KVR Audio

ugo · Post by **ugo** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:01 pm

to those that own this collection...what do you think of it? i've considered it for a while and im tempted to get it while soundonline.com's 35% off sale is still going on.

-ugo

tee boy · Post by **tee boy** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:08 pm

Not amazing imo. Let me give you a few pros and cons.

Pros:

- Plenty of content

- Generally good quality

- Tweakability thanks to the VST engine

- Good value for money (especially with that deal on)

Cons:

- Much of the content is old, taken from past libraries (hence, money for old rope)

- Doesnt (imo) hold up well to other libraries in the genre

- Difficult to really work on the files, as they are all inbedded in the plugin with no means of extraction (other than just recording them back into the audio editor)

ugo · Post by **ugo** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:28 pm

thanks for the reply.

tee boy wrote: - Much of the content is old, taken from past libraries (hence, money for old rope)

believe it or not, thats actually one of the things that interests me because several of those libraries have had me curious for for a long time. several years ago i bought the audio format of fields of motion and, thanks to a new harddrive i got for christmas, i just reloaded the samples into my computer (ripped the audio tracks then seperated the loops in the wav files using waveknife) and started revisiting them kontakt and liveslice. they still seem pretty cool so i thought perhaps it would be fun to have a bunch of those libraries all already properly edited for kontakt.

- Doesnt (imo) hold up well to other libraries in the genre

what would you suggest as an alternative? i'd be especially interested in collections that includes lots of rhythmic/percussive material in addition to the odd ambiences.

- Difficult to really work on the files, as they are all inbedded in the plugin with no means of extraction (other than just recording them back into the audio editor)

thankfully i own a full version of kontakt 2, so i'd be able to do more with them than the intakt player would allow.

-ugo

lex_strooder · Post by **lex_strooder** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 10:22 pm

I own altered states and whats strikes me every time I use it is of course the hugeness of sounds (from drones to short clips) but foremost the tone/sounds of it, something about it sounds "altered". The fields of motion CD is one of the best samples CDS ever made(IMO) but the rest of the cuckooland range is almost as good (if you like strange sounds, that is). I have also been looking for sound-alikes but never found any good alternatives.

lX

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:45 pm

I like AS. I like it even more than say, Morphology. (Thinking of things organized by Ian Boddy).

What's nice is the wide selection of weird sounds. Seems there is always something useful to find. I don't really care about the old/new argument. What I care about is if the sounds are useful and interesting and in AS I believe they are.

If you have K2 then messing with the sounds is not an issue. I'd say go for it - especially if you're familiar with some of the original material and like it.

tee boy · Post by **tee boy** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:05 am

Ugo,

Sounds like AS would be right up your alley then! I wasnt aware that you could load those Intakt libraries into Kontakt, that makes it an entirely different ball game. Dont know if you agree, but I hate it when the samples are locked inside a VST player - I like to be able to atleast edit the samples.

For percussive / rhymthic loops, you might like Metriam on Big Fish. This is very similar in style, yet is more orientated towards rhythmic loops than ambiences. Im not a huge fan of this library, but it certain has its uses. And if you're like me and love a tweak, the loops are really useful as source material.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I tend to think of Spectrasonics Distorted Reality 1 / 2 and BT Twisted Textures to be the yard sticks for this type of library. IMO I dont think AS measures up, sounding a little conventional in comparison (in terms of the processing that is). Obviously the sounds are good quality and that, but there doesnt seem to be the innovation you get from say Twisted Textures.

But there is no doubting that this library is a bargin if you dont already own the past titles! I like what Zero-G have done with these instruments - releasing new and old material in one mega library.

ugo · Post by **ugo** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:07 am

metriam is another one i've been interested in. looks like big fish may have discontinued now though. (same with "a funky future.") i was wondering how bt's twisted textures was. i've got his breakz from the nu skool and love it. i may have to consider getting that during this sale as well.

i forgot about the distorted reality collections. i'll check them out.

-ugo

tee boy · Post by **tee boy** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:49 am

Dude you have to - if I could take just one collection of samples onto a desert island with me, it would be the Distorted Reality libraries. You could quite literally make totally convincing music in a range of styles using nothing more than these CD's. For me they are the yard stick!

lex_strooder · Post by **lex_strooder** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:12 am

i almost forgot about the Twisted Textures cds... for drones and atmos, TT rules over AS.

kmonkey · Post by **kmonkey** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:27 am

tee boy wrote:Dude you have to - if I could take just one collection of samples onto a desert island with me, it would be the Distorted Reality libraries. You could quite literally make totally convincing music in a range of styles using nothing more than these CD's. For me they are the yard stick!

Yes indeed. D.R. series is one of my best sample bank.

M'Snah · Post by **M'Snah** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:01 am

ugo wrote:(ripped the audio tracks then seperated the loops in the wav files using waveknife)

Thanks

... didn't know about this, and I needed it.

rsmus7 · Post by **rsmus7** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:00 am

well you can try the prodyon Spacehawk.

it´s a library of 3 gb and comes in different formats for the samplers

and is much cheaper.

a thread about it:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... =spacehawk

Dorian Gray · Post by **Dorian Gray** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:48 pm

Yeah or as an alternative to Spacehawk you can get Protoplasm for 20 euros or so, dont be fooled by Protoplasms small size, its what is so amazing about it.

I wonder how Spacehawk Vs Protoplasm works out ?

DG.

original flipper · Post by **original flipper** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:59 pm

HI

I had AS and find the whole concept of these MEGA large libraries is fine IF you have a decent browser - tbh I thought that using them via Kontakt would improve things but there is just TOO much content in AS that is all over the place and makes previewing sounds highly laborious.

I was glad to get rid of the thing - I say stick with a decent sound library in a format that you can use - these products are really last desperate attempts to get some money out of sample collections that are no longer selling.

Now if they threw in the content in a variety of formats ... that would be great.

I really find these NI front end/closed sample format products look nice and are keenly priced but when you look a bit further they do have some major disadvantages.

Flipper.

blakflag · Post by **blakflag** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:39 pm

Has anyone tried those M-audio Bunker 8 foley sounds? Organic/Inorganic. I was thinking those might be cool to put into Dimension sampler and mutate.
Im not too into the processed-to-death ACID loops kinda thing.

I'll check Spacehawk and Protoplasm out too.

zero-g altered states...opinions?