I a currently installing the new Abbey Road drums!

MilanPan!c

Can not wait!

The reviews have been spectacular.... but man o' man... 6GB... whew!

Anybody else got these yet?

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/powered-by-kontakt/abbey-road-60s-drums/

the site demos are always ass.. but even they sound allllright.

More very cool info with a video:

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/native-instruments-announces-abbey-road-60s-drums-234332

To cover both classic and contemporary sound aesthetics, users can choose between "vintage" and "modern" microphone setups, and select separate "tea towel" samples for an even more distinctive, punchier sound. A special room microphone configuration was used to fully capture the outstanding acoustic room sound of Abbey Road's famous Studio Two, with the ambience individually adjustable for each instrument.

Some of the gear used:

Classic AKG, Neumann and STC microphones from the studios' famed microphone collection, the exclusive REDD.17 and EMI TG mixing desks and a valve-based Studer tape machine

---

Why can't I edit the title

petermaher

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Can not wait!

The reviews have been spectacular.... but man o' man... 6GB... whew!

Anybody else got these yet?

6gb??? you lucky f**ker, I just finished installing east west quantum leap pianos 268GB!! and it's not great!!!:mad:

MilanPan!c

petermaher wrote: »

6gb??? you lucky f**ker, I just finished installing east west quantum leap pianos 268GB!! and it's not great!!!:mad:

Holy ****e!

I actually really like the newest NI Akoustik Piano... 28GB....

Though I can't vouch for it as a purely solo instrument (haven't really tried), but as part of a bigger recording it's pretty amazing!

I should add... it stores the files compressed, when you load it kit it uncompresses THEN loads... so the actual uncompressed sample size is like 14GB or something.

The room sounds divine!

PaulBrewer

petermaher wrote: »

6gb??? you lucky f**ker, I just finished installing east west quantum leap pianos 268GB!! and it's not great!!!:mad:

Ah Head ?

petermaher

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Ah Head ?

Well installing 268gb is a serious pain in the swiss!! And then having to update it to the latest version.

It's seriously unstable(at first). I'm going to have to really look into matching the set-up regarding voice count, buffer size etc.

As a stand alone application it seems ok but when opened as a plugin it's not at all happy when the buffer size is below 1024. This is on an 8 core mac pro with 9gb ram. I'm sure it's just a matter of adjusting things like voice count, buffer size within the play engine itself etc.... but it's a pain to have to figure it out.

Regarding the sounds, it's amazingly real and all that, far better than any synth i've tried(motif, roland Vpiano, nord stage). The problem is there's huge sub rumble on the room mic's as the sound dies away. When you play a lot of sustained notes the hiss builds up from each sample and it's pretty noisy. If you haven't got the voice count or the buffer size right there are lots of pops and clicks and dropped notes. That can be sorted but the hiss and rumble can't. As a sound within a mix it'll be great but as a solo jo i'd be saving up for the real thing.:rolleyes:

This is all just my opinion, don't shoot the piano player!

eoin5

petermaher wrote: »

6gb??? you lucky f**ker, I just finished installing east west quantum leap pianos 268GB!! and it's not great!!!:mad:

Did you try the gold edition first?

petermaher

eoin5 wrote: »

Did you try the gold edition first?

I didn't. Haven't even read into what the gold edition is about.

tubedude

That looks awesome, I like the compactness of it. 14 gigs is handy. I'd fancy that at only €99. But wouldn't be interested in buying kontakt with it's huge library. I was checking out the site, what's the story with the free kontakt player?

Seamonster

Hey there, how is it going with Abbey Road drums? I am buying a new mac next week and plan on installing Komplete 6 as well as Abbey Road Drums. I heard the demo on the site and it sounds incredible to be honest. Do you have Komplete? Apparently you can install the Kontact free player and use that to play the sounds? Any info would be great, don´t know anyone who using it yet..........thanks in advance!!

MilanPan!c

Seamonster wrote: »

Hey there, how is it going with Abbey Road drums? I am buying a new mac next week and plan on installing Komplete 6 as well as Abbey Road Drums. I heard the demo on the site and it sounds incredible to be honest. Do you have Komplete? Apparently you can install the Kontact free player and use that to play the sounds? Any info would be great, don´t know anyone who using it yet..........thanks in advance!!

Ok, so here's the skinny and it's kind of mixed.

The sound is Spectacular!!! But

the drums are not mapped to GM. So it's very difficult to throw them into a project to a/b etc.

That being said, they are really amazing sounding. Kinda special!

I don't have Komplete but think I have all the components, more or less. I don't really use Reaktor though. But I do use the acoustic pianos an guitar rig. A lot!

All I can say is, for price, passing up the AR drums would be a bad choice. IMO of couse.

tubedude

Just purchased this yesterday, in the process of downloading the files at the moment.
Got the free kontakt player too, which is a good idea to give away, if you're not interested in a big fcuk off sound library that comes with Kontakt. A drummer friend owns the same model Ludwig as in this, so hopefully it sounds as good.

MilanPan!c

tubedude wrote: »

Just purchased this yesterday, in the process of downloading the files at the moment.
Got the free kontakt player too, which is a good idea to give away, if you're not interested in a big fcuk off sound library that comes with Kontakt. A drummer friend owns the same model Ludwig as in this, so hopefully it sounds as good.

Well, the thing about these samples that's amazing is the room sound... And of course all the customisable elements and the quality of the recording of the samples. And the samples.

But the room sounds awesomely different and useable.

Seamonster

Hey Milan, that's great advice! As I can imagine, the sound / ambience of the kit as incredible. A brief history of my set up - used AKAI's for years with Cubase on a manky PC but a few years ago got a small Powerbook and Ableton 6. I compose for a living so have recently decided to get the new Imac 27". What do you mean regarding the GM thing? Does that depend on the sequencer you are using? I was hoping to keep using Ableton, I'm not sure if you use Ableton but there is a application called 'Impulse' which is well cool. I was hoping to use that by just importing the hits etc. into Ableton. Is this even possible????

I have been looking with lustful eyes at the Komplete package, but because I am forking out a bit for the Mac I will have to wait for the full package. What I might do is for the moment just download the free Kontakt Player thingy and just purchase Abbey Road and hopefully use it with Ableton, maybe try and rewire it or something? I'm sorry for asking loads of questions but I am quite new to Native Instruments stuff and you obviously know your stuff!

I had originally thought of just buying Kontakt 4 but I could really use Guitar Rig, that unfortunately only comes on its own or with Komplete. Then I thought of just downloading the free player and buying what I need individually (Choir, Guitar Rig, Orchestra, Abbey Road....) but that would probably cost more than Komplete!

So maybe for the moment, just get free player and Abbey Road......

Again, thanks for the help, its brilliant.

Seamonster

tubedude wrote: »

Just purchased this yesterday, in the process of downloading the files at the moment.
Got the free kontakt player too, which is a good idea to give away, if you're not interested in a big fcuk off sound library that comes with Kontakt. A drummer friend owns the same model Ludwig as in this, so hopefully it sounds as good.

Hey, it seems yerself and MilanPanic seem to know quite a bit about this....I see you downloaded the free player, just a question - do you use this as a standalone unit or are you rewiring it with a sequencer? As you can from my message to MilanP I use Ableton and would love to use Abbey Road with it. Do you reckon that's possible?

Do you have any other Native Instrument packages or just Abbey Road?

Whatever happens, I will defo buy it, astounding drum sounds!

Thanks a million.

MilanPan!c

Seamonster wrote: »

Hey Milan, that's great advice! As I can imagine, the sound / ambience of the kit as incredible. A brief history of my set up - used AKAI's for years with Cubase on a manky PC but a few years ago got a small Powerbook and Ableton 6. I compose for a living so have recently decided to get the new Imac 27". What do you mean regarding the GM thing? Does that depend on the sequencer you are using? I was hoping to keep using Ableton, I'm not sure if you use Ableton but there is a application called 'Impulse' which is well cool. I was hoping to use that by just importing the hits etc. into Ableton. Is this even possible????

I have been looking with lustful eyes at the Komplete package, but because I am forking out a bit for the Mac I will have to wait for the full package. What I might do is for the moment just download the free Kontakt Player thingy and just purchase Abbey Road and hopefully use it with Ableton, maybe try and rewire it or something? I'm sorry for asking loads of questions but I am quite new to Native Instruments stuff and you obviously know your stuff!

I had originally thought of just buying Kontakt 4 but I could really use Guitar Rig, that unfortunately only comes on its own or with Komplete. Then I thought of just downloading the free player and buying what I need individually (Choir, Guitar Rig, Orchestra, Abbey Road....) but that would probably cost more than Komplete!

So maybe for the moment, just get free player and Abbey Road......

Again, thanks for the help, its brilliant.

Hey man, no worries about questions; I'll answer what I can.

First you CAN use Kontakt independently from from anything else (with a MIDI interface ... Keyboard/drums/etc.).

I have never done it personally, but it'll def work.

Most people use it with a sequencer though, which is what I do. To be clear I use a DAW that has a buil. In sequencer which I use to drive Kontakt.

Now, the samples that come with AR are in not individual samples on your machine. NI has developed a new bespoke compression which is pretty extreme. Uncompressed there's 14GB, but on disk it's only 6GB.

To further complicate matters, the samples are stored in several chunks which are 1.something GB.

So not only are they stored in a weird format, but in giant container files.

Pretty much only playable with Kontakt in other words.

But Kontakt is hot ****!

You can really control the kit in a huge number of ways. In many cases you'll load a kit to find 10 different approaches to a single snare and mutiple snares. Plus each drum is recorded with 30 velocity levels. And they're extremely playable and dynamic.

You can basically just open Kontakt in Ableton, then either manually write (with a mouse) or record (with a MIDI interface) your drums/whatever.

Very simple.

Kontakt has a built in mixer for the kits so if you want a super loud snare, panned left, go crazy.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

musch as i like the sound of that kit - SD 2 is far more detialed and flexible , and they have a stock ludwig kit thats as good

tubedude

Had a chance to audition the samples today, and the quality is top notch. I compared the Ludwig samples with my own samples of the same kit I recorded myself, and they're so much better! Which I expected. Still getting to grips with this Kontakt thing though.

Thought about SD2 for drums when I was shopping around, It would be more flexible alright, and has more in it, and is good sounding. But it's also over twice the price and size, that's why this appealed to me. That's a different Ludwig that comes with SD2 also, sounds good but wouldn't rate it the same. I just love the sound of this particular Ludwig. Now I can have beatles drum tone on my recordings! Sweet!

MilanPan!c

I have both SD2 and AR an I use them for different things.

That being said I have yet to hear a SD2 kit with samples that really show off the room and are still usable like the AR kit does.

Plus how many velocity layers does that SD2 kit have...?

Ardent

How does AR compare to Battery 2/3? Are there any advantages/features over Battery?

MilanPan!c

Well, the comparison is a bit hard to make.

Battery is more featured as a sequencer of sorts, no doubt, and the libraries made for it are made to take advantage of that, but...

AR samples are just amazing sounding.

And they won't work with or ever be made available for battery.

Go to the NI site and listen to the sample tracks. Then realise those are sorts crap reresentations of what the samples actually sound like.


I'm impressed by the samples, and am not to bothered if o can't use the more esoteric funtionality of Battery, in this instance.


Hope that helps!

Seamonster

Hey Milan Panic,

Sorry I didn't reply sooner to your invaluable advice on AB drums. I ordered my new shiny 27" Imac last week and will have it in 2 weeks. There is no point even trying to install AB drums into my knackered Powerbook, I can barely even render full tracks with Ableton, hardly any space left.

I think to start off, I will defo buy AB drums and then play it through Ableton with the Free Kontakt player and then in a few weeks get the full Komplete package.

I will keep a regular eye on this thread to see how you guys are getting on, its always good to swap ideas and advice and all the help is really appreciated......good luck with the Beatles-style track!!!

Futureadvocate

Hey guys,

I'm very interested in getting these samples.

The gear i would be using is:

- Protools 8
- Free Kontakt player
- EKit / Keyboard / Mouse to trigger the samples

Am i at any sort of disadvantage using Protools or the free Kontakt player?
Ha anybody tried these samples with an electronic drum kit?

Cheers.

MilanPan!c

Futureadvocate wrote: »

Hey guys,

I'm very interested in getting these samples.

The gear i would be using is:

- Protools 8
- Free Kontakt player
- EKit / Keyboard / Mouse to trigger the samples

Am i at any sort of disadvantage using Protools or the free Kontakt player?
Ha anybody tried these samples with an electronic drum kit?

Cheers.

I really don't know how well PT works with Kontakt...

As far as using a drum kit, you'd have to manuallymap them, but that's pretty darn easy and considering the 30 velocity levels per drum/cymbal this is an awesome kit to play with eDrums.

Still living the sounds... Definitely happy to have them as part of my set up

I'll up a recording I did with them later this week!

Seamonster

I'll up a recording I did with them later this week![/QUOTE]

Looking forward to hearing that!

MilanPan!c

Seamonster wrote: »

I'll up a recording I did with them later this week!

Looking forward to hearing that!

just using em a few minutes ago. Pure room sound.... Man o man.

MilanPan!c

So here's a song that uses the new AR drums... so far they're only substantially used on the verses... and not on the first one.... so... if you go into the tune about a min or so you'll hear them...

as you can tell this is a work in progress...

:P

The vox are just the first first vox repeated 3 times... and there's no chorus vox and it's unmixed, etc. etc.... just upping it so you can hear the drums...

http://www.mediafire.com/?0jjv2gihmjz

If anyone is interested in hearing a more final version let me know... when it's actually finished (at least 2 weeks) I'll up it in the hear my music thread.

(This song will probably be on the Irish single that will be released in the fall... please don't go spreading around copies online... this is really up here so you guys can hear the drums... I'm trusting you to be cool...thanks!)

ZV Yoda

MilanPan!c wrote: »

(This song will probably be on the Irish single that will be released in the fall... please don't go spreading around copies online... this is really up here so you guys can hear the drums... I'm trusting you to be cool...thanks!)

Rather than trust a bunch of complete strangers, why not just post a link that let people listen to (as opposed to download) the tune?... e.g. myspace or http://www.lightningmp3.com ...at least then you don't have to worry so much about it being re-distributed!

I really like your singer's voice - reminds me of somebody, but I can't remember who. Not a bad tune either - can easily hear that fitting into radio playlists.

On the drums, they're a bit undefined for my liking...maybe it's a taste thing, but I like my drums to sound like a real kit. Dunno if these have too much reverb, but they could do with a lot more punch. The kick is a bit flat. The verb on the snare seems very wide & it detracts from the snare transient itself. Also, is there more snare reverb panned to the right than the left?.. might be just my headphones though.

Overall though, nice song. Be good to hear how it ends up sounding.

MilanPan!c

ZV Yoda wrote: »

Rather than trust a bunch of complete strangers, why not just post a link that let people listen to (as opposed to download) the tune?... e.g. myspace or http://www.lightningmp3.com ...at least then you don't have to worry so much about it being re-distributed!

I really like your singer's voice - reminds me of somebody, but I can't remember who. Not a bad tune either - can easily hear that fitting into radio playlists.

On the drums, they're a bit undefined for my liking...maybe it's a taste thing, but I like my drums to sound like a real kit. Dunno if these have too much reverb, but they could do with a lot more punch. The kick is a bit flat. The verb on the snare seems very wide & it detracts from the snare transient itself. Also, is there more snare reverb panned to the right than the left?.. might be just my headphones though.

Overall though, nice song. Be good to hear how it ends up sounding.

Thanks for the thoughts man...

I'm actually not toooooo worried about the song, in this version, getting out there... and I like to trust people... but yeah I suppose I should move it (my label is being a bit annoyed with me at the moment for putting the other track up for download... so I imagine this'll be the last time I do it like this...

Anyhoo... about the drums... Right now, specifically for this thread, I cranked the room sound up... They won't be nearly as verby on a final mix...

shoulda mentioned that...

The snare reverb is particularly panned... at least from memory... could be wrong... will check..

as for the actual song... there's SOOO much missing from this ver... like the choruses and the intro and a bunch of guitars and vox from the bridge-y/solo-y bit...

And the intro is missing... and the guitar from the outro... and some strings...

:P

like I said... just wanted to keep my word about posting some of the drum sounds...

maybe I'll just solo the drums out... turn down the room and post that clip as well..

hmm...


thanks again for the feedback !

-Chris

Seamonster

Hey, had a listen to the track, sounds really nice, especially the hats! Nice tune also, her voice is really nice. well done! Have my Mac ordered, will be arriving in 2 weeks, i'll keep you posted RE Abbey Road!

MilanPan!c

Seamonster wrote: »

Hey, had a listen to the track, sounds really nice, especially the hats! Nice tune also, her voice is really nice. well done! Have my Mac ordered, will be arriving in 2 weeks, i'll keep you posted RE Abbey Road!

Awesome man!

I'll post a link to a newer vers of the song soon.

Yeah the hats sound great... I really had quite mixed luck with hats in SD2... Having great luck so far with AR.

It's kinda funny, the chorus and the bridge are the strongest bits vocally... Can't wait for those to be finished so people can really HEAR the song!

Rockshamrover

Nice tune Chris,

Sounds like a winner to me.

MilanPan!c

Rockshamrover wrote: »

Nice tune Chris,

Sounds like a winner to me.

Hey thanks a LOT!

Wanna record some demos.... :P

MilanPan!c

Newest mix

http://soundcloud.com/the-riot-tapes/eil-newest-version-256879

Aridstarling

Just had a listen there, not really my thing I'm afraid to say.

Is the reverb still cranked on the drums? I'm with Yoda on them sounding far too flat for the type of song it is. The guitars are very messy, but the drums would make a huge difference there I'd imagine. Lovely voice, some wierd things going on at some points throughout the song though, tonal shifts and such, could it be comping from different takes?

Anyway, no need to take my opinion too seriously, as I say, its not something I'd usually listen to.

Ian

MilanPan!c

Aridstarling wrote: »

Just had a listen there, not really my thing I'm afraid to say.

Is the reverb still cranked on the drums? I'm with Yoda on them sounding far too flat for the type of song it is. The guitars are very messy, but the drums would make a huge difference there I'd imagine. Lovely voice, some wierd things going on at some points throughout the song though, tonal shifts and such, could it be comping from different takes?

Anyway, no need to take my opinion too seriously, as I say, its not something I'd usually listen to.

Ian

hey Ian,

thanks for the feedback, seriously!

A lot of these issues will be fixed with a proper mix... Plus the middle section is not vaguely finished!

I agree about the drums, though I am happy with the actual parts,more or less...

I'll DEF re-read this before my next session.

Oh and I actually really like the sloppy guitar. It contrasts nicely with the progammy feel of the rest I think.

I'll post a more completed version later this week and would love to hear if you think I've addressed any of your issues.

Quite Sincerely,
Chris

oh one more thing - the chorus vox and verse vox are intentially produced differently. It's a bit out there, but I think it might suit this song... Anyway, we'll see... Thanks again!



---

To everyone else, isn't the music production part of the board the best place on boards.ie.

I love it in here... Just wish it was a bit more active.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Hey guys, just posted a new version with (TEMP) chorus vox and a first run at the chorus drums.

Let me know what you think... if you want.

Remember, this isn't a final mix or anything... and it's just me and a singer in my kitchen, but....

http://soundcloud.com/the-riot-tapes/eil-r4d10-mix

and a prize to the first person that can tell me what TCA-MMT is all about...

Actually, quite happy with the way this is headed - I wonder if Enya would sell me that castle....

:P

--


Changed the link to an even newer versions. OCDME

sound like Cat Stevens WILD WORLD at the start.
close enough to be worrisome.
( given the "men at work" Down under debacle )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHXpnZi9Hzs

MilanPan!c

DaDumTish wrote: »

sound like Cat Stevens WILD WORLD at the start.
close enough to be worrisome.
( given the "men at work" Down under debacle )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHXpnZi9Hzs

That is bizaare.

I'd never get that, but I'll listen again...

Weird.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

its debateable - agree- but there are similaritys





would you see a similarity between these ?
in terms of the overall feel and second verse of this


second verse of this at 055
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpprOGsLWUo


to first verse of this 016 ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmYcz-ULF0


i think there is a similarity there thats apparent.

MilanPan!c

So I checked and while you do hear a similarity I'm not worried at all. Here's why:

what you are hearing is a similar interval, but only for the first four chords.

And that similar intreval is in, literally hundreds of songs (songs like smells like teen spirit and more than a feeling).

So only the first 4 of 7 follow the same pattern (though they are different chords).

And the melody is wildly different.

They're at very different tempos, have very differen arrangements, etc etc.

I see the comparison, to a point, but they're massively different in a lot more ways then they are similar.

Not worried at all

amazing cacth though! Like I said I never wouldve thought of that.

MilanPan!c

The other thing I'd say about this is that the standard for deeming things to be identical has completely dropped over the years.

Look at one chord change C, D, G.

That is:

knocking on heavens door
sweet home Alabama
the sweater song
closer to fine
paradise city

and that's off the top of my head.

Popular music is full of clones, partial clones, etc.

ludwit

@MilanPan!c

I like the non-soundcloud mix better. But like the 2 of your tunes I've heard so far.

MilanPan!c

ludwit wrote: »

@MilanPan!c

I like the non-soundcloud mix better. But like the 2 of your tunes I've heard so far.

Cool man, thanks.

I'll go relisten to that mix an try and make a best of both worlds ver.

This really was a non-mix, mix.

Trust me, I have dozens of hours more work to do before this puppy will be heard anywhere vaguely public.

Btw, what did you like better, so I can listen for it?

Thanks again!

Chris

ludwit

Didn't like the gap and preferred the vocal level on the first mix in the intro. Preferred the drums also.

MilanPan!c

ludwit wrote: »

Didn't like the gap and preferred the vocal level on the first mix in the intro. Preferred the drums also.

So keeping the first verse more straight and the simpler chorus drums... Hmmmm.... Hmmmm....

I'll think about that.... There was always an in joke that this song was a long series of 'tricks'. I think this last mix amplified those tendencies.

Maybe I'll make a tricky mix and a straight mix and let people fight it out.

Thanks for the clarification and taking the time to seriously feedback... Do you have a band?

ludwit

No I don't, learning how to make music at the moment, using Addictive drums, was interesed to read about Abby road studio.

MilanPan!c

ludwit wrote: »

No I don't, learning how to make music at the moment, using Addictive drums, was interesed to read about Abby road studio.

Cool!

Well AR drums are great... I've barely scratched the surface.

The kit used on this track is the full vintage kit.

I may try switching to the modern kit for the next mix...



PM me when you have a finished song... Love to hear it!

i57dwun4yb1pt8

the melody at the start is not wildly different , and chords mean nothing in most cases - melody is everything .

im just pointing out the potential exists , you cant catch every song - but this one is a fairly well known number so it hit me straight away .

( comes form being an old showband drummer who had to know thouasnds of tunes )

MilanPan!c

DaDumTish wrote: »

the melody at the start is not wildly different , and chords mean nothing in most cases - melody is everything .

im just pointing out the potential exists , you cant catch every song - but this one is a fairly well known number so it hit me straight away .

( comes form being an old showband drummer who had to know thouasnds of tunes )

Well, I guess we'll have to disagree about the melody...

:P

I do appreciate the heads up though, like I said, it never would've occurred to me.

MilanPan!c

Here's a newer version with better drums... I think they're better... this is the AR Late 60s (FULL) Kit with NO ROOM, 25% Stereo OH (mid spread) and 40% Mono OH. + the Direct Mics - Mixed with a small amount of the full Early 60's kit, just direct mics.

Sounds like a lot, but really, it's just adding some tone and presence.

Feedback welcome, but really this is just showing a different side of the drums for the curious.

VVV Look Down for newer version VVV

Rockshamrover

Hi Chris,

Nice drumming. Are you programming the drums or using a kit to trigger the Abbey Road samples?

MilanPan!c

Rockshamrover wrote: »

Hi Chris,

Nice drumming. Are you programming the drums or using a kit to trigger the Abbey Road samples?

That's a huge compliment.

The answer:
Programmed.

Drum programming is something I've always felt I struggled with.... Finally feel I'm getting there.

I used to program drums like a five armed drummer.

thanks again man, much appreciated... I guess I'm a closet drummer.