Some stupid questions

[Arglebargle]

Sorry I ask so many noob questions, fact is I'm a noob. Bear with me, please.


- If I plan on (eventually) buying Sampletank 2, is there any point in purchasing stuff like the Sonik Capsules? Specially, the drum capsules?

- Speaking of which, what exactly makes the Eclectic Drums capsule "eclectic"?

- Studio Drums is only acoustic drums, I take it?

- What styles is the Groove capsule comprised of? I suppose it's silly to hope for genres like prog rock or metal? I'm pretty bad at writing drum patterns, so I've been thinking about loop CDs lately, but most loop compilations seem geared towards hip-hop or electronica. I wouldn't mind some techno beats, but I have no use for hip-hop loops, and would like a lot of hard rock patterns.

- Group buys... I think I have a basic idea, but could someone fill me in? I've looked around for info, but I can't find much.



I think that's it. If I think of any more stupid questions, I'll post them here.

[Patrik]

- If I plan on (eventually) buying Sampletank 2, is there any point in purchasing stuff like the Sonik Capsules? Specially, the drum capsules?

Yes. Of course you have lot of drums in ST2 but you can´t have to many drums

Studio Drums is only acoustic drums, I take it?

Yes, and it´s great.

What styles is the Groove capsule comprised of? I suppose it's silly to hope for genres like prog rock or metal? I'm pretty bad at writing drum patterns, so I've been thinking about loop CDs lately, but most loop compilations seem geared towards hip-hop or electronica. I wouldn't mind some techno beats, but I have no use for hip-hop loops, and would like a lot of hard rock patterns

Buy some drums capsules and go for some MIDI-patterns like www.keyfax.com

Patrik

[Kim Lajoie]

The drum capsules will add more variety to the drums already present in ST2. They are a different flavour too, so if you're into drums you should definitely check them out.

Eclectic Drums is a collection of processed and synthesised drumkits. The kits (mostly) don't sound like actual live drumkits, nor do they sound like any other "typical" drums. Here's an MP3 demo you can listen to. There are some other demos in this thread.

The Groove Capsule is a mix of many different styles. There are probably some hard-rock loops, but it'll also have stuff like hiphop, techno, pop, country (!), etc. It'll be really useful for professionals that compose for TV or film, where a large variety of different styles is essential to have.

If you're into hard rock drums, the best option is to simply listen to drum patterns in hard rock music, and learn to emulate them using the acoustic kits in ST2. The Acoustic Drum capsule will be very useful too - it's packed with acoustic drum kits that you can EQ, compress, and otherwise tweak inside ST2. Patrik's suggestion of MIDI loops is a good one, but I don't know any good places to get them.

The other thing to consider is that most MIDI patterns will only work with GM drums. In case you don't know, GM (stands for General MIDI) is a standard drum layout that almost all synths and samplers follow. That makes it easy to compose a drum pattern on your gear, give it to someone else, and know that the notes will play similar sounds.

The problem with GM drums is that there isn't a large variety of drum hits. Two kick drums, two snare hits, three hihats, and five (!) toms isn't much when you're trying to recreate the nuance of slightly different strikes in a similar style of a live drummer. To overcome this limitation, Sonic Reality have an alternate drum layout called I-Map, which allows for much more realistic drum performances - especially recorded "live" by playing the keyboard! It's great for programming your own drum patterns - I use it all the time. The downside to this is that pre-programmed drum patterns will need some adjusting before they can use used with I-Map kits (usually it's as easy as transposing it up one octave, and transposing the toms up two octaves).

I hope that helps.

Forever,




Kim.

[Squids]

It's worth getting Sonik Capsules for their sounds even if you are planning on getting SampleTank 2 XL. They are DIFFERENT sounds and with their strong focus the qualify is very high for their particular purpose.

Studio Drum Capsule- yes, it's playable acoustic drum kits in a variety of different mapping and kit layout options. In ST2 though it also has some wicked fx applied for a variety of produced kits. But, the cool thing is that the samples are mostly dry so you have the flexibility to process them however you want.

Eclectic Drums- how is it eclectic? It's got a wide variety of different flavored drum kits. There is less focus on acoustic realism though and more variance in produced/processed kits, electronic kits, big slamming room kits, brush kits, wacked out fx kits... eclectic because it is a very diverse drum kit collection.]

Groove Capsule- also a very diverse collection but of loops. It's like a loop workstation. You have loops in a massive variety of styles including, yes, some metal, hard rock... but also dance, country, pop, funk, world beat etc. I like to think of it as a great loop source tool kit. There are mostly reusable beats on there and not stuff that is a clip of practically a whole song (like some loop libraries). The other cool thing about it is that it has slices that you can play and also the associated midi files (kind of like REX) that go in your sequencer where you can tweak the groove however you want (change tempo, feel etc). It's a pretty serious value! But, all of the Sonik Capsules are.

[Arglebargle]

It's worth getting Sonik Capsules for their sounds even if you are planning on getting SampleTank 2 XL.

Gee, didn't see this coming.

jk Squids, you fixed my pipe organ patch so I officially love you.


Hmmmm, thanks for the info everyone.

[Squids]

It's worth getting Sonik Capsules for their sounds even if you are planning on getting SampleTank 2 XL.

Gee, didn't see this coming.

jk Squids, you fixed my pipe organ patch so I officially love you.


Hmmmm, thanks for the info everyone.

You DID ask for that advice! Although you knew the answer. But, the main thing to know is that the sounds are different and more specialized in those categories.

[Arglebargle]

The other thing to consider is that most MIDI patterns will only work with GM drums. In case you don't know, GM (stands for General MIDI) is a standard drum layout that almost all synths and samplers follow.

Heh, I'm a noob, but I'm not THAT big of a noob. I'm well aware of GM.

[Arglebargle]

I think I'll save up for Sampletank and then see what kind of drums I need after that, although I COULD use some good drums, like, right now. All I have is Virtual Sound Canvas drums (yuck), and the drums with OmniSynth (okaaaaay, but not very inspiring).

[Kim Lajoie]

Heh, I'm a noob, but I'm not THAT big of a noob. I'm well aware of GM.

That's cool. Your first post in this thread was a bit vague, so I wasn't sure.

Forever,




Kim.

[Kim Lajoie]

I think I'll save up for Sampletank and then see what kind of drums I need after that, although I COULD use some good drums, like, right now.

If you need good drums right now, you can go for the Acoustic Drums Capsule now. It comes with ST2LE, which is like a "player" version of ST2. It still has the exact same engine underneath, so all the presets will sound exactly the same.

This is a good way to get some good drum sounds now (it costs less). It also gives you a taste of ST2, so you can make a better decision on whether you want to the full ST2XL. Of course, ST2XL comes with more sounds, and also has other benefits over STLE (like more editing capabilities, and the ability to import other non-SampleTank sounds).

All I have is Virtual Sound Canvas drums (yuck), and the drums with OmniSynth (okaaaaay, but not very inspiring).

The Acoustic Drum Capsule has MUCH more variety and better quality drumkits compared to OmniSynth. Dedicated 2gig drum library vs a handful of 10meg drumkits? No contest.

Forever,




Kim.

[Arglebargle]

You know, I have been seriously considering the Studio Drum Capsule.


Okay, here's another question: what's the diff between the Studio Drum Capsule and that Acoustic Drums expansion tank plugin? Is one significantly better than the other?

[Kim Lajoie]

Okay, here's another question: what's the diff between the Studio Drum Capsule and that Acoustic Drums expansion tank plugin? Is one significantly better than the other?

I'd go for the capsule.

The capsule expands to about 2 gigs of drumkits for ST2. The installer can also generate native presets for other softsamplers (such as Kontakt or Halion). Drumkit "construction kits" and hit menus make the Capsule more flexible too.

The Expansion Tank was originally an eRom for ST1, but now it's got all-new programming to take advantage of ST2. I have the Acoustic Drum eRom, and I've programmed my own ST2 presets that take advantage of the new effects and editing.

They're both good, but I think the Capsule will be more flexible.

Forever,




Kim.

[Arglebargle]

Just bought the Studio Drums capsule from esoundz.

[Kim Lajoie]

Just bought the Studio Drums capsule from esoundz.

Enjoy!

Tell us what you think.

Forever,




Kim.

[Caleb]

Yep - I haven't bought any of the drum capsules from Sonic Reality and they are currently a big focus for me. So much so that I'll probably end up buying the Studio Drums before I even buy ST2.

If I want drums I go to Sonic Reality - there is no place else I'm inclined to look as a general rule.

Studio Drums is my first priority.

Ecclectic might come later as I could really use some brush kits.

The Groove one I'm not sure about. I'm just starting to look at the potential of these kinds of products when looking at Stylus and some stuff that's been produced for Wusikstation. It's intriguing and useful - but I'm not sure if it's me in the long run and I can do alot of this myself if I want to spare the time (beatslicers and dicers up to my eyeballs over here).

I'm sure you'll be happy with the Studio Drums as I'm sure I will be. For me it's not a question of whether I want them or whether I think they're worth the money, it's more a question of how I will purchase them and in combination with what.

Caleb