Cultural Diversity

Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Geary Yelton

Zero-G Beats Working in Cuba

If Latin percussion is your passion, Beats Working in Cuba ($299.95) is right up your alley (see Fig. 11). With 8.32 GB of content recorded entirely in a major Havana studio, the Intakt-based instrument is a compendium of 13 Afro-Latin rhythms characteristic of Cuban music, played by some of Cuba's finest studio percussionists. Musical styles such as the cha-cha, danzon, bolero, and mambo embody Cuban music and its African and South American roots. Produced by prominent British recording engineer Barry Sage and Spanish record producer Gonzalo Lasheras Garcia, Beats Working in Cuba captures dozens of multitrack grooves with hundreds of variations, as well as single hits derived from half a dozen styles.

The primary categories comprise the 13 styles. Each style is divided into subcategories that supply as many as 41 modern and traditional variations. Each style was recorded at a single tempo, ranging from 84 bpm for bolero and Guajira son to 130 bpm for conga moderna. Variations present different recordings of song segments such as the intro, verse, chorus, instrumental, and ending (see Web Clip 11). A single 16-measure variation may provide presets for a complete multimiked mix, a mix without drums, a mix with drums only, and most individual instruments recorded dry and direct, with ambience, and for surround applications. Different mic perspectives are often mapped to different MIDI notes.

Although the individual samples don't make much use of Intakt's parameter programming, they do take full advantage of its three sound engines: Beatmachine, Timemachine, and Sampler. Beatmachine loops are time-sliced and assigned to MIDI notes, allowing you to sequence the playback order of the beats at any tempo. Timemachine loops offer smooth transitions that sound more natural over a limited range of tempos. Sampler loops give you instant access to time- and pitch-shift artifact effects at any tempo.

Although Beats Working in Cuba's categories, variations, and samples are meticulously organized, the enormous magnitude of the material can be overwhelming. Fortunately, HTML files supply some of the most extensive documentation I've ever seen for a sample collection. It presents a wealth of information about the samples, the musicians, the instruments, and the recording process (including mic placement). It even includes transcriptions of the various rhythms and a brief history of each style. Every category is documented in painstaking detail with a color-coded chart and copious notes. Beats Working in Cuba also comes with a video DVD that takes a 12-minute look at how the samples were recorded and introduces the people involved. All told, Beats Working in Cuba is an ambitious project that offers as much authenticity as you could ever wish for.

World Class

You don't need to be an ethnomusicologist or know a lot of musicians from other cultures to produce music that explores a world of musical genres. To make convincing world music, though, you'll probably need more than instruments; you'll need to familiarize yourself with the idiosyncrasies of the indigenous music you want to emulate. The World Wide Web is an indispensable tool for finding your way. Plenty of online resources are available, many maintained by the natives of countries where the music is local. As always, you should listen to a lot of music in whatever styles interest you.

Additionally, several software applications can teach you about regional musical traditions; an excellent example is Swar Systems' SwarShala 3 Pro (Mac/Win, $250), which takes a multimedia approach to teaching you about Indian music. It also serves as a sort of composer's assistant that allows you to create rhythms and melodies and then drag-and-drop them to your sequencer's MIDI tracks.

You'll find a world of inspiration in any of the software instruments in this roundup. Ra is versatile and deeply expressive, and it should fulfill almost any need for world instruments for a very long time. Although it is the most expensive, Ra's enormous sample collection and well-designed presets make it worth the cost. Ethno World 3 Complete also supplies a broad palette and a large selection.

Ethno Instrument has the best cost-to-performance ratio, encompassing an approachable user interface, tremendous flexibility and user control, and an impressive collection of high-quality instrument and vocal samples from all over the world. No other software gives you such a broad selection of time-sliced loops and playable instruments.

Darbuka and Latigo are unique in their approach. Their combination of sampled performances and user interactivity makes them terrific plug-ins for creating world-class music that lives and breathes. For Latin-music aficionados who need a comprehensive rhythmic vocabulary, though, you can't go wrong with Beats Working in Cuba.

Whenever you're in the market for ethnic instrument samples, it will pay to look beyond the software instruments I've discussed here. If you own a software sampler or work with audio loops, you'll find a huge selection of sample libraries available from dozens of developers. I can highly recommend Apple World Music Jam Pack (Mac, $99), Ilio Origins (Giga/EXS24, $349), and almost any ethnic collection from Discovery Sound, for example.

Any of the software in this article will put you on the road to composing and recording your own world music, and others are forthcoming (see the sidebar “FlyingHand Percussion”). Which product you choose will depend largely on the regional style or combination of styles you want to pursue. Bon voyage, and have a safe journey!

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EM associate editor Geary Yelton's first world-music gig was in 1990. Using the alias Guy Lambada, he programmed synthesizers and sequences for Son Bolive's The Best of La Lambada.

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SIDEBAR

Flyinghand Percussion

During the course of writing this article, I received an advance copy of Handheld Sound's FlyingHand Percussion (Mac/Win, $299), a massive 13.69 GB sample library that developer Eitan Teomi plans to pair with Kontakt Player 2 (see Fig. A). Devoted entirely to hand drums and handheld percussion, FHP incorporates as many as 20 Velocity layers, each with 4 alternate hits on numerous articulations, as well as release samples and multiple zones for each drum.

FHP's emphasis is on realistic performance. Left- and right-handed drum samples are mapped to either side of a split point. Articulations mirrored on both sides simulate playing with different parts of your hand or fingers and playing on different areas of the drumhead. The software introduces a performance technique called legato drumming, enabling intuitive, real-time access to articulations that acoustic percussionists take for granted. FHP responds to how fast, slow, hard, or soft you play by triggering different samples; if you release a note quickly, for example, the tone will be muted and you'll hear the drum's natural resonance.

Along with frame drums, djembes, clay drums, congas, bongos, bottles, bells, and much more, FHP gives you a folder full of Mutants — heavily processed acoustic percussion — and experimental Morphosis sounds mapped for use as a drum kit. FHP includes PSPaudioware's PSP Nitro LE with custom presets, a collection of impulse responses from Voxengo, and mappings for the ZenDrum controller.

Manufacturer Contacts

Best Service/EastWest (distributor) www.soundsonline.com

Handheld Sound www.flyinghandpercussion.com

MOTU www.motu.com

Quantum Leap/EastWest www.soundsonline.com

Swar Systems www.swarsystems.com

Wizoo/M-Audio (distributor) www.m-audio.com

Yellow Tools www.yellowtools.com

Zero-G/EastWest (distributor) www.soundsonline.com