|
|
 Electronic Musician
The Dan Dean Bass Collection, vol. 2, has samples so smooth you'll have a hard time telling them from the real thing.
Some people are just fanatics when it comes to the bottom end of the musical spectrum. Dan Dean, an accomplished bassist, composer, educator, and sound designer, is clearly one of those people. His Dan Dean Bass Collection, vol. 2 ($199), is a unique treasury of bass sounds created by sampling classic electric basses from the US and '70s in addition to several acoustic bass guitars and a wonderful 100-year-old German double bass.
The CD-ROM, which is programmed for use in E-mu EIIIx and EIV formats, contains 546 MB of samples. Each folder's 21 banks range in size from 9.9 to 23.7 MB and include low-memory presets. EIV users gain full support for the Thumby button, which produces a muted or damped effect, and MIDI sliders, which control chorus amount, glide (portamento), and filter frequency and resonance. Each bank also includes presets with octave doublings and chorusing.
Rounding the Basses
The 10-instrument collection includes a Fender Jazz (using various pickup combinations), Fender Precision, and Rickenbacker 4001, played both finger style and with a pick. Also included are a vintage Hofner Violin bass, a Gibson Thunderbird, and an Alembic 5-string Spoiler, all played with a pick. The last group, played finger-style only, includes a Washburn AB-20 acoustic fretless, a Guild Ashbory "Rubberband," a Hohner acoustic fretless, and the century-old double bass (in both stereo and mono).
The electric basses were recorded both direct, using either a stereo tube preamp or a direct box, and by milking various amp setups. Mics such as the Neumann U 47 and the Electro-Voice RE20 and various tube processors were used to reproduce the recording techniques of the '60s and '70s. Apogee A/D converters (UV-22 process) digitized the source material, and Digidesign's DINR was used to remove residual noise. Every note on each instrument was individually sampled to eliminate transposition and pitch-shifting problems, and vintage-style flatwound strings were used on the Fender, Rickenbacker, and Hofner basses.
Good Old Sounds
Clearly, a lot of effort went into capturing the instruments just as they were recorded in the past. The presets are all exceptionally clean while retaining the warmth and vintage sound of each instrument. The finger-picked Fender Precision, for example, is silky smooth with no perceptible grunge. The Gibson provides a wonderful retro picked sound, and the Washburn retains its uniquely acoustic quality as sustained notes evolve and gradually decay. My favorite, unquestionably, is the 23 MB stereo Acoustic Bass bank. With every note sampled, the true, idiosyncratic character of the old upright bass comes through, and it's a joy to play. As with many of the instruments on this disc, it can be hard to distinguish a track that uses these samples from a live performance.
If you're picky about your bass sounds, you really should check out this collection. Although the documentation is scant, the sounds are great. You'll find it truly invaluable for a great many projects.
Overall EM Rating (1 through 5): 4.5
|
|
