You knew this one was coming, it was a must I had to check this out.
A huge collection of piano, ep, wurli, and clavi licks, riffs, loops, etc…from George Duke!
Say what?!?!
Yeah…so uhhhh, the main purpose of my review really was to kinda checkout the interface and how you can work with the loops.
I had no doubt that the sounds themselves would be dope lol.
So let’s check it out!
What is George Duke Soul Treasures?
It’s like having access to a bunch of George Duke studio sessions, royalty free…to use however you wish!
No seriously, it’s like they took George Duke…along with his personal engineer Erik Zobler, locked them in the studio, and told them to play some goodness if they ever wanted to smell the fresh air again.
Okay…maybe they weren’t that ruthless, but you know…getting someone of George’s skill to sit down and record a bunch of random loops for other folks to use is quite a feat in itself.
It’s over 500 loops, in a customized kontakt player instrument, tempo-synced and ready to slice.
It’s a sampler’s dream!
Real, authentic, piano and ep samples from a master keyboard player….with the funk and soul we love.
Quick Specs
- content: 5.3gb, 503 kontakt instruments
- format: kontakt 4 or kontakt 4 player (free download)
- price: $119.00
How does it sound?
I wasn’t even worried about how it would sound…it’s freaking George Duke, teamed up with his personal engineer, put into an instrument from NI.
That said, it was a lot more diverse than I first expected.
In the videos he talked about doing a bunch of “variations” of similar phrases, so I was thinking a bunch of very similar stuff…I was wrong.
There is a huuuuuuuuge diversity in these samples and with the options to tweak the sound via filters, fx, pitch, and room/echo…it’s pretty deep.
Everything from funky and sharp to smooth and soulful, there’s even a few grand piano riffs that border on the creepy side….good stuff.
Everything has a very nice recording overall and I love that you get two versions in the interface. The “clean” version and the “tube&tape” version which gives an even more vintage/dirty feel to it.
The sound is exactly what you’d expect from a library like this, but the diversity really was a pleasant surprise, so many different styles, tempos, keys, etc.
What’s the bottom line, is this product truly a treasure?
I like this product, not just for the sound but the usability of it is very nice.
I have a few things I liked to see improved though. I would like to be able to edit the slices manually in the interface, adding or removing, moving as I see fit.
I also think the time stretch algorithm could be improved a bit. It would also be nice to be able to have an option to change the panning of each slice.
Maybe even allow each slice to have it’s own fx, filter, room, etc….
Basically I have a ton of ideas on how this kontakt player instrument can become it’s own instrument in the NI lineup, so I will be sharing my input with them directly on this matter.
That said, as it stands now, I can still see many more products like this, maybe covering brass, bass, drums, etc.
I give this a 4.5 out of 5 subs, it’s a very dope interface and a fun way to play with some dope samples.
The fact that they give you the raw waves as well is a good move and shows they have compassion for those of us that like to really get in and mangle stuff to bits.
Good sound, great interface and very fun to actually play with, I definitely look forward to more products like this.
Go check out their demo songs and videos: George Duke Soul Treasures Kontakt instrument
let me know what you think, leave a comment below
Looks hot. Do I need to download a free Kontakt player to use the interface? Can I export what I do in the interface as a wav file? It sounds like I would just work with the raw wavs, but if I can use the interface that sounds intriguing as well. I am surely saving up for this one. Thanks bruh.
@Echo, yeah it works in kontakt player, not sure what you mean by export though, you just load it up as a vst in your daw 🙂
or you can use the raw wavs themselves
@saintjoe, sounds like you are speaking Chinese, so yeah, I will stick to the raw wavs. Thanks. Also, the demo on their site has had me salivating since yesterday! “Money cometh to me.” lol
@Echo, lol, what you make beats with? Do you use vsts at all? If not, the raw wavs will work fine.
@saintjoe, I have no idea what a vst is, unless I look it up. I use Reason and ReCycle to make hits. So, those wavs will be all good. Keep up the great work bruh?
@Echo, oh yeah! you did say that lol…yeah, the wavs are you only option then 🙂
good review. can’t wait to try it out myself. gotta say looks like some real good stuff in this one.
@flux302, no doubt fam, it’s a good one.
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Funny you told me to Check this out. I was already Loving it. I am a huge George Duke fan
@Sim-one, word man, it’s a good one for sure!
Man NI is on fire with this one. That the whole package is geared to chopping is the best thing for me. I only previewed the Wavs so far (fantastic), but I just finished installing the instrument.
@Echo, it’s 500 loops you’d have to REX, but with Kong and NN-XT it would be worth it. You could do similar things to the VST, like reverse slices and even separate pans for each slice that SaintJoe pointed out is missing in the VST.
Dope review, Thanks!
@Metatron72, yeah man, I really like the interface, even though we get the raw waves I really like how you can mangle stuff in the interface. That’s why I really wished we could edit the slices or move/add/delete them. Maybe next time?
They are definitely on the right track, it’s good to see them recognizing a different style of music making and creating products for that….no one has been doing that until recently so it’s good to see NI acknowledge the needs/wants of beatmakers and samplers who like to slice and chop…and creating tools geared towards that.
Good lord I have to Buy this also Now darn! George is the man!
Met him a Few times. He was or still is Married to my Godmothers Cousin!
@Sim-one, awesome!!! lol.
@Sim-one,
i am trying to order this for my son who is a keyboard musician.
i had a lot of trouble with the website and the order process.
can you help me. what web-site did u use? i’m interested in the
dvd version soulful treasures by geo duke. thanks in advance for your help…..wilsona2887@yahoo.com
@ann wilson, I have the download version direct from the site, if you are having trouble with the order process I suggest you call them up and order the dvd, not sure what the problem would be.
@saintjoe, Native site works great..That is where i found!
@Sim-one, thanks for the reply, not sure what trouble she is having but I’m sure they can fix it for her.
@saintjoe, They have Great Support..Hope all Your new gear is keeping you happy! Sorry about that Flood Brother!
Cheers!
@Sim-one, yes they do, I agree. I’m good man, thanks for the well wishes!
SaintJoe you always on it! Of course I peeped this after my boy told me “NI came out with a new sampler instrument by some guy named George Duke. You ever heard of him?” I could have smacked him..lol I bowed down to Mr. Duke after hearing his live album with Billy Cobham.
I love all of these raw sample libraries. Maschine has some of the illest drum sounds out the box! Are these radio ready, meticulously recorded tools making it too easy for us? Don’t get me wrong, I use my Logic Jam packs. I play on top, chop or twist the audio…Its just a question me and my boy bounced around..
@EDAYE,
Wow a music Lover for sure! i love coming from this sort of Back ground and doing Groove music. Most people only know there history from Sampling.
Sounds like you have been Listening to real Music allot. that is a Blessing for sure. Get Down
@Sim-one, word man! Good stuff for sure!
@EDAYE, yeah man, you know I had to check this one! And yes the Duke is the MAN. As far as the dope tools we have, I don’t think it makes it easy, you still gotta have the mind and idea to use the dope sounds lol. What good are dope drum samples if you can’t make a beat? Feel me?
I’m loving it!
nice SaintJoe
@ramon, thanks for the comment
NI should do more instruments like this one. I like the playable loops idea.
@Mike, yeah man, I’m sure they will.
Hey wahtz Up Saint Joe, it’s your opponent back in the days of the Maschine forum battles of Maschine vs. BPM! I had to respond to this George Duke Instrument! This is the SChlitz! This could be the greatest plug-in WAV package of 2010-2011. I’m positively amazed that these dumb sucking companies could never have figured out that an ACCOMPLISHED RHODES PLAYER + an ACCOMPLISHED ENGINEER would = a UNIQUE and DYNAMIC plug-in. I’ve just loaded the WAV’s into MASCHINE and organized the files by BPM and TYPE like ELECTRIC PIANO, WURLITZER, CLAVINET and GRAND PIANO. Now I can change the slices when I hit the sample button. Add a little LFO MODULATION in MASCHINE and I have a RHODES and FENDER AMP w/ TREMLO! I bet you hear these RHODES LICKS ALL OVER THE RADIO in the next WEEK! No one has to be a muscian anymore! They don’t even have to CRATE DIGG! THink about it YOU HAVE GEORGE DUKE! I’m going to say it again THINK ABOUT IT YOU HAVE GEORGE DUKE! I’m going to say it a third time in case you aren’t feelin’ me YOU HAVE GEORGE DUKE in your MASCHINE! THIS IS SICK! I’m GONNA DIE!
@Mr. MuhSheen, sup man lol, not sure where you get this idea of us being opponents but honestly it’s kinda weird, especially since you bring it up on every site we’re on together lol…just because we don’t agree on some things doesn’t make us opponents, time to let it go, it’s not that serious 🙂
Now about this library, I agree with you man, it’s awesome, and loading the wavs up in Maschine is tons of fun for sure. I really like the interface itself though, so I wish they made the slices more editable in there instead of static slices. Def hope to see more like this for those of us that like to chop and sample, having access to riffs played by accomplished musicians that we like to sample anyway, without any clearance issues = dopeness!!
thanks for the comment yo!
awesome library do you or anyone else remember when George Duke made a song called Dukey stick or when he teamed up with Stanly Clark for the Clark Duke project .
@E-GOLDS, it’s a dope one for sure!
I like where NI’s head is at on this. I will probably pick this up down the road. So many companies are putting some nice stuff out lately its getting harder to decide what I actually “want” not “need” at the moment.
@Madbull Studios, no doubt man, I feel ya!
Nice review man, I have a question. I run Reason 4, and I don’t have Recycle. If I’m understanding you correctly I’ll need a full blown DAW to be able to do anything more than listen to the loops with the Kontakt Player right? I know you said it includes wavs for non Kontakt using people. But I like how N.I. already has all the samples already perfectly chopped. Chopping in Reason 4 is sketchy at best. What would you recommend I buy here? I don’t have a ton of money, but I want this DVD and I want to be able to play with the chops and do more than just listen to them.
@quebert, hmmm, download Reaper, you can buy a license for that for $40 if you want, but the demo is fully functional.
You can also rewire Reason into it.
@quebert,
Hey quebert you may also want to think about upgrading to Reason 5 then you can use Kong for chopping with no problem…You can get the education discount of $69 if you are in school or $129 as the regular upgrade price.
But if you don’t want to spend any money and wish to stick with Reason 4 just use ReDrum…You can chop & trigger the samples then use your midi controller (MPD or Keyboard controller)and still control how samples are played. The manual goes into more details.
@Madbull Studios, word, sounds like he wants to use the kontakt interface though, reaper was the cheapest I could think of.
@saintjoe, If he is on Windows a DAW that he could use that is totally free is LMMS (I never used it but I heard that it can use VSTs)
Website here:
http://lmms.sourceforge.net/
If he is on a MAC I don’t now what to tell him lol
@Madbull Studios, word, forgot about that one lol, I never used either.
Wow Duke is the man, what about the Dukey Stick Stuff…Lol
No Moog or funky Duke bass? Come on now.
I still would buy it though, A man that I admired and followed for years.
Saintjoe you did a nice display of – infomercial of the new
George Duke….Again nice job brotha
Peace & blessings.
@Reggie, no doubt man, thanks for watching
just picked it up today (on sale for half off right now till 11/30/10)
Love it… all very useful stuff and the ease in which it is laid out with the fx that are included… very cool. just thought I would share my thoughts.
@flux302, word bro, thanks for the reply.
Just picked this up in the sale. Man I’m so looking forward to messing around with this bad boy!
Seriously, I’ve alway loved Georges musicianship. Great work. Great review Joe…… Always!
@everythingbutthegirl, yeah yo, that was a good sale they had lol
Yo Jo, what’s good fam? How do I get the wav files. In my library folder I just have NCK, NKR & NKX files. where will the wav files be stored
They used to send them out with the product, maybe they stopped doing that you would have to check with them to be sure.
Is there a way to tell the key signature of the patches/samples?
if you load a tuner or something in your daw while playing the keys, only thing you can do is mess with the root note of the sample in the trigger tab