New demo for Bonzo drum kit and ChocolateAudio looking for testers and demos

[Simone]

Hi,

please head to www.chocolateaudio.com/demos.htm (http://www.chocolateaudio.com/demos.htm) and tell me what you think about my latest fatigue.

BTW: I am looking for beta testers, contributors and people willing to help me with the demos of my present and future products. If interested, please PM me with more infos about yourself and maybe a couple of links to your mp3s.

Best regards,

[Leaf]

Very nice sound, Simone! :hp: And a nice price too, 39. Euro right now is around 53 dollars, very affordable.

Regards,
David

[linwood]

Congrats! I'm downloading mine as I type. I don't post too much music around here,but......here's a tune I did using your XL lib. You do great work Simone, I wish you much success.

http://www.bellmusicproductions.com/clientdownloads/lastcall.mp3

oh...and it's the 7C's grand,scarbee cep,and trilogy.

[Simone]

Hi Linwood,

thanks for buying and thanks for posting the tune.

You sent it to me sometime ago (last year I remember...) and I found it lovely.

Thanks a lot for reminding me since I completely forgot about it.

To all the guys who contacted me about beta testing and demoing: I'll answer all of you very soon. Pardon me, but I am moving and I do not have so much time left to dedicate to samples during this weekend.

Best,

[Simone]

Very nice sound, Simone! :hp: And a nice price too, 39. Euro right now is around 53 dollars, very affordable.

Regards,
David

Hi David,

I had to stick with Euros (well, after all I still live in Europe :D) and keep only one list price. Europeans pay VAT on the orders and 'aliens' don't, this is an advantage for people like you! I think about 50 bucks for a detailed drum set with almost 500 MB of samples in so many formats is quite a good deal. :p

Thanks a lot for the compliments anyway.

Best,

[linwood]

Hi Simone,
I'm gonna load your new drums today and give them a spin. Last night I had dinner guest and couldn't try them out. It was all I could do to sneak away from everyone and go up to the studio and log on, find samples, and buy before after dinner coffee was served. Yes, I sent you a link to that tune in last Dec. When ever I get asked about it, the first thing is "what did you use for drums?" or the best, "who's on drums." Thanks again for what all of you guys bring to people such as myself.

... ok, I'm back. Man, they're really good. Love the way they play under the fingers, as usual with your products. Love the hats and snare....and the xstick...fantastic. Can't wait to buy more kits!!

[Simone]

Hi Linwood,

thanks to people like you that make my job joyful!

I'll come up with more stuff later on... don't hold your breath though... it might be a week or a month... or a quarter ;) ... but definitely, I got something up my sleeves.

Best,

[germancomponist]

Hi Simone,

I have bought yesturday afternnon and now played a little bit.

All I have to say is: You have done superb with this librarie! I love this sound!

Best regards

Gunther

[germancomponist]

Linwood,

I am hearing http://www.bellmusicproductions.com/Audio/In_The_Wee_Small_Hours.mp3

again and again..., smile. Very nice!

Best

Gunther

[gregjazz]

Congrats! I'm downloading mine as I type. I don't post too much music around here,but......here's a tune I did using your XL lib. You do great work Simone, I wish you much success.

http://www.bellmusicproductions.com/clientdownloads/lastcall.mp3

oh...and it's the 7C's grand,scarbee cep,and trilogy.

Awesome! Sounds like mid 90's Yellowjackets. ;)

[linwood]

Yellowjackets....No, in my case it would be the Smell-O-Jackets. Thanks guys. You're very kind.

[gregjazz]

Couldn't resist it very long at all, I bought the drums.

[Simone]

Hi Simone,

I have bought yesturday afternnon and now played a little bit.

All I have to say is: You have done superb with this librarie! I love this sound!

Best regards

Gunther

Hi Gunther,

thanks a lot for buying the kit and especially, thanks a lot for the nice comment.

I wish you a lot of fun and good music!

Best regards,

[Simone]

Couldn't resist it very long at all, I bought the drums.

Hi Greg,

let me know what you think.

Any comment is very welcome!

Best,

[kbaccki]

Awesome! Sounds like mid 90's Yellowjackets. ;)

Yeah, definately Yellowjackets... one of my favorite contemporary jazz bands...

As a drummer myself (and a big Will Kennedy fan!) I would suggest adding some "single-handed ruff" accents on the snare to break up some of the monotony of the snare hits. I think that's what they're called. Basically, it's where you play a quick 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-stroke roll with your snare hand, essentially by letting the stick fall on the snare in a controlled manner. The length of the roll depends on what part of the beat you're accenting -- if you're accenting a 2 or 4 then it's a longer roll, if you're accenting an "&" or notes just before/just after a snare hit then the roll may be shorter. To make it realistic programmatically it should generally be treated as a grace note in terms of loudness. For longer stroke rolls the individual hits need to taper in velocity and the time between hits need to get slightly longer (as the gravity slows the stick down). Best bet is to have individual samples for the effect, but you should be able to simulate it with single hits and careful attention to dynamics and duration.

It's a common technique, and might add a lot of realism to the style of drumming your present here along with the single hit grace notes and off beat accents you already have in there now.

While you're at it you could add a little variation on the ride cymbal with some bell accents here and there...

I like your piano playing as well... good stuff...

[linwood]

I totally agree with ya,kabacci! Thanks for the compliment. Some of those things I can do with sticks in my hands but not with my fingers, if ya know what I mean. What's cool about Simone's samples is that I can touch on it, quickly get that idea into DP, and I can give someone like you a clear picture of what I had in mind, the vibe I'm after, then you make it way better at the session, when we find someone to pay for it and anyone who'll listen. I find his samples to be the most musical under my fingers and they help me hear what a tune might be at some point.

[Simone]

Yeah,

kbaccki post is totally true as it is linwood answer... sometimes the keyboard itself is a problem even if the sound is cool and playable... that's the reason I am learning some drumming and got me some percussive midi controllers...

It's so much fun listening to a real drummer play my samples on a Vdrums kit for example... :hp:

I have always thought as samples as a way to better get into the composition side of things and make your ideas get to the real musicians faster. On the other hand it can be a lifesaver to have an inexpensive sample set sub for a real player when deadlines and/or budger are critical.

One fact is that the more I sample the more I enjoy real musicians... my chops as a programmer on a computer are getting worse but I am having more fun with musicians.

Best regards,

[gregjazz]

Hi Greg,

let me know what you think.

Any comment is very welcome!

Best,

Excellent!

A quick jam with it:

http://www.gregjazz.com/upload/bonzo.mp3

Drums: bonzo drum kit, of course
Tambourine: from NS_Kit7
Organ: ORGANized Trio
Bass, Steel String Guitar, Piano, Synth: ManyStation

[ensda3]

Hi,

Here is another tune with some of Simones drums (SID XL).

http://www.brotherinlaw.se/close_and_far_away.mp3

My brother in law is singing, I am doing the rest.

Drums - SID XL
Perc - Stylus RMX
Piano - Yamaha P-250
Bass - Blade bass through EBS-350 amp
Git - Sampled strat through amplitube v1 (not very proud of that one though!)
Strings - Atmosphere
Synth solo - Creamware minimoog emulator (Pulsar II card)

Btw. I have just bought the padkontrol to program drums, any experience anyone? (Haven't had the time to try it with SID XL yet.)

Finally, I just want to sing praise for software developers which focus on the actual expression when playing their instrument. To me, the most important part of the music is in the expression, the playability, the sound quality comes second (but I want that to be high also of course!)

BR
Daniel

[Simone]

Hi Daniel,

thanks a lot for posting this tribute to SID XL...

I am using a Roland pad controller and it's very effective... lots of fun... never used the pad kontrol though... I find most controllers to be very low quality these days... incosistent verlocities, weak mechanics and moving parts... I hope keyboard and controller manufacturers will raise the quality soon. After all there are not just kids with GarageBand (which I love BTW) around...

Best,

[germancomponist]

After all there are not just kids with GarageBand (which I love BTW) around...

Best,

............., smile ;)

[stallings1969]

Old thread, but I needed to add my 2 cents. I purchased the Bonzo kit this morning and, after tweaking the volume/velocity settings, I'm happily playing it on my Alternate Mode Trapkat (http://alternatemode.com/trapkat.shtml). This set will get some heavy use on my weekend gig.

As I mentioned on the Alternate Mode forum, I wasn't sure about the use of LP cowbells and an open kick drum, but everything sounds fantastic. I know Bonham used a Ludwig cowbell for at least part of his career, and I thought his kick was always double-headed with felt strips. Anyone know for sure? Regardless, thanks Simone for not including the "squeak" of the Speed King pedal. Authenticity is great, but there are limits. :)

Dave