Just wanted to share a little information for those who know the site and the quality and variety of the samples...its like a history book you can play.
Steve Howell, the sound library developer, (very friendly) is great with communication and open to suggestions. This is to let you know that he is going to be making more advanced sample CD's; the site is below. He's working frantically to get it up and running but I can't say when.
http://www.hollowsun.com/cds/#
Hollow Sun: Coming Soon
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- KVRian
- 868 posts since 7 May, 2002 from Sydney, Australia
Thanks for that link! Another link from that page :
CLASSIC BEATBOX COLLECTION :
http://www.akaipro.com/int/mpc1k/arc_kotw.html
CLASSIC BEATBOX COLLECTION :
http://www.akaipro.com/int/mpc1k/arc_kotw.html
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- KVRian
- 995 posts since 4 Mar, 2004
Yes Yes !!! Absolutely marvelous collection
Yeah I know most of the regulars here know that already
but for the people just stopping by aswell.
These sample collections are f@cking brilliant, If you knows your synth history you will see they're all here.
Oh yeah! also
another link to a Reason Refill and SF2 version of some of these samples ,
http://www.dangerousbear.com/
(unashamed plug) I done one of the demos for the collection using only the demo Refill and Reason 2.5
plus I am in the process of doing some beats(rexfiles)
using only the Classic Synths Refill and the demo of the beatbox Refill.
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Yeah I know most of the regulars here know that already
but for the people just stopping by aswell.
These sample collections are f@cking brilliant, If you knows your synth history you will see they're all here.
Oh yeah! also
another link to a Reason Refill and SF2 version of some of these samples ,
http://www.dangerousbear.com/
(unashamed plug) I done one of the demos for the collection using only the demo Refill and Reason 2.5
plus I am in the process of doing some beats(rexfiles)
using only the Classic Synths Refill and the demo of the beatbox Refill.
--
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- KVRAF
- 2874 posts since 22 Oct, 2002 from "somewhere between digital and analog"
Of course you should no my point of view by now... But, the dbU presets for Reason are the best I have heard... and that's a lot of refills out there! They are literally an instrument in themselves! ...(And John is a nice guy)... no he's not paying me 
I stumbled on the Hollow Sun stuff awhile ago, and the Dangerous Bear... I just wish I had more time to use them! I'm promising John to do something with dbU and post it!
I stumbled on the Hollow Sun stuff awhile ago, and the Dangerous Bear... I just wish I had more time to use them! I'm promising John to do something with dbU and post it!-
- KVRian
- 995 posts since 4 Mar, 2004
I agree totally (instrument in themselves) ,the DbU version is like a sort of Sonic Synth with classic synths for Reason/SF2 compatible.
You should (when you get time) get your hands dirty down at the den by posting something , the more the merrier .
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You should (when you get time) get your hands dirty down at the den by posting something , the more the merrier .
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- KVRian
- 1327 posts since 8 Nov, 2003 from DC
Dan and Declan, thanks for your very kind words. The Holllow Sun library is any programmer's dream in that you get a lot of very high quality samples to work with that are recombinable in so many differewnt ways for just about every musical mood and aural texture.
The advantage to the end user of the commercial Hollow Sun libraries is convenience and programming. You get the sounds there on cd all at once with native programming, saving you the time and trouble of downloading one instrument at a time and then translating. I spent probably three months several hours a day on dialup getting the library last winter and spring. That alone would have been worth a few pounds or dollars to me.
Because he has been so amazingly cooperative and supportive of me, I am personally really looking forward to the release of Steve's libraries. The funny thing is that I've been living and working with these samples for months now every day, probably a year since I first found out about the site and started visiting it, but not having an MPC or Z series or S5000, I don't have any idea of what they really sound like. I use VSampler, which loads .akp keygroups but not really the programming. So it's worth my 30 pounds just to actually hear Steve's programming. I plan on getting most of them.
There are differences between the Hollow Sun and Dangerous bear products that make them complimentary rather than conflicting products. Steve is using the UFO to acheive universiality whereas I have used sf2 to a similar end. Then Steve is planning several discs that focus on a single or family of classic instruments and include samples not available on the site, which is a huge bonus in itself. On the other hand, the dBu Hollow Sun line is getting more into engine-specific programming products, like the ReFill having ReDrum kits and rex files as well as NNXT patches, or Classic Beatbox being drum-oriented with more Reason stuff as well as Battery and Acid wav, including the loops mentioned by Whoomph. Then the rest of the dBu stuff will be focused collections taking different aspects of the library and using them as programming elements to exploit the unique qualities of the engines such as SampleTank, VSampler and Wusikstation. Wusikstation in particular is bringing about some really magical and vivid things with the samples. Both ways, I think that people are getting excellent value.
That's probably too much about me, I don't mean to hijack the thread considering that I have one of my own right now. This is, as it should be, about Steve Howell and him getting the recognition and success that he deserves. But I wanted to take a little of y'all's time and attention just to talk a little about the respective products comparatively but not competitively. I think that there's room in everybody's sample library for Hollow Sun sounds, and I hope that folks will buy all they can from us both.
BassballJG
dBu
The advantage to the end user of the commercial Hollow Sun libraries is convenience and programming. You get the sounds there on cd all at once with native programming, saving you the time and trouble of downloading one instrument at a time and then translating. I spent probably three months several hours a day on dialup getting the library last winter and spring. That alone would have been worth a few pounds or dollars to me.
Because he has been so amazingly cooperative and supportive of me, I am personally really looking forward to the release of Steve's libraries. The funny thing is that I've been living and working with these samples for months now every day, probably a year since I first found out about the site and started visiting it, but not having an MPC or Z series or S5000, I don't have any idea of what they really sound like. I use VSampler, which loads .akp keygroups but not really the programming. So it's worth my 30 pounds just to actually hear Steve's programming. I plan on getting most of them.
There are differences between the Hollow Sun and Dangerous bear products that make them complimentary rather than conflicting products. Steve is using the UFO to acheive universiality whereas I have used sf2 to a similar end. Then Steve is planning several discs that focus on a single or family of classic instruments and include samples not available on the site, which is a huge bonus in itself. On the other hand, the dBu Hollow Sun line is getting more into engine-specific programming products, like the ReFill having ReDrum kits and rex files as well as NNXT patches, or Classic Beatbox being drum-oriented with more Reason stuff as well as Battery and Acid wav, including the loops mentioned by Whoomph. Then the rest of the dBu stuff will be focused collections taking different aspects of the library and using them as programming elements to exploit the unique qualities of the engines such as SampleTank, VSampler and Wusikstation. Wusikstation in particular is bringing about some really magical and vivid things with the samples. Both ways, I think that people are getting excellent value.
That's probably too much about me, I don't mean to hijack the thread considering that I have one of my own right now. This is, as it should be, about Steve Howell and him getting the recognition and success that he deserves. But I wanted to take a little of y'all's time and attention just to talk a little about the respective products comparatively but not competitively. I think that there's room in everybody's sample library for Hollow Sun sounds, and I hope that folks will buy all they can from us both.
BassballJG
dBu
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- KVRist
- 333 posts since 2 Sep, 2003 from Brazil
I would like to make a suggestion. I think your sf2 CD's are very reasonably priced (maybe "low priced" is a better description...) But in my case, as I live in Brazil, if I buy any of your CD's I'll have to pay an import tax of 60%. This has prevented me from buying CD's and boxed products in general as much as possible - my preference obviously goes to downloadable items.Bassballjg wrote:The advantage to the end user of the commercial Hollow Sun libraries is convenience and programming. You get the sounds there on cd all at once with native programming, saving you the time and trouble of downloading one instrument at a time and then translating.
So my suggestion is: to have an option to buy your CD's contents in some downloadable form. For example, after buying you could send the customer a link and a password, valid for a few days. They would give her/him access to the CD's contents arranged in packages of convenient size to make the download easier to handle. RAR compression could be used.
I have no idea how many additional customers you could get with this but probably there are a few out there who could benefit from it.
Regards,
Boin
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- KVRAF
- 2818 posts since 30 Aug, 2001 from where dinosaurs are still alive
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- KVRAF
- 2582 posts since 24 Apr, 2003 from Canada
Downloadable is a good idea.. I think the hollowsun refill is about 275mb. Thats reasonable to download on broadband.
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- KVRian
- 1327 posts since 8 Nov, 2003 from DC
Certainly not a bad idea in principle, but the sf2 collection is over a gig. Because it would still be 2 cds even compressed most likely, I've never compressed it so I don't know what it would be in size that way. The other problem is that I only have a gig of server space. I can upgrade that, and have some plans to do that, that have to do with music and selling or having free mp3 singles for my production clients' music. But to do a downloadable sample service would take even more space, tio have the room to grow. But it certainly is feasable, though requiring time and money to impliment. So if there's demand, it could happen sooner than later.boin wrote:I would like to make a suggestion. I think your sf2 CD's are very reasonably priced (maybe "low priced" is a better description...) But in my case, as I live in Brazil, if I buy any of your CD's I'll have to pay an import tax of 60%. This has prevented me from buying CD's and boxed products in general as much as possible - my preference obviously goes to downloadable items.Bassballjg wrote:The advantage to the end user of the commercial Hollow Sun libraries is convenience and programming. You get the sounds there on cd all at once with native programming, saving you the time and trouble of downloading one instrument at a time and then translating.
So my suggestion is: to have an option to buy your CD's contents in some downloadable form. For example, after buying you could send the customer a link and a password, valid for a few days. They would give her/him access to the CD's contents arranged in packages of convenient size to make the download easier to handle. RAR compression could be used.
I have no idea how many additional customers you could get with this but probably there are a few out there who could benefit from it.
Regards,
Boin
It's possible to look at this a few different ways. One is that the convenience to which I was referring is the samples being on disc. Not everybody has broadband and getting a cd in the mail saves a lot of hassle. If you're on dialup, waiting a few days for a disc in the mail is probably a better use of your time than hours with your phone out of action waiting for downloads. That's how I came to see it. On the other hand, the internet is a great way to avoid excessive taxes and import duties as you point out, boin. So there is that, and if downloads make it possible to take this more international, so more people can make more music, I'm for it. You get the product sooner, and I save time and money on packaging.
Then again, in terms of the Hollow Sun library, it's certainly a good deal to get Steve's discs with the UFO or my sf2 version to have all the sounds available in a format your sampler(s) can handle. The discs are always there should something happen to your hard drive. I don't know how Steve is handling this aspect of it, but I'm burning the discs myself as needed so the inventory is virtual to me one way or the other. If it's here on my hd anyway, it's not that big of a deal to pop a disc in an enevlope, or to make new ones on demand and walk up to the post office a few blocks away. But to take up the server space, to pay for more server space, it has to make economic sense to me to do it that way, I need to know that there would be a revenue stream that would exist from a download service that wouldn't exist otherwise. Maybe a poll would get me some data to see if it would be something worth trying. Let's not forget that the Hollow Sun free service is still there, if you want to do the translation work, or if your sampler can read .akp.
The other side of the value equation is the creatve value of the programming, and that is something that might be addressable in the shorter term for a paid-download solution. What I can do within my current server limits, if it will help people out, is to make the dBu bank available in sf2 as a download. That's only about 200mb.
Floyd, you're right about the ReFill being small enough for a download (my, how standards have changed), it's I think 250 mb, and zipped or rar'ed, less. Let's see what I can do. I have to keep some server space I have for transferring files with collegues, and I need to get some more music up there as I take my production company online, but I will definately see what is reaonable to do even before expanding my space.
Downloadable samples is something that's a reality in the marketplace, and something that dBu does need to address as a business, apart from the Hollow Sun line. I think that it's a model that makes more sense for loops than instruments, but who knows. There was a dialogue between Squids and some folks about this subject a few weeks ago. Of course we have less for sale than SR (for now) but yeah, it's an approach that has to be looked at and taken seriously.
This is what I will do. I will upload the dBu bank in sf2 and set it up in a password-protected part of the site. That can be sold for even less than the pretty good price that the whole 2 disc library is going for. I need to sort out some technical stuff about the passwords and such, so expect to hear back about this in a couple of days, I have some other work I'm in the middle of, and I will need to ask some questions of my hosting company. This experiment can run for about a month or so to see how it would work. I will do a poll here on kvr about the subject of paid downloadable samples if that's something that people want. Then, if there's demand, and I can upgrade my storage economically, and I can work out the technical details, a program will be developed and implimented.
Thanks for bringing up the topic, but let's not get too far away from the subject of Hollow Sun and keep the spotlight in this thread on Steve. We can discuss dBu more in my thread Dangerous Bear Holliday Sale in Marketplace, or in the thread for my poll, which I will try to set up tonight.
BassballJG
dBu