Project SAM Lineage Percussion

A striking new sample collection brings SAM’s orchestral percussion bang up to date.

Stalwarts of the cinematic sampling scene since 2001, Project SAM enjoy a well‑deserved reputation among orchestral sample users. The Utrecht company’s enduring popularity stems from its brass and big band libraries, the long‑running Symphobia series and two powerful True Strike percussion collections released in 2003 and 2006 respectively, both of which were successfully moved to the Kontakt platform in 2021.

While True Strike 1’s musical content is still highly rated, its creators felt it was time to move on. Company co‑founder Vincent Beijer explains: “We wanted to redo True Strike for a long time. True Strike 1 was recorded after our SAM Horns, Trombones, Trumpets and Solo Sessions back in 2003. After our endeavours recording orchestras and big bands in the Symphobia and Swing! Series, we felt like going back to orchestral percussion and applying our knowledge and experience to a new take on True Strike. Lineage Percussion marks the start of a new era of instruments from Project SAM.”

SAM’s new baby was recorded at the Broadcasting Music Centre, Hilversum, the same concert hall used to record the Symphobia libraries. Though adopting a broadly similar approach to True Strike 1, Lineage Percussion (henceforth LP for short) is a much larger, all‑new library with an expanded instrumentation consisting of 70 individual instruments, 10 sets (combinations of instruments from the same family) and 14 kits that combine a variety of instruments. Also included are two kit builders you can use to build your own instrument ensembles.

Rather than clogging up users’ hard drives with dozens of listening perspectives, the samples were captured from conventional close, stage and far microphone positions with an additional stereo mix created by the production team. When selected, this ‘premixed’ channel temporarily deactivates the other mikings, enabling you to conserve RAM — a sensible compromise would be to use the premixed audio while programming, then switch to the three live mic positions to fine‑tune your final mix.

The library is available in two versions: Lineage Percussion Pro (51GB installed) contains 70 instruments, while the 8.3GB Lineage Percussion Core offers 45 essential instruments, fewer articulations and a single premixed mic position. It also omits the kit builders, but it costs a lot less and the sound quality is identical! Both versions run exclusively on Kontakt and Kontakt Player version 6.6 and up.

Presentation

It’s funny (and mildly horrifying) to recall that the original version of True Strike 1 ran on Nemesys Gigastudio, a ghastly piece of software which nevertheless heralded a new age of unlimited sample disk streaming. Today’s sample players offer facilities undreamt of in the Giga era, and SAM have taken full advantage with LP’s newly designed Kontakt engine.

The XY Stage, a 360‑degree virtual performance space which allows you to quickly alter the panning and miking perspective of up to 15 instruments.

Owners of the Pro version can set up mixes on the XY Stage grid, a 360‑degree virtual performance space which allows you to alter the instruments’ panning and miking perspective: move an instrument horizontally to pan it left or right, or vertically to make it sound closer or more distant. The Kit Builder patch accommodates up to 15 instruments, each with its own mix settings. The premixed mic position is used by default, but if you prefer you can select the ‘Custom Mix’ tab and adjust the close, stage and far microphone balance. You can also use the built‑in convolution reverb to add an epic, cathedral‑like ambience to the global instrument mix.

First introduced in Symphobia 4: Pandora (reviewed in SOS in June 2020), SAM’s Adaptive Sync feature intelligently time‑stretches crescendo rolls and swells so that their climax occurs on an upcoming hit point (surprisingly difficult to do manually). It has four sync modes: Sync to Downbeat calculates the amount of time left until the next bar, Sync to Beats stretches the crescendo over a specific number of beats, while Sync to Seconds sets the crescendo length in milliseconds and is not tempo‑dependent. Sync Off bypasses the time‑stretching and lets you choose one of the five original recorded crescendo lengths.

Last but not least in this parade of technological wonders is the Note Stacker, a thoroughly entertaining pitched‑instrument tool which allows you to play custom chords with a single key press. You stack up notes by clicking on intervals above the root note of C in an on‑screen display, thus creating a chord which can be played with one finger at any pitch you desire. I found playing the chorus melody of Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ on parallel atonal chords to be a gratifying musical experience, but SOS readers will no doubt dream up saner uses.

Lineage Percussion’s Performance view shows the instrument’s microphone mix, articulation/mallet switches, sample mapping keyboard, amplitude envelope and effects controls.

Tuned Percussion

All instruments in LP were performed by Eddy Koopman, percussionist of the brilliant Metropole Orchestra. Bowing to Mr Koopman’s experience, SAM’s recording team closely followed his advice on how many dynamic layers to incorporate in the instruments: the snares have 10, the timpani seven and the marimba’s straight hits use six. The same instruments have respectively 10, six and eight round robin variations. This depth of sampling gives the library a vastly more dynamic and organic sonic character than its True Strike predecessor.

Running the gamut from walloping fortissimo hits to ominous quiet strokes, LP’s timpani epitomise epic orchestral drama. Their dramatic crescendo rolls work like a dream with the Adaptive Sync feature, while their distinctly non‑classical effects comprise scary low groans, comedy pitch‑bends and spooktacular metallic noises made by (I think) playing an upside‑down cymbal laid on the timpani skin. The set of four Adams timps were played in a choice of hard and soft mallets and collectively span two octaves.

Turning to the melodic instruments, the marimba is a star turn. Played with medium mallets and chromatically sampled over a F2‑C7 range, its straight hits and mod‑wheel‑controlled rolls sound great from all three mic positions, and its sweetly incisive attack and rich, resonant sustain are a delight. Joining the marimba in my favourites folder is the xylophone, whose timbre ranges from delicately melodious to bright and piercing without ever sounding brittle. The celeste is similarly ear‑catching — I found it helpful to shorten its release trails and turn up the close mic, which helps to bring out this ethereal, sparkling keyboard’s bell‑like attack.

For further heavenly high‑pitched chimes I can recommend LP’s excellent glockenspiel (which contributes some lovely silvery glissandos) and two sets of crotales, tuned mini‑cymbals which offer an unearthly, practically supersonic bowed variant. On a more ritualistic note, the resonant peal of tubular bells adds a touch of solemn ceremony or joyful celebration, depending on the occasion.

LP’s three‑octave Musser vibraphone is another great instrument. SAM did a good job simulating its characteristic wafting vibrato effect, but as in True Strike 1, you have to choose between short damped notes and a ‘let ring’ mode where all samples ring on after key‑off, making regular pianistic playing impossible. While this mirrors the instrument’s real‑life behaviour, I’m sure keyboardists would welcome the option of a standard, playable long‑note vibraphone patch, as found on every keyboard workstation under the sun.

Drums, Cymbals & Gongs

For this project percussionist Eddy Koopman brought in three snare drums of different sizes, two played with sticks and the third with brushes. All were recorded with their snares on and off following an identical artic menu of straight hits, flams, rim clicks, open and closed rolls, crescendo rolls, side hits and stick hits. I liked the deep, open sound of Snare 2 for orchestral work, and for any piece requiring quiet brushed drums I’d choose Snare 3’s close miking for maximum intimacy. If you’re engaged in scoring epic film music, I’d recommend the big, combative sound of the three‑player Snare Ensemble 1.

Two classic 32‑inch ‘gran cassa’ bass drums deliver hefty resonant thumps, dampened hits, tension‑building mod‑wheel‑controlled tremolos and great rumbling crescendo rolls. Gran Cassa 1 is the more grandiose‑sounding and powerful of the pair, while its partner offers a choice of hard and wooden mallets. There are no taikos, surdos or djembes in this library, but a set of four Tama toms in 10‑, 12‑, 14‑ and 16‑inch sizes sound suitably thunderous when you play them loud. Played with sticks and soft mallets, the toms were sampled at seven dynamics.

When the banging and crashing dies away you might fancy LP’s four rototoms for lighter, more detailed passages. Though not classed as tuned percussion, two of the drums have an attractive clear pitch which adds a dash of melody to fills. Completing the drums collection are pairs of bongos, congas and timbales, each offering a range of lively artics guaranteed to get you in touch with your inner Brazilian.

Buyers of LP’s Pro version will find themselves the proud owner of two pairs of Meinl Symphonic piatti crash cymbals and suspended cymbals, all made in Turkey from bronze alloy in 18‑ and 20‑inch sizes. Piatti 1 (which I assume is the 20‑inch model) gets my vote for a jubilant handheld cymbal crash to accompany a massive bass drum hit, while the seven‑dynamic suspended cymbal performances cover everything from jazzy brush ride cymbal parts to loud rock‑style crashes played with drumsticks or mallets. Adding exotic drama, a large 28‑inch tam tam gong and a smaller 18‑inch model perform rousing hits, tempo‑sync’ed crescendo rolls and eerie bowed effects.

Wood, Metals & Sundries

A large assortment of small instruments cover most orchestral percussion needs. Granted there are no Japanese singing bowls nor Peking Opera gongs, but then this isn’t that kind of library. Commonplace items like temple blocks, wood blocks and castanets sound very pleasant in the reverberant hall acoustic; the ambience also suits the cricket, an odd little handheld item which emits a high‑pitched resonant click reminiscent of claves.

If you want More Cowbell (Google it) there are four of them, but LP’s triangle would seem a better bet for light Latin grooves, with shimmering mark tree glissandos available for adding a bit of ear candy. The cabasa, egg shaker and small kashishi (aka caxixi) basket shaker also work well for programming quiet rhythm parts, and if you want to up the volume and rock out with some tambourine loops, the jingling ‘beatring’ headless tambourine will do the business.

Those who buy the LP Core version won’t get the library’s pair of anvils, but that’s no biggie: instead of the explosive industrial clangs you might expect, these two give out a rather unprepossessing clink. The Core version also omits the finger snaps and ensemble hand claps, which would be more of a miss. On a seasonal note, though I write in midsummer, I feel duty bound to mention LP’s two sleigh bells, the second of which is the more jingly and reindeer‑friendly.

Kits

LP’s mixed‑instrument kits are a quick and easy way of auditioning its contents. ‘Basic Orchestral Kit’ combines gran cassas, snare drums, cymbals and a low tom with a sprinkling of lighter sounds, each instrument providing a selection of essential artics for traditional orchestrations. For more epic arrangements, ‘Big Drum Ensemble Kit’ does what it says on the tin, loading a battering ensemble of bass drums, toms and snare ensembles.

In a similar cinematic vein, ‘Independence Kit’ conveniently maps a combative combo of bass drums, snares and piatti into a playable whole, while ‘Sync Strike’ layers the crescendo rolls of tam tams, suspended cymbals and a gran cassa into a great rushing avalanche of sound. For melodic writing, the celestial tuned percussion chimes of ‘Melodic Shimmer’ are a ray of light, and ‘Melodic Dream’ is a beautiful mix of slow‑attack vibraphone, celeste and glockenspiel guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing.

Described by Project SAM as ‘our most ambitious library yet’, Lineage Percussion hits all its targets.

Conclusion

Described by Project SAM as “our most ambitious library yet”, Lineage Percussion hits all its targets. I was initially surprised that it lacks the large ethnic drums that are de rigueur in the modern hybrid orchestra, but that was also true of True Strike 1. We had to wait two years for them to show up in True Strike 2, which in theory might also prove to be the case with the new library (please note, this is pure speculation on my part). In any case, Lineage Percussion is a worthy modern successor to Project SAM’s esteemed True Strike 1, and if this impressive library is the start of a new era of instruments, I’ll be very interested to hear what comes next!