The Sound Board

Beat the rush, eh? Performance Samples are offering 30-50% off seemingly everything until November 10th.

https://performancesamples.com

I don't have anything by them, but I read some great reports here from time to time. Anything in particular worth seeking out, folks?

I only have two Performance Samples libraries: the Fluid Shorts I and the Con Moto Violins B. The Fluid Shorts I could easily be without. Despite their name, any part I've ever given them sounds invariably less flowing, less fluid and more chopped up than if I give it to a good spiccato patch from another library ... But maybe I expect something from these samples which they were never intended to give, I don't know. Either way: I never use them.
The Con Moto Violins B is a different story though: very useful add-on to whatever you might already have, in my opinion. Nice timbre, decent sound (despite the occasional rumble or hint of recording debris in the background), truly expressive, and a such fully deserving of the name 'performance samples'.

_

Thanks Piet - the Con Moto series is longs only? What do they mean by “energetic release samples”?

Sounds very nice on the website demos.

I only have Caspian, which I'm quite happy with. The three trombones patch is really great and the whole approach with performance samples is that you can play in your lines without endless noodling. My impression of Con Moto is that it's fairly niche, and I feel Caspian is slightly less restrained in that way because while you can't do chorale brass stuff with it, it can still service passable quieter lines. You might also want to check Cory's videos on Con Moto, Guy, I think he demonstrates what it can and can't do rather well.

I've heard good things about Fluid Shorts II so might grab that. I have Caspian and Oceania and very happy with both. Will probably get Solo Violin A and Con Motos.

Much the same experience here: Fluid Shorts I is simply not the sound I’m after and amazingly, the spiccati from Sonic Implants still do a better job.

Caspian is great in theory and very playable, but again, once I’m in the orchestration it often gets thrown out for something that fits better sonically. (Trombones excepted)

Con Moto Cellos shines. Very expressive, easy to play. If only it weren’t so wet!

Oceania is a godsend on trailers and has never taken more than 10 minutes to pluck in.

In my opinion the biggest problem with PS is the hall; lovely as it sounds it is just too wet for my needs. That and possibly sonic consistency throughout the range. YMMV.

However, there is often talk about the lack from developers to get to that elusive “next” step in samples, and PS is one who has headed in that direction. So if anyone is even mildly interested, this is worth our support.

Oceania & Caspian are both good.

I have Angry Brass Pro and Fluid Shorts as well and those are pretty skippable. There's nothing wrong with them, it's just that I don't really rely on them anymore to do what my main Cinematic Studio strings/brass can do fine. IMO Caspian is better than ABP as well.

I also got the fluid shorts expecting them to offer something new I really couldn't find thus far, which is why they collected digital dust. Con Moto looks interesting, though, and I will take a look at the brass, too!
On the one hand, I think we need more developers like Performance Samples, who try unusual stuff to hit new marks. On the other hand, I would prefer to have a larger library and not just several snippets of articulations all over the place. Well, it probably is a matter of having the fonds to do such a huge library ...

Grateful to everyone's thoughts here. There are a lot of good sounding demos on their site, and some deep discounts too (Caspian is $79 down from $239). I'm not perhaps fully getting what makes Performance unique though, aside from listing the problems and limitations which is kinda refreshing. I still don't know what "energetic release samples" mean. Can anyone shed any more light on why Performance Samples are considered to be doing something groundbreaking?

Guy, in short performance samples are cut from pre-recorded material.

Jasper then extrapolates different articulations in different tempos based on his system of sampling.

So the attacks, legato speeds, short speeds and the release sample speed (timing) is based on those connecting performances.

This in theory gives a better effect compared to generic release samples which are not derived from specific and times performances.

They are inherently locked to the performance you make on the keyboard.


So I think energetic release samples is just to name this effect.

Is it just me, or does anyone else here see a similarity between MusicalSampling's and Performance Samples' approaches and product lines?

Is there a redundancy between Adventure Brass and Caspian or between the Con Moto line and Soaring Strings, for example?

Best,

Geoff

Tanuj Tiku wrote: ↑Oct 27, 2019 4:32 pm Guy, in short performance samples are cut from pre-recorded material.

Jasper then extrapolates different articulations in different tempos based on his system of sampling.

So the attacks, legato speeds, short speeds and the release sample speed (timing) is based on those connecting performances.

This in theory gives a better effect compared to generic release samples which are not derived from specific and times performances.

They are inherently locked to the performance you make on the keyboard.


So I think energetic release samples is just to name this effect.

Thanks Tanuj - I sort of get some of it I guess but it doesn't quite make sense to me. Surely all you can get from that way of recording are specific intervals, releases etc, which are unlikely to coincide with what you play? How does that chopped up specific performance translate to your own performance? (Sorry if I'm being slow).

Geoff Grace wrote: ↑Oct 27, 2019 5:31 pm Is it just me, or does anyone else here see a similarity between MusicalSampling's and Performance Samples' approaches and product lines?

Is there a redundancy between Adventure Brass and Caspian or between the Con Moto line and Soaring Strings, for example?

Best,

Geoff

I have both Caspian & Adv Brass; I think Caspian is a lot better as it has a true hall sound (which you can dial back if you wish). Adv Brass is very dry and the attacks are a bit honky compared to the real thing. I'm not sure who AB is for anymore; maybe if you have an absolute high school student sort of price or RAM limit, but if you don't, CSB does everything better. CSB is just too good compared to everything else that's out there now you never know, maybe JunkieXLBrass will be a lightyear jump forward maybe not!

The thing about Caspian and Adventure Brass is that both of them are recordings of ensembles, that makes them not apropos for triadic kind of writing, only big unison statements IMO. Also they only have one particular kind of attack, especially in the case of Caspian, geared towards broad, long-lined marcato statements with a dramatic feeling. More "Kylo Ren Appears" than "Rebel Fanfare"!

Musical Sampling is a good developer but don't be super tempted by their sales. IMO their two best products are Adventure Strings and Trailer Brass (the latter only if you do super over the top HZ/JunkieXL style scoring or write trailers). Adventure Strings is really nice for when you want a super aggressive string sound but it can only do that one thing - it's like the Oceania of strings I use it A LOT.

Soaring Strings - very skippable. Mural, Sable, CSS, CS2, Afflatus, any one of those can deliver this kind of sound. I like that it has a natural sound on repeated notes but CSS and CS2 manage that as well.

Thanks for the rundown on the lineup, Noam. I appreciate the feedback!

Best,

Geoff

Interesting comment about Soaring Strings Noam - I was thinking about getting this.

Guy, I think you bought Soaring Strings during the last sale - are you using it much?

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Oct 27, 2019 5:42 pm

Tanuj Tiku wrote: ↑Oct 27, 2019 4:32 pm Guy, in short performance samples are cut from pre-recorded material.

Jasper then extrapolates different articulations in different tempos based on his system of sampling.

So the attacks, legato speeds, short speeds and the release sample speed (timing) is based on those connecting performances.

This in theory gives a better effect compared to generic release samples which are not derived from specific and times performances.

They are inherently locked to the performance you make on the keyboard.


So I think energetic release samples is just to name this effect.

Thanks Tanuj - I sort of get some of it I guess but it doesn't quite make sense to me. Surely all you can get from that way of recording are specific intervals, releases etc, which are unlikely to coincide with what you play? How does that chopped up specific performance translate to your own performance? (Sorry if I'm being slow).

In that regard it is not very different from what you get in a normal library.

The performance is already baked in. Your keyboard performance will trigger samples which will playback in a static manner. There is some control but a real performance is only possible with samplemodeling where it is not baked in.

Here is the guess work:

Performance samples has recorded material at three speeds for short samples, covering different notes.

They are then chopped up into a patch. When you play something on the keyboard, it will automatically trigger one of those three speeds.

It’s very much like legato - there is a slow medium and fast patch in most libraries. No matter your tempo, you have only those three options.

OK thanks Tanuj - truthfully I still don't quite get it, but I guess all that really matters is how it plays under your fingers.

kony - I did buy Soaring Strings, timing it perfectly right after a lot of stuff where I would have used it if I'd had it. Since then I haven't needed it once! No regrets though as I don't have anything with that molte molte molte vibrato; so its unique for me.

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Oct 28, 2019 3:09 am OK thanks Tanuj - truthfully I still don't quite get it, but I guess all that really matters is how it plays under your fingers.

kony - I did buy Soaring Strings, timing it perfectly right after a lot of stuff where I would have used it if I'd had it. Since then I haven't needed it once! No regrets though as I don't have anything with that molte molte molte vibrato; so its unique for me.

Guy, in truth, of course even I do not know the proper technical and operational details of his methods.

However, the results do sound very unique and useful. There are many things to like about this approach and I really like that he is trying to do something different. I have been pleasantly surprised by every library I have got from him.

Yes, there are many limitations (as with other libraries) but we already know that. It is a great asset in the mock-up arsenal!