# SIPS in the Jazz Idiom



## Big Bob (May 3, 2006)

Now that the initial version of SIPS has finally been released, I thought I might take off my technical hat for a while and have a little fun doing something musical with SIPS. About 4 years ago I got hold of the original arrangement for Bob Crosby's 1938 recording of the March Of the Bobcats and, about 3 years ago, I multitracked myself playing all the parts of this Dixieland Classic (with real instruments). I played it a little looser (with more swing) than the original because, back in 1938, jazz styles still had a lot of the 'chinky-chinky' sound. But, apart from more swing, and of course higher-fidelity, my recording is pretty much a note for note copy of the original, including the Classic Clarinet solo by Irving Fazola.

Since my original motive for writing SIPS was to eventually be able to put my clarinet in mothballs, I thought it might be interesting to see how close to a real clarinet I could get a sampled clarinet to sound. So, I removed my orignal clarinet track from the 'March Of The Bobcats' and replaced my Selmer with a SIPS special :wink: . It didn't turn out too bad and I think maybe I could 'sail it past' a lot of listeners. Now, I'm sure you guys will be more critical but, if you have a little bent for this style of music you might enjoy giving a listen to *The March Of The Big Bobcats.*

http://www.andrewkmusic.com/filearea/SI ... obcats.mp3

I want to emphasize that so far, *only the Clarinet track was done with SIPS*, the other tracks are still as I did them 3 years ago.

My special thanks to Andrew (aka Thonex) for letting me put this mp3 on his web site (I'm just a poor ol' country boy an' I don' have a web site).

God Bless,

Bob


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## Thonex (May 3, 2006)

We know SIPS is a great tool... but your playing on this is great!!!! When there's a good player... nothing beats the real thing :wink: 

You're a multi talented guy Bob!!

Cheers,

T


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## ComposerDude (May 3, 2006)

Bob, really enjoyed this - nice work!

-Peter


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## José Herring (May 3, 2006)

Big Bob @ Wed May 03 said:


> josejherring @ Wed May 03 said:
> 
> 
> > For a sample that clarinet ain't bad. But, it's a sample.
> ...



Well it just so happens that I'm a decent clarinetist and I've been looking for a way to sample my horn for a while. Maybe we should talk.

Jose


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## pdzl (May 3, 2006)

Very nice!


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## Big Bob (May 3, 2006)

Thonex @ Wed May 03 said:


> We know SIPS is a great tool... but your playing on this is great!!!! When there's a good player... nothing beats the real thing :wink:
> 
> You're a multi talented guy Bob!!
> 
> ...


I don't know about the 'good player' part but one thing I hope comes across is that I have a lot of fun doing them :smile: .

Thanks again Andrew.

Bob


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## Big Bob (May 3, 2006)

Hi Jose,



> Well it just so happens that I'm a decent clarinetist and I've been looking for a way to sample my horn for a while. Maybe we should talk.
> 
> Jose


I think we should definitely explore this idea so I sent you a PM and we can kick it around via email.

But, I got to chuckling about your initial response:


> For a sample that clarinet ain't bad. But, it's a sample.


In our minds when we listen to a sampled track that we know is sampled, we often listen for little things that we have come to expect from the 'real thing' and when we don't hear them, we say AHA it's a sample! But that presupposes what we think it should sound like. 

Now I never considered myself a great clarinetist. My main 'claim to fame' has always been playing lots of instruments. But you know what they say about a 'Jack of All Trades'. I bring this up because maybe if you heard my original clarinet track you might actually like the SIPS track better :lol: (IròQ   9 Q   9¡Q   9¢Q   9£Q   9¤Q   9¥Q   9¦Q   9§Q   9¨Q   9©Q   9ªQ   9«Q   9¬Q   9­Q   9®Q   9¯Q   9°Q   9±Q   9²Q   9³Q   9´Q   9µQ   9¶Q   9·Q   9¸Q   9¹Q   9ºQ   9»Q   9¼Q   9½Q   9¾Q   9¿Q   9ÀQ   9ÁQ   9ÂQ   9ÃQ   9ÄQ   9ÅQ   9ÆQ   9ÇQ   9ÈQ   9ÉQ   9ÊQ   9ËQ   9ÌQ   9ÍQ   9ÎQ   9ÏQ   9ÐQ   9ÑQ   9ÒQ   9ÓQ   9ÔQ   9ÕQ   9ÖQ   9×Q   9ØQ   9ÙQ   9ÚQ   9ÛQ   9ÜQ   9ÝQ   9ÞQ   9ßQ   9àQ   9áQ   9âQ   9ãQ


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 3, 2006)

Keyool. The main diff between that and a real one is just the testosterone level - it doesn't quite have the oomph when you push it. But you play the shinola out of that thing.

The Kurzweil samples are still very good, by the way. Those people knew what they were doing even in 1984.


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## Ian Livingstone (May 4, 2006)

awesome stuff Bob - 

[schild=random fontcolor=FF0000 shadowcolor=0000FF shieldshadow=1]and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!![/schild]


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## Craig Sharmat (May 4, 2006)

Nice stuff!

That's a lot of instrument to play, and they sound great.


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## Evan Gamble (May 4, 2006)

I can't believe you played all the instruments-who cares about the sampled clarinet! :smile: 

Sexy trumpet shakes too


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## Big Bob (May 4, 2006)

Thonex @ Wed May 03 said:


> Big Bob @ Wed May 03 said:
> 
> 
> > However, I hate to ask Thonex to host another big mp3 file ...
> ...


Thanks for the offer (and all those homilies too) Andrew but I don't want to take advantage of our friendship or 'wear out my welcome'. Nils already said he'd take this one on, so I'll tap you next time. 

And, now with great trepidation, I post this link to my BigBobcats recording with my orignal clarinet track. The SIPS version was patterned after my original track and I tried to mimic it as closely as I could. So, those of you who thought the SIPS track was deficient in various ways may find the same thing to be true of my original clarinet track. But I always say, 'You Can't Be Superman and Good-Looking Too' :razz: So, apart from whether you like my clarinet playing or not, I'd like to know how close you think I came to matching it with SIPS?

http://nilsliberg.se/mp3/Original_BigBobcats.mp3

And, many thanks to all of you for your most kind comments.

God Bless,

Bob

BTW Just a bit of trivia concerning The March Of The Bobcats. Although well disguised, it's actually a jazzed-up rendition of the old German Song 'Oh Tannenbaum' (Oh Christmas Tree).


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## PaulR (May 4, 2006)

That's bloody brilliant Bob!


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## Mike Greene (May 4, 2006)

The samples would have fooled me. The only thing I might tweak is that the volume is probably too consistent in the solo sections. That's the main difference I hear between the live and memorex versions.

More importantly, as far as SIPS goes, this is incredible as far I'm concerned. The legato phrases would fool me every time. I think it's amazing.

I'm really impressed that you played all the original instruments! And played them well!

And happy birthday, Bob!  

- Mike Greene


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## jamriding (May 4, 2006)

T'riffic!!! Fantastico!!!


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## Thonex (May 4, 2006)

Happy Birthday Bob... according to the icon of the cake with 1 candle, you're only 1 year old you you play the shinola out of that dixieland piece. Imagine how good you'll be when you're 2 :smile: 

Cheers,

T


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## Big Bob (May 4, 2006)

Thonex @ Thu May 04 said:


> Happy Birthday Bob... according to the icon of the cake with 1 candle, you're only 1 year old you you play the shinola out of that dixieland piece. Imagine how good you'll be when you're 2 :smile:
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> T


I tried to get them to put the full complement (one candle per year) of candles on the cake but they said it would sink it to the center of the Earth! :roll:

Bob


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## ComposerDude (May 4, 2006)

I love the new MP3!! Great piece and very cheerful performance.

(And Happy Birthday!)

-Peter


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## José Herring (May 4, 2006)

You did a great job with the mockup then. Seeing how I can hardly tell the difference. I'm half expecting you to come back and say you reposted the mockup to fool us.

But the piece is still swingin' live or memorex.

Jose


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## joaz (May 4, 2006)

Lovely stuff Bob.
Rather awe-inspiring that you play all these instruments so well.
We, in the K2 community should thank our lucky starts that such a hot programmer, comes to it with an instrumentalists perspective.

regards Joe


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## Big Bob (May 4, 2006)

josejherring @ Thu May 04 said:


> You did a great job with the mockup then. Seeing how I can hardly tell the difference. I'm half expecting you to come back and say you reposted the mockup to fool us.
> 
> But the piece is still swingin' live or memorex.
> 
> Jose


I wouldn't do that to you Jose, the 2nd post is my recording from 3 years ago (played with my arthritic joints and all) :wink: . I am gratified that you found it difficult to tell the difference between the original and the SIPS version (even if that means you didn't think my clarinet playing was so hot :oops: ) because it means that I did a halfway decent job of matching the two and that was what I was trying to do.

But, in case you aren't convinced that I didn't slip in a ringer, there are some definite differences (mostly in the solo) that I can still hear. For example the repeating triplets gave my old fingers a terrible time when I recorded the original and when I listen carefully, I not only can hear it but the difficulty I had sounds much more pronounced than I remember it being when I recorded it. In fact, in that area, I think the SIPS version is superior (my sequencer didn't have any trouble at all playing that series of triplets :wink: ) Another pronounced difference is near the end of the solo where the same note is held and then pitch-warped repeatedly before the final riff. There the SIPS version doesn't quite make it. Actually there are lots of little things like this so a very careful listen will reveal that the two versions are different. And, I'm afraid if I had to play that solo today it would sound a lot worse (3 more years of stiffening joints and crooked fingers means my clarinet playing days are swiftly drawing to a close).

However, all this aside, I wasn't trying to show off my playing ability but rather I was trying to see how close SIPS could bring a sampled clarinet toward the real thing in a swinging jazz context. I think it's promising, especially since the samples I had to work with were not the very best one could hope for. But, maybe you and I can change that situation soon.

In any case thank you for your very kind and constructive comments.

God Bless,

Bob


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## Big Bob (May 4, 2006)

Jackull @ Thu May 04 said:


> You are very bless multi-talented person BoB...
> enjoyed the track. it would be great to see if you could develop
> a jazz clarinet lib pack with extensive kontakt scripts.
> good job...
> ...


Hi Jack,
Thanks for the kind comments. And, as far as developing a jazz clarinet lib, that wish may just come true. I keep hoping someone else will do it but it doesn't seem to be happening. I don't know why there has been so little done in the area of Jazz Clarinet sampling but I have suggested it repeatedly to many developers for years now. But as you can easily see, no one seems to have done it. But, since Jose has volunteered to help out with such a project, we may just give it a shot one day soon. (As if I don't have enough to do :roll: ).

God Bless,

Bob


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## Leon Willett (May 5, 2006)

Wow! that swings man. Keep up the good work.


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