it sound like the circuits are dying in the most beautiful fashion), linear FM and classic sync.

It’s been used by people like New Order, the Eurythmics, Neon Indian and Dennis Ferrer (Our unit toured with Edgar Winter).

Our Process
We began by having our Voyetra completely tuned and calibrated to perfection by one of the original engineers who helped design the synth – it wasn’t cheap but the unit came back sounding unbelievably good, so it was well worth it.

Programming was overwhelming at first but proved deeply rewarding. You can layer two completely independent 4 voice patches with separate filters, envelopes, modulations and waveforms, and the results are unreal. Another cool trick for bass is to make one very resonant, funky enveloped sound, and layer this with a completely unresonant, simple and fat waveform.

We really took our time when creating hardware patches. Every day we thought we were done, this thing just had more stuff we had to capture. We learned every aspect of the synth, hooking up our midi to XLR cables (?), programming via the intensely complex front panel editing system, and also on the computer with Midi Quest. We layered patches and used complex modulations, but also captured many single oscillator basic waveshapes. Then, we multi-sampled it, often recording entire patches to tape, shaping others with tube saturation, API preamp, and Moog filter, but making sure to track many patches with no processing whatsoever.

The results – Gigantic polysynths, modulating leads, distorted organs, synth pop bass, complex modulations, punchy pads and absolutely insane FX. Enjoy the sounds of this rare beauty!

What You Get:

  • 45 Multi-Sampled Voyetra Instruments For Ableton, Kontakt, Logic, Reason & FL Studio
  • Gigantic polysynths, distorted organs, punchy pads, synth pop bass, flutes, and much more
  • Extensive multi-sampling, modulation and FX routing on all instruments
  • Hand trimmed and expertly looped
  • Clean, tape and tube recordings for the greatest depth between patches
  • 2.5 GB Unzipped

Ready For:

  • Ableton Live 9.7+ (Not Intro)
  • Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Not Kontakt Player)
  • Logic 9+
  • Reason 5+
  • FL Studio 20.8+

Links

Demo Preview:

Samples From Mars Voyetra From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars Voyetra From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars Voyetra From Mars MULTIFORMAT

One of The Best Sounding Analog Polysynths of All Time
The Voyetra Eight is a rare, polyphonic 8 voice analog rack synth developed in New York in the early 80s that many people regard as one of the best sounding analog synthesizers ever built. Not even the Jupiters can compete with this thing in terms of sound. The patches are huge – wide open, and lush, with thick bass, juicy resonance, unique DC source modulation (which makes it sound like the circuits are dying in the most beautiful fashion), linear FM and classic sync.

It’s been used by people like New Order, the Eurythmics, Neon Indian and Dennis Ferrer (Our unit toured with Edgar Winter).

Our Process
We began by having our Voyetra completely tuned and calibrated to perfection by one of the original engineers who helped design the synth – it wasn’t cheap but the unit came back sounding unbelievably good, so it was well worth it.

Programming was overwhelming at first but proved deeply rewarding. You can layer two completely independent 4 voice patches with separate filters, envelopes, modulations and waveforms, and the results are unreal. Another cool trick for bass is to make one very resonant, funky enveloped sound, and layer this with a completely unresonant, simple and fat waveform.

We really took our time when creating hardware patches. Every day we thought we were done, this thing just had more stuff we had to capture. We learned every aspect of the synth, hooking up our midi to XLR cables (?), programming via the intensely complex front panel editing system, and also on the computer with Midi Quest. We layered patches and used complex modulations, but also captured many single oscillator basic waveshapes. Then, we multi-sampled it, often recording entire patches to tape, shaping others with tube saturation, API preamp, and Moog filter, but making sure to track many patches with no processing whatsoever.

The results – Gigantic polysynths, modulating leads, distorted organs, synth pop bass, complex modulations, punchy pads and absolutely insane FX. Enjoy the sounds of this rare beauty!

What You Get:

  • 45 Multi-Sampled Voyetra Instruments For Ableton, Kontakt, Logic, Reason & FL Studio
  • Gigantic polysynths, distorted organs, punchy pads, synth pop bass, flutes, and much more
  • Extensive multi-sampling, modulation and FX routing on all instruments
  • Hand trimmed and expertly looped
  • Clean, tape and tube recordings for the greatest depth between patches
  • 2.5 GB Unzipped

Ready For:

  • Ableton Live 9.7+ (Not Intro)
  • Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Not Kontakt Player)
  • Logic 9+
  • Reason 5+
  • FL Studio 20.8+

Links

Demo Preview:

Samples From Mars SYS100M From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars SYS100M From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars SYS100M From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Combining Modular Chaos With Classic Analog Synthesis
For the last few decades, the System-100M has been a quiet pillar in many of your favorite electronic jams. From Yazoo/Erasure to Throbbing Gristle and the Human League, it’s provided countless textures, sequences, blips and bass, but has never fully got the recognition it deserves. This epic modular synth has somehow fallen beneath the sonic cracks of the more iconic synths (Moogs, Arps and other synths from the same era) that we’ve come to know and love.

Perhaps this is because the System-100M lies in a no-man’s-land – It’s not the fattest or most abstract or most (insert synth hyperbole here) but it is certainly not thin or conventional sounding in any way shape or form. In fact, the brilliance of this instrument is that its sounds and textures seem to fill the gaps between most electronic instruments.

Because of this, these instruments and loops are unlike anything else on our site – they are certainly on the more experimental side of things but completely useable at the same time. They feature some of our most complex and interesting modulations to date – with experimental FX, wild leads, juicy bass, acidic squelch, disastrous percussion, general mayhem.

The Recording Process
The architecture of the System-100M lends itself immediately to experimental sample design. It has a very unique filter that always sounds like it has a little dirt running throughs its circuits, and 6 modulation inputs allow you to further carve your sound. Because the synth is capable of so many different flavors on its own, we decided to keep external processing to a minimum, in favor of pushing the synth’s own modulation capacity. In essence, we didn’t want anything to cover up the vibe of these killer 70’s filters.

Continuing our modulation adventures, we ran two low range LFOs into the filter’s mod inputs then a third into the the second filter to give some sequences a convincing phaser effect. We also stuffed white noise and a couple high frequencies into the filter, and, by dialing in the right balance, achieved some seriously funky and crunchy 8-bit-like overtones.

But even though the System-100M is a stand alone monster/beast/chupacabra, we thought we could get even crazier with some external modern modulation. We quickly found that, when interfaced with third party modules (like a Make Noise MATHS or 4MS Envelope Generator), a whole new demon is born. With the advent of these type of time shifting, clock shuffling, LFO mangling devices, we were able to harness the full potential of the System-100M’s relatively primitive, but unique, modulation capabilities.

In the End
We’ve provided you with 30 super-modulated instruments – probably some of the craziest ones on this site – and a bunch of loops to give you an idea of the actual hardware sequencing of the 100M in action. All of the sounds captured in this pack were dynamically modulated in the analog world, and the instruments are further modulated in their respective DAWs, really bringing the analog modulations to life. We gave a huge amount of thought to the software modulation that would best bring these instruments into the modern world – so don’t be afraid to use that modwheel!

Contents:

  • 30 Multi-Sampled SYS100M Modular Instruments For Ableton, Kontakt, Logic, FL Studio & 24bit WAV
  • Instruments include: Modular bass, Weirdo FX, Brash leads, bubbly pads, analog percussion, and useable mayhem
    80 modular loops: WAX, REX2, & Apple Loops
  • Loops include: modulating bass patterns, squelches, percussive blips and hardware sequences
  • Extensive multi-sampling, modulation and FX routing on all instruments
  • Hand trimmed and looped to perfection
  • Clean, tape and tube recordings for the greatest depth between patches
  • Instruments: 2.6 GB
  • Loops: 160 MB

Ready For:

  • Ableton Live 9.7+ (Not Intro)
  • Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Not Kontakt Player)
  • Logic 9+
  • FL Studio 20.8+
  • Any DAW compatible w/ REX2
  • 24 bit WAV Compatible DAW or Sampler

Links

Demo Preview:

Samples From Mars Synare From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars Synare From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars Synare From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Analog Drums, Subs & FX From the Most Evil Drum Synth
The Synare is an analog drum synth created in the mid 70s by Star Instruments. It looks and sounds like the most evil, analog flying saucer you’ve ever heard. The oscillators are huge, and reminiscent of much more expensive vintage synths – colored and extremely characterful – and the filter has the meanest resonance we’ve ever heard.

And while it’s most famous for that classic disco tom (beew, beew!), the Synare was also the original reggae dub siren and remains the ultimate secret weapon for all things other-worldly: UFO sounds, cosmic FX, brash white noise, and ungodly analog sub bass, to name a few.

The Recording Process
It its original form (using a drum stick to hit the drum) the Synare can initially appear quite basic, featuring only 5 presets and a single pad. But with enough creativity you can coax the most evil, undying space creature from the 70s out of it. Combine its tough analog drums, demonic drones, soft synth leads and soul-sucking FX and you get the most wicked and evil psychedelia.

Classic Analog Drums

For drums, the Synare is quite expressive for a multitude of reasons:

  • The filter is extremely characterful, and its resonance has a devilish tone unlike anything we’ve ever heard, especially when pushed into self oscillation
  • The envelope amount of this filter is modulated via velocity, and when combined with varying decays, can produce very unique tones and “pitch
  • modulation” when in self-oscillation (like the famous Tom preset)
  • The oscillators are gigantic and extremely colored – reminiscent of pricey vintage synthesizers like old Moogs and EMLs
  • The white noise is thick and, combined with the filter, quite brash
  • The LFO, combined with frequency modulation, and the velocity modulated filter, can lead to truly tripped out madness
  • To take full advantage of these velocity modulation features while recording, we sampled a gate signal from a synthesizer, popped it in an Ableton sampler, and sent that signal out at many different velocities into the trigger input of the Synare

This means that for the majority of drum and FX sounds, you’ll get heavily multi-sampled groups, featuring varying degrees of envelope modulation, tom pitches, frequency modulation, and more, capturing the flexibility and movement of the original Synare.

All drums were recorded through our trusty Tube Reddi, API preamp and Otari 1/4″ mastering reel to reel. Besides the Bass Drum (which does not exist on the Synare, and was created out of thin air with heavy processing), they are entirely unprocessed.

Huge Sub Bass and Chromatic Instruments
The oscillators on the Synare are comparable to the more expensive vintage synths, in both tone and weight. If this thing had a CV input it would be one of the most killer analog synths of all time. Unfortunately it does not, so we had to get a bit creative.

We took the same sampled trigger from above, this time *looping it* to create an infinite sustain, equal in amplitude to the attack (thus creating the huge size of the sub). We then sent this to the Synare, and hand tuned (with a guitar tuner) every single note on the oscillator, capturing this cleanly, but also through an extensive array of analog filters (Moog, Overstayer), Hard clipping and EQ.

Wild, Cosmic FX
In addition to the dry one hits, we ran the Synare through its best friend, an original Re-201 Space Echo, into an Eventide H3000, jamming, twisting and turning, achieving insanely psychedelic (and long) drones, Pitch shifted melodies, Industrial bells, screaming whistles, rabbit holes, UFOs (landing and taking off), effected toms, bit crushed percussion, space lasers, and UFOs. Recording the results to tape.

These are perfect for ambient intros, outros, or adding instant cosmic energy builds, and dry versions are also available. This section of the Synare From Mars comes in at just under a GB on its own.

In the End
More than any other product, the Synare is truly “From Mars”. And If you can’t tell, it’s been a personal favorite for at least the past decade. Honestly I have no clue how many people know about these things – but to me the Synare is one of the most unique and evil sounding synths of all time and all should submit to its demonic power. Its heavy, analog sound is something that just cannot be achieved with any other synth or drum synth (none of the clones come close).

The Synare From Mars is by far the largest and most in depth offering of Synare samples available – aside from the classic drum one hits, it’s really these huge, multi-sampled subs, and wild FX / drones that set this pack apart. So whether you’ve been searching for high quality samples of this guy or you have no clue what a Synare is or how to pronounce it, you should definitely be able to find some crazy cosmic snacks in here for your favorite sampler.

Contents:

  • 1900+ 24bit WAV Synare Samples
  • 10 pre-made 16x hit kits for instant jamming
  • 8x multi-sampled chromatic Synare synths
  • Drum one hits, chromatic instruments and evil FX
  • Analog Bass Drums, White Noise Snares, Classically Cosmic Toms, all presets
  • FM Toms, spiraling LFOs, lasers, sirens, brash noise sweeps, UFO babies, blips, and rabbit holes
  • Crazy Synare twists and knob turns, long drones recorded through an original Space Echo & H3000 (includes dry versions)
  • Ableton includes (4) drum racks with extensive sample selection, hardware parameter and FX mapping and (8) chromatic instruments
  • Kontakt, Logic, Reason & Structure include: (40) individual hit instruments, (3) kits instruments, and (8) chromatic instruments
  • Maschine, Battery & FL Studio include: 10 pre-made kits
  • MPC1000 & MPC2500 include: 10 pre-made kits on 3 MPC Programs
  • 2.06 GB Unzipped

Ready For:

  • Any 24 bit WAV Compatible DAW or Sampler
  • Ableton Live 9.7+ (Not Intro)
  • Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Not Kontakt Player)
  • Logic 9+
  • Structure 2+
  • Maschine 2.6+
  • Reason 8+
  • Battery 4.1.5+
  • FL Studio 20.8+
  • MPC1000 or MPC2500

Links

Demo Preview:

Samples From Mars SP1200 From Mars MULTIFORMAT

By | September 29, 2021

Samples From Mars SP1200 From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Samples From Mars SP1200 From Mars MULTIFORMAT

Custom Drums Recorded Through The Most Famous 12 bit Sampler
The SP-1200 is a warm and gritty 12bit sampler developed in 1987, best known for its huge contributions to golden age hip hop, classic house and french house. At 26.04 kHz sample rate (roughly half of a CD – if you remember those?), the “vinyl like” sound people describe is a combination of digital aliasing and distortion passed through a warm analog filter (The SSM2044 found in many synths, like the Polysix). The sequencer is as tight as it gets, and doubling the tempo and swinging 16th notes gives you an unbeatable 90s house and hip hop shuffle. There are far too many notable users to list, but some of our favorites are – RZA / Wu Tang, Outkast, De La Soul, Mobb Deep, Moodyman, Daft Punk (who toured with it in the 90s), Alan Braxe, and Fred Falke.

Our SP has been around SFM headquarters for as long as we’ve existed, and it was only a matter of time before we got around to sampling this beast! The first thing we captured was the factory drums “Standard Traps” disk. Far from what you’d describe as a “trap kit” today, these drums are a pseudo-acoustic, Linn-esc 80s disco kit and they sound so fresh! We reached for an API preamp for its sharp and classic transient response, recording directly to tape (multi-sampling every hit with 16 SP tunings) and no additional processing was neccesary.

We also spent weeks creating custom drum sounds – incorporating drum machines such as the 606, 707, 808, 909, DX, vinyl drums (sometimes pitching up the record to 45rpm and tuning it down in the SP), and more – multi-sampling all hits at different tunings. Leaving some things dry, and massively processing others with compressors, filters, synths, and saturators, we sampled different outputs of the machine. All recorded to tape.

And finally, we sampled some synths to throw in as a bonus (Juno 60, Polysix, DX-100) because the SP creates gnarly overtones for bass and magical fairy dust on house chords. The DX and SP especially liked each other.

With only 10 seconds of overall sample time, and just 2.5 seconds maximum sample time per pad, we recorded different notes for each synth patch, tuned them every which way, ran it through our super warm Rupert-Neve designed ISA 430 Mk2, occasionally hitting tape, and into the computer, where we mapped, looped, and put finishing touches on the patches. This was a laborious (torturous?) process to say the least, but well worth it!

After sifting through SP synth patches and custom drums for weeks, we narrowed it down to an all-killer- no-filler set of instruments for Ableton, Logic & Kontakt, so that you can enjoy everything that is beautiful about this sampler while avoiding all the idiosyncrasies that make you want to gouge your eyes out!

Factory Drums:

  • 400 Original SP-1200 “Standard Traps” Drums with 16 pitches of each drum hit recorded to tape. 24bit WAV
  • Boogie / Linn / DX style pseudo-acoustic 80s drum kit
  • Fully mapped Ableton Live 9.7+ Drum Rack with 25 pads of drums, each containing 16 SP-1200 pitches per pad
  • 12 fully mapped Kontakt 5.6.5+ (Does not work on Kontakt Player) and Logic Instruments
  • 24bit WAV includes “loud” and “quiet” versions, individual hits, and 2 cherry-picked 16 sound kits
  • 166 MB unzipped

Custom Drums:

  • 1700 Custom Drums sampled from drum machines / vinyl / “other” drums and recorded to tape at 10 – 16 pitches each per drum hit. 24 bit WAV
  • Including sounds from: 606, 707, 808, 909, DX and more
  • Fully mapped Ableton Live 9.7 Drum Rack with 128 pads of drums, each containing 10-16 SP-1200 pitches per pad. 4 pre-made kits and 5 additional
  • chromatic percussion instruments
  • 23 fully mapped Kontakt 3.5+ (does not work on Kontakt Player) and Logic instruments – individual hits and 4 pre-made kits
  • 24bit WAV includes “loud” and “quiet” samples, individual hits, and 4 cherry-picked 16 sound WAV kits
  • 333 MB unzipped

Bonus: Custom Synths:

  • 11 custom synth instruments built from sampling a Juno 60, Polysix and DX100 into the SP-1200
  • Fully mapped for Ableton Live 9.7+, Kontakt 3.5+ (does not work on Kontakt Player) and Logic
  • 24bit WAV labeled with note name
  • Included with both purchases
  • 708 MB unzipped

Links

Demo Preview:

Initial Slice v1.1.6 VST3 AU [WIN & MacOSX]

By | September 29, 2021

Initial Slice v1.1.6 VST3 AU [WIN & MacOSX]

Initial Slice v1.1.6 VST3 AU [WIN & MacOSX]

Initial Slice is a loop slicer and beat making plugin. Load audio loops via drag and drop to slice, loop, reverse, pitch shift or even time stretch them. Initial Slice also comes with multiple built in piano rolls so you can create sequences right in the box. On top of this we have an advanced drum sequencer, bass sequencer, playlist editor, 4 effect racks (each with 11 built in effects) and lots of top quality content.

Producers from all across the globe came together to built a massive library of over 300 melodic trap, hiphop, drill and rnb loops, drum patterns and beat starters.

Over 300 Loops

Initial Slice comes with over 300 loops and over 300 beat starters, as well as over 160 drum samples. We have prepared a demo beat for every loop in Slice, easily selected by clicking the “Beat” button that comes next to every preset in the Library window. This make it a perfect plugin for producers looking for new content and ideas to inspire their next hit song.

We also designed Slice with content creators in mind. We added lots of features that help with making unique content that stands out. These features enable creators to quickly make a demo beat faster than ever before, really showing off their content to full effect.

Create your own Libraries, drum patterns and beat starters and share them with others or even sell them online. Slice saves all samples and drum sounds you use into the project file, users don’t have to deal with files and folders but can simply load new content via drag and drop.

Quality Matters

Slice is powered by Zynaptics Artificial Intelligence-driven time-stretch algorithm ZTX which is one of the best the world has yet to offer and can handle multitimbral audio like no other.

Loaded as plugin in your daw everything will be in sync and always fit to the set tempo of your digital audio workstation of choice.

Slice is a high-quality, easy to use tool for music producers as well as a great platform for content creators to share content with other music producers all across the globe.

Details

  • Over 300 royalty free factory samples including beatstarters and drum patterns.
  • Main Editor which lets you slice, timestretch, pitchshift, loop, reverse and gate your samples.
  • 3 effect racks and 1 master rack
  • Built in Slice sequencer allowing you to program slice patterns
  • Built in advanced Drum Sequencer
  • Built in Bass Sequencer / Sample Player
  • Built in Playlist allowing you to create quick arrangements
  • Built in Sample Library allowing you to access your drum kits and sample packs in the box
  • Recommended system requirements:
    • 4 Core CPU
    • 8 GB Ram
    • 64Bit VST or AU compatible Digital Audio Workstation
    • Give the free demo a try to make sure the plugin performs well on your system before you purchase a license.

Initial Slice – Loop Slicer | Sampler

  • Over 300 Unique Royalty Free Factory Samples
  • Over 300 Unique Factory Beatstarters
  • Over 160 Drum Sounds
  • 1.8 GB in size
  • Windows: 64 Bit VST
  • Mac: Audio Unit & VST (Big Sur and Apple Silicon compatible)
  • Standalone Version for Windows and Mac
  • Minimum req. Mac Os 10.14 or later

Links

Producer Loops Manana WAV MIDI

By | September 29, 2021

Producer Loops Manana WAV MIDI

Producer Loops Manana WAV MIDI

Sit back and relax… Let ‘Manana’ take you on a tour of the Mediterranean coast as we explore the warm evening climes of Spain. Manana merges the exotic and sensual sound of Flamenco with soothing Balearic Chillout beats. This inspirational pack from Producer Loops and ‘The Sound of Merlin’, delves into the mysterious and seductive world of the Spanish guitar. Everything was recorded, produced and mixed to perfection. Includes Audio, MIDI and an OMF arrangement.

Featuring audio loops in various formats, full arrangement in OMF format (wet version), as well as individual MIDI files, this pack will let your imagination visit those warm evening climes of Spain and the Mediterranean coast. This sensational product has been produced to perfection and it includes everything heard in the demo track.

OMF format (Open Media Format) allows you to import a complete arrangement of audio loops into virtually any sequencer. Once loaded, you will see all parts on screen exactly as originally seen when exported, with chunks of audio data on separate tracks, all named by instrument. This format will allow you complete flexibility when re-mixing the arrangement.

By muting or soloing tracks while looping a specific section you will soon find the exact combination of instruments you want to use for your project. Keep in mind that it might be best to use the same file-naming system when exporting your favourite sections as you may want to add or change things at a later point in your creative process. Please note, the OMF file sums all the volumes of the individual tracks while all faders are set to 0 db. Therefore, please set the master fader to around -7 db to avoid clipping and take it from there.

Royalty-Free 
All of the loops in this product are 100% Royalty-Free, so once purchased, you can use these loops in your commercial releases without having to pay any hidden costs.

Product Specifications:
 ACIDized WAV Loops Files

  •  Open Media Format – OMF Arrangement – (Wet)
  •  Key And Tempo-Labelled
  •  48.1kHz/24-Bit High Quality
  •  Complete Fully Mixed And Mastered
  • Compatible With All DAWs
  • PC & Mac Compatible
  • Royalty-Free – (No Exceptions)

Links

Demo Preview: