New to Arturia (Spark & Minibrute): can I add a library of new sounds to Spark?

[damnedcat777]

I literally bought a Minibrute on eBay last week, it arrived yesterday.  Love it.  The Spark I bought arrived today, and after downloading some software that made it work thru my Mac Book Pro, my question is: can I add libraries of new sounds?  I don't mean to hurt any feelings here, certainly, but...  jeez-louise!  The drums I cycled through (probably about 1/4 of everything I think that exists on this unit) sound like death disco rave junk.  Aren't there drum libraries of REAL drum samples available, and won't they synch with my Spark CDM?  If this is the extent of what is available (what I've heard so far) this just won't be of ANY use to me at all.  I'm coming from a Stooges/Throbbing Gristle/Alex Harvey Band point of view, musically, and the sounds I heard on this thing...  this is all just glorified electro-dance EuroTrash.  I was hoping for SO much more.

But, again, I don't mean to be a d*ck, and I DID just open the box on this thing.  Help, please?  I am SO new to this and it all looked SO incredibly cool when I first learned of these things (MInibrute, micro brute, Spark, et al).  ANY help at all would be SO greatly appreciated.  Thank you!!!

Oh, and can anyone recommend something I could use, a library of REAL drum sounds?  Not the wet telephone book sounds I've heard so far.  Please.

[ClydeLyman]

There are a number of Spark tutorials on YouTube that go into creating drum kits. If you have the Spark I have, it's the Vintage Drum Machine, which took as its template, from what I gather, the more well-known drumboxes like Roland TR's and LinnDrum and Lin 9000.DrumTrax and Drumulator. These were HOT in the '80's; even for ProgRock, being a notch or two up from the 1950's/'60's organ rhythm sections and the free standing drum boxes of the 1970's

I too, what to add drum kits, specifically for the late '50's/ early '60's "rock and roll"/"doowop" and late '60's Psychedelic (ancestor to ProgRock). I think you do it by creating a new user project and hunting around for the elements of a drumkit and bringing them in. You might find some drum samples at the free VST sites like VSTplanet. Google is Your Friend or you can sample your own

[ClydeLyman]

See if this is what you want. It's from the Alesis D4

http://www.vstplanet.com/Instruments/VST_Drums8.htm

I just grabbed it up myself; haven't even looked at it but it's a big file

[stuey]

Stooges/Throbbing Gristle/Alex Harvey Band point of view

Good references I think maybe that's the first time Throbbing Gristle has had a mention on this forum

Just use other samples if you don't like the ones in the software. In the studio view of the Spark, create a new Project or Kit and add your sample in, you can then detune them, f*ck them up how you wish

While I somewhat agree with the genre on some of the samples on the Spark, after it's a European company. There are loads of sounds in that software, samples and modelled and believe me, you haven't even scratched the surface yet. If you add the expansion kits and the Sark 2 updates you'll have thousands of sounds.

Give it a few weeks and you should be able to get some good vibes out of it.

Stuart

[artao]

Stooges/Throbbing Gristle/Alex Harvey Band point of view

... create a new Project or Kit ...

Hmm ... there's a way to create a new kit without creating a new project? I haven't found that one yet.

And Throbbing Gristle. freaking LOVE them. so glad they did what they did.

[stuey]

Hmm ... there's a way to create a new kit without creating a new project? I haven't found that one yet.

Yeah man, in the disk tab in your library, navigate to your sounds and load them into the your pads. There's a list drop down that gives you each pad number. Instrument 1, Instrument 2 etc etc. Go into your studio tab and rename the sample and save as. Or create a new project then go to your disk and choose the samples, then rename the 'New Project' names to whatever you want.

It's not a very smooth workflow as the file names don't replicate the name of the sample being imported. You have to rename things and save as. Once you get your head round that, it's fine.

Stuart   
 

[SoundGoddess]

You can drag and drop wav samples on to individual pads to create your own kit.  Or if you're really adventurous you can use the modular synth to create pads.

[damnedcat777]

OK, it's been a few weeks, and I'm DEF getting better.  I LOVE the DrumUlator, especially after finding out Big Black used it for a lot of their stuff (saw em live in 86, awesome!!!).  I'm downloading the D4 VST link someone posted above, but I DO have a new question: Where are the Upper & Lower panels that are mentioned in the manual and online?  I don't see ANY buttons at the top of the screen for them.  I Have the Spark 2, now that I also bought the V Collection to go with the Keylab 25 I bought (I now own a MiniBrute, a Keylab 25 and the V Collection, along with the Spark & Spark 2).  My next thing will be to get the Hollywood expansion pack.  And the Noise one too. 

So, WHERE are the upper and lower panels?  I'm guessing that Arturia got rid of them?  True?  Help?

[damnedcat777]

Thanks for all the help, guys!  Especially the D4 link.  I was able to load 3 sounds to 3 pads, though Im not sure how I did it.  Point is, it DOES work.  now, if I can ONLY find a library of the DM Pro sounds for free.  Going to You Tube to brush up on the instructional vid's.  Thanks again y'all.  I WILL be back.  And...  ARTURUA FUCKIN ROX!!!!  We mean it, man!!

Now, how about letting me know if there are some Coil fans out there,  hullo?  Anyone?....

[019297]

If you get some good acoustic drum samples, it's easy to make a decent kit yourself. I prefer to do this in standalone, where you can drag files from windows folders right onto the pads easily, instead of using the sometimes slow library tab.  Use studio tab to do up to 6 samples per pad that can be layered, or have a velocity gate.  The main problem if you can't edit samples that well in spark, so do that in a daw or audio editor first. I've made a couple "ok" drum sets, but I mostly use another vst for that, with the spark controller and sequencer. Works great. I like many of the factory sets in spark, but I DO agree in the severe lack of "regular" drum kits. The jazz kit and rock kits don't really sound that great.

Coil was good, I put some time into a coil tribute album that came out years ago.

[stuey]

True, there isn't a great deal of  'real' kits although it is called a 'drum machine' and is meant to bring back old skool beat making

It doesn't profess to be a drum emulated or 'Abbey Road Drums' or something, saying that the Vintage kit is ok

Thanks, Stuart 

[019297]

Hey, how do you get to a velocity gate when using multiple layers in sampler mode?

[artao]

Hey, how do you get to a velocity gate when using multiple layers in sampler mode?

Yeah, the sampler not intuitive at all, and lacking some needed, even basic, features. The sampler really needs some work. Badly.  ... I hope they're on top of this, or at least listening to us; somewhere, somehow.
But no. There appears to be no way to adjust the threshold. Nor can I personally tell any difference between Velocity and Threshold modes.
I swear I read about being able to do so in the manual, but looking thru it just now I can see nothing about that. Perhaps I'm thinking of the manual for the previous version, Spark (which, in some ways, appears to be "better" than Spark2. I've seriously considered installing it, as I have the disc that came with my CDM)