VIR2 / Mojo Upright Bass

[Piet De Ridder]

VIR2 have released the Mojo Upright Bass.

"With a dynamic range featuring up to six layers, up to eight round-robins, true legato, and an array of superbly designed presets and MIDI grooves, you can take your standup bass performances to new heights. Additional features include speed-dependent articulation switching for note repetitions, the option to select specific bass strings, beautifully authentic vibrato sustains, simulated vibrato based on real vibrato curves for enhanced control, adjustable string buzz, and an FX Suite for full customization.

This exquisite jazz upright bass offers five microphone positions, along with a pre-mixed option to accommodate lighter computer usage. Recorded through the Studer A900 analog console and Lynx Aurora 16 A/D converters at 24bit/96kHz, this instrument is meticulously sampled with eight articulations. These include performable repetitions, a variety of percussive hits on different parts of the bass body for extended creative possibilities, and genuine played chords."




Introduction price: $199, full price: $249. (Owners of other Mojo libraries get an additional discount.)

_

[wst3]

$200 until mid October, another $25 off since I own their Mojo library. It sounds great, I can't make a direct comparison, but I'd say they have outdone even Larry Seyer. But at $175 for a single (although brilliantly sampled and scripted) instrument is going to be a tough sell for me.

I will have to give this some serious thought!

[Lawrence]

Listened on my phone, liked the articulations but it felt somewhat bodiless to me. “course, that was my phone, so I’ll check it out further.

[Piet De Ridder]

As a way of learning to work with this bass, I did a little trio piece with it yesterday.

_

[srkrishnan]

Amazing piece Piet! How do you like this compared to Premier Upright? I would love to know as I'm yet to own an upright bass library.

[Piet De Ridder]

Thanks, srkrishnan!

I still prefer the naked content of the Premier — the raw sound and the character of the sampled instrument, I mean — but there's no arguing with the fact that this Vir2 Mojo is a much more advanced, deeper and better Kontakt-library.

Compared to the Vir2 Mojo, the Premier is a simple, basic even primitive affair. The Vir2 has loads more articulations, multiple microphone perspectives (a.o. very a nice room perspective), tons of useful editing options, .... (The Premier has 3 different microphone channels too, but they're all recorded up close, so placing this bass in a space requires additional software. The Premier's performance scripts are also no match for those of the Vir2 instrument.)

But when it comes to sound & timbre, the Premier remains my first choice. I've never heard a nicer pluck, for instance, in any other sampled bass. The Premier also has got a sort juicy, creamy sound which I haven't heard anywhere else either.

From now on, I'll probably be combining both libraries. The Premier for the main notes and the Vir2 for all the in-betweening and fillings. That's the idea anyway, I don't know yet if it'll work. I used to add the Fluffy Upright — also a good choice (and sonically a bit closer to the Premier than the Vir2) — to the Premier to fill in the latter's gaps and mask some of its weaknesses.

__

[srkrishnan]

Thanks, srkrishnan!

I still prefer the naked content of the Premier — the raw sound and the character of the sampled instrument, I mean — but there's no arguing with the fact that this Vir2 Mojo is a much more advanced, deeper and better Kontakt-library.

Compared to the Vir2 Mojo, the Premier is a simple, basic even primitive affair. The Vir2 has loads more articulations, multiple microphone perspectives (a.o. very a nice room perspective), tons of useful editing options, .... (The Premier has 3 different microphone channels too, but they're all recorded up close, so placing this bass in a space requires additional software. The Premier's performance scripts are also no match for those of the Vir2 instrument.)

But when it comes to sound & timbre, the Premier remains my first choice. I've never heard a nicer pluck, for instance, in any other sampled bass. The Premier also has got a sort juicy, creamy sound which I haven't heard anywhere else either.

From now on, I'll probably be combining both libraries. The Premier for the main notes and the Vir2 for all the in-betweening and fillings. That's the idea anyway, I don't know yet if it'll work. I used to add the Fluffy Upright — also a good choice (and sonically a bit closer to the Premier than the Vir2) — to the Premier to fill in the latter's gaps and mask some of its weaknesses.

__

Thanks so much Piet. I'll check out all these three and make a decision soon. I too like premier's sound when I checked it out a month ago. Need to revisit.