THE BEST EVER cm COLLECTION!
It’s our best ever sample giveaway, with the DVD full of 21 of the greatest sample collections ever! Get them on the DVD or download from File Silo (see p95)
A DVD full of free samples to celebrate 21 years of Computer Music
01 80s HEAT
Let us take you back to a time when ‘computer music’ meant a pricey Fairlight; when MIDI was a newborn, starry-eyed protocol; and when an Atari ST running Steinberg Pro-24 was the pinnacle of a sequencing setup.
And it was a decade of musical upheaval, of course. New digital tools like the PPG Wave and Yamaha’s DX7 were at the forefront of technology, and musicians were ready to exploit their bold, never-before-heard tones.
And exploit them they did. Although their zealous use of brash timbres is often looked down on, it marks the decade out as a beacon on the musical landscape. So what better way to pay tribute to the 80s than a free sample pack dedicated to the era?
“All the guitar samples were played on our spiky BC Rich Warlock, in order to use its highgain pickups (and throw shapes),” says Oli from Groove Criminals of this collection. “We used a variety of 80s distortion pedals (both good and bad) as well as some boutique clones. We’ve deliberately left the powerchords raw so you can add your own preferred processing.
“The synth sounds were straight out of the Juno-60 for analogue phatness, and from the DX100 and FB-01 for cold FM bells and pianos. Our Moog also features in this month’s pack. This and the other keys are great for layering.
“The Boss CE-300 rack-mounted Super Chorus was great for adding some 80s modulation to everything, and that big, trademark 80s reverb came from a multitude of sources – both software and hardware.”
02 ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS
This meticulously recorded collection of acoustic guitar sounds includes the lush tones of the Takamine EAN45CX six-string acoustic, the Yamaha FG412-12 12-string acoustic and the Terada six-string (nylon) classical guitar. The samples were recorded using Calrec CM654D SD condenser mics and a Chameleon Labs TS-2 valve LD condenser mic.
03 BOMB FACTORY
Take cover people! Hard-hitting booms, smashes and blasts are in this month’s explosive collection of samples, brought to you by defusal experts Cyclick samples. Pepper your productions with these impactful effects straight off the shelf, or use the sounds as raw material for your bombastic sound-design adventures.
04 CARNIVAL
It’s time to take to the streets in search of red hot beats. As you do. This collection takes its inspiration from carnivals the world over, from the pumping sounds of soca and dancehall to the rhythmic euphoria of the Brazilian batteria.
Drawing on their huge arsenal of percussion instruments, Cyclick have outdone themselves this time, with 12 patches encompassing hundreds of percussion samples. You’ll find everything you need to create your own infectious rhythms. If that’s not enough, you’ll also find more than 200 ready-to-go rhythmic loops, ranging from 110 to 160bpm.
CITY NIGHTS
The Computer Music team may not be the coolest [ eh? Ed], but not a day passes by that we don’t collectively fantasise about becoming inner city street hustlers. To help sate our desire for a life of urban grit and glamour, we asked Oli from Groove Criminals to come up with a collection of sounds inspired by gangster movies, cop shows and crime-based video games. From sensual sax licks to head-nodding beats, City Nights has all the samples you need to make awesome music right now.
Oli says: “The beats and their drum kits were created using a mixture of hardware, software and samples, taken from our pretty hefty store of live and programmed hits and loops.
The Chase and Uptown beats all have a live feel and use real drum hits and percussion, while the Downtown and Vice beats are more synthetic and programmed. We wanted the Vice beats to have that authentic 80s digital sound, so we rinsed our drum machine collection for hits. The 505, DMX and Yamaha RX11 all got used, as well as some E-MU Drumulator and LinnDrum samples.”
DUSTY FUNK
It’s time to get down with this exclusive funk sample pack! Created by our in-house funk purveyors, Cyclick, these toetappin’ loops, licks, hooks, drum beats and one-shot samples are primed and ready to supply your productions with a much-needed dose of funk, soul and groove.
DYSTOPIAN DRONES
An array of menacing sustained sounds await in this exclusive sample pack. Whether you’re setting the scene with some dark atmospherics, mangling them to create evolving pads, or turning them into something entirely different, these dark-n-dirty drone samples are the perfect source material. Created by samplesmiths Cyclick.
TRIBAL ADVENTURES
This sample pack from Cyclick will provide you with endless percussive inspiration. It’s stuffed with traditional congas, bongos, hand/log drums, gongs, shakers, marching perc, marimbas and more; and you also get synthesised tribal loops and construction kits.
JAZZ CLUB
These Cyclick beats come in two varieties – straight and processed – with the acoustic kits used to program them presented as velocity-layered CMplay patches. The instrumental loops share chordal and modal patterns, which means they can be chopped and changed easily. 3 drum kits
384 drum loops 17 guitar loops 17 bass loops 48 keys loops
CRATE DIGGERS’ DELITE
For a true sample collector, nothing beats the feeling of crate digging, hunting down a dusty record shop, wiping off an old, forgotten record, dropping the needle onto it and hearing a crackly old sound that could be the basis for a whole track.
Here’s the first of two collections boasting a crate-digging flavour with some ready-made vintage-flavoured loops and hits.
Robbie Stamp of Cyclick says: “This is a collection of bass, guitar, drum, percussion, synth, keyboard and orchestral loops given a sampled vinyl feel. The vinyl crackling and pops are real, taken off the gaps, lead-ins and run-outs of 7- and 12-inch records (33 and 45 rpm), also included in the collection as loops.”
“The vinyl noise was used as a sidechain to a fast compressor strapped across the instrumental loop so that any pops and noise transients caused a minor dropout in the audio, just like on a real record.”
CRATE DIGGERS’ RELITE
The second of our crate-digging collection comes from Oli Bell of Groove Criminals, a dusty, crate-digging connoisseur, expertly trained in the art of making things sound sampled.
“All the vinyl noise, crackle and tape noise was taken directly from our TEAC reel-to-reel or
the beginning grooves of a stack of old charity shop records (our own crates of vinyl are slightly better looked-after). We spent some time getting a good mix of really loud dirt and crackles as well as some more subtle vinyl flavour to layer behind beats, loops or whatever. Try using a high-pass filter over the crackle to reduce any hum or low end if it gets in the way.
“All the breaks and percussion loops are either programmed, played or taken from our own stash of drum sessions (occasionally a bit of all three). Dirt, crackle, stabs etc were all added during the process, and we’ve made the decision to make sure they had bags of dusty, grimy character.
“Other stuff of note includes our 1969 Hammond drawbar organ on the organ stabs, a few hits taken from some very uncool 80s drum machines and the vinyl snippets; some were faked and others heavily processed samples from some unloved wax.”
HORRORSCAPES
A very spooky selection of grisly FX and terrifying tones from Oli at
Groove Criminals…
“For the synth multisamples and loops, we tried to keep John Carpenter’s warm synth soundtracks in mind, using a mix of hardware and software synths to sculpt something truly monstrous. We also sneaked in a few samples from an 80s Yamaha FB-01 FM module that had just arrived.
“The DIY-processed FX came from a couple of tins we knocked up, both containing a soldered contact piezo transducer. One we soldered different lengths/gauges of bass guitar strings to, and the other has a section of slinky spring and the chime coil from a clock attached. These rather rudimental instruments were then stroked, struck, scraped and plucked before being sent through outboard reverb and delays.
“The SFX were all created at GCHQ after a long recording session of vegetable and fruit abuse. Cabbages, melons, oranges, carrots and celery were stabbed, gouged, slashed, ripped and destroyed in the name of Foley. These raw sounds (which we’ve included for you to muck about with) were then processed and layered to make some rather disgusting-sounding horror.”
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
“I love working in the studio,” says Robbie from Cyclick, who put this collection together, “but sometimes you’ve got to get out there and see the world. Of course, it turns into an excuse to record more material, as there’s just so much to capture. Whether it’s for soundtrack work, music using found sounds, or just gathering good ol’ effects fodder, there’s no reason not to hit record when you hear an interesting sound, especially now that we all carry half-decent recorders in our pockets with more storage capacity than my first DAW system (by a factor of 20)!
“These sounds have been selected to complement an outdoor living, camping kind of theme. The raw materials come from three distinct sources. The first was a trip to a glacier in Switzerland in 1998, where I took a Sony MiniDisc Walkman, a 10-metre mic cable and an AKG C1000 – rockfalls, icy streams, and of course the caves inside the glacier ‘Moulins’.
“The second trip saw me equipped with the Tascam HD-P2 portable recorder, a trusty Calrec C1050 condenser mic and a hydrophone (a discshaped underwater mic) recording various streams, rivers, canals and beaches, though the raw forms have been used here as the soundtrack was a pretty abstracted affair.
“Lastly, the birds and camping sounds, as well as some footsteps and ambiences, come from recordings done on my iPhone while camping on a farm in Herefordshire and walking about my garden at 3am last autumn (it was for a rhythm track for a song about being alone in the forest – a pop classic!)
“The raw materials were put through a series of manipulations, from pitching and stretching to full-on noise reduction. For the latter work, iZotope’s RX software was heavily relied upon, as it’s about as powerful a system for this kind of work as you can get. As well as the main Denoiser, the Dialogue Denoiser (which works great on dialogue as well as many other sources and is very quick to set up) and various iterations of the Declicker/Decrackler. Working with a spectrograph display makes such work far easier as it ends up working a lot like Photoshop, lassoing individual sounds and pulling them up or deleting them altogether. All the samples have also been edited to loop without clipping.”
RISE OF THE ROBOTS
A collection of amazing androidinspired samples, which channels the sounds of classic sci-fi, robotic krautrock and 80s electro. Oli from Groove Criminals says: “The Robo Beats and drum loops were made by running the drums from both soft and hardware drum machines through filters, ring modulation and vocoders – anything to add that metallic, robotic vibe to the loops. The vocal samples were created using an Electro-Harmonix V256 hardware vocoder. We used the internal synth or fed in an external hardware synth, depending on the sound we wanted. The lo-fi robot phrases were created using AnalogX SayIt, which emulates that 8-bit vocal style so well.
“To mix up the theme a little, we dipped into our collection of circuit-bent toys and dragged out some glitched audio madness from both a Texas Instruments Speak&Math and a Coleco Talking Teacher.”
LAYERING KIT
Layering can be a great way to come up with powerful, interesting and unique sounds. For instance, you might combine the hard-hitting attack from one kick, the full-bodied sustain from another, and the ambient tail of a third, arriving at something that’s the perfect fit for the mix you’re working on.
Well, it’s not always that easy to do. Layering can mean painstaking editing, potential clashes or frequency cancellations, and a lot of trial and error. An ill-advised adventure into layering territory can leave your mix parched, weak at the knees, and covered in mud!
But that’s where this free sample pack comes in. Our sample expert this time around certainly knows ‘the layer the land’ like the backs of their hands, and we’ve commissioned him to put together an utility box full of WAV samples that’ll be perfect fodder for combining into even more superior sounds. The result is Layering Toolkit, and to help you get the most out of this superb sonic resource, we turn to sampling stalwarts Cyclick.
Robbie Stamp says: “This collection is awash with a host of filtered, smashed up, dirty, and occasionally lush layer elements for adding depth, character and a bit of ear candy to other sounds. These are mostly loops, so they can be set off on a parallel channel and mixed in to create a constant noise element. Many of these samples are dominating on their own (they make great standalone atmospheric and abstract elements crying out for delay, reverb and some filter sweeps).”
Robbie explains how each folder of samples was constructed. “Browse through the Raw A folder for a set of effects pedal background noises, recorded without any audio input and sent through a gain chain of stompboxes, then via a WEM Copicat into an outboard EQ. Raw B sees the samples sent through the LEM Baby mixer, fed back on itself, and Raw C has some heavy delay, EQ and noise added.
“GuitarNoiseA, B and C feature guitar feedback manipulated through pedals and three amps (recorded together and mixed through a stereo group channel) – PedalAmpNoise is the same but without the guitar!
“SynthDirt was made out of several noise generator and sample/hold sources from the Arturia ARP2600V fed through a plugin chain heavy on tape emulation and filtering. Taped consists of some cuttings from a Tascam reel-toreel, while the TapeNoise samples pipe synth noise into an ATR102 tape emulation with lots of tape distortion and processing. TapeFilterVinyl does similar stuff to vinyl samples!
“The GuitarTapeManip samples are guitar noises loaded into Kontakt and processed at various pitches through tape emulations, EQs, filters and compression to create thick, soupy atmospheric layers, while OutdoorTapeRuin sends outdoor recordings through the very same chains.”
Robbie’s also got some advice that’ll make stacking these sounds a mere trifle.
“First off, I advise having a low- or high-pass filter ready to work them into a more background role – maybe just a heavy dose of EQ cut to carve out the space where your foreground sound will sit.
“A great way to get a dirt layer to sit with its new partner is to compress them together, and then use either the dirt or the main sound as the sidechain/key input for the compressor alone – this way one will push and pull the other about, much as tape dropouts and vinyl scratches dip the program material. The best advice is to get heavy-handed with it and really jam them together – a bit of distortion strapped across a group bus works wonders.”
LOVESEXMUSIC
Cyclick present some exclusive lovedup construction kits for when you need to set the mood in a hurry. Sensuous bass guitars, lilting electric pianos and soaring strings are all on offer along with tons of other sounds, many of which are offered in multisample format for your composing pleasure.
ORCHESTRAL TENSION
With this megapack of Cyclick sounds, you’ll get orchestral swells, tremoring strings, staccato stabs, brassy hits and loads more. Whether you’re laying down a bed of nailbiting atmosphere, thickening up chords, or just bringing some human emotion into your latest project, there’s something for everyone.
PERCUSSION COLLECTION
This collection covers lots of different percussion sounds to give your drum parts an extra edge. The collection from Cyclick comprises 38 multisample percussion instruments plus 200 loops made with these tools. The sound sources used include shakers, maracas, a conga, bongos, tambourines, cowbells, a giro, cajóns, a djembe, finger snaps, claps and a host of other unusual percussive sources plus a selection of synthesised and processed percussion sounds.
We asked Cyclick’s Robbie how he managed to come up with such a varied collection of percussion sounds. “Whenever I record a new instrument, even a lowly egg shaker, I will (if time allows) run off a quick set of hits so it can be used as a sample set later. Sometimes it can really help out with a bit of corrective editing after the session has been packed away.”
RADIOSONIC CONCRETE
This pack is inspired by the experimental sounds of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – will take you back to a presynthesiser era of tape splicing, signal generator tones and radio static. Aside from one-shots and loops, there are also multisampled patches to give your modern productions those instant nostalgic vibes.
You’ll find lots of sonic oddities in the Groove Criminals collection. The Tape Delay folder, for example, contains 44 lo-fi tape loops that warp and bend in pitch, while the Radio Signals folder is full of analogue-processed white noise and radio static reminiscent of primitive sci-fi soundtracks
UNDERCOVER
The modern studio is a web of intrigue, with state-of-the-art gadgetry, last-second solutions to sticky audio situations, and wise-cracking error messages. Of course, the majority of Computer Music readers are already well versed in hand-to-hand combat, full-throttle car chases and the art of juggling multiple femme/homme fatales, so it’s about time we provided you with a pack of samples to express your true identity.
Cunningly enclosed within this exclusive collection are hits, chords, loops, swells, stings, movie-scene stems, and even some vintage instrument hits and riffs for that authentic coldwar mood.
“We’ve kept the focus on complex chord voicings, jazzy rhythm sections, brass swells, vibraphones, and many other dark and smoky elements,” says Robbie from Cyclick.
WESTERN WORLD
We’ve got a truly wild collection of samples for you here with this spaghetti Western-inspired selection!
Oli from Groove Criminals managed to drag himself out of the saloon just long enough to round up this spaghetti-soaked set.
“All the guitar was played on a G&L ASAT semi-hollow-bodied electric guitar and processed via a string of stompboxes (overdrive/distortion/delay/trem/reverb) both vintage and modern.
“For percussive duties, we used plenty of big deep bass drum, kettle drums and timpani sounds that were paired with higher samples like castanets, clave and güiro. All the samples came from our extensive drum hits library and were often drenched in spring reverb courtesy of our Great British Reverb hardware unit.
“The Western themes and dramatic stings were created using a mixture of live instruments and samples. Nothing was left too clean (in fact, we added a fair amount of dirt), to replicate those grimy spaghetti Western soundtracks.
“The jaw harp was recorded live and then processed using plugins to warp it whilst the piano samples were also heavily processed to get a ‘prepared/destroyed piano’-style vibe.”