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 Ralph "Stick" Hermann
"forwardinoutback - Didgeridoo Sample CD vol. 1"
The
sound quality and variety of all of the loops on forwardinoutback
are way above average. The recordings are very clean and well mastered
and the quality of all of the material on the disc is not hampered by
the loops being over-processed or overly complex in nature.
Incorporating as many elements of the didgeridoo as possible, this CD
basically provides the composer with a virtual Didgeridoo session player.
One of the things I like about sampling and sample CD's is how a person
can take a single sound or instrument like a didgeridoo, and expand it's
possibilities beyond anything that can be produced any other way.
I've attempted playing a didgeridoo several times myself and managed to
produce some sort of sound, soI have some appreciation for the cyclic
breathing, and other skills involved. While the didgeridoo as an instrument
is fairly limited in its sound producing ability, Ralph "Stick"
Hermann has not only done a spendid job of reproducing the sounds of the
instrument but also has created dozens of innovative loops and ambient
textures. There is no reason why musicians and composers in any genre
looking for an "ethnic" sound wouldn't benefit from the innovative
samples contained on this disc.
Most of the doucumentation other than html files is geared towards the
Windows platform, but I had no problem accessing the samples or the html
navigation on my Macintosh G4 and Netscape 4.7 browser. The navigation
is very thorough, with photos of the instruments, Australia, and Aboriginal
art. It is the most complex and complete "manual" I have ever
seen for a sample CD.
About the producer, ...Ralph Hermann offers this bit of information. "The
idea to develop a didgeridoo-sample-CD was born of the continiuing resonance
of musicians hearing me play and my imagination to integrate this instrument
into any kind of music. They asked me if it was possible to record something
special. The situation is that almost all musicians have a PC with composition-software.
I thought the best idea would be to combine calculated loops in multiple
BPM, short and long sounds in different keys and more on one CD than any
musician can handle easily."
Ralph goes on to say that this is the worlds first sample CD ever produced
with included “On-CD-HTML-Navigation”. It is a great plus to
the project. The 'On-CD-HTML-Navigation' created by Ralph and Chris Auguscinski
makes it simple to decide which samples to audition, and offers a great
deal of information about each sample. Ralph Hermann created the samples
by playing with seven handmade didgeridoos, which he constructed of birch,
spruce and bamboo and one made of steel.
The disc contains over 350 MB of didgeridoo samples, comprised of pure
didgeridoo sounds and loops, unusual rhythms, animal-sounds, overtones
and didge improvisations. The loops are timed from 64-176 bpm, sampled
in multiple keys, and then calculated out to 1 to 8 bar phrases in 2/4
to 11/8 measures. This is further explained in the filenames and docs.
The sounds include accents, noises, atmospheres, effects, etc. The didge
samples are stored in WAV-format, and recorded ata industry standard 44.1
khz, 16 bit rate. The samples are a variety of mono and stereo format
recordings. A great deal of articulation went into the loop points. They
are flawless, and the variety presented here make this CD perfect for
any music such as commercials, film scores, pop/world hybrids, any genre!
The samples on the disc are also license-free music. I give both the documentation
and excellent samples five stars. Well done "Stick"!
Review by Ben Kettlewell
information:
email: feedback@didgeridoo-samples.de
http://www.didgeridoo-samples.de
http://www.didgeridoo-samples.com
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