Dangerous Undertones
The sounds found in an underground garage can be dark and dangerous, as can the mangled sounds of sheet metal being bowed with a double bass bow. This sample instrument was created by taking those sound sources and processing the heck out of them to create the cinematic tones found within.
The first group, Undertones, uses as it’s source the metallic squeak of a car door being shut in said garage. The second, Granular Sheet Metal, uses several choice samples of bowed sheet metal passed through granular processing. The third, Danger, blends the first two groups and passes them through heavy processing, including overdrive distortion. These three groups can be blended within the sample instrument and shaped further with several filters. The results can then be passed through a custom convolution reverb called The Darkness, who’s impulse response was captured in the same underground space.
Used for film scoring by artist/composer/samplist Sage Reynolds, these sounds could be what you are looking for to add darkness and danger to your next project.
Features
- Undertones, Granular Sheet Metal, and Danger groups, with volume controls and on/off buJons,
blended using CC1 (Blend). - Volume/Expression (Expr.), mapped to CC11.
- Low Pass Filter (LPF) control, mapped to CC21.
- High Pass Filter (HPF) control.
- AJack, Decay, Sustain, and Release (A, D, S, R) controls.
- The Darkness: ConvoluUon reverb control, with an on/off buJon.
- Bonus: 10, one-shot FX samples of bowed sheet metal (in the Granular Sheet Metal group)
processed to sound Dark (C-2 to A-2, midi number 0 to 9) and Bright (B-2 to G#-1, midi number 11 to 20).
Note: This is a very dynamic instrument! For best results (and to avoid clipping), turn-up the main volume from the fader in your DAW and avoid maxing-out the levels within Decent Sampler.
Decent Sampler UI Photo
Audio Demos
Purchase Dangerous Undertones here:
Sustain Pedal Perc
One day, while moving gear in my home studio, I accidentally kicked the sustain pedal for one of my keyboards, producing a pleasant ringing note from the object.
This inspired me to record the sound of the pedal being struck with a mallet, using a close mic (dynamic, Shure SM57) and a matched pair of stereo room mics (condenser, RØDE M5). Ten samples were chosen at progressive velocities, before being processed two different ways. The first set was left Dry while the second set, named Recall, has reverb and a subtle loop when controller keys (or your sustain pedal) are held down.
Sustain Pedal Perc (the first sample instrument Sage ever created) has a cute, textured, marimba-ish sound and has been used for composition and sound design projects. With reverb, it can sound like a sonar ping…. bloop.
Features
- Dry group and Recall group (looped, reverb added) blended using CC1 (Blend).
- Volume/Expression (Expr.) mapped to CC11.
- Low Pass Filter (LPF) control mapped to CC21.
- Reverb control.
- AVack, Decay, Sustain, and Release (A, D, S, R) controls.
Decent Sampler UI Photo
