Cassette Mallets.02
Audio Demos
The Idea & Process
Cassette Mallets.02, a successor of Cassette Mallets.01 further explores the sound of experimental mallet instruments with different sounds, more decks to choose from and the .02 interface. Like in the case of Cassette Keys .01 and .02, both of those instrument libraries complement each other very well.
Cassette Mallets.02 contains three instruments, each one covering a different sound territory. Sound 01 is a mix of old glockenspiel plates recorded on a thin steel plate, Sound 02 is a 2 octave xylophone mixed with some corrugated sheet resonances and Sound 03 is a mix of the same xylophone, but recorded using three mallets attached to an old bed mattress spring with a copper wire to create a random, 'granular' pattern. All three sounds are also spiced up with additional synthesis techniques for a fuller sound and to widen their range on a keyboard.
Both Sound 01 and Sound 02 contain 5 dynamic layers, while Sound 03 contains 4 dynamic layers - all sounds were recorded using 3 different cassette decks. Overall, there are 2565 samples - 305 samples per deck for Sound 01 and Sound 02, and 244 samples per deck for Sound 03, plus there are also 3 noise samples from each deck (1,63 GB of uncompressed 24-bit WAV files).
Below, you can listen to each of the instruments, plus how each deck affects the sound in their own different way:
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Sound 01 deck A MONO - sound: full & metallic - deck: almost neutral cassette sound
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Sound 01 deck B MONO - sound: full & metallic - deck: lower quality, loose drive belt introduces a lot of pitch instability
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Sound 01 deck C MONO - sound: full & metallic - deck: medium pitch instability
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Sound 02 deck A MONO - sound: short, sharp, wooden - deck: almost neutral cassette sound
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Sound 02 deck B MONO - sound: short, sharp, wooden - deck: lower quality, loose drive belt introduces a lot of pitch instability
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Sound 02 deck C MONO - sound: short, sharp, wooden - deck: medium pitch instability
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Sound 03 deck A MONO - sound: wooden, recorded using mallets attached to a spring - deck: almost neutral cassette sound
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Sound 03 deck B MONO - sound: wooden, recorded using mallets attached to a spring - deck: lower quality, loose drive belt introduces a lot of pitch instability
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Sound 03 deck C MONO - sound: wooden, recorded using mallets attached to a spring - deck: medium pitch instability
Every note has been carefully denoised with a high quality algorithm to avoid noise stacking when playing more than one note (there’s still some noise left in the samples to avoid denonising artifacts). Noise can still be added with the noise knob - it’s much more flexible this way and allows the ability to adjust the volume of the noise independently whilst also applying parameters such as filtering. It also creates a more realistic sound, so when playing a five voice chord, only one sample of noise instead of five stacked on top of each other will be heard.
Custom impulse responses in Kontakt version
Kontakt version contains custom impulses (4 spring impulses, 4 hall impulses & 3 corridor impulses), along with a choice of whether you want it to be placed pre or post insert effects - same thing goes for the delay.
Useful and fun production tool
If you like vintage sounds and you're looking for something to enhance your production toolbox, then this product will be for you.
Simulated Round Robin
Makes faster note passages sound more realistic and adds to the overall nonlinearity of the instrument - available in Kontakt and SFZ versions only.
Variety of sounds
Aside from the sound of a cassette record with this instrument you can easily create some weird sounds and there are already quite a few presets included to get you started (Kontakt & Ableton Live versions only).
Specs
Available in multiple popular formats: Kontakt 5, Ableton Live 9, Logic, SFZ & Multiformat
1,63 GB of uncompressed 24-bit WAV samples (2565 samples in total)
Recorded on 3 different decks
Simulated round-robin in Kontakt and SFZ versions
3 instruments
3 noise samples (each 2 minutes long)
4-5 dynamic layers
Organic sound with lots of little imperfections
Kontakt version
Full version of Kontakt 5.8.1 (or higher) required - not compatible with Kontakt Player
Simulated round-robin
41 presets
One-page interface for easy and fast sound design
Convolution Reverb with custom impulses (spring, hall, corridor)
Ableton Live version
Full version of Live 9.7 (or higher) required
58 Instrument Racks: 18 basic + 40 additional presets (both with mapped macros)
Custom Effect Racks
Logic version
Full version of Logic Pro X required - not tested in Logic Pro 9
45 basic presets (normal, reverse 100%, reverse 75%, reverse 50% & reverse 25% for each deck)
SFZ version
Compatible with any SFZ player, for example: Plogue Sforzando
Simulated round-robin
18 basic presets (with and without simulated round-robin for each deck)
