Studio Essentials

Roland Orchestral II and Special FX Collection JV-Series Expansion Cards

Two more JV-series expander cards have become available, and both have managed to excite me rather more than the Asia card reviewed in the July issue. Orchestral II provides 256 new orchestral patches based on 153 waveforms, and though there's already an orchestral card in the series, this one has a distinctly different flavour. Inevitably, there are various permutations of orchestral strings, but less than a quarter of the available patches are overtly string-based, and they all have a warm, natural character that helps them sit nicely in a mix. All the usual orchestral wind and percussion is also present, again sampled to a very high standard, but it's different enough to the original Orchestral card to be worth having, even if you own the original card.

Less usual is the inclusion of a number of Celtic and ethnic instruments, including Uillean pipe, Celtic fiddle, tin whistles, flutes, bodhrans and all the other accoutrements you might need to create a soundtrack for Titanic II. Add to that African harp, bouzouki, a generous selection of choirs and Enya-esque vocals, and it's obvious this is much more than just another stock orchestra compilation. Even the percussion patches come arranged as an orchestral set and a Celtic set, though it's interesting to note that this eclecticism is at the expense of any piano samples. If you don't have the original orchestral card, Orchestra II is a must, but even if you do, it's still very desirable.

Next into the expansion slot was Special FX Collection, a card produced in conjunction with sample developers Spectrasonics. From what I can tell, most of the patches are based on waveforms from the Distorted Reality CD-ROM and in all, there are 256 patches based on 248 waveforms, as well as three rather wacky percussion sets. The source waveforms include cars starting, along with air pumps and other industrial sounds, but the patches themselves include hauntingly beautiful, evolving pads and textural backdrops that wouldn't disgrace a Wavestation. All this is accomplished by processing the original sounds almost beyond recognition -- something Spectrasonics are very good at -- but no matter how weird the sounds, they always manage to retain an organic element. Not all the patches would sit comfortably in a pop mix, but for ambient or film-score work, they're excellent. There's everything from ambient backdrops and one-finger cues to the sound of a space cruiser complete with subsonic rumblings, but don't expect pianos or string pads! Recommended. Paul White

information

£255 each including VAT. Roland UK +44 (0)1792 515020. +44 (0)1792 799644. www.roland.co.uk

SoundFont Toolbox

If you've got a recent soundcard supporting SoundFonts, such as the Soundblaster Live! or Value models, or the Emu APS, then you can access up to 32Mb of sampled sounds in one 'hit'. Although SoundFonts have come of age as far as quality goes, however, there are still few collections that stray beyond the confines of 4Mb or sometimes 8Mb size -- which is where the SoundFont Toolbox from Sonido Media comes in. Supplied on a single CD-ROM, it contains 500Mb of SoundFonts (with over 5000 individual instruments, although I didn't count these to check the claim!).

Neatly arranged into 40 folders, they comprise Basses, Brass, Drum Kits, Ethnic, Guitars, Harp, Keys, Loops, Orch Hits, Organs, Percussion, Pianos, Sound Effects, Strings, Synths (basses, effects, leads, and pads), Vocals, and Woodwinds. Each folder contains anything between three and a dozen multisampled sounds, along with a further 'Econo' folder containing the same sounds at half the size for fitting into smaller memory banks. Once loaded, each SoundFont normally contains anything up to a couple of dozen 'Instruments' arranged in various programs. These are either programmed differently, or with special effects, to extract the last drop of potential of each sample set, and descriptive names are used to help describe these variations. Most of the drum loops also have tempos indicated in the filename.

The majority of sounds are multisampled instruments, and these are very good, with a typical file size of several megabytes, but there are also sampled instrumental phrases of various types, such as strummed acoustic guitar, and velocity-sensitive sounds such as the Gibson Les Paul Heavy Distortion that leaps into harmonics when struck hard. There is also a folder's worth of Loop Construction Kits with separate sync'ed instumental loops on different keys -- great for instant gratification!

Recording quality was generally very good, and the individual samples that I loaded into Wavelab for further inspection were very clean -- even many of the cymbals had clean loops, which takes some doing! Transitions between multisamples were mostly well done, although close scrutiny did reveal some anomalies: the Epiphone Pick Bass, for instance, had several adjacent multisamples with distinctly different stereo positions that made bass lines jump between the speakers.

Apart from all the other individual sounds on offer, there is also a 'free bonus' of two monster 12Mb and 24Mb GM/GS MIDI soundsets. These did sound very good, especially when used with the supplied orchestral and jazz MIDI files (as you might expect), although it's a tribute to Emu's engineers that the default 8Mb GM set supplied with the above soundcards wasn't that bad by comparison.

Although the advertising stresses the massive General MIDI banks and Loop Construction Sets, overall this collection covers a very diverse range of instruments, and does it rather well. The SoundFont Toolbox won't appeal to anyone who absolutely must have 2000 drum loops or the ultimate guitar library, but should prove ideal for anyone who needs to expand their basic sound library wihout sacrificing quality. Martin Walker

information

£49.95 including VAT. Time & Space +44 (0)1837 55200. +44 (0)1837 55400. Click here to email

The Art Of Mixing

The reduction in the cost of setting up a sophisticated multitrack studio that has taken place over the last few years means that many home recordists are now dealing with quite complex mixes in the comfort of their own spare room. For example, a half-decent computer and a multichannel sound card with a little DSP onboard can provide a full-blown 16-track system, with automation, dynamics processing, multi-band parametric EQ and effects units. One of the most difficult skills to acquire when taking your first steps with this level of setup, is how to combine all this power to create a clean, uncluttered but effective mix. David Gibson's book, as its title suggests, tries to explain how to dojust that.

While all the aspects of what makes a quality piece of music are discussed in the book, the dominant theme is the author's specific approach to 'visualising' a mix. The reader is encouraged to think of their mix as a three-dimensional soundscape, sitting between their monitors. Simple left and right positioning of sounds is supplemented by use of volume (and reverb) to provide 'up front' or distant sounds. The vertical 'depth' of the mix is created by use of EQ to control the frequency response of each instrument, while individual sounds can be given breadth by the use of stereo effects such as chorus. In order to illustrate how these things can be combined in a visual impression of a mix, a large number of diagrams are provided, many in full colour (a simple example is shown on the book's front cover, above).

The Art Of Mixing is split into seven chapters. Starting with an overview of the recording process, the book moves on to explain the basics of 'imaging' your mix, before discussing basic styles of mix for different types of music. Chapters 4 and 5 form the main body of the book and illustrate how EQ and effects can be used to structure a mix. Chapters 6 and 7 conclude the book by trying to put the mixing process into a broader musical context.

The dominant 'visualisation' theme of the book provides an interesting and very useful way to think about the mixing process. I soon found myself thinking in these terms when sitting in front of my own monitors and, by providing the reader with a structured way of analysing the mixes they are trying to create, the book achieves something of what it sets out to do. However, don't buy this book expecting a comprehensive guide to some of the technical aspects of mixing. While there is some useful material included (such as a basic guide to what different frequency bands do to the sounds of both individual instruments and full mixes), the book does not pretend to be a technical manual, so you will still need your copy of SOS with its workshop articles!

For an experienced engineer, the book might provide an interesting bit of light reading. It will be of more obvious use to those who are making their first, tentative foray into the complex world of mixing offered by some of today's 'home' studio equipment. If you are prepared to put up with the sometimes rather wordy style of the text and your mixes sound too busy, too muddy or just plain dull, then The Art Of Mixing might begin to help you on your way. John Walden

information

The Art Of Mixing by David Gibson, £30 including VAT. ISBN 0-918371-17-1. Published by Mix Books, 6400 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA. www.amazon.co.uk

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