Here’s a sample set that’s so underground it doesn’t even have a website. I don’t know why, I’m a complete sucker for these kinds of things; I think there should be more folks out there sampling off-beat instruments, found sounds, toys, forgotten instruments.

Actually, I guess I should be doing that. Damn, I’m lazy.

Anyway, thanks to KvR user Architeuthis for not being lazy.

Sorry, this is my first sample library and so I don’t have all that professional stuff going for me like a website and a quick Pay to Download system setup. That will hopefully come in the future.

* Recorded in 24-bit / 96,000khz
* 15 tone musical box in the key of G#
* 14 alternative samples per tone, 210 samples total
* Coming soon for registered users: A version of the sample library with crank noises

- Listen Here (first two melodies dry, third melody using EQ and KarmaFX reverb)
- Download Manual here

Send $15 to my paypal account argitoth-at-gmail dot com and you will receive a username, password, and product key to your e-mail. When sending the payment, specify the following:

-First and Last name
-An e-mail you want to register the product with

It is available for Kontakt. More samplers will be supported soon. Reply to this thread if you would like support for the sampler you use.

I actually haven’t receive my link yet, so I’m posting this on good faith. The links are going out fairly quickly; by the time I got back to my computer several hours later it was waiting for in my inbox. He’s a verified paypal member and seems to have been around KvR for a while, so let’s assume this is all on the up and up. The demo does sound pretty fantastic, and I have the perfect track for this.

^{Photo by Kriss Szkurlatowski, via stock.xchng.com.
So, yeah, the photo is just something I found and does not represent the sampled box.}

Here’s something cool and unexpected.

Our heroes over at Soniccouture.com have gone and whipped up another product that makes you wonder why no one had thought of it sooner.

Scriptorium.

Rather than just produce another of their fine sample instrument libraries, Soniccouture have tucked into the guts of Kontakt and give us a toolkit for taking Kontakt to the next level. One of my favorite things in the Soniccouture libraries is giving us access to the hidden goodies that help power their masterful sound design. And now they’ve really gone to town and programmed up a whole 35 Kontakt scripts that range from “You’re fucking kidding me, right? Awesome!” (Group Sequencer) to, “Huh. Interesting…” (Morse Code). A few are borrowed/upgraded from some of their other product, so I can attest to their quality. And I’m damn excited to try the others: if you’ve ever hunted for useful Kontakt scripts on the web you know what a score this is.

So, if you haven’t played around with scripts in your copy of Kontakt you’re missing a whole lot of time-wasting fun. They’re dead easy to work, really; if a dilettante such as myself can use them then certainly most others can. And these look to open up a whole world of possibilities. Plus there are 60 instruments included to get you started, along with 3 demo 4 tutorial videos.

I have a great idea for re-building a certain discontinued softsynth that I missed out on buying, and this is just the ticket to get me started.

And, although this is both version 2 and version 3 compatible, it’s perhaps another argument as to why NI should allow for other upgrade options.

• I’ve said before, I’m not inclined to fault companies for what they didn’t put in their product - I generally know what I’m getting into when I fork over for a license and trust that it will meet my expectations. I’ll even be pretty forgiving for “bugs” and what I see as over-sights/blunders in the execution - to a point of course. And, as I’ve also said, most of the companies we’re talking about in the independent audio software world are benign to very cool. But indulge me in climbing on my rackety and feeble pulpit and address my benefactors over at Native Instruments.

Greetings Native Instruments Co.,

Congratulations on all the great products you’ve been releasing lately. I hope you’ve been having a lot of success with them. However, I want to specifically address your upgrade policy on your Kontakt line of products.

I’ve been using Kontakt since literally the day it arrived at a local Mega Lo Guitar Mart and upgraded to version 2 because of all the fine work you put into improving and expanding the product. It’s been great. I even purchased the tutorial DVD to more fully utilize it’s deeper features; to what extent this is actually the case is sorta besides the point. Suffice to say, I’ve acquired (legally it should be said) a lot of soundware that does fully utilize Kontakt’s deeper features.

The latest version Kontakt 3 looks pretty swell also. Looks like you improved a lot of the features. Perhaps not a whole version upgrade. But, you know, it’s your product you can give it what number you want really; who am I to judge the work that went into it? I look forward to trying it out.

My problem is this: Why do I have to buy the whole library that comes with it? Honestly, I don’t really use the 2 NI Kontakt libraries I have as it is. And while I’m sure you’ve done some stunning work on improving the included library, and the reports seem pretty favorable, I don’t see this being a whole lot different. I’ve got a lot of these sounds well covered, and the last thing my sample drive needs is more redundancy.

I’m guessing it’s because you want to keep it a boxed product, no? That even with your very well implemented registration management, and your high profile, a boxed product is more like a “physical thing” - shelf space and all that - and thus somehow less prone to being ripped off or dismissed as not worth the investment. Okay, I may well be grasping, but, seriously, couldn’t you offer an “engine”-only download update for users? Well, I know you *could*, but for some reason you don’t. No offense to the many sound designers and editors who put together your library. But I just don’t need it. And it seems a waste for me to buy a whole lot of packaging and content for what probably comes to about 20MB of program and plugin files.

And, yes, I know it’s only around $130.00 street. It’s not really the price so much as it is the waste of it all. Offering it for under 90 bucks from you website seems a reasonable amount to pay considering what you’re charging for the boxed upgrade.

I’ll just give in and get it I suppose. I’ll get sick of manually exporting MIDI files, or trying to built multis will finally drive me batty and I’ll get the packaging then go ahead then download the latest build. Either that or you’ll release Kontakt 4 and just upgrade to that. Or, considering how I’ve wound up with a lot of your products, just before the next version is released you’ll blow out the remaining stock of 3 and I’ll just pay what it would theoretically cost me for a download now. And then start the cycle again…

Do you see the folly?

Cheers,

Your Customer,
Digital Lo-Fi

My new friends over at soniccouture.com have sent me a press-release for their next piece of sampling goodness, and it’s too good not to share it with whomever stumbles across this blog

They’re thinking big: rather just a single instrument they’re going for the whole ensemble. To be specific a Balinese Gamelan ensemble.

Funnily enough, the subject of a Gamelan set came up on their forum many months ago, and I made the comment “you know that soniccouture would make a badass Gamelan sample set.”¹

Seems I was right: 25 different instruments, 24GB, and, I am certain, the usual care and musicality that go into their pristinely sampled instruments.

This one isn’t cheap, and it’s gonna eat up a large chunk of your sample drive, but as near as I can tell there’s nothing else out there like this, certainly nothing as extensive. For those of you doing soundtrack/sound design work, this is a gimme; for the rest of us, I’m sure the investment will be worth it, and will give you a multitude of sounds you would have to search long and hard to come close to approximating.

Full specs after the jump.

Also, remember, there’s still time to get in on their download instrument sale. I was using Konkrete Drums just last night thinking how damn useful it is.
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Further my posts concerning of the fine soniccouture sample libraries, I’d be remiss if I didn’t post something about their current yuletide offering. And quite a sale it is: but a cool 40% off their entire download line. Of course, Abstrakt Bass and Hang Drum are there, but they have a pretty deep library of cool instruments so go wild. Ends Midnight, Christmas Eve, 24th December. (GMT)

Of course, it’s the holidays and such and you still need to get your, erm, significant other, mother, what have you, whatever it is you agreed to get them, but why not buy yourself a couple of great new songs as well.

So, there you go, the Digital LoFi Holiday Gift Guide for the Disenfranchised. Download a a couple fun and useful toys for under $200.

Yeah, I know. Groan. (Other stupid post titles “Bass, How Low Can You Go?” “Bass Fishing with Puffer”.)

A few weeks ago, I wrote a mash note to the soniccouture.com sample libraries that I’d acquired (Hang Drum, Konkrete Drums 2). I also mentioned that there was a deal with Soniccouture on Abstrakt Bass. The fine gentlemen at soniccouture provided me with a review copy. I’ve now had a chance to investigate more this library.

Honestly, it’s taken me a while. And not just because of my recent hardware woes. As I said about Konkrete Drums, this thing is impressively deep. It covers a lot of ground, and it covers it well. One of the things that’s so brilliant about souniccouture’s instruments is that they are just that, instruments. Which is another reason it’s taken me so long to formulate a semi-informed opinion: these are a blast to just play, and it’s hard to just flick through the library without wanting to stop and work on something, or just throw together a “live” setup and “jam” for a while. Plus they load quickly - well, inasmuch as any Kontakt multi-sample instrument can be said to load quickly - and sound great in a mix without a lot of tinkering. And all the pertinent controls are right there on the front.
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