I remember those. I forget if those were rexes or waves. But, anyway, the distinction we make is that there are no other multi-track rexes where the slices of the mics are in proper time alignment. If there are then I'll stop saying that but I don't know of any. The main reason why is because Recycle is the only program that authors Rex2 files and it doesn't do multi-track unfortunately. We had to write special software and use several different other pieces of software together in order to be able to do that accurately.NTR wrote:Actually, multi track rex loops have been done before. Remember VST Drum Sessions? Done by Wizoo/Steinberg. They also had matching midi files right along side, and could be loaded up in cubase as song files. Ya know, I bought them years ago, and they have since collected dust on the shelf. They are quite good though. I was a bit of a novice computer guy when I bought these so I sound them a little complex for my style. However, I think I may just have to revisit those discs.
So... let me explain what I mean by that for anyone interested. Okay! In a multi-track drum recording session you have different mics in differen positions around the kit to capture it. You have direct mics which are closest to each drum and thus are the fastest transient you'll hear in the recording, the tighest. Then you have the overheads which are 4-6 feet above the kit. Generally for every foot there is about 1 millisecond of delay. So your room mic that captures the ambience of the acoustic space the drums are in could be 10 feet away or more. With the relative mic signals the transient could be around 10ms later than the directs. That's all a part of the depth you hear in the overall drum sound when they're all mixed together. This time relationship between the directs, the overheads and rooms has to be retained if you are going to put slices on the transients and then CHANGE the tempo otherwise it will shift all over the place (if the files were all rexed separately as if they were different loops). We're talking about random changes of depth per transient, maybe shifts in phase... it could be a mess! That's why unless you can do it RIGHT most companies just won't bother with multi-track rexing (until Props might support it in Recycle which would be fine with me... a whole lot easier to do it there than it is the way we have to do it!).
If you look at a multitrack drum groove (like the ones we're giving away for free right nowhere: http://www.esoundz.com/freesoundz.php ) , if you view the waveforms in your DAW you will see the latency of the transients of the room vs. the directs. If the room transient is 5 or 7 or 10 or 15 ms later than the directs then it will STAY that far from the directs even if the groove is slowed down or sped up! As far as I know, and again correct me if I am wrong, but SR's multi-track rex files are the only ones that do THIS (which is a very important factor). I mean, unless someone else ALSO created software to author it and uses the same combination of odd tools to do it which I doubt then I don't see how. But anyway... even if they did it doesn't matter. It's still rare and cool to be able to have flexible multi-track grooves.
The other element that makes these multi-track grooves even cooler is the fact that we have, available separately, the multi-channel drum kit that was used to play the grooves that you will be able to purchase for download in Kontakt, BFD and potentially other formats as well. That's the best of all worlds in terms of total tempo flexibility, creative freedom (which you get more of with midi/hit technique) and then authentic realism (which you get more of with audio loops) and then the ability to mix and process discrete tracks in BOTH... where they both line up with each other.
In all fairness, at SR we've been living with this stuff for years and for everyone else this way of working is relatively new. A mix of multitrack loops and kits... but it IMO it is a great way to get the most realistic drum tracks especially if you want to incorporate the style and feel of a particular drummer, band or era. But even just for good solid realistic drum tracks without that. It's an advanced system. Not everyone is going to get it but that's okay. It's there for people to explore! Those that know what it is can share in the excitement. I'm just excited that they're finally being released! It's just the tip of the iceberg (he says as he sees the "Artist Multitrack Studio ProFiles" thread with mlyon's name underneath... Squids next destination at 1 am... right when I think I'm out they drag me back in!!!! haha).
Over 200 megs of free stuff! Not bad.
