Elteto.net

After painstaking engineering and sampling, there is a lot to think about commercial sample packages and Pro Tools.

As promised, I am posting my findings from my in-depth Alesis SR-16 sampling and research project. The outcome is reminiscent of a comparison CD  I found online that points out how surprisingly small, if any, differences are between "pro" studios and project studios in certain recording aspects.

Let us get the technical background out of the way. This time I used an actual Alesis SR-16 to satisfy the purists. I still got it cheap on eBay, for $60, including shipping. This particular one was manufactured in 1996, and except for cosmetic signs of use, was in a fully working state. I connected the main 1/4" outputs with the RadioShack 6' shielded audio cables to an E-MU 1212M audio interface, which I set to -10 on the inputs instead of +4 to get more gain on the original signal. I recorded preset kit 00 "Rock 1", triggering the sounds through a MIDI cable from an M-Audio Trigger Finger, set to full velocity. This was to prevent any possible circuit noises or velocity inconsistencies physical hits on the body of the SR-16 might cause. I used Audacity 1.3 Beta, set to 24-bits/96kHz. Even though the original samples were in 16-bit, 44.1kHz, I hoped that the higher rates would capture all the nuisances of the machine's sound. Once finished capturing all 12 samples of the kit, I sliced them into individual .WAV files in Audacity. I built a Battery 3 kit from these samples, imitating the MIDI note and pad assignments of the SR-16. I sampled each hit in its original volume, pan, and assigned the open and closed hi hats to the same voice group to copy their original setup. Basically, the closed hat sample would cut off the open hat when triggered. Sampling the kit as a whole, maintaining its original settings, also helped preserve the dynamic differences between the individual samples. The hi-hat or the cabasa would sound much softer than the kick or the snare, as expected. I whipped up a minute-long drum sequence in Cubase, using Battery 3 as a VST plug-in. I exported the mixdown in 24/96. Then, maintaining the MIDI note and pad assignments, I switched my samples with the Killa Beat lineup, I had purchased commercially, and exported the same sequence in the same resolution. To have more to compare these works to, I also used the sequence to trigger the SR-16 through MIDI and recorded the machine's output, again at 24/96.

I placed all three files in Audacity, making sure they are exactly lined up, and I normalized each track. For those not familiar with the process: all normalizing does is bring the loudest part of an audio file up to 0.0dB (or whatever the engineer designates), but the relative dynamics are maintained. In short: normalizing is NOT compression.

I reset the zoom settings in Audacity, so all three tracks were the exact same size on screen, and I took a screen shot.

Here are some interesting finds:

1. Killa Beat normalized individual samples, erasing drum kit dynamics.

2. Killa Beat's samples were 16/44.1, which still sounded crisp, but due to the normalization, a bit on the excess side.

3. Looking at the wave files, the Killa Beat track showed the reduced dynamics due to the normalization.

4. The crash and ride samples were audibly cut short in the Killa Beat set.

5. Panning exactly matched the machine in my sample kit.

So what does it all mean? For starters, one may again crack OCD and red stapler anecdotes about my project, but at the same time, there is some encouraging results here for us "consumer"-grade musicians.

1. $15 electronics store cables are not that inferior to over-priced monsters, no pun intended.

2. $150 will get your analog electronic instruments recorded about as well as a multi-hundred-Dollar interface.

3. Having Pro Tools with fancy plug-ins does NOT mean you have to use it all, and there is no guarantee your work will sound any better just because of the software.

4. I know I used Cubase, but I would have had the exact same results with Reaper. A VST host is a VST host.

5. The samples would also have sounded the same in any other VST sampler, Battery just happened to be installed on this studio PC.

6. 16/44.1, 24/48, 24/192... There ARE some differences, but if your music makes no sense, it will do so at a higher sample rate, occupying a larger hard drive footprint.

Here is the screen shot, please click on it to see a larger version. The top two tracks are my sample kit, the second two are the direct output of the SR-16, and the last two are the Killa Beat version. Notice that my version even though a bit thicker, is nearly identical to the machine output, while the beefiness of the Killa Beat track shows the reduced dynamics.

Here are the files in .MP3 format, 320kbps/48kHz.

Alesis_SR-16_Machine_Direct.mp3

Alesis_SR-16_Killa_Beat.mp3

Alesis_SR-16_Elteto.mp3