The Irish Concertina You Never Knew You Needed – Sounds and Presets
An eclectic mix of sounds this week, featuring guitars, synths and an Irish Concertina, no less!
I have a friend who says that eclecticism refers to people who just can’t make their minds up. Coincidentally, like our first offering today, she is Irish, and she may well be on to something, as I can’t quite make up my mind which one of these libraries I should pick up first!
Sounds and Presets
Irish Concertina for Kontakt by Edu Prado Sounds
I’m guessing that an Irish Concertina isn’t top of most people’s lists when it comes to sample libraries. It’s very much a one-trick pony. One patch and a bunch of confusing buttons, and you have to learn how to coordinate your squeezing with your playing too.
But do not write this off just yet. The beauty of sampling is that you can capture and preserve unique or less popular instruments for posterity. But you can also take the sounds that they make and use them to craft new sounds that the original would find impossible to do.
EPS have done exactly that. They have captured the Irish Concertina and delivered a wealth of patches that allow you to play the instrument from the comfort of your piano-style keyboard. They have also taken the core Irish Concertina sounds and used them as the basis for new and wonderful sounds that will broaden the appeal way beyond Irish folk music.
There are drones and pads and much more besides, and stuff that you will struggle to believe is a humble Irish Concertina. Perfect for cinematic or ambient pieces, sounds that will transcend their humble origins. I can genuinely see this library appealing to a wide range of musicians.
So if you were initially put off by the fact that it is a sample library of an old wind box, think again and take a punt on this really quite beautiful instrument. You can buy Irish Concertina direct from EPS for just £17.71 GBP, which is around 50% off the normal price. Word of warning, Irish Concertina will only work in the full version of Kontakt, v6.8 and higher, not the free Kontakt player.
Chroma Campfire for Arturia Pigments by Reverb Machine
I’ve spoken before, in this column, about my deep affection and respect for the work of Reverb Machine. Their content is superb and the website is full of not just sound libraries, but tutorials, recreations, potted histories and more. It’s a fantastic site and I urge anyone to support them on Patreon.
Their latest offering is a collection of sounds for the hugely powerful and versatile Pigments 6 from Arturia. Inspired in no small part by Boards of Canada, this collection of 80 presets is an homage to, and celebration of, all the things we love Boards of Canada for.
That means that you will get a raft of ambient, lo-fi, effects-laden sounds that take full advantage of Pigments considerable capabilities. With its large number of oscillator types, modulation possibilities and effects, Pigments 6 is the perfect instrument with which to capture that classic BoC vibe.
But even if you’re not a Boards aficionado, these are hugely useable sounds that will enhance and enrich anything you wish to use them with. Better still, if you don’t own Pigments, but DO own Arturia’s Analog Lab, you can still use these sounds there. You just won’t be able to dig into all the parameters to make them your own.
However, you CAN change things up a bit using the Macro controls. Oh, and you can use these in the free Analog Lab Play too! Bonus! Grab this brilliant set of patches direct from the Reverb Machine website for just €26. And while you’re there, check out the rest of the website. It’s a proper rabbit hole!
Evolution Honey Nylon for Kontakt and Kontakt Player by Orange Tree Samples
As a kid, I would strap an old tennis racket over my shoulders using a pay of braces and pretend, more often than not, to be Paul McCartney whilst miming to countless Beatles tracks on my old portable record player.
The older I got, the Beatles morphed into punk, new wave and more rockier bands, but the tennis racket remained. I always harboured ambitions to play the guitar and when my Uncle gave me his old acoustic, I tried so hard to learn it, but it just never happened.
So when technology can deliver to me a superbly sampled guitar alongside a cleverly scripted user interface that can give me strums, chords and other functions that eluded me all those years ago, I always jump at the chance!
Orange Tree Samples has done just that with Evolution Honey Nylon, a deeply sampled (9.4GB, lossless, 24bit) Spanish nylon strung acoustic guitar and combined it with physical modelling technology that delivers all the articulations and performance techniques to make you sound like the real deal.
I’ve used scripted guitar libraries before, and yet a new one always makes me grin because I’m finally able to get that sound and performance with zero learning and minimal fuss! Yes, I know, it would be more rewarding to do it for real, but ain’t nobody got time fo’ that!
And when it sounds as good as this, why would you bother? Using the Kontakt engine, and available for the free Kontakt Player as well as the full version, Evolution Honey Nylon is also fully NKS compatible. All of this can be had, right now, for a discounted price of $139 USD, down for a limited time from $179.
Funk & Fusion Classics for Prophet REV2 by J3PO
There’s no doubting that Julian Pollack is a talented guy. He is frequently called upon to do sound design work, but he’s also a hugely accomplished player and performer and it was from one illustrious gig that these sounds were born.
Imagine getting a phone call from Herbie Hancock to not only play with him but to play legendary Weather Report Material in tribute to the life of Wayne Shorter. As if that wasn’t enough, Julian was asked to play the late Joe Zawinul’s parts.
Then imagine being asked to join Herbie once more to play with him and the original band who played on Head Hunters at the Hollywood Bowl! Quite the gig, I’m sure you’ll agree! So Julian set about recreating many of those classic synth parts on his Prophet REV2, an instrument he knows incredibly well.
So if songs like ‘Butterfly’ and ‘Palm Grease’ are your thing, and you own a Prophet REV2, this bank is right up your alley! The bank includes 28 presets that fulfil the remit that Herbie laid down to Julian, as well as including sounds that demonstrate more than a passing resemblance to tunes of other funk and fusion luminaries such as Stevie Wonder, Chick Corea and Jan Hammer.
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