For people who own samplers, it is not uncommon to blow thousands of dollars on a CD-ROM collection. Yes, this is specialized stuff commanding a relatively small market share - hence the inflated prices. There has, however, been a trend in the last year or so towards affordable CD-ROMs. Concept:FX is one such offering. This disk was created by Michael Oster and his new company, F7 Sound and Vision.

Other than the affordable $49.95 price tag, Concept:FX is unique in several other ways. Most notably, the sounds are available for both PC and Mac on one disk. In addition, there are 3 different resolutions. These include applications for Broadcast or CDs, Multimedia and Internet audio. Each of the sounds comes in 5 different formats - AIFF files at 44.1 kHz, 16 bit; Internet AIFF at 11.025 kHz, 8 bit mono; WAV files at 44.1 kHz, 16 bit; Multimedia WAV at 22.05 kHz, 16 bit; and Internet WAV at 11.025 kHz, 8 bit mono.

As we all know, life comes with trade-offs. And while this disk offers numerous file formats, there is only room for 195 sounds (many CD-ROMs contain 2 to 3 times the amount). However, this is one fine collection of sounds. Actually, they fall more into the category of effects and textures; don’t expect to find any real instrument samples in this collection (i.e., violin, sax, drum hits, etc.).

The sounds are arranged in alphabetical order. There are no directories, folders or categories to navigate through. Oster’s titles are quite descriptive of the samples. “Nano Atomizer” and “Whitewash Mask” are great 3D effects that could be put to good use in a sci-fi flick. “Forensic Groove” is a solid techno rhythm pattern. “VX Theme” and “Mechanism Interior” would make good ambiences for a factory documentary. “Bigfoot Car Crush” is self-explanatory and “Larval Gas Discharge,” well, you get the idea.

My only complaint with these sounds is that many of the end points are not suitable for looping. For example, “Waterloop” cuts off abruptly at the end of the sample. And “Garbage Pile” has too much space at the end. I had to do some minor editing on these samples to make them loop properly. However, the loop points on “DS Dance” and “Airbyte” are right on the money. How about more consistency here? Loops are the name of the game with these kinds of sounds.

F7 Sound and Vision should be commended for listing the titles and times in the CD booklet. Surprisingly, not all companies do this. All in all, Concept:FX is a good collection of experimental sounds. The samples are clean with excellent imaging and depth. And the bang for the buck ratio is hard to beat!

F7 Sound and Vision
Michael Oster
17732 Nathan’s Drive
Tampa, Florida 33647
813 991-4117

Etymology

Pro Audio Review has looked at several of Rarefaction’s titles in the past. We’ve reviewed several of their titles in the past. With Etymology ($99 for audio CD, $149 for CD-ROM), we’ll take a look at their latest offering. One word of caution, Rarefaction disks are not for the faint-hearted!

The sounds on this disk were created by Skeleton Crew. This duo is comprised of guitarist Fred Frith and cellist Tom Cora. Anyone familiar with the contemporary avant-garde scene will probably recognize these names. If not, you won’t forget them by the time this disk is over.

Etymology is a collection of stereo AIFF sound files sampled at 44.1 kHz with a 16 bit resolution. Expect to hear free-form improvisations, scraping, dissonance, banging, popping, clanking, distortion and everything else in-between. Comprising the Etymology disk are three main folders. Frith and Cora have their own solo folders along with one of Skeleton Crew duets. Most of the folders contain one main performance. Producer Tom Dimuzio then extracts numerous parts of the main performance into smaller individual samples. Yes, the creative sound editor could do this themselves, but the convenience factor will save a ton of time.

Frith’s solo tracks tend to be highly processed sounds. On “Minor Frays” he uses string tapping techniques, “Chime Time” features harmonics and on “Vibrancy” there are vibrant trills. “Saw Sines” sounds like bowed guitar strings and in “Kotoke” the guitar emulates a koto. For the ultimate attack of sonic distortion, check out “Armageddon.” And for lovers of industrial noises try “Generator” or “Boiler.”

In contrast to Frith’s mutant processing, Cora’s folder is primarily acoustic renditions of the cello. These renditions, however, are far from conventional. “Monkey Lens” shows off the buzzy picking sound of the cello strings, whereas, “Chip Rip” sounds like a string being ripped off the cello. And the different variations of “Adage Movements” have a 20th century classical feel. Cora manages to get sounds out of the cello from vocal effects to machine squeals to banging percussive sounds.

Nine duet performances make up the Skeleton Crew folder. In many ways, these works are a culmination of the solo pieces. “Data Trash Shuffle” is a fairly complete performance clocking in at a minute and a half. There are twenty one smaller samples extracted from this performance. These snippets include various fills, small looped sections and different accents and hits. On “Phonology,” Cora is playing a frantic walking-bass line while Frith is improvising a slippery rubber-like lead. These nine duet performances are surprising tight within their loose free-form structure.

Musically, Frith and Cora are a match made in heaven. I’m not sure how these samples could actually be used, but they would surely add color in the right context. Needless to say, Etymology is one of the more adventurous CD-ROMs to hit the market.

One final note, Rarefaction has added several other goodies to the Etymology disk. These include 3rd party demos of BIAS Peak and Arboretum’s Hyperprism and Ionizer. Also, there are numerous demo samples from Rarefaction in addition to another folder of 35 miscellaneous sounds. Finally there is a program called Beat Monster. Do you need to calculate tempo from time or samples? Beat Monster will do the trick.

Rarefaction
Box 170023
San Francisco, CA
94117