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LA Modern Percussion - The update is finally here!

Happy LAMP owner here. It really is a game-changing percussion library. Sound is everything. And LAMP has it.

Like a lot of people, I own several percussion libraries. This one is sonically the deepest and most forcefully impactful. The basic patches have a huge amount of options to adapt the sound to whatever you want - the 14 mic combinations and the ability to route them variously to all sorts of FX and modulation - right within the Kontakt instance. You can save that change as a Kontakt instrument and you always have it available. It's totally cool in the Ensemble patches that various mics are most centered around differing drums. For example, in the Taiko Ensemble you can focus on one (or more) drum(s) and work with that isolated instrument. Then decide later if you want to add more drums to your sound for that section of music.

For quick and easy, simply clicking on the presets and choosing the factory presets of Close, MID and Room - each with 4 different levels of dynamics processing on them. You might never really need to go any farther.

As I've said earlier, the current list of multis is very large and has an extremely wide stylistic range. Don't forget to check out the Alts & Roughs disclosure arrow at the bottom of the Multis list. There's just as much material in there as the Multi list itself.


Do I have any issues with it? Well, yes...

- I want more instruments done with the same quality of treatment. Will there be a LAMP2? I can't wait to see snare, timpani, gongs and metals with the same forceful, deep impact.

- I'd also like to see somewhere on the GUI which preset I've chosen. NoamL mentioned this, too.

- I wouldn't mind seeing dedicated keyswitches with short programmed MIDI phrases. We see these in differing styles within libraries like LADD, Evolution Series World Percussion and Master Sessions Ensemble Drums, etc. Just a little something to spark creativity and get a cue going quickly.

Hopefully we'll see some more vids from Ollie. He goes into great detail. Very conversational. His vids remind me of the early walkthroughs of Paul at Spitfire. I appreciated those a lot.

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Thanks for this very thoughtful post, Jack! I'm very pleased that you're enjoying the library so far.

Regarding orchestral percussion - Audio Ollie & Performance Samples are collaborating on a MASSIVE orchestral/choral line of products this year at a world class scoring stage. This will include a large collection of percussion including timps, snares, gongs, tonal, etc. - all the drums you'd expect in an orchestral line and more. Rather than trying to squeeze that stuff into LAMP, we decided to hold off and ensure that we have plenty of time to get it done properly. We also wanted the orchestral percussion to be recorded in the same room as the rest of the orchestra.

I'll look into adding the preset names into the UI when loaded.

As far as midi phrases and grooves go, we've already started building a sequencer into the UI for a future update. The plan is to release groove packs alongside the multi packs. It should take LAMP to a whole new level - we're really excited about it!!

Again, thanks for your kind words. I'll be posting some videos this coming week!

All the best,

Ollie
 
Thanks for this very thoughtful post, Jack! I'm very pleased that you're enjoying the library so far.

Regarding orchestral percussion - Audio Ollie & Performance Samples are collaborating on a MASSIVE orchestral/choral line of products this year at a world class scoring stage. This will include a large collection of percussion including timps, snares, gongs, tonal, etc. - all the drums you'd expect in an orchestral line and more. Rather than trying to squeeze that stuff into LAMP, we decided to hold off and ensure that we have plenty of time to get it done properly. We also wanted the orchestral percussion to be recorded in the same room as the rest of the orchestra.

I'll look into adding the preset names into the UI when loaded.

As far as midi phrases and grooves go, we've already started building a sequencer into the UI for a future update. The plan is to release groove packs alongside the multi packs. It should take LAMP to a whole new level - we're really excited about it!!

Again, thanks for your kind words. I'll be posting some videos this coming week!

All the best,

Ollie
A future free (?) update?
I might actually DO have to look into this. Ugh...got me.
 
Thanks for this very thoughtful post, Jack! I'm very pleased that you're enjoying the library so far.

Regarding orchestral percussion - Audio Ollie & Performance Samples are collaborating on a MASSIVE orchestral/choral line of products this year at a world class scoring stage. This will include a large collection of percussion including timps, snares, gongs, tonal, etc. - all the drums you'd expect in an orchestral line and more. Rather than trying to squeeze that stuff into LAMP, we decided to hold off and ensure that we have plenty of time to get it done properly. We also wanted the orchestral percussion to be recorded in the same room as the rest of the orchestra.

I'll look into adding the preset names into the UI when loaded.

As far as midi phrases and grooves go, we've already started building a sequencer into the UI for a future update. The plan is to release groove packs alongside the multi packs. It should take LAMP to a whole new level - we're really excited about it!!

Again, thanks for your kind words. I'll be posting some videos this coming week!

All the best,

Ollie

Hi Ollie ,

Would've been nice to have the snares in LAMP itself. An epic snare ensemble per se. Please see if this can be done in an update.

FX parameter values are missing in the UI too. I believe these are needed.

If you are building a sequencer, please let it be capable of exporting MIDI as well..

Will the upcoming groove/ multi packs be free? That would be awesome.

Also, when you saying "collaborating this year", do you mean you're hoping to release this year or are you working on it this year? :)

The library sounds awesome btw. Great work!
 
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Regarding orchestral percussion - Audio Ollie & Performance Samples are collaborating on a MASSIVE orchestral/choral line of products this year at a world class scoring stage. This will include a large collection of percussion including timps, snares, gongs, tonal, etc. - all the drums you'd expect in an orchestral line and more.

Ollie

Hi Ollie! This sounds great!
Will these new libraries include a dedicated/descrete Center Channel for true Left, Center, Right mixing (from the Decca Tree for example)? Maybe also a descrete LFE channel for instruments where appropriate?
 
As far as midi phrases and grooves go, we've already started building a sequencer into the UI for a future update. The plan is to release groove packs alongside the multi packs. It should take LAMP to a whole new level - we're really excited about it!!
Hi Ollie, would you be able to confirm is this a kind of thing like is in Action Strikes. i have that library and love it, however your sounds are far superior. Would this be a free update ? That may be enough to tip me over the edge to find the money to buy this. Sounds really great. Great work. Thanks !
 
Hi Ollie ,

Would've been nice to have the snares in LAMP itself. An epic snare ensemble per se. Please see if this can be done in an update.

FX parameter values are missing in the UI too. I believe these are needed.

If you are building a sequencer, please let it be capable of exporting MIDI as well..

Will the upcoming groove/ multi packs be free? That would be awesome.

Also, when you saying "collaborating this year", do you mean you're hoping to release this year or are you working on it this year? :)

The library sounds awesome btw. Great work!

Hey guys,

To answer some of your questions:

We've noted all of your suggestion for UI improvements. Thanks for those.

Sequencer will have Midi Thru and export.

The update will be free.

With the upcoming groove and multi packs, some will be free and some won't depending on scope and people involved. The idea is that we'll be getting some very talented guest composer/producer/sound designers to work on these. Either way the one's that aren't free will be affordable.

If we go back to get snares we might as well go back and get everything else we missed the first time around and release it as LAMP 2. Based on how well LAMP is being received, I'm sure this will happen sometime in the near future but no promises just yet!

Performance Samples & Audio Ollie will be working on a bunch of major releases this year, including the huge symphonic orchestral project. That won't be out until next year, however, our chamber strings library is well under way and might make an appearance later this year ;)

Thanks again!

Ollie
 
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Well, I caved and bought it. Holy Krapola, this thing is immense.

Recording quality is immaculate with full dynamic range and strong transients. Whack on the compression and EQ and you can stun small children at 100 metres.

This really shows in the Multis, of which there are a lot. Multiple drums with EQ, Compression and Saturation and you have instant Hollywood Franchise Movie. There are also a bunch of Multis with a more sound design bent which could be very useful.

How does it compare to HZP? Well, this interesting. The Alan Meyerson mixes in HZP have the same sort of width and punch but its clear that HZP is hamstrung by one thing: Air Studios is NOT the right environment for this sort of percussion. The hall reverb is just too much and there is simply no way of getting rid of it, even in the close mics. LAMP provides so many more mic and processing options that in terms of usability it's not even close.

I couldn't really afford this right now but I'm a very happy bunny. Highly Recommended.
 
Holy Krapola, this thing is immense.
Yeah VinRice,

It already is so deep. Getting the sequencer on board should make it even more powerful. It certainly will make it more usable - certainly for me at least. The sequencer itself is the most interesting part of the upcoming free upgrade. Probably even more than the groove packs. Just a personal preference there. But more multis will be great.

I totally agree with your take that Air Studio is not the best room for percussion. It's the ER's of the room. I have HZ Perc Pro (and Spitfire Percussion) and while it's quite usable it certainly doesn't have the initial solid waveform that gives a visceral punch which can't really be achieved after the initial recording. I certainly like Alan Meyerson's personal touch on the HZP mixes but he had to deal with original samples that were pretty much beyond his control. It's great that he finally got total say in how a perc library should sound - the room, mic, players, instruments.

I don't even want to think about Ollie's other projects now... the guy has 'way too much going on.

There are so many finesse points to learn in this library. I enjoy finding new stuff every time. Here's hoping Ollie makes some new vids dealing with some of these finer details. I just saw the re-issued Don Bodin video review (after Don made a bit of a technical mistake that effected the sound of 3/4 of the original review). In it Don makes some good suggestions for re-doing a couple instruments.

Oh yeah, and LAMP works well with other instruments in a mix.

.

edit: It's too bad that in Don Bodin's new video review that when he went to the presets he didn't bother to click on the Close, Mid and Room presets each having 4 increasing levels of processing. These have the greatest amount of impact. It really would have shown the library in a better light. As the video progressed I kept saying to myself, 'C'mon... click on those!'. I don't think you really get to know how good this lib is until you hear those.
 
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I'm still on the fence.
Do I want this when I already have Strikeforce and the usual suspects like action strikes, damage etc.?
It seems like there's a lot to like.
 
Hey guys,

To answer some of your questions:

We've noted all of your suggestion for UI improvements. Thanks for those.

Sequencer will have Midi Thru and export.

The update will be free.

With the upcoming groove and multi packs, some will be free and some won't depending on scope and people involved. The idea is that we'll be getting some very talented guest composer/producer/sound designers to work on these. Either way the one's that aren't free will be affordable.

If we go back to get snares we might as well go back and get everything else we missed the first time around and release it as LAMP 2. Based on how well LAMP is being received, I'm sure this will happen sometime in the near future but no promises just yet!

Performance Samples & Audio Ollie will be working on a bunch of major releases this year, including the huge symphonic orchestral project. That won't be out until next year, however, our chamber strings library is well under way and might make an appearance later this year ;)

Thanks again!

Ollie

In fact, I very much hope that the official can add Loop rhythm functions, such as: Taiko Creator. I also bought your sound library in the first place. Come on. Looking forward to your update!
 
How are you all dealing with the fact that there are no round robins? I find this very limiting.

The library sounds great, and the one velocity layer per key works some of the time, like for build ups and such. But you can't have repeating hits at the same velocity. So, if you want to do, say, something like what is below, you can't. How are you guys getting along here?
 

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@erica-grace For a passage like that I'd build it using the "Traditional Hit & Roll" patches for the Taiko Ens. The H&R patches are available for Bass Drum Ensemble, Taiko Ensemble & Soloist, Daiko Ensemble, Tom Ensemble & Soloist, and the Shakers. All of those H&R patches have the old school round-robin sampling approach.

Also, for percussion grooves and patterns, I've found that the Dynamic Hits patches work ok when I realized repeating a sample every once in a while isn't very audible. For example a pattern of 16ths could be on keys 7-2-5-3-8-4-5-2, the repeated 5's and 2's aren't very apparent. But it's very important for 7 and 8 to be different samples as they are the downbeat hits and monopolize the listener's attention.

It took some time to wrap my brain around the Dynamic Hits patches but now I really like the control they offer. The only problem is they are mapped diatonically which makes it a real pain to shift patterns up and down. Unless I'm missing something, chromatic mapping would have been smarter. I'm probably gonna end up using the velocity based versions of the Dynamic Hits patches, as it's just easier for me to understand that way of working, but I really really like the guaranteed "X velocity = Y sample" setup. It's like you're printing to audio as you write. Whatever you write, you'll get the exact same thing every time on playback.

I second the impression that there's A LOT to dig into here. I also agree with you @Jack Weaver about the recorded tone of the library. It has a lot of clarity & neutrality in a good way. All those multis that came with the library are good examples of different directions the sound could be pushed, but the out of the box sound is really nice and neutral and the fact that they've sampled different soloists of the same type of drum gives you a ton of control. With some perc libraries it's almost like the samples are samples of the room as much as they are samples of the instruments. Which is great for composers who want the sound of this or that particular hall. Similarly other libraries have curated ensembles of drums, this library has that but then you can break down those ensembles to the individual solo drums. Neat!

In regards to the comparisons with other libraries, the thing that springs to mind is - the amount of material here is so dense and diverse, and frankly, they put so much effort into sampling individual instruments above and beyond the ensembles, that this probably isn't the "fastest" percussion library out there. If you just want to lay down some epic hits or a drum pattern there are lots of libraries that let you press 1 key and out comes 8 bars of some mastered, processed, cinematic-sounding perc groove that you didn't write. No shame, I've done that myself on some 2 AM tracks... but if you actually want to build your ensembles, down to selecting individual instruments, this is a really deep toolkit. There's some legwork involved before even writing anything though. Because just setting up all the hit-roll patches and all the Dynamic Hits patches, to say nothing of the flams, is already pushing 100 NKIs.
 
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There IS a lot to discover.
I see this library as a perc-synth.Very organic sound and tons of sound manipulations available That's What i love. You take one sound and apply X parameters and there you go : X new sounds.
You can basically create every sound you want
One tip....if we don't like the chromatic mapped dyn sounds.....Just add à modulator (bipolar random) that is attached to sample start.....And increase velocity sensitivity to max...And there you go : you have simulated round robins and velocity sensitive dyn hits !!!
I think Audio Ollie is becoming What OT is : a Fantastic company with innovative vsts.
Yeah!
 
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How are you all dealing with the fact that there are no round robins? I find this very limiting.

The library sounds great, and the one velocity layer per key works some of the time, like for build ups and such. But you can't have repeating hits at the same velocity. So, if you want to do, say, something like what is below, you can't. How are you guys getting along here?

Just play them in on the velocity-sensitive keys like any other library, or use the rolls and hits patches. No drummer plays with same velocity on each hit. I like being able to sculpt the dynamics precisely, plus you can double and triple the ensemble size when Massiveness™ is required.
 
can this library be used for small ensemble and intimate stuff ?



Actually I just created a demo for LA Modern Percussion that features mostly all close mics for a very intimate and drier sound. I also used a lot of the solo instruments and stacked those solo instruments to create width but without making it feel 'large'.

The library is actually excellent at not only epic large and roomy stuff but also for that organic and intimate stuff. This is due in part because of the way Alan recorded it but also because Warner Brothers is that sweet spot of not being too big and not too small to where you can really craft the size. And with all the clarity in the recordings you can really bring out detail with the closer mics.

Hopefully my track shows off LA Modern Percussion in this versatile way. It's not just an epic blockbuster library (which it does very well) but it's also able to handle underscore or intimate percussive tasks.
 
@Vin - no, that doesnt work; there is too much of a difference between the velocities, but thank you.

If you use velocity under advanced your DAW will control the the volume of each sample. You can make your hardest hits the quietest. Meaning you can balance out passages. :)

Excuse the mundane-ness of the passage. It's just to show you the volume per hit can be altered.
 

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