Recording - December 2013 - 50

RECORDING'S

SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS

8Dio Productions 8Dioboe
By Gary Eskow
You know about 8Dio Productions, right?
Founded just two short years ago by Troels
Folmann and Tawnia Knox, 8Dio quickly
assembled an extensive, high-quality collection of sample libraries. Colin O'Malley,
who in my book is one of the best at creating realistic sounding orchestral recordings using samples, recently teamed up
with 8Dio. Adagio Strings, a set of string
sections designed to provide maximal
expression, was the first library born of this

collaboration. 8Dio then turned its attention to the woodwind section,
with the 8Dio Clarinet and with the instrument we're reviewing today,
the 8Dioboe. Is this product worthy of your attention? Let's take a look.
This instrument, like others in the 8Dio line, uses Native Instruments'
Kontakt engine. Native Instruments has claimed de facto status as the
sample playback engine that developers rely on. Please note that the
retail version of Kontakt (4.2 or later) is required. It's a 300 MB download with some 661 samples, 24-bit/44.1 kHz sound resolution.
When you instantiate 8Dioboe, the first thing you'll notice is how
simple it is to negotiate. One instrument only, no fussing around
with multiple presets, good to go. As expected, key switches placed
outside the instrument's play range allow you to choose articulations. But wait, there are only four of them... is that enough?

on capturing notes played with emotion. No cross fading
of dynamic layers is used!
Circling back to the key switches, the four sets that are
offered (Sustains, Marcato Expressivo, Marcato Short,
Staccatissimo) are all that 8Dio believes are required to
provide you with an instrument that can be used as a solo
instrument or within a large orchestral template. And
guess what? They're right.
When rating the quality of a sampled instrument, one of
my questions, perhaps the most critical, is whether it
evokes memories of the literature. After playing just a few
notes on the 8Dioboe, my fingers gravitated towards the
opening line of Nelson Riddle's great arrangement of "It
Was a Very Good Year," as recorded by Frank Sinatra.
Remember that line? If not, look it up!
Then, ah, the Prelude (Morning) to Grieg's "Peer Gynt"
Suite. The oboe enters immediately after the flute's opening line, echoing and developing its big sister's soft statement...you've seen commercials that use this music, right?
The 8Dioboe perfectly captures the emotion within each of
these two pieces. I could go on; Bach's "St. Matthew's
Passion," the Carpenters' version of Leon Russell's
"Superstar," come to mind, but you get the picture.
More controls
But wait, you say, if the recording session was conducted
with a premium placed on expression, the result has to include
some velocity swells, probably captured in a way that isn't
identical throughout the instrument's range. If so, you continue,
you'll probably want to tame (or emphasize) this expressive
characteristic during a performance. An excellent observation!
8Dioboe gives you control over three parameters,
Expression, Dynamics, and Legato Speed, to help you shape
your performances. Expression, initially assigned to CC 11,
is (as is the case with most sample libraries) just a highfalutin'
way of naming a second MIDI level controller. We've covered this before, but the reason for having two controllers (7
and 11) that do the same thing is simple. There are two main
areas where you'll be attenuating volume: MIDI tracks and
mixer faders. If you assign controller 7 to both you'll be running in circles. Use 7 to set your fader levels, and 11 to affect
your MIDI dynamics, and you'll be in good shape.
The Dynamics control affects volume to a degree as
well, but it also contains a filter. With just a little bit of
practice you'll use this controller, along with the
Expression controller, to soften entrances where necessary
and add emphasis where desirable.
The inclusion of three microphone positions and an
internal reverb has become fairly standard these days,
and these features are offered in this library. If space wasn't a factor we could dig a little deeper, but Colin
O'Malley covers everything in his online tutorial, which
you can find at www.tinyurl.com/8Dioboe
8Dioboe is a joy to play. Highest marks.

Emotion trumps overmapping
The 8Dioboe philosophy is simple-radically so, in fact. Sampling an
instrumentalist playing across a range of dynamic levels, then mapping
out the samples and having keyboard velocity trigger them. became the
normal way of working years ago, when cheap drives and quick Gary Eskow (eskow@recordingmag.com) is a composer
access time became available to the masses. 8Dioboe eschews this and recording engineer/producer in the New York area.
method, believing that the result is a set of samples that,
while sounding evenly balanced throughout an instruDelivery: 300 MB digital download
ment's dynamic range, sacrifices emotion.
Formats: Kontakt 4.2 or newer (full retail version only); 32- or 64Rather than have the oboist play an Eb, or G#, at
bit, Mac OS X 10.4+,Windows XP/Vista/7/8, stand
different dynamic levels, 8Dio simply told the player to
alone/VST/RTAS (and AU on Mac)
articulate each note expressively. Maybe she was
Copy Protection and Licensing: one user/multiple computers,
thinking about the date who stood her up, or the
as for Kontakt
marathon run she triumphantly completed the day
Documentation: PDF Readme file available for download
before the session. However it was achieved, the
Price: $139
result is an instrument that's filled with life. The concept
More from: 8Dio Productions, www.8dio.com
bears repeating: the sound of the 8Dioboe is based
50

RECORDING December 2013

http://www.tinyurl.com/8Dioboe

Recording - December 2013

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