ProSamples Platinum Series Virtual Instruments from Zero-G and EastWest
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Adrenaline Screenshot
(Click for a close-up) |
April 23, 2004
ProSamples Platinum Series were developed and designed to replace audio sample CDs by shipping with playback software in the box. The line launches with ten titles, each carrying a retail price of $129.95.
Each title includes special versions of Native Instruments Kompakt or Intakt samplers, which are compatible with both Mac and PC (VST, DXi, ASIO, RTAS, AU, Core Audio, DirectSound) plus brand new sample libraries with an average of over 1 GB of content from sound developers EastWest and Zero-G. Everything is ready to use, right out of the box, and the software includes sound shaping tools and will auto-sync loops to host sequencers.
Current titles are:
Adrenaline (by EastWest) - A cross section of all current musical styles. Load up one of the presets and you'll see each of the loops mapped out onto individual keys in a construction kit format. Experiment with the "beat machine" which syncs each multitrack loop to the host sequencer. "Funkify" your percussion loops with sync delay. For that total "other world" dub experience, up the feedback level untill it self-oscillates.
Afrolatin Slam (by Zero-G) - Over 300 loops and samples, comprising more than 600 megabytes of sounds. All loops have been classified by region, original tempo, and key (if a melodic instrument). For most of the 'studio' loops, a full version of the loop is provided which is then broken down into individual elements or 'construction kits'.
African sounds comes from the Congo, Côte D'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and more, including Afrobeat, Afrofunk, Juju, Afro Latin Fusion, Afrobossa and more. The South American section covers Batucada, Berimbao, Caxixi, Candomblé, Chôro, Forró, Frevo, Makumba, Maracatu, Pandeiro, Salsa, Samba, Carribean soca.
Drumkit from Hell 2 (by EastWest) - Providing heavy, natural drum sounds, Drumkit from Hell 2 combines the bleed between microphones for realism. This title was produced by ToonTrack Music with Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) on a SONAR drumkit. There are 2.4 Gigs and 3,200 files of unprocessed multiple mic "interactive" drum sounds.
Koncept and Funktion (by Zero-G) - This drum & bass production machine was produced by David & Nic Higham in the UK, featuring over 1200 MB of brand new material. There are 40 Construction Kits, plus a selection of driving Beats & Loops, Bass Loops, Liquid Funk Loops, Organ Loops, Pad Loops, Synth Loops, and Loop FX. You'll also find Drum Kit Sounds, Dark FX, Hits FX, Industrial FX, Noise FX, Space FX, Sweep FX, Pads, Pad Sweeps, Female Vocals, Spoken Vocals, and Vocal FX.
Nu Jointz (by Zero-G) - A selection of construction kits and hundreds of new loops including fuzz bass, acoustic bass, stank piano, "frequency" loops, "old recordz", "lounge recordz", intros & breaks, individual drum samples, skank guitar licks, funky trombone licks, muted trumpet licks, and "Bass In Da' Room Next Door" (just what it sounds like) plus lots more. There's over a GB of content in total.
Percussive Adventures 2 LE (by EastWest) - The sequel to Percussive Adventures 1 makes much deeper use of construction layers. Produced by Tony Humecke and Kurt Wortman.
Quantum Leap Stormbreakz (by EastWest) - This volume features 2 of the 6 categories of loops included in Stormdrum - Big Beats and Fastbreaks. Big Beats is mid tempo with a bad attitude, and Fastbreaks is fast, furious and frequently wicked. Stormbreakz also includes additional loops from the Film Tech category of Stormdrum and multi-sampled electronic drumkits and tech hits, made from processing live drum sounds. All of the loops are based on 'live drum breaks', not drum machines. Additional mixes are processed with analog filters, neural technology, analog distortion and dozens of plug-ins.
The Operating Table (by Zero-G) - This groove instrument features a library of breaks performed by one of four featured drummers (Emre Ramazanoglu or Dave Westlake, with contributions from Jack Yglesias and Steve Ashmore). The recordings were made in London at Metropolis, Padded Cell, Walworth Cage, Triangle, and Line of Flight.
Vapor (by EastWest) -
The synth sounds in Vapor vary from instruments to noise beds, but stick with the theme of technology and futurism. Vapor is an "idea tool" to add some flavor to any track. All waveforms are "original material", and not some "knocked off" samples from the latest keyboard to hit the stores. Various methods such as vocoding, phase vocoding, granular synthesis, convolution, waveshaping, spectral resynthesis, and other traditional synthesis methods were employed to create the Vapor waveset.
There are over 2 Gigabytes of samples here.
Wired: The Elements of Trance (by Zero-G) - Although subtitled "Elements of Trance", the sounds in this dance production factory will work in a variety of classic dance genres. Many loops are also usable for other genres like chemical, techno, house etc. With the included software, you can alter the tempo without getting time shift grungies, and you can pitch-shift or apply filtering or FX to individual slices of loops, which is great for making a synth bass line match the tonality of an existing tune.
For more information, visit EastWest at www.soundsonline.com and Zero-G at www.zero-g.co.uk. |
