Eben habe ich in meinem Postfach einen dicken Umschlag von Korg & More alias Musik Meyer gefunden. Klasse ! Gutes Service, oder wie unsere bundesdeutschen Freunde meinen “guter Service”… CDs der EXs3 für den OASYS sind professionel verpackt und das “KORG masters of music” Magazin hat sich auch in die Postsendung verirrt. Das freut und das ohne jegliche Häme.
Viewed 9136 times by 1751 visiters
This week was a great one for those who are interested in commercial sounds for KORG’s OASYS. KORG itself released their EXs3 library, KARO their Movie Collection and last but not least another company joined the game. Pro-Sound announced the availability of LD-50. Originally designed for KORG’s LACollection it is now available for OASYS.
Find here their official statement:
Pro-Sounds has announced the immediate availability of ‘LD-50’ for Korg’s LAC-1 synthesizers on the OASYS workstation. Chloridecone, Kasugamycin, Transfluthrin… Go ahead, try and pronounce them, we dare you! And if you think the names are hard, wait until you hear the sounds behind them! LD-50 KLC-OASYS Edition is comprised of 189 programs and 61 combies in PCG format. These new sounds, designed by Electronic Emergency, are some of the most lethal you’ll ever come across for the Korg OASYS LAC-1. The LD-50 Sound-Set comes complete with hard-hitting basses, furious leads, raging sequences, and much more; every preset is designed to bring these classic synths out from the past, and into the future. The bank is available for $24.95. For more information, and to download a free demo set, please visit www.pro-sounds.net.
With a price of $24,95 you cannot do anything wrong .. I guess this could be misunderstood in being no compliment. But go and check their sounds. You will realise that they are very good and worth every cent! It would be great if Pro-Sound is coming up with some more sounds which are adding another “flavour” to KORG’s flagship.
Hopefully in december I will find the time to record a demo, maybe together with KARO’s Movie Collection which is a great addition as well.
Once more thanks to Mr. T-Rex aka Count2Four123 for networking in the background!
Viewed 10737 times by 2505 visiters
Here comes Part II of Eric J. Sawyer’s interview.
EJ2 @ work, have a look at the Monitor
blogasys: Now lets talk about your music, are there any projects you have been working on?
EJ2: Sure. Now, many veteran Karma and OASYS users have been patiently waiting for my next collections to hit the stage, especially OASYS users. So, let me first preface what I want to say with a little history of why and how I found myself becoming a 3rd party sound designer for Korg’s KARMA-fied workstations.
Prior to acquiring my Karma, as I previously explained, I had dabbled in sound designing with various synths from various manufacturers. I never stuck with just the presets. I had to “peel back the layers” to see how far I could push whatever piece I was exploring to create new sounds. But, it never occurred to me that I should be offering my work to others. Not until the Karma. So, what happened?
The “Maroon Monster” as I call it was a godsend. Once I “recovered” from the euphoria that accompanied most of Karma’s combis, I started in on my usual explorations in sound development. I found KARMA technology to be a fantastic labyrinth of sonic possibilities. It was both amazingly wonderful but demanding at the same time. Yet, I kept at it – deconstructing the preset combis, reading the manuals, reviewing Stephen’s FAQs, actively participating in Korg Karma Yahoo (the original Karma group), working late into the wee hours of the morning. Now with 3 empty combi banks - C, D, and F (no EXBs), I had plenty of room for my templates. Appreciating that the task of creating new combis is a very intensive daunting process, I was quite surprised when one of the Yahoo members offered a bank of combis for sale. The Karma was still a new groundbreaking synth workstation with an incredible depth to programming it. After all the sweat I had expired just to create a few decent combi templates (never mind polished models), I thought this was quite an accomplishment. Even though I was somewhat leery, I still purchased this collection mostly because the price was right and I was curious. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. The collection was full of reworked presets. However, it taught me a lesson – I could very well do this and I could do it better. That was impetus to start Double EJ Projects (EJ2 for short).
blogasys: .. thanks - I would have asked you for the explanation anyway!
EJ2: Eventually, a renowned 3rd party developer, Paul Osborn, offered a collection of Karma combis while I was working on my own set. Since they were marketed through Stephen Kay’s Karma Lab, I cast all doubt aside and purchased the inspiring set of grooves known as “Chemistry Volume 1”. Now, that was more like it. Paul and Stephen had raised the bar for other 3rd party developers of Karma combis. Incidentally, you can count the number of designers in the entire world for this synth on one hand; and, as far as I am concerned, only a couple can stand Karma Lab’s standards. Paul’s work was and continues to be my aspiration and inspiration, along with another Karma Lab collection, Scott Raposa’s “Reincarnation”. All the other collections paled in comparison. Most of the other 3rd party Karma producers had little or no clue about how to manipulate KARMA technology in my opinion.
My first commercial collection for Karma was called “EDGES”, a 64 combi set of mixed-genre KARMA-fied grooves. I was quite surprised that it was well received, although I know I cornered only a small share of the market. Nevertheless, all the letters, emails, and other feedback I received gave me the motivation to finish my second collection, “TETRA”. I was hooked on KARMA and developing KARMA-fied combis. In due course, I had developed combi collections for EXB MOSS (“Mosster”), EXB 09 (“TRANZFER Complete”), a jazz collection (EJAZZ), a compilation of my best work (ETM) and various spin offs from all of my work and templates. It was a ton of hard work; yet, it was a labour of love. With each new collection I developed, I learned more techniques to bring into my programming. Because of this, I decided to go back to revisit, revise and improve all of my work, not just for the users of those sets, but for future clients.
Now, at about the time I was completing and distributing my updates, rumors were abounding of a new Korg workstation behemoth – the OASYS – and it was loaded with KARMA 2. Oh, no… talk about incipient gear lust. By the time the OASYS was released at the beginning of 2005, I had already accumulated nearly 4 years of programming experience with the red Karma., and you can just imagine the extreme G.A.S. that was percolating through my innards. Needless, to say, I coveted this beast with a passion. It had Korg’s legendary sound designers’ signatures and Stephen Kay’s latest Karma 2 technology. Did these characters listen or what! And, my predictions back then are continuing to be proved today - I knew that this mammoth flagship was destined to grow. So, when Stephen Kay used to taunt us with a Star Trek quote, “Resistance is futile!” I knew I would cave in sooner or later come hell or high water. It was simply a case of finding the funds/credit to put the OASYS into my hands and into my studio. I reasoned that I would eventually recover my debt and I kept repeating to myself, “So why not do it now.”
As opportunity would have it, I was fortunate enough to finally snag my lovely 76 model in March 2006, thanks in part to Eryk Foss of Sweetwater, Jerry Kovarsky, and Stephen Kay in assisting me with getting over a few initial technical issues. Ever since then, my studio chair has dug its deep impression into the cheeks of my ass … LOL … and my wife thinks I have a secret mistress named OASYS.
EJ2: Now, having honed my sound designing skills on the Karma, it wasn’t long before I was navigating OASYS’ KARMA 2 technology and control surface. What a treasure trove of tools. This was exactly what I had been dreaming of. The OASYS is a sound designer’s paradise, at least from my perspective. To be sure, I had a new set of techniques to learn with the new real time control surface, touch screen, and all tabbed layers and menus to be accessed. However, on September 21, 2006, in both Karma Lab Forums and Korg Forums, I announced a “sneak preview” of a small 32 combi collection for OASYS. I dubbed this set, “ECLECTRIC v 1” blending the words “eclectic” and “electric”. The initial reactions from some of my former Karma clients who had migrated to the OASYS and others were very encouraging.
I promised the OASYS community that I wouldn’t be “charging an arm and a leg” for my collections, sticking to my plan of producing high quality, fully KARMA-fied combi sets for the OASYS community at reasonable prices as I had for the Karma. Twenty-six days later on October 17, I released “ECLECTRIC v 1”, as I assured earlier, at the low price of $32 US. By the way, that works out to be about 2 cents an hour for all the time and sweat I put into developing this first collection. But, alluded to above, it’s truly a labour of love for me.
Well, it wasn’t long after I had delivered ECLECTRIC v 1, that people were clamouring for volume 2. Accordingly, from October until February, I set about completing my next installment in the ECLECTRIC series aiming to produce 4 mini volumes to complete the full 128 combi set. I was very close to releasing volume 2, but fate or good fortune had other plans for my work. First let me sincerely apologize to the OASYS community for holding the delivery of ECLECTRIC v 2 in abeyance and explain the reason for doing so. I think a good many of you will concur with my decision when you find out why.
Now, during this time, as was my practice previously with my Karma sets, I had uploaded my OASYS PCGs to our KARMA Guru, Stephen Kay for his perusal. I knew full well that he had incredible demands on his time, especially with all the new updates, EXis, GUIs, online video guides, the up coming M3, not to mention his ongoing development of KARMA technology and accompanying software utilities. Too many characters want a piece of Stephen (I don’t believe he sleeps.). Nevertheless, I took the gamble that he would, in due course, audition my combis, both for the Karma and OASYS. Just as I was making plans to release ECLECTRIC v 2, Stephen contacted me via e-mail. I won’t disclose the contents of his communication. I’ll leave that for Stephen to reveal when he makes an announcement sometime later in October. Be that as it may, I have no idea what prompted Stephen to load up a few of my PCGs and take them for a test run (so to speak), but he did; and, he liked what he heard. Subsequently, I think I’m safe in saying this, Stephen decided to “take me under his wing”. What a golden opportunity! I feel like the Apprentice to the Wizard of KARMA.
So, now you know. My updated, augmented, and extended collection for OASYS continues to undergo “expert” tweaking by the Master. Stephen has been spending about 4-5 hours on each combi, individually tweaking every aspect including the KARMA, Effects assignments, and mix. I’ve heard some of the finished ones, and they truly are reaching the level of the internal voicing, if not higher! However, as time constraints and other obligations dictate, this is being completed in stages because as we all know, Stephen has many important tasks and priorities to attend to. As with anything that comes out of Karma Lab, my collection will not be released for sale until it is damn good and ready. Since Stephen is the executive producer and editor of my new collection, he has the final say when it’s ready to go. And I agree. We still have much work to do.
The OASYS community is going to be pleasantly surprised with the very cool adjustments and modifications being carried out on my new 64 combi collection which will be released under a new name (TBA). This set will be accompanied by a comprehensive and complete User Guide that will include full descriptions of each combi along with diagrams, charts, and tips etc.
To the OASYS community who have been waiting for my next work, thank you all again for your patience. It will eventually get here, but not until it is top shelf à la Karma Lab.
And for the M3 community, there is good news here as well. I will, with Stephen’s guidance and expertise, make an effort to revoice this collection for the M3. In fact, I’ll be going down to Karma Lab in a few weeks for some one-on-one instruction.
To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart (another Canadian), “This looks like the beginning of a beautiful relationship
blogasys: You really made me curious! But beside OASYS what kind of equipment are you currently using?
EJ2: My main equipment is the following
Korg: OASYS 76, M3-M, Karma (with EXB 05 Vintage Archives, EXB09 Trance Attack, EXB MOSS), Legacy Collection (Analog & Digital) + MS 20 Mini Controller.
Roland: JD800, JD990 with Vintage & Techno expansions, Fantom S, V-Synth XT, R8 Rhythm Composer with all the cards, D2 Groove Box.
Kawai: M8000 88 keyboard controller, 1 x midi in, 4 x midi bus out etc.
Digital Music Corp: MX8 midi patchbay/processor.
Alesis: Quadraverb.
BBE: 422 Sonic Maximizer.
BOSS: BR8 digital recorder.
Yamaha: CDR-HD 1000 CDR’CDR-W compact disk recorder with 20 MB hard drive.
Mixer: Roland M240 24 channel line mixer.
Monitors:
2 MAudio Audiophile BX5 near field monitors
Altec 5.1 Surround Sound computer speakers
2.Acoustic Audio HCD-12 large heavy duty stereo system speakers.
Computers
Main Studio: XP with Hyper Threading technology, 2.5 Ghz, 2 MB RAM, 120 GB HD. I stripped this computer of all the excess Microshit and performed the usual Optimization for music.
Mobile: Lenova Centrino Intel Core 2 Duo, T5500 1.66 Ghz, 980 Mhz, 099 GB RAM..
Supporting the computers, the OASYS and M3-M are a 250 GB USB HD, and a variety of USB flash drives from 1 GB to 4 GB, and various Secure Digital cards from 512 MB to 2 GB.
blogasys: Are there any things you would like to see in OASYS in the future?
EJ2: As I posted recently in Korg Forums, Jerry the K pointed out, Korg does listen. So, when it comes to the debate over the pros and cons of dedicating R&D time and effort to improving the sequencer vs delivering new EXi or EXs, I will continue to speak up for those of us who prefer the latter. However, having said that, I do believe it is time to address those concerns about updating and improving OASYS sequencer.
blogasys: sorry for interrupting you, but I have just posted here on the blog exactly the same thoughts.
EJ2: Another area of interest to me is the ubiquitous and cryptic “Function” button. I can very well see this handling the duties of toggling the Bank Structure to incorporate an A and B series thus doubling our program and combi locations. We are out of space already. I know, once we have those filled, we’ll be griping again. It would be nice, but it’s not crucial because I learned to archive, substitute, swap, overwrite, and basically manage my banks way back on the Karma using floppy disks. USB flash drives are a treat by comparison.
Now, in keeping with my thirst for sounds, I’d love to see Korg develop something similar to Roland’s VariPhrase technology to allow for time stretching and “elastic synthesis”. Along with that, a full blown vocal processor similar to the VC-2 card for the V-synth and within the V-Synth XT would probably have me considering a quick eBay transaction to sell my XT.
Whether through EXi or EXs, we really need a host of traditional ethnic/world sounds and rhythms – balalaikas to bagpipes, duduks to shofars, bodhrans to djembes, and don’t forget voices – Gregorian chanting, Arabic trills, Bhuddist growls, First Nations Pow Wow vocals, etc. I might add that I would strongly push for the ability to manipulate ethnic scales individually within each timbre of a combi. Currently, we can only set the scale globally. With my suggestion, you could have that lovely Shanai playing a non-western scale without affecting the other timbres. That would be truly icing on the already fantastic OASYS cake.
blogasys: Let’s come back to your sounds. Can you please give us some insight into your work, what you exactly did, how long it took to design them?
EJ2: Developing “fully KARMA-fied’ combis is a very painstaking, detailed set of processes no matter which route I take – starting from scratch, working from templates, or completely reworking what I have developed. In some cases, it’s a serendipitous exploration as in the case of my LAC-1 combi, “The Dark Side” in other cases, it’s deliberately planned and developed as happened when I designed my free Arabic combi, “Maqam”.
Here are some examples:
000 Catalyst - Synth - 124 bpm
This combi presents a moderately paced ambient techno groove powered by three complimentary drum grooves. The KARMA Scenes provide different combinations of the drum grooves - Scene 1 removes all drums and leaves just the percolating polysix synth as accompaniment, while Scene 8 culminates with a powerful drum breakdown. A cinematic layered choir is provided in the LH area from B4 down, with suboctave bass synth being added from E2 down, while the RH provides a powerful analog synth lead. Striking the lead at high velocity once the drums are running will retrigger the drum goove for interesting accents. The Vector JS provides a further means of mixing between the different modules and the choir.
012 The Dark Side [LAC-1] - LeadSplits - 098 bpm
As the last part of the title suggests, this combi was specifically designed to capitalize on the luscious sounds from Legacy Collection EXi LAC-1. In fact, 9 of the 11 timbres in this combi are LAC-1 programs. These are strategically complimented by the punchy HD-1 Trance Kit drums and a beautiful distorted feedback guitar from EXi-STR-1 which is driven by the versatile Pink Guitar 2 GE reminiscent of some of Chris Isaak’s slower expressive picking. Also, as the title suggests, this combi presents a set of dark and moody riffs and progressions which are artistically altered with the various KARMA Scenes. With KARMA running, pull back on JS-Y to induce a raunchy modulation to the Thick Synth Bass. Touching or sliding left on the ribbon control muffles the drums and bass. This evocative combi easily lends itself to dramatic television or movie sound tracks.
053 Romulan House - Synth - 098 bpm
Just right for your next Star Trek episode, this science fiction sound layers two beautiful slow synth pads for the left hand – Paddylicious and Combination Filters, a really great sound with washing filters ebbing and flowing. Two layered vocal programs supply the mysterious sounding female Romulan chorus in the right hand. Driven by the Simple Euro Bass GE, the 3 Way Scat Voices provide an unusual pulsing vox sound. A standard back beat works a cool FM Bass. With a hiphop GE the house drums kit keeps this combi’s rhythm on track. Tripping through most scenes is an maj/min organ GE operating on a sharp saw lead set to poly setting.
These audio demos are straight combis recorded live into the sequencer, bounced to wav, then rendered to mp3 in my computer. No post production or editing has been done other than the fade out. All sounds are played from the keyboard, chord triggers, and KARMA Scenes live in real time. Nothing more. That’s the beauty of a fully KARMA-fied combi - they’re ready to load into the sequencer, then all you need to do is hit the Stop/Start button and start jamming away.
blogasys: How do you start?
EJ2: For most of my designs, it’s a little of both – I have an idea of what I want to do, but more often than not, I stumble on something quite unique, so I pursue it to completion. Now, I should say that not everything I work on continues to become a published product. A good many templates get stored in the “junk drawer”. Sometimes, I’ll dig out a few to rework them, but in many instances they’re quite buggered to be able to wring out something worthwhile. When that happens, I just delete them and start from scratch.
When I approach building a combi with a particular genre or theme in mind, I call upon my understanding of programs and the GEs I think will best bring out what I’m looking for. By the way, I’ve been building this knowledge base of Korg’s programs and KARMA’s GEs for over 6 years now. Yet, I still manage to discover an unusual way to link a particular sound with an unexpected GE. That comes from a willingness to experiment, even though oft times the progression leads to the “Junk Drawer”.
The beauty of the Karma, OASYS, or M3 is that you can lay out your sounds in any timbre location you want. Often, I will put my synth or orchestral pads in the first three timbres, setting them to Gch and zoned C1 to B3 or B4, depending on where I want my lead voices. Next I will layer my leads in the next two or three timbre slots setting those also to Gch and zoning them C4 or C5 to G9. If I want any additional lead sounds, I may truncate the first set of leads at B7 or B8 and drop the next sounds into the next timbre slots setting these also to Gch and zoning those from C8 and up. But there is no hard rule. You may want the split at an E/F break for example. Now, having said all that, it really doesn’t matter what timbre locations you put these programs in, as long as you assign them to Gch and zone them according to where you wish to play them on the keyboard and/or chord triggers. Often, I may find that I want to add a few more sounds to the pads or leads, so they will get place in the next available timbre slots. And again, I just make sure zoned and pitched accordingly. Next, you need to select an appropriate pitch/octave for each purpose – lower registers for pads, higher registers for leads. This can be done simultaneously when plugging in the timbers or subsequently. Usually, I’ll test them out first before I do anything else. If I haven’t already set the pitch (based on past experience), I’ll make a decision if it is needed. Another trick with layering pads and leads is to slightly detune the corresponding “sibling” timbres against each other for a chorusing effect and spread (left, centre, right) their panning to widen the stereo field.
Before I move on to selecting GE operated voices, I’ll make another decision on whether to set the OSC to “PRG”, “Poly”, “MN”, or “LGT” and under that, “Both”, “OSC 1” or “OSC 2”. If I know that I’m going to be pressed for polyphony as often is the case with a busy combi having more than 8 timbres or one that uses a lower polyphony EXi, I will set many or all my timbres to either OSC 1 or OSC 2. Usually, it’s OSC 1 and, more often than not, there is very little change in the character of the voices. It depends on the results of my preliminary auditions for those timbres. If I wish to assign EQ, IFX and MFX/TFX at this stage, I will. During this phase of programming, I’ll explore other parameters to optimize the sounds – pitch bend, JS modulation, VJS, Ribbon Control, SW 1 & 2 assignments, etc. All of the above can take me a day or two or more.
By far the heaviest programming now follows, where I bring out the planned or discovered KARMA-fied grooves necessary to take my combi where I want it to go. What programs do I need for this and what GEs do I want to drive them? Trust me, there are heaps more decisions to make before selecting and manipulating the next batch of parameters. This is the stage where most OASYS, Karma and M3 users give up. It can be so frustrating if you don’t know what you are doing. And the only way you will really know what you are doing in this regard is to get in there and learn by trial and error and possibly with the assistance of a step by step tutorial on combi creation similar to what Paul Osborn wrote for one of his “Chemistry” combis. Even though it applies to the Karma, I would advise anyone interested in developing his/her own combis to download it from KLF and review it.
Now, listen to me carefully folks. You are not going to learn how to do this by simply reading the manuals or tutorials. You are not going to learn how to develop your own KARMA-fied combis unless and until you make a conscious effort to sit down at your OASYS, open the KARMA tabs and parameters, play around with them, and stick with it till you have something that resembles a combi. BUT, take your time and don’t try to do it all at once. You have to keep at it. How do you think I learned? There were no step by step guides to follow when I first started designing Karma combis. There was no KARMA mentor to walk me through the paces. Struggling through each sitting, I made countless mistakes, but with each failure, there was progress around the corner with my next challenging work session. Is it any wonder why only a handful few have ever made it to the KARMA-fied Combi Creation Club. Be that as it may, please don’t let me shy you away from jumping in and trying your hand. Some of you already have and to good results. For those who have programmed even just one KARMA-fied combi, you know the rewards are amazing. Playing and jamming away with your own creation is euphoric. Actually, there is not one word to describe that feeling, that sense of accomplishment. You have used KARMA technology to create your own manipulable, malleable, mini composition.
I realize there is so much more that I should be explaining for everyone, but it’s probably going to wait for me to write a small tutorial on OASYS Combi Creation to get you started. When I have the time (maybe I should say “if”), I’ll devote one of my projects to doing exactly that. Please don’t wait for that to appear before you explore creating your own OASYS combis. God, even Peter knows how long it took me to get to this blogasys interview completed.
Cheers everyone,
Eric
blogasys: Thanks a lot for this interview, Eric!
_______________________________________________________
Find here some useful links:
EJ2’s website
EJ2’s OASYS page
EJ2’s Karma page
KARMA related links:
EJ2’s short KARMA tutorial
Paul Osborn’s Tutorial: Combi Creation - “Erasurehead”
KARMA FAQs
KARMA Support
__________________________________________________
© all fotos by Eric J. Sawyer
Viewed 13142 times by 3069 visiters
p2/11
1073
Viewed 16819 times by 3643 visiters
OASYS together with MOTU’s dp5.1, PSP’s Vintage Warmer and some UAD Plug Ins
There were always instruments that impressed me. Yamaha’s VL-series is one example, Korg’s Wavedrum another one. The latter I could not afford and unfortunately disappeared to fast from the market without finding a new home in my studio. Now it is no longer available… so in case you know someone who is willing to sell his Wavedrum.. please let me know.
Korg’s Wavedrum had unique sounds of which you can hear some on Eric Persing’s sound collections. The Wavedrum’s pad was of course half of the secret and I am afraid there is no real way to compensate that within OASYS. But the number of different controllers like the VJS together with velocity and aftertouch could make a different approach feasible. Anyway this is not the place for it and there is most likely much more necessary…
Together with Ebse I recorded the following track which consists of Korg sounds only. Not very surprising the drumloop is a Wavedrum sound and even less surprising everything else comes from Korg’s OASYS.
1073
Viewed 22477 times by 6129 visiters
