roland u-220 samples in machfive

[menright]

Years ago I recorded a lot of stuff using the venerable Roland U-220 synth module, and now I'd like to go back and recreate some of those sessions. I have a working U-220 here in my rack, but what I'd really love to do is to use those sounds in DP as a virtual instrument.

Is there some way to do this with MachFive? Are the original samples available for purchase somewhere? There is a muted trumpet sound I'd love to get my hands on.

Thanks for your help!

[bayswater]

Whether or not you can buy the original samples would be a question for Mr. Google.

An alternative is to see if you can get hold of a copy of Redmatica Autosampler (no longer for sale from the original maker -- bought by Apple who, so far, has done SFA with it), or befriend someone who has it. With it you can make VIs with detailed keymaps and velocity layers, etc, of your Roland patches in EXS24 or Kontakt format, both of which can be imported into Mach Five.

[menright]

Redmatica Autosampler is currently unavailable. I'll keep looking since this software would do exactly what I want; perhaps it will be built into a later version of Logic?

As for asking Mr Google for Roland U220 sounds, how should I phrase my search? I've tried this but I'm not sure how to interpret at least some of the results . Am I just looking for audio files? I'm kind of unsophisticated outside of the DP/MachFive environment. Would I have to then set up all the velocity programming, keymaps and so on myself?

thanks!

[bayswater]

"roland u20 samples". First couple of hits are free drum & FX, further down is the piano. It might take a little more exploration that that.

[wvandyck]

I had a very visceral affection for the U220 which was my first sound module. I loved the beefy sounds that it produced. It's still working.

Redmatica's Autosampler was truly amazing... RIP
But it's alive and well on several systems here.

Here's an excellent series on sampling:
http://www.soundonsound.com/search?Keyw ... f+sampling

Back in the days of DP5, I created a sample trigger template shown in DP8 below. Set note length as needed: short percussive sounds vs long pads/sustaining piano or brass sounds.
Velocity switch values if any would need to be determined with a recording pass for each.
Then there's the slice and dice process... Worth the effort for select sound sources.

[bayswater]

Redmatica Autosampler is a great thing. I was lucky to buy it a few days before they stopped sales. I'm a bit surprised no one has produced anything similar. It would not be difficult to write -- mind numbingly tedious, but not difficult.

I produced a template like yours once to get some sounds off my Proteus 2, but I gave up somewhere around the file naming step.

[James Steele]

I had a very visceral affection for the U220 which was my first sound module.

Me too... the affection that is.

[wylie1]

I've got a U-220 sitting in a rack as well along with a MT-32 I'd love to have that stuff in Machfive.

[wvandyck]

Here'z a Friday Night M5v3 Special:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/202 ... 5/U220.zip

More available by specific patch name upon request.

I auto sampled mostly non-acoustic instruments as current offerings are just so much better.
However, the sampled synth sounds in the U220 still have merit.

http://www.synthmania.com/u-220.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan05/a ... roland.htm

[bayswater]

Thanks for uploading this. The sound reminds me of the Ensoniq Nomad Brass. I had samples of that and lost them.

[ronjams]

Thanks for uploading this. The sound reminds me of the Ensoniq Nomad Brass. I had samples of that and lost them.

I wanted to say thanks for the brass patch!!!!

[wvandyck]

Good to hear that you folks enjoyed them.

I changed the link above to include 6 different patches (including the previously posted PowerBrass). All recorded dry mono. It's a small "thank you" for all of the information and inspiration that I've gained from this community.

Enjoy!!!

[menright]

Thank you so much for your post, wvandyck! These roland sounds are exactly what I was looking for when I first posted. The one I really need is the "soft trumpet" solo instrument from the U-220, but your post can serve as a template for what I'm trying to do.

When I first got involved in trying to recreate this track, I hoped M5's trumpet samples would handle it, but I was disappointed to find huge differences. When I fed the original MIDI line into M5, all kinds of notes were cut off and I realized (duh!) that the original U-220 sounds were much more expressive, much more trumpet-like in terms of playability. Plus I'd recorded the original track using the limitations of the 220 to do some very specific things with the track. (You can hear the original here if you like; it's the one called "Tijuana Brass":

http://menright.com/pages/tunes-what-you-want.html

What is it about brass samples? I had that one specific patch on the 220 that I liked, though I hated all the sax samples. I have the "Jazz Sounds" CD from McGill University and that has a set of tenor sax growls that I turned into an M5 set; great sounds. But sax, trumpet, etc. must be very difficult since I've never heard presets from anyone (M5 included) that were of much use.

thanks again!

[wvandyck]

Link to the Soft Trumpet
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/202 ... rumpet.zip

I'd still encourage you to experiment with setting up a sample trigger template. You can trigger every note, or every other, every third, whatever sounds good given the resulting file size.

Not an expert, but I've been told that the saxophone is the most challenging instrument to sample given it's range of expression and tones.

Enjoy.

[menright]

thank you, thank you! i'm gonna plug these sounds in tonight.

that sound-on-sound link is a good series on sampling; worked my way about halfway through. thanks for the steer! I started sampling with an Akai S950 many years ago; it is a different world now!