Fw: Numina ACID Loops review by Craig Anderton (fwd)

["Tara" <tvlycia@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

for all you musicians on the list:

Note: this is a promo post.  As featured in the January, 2003 issue of EQ,
a review of the recently released Loops for ACID library: "Numina |
Emotional Peak Sounds for Cinema" by Craig Anderton.
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http://www.sonicfoundry.com/loop_libraries/showloop.asp?PID=710 The title
tells it like it is: I could score a chase scene for any futuristic
sci-fi/action flick in 10 minutes with this CD and a couple of synths.
Then I again, I could also score the scene where the druids discover the
Crystal of Zoktor, which in some convoluted way relates to the fate of the
human race...or for that matter, where Tommy Lee Jones is chasing The
Fugitive. This doesn't mean the sounds are clichéd - sonically, they're
quite original. But they produce highly evocative effects that seem
biologically destined to mate with visuals.

The 514 MB of samples include beats (abstract sounds with discernible
tempos), drones and pads, one shots, "quirps" (mostly arpeggiated types of
sounds), sound FX, and themes. The FX are not realistic ones, but more
like short phrases as opposed to beats or drones. Themes can be fairly
long; one of my favorites, "Long Vocal Theme," clocks in at 38 seconds -
but some others are even longer.

Except for the one-shots the sounds all loop, but of necessity the
acidization is non-standard: some loops are very long, some are quite
short, and not all follow the usual "power of two" beat length. Some work
much better when crossfaded repeatedly rather than looped. No matter;
stack them together, and you can get some intense, polyrhythmic patterns
that are instant soundtrack material.

You're not going to base your next dance hit on these samples, although
some would definitely be fun to slide into the occasional ambient
background or inserted into breaks. But if you do soundtrack work that
tends towards action, sci-fi/horror, or mystical journeys, I predict
you'll get a lot of mileage out of this CD. (CD-ROM, Acidized WAV format,
$59.95) http://www.sonicfoundry.com/loop_libraries/showloop.asp?PID=710
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Thanks for reading,

Jesse Sola / Numina
www.mp3.com/Numina
www.frii.com/~numina