48h Flash-sale (50-60% discounts) over at Klevgrand

[Piet De Ridder]

There's a 48 hours price drop at Klevgrand, offering reductions of 50-60% on all of their plug-ins (except the latest one 'Revolv').
Little cherry on top: with any purchase you get their "super-heavy premium compression plugin" 'Richter' (usually $69.99) for free.

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[My name is Nobody]

Does anyone have experience with shaka, the shaker plugin?

Is it flexible enough, soundwise and in sufficiently sync with metronome ( not all rhythm based plugins work well when in a bigger project)

[Piet De Ridder]

I’m not a fan of sequenced shaker and tambourine tracks — no matter how many options you get for humanizing the performance, it always sounds wrong to me —, but if you don’t have such misgivings, Shaka is a good choice. Like all things Klevgrand, well thought-out, intelligently designed and solid software.

Here’s a good overview:



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[srkrishnan]

Piet, how is the Jazz kit for one shot? Have you used it? Also please suggest a good jazz drum kit. Thank you.

[Piet De Ridder]

(...) how is the Jazz kit for one shot? (...)

Pretty good, srkrishnan. (You mean the $39.99 Jazz-Kit expansion, right?) Sonically very good, I’d say. Assuming you’re OK, that is, with a jazz kit having a distinct retro/vintage-y sort of flavour — a 50’s-60’s kind of sound —, because this is not a pristine-sounding modern jazz kit.
Also: a bit undersampled as far as the (otherwise great-sounding) hi-hat goes perhaps, but that was to be expected.
Anyway, everything that’s included is very convincing and highly useful (if it fits the idiom you're working in). Which is why I wish there was a bit more of it.

If you want more: a fine choice of jazz kits is what Toontrack’s recent “The Jazz Sessions” (link) can be described as. As I’ve mentioned many times before, I have never been much of a Toontrack fan — their latest, the Elliot Scheiner one, is again something of a minor disappointment to me (for the very same reasons as so many previous expansions were) — but, somehow, “The Jazz Sessions” seems to have managed to pass through TT’s production and rigorous polishing process without getting varnished by that typical Toontrackness which I dislike so much.
So: good sound. Nice rooms. Wide range of mixing options as well. And lots of material to choose from, including some very nice cymbals.

If you already have SD3 (and an interest in jazz and jazz drums), “Jazz Sessions” is an SDX that definitely deserves your undivided attention.

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[srkrishnan]

Thank you so much Piet. Yes I refer to the Jazz kit expansion only. I don't own SD3 yet. I'll definitely checkout the Jazz sessions!

Also do you have any suggestions for kit that sounds like the one in Steely Dan's Aja? Thanks again.

[Piet De Ridder]

Well, on paper, that should have been one of the kits included with Toontrack’s “Elliot Scheiner / State Of The Art” SDX. Scheiner was, after all in part responsible, as co-engineer and mixer, for why “Aja” sounds as fantastic as it does. One of the official “State Of The Art” demos — the first one in the product’s demo-list, also heard during the first 15 seconds of the video below — of the SDX clearly references that part of Scheiner’s many legendary achievements.

I say ‘on paper’ because, to my ears, “State Of The Art” is — inevitably, I suppose — as much a Toontrack product as it is an Elliot Scheiner product. I’m not even sure how much of an Elliot Scheiner product it actually is, because, apart from the fact that the recording techniques have obviously changed profoundly since the Aja-days, session circumstances being very different as well, and that it’s not Steve Gadd behind the drums on this SDX, the Mr. Scheiner of today is (and I say this with the greatest respect and admiration) also different — in a time-waits-for-no-one way — from the man he was in 1976-1977.



What started to bother me, sooner than I thought, when trying to do some work with this SDX, is how quickly I began to find the drums sounding a bit boring. I have no other word for it. I mean, the sonics are stellar, the rooms sound fantastic, but for some reason or other, the drums sound, well, just a bit boring to me. I’m probably overly fussy and unrealistically critical though. (I tend to be when it comes to drums.) The response to “State Of The Art” appears to be almost unanimously *very* enthusiastic.

But again: this is for SD3.

Other than this SDX though, I wouldn’t really know what to recommend for Aja-style drums, I fear. After all, the drum recordings on ‘Aja’ are considered — and rightly so, if you ask me — the ‘nec plus ultra’ of recorded drums (of the analog era). Rarely, if ever, bettered. I can name a couple of what I think are fine acoustic drums libraries, but none that immediately says “Aja”. And, need it be added, of course no sampled drumkit coming out of Kontakt or whatever sample-playback software it is formatted for, is ever going to come close to be a match for what’s captured on that album.

- - -

If we're going to continue talking drums libraries — and I'm keen —, may I kindly suggest starting a new thread about in the Gear section, because this area, New Flash, is intended for news flashes only, not product discussions. Thanks!

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[srkrishnan]

Well, on paper, that should have been one of the kits included with Toontrack’s “Elliot Scheiner / State Of The Art” SDX. Scheiner was, after all in part responsible, as co-engineer and mixer, for why “Aja” sounds as fantastic as it does. One of the official “State Of The Art” demos — the first one in the product’s demo-list, also heard during the first 15 seconds of the video below — of the SDX clearly references that part of Scheiner’s many legendary achievements.

I say ‘on paper’ because, to my ears, “State Of The Art” is — inevitably, I suppose — as much a Toontrack product as it is an Elliot Scheiner product. I’m not even sure how much of an Elliot Scheiner product it actually is, because, apart from the fact that the recording techniques have obviously changed profoundly since the Aja-days, session circumstances being very different as well, and that it’s not Steve Gadd behind the drums on this SDX, the Mr. Scheiner of today is (and I say this with the greatest respect and admiration) also different — in a time-waits-for-no-one way — from the man he was in 1976-1977.



What started to bother me, sooner than I thought, when trying to do some work with this SDX, is how quickly I began to find the drums sounding a bit boring. I have no other word for it. I mean, the sonics are stellar, the rooms sound fantastic, but for some reason or other, the drums sound, well, just a bit boring to me. I’m probably overly fussy and unrealistically critical though. (I tend to be when it comes to drums.) The response to “State Of The Art” appears to be almost unanimously *very* enthusiastic.

But again: this is for SD3.

Other than this SDX though, I wouldn’t really know what to recommend for Aja-style drums, I fear. After all, the drum recordings on ‘Aja’ are considered — and rightly so, if you ask me — the ‘nec plus ultra’ of recorded drums (of the analog era). Rarely, if ever, bettered. I can name a couple of what I think are fine acoustic drums libraries, but none that immediately says “Aja”. And, need it be added, of course no sampled drumkit coming out of Kontakt or whatever sample-playback software it is formatted for, is ever going to come close to be a match for what’s captured on that album.

- - -

If we're going to continue talking drums libraries — and I'm keen —, may I kindly suggest starting a new thread about in the Gear section, because this area, New Flash, is intended for news flashes only, not product discussions. Thanks!

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Thank you so much Piet for the detailed explanation and suggestion. Aja is my all time favourite for Drums. I will check this one out for sure! I will start a thread soon in gear forum to discuss this. I believe I need to get SDX as soon as possible to get these ones.

[wst3]

I say ‘on paper’ because, to my ears, “State Of The Art” is — inevitably, I suppose — as much a Toontrack product as it is an Elliot Scheiner product. I’m not even sure how much of an Elliot Scheiner product it actually is, because, apart from the fact that the recording techniques have obviously changed profoundly since the Aja-days, session circumstances being very different as well, and that it’s not Steve Gadd behind the drums on this SDX, the Mr. Scheiner of today is (and I say this with the greatest respect and admiration) also different — in a time-waits-for-no-one way — from the man he was in 1976-1977.

That is a very interesting, and I think astute, observation. The player matters, especially if he is the late 70s version of Steve Gadd. And yeah, Mr. Scheiner's tastes have changed in the last (let's not say the number please) years.

So I think your analysis is spot on.

My conclusion, however, differs from yours (not a shock). I like this SDX, at least from the demos. I find all of the "personality" libraries to be well done, and they fit my tastes. (Except maybe for Mr. Padgham's contribution. Not to take away from his sound, I was just never a big fan of the 80s sounds in general) I can't wait till the Kramer, and Scheiner, and Fillipeti libraries go on sale, I'll grab them all. For now I get a lot of mileage from Al Schmitt's Decades library.

None of which was expected! I thought the idea of baking in the ears of a specific producer would be terrible. I was wrong.

Now the one library I wish they'd done would be with Bruce Swedien. Especially from his early years. The man had amazing ears!!

[My name is Nobody]

I’m not a fan of sequenced shaker and tambourine tracks — no matter how many options you get for humanizing the performance, it always sounds wrong to me —, but if you don’t have such misgivings, Shaka is a good choice. Like all things Klevgrand, well thought-out, intelligently designed and solid software.

Here’s a good overview:



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Much appreciated!