SALT ASHES ARTIST SPLICE PACK
SPLICE PACK
SALT ASHES and I put together a vocal sample pack for Splice earlier this year. Go get some sounds.
Casio HT 700 SYNTH - LOGIC SAMPLER INSTRUMENTS - FREE
I’m a sucker for a market find. I’ve picked up all sorts of music gear over the years and this Casio HT 700 from the late 80s/early 90s was calling to me from under a tonne of old stereo equipment on a stall in Deptford Market (London). It has been worth every one of the ten English pounds I paid for it. I’ve sampled all of the 40 presets and created some new instruments by running the Casio through the filter of a Moog Subphatty, a Watkins Copicat, a Roland VX 55 and finally a Strymon Big Sky.
VinatgeSynth.com says:
“The Casio HT and HZ series are a very interesting group of synthesizers produced from 1987-1991. They use a very specific form of sound generation called "SD Synthesis". Short for "Spectrum Dynamic" SD Synthesis has some things in common with the subtractive synthesis we know and love. The synth takes a waveform and runs it through a real analog VCF (filter). There are ADSR envelopes for the DCA and VCF that shape the sound. And there is an LFO just like on a standard subtractive synth, although this LFO only modulates pitch (vibrato) and volume (tremolo).
Where things get interesting however, is in the choice of waveforms available from the synth engine. There are 32 incredibly varied waveforms, some sound very nasal or narrow, some like saw or square waveforms, some with an odd metallic timbre, and some feature white noise. It's still a mystery exactly how these waves are created, but experts suggest they contain a number of harmonically-rich pulse waves at different octaves, as well as a ring modulator and an analog noise source.
To make things even more interesting, these waves have pre-programmed amounts of PWM and amplitude modulation built into them. For example, one SD wave could contain two pulse waves fading in and out at different times. But you don't have to understand all of this to get the best out of the synth. The mystery and modulation of it all means you can just pick a preset and change the waves around and see what happens. The synth sounds are in the same ballpark as other DCO-synths of the time, and can even sound a little PPG-like on a good day. The filter is a bit weak for bass but adds a nice swoosh to some sounds. There is also a nice chorus effect on board.
WEST LONDON LIVE DRUMS
Many moons ago, my old band recorded the basic tracks for our first album at Metropolis Studios in West London. During that session the Producer, Steve Levine (Beach Boys/Culture Club) and the drummer, Sam Fordham took some time out to record the drums piece by piece at different velocities with the intention of using as samples later down the line. To my memory we never actually used the samples and they’ve subsequently sat on a hard drive ever since. Recently I stumbled across them and decided to put them to good use. I built a basic Logic Sampler Instrument using round robins, which I’ve been using over the past few weeks and I bloody love it. Next step is to add in the velocity layers, which I will do in the coming weeks. One note, there’s no decent open hi hat sample in there yet, which I will fix on the next update. For now, I’ve uploaded the samples, the sample instrument and a few loops to the link below…
smashed korg volca drums
I saw this sad looking Volca gathering dust in the corner of the studio a few weeks back and was compelled to put it to use.. I ran it through my 70’s Roland VX-55 mixer which has the same spring reverb tank as the ubiquitous Roland Space Echo 201. I patched in my 60’s Watkins Copicat Tape Delay and recorded a bunch of loops and chaotic little moments. This mixer sounds great when you smash it to f*ck with but I haven’t had the time to find it’s sweet spot yet, but once I do…. anyway… free samples.. go
