Native Instruments does, and they’ve put some vintage mojo on them as well…for when you’re feeling a little nostalgic?

But…are they any good? Or is it just another cheesy attempt at a usable pop string section?

let’s see

What are Session Strings?

To contrast a lot of the larger string/orchestral libraries, Session Strings is supposed to be a good collection of string sections that fit well within the modern music production environment.

I’ve seen quite a few string libraries, most are aimed at film and orchestration uses, with every single section of the string and multiple articulations, many of which require some form of classical/orchestral training or a crash course in string theory.

Which isn’t bad, because I like those libraries too, but sometimes you just want a good string ensemble that has minimal things to tweak, and you can just add it to your track.

The expressive features are there and easy to access, they even put in a collection that they called “m town” which is supposed to capture the feel and sound of vintage 70s strings from the disco/pop/funk/rnb music.

All that sounds good, but what really matters is if these strings are useful or not.

Quick Specs

• content: 48 nki files, 10 standard and 10 mtown performance, 14 standard and 14 mtown individual patches
• format: kontakt 4 or the free kontakt player
• price: $119

How do they sound?

They sound pretty good, nice and full and usable, which is most important.

Sometimes you don’t want a library full of solo strings, sometimes you just need a good sounding section to lay as the padding for a track, to fill it out.

The recordings are done well, and in comparison to many string libraries, they aren’t drowned in reverb that is printed into the sample itself.

These have more of a “studio” sound to me, instead of a stage or concert hall sound, more like the sound of a bunch of string players in the studio, instead of on stage.

Of course you can use the included reverb to tweak or add your own.

The MTown presets are pretty cool, if you sample alot, you’ll enjoy the sound of the strings as it pretty much captures that string sound we always look for on records.

Overall, the sound is good and usable, comparable to many more advanced libraries.

Of course you don’t get every single type of articulation as you would with a full level string library, but you get the ones that are most useful when playing a string section.

So what’s the bottom line?

It’s no secret I’m a fan of the new line of Kore and Kontakt instruments form NI. It allows folks to build up quite a customized and quality library without the investment of full products and software.

The fact that you can play any of these instruments in their free players is awesome, plus, if you want to upgrade, they work in the full versions.

I really like the sound of the Session Strings, and find myself going back to these over a lot of the larger libraries just for how immediate they are and how I can just pull up a sound, tweak, and have what I need.

The animator is pretty cool, could be useful, but I would have liked to see it more user editable. If they add another tab beside the fx tab, where you could pull up the step/graph editor, and tweak each included groove that would be awesome.

This would give you a mini string section sequencer inside the interface….maybe in an update?

Overall, it’s a useful library, with a good sound that will fit many situations.  Some of the falls/scoops can be a bit cheesy at times but hey, alot of the music we were inspired by from the past was pretty cheesy lol, it’s sorta like salt…it’s good in moderation, just don’t over do it!

I give this library a 4 out of 5 subs, I really liked it, but wish the animator was editable as it’s a great feature of the library but can get pretty old pretty quick with the two knobs used to tweak it.

If you want some good strings, and even some vintage sounding tones, definitely read up on it and check it out.

It’s a great alternative to spending hundreds on string libraries that may not have the tone, or ease of use you need for adding a simple string section to modern tracks.

Go on over and check it out: native instruments session strings

let me know what ya think!

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Today I’m reviewing one of the new products from the “Beat Warrior” series that Nova Loops created exclusively for Big Fish

This one is all about the melodies, so let’s check it out

What is Platinum Synth Melodies?

It’s a collection of construction sets made up of nothing be melodies.

No drums in site.

These are specifically…synth melodies.

You get a nice collection of bass, strings, pads, leads, etc…

produced in styles useful for pop, rnb, hip hop, and other urban music.

Quick Specs

• content: 428 MB
• format: apple loops, wav, acid
• price: $49.99

How does it sound?

I’ve been a fan of Nova Loops for a little while now, I’ve always loved their melody lines, to me they were always a step above the rest, especially in RnB.

This library surprised me in the fact that they showed versatility by mixing in a lot more of the synth/pop side of things and not just rnb/rap.

They do pop very well, but this one especially had a very light euro feel mixed into it.

The styles of the loops were done right as well as the recordings, I absolutely loved some of the pads, very ambient.

They deep bass lines show what I mean about their melodies, it’s always so smooth, very good sound and good production.

There is a good variety of club, rap, pop, euro, smooth and rnb style melodies to mix, match and chop.

What’s the bottom line?

Bottom line is I really like the idea of getting nothing but melodies from the Nova Loops label and I’m glad Big Fish is exploring these types of libraries.

Perfect for those that may not be the best at certain styles, or just want variety, or maybe you just like DOPE SOUNDS.

This is a synth collection, and I can’t really find anything missing, maybe a few more west coast style leads since these guys live out in Cali

I give this a 4 out of 5 subs, it’s very useful with a great quality and a nice price.

The price is even better when you use the promo code: NOVSS1 to get $7 bucks off any Nova Loops product at Big Fish until 6/30/2010

So go on over and check them out, and add some dope melodies to your collection: www.bigfishaudio.com/novaloops

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Peep this quick video and go download them, he’s cool peeps and didn’t know I was doin this video but I love to show love to the smaller developers and he has some create drums.

check it out

download at http://www.traumahdrums.com./

lemme know what you think.

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But this is a little different.

This if for those that want to use Maschine as a plugin within Live, yet not use Maschine’s sequencer.

This will let you record the midi data into Live’s sequencer while still using the pads/sampler of Maschine.

You would think this would be simple, just load the plugin and go, but it’s not…and many try to figure out how to do it in their DAW.

Anyway, this is a quick video showing how to set it up, so you have each Maschine group on a different track in Live.

If you prefer to do all your sequencing in Live, yet still want to use Maschine, this is a great way to do it.

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This means, when you pull up a sound from the Kontakt library, you no longer have to wait for the full sound to load!

This is huge! I HATE waiting for large libraries and instruments to load, but now, they load in a few seconds, which let’s you quickly get to what you want to do, make music.

This may seem small, but in a world full of huge software libraries this is a huge plus for Kontakt users….trust me, watch the video and see the difference.

Some libraries used to take minutes to load, depending on the size, huge ones like Abbey Roads Drums are notorious for taking ages to load up.

With this new feature, I don’t feel so put off on actually using Abbey Roads drums now.

Check it out

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Piano is one of the most diverse and universal instruments around.

No wonder so many companies give their own versions of sampled, modeled, and synthesized pianos.

Today we are checking out one from Imperfect Samples based on the Braunschweig Upright piano.

let’s check it out

So what is the Bruanschweig Upright and is it really Imperfect?

This is a very detailed sample based instrument for Kontakt and EXS from Imperfect Samples.

They pride themselves on capturing the “realism” and “ambiance” that seems to elude many professional piano libraries.

I won’t even lie to you, I had no idea what a Braunschweig Upright was, or how it should sound!

From their website it is said to have a “more distinct sound character far more intimate than a grand piano”.

There is a regular version (5gb) and a pro version (15gb) of course the pro version has more layers, 14 as opposed to 8 in the regular version.

The pro version also comes with another mic perspective, whereas the regular version only includes 1.

Both include staccato samples, as well as piano fx, a fantasy, and a space piano instrument.

I am reviewing the pro version today.

Quick Specs

• content:15gb of 24bit samples
• format: kontakt, exs
• price: $59 – $149.95 depending on which version you buy

How does it sound?

I REALLY like the sound and tone of this piano.

For me, I’m always looking for a good piano, and most of the ones I’ve come across are perfect for huge concert style productions.  But many times in my music I need something a little more “normal” sounding.

Most pianos that I’ve played with are perfect, in a sense, they are too perfect in the fact that I am always trying to find ways to make them “sit in the mix” better.

Sure, those types of pianos can be good for classical orchestration mock ups or huge piano centric pieces, but what about those of us that just want a great sounding piano that supports the rest of our music?

That’s what I love about this, it’s fun to play, something about it just sounds “real” to me, not like a “software piano” but just like sitting down and playing.  Sure there is a little bit more ambiance integrated into the samples themselves, but I don’t find that a bad thing.

Overall this has more of a mellow, darker sound to it, and I really like it.  The detail is very deep, the release samples can be heard, the drop and hitting of the keys is there, it’s just fun to play.

I also like that there aren’t a bunch of controls, sometimes you just want to load up a piano and play, without having to worry about tweaking everything.

This is a simple interface, with a great sound that has tremendous detail…at least to my ears.

What’s the bottom line?

This is easily my favorite piano library to date, funny because the interface and options to tweak are so simple.

That’s a good thing in my book.

The sound I get out of it just makes me want to play and play, even though I’m not a trained pianist.

Sure you can find libraries with more velocity layers, and other types of samples, but the process and method of sampling on this instrument is unmatched.

To me it always seems like everyone wants to sample a Steinway Grand or many of the other popular piano models.

I like that this instrument is different, both in sound, and even the actual source instrument that was used to create it.

I give this a 5 out of 5 subs, it really impressed me from the first time I installed it.

Sure the pro version is 15gb, and it takes a while to download, but it’s so worth the wait.

Go over to Imperfect Samples and checkout the demo song, from someone that can actually play!

Trust me, they are amazing: Braunschweig Upright

let me know what ya think below

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I’ve finally found it!

Using Maschine standalone, and using Ableton Live as a rack…but what I also found out, is that you can sync live to Maschine’s clock!

Using midi drag and drop when I’m done sequencing, I can get everything I do in Maschine into Live’s session view very quickly.

Then I just arrange my patterns that way, it’s a very quick, efficient, and unlimited workflow….I really feel like I have no limits right now.

I can’t wait until I can drag and drop audio from Live back into Maschine Then I can use some of that warping and other goodness from live.

Anyway, this is my current workflow, and out of all the different ways I’ve messed with Maschine and plugins, this feels the most productive and the most natural.

peep the vid and let me know what you think.

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Today I am checking out something a little different.

It’s a construction kit type of product, but with a twist….NO DRUMS

let’s check it out

What is Urban Inspiration?

It is a deep collection of urban/hip hop melodies and loops, no beats, no drums, just the sauce.

It’s for those that don’t or rarely ever use drumloops, or those that have an extensive collection of drumloops and just need some stuff to lay over them.

It’s got keys, bass, synths, strings, brass, flutes, guitars, and fx….but no drums, no percussion, and no drumloops.

It’s pretty much what I do to any library I get, I take them out of construction kits, put them in folders according to their kind, and most times delete the drum loops.

Sometimes I keep a few and make a drum kit, but you know what I mean.  This is nothing but the melodies, ready to loop, slice, chop, or splice into your next track

Quick Specs

• Content: 50 construction kits, over 1.03gb of wav files (smaller sizes for rex and apple)
• Format: apple loops, rex, wav
• Price: $59.95

How does it sound?

It’s sounds pretty good, pretty much like what you’d expect.

It’s well produced with a lot of variety. Honestly, it sounds like a construction kit library wit the drums missing.

Not that you’ll actually miss them, but it’s put together just like any other construction kit library, 3-5 loops or more in a kit, various parts of the track.

There’s enough here to please pretty much anyone, from the experimental edgy synth lovers, to the mellow minor chord lovin hip hop producers.

They even through a bunch of hits and stabs in there, for those that like that choppy east coast style.

This collection is made up of pristinely recorded audio with enough variety in there for it not to get old fast.

So what’s the bottom line?

It’s a decent library, pretty much on par with most of the other libraries available from Big Fish.

It’s not the cream of the crop, top of the heap, but it’s a good collection of very usable sounds and fresh production

One thing I didn’t like is the fact that, like construction kits, the loops don’t always start on the first measure of a bar.

No problem really, but since it’s all melodies, I would have preferred it to be a bunch of loops that start on the 1, however that’s easy to work around, especially when you’re chopping them up.

I give this library 4 out of 5 subs, I like the fact that they made a library just for the melodies, many of us prefer it this way as we have our own library of drums.

Definitely check it out if your looking for some riffs and loops to add to your collection, the price proves you don’t have to break the bank to get a large collection of usable loops.

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Today I’m checking out a new kit from blazinkits.com, whom I’ve been watching grow for years.

This time I’m taking a look at “Survival Drums” ……

So what is Survival Drums?

Like all the kits from blazin kits, this is a more “urban pop” collection…

mostly done in the style of Timbo, Pharrell, Swizz, etc.

They are big drums, drums that take up a lot of room in the track.

It’s a collection of 15 kicks and 15 snares.

Quick Specs

• Content: 15 kicks and 15 snares
• Format: wav
• Price: $11.99

How do they sound?

Like you would expect, they are BIG. These aren’t just punchy drums that cut through the mix, these drums are meant to be the start of the track.

Lot’s of layering and compression going on from what I can hear.

Sometimes the compression or “loudness” can be a bit too much to fit into your track, but again, it depends on what you’re going for.

If you want huge drums, they are definitely here.

Despite the drums being extremely big and loud, surprisingly I didn’t run into any clicks or pops at the end of the drums.

It seems they were edited properly so there are no undesired artifacts going on.

What’s the bottom line?

I like the kit, I’ve been a fan of blazin kits for a while now.

It seems that most of his kits have a similar style, mostly the big, spacious drums.

You can tell he is a fan of folks like timbo, pharrell, darkchild, swizz, bcox, etc…and it shows in the sound design.

I think it’s a good price-point for the number of sounds you get, pretty much gives you a quick fix when you want an instant dose of new sounds without being overwhelmed or breaking the bank.

I give this a 4 out of 5 subs, it’s really a good kit to have in your collection, for the price of the kits over there.

I’d say eventually you should own them all lol.  You may find similar sounding drums in other kits but that’s because most are made in the same styles….but it’s a great collection to have.

No matter if you get one or end up with them all, I definitely suggest you checkout blazinkits.com

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I found out about them maybe a few weeks ago, and their site impressed me.

I listened to the demo kit and liked what I heard so I hit them up to see if I could review their sounds.

They have 3 different collections, but I am reviewing their “Sounds In HD TheCollection” which includes shd vol 1, shd vol 2, and acoustic blends.

let’s get into it!

Who are Sounds In HD?

Is it a higher bit rate? What makes them HD?

The HD, from what I gather, is in reference to the quality and perfection they take when producing their drum sounds.

It all started with Sounds In HD Vol 1:

“processed using only quality hardware and software such as the Avalon 737 and Izotope plugins. Sample design is based off of various synthesizers combined with live sound and layered samples. This superb drum pack, can be used in just about any genre of music; including Hip-Hop, R&B, and Pop”

After the huge success of shd vol 1, they dropped …you guessed it, shd vol 2:

“We’ve decided to make this kit more usuable for the producers and engineers, by adding more elements other than the generic samples, including Synthesized Drums, Lo-Fi Textures, Acoustic Samples and more all originaly recorded and processed by us. SHD2 is a huge step up from the preceeding package, we consider this particular sample library to have more Balance than the other sample packages on the market”

Well, I guess that was another smash hit, so they came with a third pack called Acoustic Blends, which is probably my favorite!

“Acoustic Blends competes with the drum sample design in the current market while staying true to its name, acoustic. Producers love a great acoustic kit and this is a chance to upgrade to HD in your acoustic production arsenal! We consider this to actually be the most versatile edition to date!”

Quick Specs

• Contents: shd1, shd 2, acoustic blends, and bonus drums. over 1000 drum sounds
• Format: 16bit wave files
• Price: $79.99

Okay, whopdie doo, 3 sound collections, but what do they sound like?

In one word… BANGIN!

Seriously, these are some of the most banginest drums I’ve laid ears on.

Now I must be clear, these aren’t your typical rugged, boom-bap style drums, these are commercial, radio ready, high quality drum samples.

It’s true, and you can check my twitter statues from a week or so ago…after going through these drums, I started deleting and getting rid of a bunch of drum samples, they were simply no longer needed.

SHD set the bar high, and their acoustic blends pretty much became the standard by which all other drums will be judged by me.

The mix on them is nice, they have a thickness to them that is undeniable. And they slice through the mix like a hot knife through ice cream cake.

The loudness is there, but not a simple “normalize and make it bang” loudness…I don’t even know how to explain it other than these drums are hard without taking over the whole mix, they are huge but still leave space for your other sounds.

The eq, processing, and whatever other deep dark magic they put on these drums results in the most usable collection I’ve come across to date, and the most versatile.

The Value is unmatched…

One thing I very first noticed about them is their prices.  I’ve been shopping for and checking out drum libraries for years, and for the most part, they’ve always been pretty pricey.

It’s not uncommon to pay $100+ for a collection of dope drums, and I’ve happily done so in the past. Especially when getting kits in native mpc format, etc.

The fact that this is only 80 bucks for the whole collection is insane. But also, if you don’t want the whole thing, each collection is broken down into parts so it’s easier on the budget.

What’s the final rating man?

If I could give a double rating I would, this is without question a 5 sub kit!

Dope sounds, quality mixing and processing, and GREAT value.

I love it man, simply put, download the demo and you’ll see what I mean.

This aint no bull man, you know how I do…these drums are sick.

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