Hook City: RnB Edition from VIP Loops has come in at number one in our loops ranking for the month of September. With 15 one of a kind multi-track construction loop sets that all include vocal hooks, this is a must have for hip hop, R&B and pop producers. Ambient Skyline, Detroit Soul, G-Strings and R&B Swagga all maintained spots in the top ten, as well as Xtended Series titles Classic Rock and Electri-Fried Blues.
Electri6ity reclaimed the number one instrument spot with Cinesample’s new Voxos: Epic Virtual Choirs coming in second after shipping for only part of the month. These are two great instruments that will surely be battling it out for the top spot for the month of October.
Big Fish Audio announces its new Textured Series. From the makers of the Xtended Series, the Textured Series is a compilation of sonic layers that embody emotional elements of realism and fantasy, fused to create tracks so full of life you’ll be able to feel the soul of the music as it comes alive. This series knows no musical boundaries and enhances all musical genres its placed with. So whether you’re needing a few rhythms and textures to add dimension to your existing tracks or want that one of a kind melodic hook that can jump start the creative juices the Textured Series always has you covered.
The first products in the incredible new series include Modern Rock, Mariachi, Pop & Soul Guitars and Quirky Guitars.
Modern Rock is a massive 8 GB collection with the sound of groups like Paramore, 30 Seconds to Mars, Death Cab for Cutie, Fall Out Boy,The Black Keys, Muse, and My Chemical Romance. This library allows you to harness the creative essence of the electric guitar and bass backed by the raw emotional power of roaring amplifiers.
Mariachi embraces the swagger and sway of Mexican Mariachi music. Spice up your tracks with Son Jaliscience, Ranchera, Huapango, Jarabe and other traditional and modern rhythms of Mexico that will have you screaming ¡Que Viva el Mariachi! Seamlessly weave the spirit of Mexico into your track with the raw sounds of the Gritos vocals, the melodious Coro vocals, the low call of the Guitarron, the impetuous chords strummed from the Vihuela and Guitar, and no mariachi would be complete without the spicy, soaring melodies coming from the Violins and Trumpets.
Amplify your soul with this exhaustive collection of R&B, Soul and Pop Guitar Loops. This massive 8 GB collection is a tribute to the raw emotion that fuels the creative forces of artists like Usher, Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Justin Timberlake, The Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, Pink, and Beyonce. This library contains 25 Kits jammed full of the hottest electric, acoustic and nylon guitar loops available. Each and every kit contains four different song sections (Verse, Chorus, Bridge/Breakdown and Outro) to build and infuse your tracks with. These authentic live-played guitar loops will add a combination of power and smoothness that will make your tracks stand out.
Quirky Guitar is an extensive collection that focuses on Melodies, Rhythms and Textures through the instruments of the acoustic guitar (hi-strung, de-tuned, natural) banjo, mandolin, vintage electric guitars, glockenspiel, bells, music boxes, old synths, organs and others secret ingredients that create a masterful feast fit for any creative genius. Step through the looking glass and enter a musical world of upside down and inside out with these fresh new sounds!
It’s time for the production department pick of the month. Every month I scour our catalog to highlight a few products that I think truly exemplify quality libraries that our customers will want to hear about. This month I want to bring your attention to two hip hop libraries that focus on the trending Dirty South style.
First off let’s look at Kings of the South: Dirty Crunk Kits. This particular product has been at the top of the Big Fish Audio top sellers for a number of months now. This product nails the sound to a “T” with loads of 808’s, saw synth leads, massive horns, vocal BGV’s, and everything else that is Dirty South. The hooks are catchy and the sounds are well crafted, making it a breeze to construct your own Dirty South hit.
Our second product we will look at is Off the Hook Dirty South 2. If you are familiar with the “Off the Hook” series then you would already know this product is going to contain top quality loop content with excellent production quality. Volume 1 was a complete smash hit and volume 2 has raised the bar to a whole new level. There are 41 construction kits and from top to bottom you’ll find a ton of high quality Dirty South loops and sounds that will keep you rockin for a long time.
The nominees for the Sound On Sound 25th Anniversary Awards are in! And Studio Guitars: The Michael Ripoll Project and Cinematic Percussion have both been nominated in the Best Sound Library category. Readers will decide who will get the coveted top slot in each of the major product-group categories. Voting will take place through the end of November, with the results being announced in time for the Winter NAMM Show this January in Anaheim, CA. Click here to vote for these two Big Fish Audio favorites!
Vote here:
It’s not often that a product comes along with groundbreaking sounds. Read what MusicTech Magazine has to say about Violence and why they gave it 9/10 stars and their MusicTech Innovation Award.
MusicTech Magazine – October 2010
Back in the 40s and 50s, American composer John Cage pioneered many techniques that would go on to influence much of the sound design and sample-based instruments we use today. One of Cage’s famous creations was the prepared piano, which had various objects placed on its strings to create strange new sounds. This unorthodox approach has been applied to the violin in Vir2’s new virtual instrument, Violence.
The instrument is available as an 800MB download that expands to 1.5GB of content and runs in VST, AU and RTAS formats. Powered by the seemingly unstoppable Kontakt engine, each of the 82 instruments features a custom set of scripted knobs and controls and have been divided into four categories: Drum Kits, Melodic, Pads and Sound Effects, and Tempo-Synced. Each folder has a full range of sounds, from natural and organic to weird and electronic as the violin is bowed, scraped, hit, plucked and played with guitar picks, chopsticks, mallets and wet fingers. The quality and depth of the sounds on offer is truly excellent and represents a masterclass in Kontakt programming, layering and sound manipulation.
The drum kits contain an array of acoustic-sounding glitches, taps and scrapes that would be perfect for electronica producers. Likewise, the highly atmospheric Melodic, Pads and SFX sections would be ideal for deep musical styles and sound-design duties.
Finally, there’s a collection of tempo-sync’ed grooves that although highly original may need a bit of tweaking to fit into a track. Despite the high quality of the audio, the clever use of looping and very short samples means that most of the patches load less than 10MB into memory.
The sounds on offer here may not be to everyone’s taste, but if you’re after some original timbres, Violence is well worth a look.
A beautifully crafted and highly original mix of organic, acoustic and mangled digital sounds. – MusicTech Magazine
One of the most trusted voices in the industry, Craig Anderton of EQ Magazine takes a look at Electri6ity. Read what he has to say and why he thinks Electri6ity has the “wow” factor.
EQ Magazine – October 2010
Electri6ity is an ambitious, complex virtual instrument/sound library that takes playing guitar on keyboards to new levels. Like other Vir2 products it’s based on the Kontakt Player, but this one pushes Kontakt 4 further than I’ve seen before-especially in terms of scripting. (Kontakt allows custom scripts that process incoming data; a simple example is assigning successive string notes to alternate between up and down strum directions.)
Vir2 gets around the “sample dry or processed?” dilemma by doing clean samples of the eight guitars (Les Paul, Les Paul P90, Strat, Tele, 335, L4, Danelectro Lipstick, and Rickenbacker, all with over 24,000 samples per guitar). With “Amped” versions, the Player provides some effects a la Guitar Rig; or load “DI” versions and use other amp sims, or send the out to a physical guitar amp. There’s 27GB of samples, so Vir2 recommends 4GB RAM-but go for more if you’re running a 64-bit operating system.
You’ll need an 88-note keyboard to access all keyswitching and articulations. You could use a smaller keyboard, as you can simply ignore the built-in articulations. Then again, you could drive a Porsche without getting out of second gear, but you wouldn’t want to.
The Systems setting page alone is mind-boggling: Set characteristics for individual strings, like velocity and volume, as well as body resonance and 4,544 other parameters (okay, it’s not really that many, but it seems like it sometimes). Thankfully, someone obviously spent a lot of time on presets, so what you load is ready to go. But, being able to change the sound with this level of detail means Electri6ity isn’t just for keyboard players. Even though my primary instrument is guitar, Electri6ity isn’t irrelevant because I can create “impossible” guitar parts that nonetheless sound like guitar.
A Performance page is where you change parameters like which pickup you’re using, the guitar’s tone control, pick position (closer to the neck or bridge), pick direction (up, down, or alternate), how morphing is controlled, and much more. A real-time Fretboard page shows notes being plucked and mapped (with artificial intelligence to map notes in a “guitaristic” way, although you can turn this off); with Amped presets, an additional page offers effects.
This is a remarkable virtual instrument, and yes, the manual does need all 54 pages. You can just load presets and go, or get lost in an amazing level of detail. This is an instrument with a serious “wow” factor. Wow. – Craig Anderton