Percussion Grooves

[MischaZ]

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MischaZ
Gear interested

Registered: Nov 2004
Location: Minden, Nevada
Posts: 5 World Percussion Sounds

Hi, Folks:

I am fairly new to PAs again, since I last made a living with them in the 60s and early 70s. Anyway I play classical/pop nylon-string guitar and sing. I've worked a fair amount with conga players, which I love, and even with tabla players, which can be wonderful. In performance, I might do a Roy Orbison ballad, a Beatles ballad, Bossa Nova, and then a Vivaldi guitar concerto. I would like to enhance my daily practices via percussion. I have an ancient Alesis SR16, but I don't care for the presets at all, this machine is way too "hyped" for my needs. What I'd like is something extremely diverse, something that would play a basic Calypso, then Rhumba, then Country Swing, etc., etc., with some tasteful, high quality instruments, and I'd like to have tasteful pre-made grooves, I don't want to take lots of time studying the art of percussion and programming from scratch. I have a G5 Mac and Pro Tools LE. I have a CD player that I can put into my PA. I also would consider another drum machine, if it had hand percussion and diversified programming. I do NOT want to spend a fortune here, I don't think I would use this "live" too often, but you never know, of course. Any ideas, folks?

All my best.

Mischa

[Burt]

try this:

http://www.yellowtools.de/cp21/cms/index.php?id=326

yellow tools - culture... 9gb library on DVD.

mine works flawlessly in Pro Tools 6.4 as RTAS


the user area has some pre-made midi-files for each instrument or style...

Burt

[All Souled Out]

I am excited by the upgraded Stylus RMX, and it seems to be the chat of the month over at northernsounds.com where most of the GIgastudio, Kontakt, etc. guys (like me) chat. Seems everyone is getting it, because of the enormous library, and the ability to play a groove back in random patterns that just ROCK! or Jazz, or Salsa! You can even look back at the random patterns and pick ones you like. Interface is quick and intuitive. DOnt own it yet, but I will.

[MischaZ]

Hi, Folks:

So far, I've listened to the Yellow Tools "Culture," and I simply adore the sounds and grooves, many go extremely well with my nylon-string guitar. If I do get Culture, I will certainly need another more mainstream drum program, but I'm now fairly certain that an all-inclusive program is very unlikely. For "mainstream," I'm looking closely at Groove Agent. I downloaded the demo software. You know, I've often been stumped in opening things because I am prompted to provide the name of the program I want to use to open the file. So far, I've never thought of the correct answer. Would anyone be willing to write me offline and explain this?

So... would Culture be hard for a novice to use? All that German on the website intimidates me, so I'm concerned about the availability of full explainations in English, about understanding the interface I would need to learn. The BFD folks referred me to Groove Agent for simplicity of use, which was very thoughtful. I've heard that BFDF sound quality is tops, so I'll probably end up there in a year or so, though. I have fair keyboard skills, and I would love to get into MIDI and orchestration for my stuff as well.

About 20 years ago, I made my first attempt to move from the concert classical venue into a more popular one. I bought a heavy, full size Roland keyboard controller and a few synths, Planet S and Planet P--and the latest and the greatest--an Amiga computer! There was a program called Soundscape that offered unlimited tracks for MIDI, so I installed it and started to program the Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D Major for guitar and string quartet. I played one instument at a time, and guess what... the program had a "bug" that would not let me complete the quartet's score, perhaps 15 minutes of a simple string quartet! Some month's later, I got the fix from Soundscape. Then, I realized that to play the concerto live, I had to set up a PA and the synthesizers and the computer. What a pain! Well, I suffered for a year or so, then sold the stuff and went back to just playing classical guitar and singing. Now, I'm trying again. This time, the quality of sound I can get through a PA is truly coming of age! But I am leary of getting sucked into something that could take the joy out of music again.

Thanks so much for the input, folks. I'll be more careful about staying with high end hardware when posting future threads!

Currently, I'm having problems with my two new S40 Trident channel strips. They have a lot of noise, kind of "vacuum-cleanerish," depending on things like whether or not I'm holding the mike. They oscillate as I move them in relation to each other, and get real nasty near certain other equipment, like my Benchmark DAC1. Has anyone ever owned these units and have any suggestions? It seems odd that both of these strips should be plagued with what appears to be grounding/shielding issues. This is a pain, as I wanted to start my first recording project, and I need top pre-amps for 4 mikes. This leaves me with a wonderful stereo Millennia, but now I'm wishing I had picked up at least 4 channels of this when I had the $ to do so, I'm certainly going to have to wait on a repair or exchange now, at the very least.

All my best,
Mischa