Sample libraries for sound design

[aMUSEd]

I was wondering if there are any free or cheap sample libraries or resources created for sound designers to use as raw material to create synth patches from? Specifically I would like to make a load of patches for the V-Synth but I'm never sure if the samples I have access too (e.g. mainly in various sound libraries for Kontakt, Vokator and Absynth etc) can be used as a basis for patches made using granular resynthesis (which is how V-Synth works) and especially if I wanted to distribute the patches afterwards (which I would if I made enough). They would not sound much like the original samples once I'd finished with them but I still don't know if that is allowed (legally that is) so I'd rather start from something I know I can freely use. I know I can sample some of my own stuff (and have) but would also like to use things like ethnic instrument samples, nature sounds and voices etc and don't really have the ability to make my own of those sort of things.

[pw]

I was wondering if there are any free or cheap sample libraries or resources created for sound designers to use as raw material to create synth patches from? Specifically I would like to make a load of patches for the V-Synth but I'm never sure if the samples I have access too (e.g. mainly in various sound libraries for Kontakt, Vokator and Absynth etc) can be used as a basis for patches made using granular resynthesis (which is how V-Synth works) and especially if I wanted to distribute the patches afterwards (which I would if I made enough). They would not sound much like the original samples once I'd finished with them but I still don't know if that is allowed (legally that is) so I'd rather start from something I know I can freely use. I know I can sample some of my own stuff (and have) but would also like to use things like ethnic instrument samples, nature sounds and voices etc and don't really have the ability to make my own of those sort of things.

sure, if you want to email me, I might have some as yet raw, unedited tones you could use for granulating (tibetan singing bowls come to mind).

[morphex]

I don't see why you couldn't program something in Absynth, Vokator or Kontakt, then bounce down the results as audio and import the audio into your V-Synth for further processing and editing. If you're worried about legal issues, I believe the only stipulation regarding using commercial sound libraries to make your own is, you can't use the presets as they are or use the 'raw' sound library to be included in something you plan to create AND distribute. But if you program a cool patch in Absynth or use Vokator to process a sound source, then it's your creation, and you should be able to do with it what you want. Loading up a wave file in the V-Synth gives you a starting point, then just go bonkers from there!!

I think the major companies are beginning to get some competition from forward thinking synthesists and sound-designers like you. I often see posts for free samples to download from KVR members all the time. If you have the patience and time, work hard at creating your own sound library. The worst that could happen is, you don't sell any sample CD's but you've created a personalized sound library that has your unique vibe to it...and loads of original, fresh material that you could use in your own projects. People will be coming up to you and asking, "Man, where did you get those killer samples? Hook me up!". It's very rewarding to use your own synth patches or custom made samples on your tracks. It's one way to stay creative, and odds are, you won't sound like everyone else (unless that's what you're aiming for).

So fire up the 'puter and program some original sounds that you can use with your V-Synth...and please post some results whenever you feel comfortable, I'll check them out for sure!! Happy Programming.

Peace - morphex

[Distorted_Mastermind]

For sound design...."fair use" comes to mind. It is legal to sample from commercial recordings for something like say sound design where the original sound is no longer recognizable or even close to the original sound.
An audio editor is pretty much all that is needed. Try taking a real small chunk of a sound, copy that and then copy it reversed......then copy that a bunch of times to make it longer....stretch it , pitch shift it, add a crapload of distortion. There's so many ways to create sounds......something that makes sound design so cool imo is the unpredictability of it. The way I do it is just start mangling sounds with various effects, sometimes using full sounds, and often just using little tiny portions, sometimes using large chunks sped up to short glitches and always making more than one sound out of the same chunck of audio.
Hope that helps.

[zircon]

For sound design...."fair use" comes to mind. It is legal to sample from commercial recordings for something like say sound design where the original sound is no longer recognizable or even close to the original sound.

Not correct... the law doesn't care if it's recognizable or not. If you don't have the right to use the sound recording and create a derivative work, then it's illegal even if it's just a split second of audio. This was established by the supreme court less than 3 years ago.

[aMUSEd]

I don't see why you couldn't program something in Absynth, Vokator or Kontakt, then bounce down the results as audio and import the audio into your V-Synth for further processing and editing.

Thanks - yeah it's an idea but I would prefer not to start with a synth patch already but with something more "natural" and then transmogrify it

[aMUSEd]

sure, if you want to email me, I might have some as yet raw, unedited tones you could use for granulating (tibetan singing bowls come to mind).

Cheers - done

[aMUSEd]

An audio editor is pretty much all that is needed. Try taking a real small chunk of a sound, copy that and then copy it reversed......then copy that a bunch of times to make it longer....stretch it , pitch shift it, add a crapload of distortion.

Actually you can do all this in V-Synth itself - it has a built in audio editor - you can reverse, make loop points, timestretch, pitchshift, distort, process through 42 different effects etc - pretty much anything really. And then set it up to play back in various ways (forwards, backwards, slow, fast, stuttery, scratched, pitchshifted, filtered etc) using the TimeTrip Pad and DBeams.

[PaulG]

For sound design...."fair use" comes to mind. It is legal to sample from commercial recordings for something like say sound design where the original sound is no longer recognizable or even close to the original sound.

Not correct... the law doesn't care if it's recognizable or not. If you don't have the right to use the sound recording and create a derivative work, then it's illegal if it's just a split second of audio. This was established by the supreme court less than 3 years ago.

Zircon,

I like where you're going with this, but you do realize that the ration of KVR users that are attorneys is, well...

Point being, posting something like this almost automatically warrants some kind of supporting documentation. Could you please reply with some links to some specific pages? Even if it's something simple like from the uspto.gov site?

Thank you for anything you can educate us on. But for now, though, the wording just seems like you're making it up.

Thanks,

- Paul

[zircon]

Fair enough - I know I'm not an attorney, but music business is my major, and the related law is one of my favorite topics. This particular one was something I wrote a paper on.

Here is the summary of the decision:

http://www.joegratz.net/archives/2004/0 ... -sampling/

Or more succinctly:

"[E]ven when a small part of a sound recording is sampled, the part taken is something of value. No further proof of that is necessary than the fact that the producer of the record or the artist on the record intentionally sampled because it would (1) save costs, or (2) add something to the new recording, or (3) both."

The nature of this case revolved around a three note, two second sample. The people using it claimed that the sample was so small and unrecognizable that it was de minimis - a legal concept meaning that something is trivial enough to be unimportant in the eyes of the law. The courts decided that in the case of sampling a sound recording, the de minimis defense is irrelevant. As long as the sampling was intentional, the length does not matter.

[Colonel Flashback]

http://www.galbanum.com/products/archit ... universal/

[AKJ]

Fair enough - I know I'm not an attorney, but music business is my major, and the related law is one of my favorite topics. This particular one was something I wrote a paper on.

Here is the summary of the decision:

http://www.joegratz.net/archives/2004/0 ... -sampling/

Or more succinctly:

"[E]ven when a small part of a sound recording is sampled, the part taken is something of value. No further proof of that is necessary than the fact that the producer of the record or the artist on the record intentionally sampled because it would (1) save costs, or (2) add something to the new recording, or (3) both."

The nature of this case revolved around a three note, two second sample. The people using it claimed that the sample was so small and unrecognizable that it was de minimis - a legal concept meaning that something is trivial enough to be unimportant in the eyes of the law. The courts decided that in the case of sampling a sound recording, the de minimis defense is irrelevant. As long as the sampling was intentional, the length does not matter.

good that not everybody lives in the empire

[AKJ]

in any case you can use these:
freesound.iua.upf.edu/

[morphex]

I don't see why you couldn't program something in Absynth, Vokator or Kontakt, then bounce down the results as audio and import the audio into your V-Synth for further processing and editing.

Thanks - yeah it's an idea but I would prefer not to start with a synth patch already but with something more "natural" and then transmogrify it

aMUSEd - There has always been a particular sound source that I like to start with for making pads and otherwordly noises...water, either running water, the sound of the ocean, water drops in a room with a lot of ambient reverb, even flushing the toilet...okay, maybe that's a bit too far, but you get the idea. Another is the sound of radio static, kind of like when you're almost tuned in to a station but not quite, and you get a combination of stations and frequencies all at once (even though none of it makes any sense).

I'll start out with one of those and cut, chop, edit, reverse, run it through some effects (both software and hardware), then 'glue' it back together and load it up into a sampler where the results can be used as pads, ambient backgrounds, or special effect noises for a dramatic part of a track. The V-Synth is awesome for all of this type of 'experimenting', especially when you can play back the audio using the D Beam and the Time Trip Pad...it's endless madness ahhhhhhhh...okay, I'm better now. I just get a little excited when talking about the V-Synth and sound-designing possibilities. Vocoded ocean waves are really dreamy though, so try it out if it sounds interesting.

I've accumulated a wide range of 'real world' samples by using a portable recorder and a microphone, hopping a bus to downtown (too hard to find places to park, plus I'm being 'earth-friendly'), and walking around town recording things, especially at construction sites...you can find some machines that keep such good timing, I've used them for backing rhythm tracks several times. Oh, it's so much fun being a musician/sound-designer during this time of cutting-edge software and hardware. I hate going to sleep because I usually think of a new idea while I'm just laying there...then I get fidgety and restless. No wonder I have bags under my eyes today, I spent most of the night processing the sound of running water through the effects in both of my Virus synths. I even created a vocoded pad using that sound source, and it sounds great in the track I'm working on right now.

Well, I'm getting a little off topic so I'll stop here. But try using water as a sound source, you'll be amazed at what sounds that along with the V-Synth can produce. Happy Programming!!

Peace - morphex

p.s. - maybe I should switch to decaf...'ya think?

[aMUSEd]

in any case you can use these:
freesound.iua.upf.edu/

Wow! Brilliant site - thanks