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jjj333
Joined: 21 May 2009
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 11:31 am Post subject: Ketron SD2sound module |
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Hi there... you wonderful musicos !
Some time back, I bought that SD2 and I must really say that I fell in love with its sounds. It's almost impossible to get these sorts of quality sounds from INTERNET d/l sites. Apart from that I'm musically very demanding, for I know all too well what a great sound can/should sounds like and anything less is just not making me happy. Only when I get the right sound then this one will do me forever... or longer. Thus, the SD2 delivered quite a number of these hotly desired quality sounds.
I always had a weakness for K. Wunderlich's Wersi and Tyros style sounds (even got a personal letter from the great, late organist). Yet, being a young pensioner, liven on modest income in an underdeveloped country, I have to improvise my musical dreams with homemade gadgets: From Poland I bought a cheap keyboard encoder and so, build my own MIDI keyboard with PC switches from an electronics surplus store.
The thing I did with the Ketron SD2 was quite interesting, though: (A poor bugger's resolution:)
I convert all its interesting sounds to (truly) perfect Sf2 soundfonts and then sold the SD2 again (!) ...of course at a lower price. The difference was the price I had to pay to get my hands onto these great sounds (at least, that's how I justified it to my wife...) What a shame that there is not a way of swapping great soundfonts between Ketron, Wersi and Tyros etc. without having to waste 1000's of dollar on futile sound module hardware!
That's only good capitalists, yet bad for us (mostly poor) musicians.
Also, I earned myself a copy of Live-Styler.de accompaniment, by translating their user manual. Hence that, together with SD2 sounds gets me pretty near the "real Mc Coy". That's certainly one way of getting there cheaply, isn't it?
Maybe I should do the same with some other sound modules? Would you have an idea what other modules I should aim at? The trouble is I'm losing money buying and reselling them.
The seemingly only drawback with SF2 is that it cannot create articulation switches, but SD2 didn't have much of it it either and still sounds convincingly realistic. Besides, I don't believe that the lateral noises and imperfections are really necessary to emulate a known instrument. I prefer the best of tonal quality an instrument is capable to produce and am less keen on its side effects.
Far more important is how effectively volume and tremolo variations are applied. Accordion players (for instance) apply volume and tremolo variations very effectively with the bellow; unlike keyboard players, i.e. wished there would be a similarly effective way for keyboard players. Touch sensitivity and/or after-touch isn't quite the same.
For instance, when I whistle to music (Hear me blowing up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQpI6RsPo8k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNoG4-vowBM ), I apply various tremolo and dynamic variations very efficiently.
Actually, that alone already introduces rich emotional creative values (the soul) into the music. Of course an interesting sounding instrument enhances the overall performance considerably and lends realism. On the other hand, poor dynamic variations merely enhance the "robotics" of a melody.
Greetings, from Joh living down-under in a little town in the Chilean Andes...  |
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Sundog
Joined: 17 Sep 2006
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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Hello Joh,
no, it's not that easy.
Really good wavetables or sound modules have multiple areas, layers and differentiate between sound and fx (like reverb, very important for drums!).
When you re-record it, all this information gets lost and the set sounds worse.
E.g. the group Delirium released some complete banks from a MOTIF XS for SampleTank (I think you can still find it in the web) --> over 6 GB of garbage.
If you really need some good sounds, go either for a MOTIF Rack, or - if you preffer to work with software - a good software sampler (Dimension, Independence, Emulator X,...) with thousands of great voices.
Cheers,
Sundog |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Sundog,
You wrote:
"Really good wavetables or sound modules have multiple areas, layers and differentiate between sound and fx (like reverb, very important for drums!)".
Well, the Sd2 sound module had non of that, yet many of the sounds were convincingly great sounding. Trust me, for I have a good ear, I was given in writing by the great, late organist Klaus Wunderlich.
I prefer the idea of manually adding tremolo and volume variations to a basically great sound to bring it alive.
I used to play the accordion for a decade or so and that's where I learned to do just that. Actually, most instrumentalists apply the same technique. Sure it makes the timbre change as well, but in most cases effective tremolo and volume variations make up for it.
I mean, I'm not really keen on perfectly imitating a sax, for instance. If I want that, then I rather play the sax. Yet, for playing sax on a Synth via a soundfont etc. I'm quite happy with the great sounding sax .sf2 soundfonts, I was able to create from the SD2. |
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Sundog
Joined: 17 Sep 2006
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Joh (assuming you're the guest),
well, if you are happy with the created SoundFonts, then everything's just fine, isn't it?
I don't know this Ketron's sounds. If they are clean enough, then you could create a nice SF indeed. It's just, that you could never do this with a Yamaha XG device for example.
But before spending money for such expensive sound modules, have you searched the web for suitable SFs?
There are many sites (like HammerSound) that offer lots of SoundFonts for free. Perhaps you can easily find what you're looking for...
You could also give a try to some free software samplers, e.g. Independence Free gives you 2GB (!) of really nice voices (especially the Cajóns sound great  ).
Btw, for orchestral sounds, I can warmly recommend Edirol's HQ-OR. Very realistic orchestral instruments with individual articulations and presets for different orchestra styles.
There are also some examples on YouTube.
Regards,
Sundog |
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Joh K. Drinda
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:25 pm Post subject: Ketron Samples |
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Well, I have been chasing up all free SF2 on the Internet and all of that you mentioned, but non were as convincing and realistic sounding as the Ketron Sd. I paid dearly to get my hands on this unit, but it was all worth it, because now I got some truly great sounding Sf2 of which I will never get bored.
The trouble with me is that my hearing and imagination of great, natural sounds is extremely demanding and I get easily tired of boring sounds as soon I hear something better.
They should work wonders in a Roland FR accordions... |
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