# Dan-Jay's Taiko Experiences



## Dan Mott (Jan 12, 2012)

Hello guys

For all you taiko lovers. I don't know if you remember, but a while back I was trying to imitate the BSG Taiko sound and I made many attempts. Sadly, I couldn't really do it with the sounds I had, no matter what I tried. It's really a sound of it's own. So then I tried to just come up with my own type of sound that I'm satisfied with. 

I wouldn't call it "My sound" as such, but I am very pleased with what I have done. Some of you may not like it, but this is the type of Taiko sound I want. DOW2 taikos are the closest in isolation to what I want, but every other taiko library on the market IMO, the taikos are just not right.

So I made an experiment track. I liked how these sounded in isolation, so I decided to see how the final result would sound like in a mix and I think it did quite well. I probably don't want to mention what I used, but I thought I'd show what I've been working on. Lots and lots of EQ was done. My parametric EQ curves looked insane, aswell as I was going insane too.

This isn't really much of a track, but just some instruments I put the taikos with, for a chillout feel - http://soundcloud.com/destaana/experiment


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## germancomponist (Jan 12, 2012)

Dan, this is very cooooooool! You got a great result!

Yeah, experimenting is mostly the way to go. and equing is one of the most important thing, isn`t it?


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## jleckie (Jan 12, 2012)

*Re: My Taiko Experiment*

Dan continues to prove that beyond a doubt - 


he's IS the man.


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## germancomponist (Jan 13, 2012)

I think this thread has earned a bump!

I am very impressed by Dan`s results!


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## Dan Mott (Jan 13, 2012)

Hello Guys

I'm really glad you like what I have done. 

Appreciate it!


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## StrezovSampling (Jan 13, 2012)

Listening on laptop speakers, but that's definitely a nice track! Love the impact of the taikos and the gentle feeling of the electric guitar. Cool!


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## Dan Mott (Jan 15, 2012)

Thanks guys.

I guess the other 300 or so people didn't dig it as much as you guys


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## devastat (Jan 15, 2012)

Really cool track, and love the Taiko sound.


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## wst3 (Jan 15, 2012)

OK, I want to know<G>... what were you using? I don't know that it sounds like what I think a taiko sounds like up close and personal, but it certainly sounds like what I think a Taiko ought to sound like in a mix!!!

Nicely done!


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## Ed (Jan 18, 2012)

Really nice actually Dan, I wish it didnt take you so long and it wasnt so fiddly for you to do.

I wish I could have a library that would sound more like that straight away out of the box, I know it _can_ sound like that. If something can be recorded that way playing live, you can create a sampled instrument that sounds like that as well. 

For example if the magic in BSG's percussion sound is because of Steve Kaplan, I would love it if a developer got him to actually produce a library to sound like that out of the box or provided a special "mix" along with the raw stuff if they must. Its why East West went to Sean Murphy to produce their Hollywood series, because that way they are actually getting the guy to engineer the sound to it the same way he would do it for soundtracks we're always comparing orchestral libraries to.


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## reddognoyz (Jan 18, 2012)

The drums have a really nice powerful "chug" to them, it's what you want the taiko's to do for you and it's a testament to the sound that they don't overwhelm the delicate stuff on top


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## Dan Mott (Jan 19, 2012)

Ed @ Wed Jan 18 said:


> Really nice actually Dan, I wish it didnt take you so long and it wasnt so fiddly for you to do.
> 
> I wish I could have a library that would sound more like that straight away out of the box, I know it _can_ sound like that. If something can be recorded that way playing live, you can create a sampled instrument that sounds like that as well.
> 
> For example if the magic in BSG's percussion sound is because of Steve Kaplan, I would love it if a developer got him to actually produce a library to sound like that out of the box or provided a special "mix" along with the raw stuff if they must. Its why East West went to Sean Murphy to produce their Hollywood series, because that way they are actually getting the guy to engineer the sound to it the same way he would do it for soundtracks we're always comparing orchestral libraries to.



Hey Ed

I'm glad you like it.

I wish it didn't take so long either. It's also very tedious when working with what I've come up with. I wish there was a sound that came out of the box like this aswell, then all you'd have to worry about is writing for them and not fiddling around with velocity sticks, EQ and the problem with tone change as they get louder and softer. It's not quite there, but it's the closest to what kind of sound I'm after. I think these sound pretty good.

So for now. DOW 2 taikos are the only ones in isolation that come anything close to what I want out of the box.


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## devastat (Jan 19, 2012)

Have you tried the Nine Volt Audio taikos (Stickbreakers Vol.2), do you prefer DOW2 over them?


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## Dan Mott (Jan 19, 2012)

devastat @ Thu Jan 19 said:


> Have you tried the Nine Volt Audio taikos (Stickbreakers Vol.2), do you prefer DOW2 over them?



I bought them and I didn't like them. Infact, there was a huge thread a while back about taikos. I think this was before 8dio announced that they were going to do a taiko library. Alot of people got involved with the discussion, including Nine Volt Audio.

I did a review about them in that thread. I most definitely prefer DOW2 taikos over anything on the market. The one thing that's a shame about the DOW2 taikos are that there are only 4 of them! Therefore creating a really small ensemble sound. However, they do manage to sound huge with just the 4 of them which is quite amazing. They are just so tasty. If there were ten of them, including a Daiko, then I think it would be close to perfect.

I honestly deleted the Nine Volt Audio taikos from my HD. I had no use for them because I didn't like the way they sounded and I didn't like the scripting approach.

You know, I have been tempted to do a review and talk about the taiko libraries on the market on this forum, but I think a few developers might take what I say personally, not because they'd care about my opinion, but because it might prevent people from buying their libraries.

I bought DOW2 as soon as I heard the taikos. I'm also confident that Evolution Series could make an amazing taiko library. They might add more instruments to their current library. I put in a request for them to add taikos to the asia section and I dumbek to the middle eastern section. :D.


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## alligatorlizard (Mar 27, 2012)

I find myself looking for BSG-sounding taikos again (again...), so it's good to see this thread! Dan-Jay I think I chatted to you about taikos in another thread ages ago too. 

The Soundcloud link seems dead tho, any chance you could repost? Would be very interested in hearing it.

After spending most of this afternoon trawling through all the percussion libraries I own, decided there had to be some better taikos on the market by now - realised I hadn't checked out DOW2 yet, and from the demo's, this does seem to be more on the money than any other library for the BSG feel. 

As someone else pointed out though, strange no-one's done a taiko library yet that just captures this feel straight out of the box. Here's a plus 1 for a Steve Kaplan produced taiko library, I think it'd get a lot of buyers! In the meantime, I guess I'll be buying DOW2.


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## Dan Mott (Mar 27, 2012)

alligatorlizard @ Wed Mar 28 said:


> I find myself looking for BSG-sounding taikos again (again...), so it's good to see this thread! Dan-Jay I think I chatted to you about taikos in another thread ages ago too.
> 
> The Soundcloud link seems dead tho, any chance you could repost? Would be very interested in hearing it.
> 
> ...




I will post another track up with the taikos.

Also. I'm using DOW 2 and 8dios together, but with a crap load of shaping EQ. I have also used the lower velocities, as the higher velocities on 8dio's start to sound really 'papery' and snappy. I thought that there's no reason for me not to say what I used. So there you go.

There is alot of freq content in 8dios that I don't like. I am also not a fan of that church they keep recording their percussion in. Annoying IMO, it doesn't have a very nice sound to my ears.

DOW 2 taikos are the closest to my ears. Still far from it, but still the closest. It's a real shame they recorded only 4 taikos. If they did 8 or 10, these would be banging. The ensemble is just too small to be playing on it's own.

Patch choices in 8dio's taikos to be layered with DOW2 was just personal taste. Just go through the patches individually and choose one you like. I also think that these could sound better with some synthesis perc programming underneath. 

I think the reason these sounded fine in the mix was because I took out all the muddy content. I don't really think 8dio's fit in a mix out of the box IMO. Most Taikos I hear in the movies sound like alot of low mids have been removed and it sounds really clean.

Post a track later.


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## alligatorlizard (Mar 29, 2012)

Thanks for the extra info - been checking out some more demos from epic taikos & DOW2, comparing them to taikos from various soundtracks (not just BSG!) and definitely finding DOW2 more convincingly cinematic. 

The question now is, do I buy for DOW2, or hang on just a bit longer till someone releases a _really_ big sounding library that doesn't require a ton of eq-ing?

btw, just to move away from the BSG comparisons, here's another of my favourite taiko usages, the end scene form Zatoichi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT5_My6X3w4

again, just a great sound - plenty of low end rumble, and presence, but no muddiness.


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## Dan Mott (Mar 30, 2012)

http://soundcloud.com/destaana/taikos-1

These are the taikos in isolation

Not perfect, but kinda cool.

Hope you like.


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## alligatorlizard (Apr 13, 2012)

Thanks for posting these, only just got around to listening. Definitely sounds nice and big, as you say yourself, not quite BSG, but close!

I've not pulled the trigger on DOW2 yet, for the track I was working on last time I posted I ended up using a combination of Stylus and SD2 (stylus actually has some pretty awesome cinematic sounds if you search enough) - however DOW2 is still very much on the "to get" list.


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