KVR Audio

johnnytluxury · Post by **johnnytluxury** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:49 am

Ive not worked with tams before, and for some reason, no matter what sample I use, I cnat get them to 'shine'. Theres a certain air thats missing, and Im wondering if its my programming. Im using simple 16 and 32 patterns, and rather than the familiar chink-cinka sound, theres this simple tic-tic sound, like hi-hats, why is this? Do i need to program flams in between? Its kinda like just hitting the tams rather than shaking them, Im missing that 'ring' that goes along with shaking them. Do i need better samples? I cnat believe Ive gone this long without using a tam sound!

rollasoc · Post by **rollasoc** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:58 am

Wouldn't it just be easier to buy a tamborine and actually play and record it? Or is it a MIDI only piece?

I say that since I've struggled in the past with programming them and shakers and stuff, then gave up and went out and bouught some tamborines, shakers, maracas, castenets, triangles (actually the missus bought me a load as a present) etc. Then just record them. Gives a more live feel over MIDI drums...

Just a thought

Rollasco

beej · Post by **beej** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:24 am

You're probably using really "tight" samples, whereas you want a range of more loose, jangly tambourines to shuffle along with the groove (and don't quantise them, or at least keep them loosish for a more natural feel)

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:24 pm

I think beej is right, so I've got no further idea regarding the samples per se, but here's another thing you may want to consider, regarding some sort of natural feel: With a single tambourine sample you may usually not get what you want. In case you only have one, copy it in your (drum)sampler of choice and alter the copied one slightly. Detune it by a few cents, set a slightly different envelope, maybe add some (very slight) buzz/bitreduction or whatever. Then record with two fingers instead of just one on one key (or program things, whatever you're up to). That way you will at least avoid the machinegun effect which seems to occur very often when using single samples.
Personally, I like to combine a loose sample with a more tight one and will then decide which one to use on the onbeats and which one on the offbeats.

hbasm · Post by **hbasm** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:43 pm

I've rarely used tambs but sometimes I use shakers. I imagine its pretty much the same. There are 3 important things you can do:

Vary the volume (velocity) in the following simple pattern: 100,50,100,50,100,50 (or whatever value you choose).

Some amount of shuffle will do wonders, but then you'd probably want to use that for all your instruments in that song.

Use tambourine sample(s) with (relative) soft attack and position them slightly before the kick drum / rest of percussion.

A final touch could be a slight humanization and of course 5-6 different samples to play with.

johnnytluxury · Post by **johnnytluxury** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:15 pm

yeah i humanized it like crazy, shuffled, and did lots of velo patterns, but still cant get that shimy, so im thinking its gotta be the samples.. theyre too 'tight', as beej said. And i would buy some tams and record them, but I feel getting the right take would be tedious, if recording would only be easy.. Anyone aware of decnet tam samples that have the shimmer in them?

gonzo · Post by **gonzo** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:21 pm

How 'bout some compression?

johnnytluxury · Post by **johnnytluxury** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:25 pm

um, no?

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:51 pm

http://meanbeat.cjb.net/ has a few tambourines. Probably not the best ones, but you may give them a try.
http://www.findsounds.com/ISAPI/search.dll comes up with a few as well.

johnnytluxury · Post by **johnnytluxury** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:54 pm

Thanks, Sascha.

C00kie · Post by **C00kie** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:03 pm

Johnnytluxury wrote:rather than the familiar chink-cinka sound, theres this simple tic-tic sound

This sounds like you only use one sample. Maybe you can assign several keys to several different samples, or use the same sample with different pitches. Drum on your keyboard with two different fingers on different keys, like playing hi-hats. Maybe that will work...

johnnytluxury · Post by **johnnytluxury** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:10 pm

Did about that too, but its difficult at best to get the timbre of the different samples i have to match up... Sounded cool actually but too experimental for what ive got goin on..

beej · Post by **beej** » Mon May 08, 2006 4:29 pm

Again, you really need a few loose tamb hits and an accent hit, program accordingly and keep the quantisation very loose to get the effect.

Here's a quick one done with single hits from Wizoo Latin Percussion:
http://bj.angeltowns.com/audio/tb_03.mp3

Bonteburg · Post by **Bonteburg** » Mon May 08, 2006 5:49 pm

http://www.reactorsite.com/

I can't find the exact links at the moment, but last year they had a tambourine multisample with a ridiculous amount of layers and it fairly rocked

Maybe they put it down and you need to drop them a line.

Marco

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon May 08, 2006 6:22 pm

Ah yes, there's some great stuff there, Bonte. The link is here:
http://www.realfeel.freeuk.com/samples.htm
There's a tune playing on that site. I'd keep it running! I like such stuff a lot!

Making tambourine samples 'ring'?