Old School Sampler/Converter vibes?

[Jet Set]

Hi all,

Enjoying a lot of 1990s house and BoomBap at the minute.

What plugins would you suggest to give that sound of the old converters/vintage sampling to whole audio tracks?

I have heard good things about importing to the TAL sampler and using their emulations to play through.

Any other suggestions?

D

[El°HYM]

TAL DAC or the RX950, would come into my mind.
https://www.inphonik.com/products/rx950 ... -converter

[Lotuz2019]

Also D16 Decimort 2, ToneBoosters TimeMachine (part of the TrackEssentials 3 bundle), waveTracing SP950, Beatskillz SampleX (try the demo first) and Tone Projects Sonitex STX-1260 (Windows 32 bit only, but works fine on 64 bit with jBridge).

[Jet Set]

Nice suggestions!

I’m gonna go with the TAL.

Looks nice and simple, reasonable price, and I like TAL as a company.

90s drum vibes here I come!

[fmr]

Nice suggestions!

I’m gonna go with the TAL.

Looks nice and simple, reasonable price, and I like TAL as a company.

You can't be wrong with TAL

I would suggest you to try the TAL Sampler and the Hollowsun library (included). Lots of vintage drum sounds in there.

[Lotuz2019]

! Buy TAL Sampler and get TAL-DAC for free.

[GRUMP]

90s Vibe is not mainly about DAC. Decimort is great, but the right EQ/Console seems more important (to my Oldschool Ears). Buzzword: Neve.

And the right Source Materials for sure.. Xtatic Goldmine was everywhere. And don´t forget that we didn´t have an FX Unit for every Track resp. a Track for every Sound...

Convolution is great btw...

[nilhartman]

Plogue Chipcrusher / waveTracing SP950

Ps: abusing Sonic Charge Permut8 (like, under-driving its input) can be damn fun too, to get some nice primitive digital crunch.

[midi_transmission]

I like the simplicity of the rx950, but It can create unpleasant artefacts on kicks.I would not buy it again or at least not process kicks with it. That said, I think as long as you do some gentle bit reduction and high cuts a lot of of the bit crushers can work. One thing though, the bit crushing depends a lot on the used dither. With some crushers, 10bit still sounds a bit too clear, with others 10bit has already nasty artefacts. Bit between 10-13 bits it unusually gives a good noisy sound.

The used sound sources are very important too.

There is no magic devices that instantly makes the sound perfect, like always.

[zerocrossing]

Many great tools were mentioned, but in all honesty, I would not recommend processing entire tracks. The studios I worked in had high resolution converters that were already good quality and at least 16 bit... even in the 80s. Better to pick and choose which tracks get the treatment. Maybe even as granular as which specific channel of a drum machine, or use a plugin that can deal in specific parts of the audio bandwidth, like Saturn. If you’re looking for the sound of the 90s, I’d say that a good tape emulation is more important, as things were still largely going to tape even if their origins were digital.

[GRUMP]

zerocrossing is absolutely right. I want to generalize it: 90s Music did not have a) one b) specific Vibe, that was based c) certain Characteristics - what also means that no Plugin in the World can turn back Time or make any Source Material sound alike.

You have to listen closely and treat each Element carefully. And you´ll probably be more successful if you choose the right Source Material and Techniques. A VST does usually just not sound like a JV2080 and Sampling for Example was a frequently used Method of Mixing and saving Ressources. Soe Producers even generally sampled "everything" (quote ...).

On the other Hand: I do it frequently, somehow automatically. I just make Sounds "fat" with EQing, Filters, Chorus, Decimort, 3D, ... But for Purposes of Sound Design. As a Musician I´d definitely primary search for the right Source Materials and use an Analog Modelling Mixer/Console.

[s28]

zerocrossing is absolutely right. I want to generalize it: 90s Music did not have a) one b) specific Vibe, that was based c) certain Characteristics - what also means that no Plugin in the World can turn back Time or make any Source Material sound alike.

You have to listen closely and treat each Element carefully. And you´ll probably be more successful if you choose the right Source Material and Techniques. A VST does usually just not sound like a JV2080 and Sampling for Example was a frequently used Method of Mixing and saving Ressources. Soe Producers even generally sampled "everything" (quote ...).

On the other Hand: I do it frequently, somehow automatically. I just make Sounds "fat" with EQing, Filters, Chorus, Decimort, 3D, ... But for Purposes of Sound Design. As a Musician I´d definitely primary search for the right Source Materials and use an Analog Modelling Mixer/Console.

Agreed on this. It's about the techniques and approaches as much if not much more so than a particular plugin.

When you say analogue modelling mixer/console do you mean a console plugin?

[GRUMP]

Agreed on this. It's about the techniques and approaches as much if not much more so than a particular plugin.

When you say analogue modelling mixer/console do you mean a console plugin?

For sure! Coming from the 90s Sampling Era I didn´t believe the "Hype" around Console and "analog" Emulations first (Softube etc). That "You can make every Sound if you want to" naive and ignorant Attitude ... until I trialed a Console. And some good oldfashioned EQs. I don´t want to miss all that anymore now.

Concerning Techniques: I started with an ASR10 back then - and didn´t have much around it, so I quickly learned that you can create MIDI Delays, layer Sounds and/or create your own Ambience, sample Reverb Flags, save Tracks with Sampling/Resampling and so on.

Did you know that you can quickly turn nearly everything - a Fart as well as a Snippet from a Madonna Track - into a Techno Off-Bass? Even without a seperate EQ!? I´d NEVER use a seperate Synth Track for such Purposes, mainly because it sounds horrible clean. And because my EMU or today HALIONs Filter simply cut better down there

But what everybody who wants to sound 90s should know and respect is mainly the simple Fact, that Sample-CDs / Librarys made most of that Sound in the End. Some Studios simply had a Wall of Samplers and CD Shelfs behind them. From Xtatic Goldmine to Horny Club Sounds - you´d ROFL when listening through them. Big modular Synth? Nope! Just three puny One Shot Samples from a wide spread Library. "Has been used too often" was a frequent Conclusion these Days...

[s28]

Agreed on this. It's about the techniques and approaches as much if not much more so than a particular plugin.

When you say analogue modelling mixer/console do you mean a console plugin?

For sure! Coming from the 90s Sampling Era I didn´t believe the "Hype" around Console and "analog" Emulations first (Softube etc). That "You can make every Sound if you want to" naive and ignorant Attitude ... until I trialed a Console. And some good oldfashioned EQs. I don´t want to miss all that anymore now.

Concerning Techniques: I started with an ASR10 back then - and didn´t have much around it, so I quickly learned that you can create MIDI Delays, layer Sounds and/or create your own Ambience, sample Reverb Flags, save Tracks with Sampling/Resampling and so on.

Did you know that you can quickly turn nearly everything - a Fart as well as a Snippet from a Madonna Track - into a Techno Off-Bass? Even without a seperate EQ!? I´d NEVER use a seperate Synth Track for such Purposes, mainly because it sounds horrible clean. And because my EMU or today HALIONs Filter simply cut better down there

Which console plugin are you talking of, or do you mean an actual console? Ha.

[GRUMP]

Which console plugin are you talking of, or do you mean an actual console? Ha.

Neve Consoles are my personal Favourite, but I have others, too. But you have to find out yourself. I use bx as well as Acustica Audio. AA prefered. AA Gold.