Quality of kick samples

[steevio]

the only thing i can bring to this discussion is the fact that i only ever used a sampled kick on a record once in my life, and it was sample of my own 909, and for some reason i used it instead of the actual 909 (cant remember why)

and that track stands to this day as the one track i really dont like that ive done, and everytime i hear it, it jumps out at me and shouts SAMPLE !!, its so monotonous and unchanging, unlike the real 909 which is all over the place and somehow alive.

get an Mbase 01 or 11, not perfect but kicks sh!t out of samples

[eggnchips]

Download yourself this kick drum softsynth:

http://www.synthschool.com/downloads.html

It's great and free.

[steevio]

the only thing i can bring to this discussion is the fact that i only ever used a sampled kick on a record once in my life, and it was sample of my own 909, and for some reason i used it instead of the actual 909 (cant remember why)

and that track stands to this day as the one track i really dont like that ive done, and everytime i hear it, it jumps out at me and shouts SAMPLE !!, its so monotonous and unchanging, unlike the real 909 which is all over the place and somehow alive.

get an Mbase 01 or 11, not perfect but kicks sh!t out of samples

what track is that your talking about?

haha i'd rather not advertise the track i hate the most, listen to all my records and see if you can work it out (only joking)

i think sampled kicks work ok in more complex music, where there are other things layered over the kick to disguise the repetitiveness of the sample, but in minimal music the kick is often very exposed and open to scrutiny.
analogue kicks heve impercptible variations that we are only aware of subconsciuosly, and i dont think you can program this into samples because it isnt random, its cyclical and to do with the electronic circuits.

i believe this because i can listen to a 909 kick all day from the machine itself, whereas my brain is fried in minutes listen to a sample of the same thing, and theres no other explanation.

this is all subtle stuff and not really relevant if the kick is buried in a mix, but the track i was talking about was very minimal.

[AK]

@ steevio. Is that a sort of psychological thing? If you were to do a blind test where someone replaced you live 909 kick track with a sample of your 909, would you spot it?

I dont know, not disputing it as I have never owned a 909. Always wanted an 808 though and a guy I once new had 1, since using it, I have never enjoyed 808 samples since. Im not sure if I can put my finger on why though. All I know is just having the machine there and working directly with it, is a totally different experience. Most of my musical heroes worked with it and for me, I felt connected to all that in a geeky, sado kinda way.

What if you had taken a series of samples from the 909, say 10 from a live sequence and triggered them all in order individually? Haha.

[TechnoMusic]

I found these kick drum samples ones pretty damn good

[steevio]

@ steevio. Is that a sort of psychological thing? If you were to do a blind test where someone replaced you live 909 kick track with a sample of your 909, would you spot it?

I dont know, not disputing it as I have never owned a 909. Always wanted an 808 though and a guy I once new had 1, since using it, I have never enjoyed 808 samples since. Im not sure if I can put my finger on why though. All I know is just having the machine there and working directly with it, is a totally different experience. Most of my musical heroes worked with it and for me, I felt connected to all that in a geeky, sado kinda way.

What if you had taken a series of samples from the 909, say 10 from a live sequence and triggered them all in order individually? Haha.

no mate its deffo not psychological, and i'd spot it in a nanosecond.

and i've written alot of tunes with sampled 909 kick, just never released them thats all, and i often would sample of 4 bar loop of the 909 playing, to try to capture the variations, but theres not really much point if you've got the machine infront of you.

i'm not saying everyone would notice this, but when you've worked with analogue gear for as long as i have, samples just dont come close.
its not just the variations either, they sound different.

another reason i need to invest in an analogue tape machine, because although i keep everything analogue to the last possible moment, it still gets sampled when it goes to digital.
of course this is irrelevant if your music is only being released as mp3s, but i'm still a vinyl head.

i should probably add that i think sampling, advanced software and digital technology has made our music all the more richer and diverse, its just not for me personally thats all.

[Jovan]

I love the kicks from old school soul and jazz tracks, but they are so silent you must compress it or something, i use the psp wintage warmer to get that Raw phat sound. Sometimes i use Drumazone 909 kit (vst), its amazing for big booming bassy kicks, but you must play a little to get where you want to be. Another time i just sample the kick from the house or mnml record i like, specialy if i find part where the kick is alone with out hat... Most times it is in the begining of the song, and then i sometimes pitch them up or down. Even if you have poor quality kick samples you can always layer some kicks and pitch them that they sound good together, you must find the right key, and some are louder some not so loud, enivay you get one big kick out of 3 mybe 4 different kicks... I have many diferent tehniques... Sometimes works layering, sometimes sampling sometimes drumachine... Just play and experiment... Sory bout my english i know i make mastakes writing. I hope i hepl a little...

[Dektro]

For what it's worth:

I've made a kick in ableton live solely with live instruments and fx. I find it quite 808-ish, maybe you can start making your own kicks from this preset.
(Only for live 8.2.1)

http://www.mediafire.com/?288cfaezc59tdte

I hope it works.