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Dossier
de Presse
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Distribué
par:
CKSDE
&
East West – Amérique du nord, du sud &
Australie
Time & Space – Angleterre & Europe
Media Intergration – Japon
Univers Sons – France
Megamidi – France
Midiware – Italie
Midimusic – Norvège
Metra Sound – Suisse, Allemagne, Europe de l’est
Music Mind – Danemark
|
| XLS The Bass
Appetiser |
Those in search of a wide
selection of original bass sounds would do well
to check out this selection of samples from Swiss
bass demons XLS. This CD is extremely well
presented and recorded, and the accompanying
booklet lists each sample, with suggested
applications. These are only suggestions of
course, but it is nice to have a style reference
when searching for that elusive bottoill end
sound to sit in amongst the other magical timbres
in your mix. There are phat funk and hip hop
basses, new jack and garage sounds, as well as a
wide selection of trance and techno sounds,
providing a selection of original bass sounds for
almost every taste in modern music.
Each one-shot sounds (no loops here), is recorded
at various pitches, and these too are listed
alongside the name and description, followed by
the instrument used, and whether the sound is
stereo or mono. A variety of synths have been
utilised here, from the JD800 to the Oscar, and a
wide range inbetween. Encompassing everything
from a DX7 to and Akai S3200.
Ultimately, in true techno.The
Mix - UK - March 1995
|
| The Bass
Appetiser (sample CD) |
This CD comes directly from the somewhat
oddlynamed plot, Spocksone at Swiss company XLS
Food, whose CDs are currently distributed by Time
& Space here in the UK, There's no mucking
about as far as the contents are concerned; Track
1 dumps you straight in at the deep multisample
end. Seldom has a sample CD been more
straightforward: 98 tracks are given over to one
big bass synth set each, with samples taken at
approximately quarter-octave intervals. Sounds
are extremely well annotated.
The liner notes detail the music style (trance,
techno, and so on), the number of samples (around
10), the source synth, and whether the sample is
mono or stereo. Synths used include the Ensoniq
ASR10, Yamaha CS70 and DX7, Roland JD800, JD990,
Juno 106 and Jupiter 8, Kurzweil K2000, Oberheim
Matrix 12, Waldorf Microwave, the Minimoog,
Roland MKS50, the OSCar and the SCI Prophet 5.
A fine collection of firm favourites, What you
are buying is the sound of these instruments and
the synth programming expertise (and tastes) of a
quartet of Euronationals from France and
Switzerland. Oh, and some extremely sympathetic
engineering undertaken on some of the jewels in
audio's crown. A quick check of the outboard
employed reads like a Who's Who of desirable
audio sweetening - Rupert Neve's Medici and a
couple of Focusrite units get a mention, as do
contributions from Summit Audio, Tube-Tech, GML
and Eventide, among others. Editing was by
Digidesign (isn't it always..,?).
The great thing is, none of the patches sound
particularly affected by this arsenal of
electronics, whose combined value would buy many
decent 24-track studio outright. Certainly,
nothing has been added or taken away that
forecloses any obvious options (no gratuitous
reverb, and no whine either). The sleeve notes
are pretty good, with hints and tips on (for
example) how to use the velocity-to-function on
your Akai sampler to simulate velocity resonance.
But you knew that already, didn't you...?
And the sounds themselves? They cover a wide-range
of modern dance styles, from techno, acid and hip-hop,
to ragga, reggae and jungle. There are no wasted
bullets - pretty much every voice has its place
on the dancefloor. And while the wildest regions
of synth programming are studiously avoided, the
sounds on The Bass Appenser form a pretty robust
collection of sensible-but-with-attitude patches
whose production quality would be hard to beat.
Conclusion: well, I've said it already. This is a
definitive collection of 99 essentially dry and
delicious multisample bass synth sets. Full
patches will not be particularly cheap on memory:
don't expect to get more than a few loaded in at
once when auditioning for your half-finished tune
- The best thing to do is to make up a one-sample
economy version of each patch, so that you can
load in a decent number of bass sounds at once.
Then, once you've more or less decided which ones
are likely to fit the groove, go back and pick up
the full versions.
This is quality product for discerning dance
samplists, and not really too much work either,
unless you want to get into looping. And why
bother?
Wilf Smarties
Sound On Sound - UK - July 1995 |
| Bargain Bassment |
Iransonic Hacker (The
independent News Magazine for Ensoniq Users).
Product: The Bass Appetiser - 98 synth bass
samples on audio CD.
For: EPSs, ASRs, TSs, From: XLS FOOD.
CH 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
I've been writing Hacker reviews of sounds and
samples for quite a while now, and a pattern has
emerged. Most sound sets come with a little
introductory note explaining that this particular
set was put together because nobody else had ever
done the job right and the creators felt that
they better just do it themselves (in one of
those Escher-ian twists our universe is so fond
of, one might come to the conclusion that all of
these sound designers are implicitly insulting
each other). By now, I've learned that most of
these introductory notes lead to sounds that are
perplexingly un-unique. Ah well. So here comes
another, The Bass Appetiser (sic), from
Switzerland's XLS Food, an audio CD with a
library of synth bass sounds. Usual introductory
justification ensues, but, wait -- lookit all
this stuff. Can you spell "comprehensive?"
(Um..."c"...uh...)
I thing it's safe to say, if you're into synth
bass and don't mind doing your own sampling,
you're gonna like The Bass Appetiser. It's a $99.95
collection of 98 synth basses taken from a
variety of sources: JD 800, Jupiter 8, Prophet 5,
DX-7, WaveStation, CS-70, K2000, Matrix 12, SH-101,
Oscar, MiniMoog, XB-2, Microwave Waldorf, MKS-50,
Prophet 600. There are also samples taken from
the ASR and Akai S-3200, themselves samplers (paging
Mr. Escher, paging Mr. Escher...).
Most of the basses here are in mono. The stereo
imaging in the 10 or so stereo basses is often
pretty subtle, though there are a few that are
very stereo. Of course, most of the time, mono
bass sounds are what you're going to want.
The basses provided range from tubby to ripping
to weird to buzzy to tasteful. Some of the sounds
have a resonant filter component.
The Good News.
Well, there's a lot to say in this category.
One of the pitfalls in sampling synths is that
they're such noisy old eusses. The bass sounds
here have been intelligently massaged using the
latest Mac tools, like Digidesign's DINR (As in
"someone's in the kitchen with?" Or is
it, ''Get, I wish it was time for...?"). The
sounds wound up about as quiet as they can be
without losing their intended edge.
One of the things I like best about The Bass
Appetiser that most of the basses are multisample-ready,
which is say that XLS Food offers between 7 and
11 different pitches for each sounds, at
intervals of 4 or 5 semitone. This means you
don't have to stretch notes beyond recognition as
you play up and down the keyboard, and it make
looping really easy. Synth bass sounds usually
work well with short loops late in the sample,
but the catch is that loops that sound good on
one end of the keyboard may sound lousy on the
other. Multisampling spares you the dilemma,
since no sample has to be stretched more than few
notes in either direction, and loops can maintain
the sonic integrity. XLS has also done an
excellent job in matching the multisamples-as you
move around on the keyboard, you've really got to
listen very carefully to perceive that you're
moving front one sample to another.
Good job, XLS.
As far as getting these puppies into your
sampler, well that's also a snap. The reason that
there are only 98 samples is that number 99 is an
alignment tone. Play this track into your sampler
to set your input level so that the peak light is
just flickering, and all the samples should
arrive at usable levels. I found it easy to set
the threshold on my ASR sampling input screen so
that I didn't have to trim the note attacks at
all.
The variety of samples offered is quite good.
It's hard to imagine a usable synth bass stone
XLS Food has left unturned. Some of the sounds
differ from each other only in subtle ways --
perfect for synth bass aficionados. And there are
some low lows here, too. One of the sounds was so
deep, it slipped right past my Sony MDR
headphones; I could only tell it was there by the
valiant efforts the little sub-sonic secret they
were being told. My speakers confirmed that this
wasn't just my imagination -- they produced the
missing notes.
The Bad News.
The bad news is that there's no bad news. Sorry (oh,
wait, is that more good news?).
Conclusion (you saw it coming, didn't you?): The
Bass Appetiser is a great deal if you're the type
who rumbles at the sound of synth basses. There's
a large selection of high-quality, easy-to-sample
sounds, at a very reasonable price. Actually,
it's downright cheap, given how much time and
effort The Bass Appetiser must have taken to put
together. And no sound designers should be able
to whine about not being able to find synth bass
sounds anymore. This is one appetizer that leaves
you completely sated.
Robby Bermar |
| XLS Food - Bass
Appetiser |
|
| The bass
appetiser - CD à échantillonner - XLS |
Produit pour XLS par des fous furieux du
sampling, ce compact s'annonçe comme le premier
d'une longue série, en proposant un large éventail
de sons de basses synthétiques, programmés par
les auteurs, puis multi-samplés en studio (en
moyenne huit échantillons sur deux octaves) soit
en sortie directe, soit à travers des effets
style compression, distorsion.
Le choix des types de synthèse utilisée est très
varié, du numérique à base d'échantillon (JD-800,
WS, XB-2), du sampling (K2000, S3200, ASR-10), de
l'analogique (Juno 106, Oscar, Prophet, Matrix,
CS70, Jupiter 8, SH-101, MS20).
L'ensemble garantit une bonne diversité de
timbres, mais cependant on peut regretter une
certaine uniformité dans le choix des 98 plages
du CD. Par contre, le livret d'accompagnement, en
plus de nous livrer ses conseils d'utilisateurs,
classe aussi les échantillons par style de
musique, que ce soit techno, garage, acid,
underground ou funk. Bien sûr, rien ne vous
contraint à suivre les auteurs dans ce qui est
un simple guide.
Dans l'ensemble, la qualité des sons est plus
qu'intéressante, surtout pour un prix de 490F !
On attend donc la suite avec impatience !
Dominique Zbiegiel
Keyboards - France - Mai 1995 |
| XLS Main Bass
Course |
CD-ROM au format SampleCell / CD à échantillonner.
Comme l'avait annoncé votre fidèle serviteur
dans sa chronique de juin 95, voici la suite du
CD audio "Bass appetizer" consacré aux
basses synthés et fabriqué par Cyber Kitchen
Music Enterprise, alias XLS. D'emblée, on peut
dire que si le premier CD était un coup d'essai
réussi, celui-ci est un coup de maître, Ces
passionnés suisses et français de la synthèse
ne lésinent pas sur les moyens. Tout d'abord,
ils choisissent une vingtaine de synthés
analogiques ou numériques (du SH-101 au JD-990)
sur lesquels ils programment leurs propres
patches de basses. Ensuite, avec un matériel et
des logiciels à faire pâlir tous les musiciens
professionnels (voyez vous-même la liste sur la
pochette !), ils échantillonnent en stéréo (le
plus souvent) une dizaine de notes de chaque
patch avec une qualité optimale. Et enfin, ils
éditent un livret luxueux et détaillé qui peut
faire rougir de honte certains éditeurs, allant
même jusqu'à nous proposer des astuces pour
renforcer le réalisme de nos pillages
"samplesques". Une autre idée géniale
à souligner est celle de classer les sons par
style musical et par synthé : ainsi, vous
trouverez plus vite vos sons techno, trance,
hardcore, disco, funk, reggae, pop etc. Pour une
plus grande compréhension, établissons une
liste des produits XLS. A ce jour, il existe deux
CD audio, "Bass appetizer" et "Main
bass course", qui sont repris dans leur intégralité
dans le CD-ROM disponible pour SampleCelI (sons
au format Sound Designer II); la version S1000
devrait être disponible faisant ainsi la joie
des possesseurs d'échantillonneur, compatibles
à ce format. Pour 490 F (chaque CD audio) ou 1'490
F (la version CD-ROM pleine de 601 Mo), vous
ferez là une acquisition de qualité sans risque.
Dominique Zbiegiel
Originalité : ***
Nombre de samples : *****
Utilisation : ****
Keyboards - France - 1995 |
| Schweizer
Appetithappen |
Die Sampling-CD "The Bass Appetiser"
soll den Tieftonbereich mit einer umfangreichen
Kollektion an Baßklängen bereichern. Das
Schweizer Produktionsteam "XLS Food"
hat sich dieser Aufgabe angenommen.
Unter den rund 100 Multisamples finden sich
Exemplare. für Techno, Trance, Underground,
Garage, Acid, Disco, Pop, Funk, HipHop bis hin zu
Reggae. Die Einteilung in Klangcharaktere anstatt
in Musikstile hätte die Suche nach einzelnen
Samples allerdings enorm erleichtert.
Die Anzahl der Klanglieferanten ist erstaunlich
groß ausgefallen. Vor allem Roland-Geräte
findet man häufig. Neben einem Jupiter-8 sind öfter
die in Technobegehrten Instrumente Juno 106, SH101
und MKS50, die nebenbei einigeTB303-ähnliche
Sounds von sich geben, aber auch der JD800 und JD990
zu hören. Sie alle glänzen mit tiefen,
druckvollen und in der Regel sorgfältig
programmierten Klängen. Die Analogabteilung
rekrutiert sich hauptsächlich aus den bekannten
Klassikern, wie zum Beispiel dem Matrix 12, dem
Prophet 5 und natürlich einem Minimoog. Auch der
monophone Oscar der kleinen englischen Firma
"Oxford Synthesizer Company" liefert
gleich mehrere interessante Klänge.
Im Bereich der jüngeren Synthesizer trifft man
auf den Waldorf Microwave, einen Kurzweil K2000
und am Rande auch auf Korgs Wavestation. Aus dem
Hause Yamaha findet sich außer dem CS70 allein
der DX7, der gerade für brachiale und brettharte
Bässe bekannt ist. Bedauerlicherweise stellen
die gebotenen Kostproben keineswegs die
klanglichen Möglichkeiten des Instruments unter
Beweis. Das gilt auch für eine Hammond XB2, der
man im ganzen nur zwei Register abgewinnen konnte.
Bleibt festzuhalten, daß die meisten Samples
zwar klanglich überzeugen, aber nicht immer den
typischen Eigenklang des jeweiligen Synthesizers
treffen.
Die meisten Baßklänge wurden außerdem nachträglich
mit dem Eventide DSP 4000 oder einem TC
Electronic M5000 aufbereitet. Die Nachbearbeitung
der Samples hätte man aber besser jedem
Einzelnen überlassen und sich mehr auf die
Programmierung der Synthesizer konzentriert.
Positiv zeigt sich dagegen die Sorgfalt bei der
Verteilung der Samples. Die einzelnen Nuten
wurden in der Regel im Terzabstand aufgenommen,
so daß die Multisamples teilweise aus bis zu zwölf
Aufzeichnungen bestehen. Für ausreichendes
Mapping ist also bestens gesorgt.
Insgesamt ist "The Bass Appetiser" auf
jeden Fall empfehlenswert. Wer für seinun
Sarnpler aktuelle und vor allem gut einsetzbare
Synthesizerbässe sucht, wird an dieser CD nicht
vorbeikommen. Zu bemängeln wäre allerdings die
gelegentliche Eintönigkeit des Klangangebots;
die Programmierer haben offenbar eine Vorliebe für
die klassischen Baßtypen.
Im Grunde zeichnen sich fast alle Sounds durch
das Charakteristische Filter-Decay aus. Einige
ausgefallenere Exemplare mit originellen Filter-oder
Pitchmodulationen würden den positiven
Gesamteindruck nochmals unterstreichen. Insofern
gleicht das Produkt von "XLS Food" mehr
der beliebten Schokolade aus Alpenmilch als dem
Schweizer Messer - weniger vielseitig, aber immer
wieder gerne genommen.
XLS Food "The Bass Appetiser"; Sampling-CD;
55 min.; Vertrieb: Metrasound; Preis: Audio ca.
129 DM, CD-ROM (Akai, SampleCell) ca. 298 DM.
Matthias sauer
KEYS - Germany - August 1995 |
| The Bass
Appetiser |
The Bass Appetiser - Genere : Bassi
La prima produzione di XLS Food, nuova
Casa di produzione svizzera distribuita dalla
Metra Sound.
Conoscete gli Svizzeri...scherzi a parte, The
Bass Appetiser ci offre una ottima libreria di
suoni di basso synth: dinamiche eccezionali e
suoni superlativamente densi e pastosi, veramente
qualcosa di speciale.
Adatto per qualsiasi produzione commerciale e non:
la particolarità dei suoni consente anche usi al
di fuori del comune.
Comunque la collezione più completa e definitiva
di suoni di basso per Dance Productions
attualmente in commercio.
La maggior parte dei cento campionamenti sono
stati compressi, equaizzati, tagliati e puliti.
MidiWare Srl - Italy |
| The Bass
Appetiser |
Media Integration Inc - Japan – 1995
|
| XLS Food - Bass
Appetizer |
Audio CD - Cyber Kitchen Music Enterprise
Als je de recensie van The Main Bass
Course in het vorige nummer hebt gelezen dan heb
je al een aardig idee hoc het er op dit plaatjc
gan toegaat. Ook deze cd is gevuld met 98
basklanken van synthetische herkomst en ten
reference tone. De indeling is naar muziekstijl (techno,
trance, acid, furk, disco, etc.) of naar gebruikt
instrument (te veel om op te noemen, zie hiervoor
de vorige editie).
De geluiden zijn in mono en in 5 tot soms 12
toonhoogten aanwezig, waarbij vermeld is welke
noot er gespeeld wordt. De kwaliteit van de
geluiden is opvallend goed en origineel. Hier
heeft blijkbaar iemand gan de synthesizerknoppen
gezeten met programmeertalent en een gned stel
oren. Dezelfde oren heeft de opnametechnicus
gebruikt om tot een optimaal resultaat te komen.
Want mede door het gebruik van topkwaliteit
studio-appararuur zijn de klanken lekker fris,
droog en nagenoeg ruisvrij op het plaatje gezet.
Het assortiment reikt van vet analoog tot
spetterend digitaal, hier en daar wat subtiele,
ingetogen bassen, maar ook een aardig agntal
onbeschoft harde knallers. Voor eik wat wils dus
en ik kan je deze cd net als de vorige van harte
aanbevelen.
MidiMusic – Norway |
| XLS Food - Main
Bass Course |
Audio CD - Cyber Kitchen Music Enterprise
Deze cd uit de Zwitserse Alpen is
bedoeld voor lage tonen-freaks die altijd maar
weer op zock zijn naar aanvullingen op de
synthetische bascollectie. De firma XLS heeft 98
klanken in het plastic gebrand, waarbij track 99
een "reference tone" laat horen waarmee
je het ingangsniveau van je sampler kunt
afregelen.
De klanken zijn voortgebracht door een fijne
serie synthesizers: DX7, Jupiter 8, K2000,
Microwave, MS20, Morpheus, JD800, 01/W, Oscar, SH101,
Prophet 5, CS70, Matrix 12 om er maar een paar te
noemen. De sounds zijn door een batterij studio-apparatuur
heengehaald, - ik zal je de lijst besparen - om
ze zo schoon en spannend mogelijk te maken. Ze
zijn echter zonder galm of effecten dus droog
opgenomen. Om het zoeken makkelijker te maken
heeft men de bassen ingedeeld in verschillende
muziekstijIen: techno, trance, underground, acid,
disco, funk, etc.
Per klank worden er 8 rot 12 tonen weergegeven
met doorgaans een terts afstand waarbij
aangegeven is welke noot er klinkt en of het
stereo of mono is. De klanken variëren van
gewoontjes tot spetterend en de synths zijn
duidelijk mer toewijding geprogrammeerd. Niet bij
alle apparatgin komt echter het eigen
klankkarakter te voorschijn - mocht je daar naar
op zoek zijn - en sommige klanken lijken wat op
elkaar. Ik kan je deze cd best aanraden want er
staan voor het overgrote deel zeer interessante
bassen uit dito apparaten op. Kortom: hongerig
naar fraaie synthibassen? Dan moet je deze cd
zeker uitproberen.
MidiMusic – Norway |
| ExtremFX |
Format : Audio/WAV/AIFF/MP3
 |
Rating : 10/10
(EXCEPTIONAL!)
|
WOAH!
WHAT A collection we have going on here! This is
an amazing resource of samples, spread across
three CDs and what a journey it is. According to
the blurb this collection has been compiled with
video game and TV production in mind, and while
that's a fair assessment, it's good for much more
than that.
CD 1 covers ambience: rain, rumbling storms,
water, alien ambience and amazing sci-fi and
future textures. There's such a diverse range of
sounds and effects and they're all beautifully
crafted and recorded, so much so it practically
becomes an indispensable collection for anyone
into ambient, soundscapes, chillout...
CD 2 moves into slightly less esoteric ground
with a massive collection that samples the sounds
of violence and destruction. Starting with a
series of bullet whistles, gunfire, lasers,
impacts and fist fights, we soon move into
breaking bones, sword fights and explosions
before rounding of the CD with a selection of
bells, weird machines, planes and UFO sounds. CD
3 stays on this extraterrestrial theme with a
collection of alien and robot sounds, engines,
clicks and computers.
The scope this set gives you is stunning. For an
incredible array of incidental sounds, stunning
atmospheres and textures, not to mention robotic
techno madness and effects, look no further.
FUTURE MUSIC
|
| XTORTION |
Two CD Package (Audio CD + Wave CD ROM)
"This CD is packed to the brim with
some of the most hardcore industrial and jungle
samples you can imagine. It's brash, extreme,
vulgar, cheesey, original, utterly tasteless and
hard as nails" -Sound on Sound (UK)
"There are nuances here that the likes of
the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers would die
for. Listening through this CD is pure
inspiration if your tip is industrial techno"
The Mix (UK) |
| XTC FILES OF
HIPHOP |
Two CD Package (Audio CD + Wave CD ROM)
"There are more breaks here than
even the sickest producer could possibly need.
Think Wu Tang and Mo Wax and you're on the right
track. If hip hop's your game this should
certainly be a contender for your next sample CD
purchase" -Future Music (UK)
"Scattered in amongst the rather erratic
running order you can find long orchestral
phrases, horn hits, operatic vocal snatches,
Rhodes grooves, wah-wah guitars, double bass
licks and countless other perfect little bites of
sound that add that ironic depth to any
contemporary hip-hop track."
Sound On Sound (UK) |
|
|
