MOTU is offering special pricing on the Bob Moog Foundation Encore soundbank for a limited time

[tonedef71]

http://www.motu.com/newsitems/special-p ... mited-time

I just picked this up for $49 (regular price is $99); the sale price is available from Friday, November 27th through Friday, December 4th.

After listening to all of the presets, I honestly wished I only paid $25 for it. There are some really nice presets in there, but I found that too many of the presets sound bland to my ears (especially the basses, which comprise the largest number of presets represented in the soundbank), and some just sound cheap-and-nasty.

Contributions to this collection were made by some very prominent players and synthesists [Vince Clark, Al Kooper, Jordan Rudess, Suzanne Ciani, Larry Fast, Tangerine Dream (Edgar Froese / Thorsten Quaeschning), Goldfrapp (Will Gregory), Kevin Antunes, Adam Holzman, Erik Norlander, Peter Gorges, Amin Bhatia, CJ Vanston, Drew Neumann, Kevin Lamb, Dave Spiers, Jack Hotop, Jerry Kovarsky, Kent Spong, Klaus Peter Rausch, Taiho Yamada, Michael Koehler, Chris Cox, "Magic" Dave Roberts, Marty Cutler, Marc Doty and I Monster (Dean Honer / Jerrod Gosling)], so I was hoping to be absolutely blown away by the sounds, but instead I feel underwhelmed by them.

To me, it almost sounds like some of the contributors just did not put much effort into the sounds, or just donated to the collection whatever rejects they had from their personal "cutting room floors". I dunno; perhaps some of the vintage gear used for the collection is in poor shape.

Well, at least all proceeds from the sales are going to charity:

Funding generated from the soundbank will support the Bob Moog Foundation’s 2016 expansion of its hallmark science and music education project for children, Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool.

[Numanoid]

Looks like the lib that will also run in the free UVI Workstation

2.4GB / 236 patches in 10 sub-categories

[murnau]

After listening to all of the presets, I honestly wished I only paid $25 for it. There are some really nice presets in there, but I found that too many of the presets sound bland to my ears (especially the basses, which comprise the largest number of presets represented in the soundbank), and some just sound cheap-and-nasty.

Isn't sampling moog synths to use them in some kind of bob mooog sample-library "blasphemy" itself? Doesn't surprise me much that the quality is weak. At least the money goes to the moog foundation as you already pointed out.

[tonedef71]

Isn't sampling moog synths to use them in some kind of bob mooog sample-library "blasphemy" itself? Doesn't surprise me much that the quality is weak. At least the money goes to the moog foundation as you already pointed out.

Actually, the samples are not all from Moog synths:

Instruments used to create the soundbank
Over 20 instruments were used to create the samples in the Bob Moog Foundation Encore Soundbank including:

* EMS® Synthi A and VCS3
* Buchla® modular
* Yamaha® CS-80
* Alesis® Andromeda
* Sequential Circuits® Prophet
* Hammond® B3 organ
* Korg® MS-20
* Polivoks
* Minimoog®
* Moog® modular
* Moog Apollo
* Moog Liberation
* Moog Prodigy
* Ondioline
* Theremin
* Upright and grand piano
* Mandolin
* Acoustic Drum Kit
* Various effects pedals

I had thought that any gifted synthesist who actually owned the above hardware would have contributed some exceptional presets to the soundbank. There are a number of gems in the 200+ preset collection, but in my opinion there is just too much filler.

[murnau]

I stand corrected but the point isn't that they not only sampled moog synths. Sampling synths are generally questionable nowdays.

[tonedef71]

Sampling synths are generally questionable nowdays.

True; it is hard to debate that.

That said, however, there have been some quality sampled synth offerings (e.g. Zero-G Epica and MachFive Biosphere sound great).

I was originally going to purchase from Guitar Center this Synth Legacy collection created by UVI, but I opted to buy the Encore soundbank instead. Kinda wish I just spent my $50 on Synth Legacy as I originally intended.

[tonedef71]

After spending more time auditioning the sounds in the Encore soundbank, I believe I was too critical in my initial assessment.

After optimizing my audio driver settings and listening again with powered headphones, the Encore soundbank presets sound much better now than with my first listen.

The sounds actually have more clarity and nuance than I realized, and if I want to, I can always refine them to my own taste with the many fine effects in Falcon. Many of the presets that I originally thought were filler are actually quite usable.