Results for Sherman

Wave Alchemy has recently released another drum sample library, Drum Tools 01.

Drum Tools 01 by Wave Alchemy offers over 1950 exquisitely produced electronic drum samples. All sounds in the collection have been built from the ground up using a jawdropping array of analogue circuitry and exclusive highend outboard gear.

Great care has been taken to capture the tone / vibe and warmth of the equipment used and all sample editing and file naming has been done by hand for maximum precision.

The drum samples in Drum Tools 01 have been created by the creative layering and processing of drum machines, exotic synthesizers / modulars, field recordings and the recording of live drum and percussive instruments.

Ah… just what I need: More creatively layered and processed drum machine, exotic sound sources and field recordings.

Of course I don’t really need another drum sample library… ToneBuilder’s Driven Machine Drums, various Goldbaby Productions titles, and Wave Alchemy’s own Drum Machines 01 already provide me with thousands of high quality samples.

So why Drum Tools 01? The beauty of sample libraries like the ones I just mentioned is that they feature sampled material from a unique combination of analog sound sources processed with high end outboard gear, so Drum Tools still sounds “different” from everything else I already have.

The list of gear used is quite impressive:

• Sound Sources: Future Retro XS, Korg MS20 & ER1, Jomox XBase 999, Airbase 99 & Mbase 11, Vermona DRM MK11, Elektron Machinedrum UW, Roland TR808, TR606 & TB303, ARP Odyssey, Minimoog Voyager, Nord Lead 3, Waldorf Pulse, and various live recordings & percussive instruments
• Sound Shaping: Thermionic Culture Vulture Mastering Version, Sherman Filterbank 2, Moog Filters & Envelopes, Korg MS20, Empirical Labs Distressor, SSL E Series EQ & Compressor, SPL Transient Designer & Gainstation Preamp, API 512c Preamp

So what does all this gear sound like? Check some high quality audio demos below to get an idea.

With close to 2,000 samples it is no luxury to have things well ordered. Wave Alchemy shows attention to detail by creating a clear folder structure; main folders like claps, kicks, snare drums, etc., and subfolders within most main folders to help you find exactly those samples you are looking for. Granted there are some folders containing samples with _001, _002 etc. file naming, most samples have very descriptive names, e.g. dt01_layeredsnare_heavenslam.wav, or dt01_clap_odysseyclap.wav.

Besides claps, hihats/cymbals, kicks, snares, and percussion samples, a bunch of perhaps not so obvious sounds are included in this library as well:

• Drum Tools, includes almost 60 sub enhancers and transient snaps/clicks.
• Glitch, beautifully processed little bleeps, clicks, crackles & pops and whatnot.
• Sound Effects, 88 totally unique and well designed sound effects.
• Xtra Bonus Sounds, a bunch of TB-303 licks and 60+ high quality chords and stabs.

Can hardly wait to get started? Wave Alchemy also included an Ableton Live 8 pack and 13 drum kit patches in all popular sampler formats for your instant gratification.

A drum kit patch in Native Instruments Kontakt

Still need 16-bit? A complete dithered copy of all 24-bit samples ready to rock your 16-bit hardware like your MPC.

Let me quote the Drum Tools product page once more:

After many months of creative sound design and sonic manipulation we are extremely proud to announce the release of our first Drum Tools library – Minimal Techno & Tech House.

Wave Alchemy really took the time to create a package of both a high quality *and* quantity of samples. I’d be proud of this release too, well done guys!

So what do I think?

The Drum Tools 01 library is subtitled “Minimal Techno & Tech House”, but of course these drum samples are well suitable for any electronic music genre. The sample quality is of the same high standard I have come to expect from Wave Alchemy: superbly recorded, processed and edited.

Almost 2,000 unique samples for a little under $60 USD… If you do not yet have a comprehensive sample library for electronic drum sounds, Drum Tools 01 would certainly be a great choice.

For those like me, who already have more sounds than they will ever use, Drum Tools 01 still offers some interesting material. The glitch, sound fx, and chords and stabs folders include many unique and usable samples that I found very inspiring.

Wave Alchemy is offering a very generous Drum Tools Teaser pack, featuring 150 samples from the full release. So go check it out and see how you like this library. I think it’s the bee’s knees!

More information: Wave Alchemy / Drum Tools 01

Wave Alchemy has announced the release of Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House, a collection of electronic drum samples.

Drum Tools 01 offers over 1950 exquisitely produced electronic drum samples. All sounds in the collection have been built from the ground up using a jaw-dropping array of analogue circuitry and exclusive high-end outboard gear. Great care has been taken to capture the tone / vibe and warmth of the equipment used and all sample editing and file naming has been done by hand for maximum precision.

The drum samples in Drum Tools 01 have been created by the creative layering and processing of drum machines, exotic synthesizers / modulars, field recordings and the recording of live drum and percussive instruments.

Drum Tools 01 is an essential purchase for anyone looking for high quality, 100% original drum samples. Although designed with Minimal techno & Tech House music in mind, Drum Tools 01 would also make an essential toolkit for producers of House, Trance, Electro or even down-tempo / hip-hop styles.

Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House features

• 1950 24-bit 100% royalty free electronic drum hits!
• A professionally dithered 16-bit version of the full library for hardware sampler enthusiasts
• 472 premium kick drum samples arranged by tone (deep, punchy, solid, processed, 808 & fx)
• 251 snare drum samples arranged by type (classic, layered, punchy, processed & noise)
• 594 exotic percussion samples created with a wealth of highly sought-after studio gear and divided into such folders as ‘blips & pops’ ‘toms & tones’ ‘world’ ‘analogue synth’ ‘driven digital’ & ‘miscellaneous’
• 125 luxurious claps and snaps
• 141 hi hat & creative noise samples
• 75 glitch shots devised from exclusive analogue circuitry
• 62 minimal stabs and chord hits
• 88 sound effects samples
• 26 uniquely layered crash cymbal sounds
• 58 drum creation tools including snaps & sub enhancers
• Ableton Live 8 pack (requires latest version of live)
• 13 drum kits including sampler patches for Battery, Kontakt, Reason NNXT, Halion, EXS24 and SFZ
• 42 bonus tb-303 licks + much more

Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House is available to purchase for £39.95 GBP. A generous selection of free sounds from Drum Tools 01 is available to download from the product page (free registration required).

More information: Wave Alchemy / Drum Tools 01 – Minimal Techno & Tech House

Loopmasters recently released SFX Collection 01, a sample library featuring over 1.5 GB of sound effects by Wave Alchemy.

After reading some of the comments on this release I figured I’d give it a spin.

Now I kind of promised myself to stop posting reviews of products that I don’t have all that much to say about (since those end up containing mostly info that is already available from the product page), but I liked this library so much I figured I’d just post a mini-review.

What do you get?

In short, SFX Collection 01 offers over 1.5 GB of 24-bit sound effects, created using the “finest of vintage and new age electronic equipment” (check the kit list on the product page for details).

Wave Alchemy divided the effects into 8 categories: cymbal fx, downlifters, impacts, short fx & hits, stabs & acid hits, sweeps & drones, textures, and uplifters.

Although I think these categories have some overlap — e.g. impacts could also be in the short fx & hits folder, up and downlifters also have sweeps etc. — it is nice they didn’t chuck everything in one big folder like I probably would have done (it’s all sweeps, wobbles, blips & blobs isn’t it?).

You also get a bunch of instrument patches (EXS24, Kontakt, sfz, HALion, and NN-XT) so you’re ready to start using these effects in your sampler right away.

Check the Loopmasters website for more details.

So what do I think?

The effects in this sample library are simply fantastic; high quality and great variation in sounds. I enjoyed the short fx the most. Big bass hits, retro arcade bleeps, distorted feedback, etc. Lots of unique sound effects in here.

One thing though. Many samples have been heavily processed, e.g. with the lovely Sherman Filterbank, Eventide H3000, TC Electronic M3000 etc. This makes these samples sound great on their own, but some of the big reverb and delay effects might not always work so well in your productions.

The sounds were apparently created with dance music in mind, so the ones with a delay effect probably work best around 120-130 bpm (I did a quick check on some of the samples and it seems this is the general bpm range used).

Wave Alchemy SFX Collection 01 is available as a download for £44.95 GBP (~$70 USD) from the Loopmasters website.

More information: Loopmasters / SFX Collection 01